Time-Shifting with Technology

ALA Publishing staff working on RDA:Resource Description and Access are watching for library innovation building on bibliographic records.  Shirley Lincicum has offered some fantastic coverage of a technology that had catalogers excited at this year's annual conference.
Read More »

The release of the Kindle 2 has set of a firestorm of speculation about how e-readers are going to transform (destroy?) the publishing industry. Anything with the potential to transform reading has the potential to transform librarianship. If widely adopted, these e-readers have the potential to allow libraries new ways to house and circulate material. But could there be downsides as well?  Jason, Tom and Cindi weigh in with their predictions on how e-readers are going to change librarianship in coming years. Read More »

The past decade has seen the rise of amazing technology that allows people to exchange and access information at speeds never before imagined. We can work faster, we can exchange money faster and we can get news faster. This technology continues to grow, evolve and expand rapidly, and I think I can say with complete certainty that it isn't going away. Obviously, I think this is a good thing...I wouldn't be the editor of the blog if I didn't. But with great power comes great responsibility, and as amazing as the Internet is, it certainly has done plenty of harm to go along with the good.

Like the economic crisis, the Internet is in many respects, a giant mess that no ones really understands. Is anyone in charge of the Internet? In the United States, can we point to any government or private agency that is truly in charge of regulating the Internet? Is anyone truly charged with the task of preventing online piracy, identity theft or child endangerment that can come from Internet use? Sure, the FCC and various other agencies have roles, but they are far from clearly defined at this point. Read More »

I wonder if Peggy Orenstein ever got a letter (or several letters) from someone she was hoping to gracefully lose touch with. Or had a friend who called her parents, trying to find out where she moved after college. Maybe she wished for an “ignore” button. More likely, she grumbled to a friend and continued pursuing her adult identity.

Orenstein’s thoughtful essay in last weekend’s New York Times Magazine about the impact of online living on the creation of an adult identity has shown up on twitter a few times and (natch) on Facebook. For those of us who joined social networks as adults, the question of how to navigate the often-dreadful tweens, teens and twenties online seems huge and difficult. Read More »

Much of the discussion on our blog centers around public and academic libraries, and we often neglect an extremely vital player in the library technology world--school libraries. School librarians are, in many respects, the gatekeepers of library technology. They help teach basic technology skills, particularly library technology skills to our future public and academic library patrons (and employees). They interact with younger users of this new technology and work hands-on to make these technologies practical learning tools. Because they work with these young student users, school librarians can provide insight into the application of these technologies that librarians who work primarily with adults cannot.

I was thrilled to see this article in Sunday's New York Times, which goes a long way towards providing some of the coverage we haven't been able to. Read More »

A group of prominent software vendors have signed on to an open letter to President Obama encouraging him to push for the adoption of open source software by government agencies.

There is a lot of excitement about the new President, and I share the sentiment of the authors of this letter--it is extremely encouraging that the President has emphasized the importance of science and technology throughout his campaign and in his innaugural address. Read More »

With the stimulus debate heating up in Washington, librarians are wondering where (if anywhere) we fit in to the economic recovery plan. David Bigwood at Catablogging raised the question yesterday, and our own Jenny Levine pointed out that our Washington office is on the case.

But what about Library Technology specifically?

  Read More »

I mentioned yesterday that ALA TechSource has started to use Twitter as a way to expand our coverage. It didn't take long for one of the fundamental facts about life on Twitter to emerge: Twitter is a fantastic tool for communication, but that communication is a double-edged sword.

  Read More »

In his first two days in office, President Obama has definitely given a lot of us the impression that he intends to be President 2.0. Obama's campaign famously used online social networking to tremendous effect, he has since been giving weekly addresses via YouTube and now the new White House Web Page includes a blog.

Now that the President has taken office and new policies are being enacted, what changes will we see in national policy towards libraries generally, and technology specifically?  Read More »

With our January issue of Library Technology Reports focusing on funding your technology in a tough economy, I figured it would make sense to broaden my perspective on the issue by talking some some additional experts. Over the past couple of months, I had the pleasure of conducting an online interview with Alan Inouye, Director of ALA's Office for Information Technology Policy, which serves the associations voice in IT Policy discussions. Read More »