Isaak’s Links - 9 September 2005

by Isaak Kwok on September 9, 2005 · Comments

in Libraries

  • Naming names:
    A West Australian librarian thoughts and views on names. Quite significant for me given that my wife just gave birth to our son, Matthew, last Saturday (3 September). However, for us, we thought of his name in March once we knew that my wife was pregnant. We thought of both male and female names as we weren’t aware of what sex the baby is. Well, for those who are not aware, Matthew means ‘Gift of God”.
  • Book blogs’ buzz grows louder:
    The significance of litblogs (or book blogs) on the publishing industry. A good review might mean higher sales. One literary blog highlighted is “The Elephant Variation” by Mark Sarvas. Currently, the library is promoting certain titles via book reviews in different publications such as newspapers (The Sunday Times’ personal finance section, The Digital Life supplement, INK supplement, Mind Your Body supplement) and magazines. Maybe we can move this to the blog world so that readers can also post their comments on the books reviewed by us. Readers can even recommend books that we might have missed or the library doesn’t have.
  • Litblog:
    More stuff about Litblogs. That litblogs can help promote public libraries as well.
  • Philips unfurl prototype flexible display e-paper:
    We might just get electronic newspapers and books in the library quite soon if this prototype proves successfully. There’s also the Sony Libre to look out for. (via LISNews.com)
  • Chinese Govt moves to help home-made books go overseas:
    The Chinese government is offering subsidies to the local publishers to translate Chinese-language books into foreign languages to promote the overseas sale of domestic books. Maybe NLB can provide such a service through our Heritage Department. (via LISNews.com)
  • Libraries change lives right here, right now:
    A very touching account of librarians and library volunteers uniting in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to still provide library services. This is what I call “reaching the unreached”. (via librarian.net)
  • Web Development Trends for 2006:
    Quite technical, but I thought it would be useful for librarians to be aware of what’s happening in the Internet. With Web 2.0, there will be more interactivity between the reader and the content provider (i.e. the librarian).
  • New search engines help users find blogs:
    A Wall Street Journal look at new search engines that just search blogs. The article talks about the systematic failure of the big search engines, such as Google, MSN and Yahoo!, from locating blog entries. The most popular one from the list is Technorati, with IceRocket emerging as a very strong competitor. There’s also a hand-picked blog search engine, DayPop.