Featured
The Dog Days of Summer
“It didn’t use to be this hot when I was younger.” I have heard that phrase for as long as I can remember. I can only assume that the ice ages must not have been as long ago as I had originally been taught. In all seriousness, has the average temperature changed in these summers…
Read MoreA Look at Women in Fiction
Over the years the availability of books and films that have improved upon the cliché roles women are given is getting better, though there are miles of opportunities for improvement in both. In the vein of “we’ve come a long way baby”, I took a look back at the classifications of female roles in fiction…
Read MoreAdventures in Data Visualization
Data visualization has become increasingly important in the academic world, but the cool thing about it is that it doesn’t have to be confined in that space. There are some really great projects that have emerged recently in many different realms that I want to explore. While it’s not confined to this space, we’ll start…
Read MoreProvenance Based Classification Schemes
Libraries don’t catalog government information like traditional collections. Traditional material is catalogued using a subject based classification system, such as the Dewey Decimal System or Library of Congress Classification. The Government, however, uses provenance-based schemes for their publications, which are hard to fit into traditional library cataloging systems. This makes it hard for non-government information librarians to…
Read MoreAccess Innovations Announces DHUG East
Access Innovations is pleased to announce the date and location of their upcoming Data Harmony Users Group East (DHUGE) Meeting. DHUGE will take place on September 26, 2016 at the ASCE Bechtel Conference Center, the event center for the American Society of Civil Engineers, in Reston, VA. DHUGE is an extension of Access Innovations’ three-day…
Read MoreIt’s Summer Reading Time!
Summer reading. These two words can instill both excitement and dread at the same time for a youth services librarian. Libraries across the country begin preparing for children and adult summer reading programs pretty much after the last summer reading program ends! A lot of preparation goes into creating exciting themes, distributing marketing materials, booking…
Read MoreRemembrance Through Archiving and Cataloging
Memorial Day. It’s viewed as the unofficial start of summer. Public pools open, kids are out of school, and BBQ grills are fired up all over the nation. However, Memorial Day is also a national solemn day of remembrance for those who have served our country. The origins of Memorial Day are widely debated. Many…
Read MoreAccess Innovations to Overhaul Metropolitan Opera Archive Database
Access Innovations is pleased to announce an engagement with the Metropolitan Opera to redesign the database for the Opera’s archive. The Metropolitan Opera Archive provides public access to records of every performance by the venerable company including operas, performers, roles, and reviews; it also contains links to other media such as historic photographs and playbills.…
Read MoreOrganizing Knowledge
Humans classify and categorize everything from types of writing instruments to breeds of animals. Marjorie Hlava in her Taxobook states “you could even say that taxonomies and thesauri exist to further the objective of organizing knowledge.” It seems it is in our nature as humans to try and classify things. One example of human classification…
Read MoreGo Baby Go!
The Kentucky Derby may be the most widely anticipated and discussed two-minute sports event of the year. For folks outside the 30-mile radius of Louisville, Kentucky, it is just a horse race. For folks inside that radius, “derby” is a culture, one of big hats, bow ties, and bourbon. As an aside, let me say…
Read More