Blake

Capitol Hill Books Has DC’s Most Curmudgeonly Store Owner

Capitol Hill Books’ Jim Toole (“If you have to put an age down, say 110”) had already lived a fairly full life before he took on running the secondhand book shop after its original owner passed away in 1994—he earned a degree in history from UCLA, a masters from American University, and served in the Navy for 30 years. Now he says he spends 85 to 90 hours a week tending to and stocking the stuffed-to-the-brim store across the street from Eastern Market, which he expanded to fill the basement and top floor of the rowhouse.

From Capitol Hill Books Has DC’s Most Curmudgeonly Store Owner | Washingtonian

Capitol Hill Books’ Jim Toole (“If you have to put an age down, say 110”) had already lived a fairly full life before he took on running the secondhand book shop after its original owner passed away in 1994—he earned a degree in history from UCLA, a masters from American University, and served in the Navy for 30 years. Now he says he spends 85 to 90 hours a week tending to and stocking the stuffed-to-the-brim store across the street from Eastern Market, which he expanded to fill the basement and top floor of the rowhouse.

From Capitol Hill Books Has DC’s Most Curmudgeonly Store Owner | Washingtonian

May 30, 2016 by Blake Books

TLSWikipedia all-conquering

The all-conquering encyclopedia of the twenty-first century is, famously, the first such work to have been compiled entirely by uncredentialled volunteers. It is also the first reference work ever produced as a way of killing time during coffee breaks. Not the least of Wikipedia’s wonders is to have done away with the drudgery that used to be synonymous with the writing of reference works. An army of anonymous, tech-savvy people – mostly young, mostly men – have effortlessly assembled and organized a body of knowledge unparalleled in human history. “Effortlessly” in the literal sense of without significant effort: when you have 27,842,261 registered editors (not all of them active, it is true), plus an unknown number of anonymous contributors, the odd half-hour here and there soon adds up to a pretty big encyclopedia.

May 29, 2016 by Blake Uncategorized

Boys who live with books ‘earn more as adults’

Three economists at the University of Padua – Giorgio Brunello, Guglielmo Weber and Christoph Weiss – studied 6,000 men born in nine European countries and concluded that children with access to books could expect to earn materially more than those who grow up with few or no books.

They studied the period from 1920 to 1956, when school reforms saw the minimum school leaving age raised across Europe. They looked at whether, at the age of 10, a child lived in a house with fewer than 10 books, a shelf of books, a bookcase with up to 100 books, two bookcases, or more than two bookcases.

From Boys who live with books ‘earn more as adults’ | Education | The Guardian

May 29, 2016 by Blake Books School Libraries

Modern Public Libraries Can Help Bridge the Digital Divide

Yet the digital revolution has proved not to be the demise of libraries, but their rebirth — and today, they are more relevant than ever to the people and communities they serve. Many patrons come to us as generations before them did, in search of good books and helpful research materials. Others, like Kim, pass through our doors determined to change the course of their lives. Taken together, their stories signal a bright future for our society’s most democratic institution.

From Modern Public Libraries Can Help Bridge the Digital Divide – Next City

Yet the digital revolution has proved not to be the demise of libraries, but their rebirth — and today, they are more relevant than ever to the people and communities they serve. Many patrons come to us as generations before them did, in search of good books and helpful research materials. Others, like Kim, pass through our doors determined to change the course of their lives. Taken together, their stories signal a bright future for our society’s most democratic institution.

From Modern Public Libraries Can Help Bridge the Digital Divide – Next City

May 29, 2016 by Blake Libraries

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu

JOSHUA HAMMER’S new book, “The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu”, traces the story of hundreds of thousands of medieval texts as they are rescued in 2012 from near-destruction by jihadists linked to al-Qaeda in Mali. It is at once a history, caper and thriller, featuring a superherolibrarian, Abdel Kader Haidara, as the saviour of an entire culture’s heritage.

From Paper trail | The Economist

JOSHUA HAMMER’S new book, “The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu”, traces the story of hundreds of thousands of medieval texts as they are rescued in 2012 from near-destruction by jihadists linked to al-Qaeda in Mali. It is at once a history, caper and thriller, featuring a superherolibrarian, Abdel Kader Haidara, as the saviour of an entire culture’s heritage.

From Paper trail | The Economist

May 29, 2016 by Blake Librarians Libraries

Library Metadata Specialist – Accidental Computer Programmer

So by accident or design you found yourself in a position that involves computer programming. A common situation for library metadata specialists. I recall projects in graduate school where we mapped records from one metadata format or standard into another. Yet, we never discussed who creates the scripts to transform the records with your mapping (spoiler: its probably you). The result of this for me, someone who did not come from a computer science background, was getting the skills I needed through a mixture of things recommended by mentors, co-workers, and internet searches. Here is what worked best for me.

From Library Metadata Specialist – Accidental Computer Programmer – Heidi Uphoff

May 28, 2016 by Blake Internet Librarians Libraries School Libraries Technology

LYRASIS, DuraSpace Leaders Discuss Dissolved Merger

“I think we’re both looking at this aspirationally,” Miller said. “It’s not ‘what went wrong?’ If anything there was a reinvigoration, ensuring that missions are supported well…. At the end of the day, I think our communities are going to benefit from this…. We’re not for-profits, we don’t have marketing budgets, but maybe this, in some ways, has helped showcase some things that institutions might not have known about DuraSpace and might not have known about LYRASIS.”

From LYRASIS, DuraSpace Leaders Discuss Dissolved Merger

May 28, 2016 by Blake Libraries

Demonstration of a working Gutenberg printing press

The Crandall Historical Printing Museum has the “most complete and functioning Gutenberg Press in the world” and in this video you can see one of the museum’s guides demonstrating it for some visitors.

From Demonstration of a working Gutenberg printing press

The Crandall Historical Printing Museum has the “most complete and functioning Gutenberg Press in the world” and in this video you can see one of the museum’s guides demonstrating it for some visitors.

From Demonstration of a working Gutenberg printing press

May 27, 2016 by Blake Uncategorized

How I used lies about a cartoon to prove history is meaningless on the internet

But like any worthwhile fiction writer, I believe my lies have highlighted an important modern truth: history is more mutable than it has ever been thanks to the explosion of information on the internet. We form rough consensuses based on vast amounts of conflicting data, but who really has the power to verify any of it? This is especially true when the stakes are low. A lot of people will put effort into dispelling rumors that the Moon landing was fake or that Hitler is still alive, sure, but who cares enough about something as meaningless and easy to ignore as Street Sharks to make sure all the information about it online is totally accurate? Some people do, which is why my lies were mostly removed, but that took years and they didn’t fully stamp out every online instance of Roxie or Meathook.

From How I used lies about a cartoon to prove history is meaningless on the internet | News | Geek.com

But like any worthwhile fiction writer, I believe my lies have highlighted an important modern truth: history is more mutable than it has ever been thanks to the explosion of information on the internet. We form rough consensuses based on vast amounts of conflicting data, but who really has the power to verify any of it? This is especially true when the stakes are low. A lot of people will put effort into dispelling rumors that the Moon landing was fake or that Hitler is still alive, sure, but who cares enough about something as meaningless and easy to ignore as Street Sharks to make sure all the information about it online is totally accurate? Some people do, which is why my lies were mostly removed, but that took years and they didn’t fully stamp out every online instance of Roxie or Meathook.

From How I used lies about a cartoon to prove history is meaningless on the internet | News | Geek.com

May 27, 2016 by Blake Internet

Facebook begins tracking non-users around the internet

Facebook will now display ads to web users who are not members of its social network, the company announced Thursday, in a bid to significantly expand its online ad network. As The Wall Street Journal reports, Facebook will use cookies, “like” buttons, and other plug-ins embedded on third-party sites to track members and non-members alike. The company says it will be able to better target non-Facebook users and serve relevant ads to them, though its practices have come under criticism from regulators in Europe over privacy concerns. Facebook began displaying a banner notification at the top of its News Feed for users in Europe today, alerting them to its use of cookies as mandated under an EU directive.

“Publishers and app developers have some users who aren’t Facebook users,” Andrew Bosworth, vice president of Facebook’s ads and business platform, tells the Journal. “We think we can do a better job powering those ads.”

From Facebook begins tracking non-users around the internet | The Verge

Facebook will now display ads to web users who are not members of its social network, the company announced Thursday, in a bid to significantly expand its online ad network. As The Wall Street Journal reports, Facebook will use cookies, “like” buttons, and other plug-ins embedded on third-party sites to track members and non-members alike. The company says it will be able to better target non-Facebook users and serve relevant ads to them, though its practices have come under criticism from regulators in Europe over privacy concerns. Facebook began displaying a banner notification at the top of its News Feed for users in Europe today, alerting them to its use of cookies as mandated under an EU directive.

“Publishers and app developers have some users who aren’t Facebook users,” Andrew Bosworth, vice president of Facebook’s ads and business platform, tells the Journal. “We think we can do a better job powering those ads.”