The Secret Life of Beagles

Sense and Schnauzers

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and you can go to this week's podcast.... all hail LINKS!

Of Dogs and Men

So recently I was asked to review Librarything and Shelfari two social web sites based around the idea of social bookmarking and conversation. All around the idea of books. Reviewing books, talking about books, finding books, and interacting with books. Its a really fascinating idea after all and an interesting way to meet people. I had been meaning to try one of these programs so i signed up to both of them and have been fiddling around with them.

Overall the programs are fun ideas and pretty interesting offering a host of services. Librarything is proud to tell me these use amazon.com to search for their books. Librarything honestly has a lot more general options at first glance and a lot of different programs and sections groups, tags submissions list and a essentially it offers a lot of different things to users. Its search tools and options for tagging and connecting books are more advanced and honestly it can offer a lot of features.

however it doesn't have the same kind of amusing aesthetics that Shelfari offers. Shelfari is a bit more fun to look at. Selection of books is a lot easier and the search methods get some nice returns without using more advanced methods. It also has a lot of nice cover art and frankly the options it gives are a lot less complicated and a lot easier to find Librarything feels almost too crowded with options and it needs to redesign where things go make things less cluttered . Overall i like shelfari a bit more, despite the versatility of Librarything, but both are fun and I'll probably be using both when i have some "free time"

Rover Shrugged

so here as per class instructions is my groups new wiki on our chosen database. We chose The National Gallery in London

http://scils598group5.pbwiki.com/

Hairy Otter and the Deathy Howls

Well i had to make one Harry potter reference. It is almost a requisite.

Click To Play

well anyway thats my entry here are some of the things you will hear in this audio file

• me agreeing with brown
• information without context is not knowledge
• never trust context-less information
• a librarian trashing over reliance on the internet (oh THAT has never been heard)
• amusement, hilarity, and hijinks

Howl Havoc and Let slip the Practice

A podcast practice file. Its best if you DON'T listen to it.

Click To Play

Fun isn't it

Kennelship Down

I was thinking as I read Lyn's Blog:

As the gatekeepers to information, libraries need to learn about Web 2.0 and the new social software programs that are coming out in order to be able to teach their patrons what is happening and how to use this new kind of information.

Are we perhaps over romanticizing our power and position in libraries? I mean sure we provide a valuable support role for others but are we really "gate keepers of information?" Perhaps we're putting too much pressure on our careers and ourselves. I think libraries are important but are they THAT important?

It brings to mind something Librarian/Runner/Mets Fan/Mom said:

There isno advantage to be gained in bemoaningthe fact that 21st Century
librariansneed to learn to use these new tools.Instead of misplacing energy
intoromanticizing a bygone era, it ismuch more productive to embraceour new toys
and dive into thepool of the future.

Perhaps as is said here we're misplacing our energies a bit and we are on our concentrating on the negatives of technology and haphazard implementation. Maybe by thinking to well of us we're diverting valuable energy and being a little too prideful. It’s just a thought really.

One flew over the dog house

So for class I read the Brown article Limits to Information while reading it i couldn't help but think... and this is news how?

I mean is anyone surprised that the idealists and the theorists are wrong? the point of such theorists isn't to be right its to expound upon ideas. We then take those ideas and see what we like and dislike and use it as a social mirror. Rarely however do these things come about.

Do we really want the federal government to shrink and disappear? Do we want corporations and private firms to become smaller and more compact? Do we really want all information accessible and integrated. A few wills stay yes but most of society is less sure and for good reasons. Things like government have existed for so long, despite changing in many ways not only by adjusting to new events and technologies but also because people like the benefits of centralized authority or can support them. People like privacy too in many ways and it gives rise to serious concerns these days that it is so easy to loose. Very few people are comfortable with the idea of "if everyone watches then everyone will be free" as a concept.

but we should hear those ideas and see if we want them and see where they take us. Generally human society is remarkably adaptable and also remarkably stable. We self regulate, all people, and we always have. people give governments power as Locke pointed out under a social contract. Les Fairre economies and capitalism assumes a marketplace of ideas, goods and services. People will choose in the end the superior product. these ideas have with some caveats proved correct and they apply as much tot he information revolution as anywhere else. We integrate the technologies the technology does not integrate us.

So lets see what happens. Tings will change and we are still adjusting and there will be upheaval in many places but we should also have an open mind and not expect overnighting to change over nright or end or be destroyed. At least that is what the data tells me

Barking up some Catalougs

So here I am again all you loyal viewer(s)

So recently I have been patroling about for ideas on blog and libraries. Looking into how they are used well, and how they are poorly used. Getting ideas.

The library Weblog's Index was really useful for that: http://www.libdex.com/weblogs.html


a lot of them had only sporadic updates, and what there was in updates that broke the sometimes five month silence there was a lot of inane chatter that really didnt fir the liray or if it did it was obfuscated in its verbiage and confusing. People when they read blogs are lookign for pithy statements and helpful commentary.

Further they want things that fit the library but also expand upon it.

Hence my love for this blog
http://ublawlibrary.wordpress.com/
The University of Baltimore Law Library is a fantastic blog, its elegant in its layout. It has good choices on its style and choice.s It offers a host of RSS feeds on a number of topics. It also fulfills the needs of announcing important library events and services. But ti goes further offering wonderful tips to law students and helpful links creating a community oriented blog that is set up to not only be a library but also an information commons on helpful data and interesting concepts. How very Web 2.0. Its update schedule is also excellent and overall i found this a very good blog. This is a helpful resource and shows it is not redundant like other blogs but truly a helpful item to maintain and preserve.

Virginia WOOFle?

Hey everyone! This is your Librarian welsh pembroke corgi loving book devouring commentator the Barking Librarian.

Let's see if I have anything of value to say here.

Interested in knowing more about me? my interests? what the latest on me is?

Well stick around and we'll see

for now: *flops down for a snooze*