Tennant: Digital Libraries

May 6, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

As a frequent speaker, I have a number of favorite statements I trot out at appropriate times (well, I hope they're appropriate). One is the title of this post. It refers to the theory in the famous Everett M. Rogers 1962 book, Diffusion of Innovations, that decribes "how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures" (Wikipedia).

The graphic to the right (click on it for a larger version) depicts those who create innovations as being the leading edge of a curve that leads into "early adopters", t...Read More

May 1, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (2)

I realize this is a bit off-topic, but you simply have to see this. The American Library Association and American Libraries teamed up to create a hilarious video on how to get the most out of the Annual Conference. Written, shot, and scored in a 1950s style, it makes what normally would have been dead boring a hoot.

Despite the fact that I've been to more ALA conferences than I care to count, and know exactly how I can be most effective there (even if I don't always completely follow through...), I watched the entire thing. It was just so funny that I couldn't wait to see what anachronistic thing ...Read More

April 30, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Recently I was asked to ride herd on three of my favorite speakers for the Texas Library Association Annual Conference in Dallas. I'm on the left in the photo, next to Stephen Abram, with Joe Janes next to him and Karen Schneider at the far right. With folks like this you have to know we had a rollicking good time. There were no shrinking violets on that stage, and I simply posed a few provocative questions and let them go at it.

I began with the question "What keeps you awake at night? That is, what major challenge worries you, or which new opportunity excites you?" (This I blatantly stole from the ...Read More
Industries: News & Features

April 30, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Tonight, for the heck of it, I entered "digital library" (without quotes) into Google to see what came up. To my surprise, the Digital Collections of the New York Public Library was the top hit, above the Wikipedia "Digital library" entry, the ACM Digital Library, the California Digital Library, and all other digital library collections or projects. Where did they get the link love?

Well, it's only supposition at this point, but I have a couple guesses. One is that they have a ton of stuff there. For example, some wonderful free audio programming via iTunes as well as books digitized by Google. I can only imagine how many people link to the nypl.org domain to get s...Read More
Industries: News & Features

April 28, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

While preparing for a presentation on "User-Generated Content" for a Computers in Libraries 2008 program, I ran into a wonderful library project to engage and empower a local community. Dubbed "Bookspace", this is a program of the Hennepin County Library (HCL), now merged with the Minneapolis Public Library. The combined behemoth boasts a collection of more than 5 million titles in 41 branches serving 1.1 million patrons. Their web sites receive over a million hits a month in helping county residents sustain an average check out rate twice the national norm (17 items per year).

So I suppose it sho...Read More
Industries: News & Features, Public Services