This week’s 4cast:
1. It’s Time You (Teens) & I (Librarians) Had a Little Chat
The argument that libraries are failing to keep up with the kids, both culturally and technologically, just keeps getting louder. One example often pointed to is the reluctance of many libraries to use Instant Messaging. Luckily, there are an increasing number of examples of how any library can get started, and make it work well.
- Teens and IM (Stephen’s Lighthouse)
- Selling IM @ Your Library (Information Wants To Be Free)
- IM Reference (BiblioTech Web)
- How do we train staff on chat reference? (LibrarianInBlack)
2. Library Breaks the Law to Protect Patrons
A library in Michigan recently noticed a “large increase” in the amount of pornography being viewed on public computers. Their solution? Shut down public access to the Internet. The problem? They’re in violation of the law. The plus side? At least they don’t have to deal with yobs.
- Rise in porn site viewers forces library to pull Internet access (The Macomb Daily)
- Library Suspends Internet Access Due to Increased Interest in Porn (Sex Drive Daily)
- An Interesting Way to Rid Your Library of Internet pron (The Grammatically Incorrect Librarian)
- Yobs crack library computer firewall to watch porn (Liverpool Echo)
3. Anything You Can Do, I Can Do More Conservatively
Microsoft has just released Live Search Books, a competitor to Google Book Search that will also scan thousands of books from participating libraries and make them fully searchable online. While Google has run into some hot water for including anything and everything it can get its scanners on, Microsoft hopes to avoid trouble by focusing on public domain works (at least initially).
- Microsoft releasing book search in beta (CNET)
- Microsoft Woos Book Publishers (ACRLog)
- Microsoft Offers Book Search (PC World)
- Microsoft’s Live Search Books (ALA TechSource)
4. Some Folks Just Plain Don’t Like Folksonomy
One of the hallmarks of Web 2.0 has been the growing reliance on folksonomy (or collaborative tagging) to organize information, as opposed to more traditional methods of classification. But is user-generated metadata its own worst enemy?
- Beneath the Metadata: Some Philosophical Problems with Folksonomy (D-Lib Magazine)
- Arguing against tags (Thing-ology)
- Philosophical Misunderstandings about Folksonomy? (dystmesis)
- Greatest Task of Web 2.x: Meta-Validation (Slashdot)
