I’ve Moved!

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:44:42 +0800

This brief post is just to let everyone know that I’ve now picked up shop and moved over to The Digital Shift. Find the blog here: http://www.thedigitalshift.com/category/roy-tennant-digital-libraries/ And the RSS feed here: http://www.thedigitalshift.com/category/roy-tennant-digital-libraries/feed See you there! Roy

The Scam of Edited Collections

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:33:19 +0800

Recently, once again, I was asked to contribute a chapter to an edited collection. This was hard on the heels of completing a draft for another edited collection. And this got me to thinking about edited collections and what a scam they are. First let me explain how this typically works. A librarian either approaches a [...]

Extensible Catalog (XC) Project Releases User Interface

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:01:36 +0800

Probably by now many, if not all, of my readers have heard about the Extensible Catalog (XC) Project managed by the University of Rochester. Heretofore it has mainly been known for producing metadata tools useful for extracting and processing data from a library catalog. But today they have announced a user interface component to their toolkit [...]

Application Collection Development

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:52:12 +0800

Up-and-comer Emily Clasper has an interesting post on her blog, in which she identifies an intriguing permutation to the traditional activity of library collection development. Rather than considering the latest ways to obtain books or e-resources, she ponders the issues around which apps to acquire for a library iPad. This was spurred by a call [...]

Amazon Set to Push Traditional Publishing Off a Cliff

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:00:04 +0800

Almost exactly a year ago I wrote this: Traditional publishing may not be in freefall yet, but it’s standing on the edge, just one big shove away. That shove is now being applied. It had started being applied by early entrants in the self-publishing realm, such as Lulu.com. But the player with enough muscle to actually move [...]

How to Give In

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:06:26 +0800

In a move that is astonishing (at least to me) in its utter lack of hubris, Adobe is in the process of abandoning Flash in favor of HTML5. Call it vindication for Steve Jobs if you will, who steadfastly refused to support Flash on iOS, but no one can fault Adobe on how they are [...]

How to Work Successfully With Your IT Department

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:12:01 +0800

I’m presently teaching a virtual course on cloud computing in libraries for Infopeople, and one of my learners recently posted a plaintive message that included this line: “Our IT department is in control and I think that it would be difficult to use even the less major services we’ve talked about in the class.” Unfortunately, [...]

How the iPad Has Made Me a Media Fool

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:40:11 +0800

OK, I admit it, I’m officially a media fool. I’ve subscribed to Netflix streaming, Hulu+, and HBO-Go, all in the last year or so. Why? Because I have an iPad, and I stream content like there’s no tomorrow. Sure, I’m usually doing something else at the same time, but who said you couldn’t do two [...]

The Scarcity of Imagination

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:26:52 +0800

My colleague Roger Thompson sent along a URL today that had me thinking. It pointed to a self-described “rant” about the lack of imagination in user interface design. The particular target of his invective was a video produced by Microsoft that provided a vision for how we would work in the future. In a nutshell, the [...]

With E-Books, Reading Goes Underground

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:10:11 +0800

I saw a tweet come across my stream today from John Hodgman, the comedian who had a stint on those wonderful Apple ads as the buttoned-up “PC” arrayed against the calmly confident casual “Mac”. The tweet said (see picture): “Middle aged business dude on the plane in Eddie Bauer and mom jeans reading Game of [...]