This week’s 4cast:
1. The Open Library Opens
The Internet Archive has unveiled Open Library, their attempt to create a free, online catalog of every book ever published. What separates this project from a typical OPAC is that anyone, anywhere is invited to contribute entries and information.
- About Us (Open Library)
- The Open Library – Open for Business (Panlibus)
- Open Library (Thingology)
- The Open Library (Library Too)
2. Tapping the Crowd
The Open Library, Wikipedia, and other large-scale projects or problems depend upon the efforts of a large number of amateur contributors. “Crowdsourcing” is a term coined by Wired Magazine to describe this phenomenon, and Assignment Zero is their recent experiment in journalism via crowdsourcing.
- What Does Crowdsourcing Really Mean? (Wired)
- Crowdsourcing (Wired Blog Network)
- Using Crowd Power for R&D (Wired)
- Internet Smackdown: The Amateur vs. the Professional (Wired)
3. Librarians Are (insert stereotype here)
Two recent articles (from The New York Sun and New York Times) point to an influx of “young, hip, tech-saavy ” librarians entering the profession. While some librarians read the articles as harmless, mostly positive PR, others took offense.
- Is Librarianship Cool Now? Did I Miss Something? (informationtrix)
- Breaking News: Librarians can be hip (Information Wants To Be Free)
- librarians, and hipsters, and cocktails, oh my! (m00se)
- One of the Wonders (It’s all good)
4. Are You Completely Incompetent (Technically Speaking)?
Library Revolution kicked off a discussion among a number of library bloggers about which basic technology skills (be they 1.0 or 2.0) a librarian should have, in order to adequately do their jobs.
- Librarians and Technology: Minimum Competencies (Library Revolution)
- Basic Competencies of a 2.0 Librarian (David Lee King)
- Tech Competencies and the Growing Divide (Cool Librarian)
- Tech competencies: what do we need to know to do our jobs (well)? (LibrarianInBlack)
