Library Blog Buzz

Google Chrome is not only a browser anymore but the latest platform for the new operating system for netbooks developed by Google, called Google Chrome OS.

The engineers at Google are affirmative that old operating systems were not designed for the Internet and they declare that the new Chrome OS is their way to define "what operating systems should be".

The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.

The source code for Chrome OS will be available for the public by the end of 2009 and early next year Google promises to supply new netbooks with the Chrome Operating System.

Search Engine Land blog captured the positive ( TechCrunch, Computerworld, Mashable), negative (PC World, CNET News, Search Engine Watch) and "wait and see " (BBC, eWeek, GigaOM, ReadWriteWeb ) reactions from the blogging community. See for yourself.

Considering the new cloud technology trend (computing and storage on the Internet) and the fact that there is a generation now that lives with the Internet, I think that Google is moving in the right directions and they have proven already that they have the resources and talent to build an attractive OS for the younger generation. Is this going to kick Microsoft out of the computer OS business? Doubtfully.

Via: The Official Google Blog
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html

Everyone from a high school students to working adults to busy CEOs had to take SAT, ACT, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT and GRE at some point of their lives.

In the old days this worked with imminent visit to the local library to get a test book, nowdays this includes bying a software or logging into the free database LearningExpress ( available free of charge at many public libraries).

ReadWriteWeb blog put together paid sources for standardized test preparation that I find useful and want to share with you

* Watermelon Express ($20) detailed performance analysis, projected scores, online forums and customized review pages. (Mobile applications are currently available on the iPhone, Blackberry and Android)

* Grockit ($40 per year for unlimited access) This service emphasizes the group learning experience and students invite friends from Yahoo, Gmail and Plaxo to join in the site's games.

* Brightstorm ($99 per test) offers hours of video courses, strategies and practice exams.

* EPrep ($69-$249) also prepares students for the SAT, ACT, PSAT and high school subjects using video instructions. This service takes a more conventional classroom-style approach to teaching.

* Prep Me ( $300-$700) is a learning environment for students interested in taking the PSAT, ACT and SAT. This service offers an initial diagnostic test and then builds a personalized study schedule.

* Knewton ( $890 for 15 teaching sessions) adapts a study plan for students. The company specializes in GMAT, GRE, SAT and LSAT testing and matches videos and lessons to a students "learning arc".

After this blog, our readers cannot say that they don’t have resources to get ready for standardized tests.

A recent study " “U.S. Public Libraries and E-Government Services” ( part of the Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study) revealed that public libraries are the only organizations in the community that can help citizens to access e-government services.

In addition the e-government study found out that

* Public libraries offer an average of 11 public access computers per building

* Nearly all public libraries (98.7 percent) off er public access to the Internet

* Many public libraries (76.4 percent) off er wireless (Wi-fi ) access

* Public libraries off er a number of training classes and/or as-needed assistance on a range of topics, particularly Internet use (92.8 percent), general computer skills (91.3 percent), online Web searching (76.9 percent), and software use (70.5 percent)

If you read the survey further down, your will find out that 60 % of public libraries have inadequate Internet connection, 81% don’t have enough computers and 94 % impose time limits on the use of public PCs.

It looks like computers are on high demand at public libraries and investment in technology for public use always pays off.

Via: Resourceshelf:
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2009/06/24/new-report-us-public-libraries-and-e-government-services/

It seems that better answers and quick decisions is what search engines want to give to customers today. So it should not come as a surprise to you that Ask.com is now focusing on Answers.

Ask.com and Ask Jeeves launch database of 300 million answers and questions...
It should be noted that this “answer farm” was originally launched last year but that this year’s versions has tripled the number of Q and A’s.

If you want to try the 300 million Q&A database go to “Lots of Answers” on Ask.com or AskJeeves.co.uk home pages. Librarians have to get answers to a lot of basic questions daily, so having another Q & A search engine to help customers is cool.

To see our coverage about mobile answer services, click here.

Do you need a new car? How do you decide what model to buy? Go to Hunch,the first serch engine designed to help you make a decision.

In 10 questions or less, Hunch will offer you a great solution to your problem, concern or dilemma, on hundreds of topics. Hunch's answers are based on the collective knowledge of the entire Hunch community, narrowed down to people like you, or just enough like you that you might be mistaken for each other in a dark room. Hunch is designed so that every time it's used, it learns something new. That means Hunch's hunches are always getting better.

I don’t see how our customers in libraries are not going to like Hunch. For my question about fuel saving convertible, I was given a new 2009 Volkswagen New Beetle Convertible, which is actually a very good choice. The power of Hunch comes from being able to record 7 million questions answered by 40,000 users.

Try it out and let me know what you think.

Via: ReadWriteWeb
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/hunch_launches_monday_-_but_it_already_knows_all_a.php

This post is a continuation of our post from yesterday about Library Journal naming Queens Library to be Library of The Year and a previous post about " Proposed Budget Cuts In New York City Will Layoff 1000 From Queens Library, Brooklyn Public and New York Public Library".

It is hard to believe but according to Library Journal News blog six-day service is saved in NYC Libraries ( NYPL, BPL and Queens Library) and there will be no layoffs.

However, the negotiations by Mayor Mike Bloomberg and the City Council did not spare the library systems from cuts LJ estimates at about 8%—a major hit in any year other than this one.

Though no official numbers had been issued as of this morning, Jimmy Van Bramer, Queens Library’s Chief External Affairs Officer, told LJ that the library expects the restoration of about $12 million of the $19.8 million proposed cut. He said it was too early to predict how that cut would be absorbed, but it “will mean some reduction in services and programs.

Opening the library doors when the library is needed the most is what our customers want, and our local politicians seems to understand that very well. I am extremely happy for my colleagues who are not going to loose their jobs and Queens communities who will continue using libraries during this recession.

Via: Library Journal News Blog
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6665611.html?rssid=191

Only librarians can understand the value of the National Obituary Archive because very often users call public libraries to request more info about obituaries.

The National Obituary Archive™ is the world's largest repository of obituaries and death records with more than 55 million individual entries on file. Visitors may search the archive freely to learn about the deaths of friends or family or to explore relationships when building family trees or doing genealogical research.

Funeral directors across North America serve as Contributing Members to help us publish obituaries based on information provided by families. To improve the completeness and accuracy of our archive, we encourage families and those familiar with one or more names in our records to correct any errors they find and to purchase lasting, illustrated memorials to replace the basic data from official sources.

Searching obituaries in the National Obituary Archive is free. However attaching a tribute (statement of affection) will cost you $9.95, memorials are more expensive. Adding your name to the guestbook and correcting a record are still free.

Via: Librarians' Internet Index
http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/26393

We talked about the famous directories like Librarian's Internet Index ( LII) and Internet Public Library ( IPL), but we never mentioned DMOZ, the Open Directory Project with 4,616,309 websites organized in 590,000 categories by 83,367 editors.

From the beginning, the directory data has been offered free of charge to site owners who would like to use it to enhance their own site.

If this is your first time here, welcome! It's worth pointing out that our volunteer editors select sites for inclusion in the directory based on unique content, so a stroll through the directory can provide an excellent overview of a particular topic.

DMOZ serves as a base for Google Directory, other websites are also allowed to use the data on their pages.

Since DMOZ is quite extensive to browse, that is why I always use the advanced search features and limit my search by category or site.

Via: Resourceshelf
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2009/06/05/11-years-old-today-happy-birthday-dmoz-open-directory-project/

OCLC Research released COBOAT, a new software developed by Cognitive Applications Inc to help museums exchange data object descriptions and share data. The project was financed by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Foundation for the development of infrastructure for museum data exchange.

Configuration files allow COBOAT to be adjusted for extraction from different vendor-based or homegrown database systems of collections information, or locally divergent implementations of the same collections management system. The configuration files available for download are designed for output from the Gallery Systems TMS collections management system.

"We have made every effort over the years to share information about our collections as widely as possible. The availability of these new tools promises to turn existing ad-hoc processes into a streamlined and standardized activity," said Doralynn Pines, Associate Director for Administration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the five museums participating in this effort.

I am sure that I don’t need to go in more details and any cataloger and curator reading this post will go to the OCLC News blog for details.

For readers who are not librarians, I need to mention that it is critical for museums to find a way to share metadata ( data about data) for their collections, so collections are arranged better and more customers are able to enjoy them. Here is more information on metadata.


Via: OCLC News
http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/200932.htm

If we don’t start writing about the latest changes that Google implemented, I will have a hard time getting all of them in paper, next time I try out. There is no time to arrange the innovations chronologically, so lets start.

Did you here? Google Docs is now supporting Microsoft Word and Excel 2007 files.

Google Docs has started supporting Word and Excel 97 files with file extensions .docx and .xlsx. These two files add to the long list of documents currently supported by Google Docs including .odt, .xls, .ods, .ppt, csv, and more. The process is pretty simple and all you have to do is to upload the file from your computer and Google Docs will automatically convert them into the file formats used by Google Docs

Daily Bits blog has the details.

Google Chrome is now 30% faster with its latest version, says a post from the Official Google Blog. The editors of Daily Bits have more for you.

Google is now translating messages in Gmail. Take a look at the picture below and read the post from Google Blogoscoped.



Google also redesigned its Webmaster Tools( take a glimpse at another Google Blogoscoped post)

... Features are now grouped together in three categories: Site configuration (where you provide Google with information about your site), Your site on the web (where you can view Google data about your site), and Diagnostics (where you can get reports on any problems we encountered crawling your site.)

Another useful home tool that Google created is the Google Power Meter, which shows "consumers their electricity consumption in a secure Google gadget." Google is currrently testing the gadget with
utility partners in the US, India and Canada and plan to expand the product later. Read Write Web has more.

If you want to integrated Google Docs into your Microsoft Office account at work, go to the new plug-in from OffiSync. Read Write Web has a detailed post on how to work with the plug-in.

The most important product announced in the past few weeks is Google Wave a new total communication and collaboration tool that combines IM, email and online forums. TechCrunch attended a presentation of the new product and wrote a lengthy description.

If you want to find an alternate route in Google Maps, all you need to do now is go to “Suggested Routes”. TechCrunch blog has the rest.

And if you think that search engine N1 is not going to come up with algorithm to find potential defectors from Google, think again. Search Engine Land came up with the details.