Carnival of the Infosciences #10

Ok, no pushing or shoving. You there! In the front row! I said no pushing. Back of the line, kid. Everyone will get a chance to ride on the rollercoaster. Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle and for your added safety, be sure you are strapped securely in your chair. Everyone ready? OK, let’s go!

There were tons of great submissions, so this week we really have the cream of the crop and there are tons of great reads. First up:

On apophenia, danah boyd gives an outsider’s view of librarianship in “somewhere in-between the ALA and Google is harmony.” She is critical and supportive at the same time. I was fortunate enough to hear all the keynote speeches she discusses and, though I think she was a bit harsh to Roy Tennant, she has Michael Gorman down pat.

Gary Price defends searching the library way at Search Engine Watch in his post “On Library Card Catalogs, OPACs, The Perfect Search & Teaching Searchers.” This post was in response to Danny Sullivan’s comments on the inadequacy of human based catalogs.

“Looking for online tools”? Rebecca Hedreen at Frequently Answered Questions offers us a wonderful list of online collaborative tools that we can use for distance education or just an honest day’s work.

On of the tools mentioned in the post above, Writely, is reviewed by Laura Crossett from Lisdom. Laura thinks Writely is a “brave new processor.”

The Krafty Librarian ponders “Job Descriptions Without Salary Information.” Why do they exist and if you post these kind job descriptions do you think you are missing out on potentially great employees? Be wary is the theme.

Thom Hickey from Outgoing wants us to look at PURLs and consider their implications in “A string of PURL servers.” My question is how this technology can be related or integrated with Open URL.

Meredith Farkas, from Information Wants to Be Free, has a fine discourse on “Librarians In Academia: Faculty or Support Staff?” A question many of are struggling with at our own institutions.

Christina Pikas asks if you hold open the door or slam it shut as she discusses “the various uses of the term ‘gatekeeper’” on Christina’s LIS Rant.

While not exactly about libraries, Michael McGrorty of Library Dust fame examines, in his beautiful own way, different aspects of the things that seem to occupy much of our time, weblogs in “This Pleasant Slavery.”

And for another view on blogs, Rochelle Mazar from Random Access Mazar talks about metaphors for blogs and what they mean to us as a society in “Find the Right Metaphor.”

Editor’s Choice
Some things I had flagged for editor’s pick also got suggested. I decided, as the editor and person in charge, to keep them for this portion anyway.

OPACs and how we use them seem to be on a lot of people’s mind lately. I think much of the discussion stems from our frustration with our current system. On Library Stuff, Steven Cohen wonders what would happen if the library catalog was a “two way street” in “Libraries and the Communities that Sustain Them.”

Genny Engel juxtaposes the two unlikeliest characters: Michael Gorman and dana boyd
with “danah boyd and Michael Gorman Slug It Out.” This post is part of a group blog on technology called LITABlog.

Chrystie at Blog Junction ponders the most basic of all information needs, “What are my friends doing?” and how libraries help or hinder that need in her post entitled “In a coffee shop on Capitol Hill.”

Thanks for stopping by and being patient. Next week, the carnival will move to Christina’s LIS Rant.

–Jane, likes the ferris wheel