Books More Digital
Posted On Mar 28 2007I’ve always had a hard time explaining my position on e-books. Some of my esteemed colleagues are quick to point out the minor dent that e-books have made in overall book sales in this country and others. But when I started evangelizing about e-books back in the late 1990s, we were still talking about what I call the “curl-up factor.” I grew so tired of hearing people complain about not wanting to curl up with an e-book, or the inability to take an e-book to the beach, that as soon as I read either phrase in e-book commentary, I simply …
Google Toilet
Posted On Mar 20 2007After all this serious talk about the future of automation systems, I thought I would lighten the load with a little humor. This was another take-away from my trip to Google that I did not mention in my more formal report. It’s a picture from the restroom stall at Google. Now, I work at a state institution where we consider a toilet paper holder still attached to the wall quite a luxury. But this blows away (ahem) all the talk of free food, ping-pong, and jeans at work. Like most Google user interfaces, the options are simple and intuitive, even …
No Roaming
Posted On Mar 16 2007Things just got more interesting. I love a clever turn of phrase, and no matter what you think of vendors or their software, you gotta give props to VTLS for the “No Roaming” double entendre in this latest entry into library vendor intrigue. VTLS will be offering a free license to its integrated library system, Virtua, in return for a 3-year service contract (press release). Basically, it’s an alternative to waiting to migrate to another system, but is pointedly in response to SisriDynix’s recent announcement about its new platform, code-named “Rome.” Of course, there are the requisite rules and exceptions, …