Vast Active Library and Information Science blog. From a recent library science graduate in Wellington, New Zealand. A focus on reference and current awareness tools and issues, especially free, web-based resources.

 
To the person who keeps turning up here following a Google search for 'prozac nation free download'. It's not available for free. If it was, the publishers and author wouldn't be able to make any money back on their investment, would they? It's an interesting book, and worth reading. If you can't afford to buy it, try your local library, who will almost certainly have a copy. :)

(and a big shout out to whoever did a google search for 'valisblog' - which reassures me that at least one person who looks at this blog did so on purpose ;). Made my day).

| posted by Simon at 2:12 pm

 
Which, when you think about it, is still quite low. OK, we've seen a sharp increase in the number of users (50 to 59% in a few years). But that still leaves a huge number of people for whom the web has no particular relevance. See Pew Internet & American Life Project for more.

(Via LIS News.

| posted by Simon at 1:58 pm

 
Currently reading The Invisible Web, Chris Sherman and Gary Price's book about finding information that is inaccessible to conventional search engines. See Invisible-web.net for background to the book, as well as a directory of information sources in the invisible web. Definitely worth the time, it explains how the net and the web work, and why some forms of information are more easily retrieved through search engines than others (non-HTML files, and information in dynamic databases, are especially hard to retrieve for various reasons. Read the book).

It all counteracts this article from CNN quite nicely. It's not a new article (late June) but I've only just noticed it. The key quote:

"Says Alan Cohen, a V.P. of Airespace, a new Wi-Fi provider: "If I can operate Google, I can find anything. And with wireless, it means I will be able to find anything, anywhere, anytime. Which is why I say that Google, combined with Wi-Fi, is a little bit like God. God is wireless, God is everywhere and God sees and knows everything."

Anything, Alan? Here's what Marylaine Block says about what's not on the net. By her estimate, the internet contains approx 12% of the world's accumulated store of knowledge. Which doesn't even allow for the fact that Google et al only index a fraction of what's online, anyway.

I'm giving a presentation at work in a few months on information sources. I'll definitely be drawing on Chris and Gary's book for inspiration.

Of course, the irony of this post is that I couldn't remember the URLs for either Invisible-Web or Ex-Libris. Guess how I found them? (If you said Google, you were right - and the links I wanted were in the top one or two results of my basic Google search).

| posted by Simon at 1:53 pm

 
Via Sitelines. Google has introduced a synonym operator using the tilde (~) character. Could be interesting....

| posted by Simon at 1:05 pm

 
The Digital Book Index provides access to more than 73,000 titles records. It is the sole index that gathers both commercial and non-commercial eBooks from more than 1800 publishers and private publishing organizations.

Via URL Wire and Moreover.

| posted by Simon at 1:01 pm

 
My house got burgled yesterday. The pricks climbed our backyard fence, then jimmied open my bedroom window and climbed in through that. I lost US$230 in cash that I had left over from my travels, and one of my favourite CDs (which is odd, because there are approx 250 CDs in my room and they didn't take any of them...)

Although I've just realised that they took a CD carry case that had about 30 CDs in it - most of them weren't that good or were pirated copies, so that's OK - well sort of).

I'm trying to look on the bright side - they stole a watch that my ex-girlfriend gave me, but it's broken - and in the same drawer was a $1000 ring that belonged to my dead grandfather, which they missed. And we didn't lose any of our big stuff - stereos, TV, PC etc (although as my PC is broken I wouldn't have minded if they had taken that).

Fuck fuck fuck.....

| posted by Simon at 12:58 pm

 
(Via The Shifted Librarian. Children voting on the Yahooligans site prefer (by a narrow margin admittedly) to use instant messaging, rather than email. Jenny rightly points out that this will have implications for virtual reference services. Definitely something for me to think about as we've implemented a web-based reference service that at the moment runs via email only. I'd love to be able to answer reference inquiries via chat, but the problem with that is that we don't have the staff available to have one of us tied to a PC all the time. Maybe a limted hours chat service is the answer?

| posted by Simon at 1:16 pm

 
Greg Dyke, director general of the BBC, has announced plans to give the public full access to all the corporation's programme archives.

Mr Dyke said on Sunday that everyone would in future be able to download BBC radio and TV programmes from the internet.

The service, the BBC Creative Archive, would be free and available to everyone, as long as they were not intending to use the material for commercial purposes, Mr Dyke added.

More at BBC technology news.



| posted by Simon at 1:13 pm

 
The BBC reports: "Researchers at Hewlett Packard have developed a prototype electronic book which can hold a whole library on a device no bigger than a paperback." The usual problems with e-books are mentioned, notably the difficulty of reading on-screen. The article continues "However new advances in electronic paper displays may get around this problem while making the prototype device slimmer and more powerful. "Radical new display technologies are on the horizon which will give a much more paper like feel", said Mr Robson. "

| posted by Simon at 1:11 pm

 
So next morning we have to get up early and get running, because young Cory still lives at home and her parents are coming back, and explaining to her Episcopalian parents that "this is Simon, he's my friend from New Zealand that I met on the internet" was likely to lead to all sorts of weirdness and problems. So we go for breakfast, and then she drops me at the station so I can head back to New York and catch up with Chrissie and Luke (yet more internet people). This eventually accomplished, we go back to their place in Conneticut, hang out for a while before heading to a party that their friends are DJing at.

The party turns out to be a good hour's drive from their house, and when we get there, to be a college party - Chrissie and Luke are probably 3-4 years older than most of the others there, and I'm 6 or 7 years older than that. So I feel a bit out of place. Music is good, less good are frat-boy types calling each other 'faggot' (as a joke ha ha). And then the party gets broken up (I feel like I'm relieving my childhood) by the college authorities. So we go down to the car park to wait around for a while, then back to the party - which ends up being 5 or 6 of us, plus a couple of strangers, sitting in a bedroom - and everyone from the house seemingly having disappeared. All good fun - we manage to get home about 8am after getting lost on the way back.

The rest of the week is spent in New York. I catch up with some of my real life friends - Paul, Antony and Amy (my cousin) who all live in New York or the region. Great to see them all, they all seem to be doing well, although there's a bit of a shadow over the meetup when we hear the news from Iraq - Paul works for the UN and knows several of the people killed there - Sergio was his boss at one point. Very, very sad.

Cory comes down from New Jersey and stays with me for most of the week. Which is, well, it's very very good. Unfortunately we both know that nothing much can come of it - we're both studying, and I don't think either of us would really give that up, if it came down to it. We also discussed things very maturely and decided we weren't going to make any promises. So of course since I got back we've done nothing but scheme of different ways to carry on the affair (relationship? Sounds like the wrong word). Which will all end in tears. No doubt. But it was worth it, anyway.

In between all this I manage to check out the Met, the Guggenheim, and wander round the East Village, Williamsburg, and Greenwich Village, as well as strolling Central Park. So all is good. And I nearly got inside CBGB's - except it was closed by the time we found it. Oh well.

| posted by Simon at 5:26 pm

 
So Cory takes me on a tour of Philadelphia, where I learn of the bitter rivalries between the advocates of the two Philly Steak sandwich vendors (You gotta like Geno's, or Pat's - there is no middle ground), get a whirlwhind tour of the art gallery (including the steps that Sly ran up in training during Rocky), and get taken to a Phillies game (baseball) with the incredibly knowledgeable hippy type Michael. It is genuinely one of the nicest days I've had in a longtime.

We continue with drinks at possibly the least authentic Irish bar I've ever seen (they don't even serve Guinness). But they redeem themselves by the price ($1.70/pint) before dropping Michael home. Cory and I continue back to Jersey, drink some more, by which time I'm fading and decide to go to bed. At which point, Cory goes to hug me good night and I go to kiss her (or maybe vice versa, it was one of those drunken things that you can't be sure if you initiated, or if the other person did). Which leads from one thing to another quite rapidly, and very pleasantly.

By all accounts I'm possibly the only person who knew I was staying with her who didn't suspect that this was a possibility when I decided to go visit her. Heh. Life is strange. But strange can be good.....

[Incredibly self-indulgent, I'm planning on posting some more library stuff when I get through the 50 million emails and Bloglines entries waiting for me - I guess if you want to read the library stuff you can just blank out when you read "(personal)" at the start of an entry, hey? Oh the tension between wanting to be taken seriously by my peers and provide something interesting for my friends to read).

| posted by Simon at 1:22 pm

 
So I'm finished with the conference, and I get to continue my US adventure. I'm heading to New York, and I've got as far as my stopover in Denver. I'm cursing the fact that I have to wait three hours or so for my connecting flight. I've just purchased a copy of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (after laughing my way through a chapter of Ann Coulter's Treason in the bookstore).

I get to the boarding gate, and the airline staff are saying something about '....flight delayed. Take a look at CNN'. So I walk over to the TV and see the first pictures of the NYC power blackout. Pretty soon, it's clear that this isn't something local, or something that will be over quickly, so I do what any sensible New Zealander would in this situation. I go to the bar. Where I watch CNN and see the blackout spreading through Jersey, Conneticut, even Ohio.

I'm convinced there's no chance of reaching NYC that night, so I rebook for Philadelphia the next day, and email everyone I can think of to tell them I'm OK (just in case NY descends into riots and they think I'm in it). I also phone Cory (who I'm supposed to be staying with), but can't get through as cellphone networks are down.

Surprisingly, a few hours later flights are back on, so I get on my originally scheduled (but now 3 hours late) flight. There's hardly anyone on it - I've got a whole row to myself, so I try to catch some sleep. We arrive La Guardia around midnight, to applause from the passengers. I must commend United Airlines' staff - they were great in a really difficult situation. La Guardia is mostly dark, with essential lights and electronics running from a generator. It's midnight, but maintenance men are still hard at work, trying to get water running in the toilets. Baggage handlers are working by hand as the carousels aren't working. People are sleeping all over the arrivals lounge, on the floor, on the stationary carousels. I join them (the floor is quite pleasant, and the cold helps with the lack of air conditioning).

Next day I manage to get a bus into downtown Manhattan. This is the only downer of the trip. The bus is supposed to go to Penn Station. It doesn't, it just goes to Times Sq. Which is cool, I understand things are difficult. But when I try to ask the driver how to get to Penn, he just snarls at me that I'm lucky I even got into the city. Maybe he's right. There are hundreds of people wandering around who clearly slept on the streets (uh, that's in addition to the hundreds of people who usually sleep on the streets, obviously). In a park, Liz Phair is getting ready to play a free concert. I don't know why, and I don't stick around. I help an Australian backpacker with her navigation (she's looking for a hostel that is "somewhere near Central Park"), then head to Penn Station. Luckily, the Jersey transit is working. There's one scary moment when our train is announced, and a crowd of people flood down the stairs. I really thought for a moment that someone would get trampled.

Get into Hamilton. Try to call Cory. No answer. Phones don't seem to be working. Shit. She's only a 20 minute drive away, but she thinks I'm going to be in Philly, not Jersey. What do to? The internet to the rescue! I ask at the station if they know any internet cafes in the area. After establishing that they barely knew what the internet was, they suggest the parking attendant's office. So I go ask him if he knows where I can get online. "Nowhere I can think of round here...except on this computer". I wait hopefully...."go ahead and use it if you like".

What a saint! This is one of the things which I really noticed on this trip - there are many many very helpful and friendly people in the States. It takes me about 5 minutes to track Cory down on line, send her a personal message, and within half an hour she's there to pick me up.....

| posted by Simon at 1:15 pm

 
So, there was actually a reason for me being in the US. It's a user conference for a a virtual reference/knowledge base product called Right Now. I'm now the organisation expert on the product, so I get to go. It's cool. I've become such a geek that listening to people talk up the benefits of this new product is actually quite interesting to me (and we're having discusssions about why they use Boolean OR rather than AND searches, or specifically Boolean AND-ranked OR searches, so this isn't light conversation).

And the product is actually really good. I was pretty sceptical at first, but having used it for a while, I like it a lot. It's saving me a lot of time by answering the basic reference queries that I get asked everyday for me. Recommended. The new features (such as managing outbound mailing lists) look really good as well.

| posted by Simon at 12:55 pm

 
Finally back from the US, and able to write (I've been at a conference, which will get some sort of a write-up as it does relate to library stuff).

The trip: I'm kinda scared, because I hear security in the US is hyper strict now (unsurprisingly). I get searched twice at Auckland International, the second time my belt buckle and zip set off the metal detector (you are *not* getting metal on those flights). Weird thing is, the incoming security at LAX is less strict than at Wellington (maybe because we're so worried about food products? But in NZ, there are sniffer dogs all over your bags as you collect them. In LA, I saw a sniffer dog, but it didn't come anywhere near me, or most other people there).

Anyway, after panicking because my ATM card won't work anywhere I manage to score some cash and head for Union Station to catch the San Diego train.

Arrive San Diego, it's baking hot, wander round for a while before going to meet Brad. We chill out for a while in his impressive apartment, then go check out the nightlife. It's OK, but kinda mainstream. The interesting thing is the hookah bar - a place that sells hits of flavoured tobacco (yeah, just tobacco) in hookahs. Very strange, but it does have an effect on you if (like me) you aren't used to smoking. Best avoided, in my opinion. The effect isn't very desirable.

Next day is spent talking sport with Jeff before meeting Amy and Aly. Totally awesome to hang out with these people, even if only for a few hours. We play a sedate game of disc golf (I pretty much suck) in the sun, then go for dinner. After that, it's time for the bus back to Los Angeles, which is only eventful due to the presence of US Customs officials. Luckily, they are only looking for illegal Mexicans, so I'm OK.

Get to LA at midnight and decide to sleep in Union Station, because I've got no cheap way of making the airport that night (1 hour cab ride? No thanks. Not on a NZ librarian's wages). Which is actually no hassle. There are a couple of security guards, so no problems from anyone. There's a lot of homeless guys trying to sleep in the waiting room but the guards keep throwing them out.

Then down to LAX for the flight to New Orleans. LAX sucks - queues a mile long for everything, due to security. It's not the security per se that bothers me, just that everything is so badly organised and takes way longer than it should. (All the other airports I was at were a lot better organised, so I'll put it down to LA, rather than the US as a whole).

New Orleans rocks though. I spent my time there hanging out with Sri and Brooke and her friend Art. There were four of us sleeping in one room, right near the centre of town, and the next few nights were spent strolling Bourbon St, drinking in the open, having water pistol fights and putting together a campaign for the governership of California (it made sense at the time). We also check out the aquarium and Imax before trying to get into a rave on the last night. Sri is refused entry, so we end up in an incredibly tacky club playing 'Commercial Trance Anthems 2001' on rotate (or so it seems). We have tacky fun and dance till 3am or so, but that's pretty much all the alcohol we can handle and stagger back to the hotel to watch Finding Nemo on the payTV as we fall asleep.

New Orleans is incredibly hot and humid, and incredibly loose. Everywhere else in the US seems so uptight about drinking, especially in public, but there it's basically encouraged. And the bars will let you take drinks onto the street, too. Bourbon St stinks worse than anywhere I've been since India, though. (apparently, there are parts of New Orleans that are more like my stereotype of the place - cool little jazz and blues clubs everywhere. Although I had native guides, they didn't take me to any of those places. Oh well).



| posted by Simon at 12:50 pm

 
I've been travelling around the US, and have hardly been near a PC for long enough to blog. I'm back, very very tired and trying to avoid working on an assignment which is due in a couple of days. Lots of adventures, some of which might be worth posting here. Eventually.

| posted by Simon at 7:11 pm

 
Paul wrote that I needed to blog less about libraries and more about my own life. So, uh, here you are:

Monday: drinking with the people who I'm travelling to the US with. Discussing what we're trying to get out of the conference. Very pleasant, they seem like they'll be good company for the trip.
Tuesday: went to a pub quiz with students from the MLIS. Only two others turned up, but it was a fun night. We were close to winning, but lost out by a few points. Probably because none of us could answer the sports questions (2 out of 10) or the 'identify this military plane' questions (3 out of 10). Unsurprisingly, we were great at the literature, film and music questions.
Wednesday: Had dinner with Vanita, one of my classmates.
Thursday: My friends Michael and Beth came down from Auckland. We ended up in Vespa, drinking flavoured vodkas and various cocktails (under the influence of Michael's sisters). It all got a bit fuzzy after that, but at some point Michael and I were discussing purchasing a second-hand Soviet aircraft carrier. I'm not sure why.
Friday: Went to the birthday drinks of a friend of Vanita's, then went down to Bodega to listen to reggae DJs. Good night, but after the night before I was tired and staggered home early.
Saturday: Spent the day trying to write an essay on e-books, with a hangover. Went to dinner with Vana, Anthony and Shelley, then to Bodega to watch the Bats. Support band was excellent, had kind of a Wilco, Giant Sand, Nick Cave vibe going - seems to be the emerging style for Wellington indie bands (see also the genius that is the Phoenix Foundation). Most excellent. The Bats were good, after a slow start, but the real highlight was that it was one of those nights where every time I looked around I saw someone else I knew. Really good feeling, standing there and being surrounded by people I knew from five or six different places. Yeah. Bats played some new stuff, some of which was excellent ('Horizons') and should have an album out later this year. Good news.
Sunday: here I am back at work, avoiding finishing that damn essay on e-books.

| posted by Simon at 2:30 pm

 
Well, kinda. Found this poll on their website, with around 66% of respondents (at time of writing) opposing the mandatory installation of filters in libraries. (Obviously, it's in no way a valid poll, but still, nice to see that they got exactly the opposite response to the one they wanted. And flaws in their polling software mean that 'vote first and vote often' is a legitimate option for anyone wanting to 'improve' their results).

| posted by Simon at 2:22 pm