Monthly Archives: September 2006

Semantic Indexing Project

A group at Middlebury College is working on open-source search tools that, rather than rely on keywords, attempt to deal with the query semantically.  The Semantic Indexing Project goes beyond the “Ask Jeeves” (don’t you kind of miss him?) experience, … Continue reading

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Siderian Faceted Search at LII

Librarians’ Internet Index has installed the Siderian faceted search appliance, and it is a fantastic experience. Think “results clustering”, but more librarian-friendly. Don’t take my word for it, go there and try out a search or two. An excellent way … Continue reading

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Zotero review

Daniel Chudnov, aka One Big Library has a review of the private beta version of Zotero, and man, does he like it! I am very eager to see what this piece of software can do!  Watch for the public beta … Continue reading

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Firefox 2, Release Candidate 1

The next generation Firefox browser is one step closer to general release.  Release candidates mean that they still expect to find a few bugs, but that they will be fewer and less obtrusive.  In other words, if you want to … Continue reading

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Free Dictionary

The Free Dictionary is much, much more than just a word lookup.  Do you know how a word ends, but not the beginning?  Look it up here!  Computer terms?  Medicine?  Acronyms?  All in one place!  Need to cite your results … Continue reading

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OpenOffice.org to get extension capabilities

OpenOffice.org, the open source office suite that gives Microsoft Office a run for it’s money (no pun intended), will soon be able to have its features expanded by the use of Extensions. Extensions are small, add-on programs created by developers … Continue reading

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Future of the Internet II

From the Pew Internet & American Life Project comes a report titled The Future of the Internet II, a look at what people think might happen between now and 2020 (a little over 13 years — think about trying to … Continue reading

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Encyclopedia of Earth

The Encyclopedia of Earth is a web-based, well there you went and guessed it, encyclopedia of articles relating to Earth science. Their primary purpose is to have a collaborative resource (think Wikipedia) that is also authoritative.  To ensure the latter, … Continue reading

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Microsoft Works, free on the web?

I think it is a sign of just how much of an impact open source software and free web applications are having on the tech world:  Microsoft is thinking of turning it’s Works Suite into a free web application. A … Continue reading

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Google and OpenSolaris

ComputerWorld is reporting that Google is looking into OpenSolaris to replace Linux as the server operating system that forms the backbone of the search engine. This could get interesting; I have been wondering how broad the use of OpenSolaris would … Continue reading

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Libraries, Religion, and the Appellate Court

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Contra Costa County library is within its rights to bar worship services in its public meeting rooms, and that the library is, in the ruling’s terms, a “limited … Continue reading

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Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Conference, Workshop, and Program Organizers

This list is from Rachel, aka The Liminal Librarian. The comments add a great deal of information beneficial to those of us who present, as well as those of us who organize conferences. At this moment, it is too much … Continue reading

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GlobalEdge

Described as “Your Source for Business Knowledge”, GlobalEdge has profiles of 197 countries which include currency converters, articles and essays on a variety of topics, and an Academy section designed to let instructors to use this site as part of … Continue reading

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Zoho Quickread Plugin

An interesting add-on for both Internet Explorer and Firefox: The Zoho Writer Quickread Plugin. Zoho Writer is one of the web-based word processors that have been cropping up lately. The Quickread plugin alllows one to read Microsoft Word documents within … Continue reading

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Cornell University Witchcraft Collection

Cornell University has a collection of historical literature on witchcraft, including confessions of accused witches, debates about scripture and witchcraft, and instructions for those investigating possible witchcraft. from ResourceShelf (end of post)

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Hispanic Heritage – free resources from Gale

Gale has posted some free resources relating to Hispanic Heritage, including biographies, timelines, and holidays. See their other free resources, as well. from ResourceShelf

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Archival Digital Storage

A new report is out from the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme that is best described by its full title: Risks Associated with the Use of Recordable CDs and DVDs as Reliable Storage Media in Archival Collections – Strategies … Continue reading

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Distance Calculator

Here is a distance calculator that takes the concept a step further than Google Maps or Mapquest… it recognizes location names other than address information. Think in terms of buildings, statues, monuments, etc. Want to see how long of a … Continue reading

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Open Access Textbooks

Two more sites found in the realm of Open Access Textbooks, and one has bought the other: Freeload Press has bought Textbook Revolution in order to further their cause to bring a wider range of open access textbooks to students … Continue reading

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Talk Like A Pirate Day

Has it been a year already???  Tuesday, September 19th is the annual Talk Like a Pirate Day! Here is my favorite pirate computer accessory. from Catalogablog

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