New York Public Library presents their list of the best print and electronic reference resources.
April 2003 Archives
Blurbs: Writing Previews of Web Pages
I cringe when I think how many of these suggestions I should take with my own List of Links. It may lead me to return and rewrite my small blurbs once again.
Oooo, I have to read this! As part of the first generation of kids raised with Sesame Street and parenting another, I adore Caroll Spinney, Big Bird and Oscar.
A detailed look at the new legislation called the Domestic Security Enhancement Act.
Monster backpedals on listings purge | CNET News.com
Monster will now be letting resume posters to post where they worked and went to school, but still will not allow searches for jobs in sanctioned countries or postings of those jobs.
A genealogy site for those with Polish roots, offering registration of surnames being researched, translated entries from the Slownik Geograficzny, and a variety of databases.
Hartford Paper Tells Employee to Kill Blog
Does working for a company mean that you can't have personal websites? Yikes!
The Nebula Awards were presented on April 19th. This site offers a photo of the winners as well as a list of the books.
Monster.com's résumé purge draws fire | CNET News.com
Yikes! A scary misunderstanding of the law has Monster.com purging resumes and job listings from seven sanctioned countries, including Syria, Iran, Burma and Sudan.
ALA | 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000
The most challenged books are always an interesting list to read. In fact, I find that I will read some of the books on the list just to see if I can figure out what the objection is. :) I see that The Giver is number 14 on the list. One of my favorite books of all time.
The Great Blogging Ethics Debate (TechNews.com)
Definitely something that bloggers need to be aware of and that those that read blogs need to understand. The debate revolves around Kelley, the man who copied material into his warblog without giving credit to the actual source, instead claiming it as his own. A sad business and completely indefensible even if you agree with his politics. By the time he was found out, he had made quite a name for himself as a warblogger.
BoingBoing referenced this really cool use of a blog, to document and aid in the collaboration of two authors writing a short story together. Fascinating glimpse into the creative process.
"Office workers give away passwords for a cheap pen" is the headline at The Register where a study has shown that 9 out of 10 workers will give away their passwords in exchange for a pen. Sad but some of their examples are pretty funny!
Egyptian history filled with photographs and illustrations and organized by dynasty. Added to the History Section of my List of Links.
Online field guide, bird comparer, list manager, and species information. An addition to my Animal Section.
Breyer Says Rights Need Guarding in Terror War (washingtonpost.com)
Justice Breyer speaks out for civil rights even in these times! Music to this librarian's ears.
This article from the Milwaukee JS Online reveals another casualty of the war in Iraq. How very sad.
Mother of invention | CNET News.com
Whoa! Mosaic turns ten! I vividly remember the first time I used Mosaic to access the Web at a computer lab at Southeast Missouri State. I was immediately hooked. And still am! :)
MEDLINEplus: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
The National Library of Medicine presents this site with general information and resources.
Added to my collection of disease-related sites.
The "Rose Reference Database" offers a search engine for roses, sources, clubs, links, information, articles, books, and history.
Added to my collection of Gardening sites.
News from the Navy with top stories, headlines, and photos.
Added to my collection of Government-related sites.
Why are so many Americans turning to Christian books?
Interesting article on the large demand for Christian books. We buy a lot fewer Christian titles than other libraries in the area, but our demand seems to be less here for some reason. I do get the ones that get the top reviews, but often they sit on the shelves unused.
As the mom of an almost-two-year-old, I am very familiar with the challenges and rewards of reading to little ones. Yes, he has destroyed books, but he loves certain ones so! And yes, I do get tired of reading the same books over and over again, but then I think that he could be getting the same repetition by watching Teletubbies, and I return again to reading the rhymes that will haunt me throughout the rest of my day. This site offers a list of recommended books for babies, a list that I will be taking with me to work and trying to find. More books to chew and rhymes to memorize!
WebWord: A day in the life of BBCi search
So much is made on search engines about the most popular searches, but according to statistics from BBCi, "The majority of users on BBCi put something unique into search the search box, and 80% of the users of the service put in search terms that never appear on any of the statistical reports, because they only happen once or twice during the course of a day." Shouldn't surprise librarians with the myriad of questions we get daily.
BookWeb: Book Sense Bestsellers
Hurrah! A site that lets me print out a nicely organized list of bestsellers for my patrons! Even nicer than making copies from the newspaper.
ALA has a new website. Very clean at first look, but it is a nightmare to use. I found broken links, nightmarishly long URLs, and problematic labelling of resources that I could find. Yikes!
Techdirt:Libraries Learn How To Protect Patrons From Patriot Act
Here are some suggestions from a New Jersey conference on how to protect the civil rights of library patrons. Now I just have to check to see if DeepFreeze deletes History files...
The 2003 Pulitzer Prizes were announced yesterday.
This website provides weblog aggregation that shows what bloggers are reading or at least what books are being talked about on blogs.
An eye-opening take on what the new copyright laws could do to public libraries. Found in the
Shifted Librarian
Another article from The Register tell us to update both RealPlayer and QuickTime due to glitches and security problems
According to this article in the Register, Google is now listing press releases from companies as news. This decision will greatly impact what people using Google will read as news, since press releases from companies like Monsanto and Pepsi will be high on the news results lists. Definitely something to be aware of.
Even though many people are moving away from using Google as their search engine of choice, this is a handy guide. It includes tips on restricting your search and choosing your terms carefully.
