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The AP reported early last week that Penguin said it would halt the lending of e-books through libraries.  On Friday (11/25) Penguin said that temporarily e-books would be available through the end of the year.  Here are links to the two articles – http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/penguin-suspends-e-book-availability-to-libraries/?scp=1&sq=penguin%20suspends%20e-book&st=cse and http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/penguin-will-allow-lending-of-e-books-at-least-temporarily/?scp=1&sq=penguin%20will%20allow%20lending&st=cse

For researchers in many fields, especially the sciences, access to the latest information is crucial. Open access makes it easier. UNESCO has set up a site at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/portals-and-platforms/goap that offers information on the state of open access worldwide. The website is sponsored by the governments of Colombia, Denmark, Norway, and the United States Department of [...]

With Thankgiving on Thursday no doubt there are a few nervous cooks who have NEVER COOKED A TURKEY!  If you know of someone who needs assistance, Butterball.com is the site.  First there is the Holiday Planning Guide – fresh or frozen turkey, how long to thaw, how many pounds, the method of cooking, how long [...]

The following is from the blog “Table Hopping” written by Steve Barnes.  It appears in the Times Union (Albany NY). Table Hopping Eat, drink and be candid By Steve Barnes | E-mail | About Table Hopping Thanksgiving by the numbers November 17, 2011 at 11:26 am by Steve Barnes, senior writer Some stats, courtesy the [...]

The Feline Health Center is one many useful websites produced by Cornell University.  A general information page gives cat owners ideas about choosing and caring for a cat, health hazards, etc. There is additional information on aging, cancer and other health issues, behavior, spaying and neutering and of course nutrition and weight control.  Both online [...]

If you are tired of the eruptions coming from political sources, check out this wonderful resource from the Smithsonian. Volcanoes of the World http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/ is full of photographs, videos, and information about volcanoes. The site allows users to search for volcanoes by region, name or eruption date. It also has a comprehensive list of volcano [...]

The Wirecutter.com is a new site with the sub-title “the list of best gadgets.”  Brian Lam launched the site in September after stepping down from Gizmodo.com in June where he had been editorial director. The site has evaluations and recommendations of smart phones, cameras, laptops, televisions, tablets, wireless speakers, e-book readers, etc. that are all [...]

Biologists and anyone interested in the life sciences are concerned about preserving the many life forms on our planet. They also need access to the scientific literature to conduct their research. Unless one is near a major academic library, this can be difficult. The Biodiversity Heritage Library just made it much easier. A consortium of [...]

The New York Times had an article in yesterday’s paper about the major advertising campaign by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the new 5th edition of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Even with the demise of print reference sources, the publisher is making a huge effort to convince the public that they still [...]

The 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty was last Friday, October 28 and a part of the celebration on Liberty Island was 125  people from 46 countries taking the citizenship oath and becoming citizens of the US.  Another exciting event was the launching of four webcams -  the torch, harbor, crown and Lady Liberty [...]

“Hold the world in your hand” begins the description of this app and that is what happens.   Google Earth is  available on desktops but walking with the world in your hand is amazing. The app will zoom into the street view of your current location as well as in many other parts of the world.  [...]

Finding simple health information in the languages of developing countries just got easier. Hesperian Health Guides, a non-profit dedicated to providing and sharing information with communities just unveiled their new digital commons. It offers health guides in 21 languages. Most of them may be downloaded free as PDFs. Many are also available for e-readers, and [...]

Today is “Dictionary Day,” celebrating the “achievements and contributions of Noah Webster, the father of the modern dictionary.”  My favorite online dictionary is still Merriam-Webster.com but another good source is the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, a part of Yahoo/reference.  This is a clean site devoid of flashing advertisements, etc. which [...]

Pick up a newspaper or magazine, turn on the television news, or look at any number of websites, and you will find a report about a new medical breakthrough or a previously used treatment or test that is now considered questionable or dangerous. What should you do? Often, the report is based on minimal evidence. [...]

There has not been a lot of publicity, but according to a blog in the Washington Post, the 2012 edition of Statistical Abstract may be the last.  Where are we going to find that individuals in the US consumed in 2009 2.4 pounds of cottage cheese and 13.4 pounds of ice cream.

The Drudge Report has been around since 1997 and the simple design of the site has changed very little.  It is described as a “news aggregation” website.  The originator  is Matt Drudge who is considered a conservative but there are links to articles that provide a variety of news and opinions from around the world.  [...]

The dead Sea Scrolls, which contain the earliest known text of the Hebrew Bible, were discovered in the caves of Qumran in 1947. They now reside in The Shrine of the Book, part of the Israel Museum complex in Jerusalem. Now you can examine five of the most important scrolls online. They have been digitized [...]

Last week The New York Times had two articles about an apparent error the new edition of the atlas.  The first one was on September 25 entitled “Publisher of an Atlas Is Scrambling to Refreeze” Greenland” and then another from a Times blog, “The Difficulty of Drawing Lines Around Ice.” Previous to the publication of [...]

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has just updated their web site.  There are now over 340,000 entries for paintings, sculptures, costumes and photographs in the museum many with images.  For the prospective visitor, floor plans of over 375 galleries  are clickable and zoomable.  There are suggested itineraries for a half day, [...]

There is a new reference editor for Booklist! Rebecca Vnuk is taking over for the recently-retired Mary Ellen Quinn. For more details, see the press release at:  http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/news/ala/rebecca-vnuk-joins-booklist-new-editor-reference-and-collection-management