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As a reminder that there are other search engines besides Google, two search-engine related stories came to my attention this week. CNNMoney.com reported that Ask.com (described in the story as “basically roadkill in the search-engine wars”) is abandoning the strictly algorithmic approach, relying instead on actual humans to answer queries. The new approach is the latest in [...]

In honor of the twentieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, here are two websites to help you assist patrons with disabilities. DeafMD, www.deafmd.org, provides health information and health news in American Sign Language. In addition to written information, there are videos of  people signing the content. The site also has a directory of [...]

ebrary announced today the addition of 800 titles to Public Library Complete from publishers such as:  ANACOM, Chelsea House, Ballantine, Bantam and Global Media.  400 of the titles are fiction.  The addition of these titles takes the collection to over 21,000 multiuser access titles.  The multiuser, subscription based collection includes free access for public high [...]

Big news today from Credo Reference, US Public libraries can now provide local public high schools with free access to Credo General Reference.  The pilot program will include local public high schools in new US public library subscriptions at no additional cost! (bold inserted by sp) From the press release:  Recognizing the increasing burden on [...]

If you are still deciding on a destination for vacation, nps.gov is the site for you.   Gov. web sites are usually well-designed and the National Park Service is no exception.  To find a park there is searching by state, name, activity or topic.  Activity includes everything from auto touring to wildlife viewing.  The site also has information [...]

I’ve written in previous posts about two of the presentations at  last month’s  ”Reference Evolution” preconference organized by the MARS and RSS sections of RUSA and held at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D. C.  These were the presentions given by Joe Janes and Amy Van Scoy. Here’s the lowdown on the rest of the program. Stephen Francoeur (Baruch College), [...]

With wars, hurricanes, oil spills, and a major recession, families often find themselves dealing with crises. How do you explain the death of a loved one to a young child? How do you make a teen understand that you cannot afford to buy the latest designer jeans? Help is available from the furry friends at [...]

In these tough economic times, there are always more reference books, databases, and services available than we can possibly afford. How do we make the most with what we can afford for our library? What tips do you have to provide the best reference sources at the lowest cost? Have you found new ways of using [...]

As I sit and stare at the dwindling pile of print catalogs from the vendors, I start to wonder at what is happening to collaborative collection development. It seems the days of passing around a catalog where you initial what you think is interesting, seeing what others think, is going away. Instead we are relying [...]

Epicurious.com was a Web Site of the Week last year and now there are additional cooking sites (Foodista.com and Recipes.Wikia where anyone can edit the recipes.  A later Web Site of the Week will feature Wikia.com where Recipes.Wikia is a topic area.   The first look at Foodista is pleasant without a lot of advertisements flashing by.  Its subtitle is [...]

Public libraries may be interested in reading a white paper published recently by OverDrive – “How eBook Catalogs at Public Libraries Drive Publishers’ Book Sales and Profits.” Despite the focus on publisher benefits of eBook catalogs in public libraries, the white paper is interesting and contains some stats and facts of interest for libraries.  The [...]

Public libraries are full of people looking for work. Many of them have few or no computer skills and there are too few of us to sit down and spend lots of time helping. www.indeed.com is a website that is easy to use. It provides access to over a million open positions culled from newspapers, [...]

The 2010 Wikimania conference, held this year in Gdansk, Poland, has just ended. In case you missed it, you can catch up by reading this New York Times article. The article makes note of what may be a new trend. The British Museum recently appointed a “Wikipedian in residence” to start a collaboration with Wikipedia, and [...]

In a previous post, I talked about Joe Janes’ presentation at  last month’s  ”Reference Evolution” preconference organized by the MARS and RSS sections of RUSA and held at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D. C.  Amy VanScoy, associate head of research and information services, North Carolina State University Libraries, was the second speaker, and in a talk entitled [...]

Baseball fans can be fanatics and Brian Merzbach, who authors ballparkreviews.com, is definitely a fanatic.  He began visiting all types of ballparks when he was in high school and after 14 years the site has reviews of over 400 baseball stadiums in the US.  There is no search box but stadiums are divided by major and minor [...]

During the RBB webinar on June 1st, Power to the User, we discussed and demonstrated a variety of interactive features available in online reference products.  At the end of the webinar, everyone had the opportunity to take a survey on these features.  The survey listed over 30 interactive features and provided responses of no value, [...]

As I sit at the Reference Desk answering questions, I start to wonder at the questions I receive.  More and more, the questions are becoming directional, tutorial (how do I use the computer), and service-based (do you have change for the copier / the phone / the bus; can I use your phone).  While I [...]

What does the new health care reform law mean for you? Find out at www.healthcare.gov. This site provides the latest news about changes that the new law will bring as well as a timetable for the roll-out of the various reforms. It also offers information about available insurance and a page for users to enter [...]

At last month’s  ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D. C. I attended the “Reference Evolution” preconference organized by the MARS and RSS sections of RUSA. (MARS, incidentally, is changing its name from Machine Assisted Reference Section to Emerging Technologies in Reference Section, which doesn’t fit the acronym but sounds much more modern.) Joe Janes of the University of [...]

Although WikiLeaks.org first appeared on the Internet in January 2007, it has gained publicity recently with the release of information on the “Collateral Murder”  which was video of  US forces killing 12 people including two journalists.  There was also an in-depth article on the organization in the New Yorker last month.  WikiLeaks “primary interest is in exposing [...]