News and Technology Updates
U.S. News and World Report names “Librarian” one of the 30 best careers in 2009. We’re up there with the Clergy and Veterinarians. In the article librarians are referred to as “clever interrogators” and “high-tech information sleuths”. Sounds like the world may be figuring out that we are much more than one-trick ponies. Check out the main article here, and the “Librarian” article here. There’s also a good discussion of the article at NexGenLib.
School Library Journal has an article on Arne Duncan, the man Obama has named as the secretary of education, and his support over the years for school libraries. His effect has been positive in Chicago for school libraries, though it remains to be seen how that will translate on the national scale.
Has Internet Explorer ever been safe? ZDNet.com is arguing that is has not, and is not, especially when used on the Windows platform. IE has always had its detractors, and many libraries don’t have the time or tech savvy to switch, but even so, now may be a good time to consider alternatives. Firefox is, of course, the ever-popular opponent of IE, and with extensions like IE Tab you can cease worrying about compatibility issues. Opera is another popular alternative, as is Google Chrome. Whether or not any of these is actually safer than IE is certainly a matter of speculation.
Mahalo Answers is a lot like Amazon.com’s AskVille and Yahoo’s Yahoo! Answers. What sets is apart is its integration with “human-powered search”, it’s built-in how-to articles, and its “tip” system. Tipping means you can provide a cash reward for whoever provides the “best answer”, chosen by you. I’ve got mixed feelings about this. The popularity of AskVille and Yahoo! Answers proves that people want to be out there, asking questions on the web. Whether or not they’ll want to pay for their answers is another issue. All of it just goes to show that we as libraries should be providing some sort of virtual reference service and should make sure that our customers are aware of that service.
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