Introducing The Source
Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder, Richard Stallman
From the Guardian website
The concept of using web-based programs like Google’s Gmail is “worse than stupidity”, according to a leading advocate of free software.Cloud computing – where IT power is delivered over the internet as you need it, rather than drawn from a desktop computer – has gained currency in recent years. Large internet and technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Amazon are pushing forward their plans to deliver information and software over the net.But Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and creator of the computer operating system GNU, said that cloud computing was simply a trap aimed at forcing more people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that would cost them more and more over time.
Young People’s Perspectives on ‘Information’ – Revisited (Note: PDF)
From the IFLA Journal, Vol. 34, No. 3, 2008, page 240 - 255
Little research has investigated the ways in which young people understand the word, ‘information’, despite the fact that what is learnt from such studies can have clear implications for practice. In order to extend the meagre knowledge base, the authors conducted a quantitative research project that collected, via an electronic questionnaire, data from 348 teenagers in an English high school. Respondents were asked to use a Likert scale to indicate their reactions to thirteen statements pertaining to the nature of ‘information’. There was much uncertainty or indifference among the pupils in relation to the issues and considerable variation in the balance of opinion between boys and girls. The relative prevalence of a particular response to a certain question also often varied appreciably from one year group to another. The uncertainty and lack of consensus on many matters highlights the problems of using the word, ‘information’, with young people.
Identifying Factors of Success in CIC Institutional Repository Development - Final Report (Note: PDF)
From the Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (IDEALS) website
With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the GSLIS Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign undertook a one-year pilot study to investigate advances in institutional repository (IR) development. The project was initiated by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and was designed to learn about successes and challenges experienced by university libraries that had made a substantial commitment to developing and sustaining an IR. Three sites with varying approaches to IR development were studied using the comparative case study method. The cases are highly illustrative of the kinds of progress, but also the tradeoffs, being made in active IR development, and the report provides a provisional baseline for determining realistic goals and promising approaches for IR development at similar institutions.
Best Practices For the Customer-Focused Library (Note: PDF)
From Current Cites, September 2008, (c)Copyright 2008 by Roy Tennant.
Contributed to Current Cites by Warren Cheetham
Considering the recent discussion on library email lists and blogs about calling library users 'members' rather than 'customers', this analysis of library patrons by a retail consultant, phrased in retail terms, may irk some, but it is a very useful document for librarians wanting to understand their users. Commissioned by the Metropolitan Library System, the study looked at customer behaviour in four Chicago area libraries (public and academic). Use of the library was measured by tracking customers' movements within a library, by questionnaires and by video tracking of traffic flow, wait times and transactions times. Some results are surprising - 56% of people spent less than 10 minutes in the library and two-thirds did not know what they wanted before they arrived. The first half of the report outlines these and other key findings in brief paragraphs, and the second half contains best practice solutions, including suggestions for libraries with no budget, low budget or high budgets. Whether they use the terms members, patrons, users or customers, there is no doubt that libraries can learn a lot from the hard-nosed data collection and analysis that the retail industry has spent years refining.
Supporting data from the consultants, and implementation plans from the library directors of the target libraries can also be found on the WebJunction site.
Beyond the Silos of the LAMs: Collaboration Among Libraries, Archives and Museums (Note: PDF)
From the OCLC website
Collaboration between libraries, archives, and museums. It sounds like a good idea, but how to make it work? To find out, RLG Programs held one-day workshops at the University of Edinburgh, Princeton University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Yale University. It also had phone conversations and meetings with thought leaders and representatives of other RLG Programs partners. This report summarizes its findings, and offers guidance about how to effectively collaborate.
Monumental Library Buildings in the Internet Era: the future of public libraries (Note: PDF)
From the IFLA Journal, Vol. 34, No. 3, 2008, page 268 - 281
This research examines the phenomena of building monumental library buildings, which began in the 1990s, parallel to the development of computer technology, digital storage, telecommunications, Internet and sophisticated search engines. The research included interviews with futurists, sociologists, architects, urban planners and experts from the fields of information and library science. Also, 24 directors of new and large libraries in Israel and the Western world completed a questionnaire. This research is a wide, interdisciplinary study that considers social aspects, architectural structures, the human need to monumentalise, personal and political interests, organizational survival and futurism. Primarily, this research focuses on the future of public libraries in a world that is changing rapidly.
Problem: Boys Don't Like to Read. Solution: Books That Are Really Gross
From the Wall Street Journal website
Publishers are hawking more gory and gross books to appeal to an elusive market: boys -- many of whom would rather go to the dentist than crack open "Little House on the Prairie." Booksellers are also catering to teachers and parents desperate to make young males more literate.
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