Library & Information Services » June 12 2009

David Lewis’ constructive Summer Time Wasters

Michael Roy — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:07:02 +0000

David Lewis from IUPUI put together this nice collection of videos to while away the summer hours.

TED Talks

Richard Baraniuk on open-source learning | Video on TED.com TED Talks Rice University professor Richard Baraniuk explains the vision behind Connexions, his open-source, online education system.

http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_baraniuk_on_open_source_learning.html

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Yochai Benkler on the new open-source economics | Video on …

TED Talks Yochai Benkler explains how collaborative projects like Wikipedia and Linux represent the next stage of human organization.

http://www.ted.com/talks/yochai_benkler_on_the_new_open_source_economics.html

Clay Shirky on institutions vs. collaboration | Video on TED.com

TED Talks In this prescient 2005 talk, Clay Shirky shows how closed groups and companies will give way to looser networks where small contributors have big …

http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_on_institutions_versus_collaboration.html

Jimmy Wales on the birth of Wikipedia | Video on TED.com

TED Talks Jimmy Wales recalls how he assembled “a ragtag band of volunteers,” gave them tools for collaborating and created Wikipedia, the self …

http://www.ted.com/talks/jimmy_wales_on_the_birth_of_wikipedia.html

Charles Leadbeater on innovation | Video on TED.com

TED Talks In this deceptively casual talk, Charles Leadbeater weaves a tight argument that innovation isn’t just for professionals anymore.

http://www.ted.com/talks/charles_leadbeater_on_innovation.html

Other

Clay Shirky Keynote at Web 2.0 Expo “Where do we get the time”

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2708219489770693816

Web 2.0 Expo NY: Clay Shirky (shirky.com) It’s Not Information Overload. It’s Filter Failure

http://web2expo.blip.tv/file/1277460/

Malcolm Gladwell on the challenge of hiring in the modern world. From “Stories from the Near Future,” the 2008 New Yorker Conference.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2008/gladwell

EXH!BITED-LIS Staff Arts and Crafts

Doreen Bernier — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:06:07 +0000

Submitted by Doreen Bernier

June 10th was the opening day of “Exh!bited”, the LIS staff arts and crafts exhibit.

Special thanks to all the LIS artisans for their truly beautiful contributions. This was a great opportunity to showcase our special talents and interests and bring the community together – and also surprise and delight users and visitors.

The opening reception was graced with beautiful live music, courtesy of Dan Frostman.

Early arrivals enjoyed the only edible craft piece - chocolate dipped strawberries.

Included below are some photos from the reception.

The exhibit organizers, Morgan, Doreen and Elin, would like to thank Joseph for his invaluable assistance in setting up the space. Thanks also to Scott and Rachel for their contributions, and with thanks to all for taking the time out from your busy schedules to assist in bringing this exhibit to life.

The exhibit will run until June 26th.

Nelinet IT Conference 2009: Open Source in Your Library

Cynthia Watters — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:01:28 +0000


*NELINET* *June 10, 2009*
*“Rainy Day” Edition*
*JUST ADDED!* NELINET IT Conference 2009: Open Source in Your Library October 9, 2009 – Olin College, Needham, MA NELINET is proud to present its 5^th Annual IT Conference, “Open Source in Your Library.” This exciting event will show you how libraries are implementing open source products for a variety of uses and will expand your understanding of the advantages of using open source products in libraries. Listen to our panel discussion delve more deeply into this topic and learn first hand about implementation and maintenance of open source products from those who are using them! A fantastic group of open source innovators include:Dan Scott, Systems Librarian for Laurentian University, barista, library geek, and open source dabbler will be NELINET’s keynote speaker. You may know him from such projects as PHP (PEAR’s File_MARC package and PDO documentation), Apache Derby, and the Evergreen open-source ILS project. Karen Coombs, Library Journal 2009 Mover and Shaker, trend spotter and Head of Web Services at the University of Houston Libraries, will discuss how her library is using Drupal for its intranet and for a pilot project involving digital library materials. Joe Lucia is the University Librarian and director of Falvey Memorial Library at Villanova University. His advocacy for open source led his library to develop VuFind, an open-source discovery layer for library catalogs. Conference Cost for Unlimited Members: $85 (Middlebury is an unlimited member)
*Attention Accidental Webmasters!* Accidental Webmaster Series: Just Enough MySQL – Just Enough PHP *Starts July 14^th – ONLINE SERIES* In this six-week series, you will learn just enough PHP and MySQL to explore, understand and implement dynamic tools and content. Each week, you will take part in a 1.5-hour online lecture and discussion to introduce new concepts and techniques. Between online live meetings, you will work at your own pace to practice what you’ve learned, share ideas with colleagues and receive individualized guidance and feedback in Moodle, our open source online learning management system. Workshop Series cost: $150	Big Events! *FREE SEMINAR* How to Stay Relevant in Your Institution June 24, 2009 – NELINET, Southborough, MA Co-sponsored by the Boston Chapter of the Special Libraries Association Introduction to METS July 7, 2009 – NELINET, Southborough, MA *SAVE THE DATE* Robert L. Cunningham Annual Bibliographic Services Conference 2009 November 13, 2009 – College of Holy Cross, Worcester, MA

Japanese Collection Developments

Cynthia Watters — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:00:51 +0000

Large gifts from the late Professor Hiroshi Miyaji and from Robert and Take Dean have increased Middlebury’s Japanese Collection by 50%; we now have approximately 4500 items in the collection. (In addition, items containing some English as well as Japanese (including bi-lingual dictionaries) are in the regular stacks and video materials are in the video collections.)

While cataloging the new acquisitions, we recataloged the items already in the collection. The call numbers were changed from a non-standard system to the standard Library of Congress system used in the rest of the library. In addition the Japanese characters were added to the records so now the description contains both the romanized forms and the characters themselves. We hope these enhancements will make our catalog and our collection more usable and rewarding. Someday we may even be able to search MIDCAT using characters!

The Japanese Collection has extensive works of Japanese literature and works on Japanese literature, philosophy, religion, and history but also includes resources on almost any subject imaginable.<

For the first few weeks of the Japanese summer school, a significant selection of recently added titles is displayed in the New Book shelves section of the Main Library. Books we did not add to the collection or which have been removed from the collection will be displayed separately for sale beginning in late June; these books are chiefly duplicates of items already in the collection and may well be of interest to individuals.

The items on the new bookshelves are in call number order–even though bookjackets prevent the call numbers from being visible. If you or a patron needs to find a particular book, you need to partially remove the jacket to see the spine or to look in the back of the book where the call number is written in pencil. Note also that, although I say ‘back’ because we think of it as back, it is indeed the front of the book for Japanese and other languages written right to left.

–Cynthia Watters