Thoughts on Technical Librarianship
Why Twitter doesn't care what your real name is
Amid all the noise and fury over Google's (s goog) policy of requiring real names (or at least real-sounding names) on its new Google+ network -- a policy that Facebook also has, and one we have been critical of in the past -- it's easy to forget that there's a pretty large web service that doesn't much care what your real name is.
The real-name requirement must be based on something other than just wanting to have an online community in which people are free to share information, because Twitter has shown that doing this doesn’t require real names...Guest Post: Why am I getting my MLIS? Because I have to.
Reblogged from Agnostic, Maybe:
When I tell people I’m in graduate school studying to be a librarian, I receive the response, “You need a Master’s degree for that?” I find myself struggling to defend it. Librarians do more than what the average person realizes, but how much of that is really gained through the MLS? I usually wind up confessing it is like a stamp to gain entry a nightclub.
The library is changing. It has to change to remain relevant. The MLS degree needs to change along with it.How are discovery systems similar to Google? How are they different?
A comparison between discovery services, such as Summon, and Google:
… similarities include the holy grail of “the one search box” that searches “everything” (or close enough) and heavy focus on relevancy ranking to surface desired results.
As a sidenote, relevancy ranking isn’t really new to library catalogues by now (for example our “next generation catalogue” Encore, has relevancy ranking and ……
… Read More in Musings about librarianship
Making our OPACs More Gracious Hosts
An interesting project to make it easier to integrate the records from digital resources into a library public OPAC.
I now consider digital resources–OER, images, videos, audio files, slideshows, documents, ebooks, maps, art, student work, data sets, interactivities, simulations, and especially the elements of the world’s richest museums and archives–intrinsic parts of my collection.
I may not own them, but I use them. And I want them discoverable and openable directly from the tool I purchased for discovery and access–my OPAC.
… Read More in the School Library Journal
