Comments of LIS Blogs

(Article Review)

            Blogging has gained great popularity among all sorts of professionals and non-professionals around the world. Blogs and blogosphere have given ‘freedom to write’ to all those who know to use computer keyboard and a little bit internet. As of septmeber 2008, more than 133 million blogs appeared in the blogosphere (Technorati, 2008). According to NDTV there are an estimated 40,000 regular bloggers in India (The Hindu 25 June, 2008) and 3,00,000 words are blogged per minutes on the largest search engine site, Google (Times of India 28, July 2010). As any other professionals, librarians also have found their own space in the blogosphere. By the end of 1990s, some librarians launched professional blogs which focused on LIS news, emerging technologies and methods of improving library services (Stephens 2008).

            Facility to comment on the blog posts is one of the main attractions of blogging. A study about the comments on LIS blogs, conducted by Noa Aharony, LIS lecturer in Bar-Ilan university of Israel, has been published in the Libri Jounal (V. 60, March 2010)*. The study contains analysis of comments which appeared in 30 LIS blogs in August-October 2008. The researcher has conducted two phase analysis such as 1) statistical descriptive analysis and 2) content analysis. The study reveals that 18 blogs had 0-50 comments per blog, 7 blogs had the highest percentage of posts with comments 91-100%. In case of average comments per post, 26 blogs had 0-10 comments per post while 1 blog had more than 40 comments per post, further, in 23 blogs the comments were written by anonymous comment- writers.

            In case of languages, 90.29% of comment-writers use personal languages. Information like personal (34.19%), advisory (17.75%), reflective (17.72%), impressive (15.60%) and courtesy and politeness (13.70%) are being presented through comments. In addition to this, content of comments distributed among library issues (23.58%), technology issues (23.58%), web 2.0 (16.50%), general librarianship (5.66%) open access issues (2.83%) and conference (0.94%). This study reveals that most of the blog’s readers are passive and do not comment or contribute content to blog.   At the other hand, the LIS blog readers who participate and add comments to the posts took advantage of this platform and discuss topics which are relevant to librarians’ work and profession. The writing of the comments enables them rethink, reflect, evaluate, and reconsider professional issues and to share it with their colleagues. The author concludes that the current findings add a new dimension to LIS blogosphere. It is not only the LIS bloggers who deal with professional issues in their blogs, but it is also the readers who add comments, write, and discuss professional topics. It seems that both the bloggers and their readers exploit their medium for dissemination of professional information as well as for sharing their experience and thought.

*Aharony, Nao. LIS blog comments: An exploratory analysis. Libri. Vol 60, pp 65-77,   March 2010.

Author’s E-mail: aharonn1@mail.biu.ac.il

20 GOOGLE Searching Tips

1. Either/or
Google normally searches for pages that contain all the words you type in the search box, but if you want pages that have one term or another (or both), use the OR operator -- or use the "|" symbol (pipe symbol) to save you a keystroke. [dumb | little | man]

2. Quotes
If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes. ["dumb little man"] will only find that exact phrase. [dumb "little man"] will find pages that contain the word dumb and the exact phrase "little man".

3. Not
If you don't want a term or phrase, use the "-" symbol. [-dumb little man] will return pages that contain "little" and "man" but that don't contain "dumb".

4. Similar terms
Use the "~" symbol to return similar terms. [~dumb little man -dumb] will get you pages that contain "funny little man" and "stupid little man" but not "dumb little man".

5. Wildcard
The "*" symbol is a wildcard. This is useful if you're trying to find the lyrics to a song, but can't remember the exact lyrics. [can't * me love lyrics] will return the Beatles song you're looking for. It's also useful for finding stuff only in certain domains, such as
educational information: ["dumb little man" research *.edu].

6. Advanced search
If you can't remember any of these operators, you can always use Google's advanced search.

7. Definitions
Use the "define:" operator to get a quick definition. [define:dumb] will give you a whole host of definitions from different sources, with links.

8. Calculator
One of the handiest uses of Google, type in a quick calculation in the search box and get an answer. It's faster than calling up your computer's calculator in most cases. Use the +, -, *, / symbols and parentheses to do a simple equation.

9. Numrange
This little-known feature searches for a range of numbers. For example, ["best books 2002..2007] will return lists of best books for each of the years from 2002 to 2007 (note the two periods between the two numbers).

10. Site-specific
Use the "site:" operator to search only within a certain website. [site:dumblittleman.com leo] will search for the term "leo" only within this blog.

11. Backlinks
The "link:" operator will find pages that link to a specific URL. You can use this not only for a main URL but even to a specific page. Not all links to an URL are listed, however.

12. Vertical search
Instead of searching for a term across all pages on the web, search within a specialized field. Google has a number of specific searches, allowing you to search within blogs, news, books, and much more:
• Blog Search
• Book Search
• Scholar
• Catalogs
• Code Search
• Directory
• Finance
• Images
• Local/Maps
• News
• Patent Search
• Product Search
• Video

13. Movies
Use the "movie:" operator to search for a movie title along with either a zip code or U.S. city and state to get a list of movie theaters in the area and show times.

14. Music
The "music:" operator returns content related to music only.

15. Unit converter
Use Google for a quick conversion, from yards to meters for example, or different currency: [12 meters in yards]

16. Types of numbers
Google algorithms can recognize patterns in numbers you enter, so you can search for:

• Telephone area codes
• Vehicle ID number (US only)
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC) equipment numbers (US only)
• UPC codes
• Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airplane registration number (US only)
• Patent numbers (US only)
• Even stock quotes (using the stock symbol) or a weather forecast regarding the next five days

17. File types
If you just want to search for .PDF files, or Word documents, or Excel spreadsheets, for example, use the "filetype:" operator.

18. Location of term
By default, Google searches for your term throughout a web page. But if you just want it to search certain locations, you can use operators such as "inurl:", "intitle:", "intext:", and "inanchor:". Those search for a term only within the URL, the title,
the body text, and the anchor text (the text used to describe a link).

19. Cached pages
Looking for a version of a page the Google stores on its own servers? This can help with outdated or update pages. Use the "cached:" operator.

20. Answer to life, the universe, and everything
Search for that phrase, in lower case, and Google will give you the answer.

Harvard Library Lab

The Harvard Library Lab, managed by the Office of Scholarly Communication (OSC) in the Harvard University Library (HUL), is just getting off the ground, and will have up to $1 million to support projects proposed by Harvard students, faculty, and staff.

The Library Laboratory at Harvard Law School was established a year ago, and recently announced a new co-director. Its projects range from the practical to the whimsical, such as the Harvard Library Hose, which generates a Twitter post for each book checked out from libraries across Harvard, including the book's title, its author, and a link to its Harvard catalog entry.

Harvard Library Lab: a focus on openness

The new Harvard Library Lab was established last month; its first projects will be funded in January.

The lab will be funded by part of a $5 million grant the library received from the London, England-based Arcadia Fund in April 2009. Up to $1 million will be used for the Library Lab in the first year of the program, according to HUL spokesman Peter Kosewski.

Stuart Shieber, the Faculty Director of the OSC and the Welch Professor of Computer Science at Harvard, told LJ that part of the lab's aim is to support projects that promote openness—that is, projects that are sharable as much as possible, as well as projects that help make Harvard's information resources more accessible to the general public.

"We expect a lot of the proposals will come from librarians because, obviously, they have the most knowledge of what the opportunities are for improving services," said Shieber, architect of the pioneering Open Access Resolution approved in 2008 by Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Please find attached Harvard Library Lab Guidelines dated 15 July 2010 The OSC, in a document [PDF] regarding the lab's details and guidelines, gives examples of the kinds of projects that might qualify for support, including innovative mobile apps for existing library systems, customizable search applications for electronic resources, applications improving browsing capability for digital resources, or improving print-on-demand capabilities.

The document also states that the Harvard Library Lab's efforts would be guided by four main principles: entrepreneurialism (supporting projects via a "bottom-up" proposal system), scalability, openness, and experimentation.

Source | http://osc.hul.harvard.edu/

25 Important Legal Issues Every Librarian Should Research

Most people don’t think of librarians as legal entities, but the fact is there are a number of legal issues that are important for librarians to understand. Whether you’re dealing with copyright or disabilities, the best way to protect yourself is to be informed. Be sure that you’ve brushed up on these important issues.
1. Filters: Many public libraries are under pressure to filter Internet access to patrons. Whether or not you do so can have legal implications for your library.
2. Accessibility: It’s important that libraries comply with the Americans with Disabilities act in order to make accessing the libray easier for people with disabilities.
3. Accessible website and written materials: Accesibility in your library also extends to your website and written materials. Make sure you’re in compliance with this resource.
4. Privacy: As many libraries become more technologically savvy, the issue of privacy will often come up. You will have to be careful about publishing your patrons’ information, images, and more.
5. Freedom of information: According to the First Amendment, the government is allowed to restrict information in the library. Find out what you can do about it and how you have to comply.
6. Children on the Internet: Your library may be held responsible for offensive content accessed using the library’s computers, so it’s important to find out how to protect yourself.
7. Employee rights: Just like other employment entities, libraries have to be well aware of employment law, avoiding discrimination and wrongful treatment of library workers.
8. Hate meetings: Your library’s meeting rooms and computers may be used in order to spread and promote hateful speech and thoughts. Additionally, you may find that hateful literature is requested. Find out how to deal with this issue before it comes up.
9. Book removal: Librarians have to be careful about removing books from a library’s collection. You will find that you often do not have unrestricted authority to remove offensive library books from your library.
10. Licensing: Public use of electronic resources will almost always require a license, so it’s key that you fully understand how to use the licenses that have been granted to your library.
11. Information liability: If a patron uses your library resources to learn how to build a bomb, and then uses the bomb to harm people, can your library be held partially responsible? Find out the exact legalities and how you can protect your library and resources from this issue.
12. Digitizing material: By creating digital collections, you may be violating copyright law. Be careful not to violate any copyright laws as you make information more available.
13. Library policies: You may make the rules in your library, but that doesn’t mean they are legal. Ensure that your library policies are legally enforceable with this resource.
14. Banned books: Many books can be offensive to library patrons and parents of young patrons that visit your library, and books are often challenged by groups and individuals. How you deal with the removal or preservation of a book is important.
15. Software lending: If you’re lending software out to patrons, be careful that your policies do not violate any legal issues. Considerations to pay attention to are licensing, copyright, and liability.
16. Bulletin boards: Your library’s bulletin boards may be used as a community resource, so it’s important to consider whether or not you’re violating free speech with your bulletin board policy.
17. Latchkey kids: Often, libraries find that children are left to do homework and entertain themselves in the library. Consider how your library could be held liable if something were to happen to a child on the library’s property.
18. Reproduction: It’s important for libraries to respect copyright law when making reproductions for their collections and archives. Additionally, your library may need to monitor patron usage to ensure that they are not violating copyright laws.
19. Video performance: Consider whether allowing patrons to watch videos individually or in a group performance voilates the copyright laws of the motion picture.
20. Game night: Like video performance, allowing copyrighted video games to be played in the library and with library resources may violate copyright law.
21. Homeless people: Educate yourself on the legal rights of homeless library users, particularly solicitation, harassment, odor, and helping to provide homeless people with resources.
22. Fair use: Educate yourself on the law surrounding fair use so that you can understand when usage is fair, and when it violates a work’s copyright.
23. Public domain: Learn about public domain so that you can provide copyright-free resources to your patrons. It’s especially useful to learn how to identify a work in the public domain.
24. FBI in the library: The FBI can use your library as a resource for investigating the public’s usage of your resources, so it’s important to know how to deal with it. One librarian has come up with a few technically legal signs that you can use to let patrons know they may be monitored.
25. Rude patrons: Be careful when dealing with rude patrons. Be sure that you know the laws regarding issues like defacement, theft, violence, and trespassing.

source- http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog

Librarians Day 2010

The Department of Library and Information Science, Aligarh Muslim University celebrated Librarians' Day 2010 with various activities. Earlier, on 12th August, conducted a Debate on "conventional vs digital libraries" in which Ms Mehnas Siddiqi bagged the first prize and Mr. Muzammil Mushtaq second prize. On 13th August, LIS Quiz was conducted. Four teams namely 'Personality', 'Matter', 'Energy', 'Space' participated and the audience was named as 'time'. The Quiz was focused on Dr. SR Ranganathan, his contribution to Library Science. Team 'Personality' bagged first prize and Mr. Mohamed Musthafa acted as Quiz Master. On 14th August, Prof. PB Mangla, a student of Dr. SR Ranganathan delivered ‘Ranganathan Memorial Lecture’. Prof. Mangla stressed on the need for establishing a National Institute of Library and Information Management as an umbrella organization to coordinate various LIS research activities in the country.
Prof. Shabahat Husain, Librarian-in-charge, Maulana Azad Library presided over the function and Dr. Naushad Ali PM, Chairman, DLIS, welcomed the audience. Certificates and prizes were distributed to the winners.

Knowledge Divides: World Social Science Report 2010

Social science from Western countries continues to have the greatest global influence, but the field is expanding rapidly in Asia and Latin America, particularly in China and Brazil. In sub-Saharan Africa, social scientists from South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya produce 75% of academic publications. In South Asia, barring some centres of excellence in India, social sciences as a whole have low priority. These are a few of the findings from World Social Science Report, 2010: "Knowledge divides".
Produced by the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and co-published with UNESCO, the Report is the first comprehensive overview of the field in over a decade. Hundreds of social scientists from around the world contributed their expertise to the publication. Gudmund Hernes, President of the ISSC, Adebayo Olukoshi, Director of the United Nations African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), Hebe Vessuri, Director, Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), and François Héran, Director of Research, National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED), France, are among the experts who presented the Report during its official launch at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 25 June 2010.

Table of Contents
Foreword – Irina Bokova (Director-General of UNESCO)
Foreword – Pierre Sané (Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences)
Preface – Gudmund Hernes (President, International Social Science Council)
General introduction (Françoise Caillods and Laurent Jeanpierre)
1. Social sciences facing the world
2. The institutional geography of social science
3. Unequal capacities
4. Uneven internationalization
5. Homogenizing or pluralizing social sciences?
6. Disciplinary territories
7. Competing in the knowledge society
8. Disseminating social sciences
9. Social sciences and policy-makers
10. Conclusions and future lines of action

Also includes papers of:
Krishna, V.V. and Krishna, Usha. "Social sciences in South Asia". In: World Social Science Report 2010. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 2010, pages 77-81.
Khadria, Binod. "Brain drain and brain circulation in South Asia". In: World Social Science Report 2010. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 2010, pages 124-125.

Download Full-text PDF: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001883/188333e.pdf

Assign Class Nos and Subject Heading more easily

OCLC's Classify service provides a user interface and a machine service for assigning classification numbers and subject heading The database is searchable by many of the standard numbers associated with books, magazines, journals, and music and video recordings. These numbers include:

ISBN (International Standard Book Number)
ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)
UPC (Universal Product Code).
With the help of classify providing DDC class no and subject heading become more easy. With the help of Classify you can search Class no and subject heading for any subject. Classify is based on database of OCLC's large database.

To Classify online go to http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/