Category Archives: Software

The Open Library

Posted on 16 July 2007 by Rick Mason

The Open Library is a project I have been hoping for years that someone would start – an open source universal book catalog.   Think WorldCat meets Wikipedia meets Amazon and you won’t be far off. So go to their demo … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Libraries, Library 2.0, Online Databases, Open Access, Open Source, Wiki | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Open Library

Bowker buys AquaBrowser

Posted on 27 June 2007 by Rick Mason

Specifically, Bowker has bought the company that owns AquaBrowser. Bowker, best known for publishing Books In Print, as well as assigning ISBNs, has bought Medialab Solutions, the Amsterdam company that developed the search interface. If you haven’t used AquaBrowser lately, … Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries, News, Search, Software, Web Design | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Bowker buys AquaBrowser

Top Tech Trends 2007

Posted on 24 June 2007 by Rick Mason

Well, it’s not a list from an official generator of trend lists, but Karen Coombs has posted a Top Tech Trends 2007 list that I think is well thought out and close to the mark. How quickly (and how completely) … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogs, Libraries, Library 2.0, Open Source | Tagged | Comments Off on Top Tech Trends 2007

LibraryThing for Libraries

Posted on 14 May 2007 by Rick Mason

LibraryThing for Libraries has launched!  Without needing to alter your existing ILS software beyond a few lines of javascript in your OPAC’s page footer, you can add the following functionality to your book catalog: Links to other editions and translations. Links to “similar books”. … Continue reading →

Posted in ILS, Libraries, Online Databases, Online Services, Software, Web Design | Tagged , | Comments Off on LibraryThing for Libraries

Wikipedia of Public Libraries – Presentation

Posted on 10 April 2007 by Rick Mason

The Wikipedia of Public Libraries : A quickie wiki primer, the PLWiki project, and You (pdf) is a presentation by Andrea Mercado, PLA Blog Manager, on wikis and how they can benefit libraries.   It contains a link to a request … Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries, Online Services, Presenting, Software, Web Design | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Wikipedia of Public Libraries – Presentation

Sophie

Posted on 9 April 2007 by Rick Mason

Sophie is a brand new piece of software from The Institute for the Future of the Book (blog) that may signal one possible direction for written media.  When finished (it is Alpha software at the moment, meaning that you should use it … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Books, Open Source, Software, Web Design | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Sophie

Fontification

Posted on 30 March 2007 by Rick Mason

A couple of font-related items: The SIL Open Font License (OFL) has been updated, primarily to clarify allowed usage such as document embedding (such as Pdf files).  Read about it here.  (from NewsForge) The Open Font Library is a collection … Continue reading →

Posted in Copyright, Open Source | Tagged , | Comments Off on Fontification

Library of Congress/Archive.org Preservation Project

Posted on 28 March 2007 by Rick Mason

This article from Linux.com is a great overview of what it takes to run a digitization project with fragile material and across great distance, as the Library of Congress and Archive.org work together on a project to preserve some of … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Books, Government, Libraries, Online Databases, Open Source, Software | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Library of Congress/Archive.org Preservation Project

Evergreen Update

Posted on 26 March 2007 by Rick Mason

The latest news from the Evergreen ILS project is that Equinox Software, the support company founded by several of the Evergreen developers, and the King County Library System in Washington state, are teaming up to develop a proof-of-concept installation.  This … Continue reading →

Posted in ILS, Libraries, Open Source, Software | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Evergreen Update

Public Knowledge Project

Posted on 25 March 2007 by Rick Mason

The Public Knowledge Project is a Canadian research initiative started nine years ago in order to develop “free, open source software for the management, publishing, and indexing of journals and conferences.” In doing so, they have found themselves at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences, Copyright, Libraries, Open Access, Open Source, Periodicals | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Public Knowledge Project

Nines

Posted on 24 February 2007 by Rick Mason

On the surface, Nines is a searchable database for nineteenth-century studies (their name stands for “a networked infrastructure for nineteenth-century electronic scholarship”). When you go beneath the surface, however, there is a great deal of potential to be explored. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries, Online Databases, Online Services, Open Access, Open Source, Periodicals, Search, Software, Web Design | Comments Off on Nines

LibLime expands

Posted on 24 February 2007 by Rick Mason

LibLime, the U.S. based support company for the Koha open-source integrated library system (ILS), has acquired Katipo Communication’s Koha division. This is interesting news: not only will LibLime be in a much better position to offer support (it now employs … Continue reading →

Posted in ILS, Libraries, News, Open Source, Software | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on LibLime expands

Open Letter to ILS Vendors

Posted on 21 February 2007 by Rick Mason

Roy Tenant has posted an Open Letter to ILS Vendors. He makes his case wonderfully. I suspect that we shall see an exodus away from the big vendors, and towards the open source solutions. The momentum is beginning to build; … Continue reading →

Posted in ILS, Libraries, Open Source, Software | Tagged , | Comments Off on Open Letter to ILS Vendors

LibraryFind

Posted on 31 January 2007 by Rick Mason

Wow… library blog land is abuzz tonight with the release of LibraryFind… and it does look fantastic! It is an open source federated search engine that is fully customizable, and the price is right. Check out the Oregon State University … Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries, Open Source, Search, Software, Web Design, WebSearch | Tagged , , | Comments Off on LibraryFind

Libraries and Open Source Software

Posted on 25 January 2007 by Rick Mason

Libraries facilitate open access to information with open source software is an interesting article posted on Linux.com. I have opened my Open Source Software and Libraries with the same observation that the open source movement and libraries share many of … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences, Libraries, Open Access, Open Source, Presenting, Software | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Libraries and Open Source Software

Link Evaluator

Posted on 25 January 2007 by Rick Mason

Link Evaluator is a Firefox extension (now being called “add-ons”) provided by OCLC that, as the name suggests, evaluates the links on a web page using a color-coded system. from Catalogablog

Posted in OCLC, Open Source, Software, Web Design | Comments Off on Link Evaluator

2006 ECAR study released

Posted on 13 January 2007 by Rick Mason

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2006 (3MB Pdf here), the third annual report, has been released.  These have been very informative reports, containing information on a broad range of student/IT interactions. thanks to Bill Drew for … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Libraries, Software, Statistics | Tagged , | Comments Off on 2006 ECAR study released

Reference Librarian as Technology Mediator

Posted on 7 January 2007 by Rick Mason

This article’s abstract: The Arizona Health Sciences Library has collaborated with clinical faculty to develop a federated search engine that is useful for meeting real-time clinical information needs. This article proposes a technology mediation role for the reference librarian that … Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries, Online Databases, Online Services, Search, Software, Web Design | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Reference Librarian as Technology Mediator

Go FISH

Posted on 4 January 2007 by Rick Mason

As discussed on the Infomancy blog, FISH was their response to the problems inherent in the current state of the OPAC (Online Public-Access Catalog). And their response? FISH (Free (as in kittens) Integrated Search Handler). What’s the difference? Read their … Continue reading →

Posted in ILS, Libraries, Online Databases, Open Source, Search, Software | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Go FISH

Make The Move

Posted on 3 January 2007 by Rick Mason

Need an introduction to Open Source Software (OSS)?  Want to understand what it can do for you?  Check out Make The Move, a site that gives you an excellent overview of the benefits and considerations for switching to OSS.

Posted in Open Source, Software | Tagged | Comments Off on Make The Move