Web-scale Management Services Introduces Gesture-based Library Management

Posted On Apr 1 2011 by

Put down that mouse and keyboard!  Twenty-first century, Web-based libray management services now means finding a whole new way to interact with library data and customers.  As the team at OCLC working on Web-scale Management Services has been hammering out new functional requirements, we’ve had a lot of leeway in breaking new ground.  But we’ve really been looking for a way to take the service beyond the obvious trends of electronic content management and mobile interfaces.  That’s when one of our developers hooked up his XBox Kinect sensor to our development environment and the ideas started flying faster than we …


I heart ALA Conference

Posted On Jun 17 2008 by

Okay, maybe I’m a little strange, but I really like ALA conferences.  Until I started writing for American Libraries and getting uber involved in LITA, I was an occasional attender, but my love for the conference goes back to the fact that I got my first job at an ALA, over a 7am breakfast with an Innovative Interfaces VP.  When I started attending regularly, I would fill literally every minute of the day with activity, usually for the magazine, but mostly out of a desire to get as much as possible out of being there.  You’d have to check with …


It’s the data, stupid.

Posted On May 14 2008 by

I’ve generally steered clear of much of the debate surrounding Library 2.0.  Nevertheless, the catalog work I was involved in at NCSU (somewhat over-hyped as a “2.0 catalog”…as though anything new in libraries must now carry the 2.0 moniker), resulted in several speaking invitations where the invitors assumed I could speak knowledgeably about Library 2.0. So like a good librarian, I did some research.  I read a lot of Tim O’Reilly.  I read a lot of Lorcan writing about 2.0 and O-Reilly.  I tried to put something together that juxtaposed basic 2.0 principles against the entire workflow of the library.  …