I had what you might call an unusual early adulthood. Whereas most young adults march off to college and garner the degree that will define their life, I dropped out of high school at the 8th grade, attended an alternative high school (read dope-smoking, although I passed at the time) for two years, then dropped […]
Librarians, IT Experts Respond to Adobe Spying Accusations
MA State Ebook Pilot Offers Insights
The Massachusetts State Ebook Project (MA EBook Project), conceived by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioner’s (MBLC) Statewide Resource Sharing Committee and the Massachusetts Library System (MLS), with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), this summer concluded a pilot program, offering many insights into the challenges and promises that statewide consortial ebook lending programs may offer.
Let the Future Go
The future of libraries won’t be created by libraries. That’s a good thing. That future is too big and too integral to the infrastructure of knowledge for any one group to invent it. Still, that doesn’t mean that libraries can wait passively for this new future. Rather, we must create the conditions by which libraries will be pulled out of themselves and into everything else.
Boston College’s MediaKron Digital Humanities Platform Looks To Grow
Fresh off of its second year of partnerships with six northeastern colleges and universities, Boston College’s Instructional Design + eTeaching Services (IDeS) department is beginning to look at ways to expand access to its proprietary MediaKron digital humanities platform to other institutions, according to Tim Lindgren, senior instructional designer for IDeS.
The Ignorance of What it Will Take
I noted in July’s issue of Current Cites, that we had ended our 24th year of continuous monthly publication and were entering our 25th. Of course the real celebrations will happen a year from now, but I thought that it was worth noting. As I thought more about it, I remembered (again) that I had […]
How to Communicate With Software Developers
My OCLC colleagues at the Developer Network have begun a series of posts that already are beginning to feel like a classic set of posts. The first has tackled the issue of how to communicate your needs to software developers. And although it is written from the perspective of the person asking, I think you […]
Lessons From Rebuilding a Server
As scary as this statement is, I’m my own SysAdmin. This does not come from choice, mind you, but necessity. Sure, I could farm out server administration like many do, but I’ve never found the complete flexibility and power from such arrangements that having your very own server provides. So I make do. And “making […]
Texas Superintendent Adopts Digitized Early Learning Program
Librarians, Media React to Launch of Kindle Unlimited
In a long-expected move, Amazon on July 18 announced the launch of Kindle Unlimited, a new subscription service that will give users unlimited access to a selection of 600,000 ebooks and more than 2,000 audiobooks on Amazon Kindle devices and any device with a Kindle app for $9.99 per month. The online retailer’s financial resources, marketing clout, and massive base of Kindle users alter the competitive landscape for all providers of ebooks, including libraries.