http://commonplaces.org a theological librarian's marginalia Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:56:47 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This video details an ebook reader developed by researchers at Maryland and Berkeley Universities. It appears that they studied the habits of readers of paper books and attempted to integrate capabilities into this reader that address those habits. Take a look. It's amazing. The two leaves can be ... http://commonplaces.org/2008/06/26/ebook-readers-getting-better-but-not-good-enough/ I have often said that the librarians were needed in previous decades in order to help researchers find information, but are needed today in order to help researchers skillfully navigate the glut of information available. We do this through a variety of means. Librarians are the janitorial engineers ... http://commonplaces.org/2008/06/25/saying-goodbye-to-catalogs-google-information-glut-and-the-role-of-libraries/ Nicholas Carr of the The Atlantic has an interesting article on what the internet is doing to our brains. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: ... http://commonplaces.org/2008/06/16/is-google-making-us-stupid/ Dr. R. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, commented today on Robert Darnton's New York Times Book Review article, "The Library in the New Age", which appears in the June 12, 2008, issue. An excerpt from Robert Darnton, speaking of Google's worthy but tip-of-the-iceberg book project: Meanwhile, I say: ... http://commonplaces.org/2008/05/29/al-mohler-and-richard-darnton-of-the-future-of-libraries/ I have been busy developing three other sites in recent weeks, thus the scarcity of information here. I have still been adding to the Dogeared Pages from the Web in the sidebar, but most of my energy has been directed at these three projects: ... http://commonplaces.org/2008/05/19/a-cub-scout-pack-for-homeschoolers-a-new-church-website-and-a-research-tool/ Pages that I have encountered throughout the week which relate to libraries, technology, theology, and anything else I found interesting: Library Use of E-books, 2008-09 Edition via the Distant Librarian. Data in this report is based on a survey of 75 academic, public and special libraries. Librarians detail their plans on ... http://commonplaces.org/2008/05/09/dogeared-pages-from-the-web-a-weekly-webliography-2/ I have a vested interest in the future of libraries and will understandably rage against the dying of their light. My interest is both professional and personal, and though the professional literature says I should be concerned that my bibliographic responsibility and bibliophilic personality may soon be at odds, ... http://commonplaces.org/2008/05/08/will-the-dubious-future-of-libraries-be-the-salvation-of-evangelical-seminaries/ I considered naming this a concatenate recapitulation, but decided that was too pretentious. This is a summary of links from the Dogeared Pages section in the sidebar which I hope to have as a weekly post. They are pages that I have encountered throughout the week which relate ... http://commonplaces.org/2008/05/02/dogeared-pages-from-the-web-a-weekly-webliography/ Given the upcoming superhero movie, Iron Man, which opens tomorrow, I thought perhaps you might be interested in the Iron Duke, Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington. He was born on this day, May 1, in 1769. A native Irishman, the Iron Duke was a British Army Commander ... http://commonplaces.org/2008/05/01/the-iron-duke/ Jason Fowler, one of my gifted colleagues here at the library, has been diligently working away at developing an application that would take the tables of contents from our library's most frequently used theological journals, make them available online, (wait for it......) publish RSS feeds for them, and (wait for ... http://commonplaces.org/2008/04/29/jtoc-journal-tables-of-contents-online-at-boyce-library/