Category Archives: History

Inspirational Library-related StoryCorps

This morning I heard one of the most inspirational library-related stories I have encountered.  It was a StoryCorps segment on NPR’s Morning Edition radio program, and I feel that everyone who works in libraries should listen to it, if only … Continue reading

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Center for History and New Media

I have been aware of the Center for History and New Media for quite some time (even posted a link here), but only recently did I take a look at their site beyond the work they do with Zotero.  I … Continue reading

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Millennial Disc

It’s called the Millennial Disc, and it is being marketed as a 1,000 year storage for digital information. Before we run out and buy a stack of these for our archives, I would simply ask: How many years before some … Continue reading

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Copyfraud – Poisoning the Public Domain

Copyfraud : Poisoning the Public Domain is an introduction to some of the ways that content providers (websites, publishers, etc.) abuse copyright protections when they use public domain materials.  A couple of minor points, however: The act of assigning a … Continue reading

Posted in Archival, Books, Copyright, Ethics, Google, History, Licensing, Online Services, Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

World eBook Fair

The World eBook Fair begins this Saturday, July 4th, coinciding with Project Gutenberg‘s 39th anniversary. To celebrate, the World eBook Fair members are providing free access to over two million books between July 4th and August 4th. found via ResourceShelf

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NASA Needs A Library Solution (But So Do Libraries)

In a merging of two of my great interests, NASA has issued a Request For Information (ROI) on how best to “analyze and catalog notes from spaceflight pioneer Wernher von Braun into an electronic, searchable database or other system.“ At … Continue reading

Posted in Archival, Classification, Government, History, Libraries, Library 2.0, News, Online Databases, Software, Space, Web Design, Wiki | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Save Ohio Libraries

Odds and Ends: Save Ohio Libraries is the rallying cry as well as the focus of this week’s activities. The Save Ohio Libraries Facebook page is rapidly approaching 12,000 members (and has gone from 11,543 to 11,768 as I have … Continue reading

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Shorpy Photo Archive

Shorpy is a collection of photographs presented using a blog, but it is an especially captivating collection.  A combination of historical photographs, found images, and personal/family photos, there is rarely an entry that doesn’t hold some interest for the viewer. … Continue reading

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Ohio Potentially Cutting Library Support in Half

It’s happening, folks.  State and local budgets are under extreme pressure, and tough decisions are being made by Governors, state officials, countys counties, towns and taxing districts.  Libraries that rely on public funding are now almost certainly facing severe cuts. … Continue reading

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Anne Frank’s Birthday

Today, 12 June 2009, would have been Anne Frank’s 80th birthday.  I think that’s worth a moment of reflection, don’t you? found via LISNews

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Open Jurist

Open Jurist is a great add-on to the free case law resources I wrote about a few days ago.  Consisting of over 600,000 opinions from the federal court system, including the United States Supreme Court and the Federal Appellate Courts.  … Continue reading

Posted in Google, Government, History, Online Services, Search, Web Design | 1 Comment

Swine Flu Resources

I suspect that Swine Flu is likely to be a common research question for reference departments around the world during the foreseeable future.  I have had an interest in the 1918 influenza epidemic pandemic for several years, and have spent … Continue reading

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Wake Up and Bathe

A library district in suburban Chicago (Schaumberg, Illinois) is implementing rules governing library user’s odor and library sleeping habits, but is stressing that the rules are not aimed at homeless users of the library. This is a little hard to … Continue reading

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It was twenty years ago today…

Sir Tim Berner-Lee started what is now known as the World Wide Web exactly twenty years ago. In this posted video from Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) 2009, he discusses how it started, where we are, and where we might be … Continue reading

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Media-Morphosis

Media-Morphosis : How the Internet will Devour, Transform, or Destroy Your Favorite Medium is an essay by Cory Doctorow on Internet Evolution.  Think of it as another way of describing the times in which we are living.  Then start thinking … Continue reading

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Gramophone Archive

Gramophone Archive is the complete, searchable collection of every issue of The Gramophone since April 1923. Enjoy audiophiles! found via MetaFilter

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Obama at ALA 2005

Many people have a memory of the moment they realized that Barack Obama was likely to become president.  For some, the moment came during the primaries, perhaps when they heard the speech he gave after the New Hampshire primary. Others, … Continue reading

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Papers of the War Department 1784-1800

Papers of the War Department : 1784 to 1800 is a searchable archive of documents from the early history of the United States that, until recently, were thought to have been irretrievably lost in a fire.  Over the past decade, … Continue reading

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Five drafts and One Sophie Book ago…

If you don’t have it already, install the Sophie Reader on your computer and take a look at this version of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. It features five drafts of the famous speech, displayed so that you can compare and … Continue reading

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Stories Behind 10 Dr. Seuss Stories

Stories Behind 10 Dr. Seuss Stories is a post at the Mental Floss blog with information about the inspirations (and representations) behind several of the great books by Theodor Seuss Giesel. via LISNews

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