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I’m not sure how I missed it, but evidently the number of words in the English language topped one million back in June.  At least, according to The Global Language Monitor, which maintains the English Language WordClock.  Simon Winchester was paying attention; you can read the article he wrote about the million-word-milestone.  The Britannica Blog [...]

Biopix.com is a Danish site of photographs taken with digital Nikon or Olympus cameras.  The majority were taken by an ecologist, forester, biologist and two teachers.  The beautiful color photos may be searched by category – birds, butterflies, domestic animals, fungi, mosses, plants, geology, landscapes, people in nature, weather, etc.  The large database of photos may be used [...]

While sitting at the Reference Desk, it is not uncommon to have a patron insist on a printed book, because their assignment calls for at least one book as a source.  When asked about the possibility of an ebook the patron is more apt to refuse than agree, simply because it is not what the [...]

Following Word of the Year selections by New Oxford American Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, and other word watchers, The Global Language Monitor has announced its Top Word of 2009:  Twitter. Obama as a word stem is number 2, followed by H1N1, stimulus, and vampire.  Also announced were the Top Phrase (King of Pop) and the Top Name (Barack [...]

Gale/Cengage announced today the release of the Encyclopedia of Modern China, part of the Scriber World History Program.  The encyclopedia features scholarly articles on the history and culture of China since 1800. According to a Gale press release, the Encyclopedia of Modern China offers: •    Authoritative content and fresh scholarly analysis from commissioned contributors from [...]

Today is World AIDS Day. In the United States, this terrible disease is no longer an automatic death sentence  thanks to antiretroviral drugs. Unfortunately this is not the case in many parts of the world. Poverty, government unwillingness to admit that the disease is a problem, and resistance to the use of condoms assure the spread of [...]

More on the debate about Wikipedia’s credibility and ongoing viability. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that  ”unprecedented numbers of the millions of online volunteers who write, edit and police”  Wikipedia have quit;  49,000 volunteers in the first three months of 2009, to be exact.  The information is based on research conducted at a university in Spain. Wikipedia denies the [...]