In compiling my collection of 10 books I would like to read, I decided to pick a theme that would guide my search. I recently picked up the book “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” from the library to read after class was over. I enjoy history and this sounded like a good combination of research and speculation about the holy grail and the knights templar.
I started my the process using WorldCat, the online catalog maintained by OCLC. I have used WorldCat before, but only to find materials for customers that CML does not own. I began by entering a basic search for knights templar which returned about 600 results. WorldCat’s lay out is nice, with the results occupying most of the page and linked terms for refining the search on the left side. My favorite part is looking to see what libraries own the item. One the page for a selected item, this is located below the information about the basic information about the book. One thing that stood out about WorldCat is the lack of reviews. Most of the review for books are from sites like Amazon or Goodreads. I agree with Professor Roland that as librarians we should be working to change that. To evaluate the books, I read a few of the reviews. I tend to ignore the “star” ratings, because people are very subjective with them, praising a book while giving it 3-stars. I find the review more useful. After wading through a few pages of titles, I changed my search, using the advanced search options to knights templar grail and further limited the search to only non-fiction books. WorldCat has an easy list feature, just click the link at the top. I added three books to the list “Things to Check Out.” Also, the ability to cite the book in APA with just a click is very convenient.
Next, I tried Goodreads. I’ve used this site before, but not much. I decided to try starting at the last book I added on WorldCat, Rossyln by Tim Wallace-Murphy. I was hoping that Goodreads would be able to suggest titles that were similar to this one. However, after checking the Popular and People Who Viewed shelves, I did not find this to be the case. I searched for knights templar grail and started looking. I was disappointed to find that many of the books I looked at were not reviewed, and the ones that were had only a brief explanation of the readers like or dislike. Most people who had added the book had only given it a star rating.
I left Goodreads to try Google books. I've used Google books before, but mainly to find previews of books I am interested in. This is the first time I have used the My Library feature. Again, I began my search with knights templar grail and began browsing. Google allows users to rate and review books, however, nearly all of the reviews were from Amazon. In fact, the experience was very similar to Amazon, except for the preview feature. I have mixed feeling about the mix preview. At times it is a good way to see if you like the authors writing style or if a book has the content you want. Other times, the previews are too limited to determine anything from. In this case, one of the books I looked at allowed me to read several pages and I added it and another book by the same author because I like his writing style and description of the book.
Lastly, I looked in LibraryThing (LT). I’ve used this site many times and really enjoy the creative ways that LT gives meaning to user data with things like Recommendations, Unsuggestions, and Members with your books. The blog is also very interesting, check out the most recent ost on the Melvil Decimal System. I began my search with a book that I read in college, The Hiram Key by Christopher Knight. I clicked on Recommendations and LT generated several lists of recommendations based on their data. These included: LibraryThing combinded recommendations, Member recommendations, Special recommendations, Books with Similar Tags, People with this Book also have, Books with similar library subjects and classifications. With one search, I was looking at an long list of recommendations, with different different associations to the book I had started with.
The main thing I learned from this exercise is that Amazon has the best reviews. I hope that more librarians will begin using WorldCat because I like its layout and it has the potential to be a good non-commercial source for this type of information.
Baigent, Michael, & Leigh, Richard. (1991). The Temple and the lodge. Arcade Pub.
Bradley, Michael. (1998). Grail knights of North America. Hounslow Press.
Churton, Tobias. (2006). The Magus of freemasonry. Inner Traditions International.
Griffin, Justin. (2001). The Holy grail. McFarland & Co Inc Pub.
Griffin, Justin. (2004). The Grail procession. McFarland & Co Inc Pub.
Hancock, Graham. (1993). The Sign and the seal. Touchstone.
Matthews, John. (2007). The Grail tarot. St Martins Press.
Nicholson, H. J. (2001). The Knights Templar: A new history. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Pub.
Robinson, J. J. (1991). Dungeon, fire, and sword: The Knights Templar in the crusades. New York: M. Evans & Co.
Wallace-Murphy, T., & Hopkins, M. (2002). Rosslyn: Guardian of the secrets of the Holy Grail. London: Thorsons.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Assignment #8 - Google Scholar
Assignment #9 involved creating another two-page bibliography on a topic using Google Scholar. Again, the topic I chose was Copyright and Access. In assignment #8, I created a similar bibliography using the Library Literature and Information Science Full Text Database (LLIS) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), which I accessed through Kent State.
I found that both sites had their own advantages and disadvantages, with neither being the obvious choice for this type of work. At the same time, combining the LLIS and SSCI with Google Scholar would be a useful combination.
Like all things Google, Scholar is fast. I began with a simple search for copyright access and had 2.6 million hits. Google Scholar conveniently shows how many articles have cited the article on the results page. Finding this was a two step process involving both the LLIS and the SSCI. Also, many of the articles on Google Scholar had well over 5 citations (the required minimum) with some in the hundreds.
While it is fast, there are several areas that Google Scholar is lacking compared with the LLIS/SSCI combination. The first result from my Google Scholar search ended up being a Powerpoint presentation, not the correct format or a source that I would want to site. Additionally, there is no way to search for full-text, so some of the results were abstracts or citations only. Even when a search returned a full-text result, it didn't mean I could read it, because many of the results come from subscription databases like the Social Science Research Network and InformaWorld. Without access to these databases, there is no way to access the journal article. This was frustrating, because many of the most interesting articles were in one database, HeinOnline. This is not a problem with the LLIS because you are searching within the database and therefore have access to its contents. A discussion with a current college student confirmed that he had been stymied by the lack of access to these databases trying to use Google Scholar.
I am also unsure of how Google Scholar comes up with the number of citations it lists. Many of the subscription databases also offer this service, however their number would be significantly lower than those quoted by Google Scholar. Perhaps they are only referring to other journals within their databases. You can view a list of the citations by clicking on the link, so there is a way to follow the trail and verify them if necessary.
To summarize, neither method was the clear winner with both excelling and failing in important areas. The access to subscription databases is the main difference, and it is unlikely that content providers will remove this, since it would mean a loss of revenue.
The citations:
Arms, CR. (1999). Getting the picture: observations from the library of congress on providing online access to pictoral images. Library Trends, 48(2), 379-409.
Citations: 20
Bennett, S. (1994). The Copyright challenge: strengthening the public interest in the digital age. Library Journal, 119(19), Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp? _nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ493395& ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ493395
Citations: 9
Covey, D.T. (2005). Acquiring copyright permissions to digitize and provide open access to books. Washington, DC: Digital Library Federation. http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub134/pub134grey.pdf
Citations: 313
Gadd, E. (1997). Copyright clearance for the digital library: a practical guide to gaining electronic permissions for journal articles. Serials, 10(1), Retrieved from http://uksg.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp? referrer=parent&backto=issue,5,17;journal,42,69;linkingpublicationresults, 1:107730,1 doi: 10.1629/1027
Citations: 7
Gasaway, LN. (2002-2003). The New access right and its impact on libraries and library users. Journal of Intellectual Property Law, 10. Retrieved from http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage? collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/intpl10&div=18&id=&page=
Citations: 23
Ginsburg, JC. (1993). Copyright without walls?: Speculations on the literary property in the library of the future. Representations, 42. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/pss/2928618
Citations: 18
Ginsburg, JC. (2003). From having copies to experiencing works: The development of an access right in U.S. copyright law. Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA, Vol. 50, p. 113, 2003. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=222493 or doi:10.2139/ssrn.222493
Citations: 71
Heide, TP., Copyright in the EU and U.S.: What 'Access-Right'?. Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA, Vol. 48, No. 3, Spring 2001. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=270861 or doi:10.2139/ssrn.270861
Citations: 31
Jensen, MB. (1993). Is the Library without walls on a collision course with the 1976 copyright act?. Law Library Journal, 85. Retrieved from http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage? collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/llj85&div=50&id=&page=
Citations: 17
Koch, E, & Zhao, J. (1995). Towards robust and hidden image copyright labeling. Proceedings of the 1995 IEEE Workshop on Nonlinear Signal and Image Processing, http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download? doi=10.1.1.49.2067&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Citations: 375
Proskine, EA. (2006). Google's technicolor dreamcoat: A copyright analysis of the Google book search library project. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 21. Retrieved from http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage? collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/berktech21&div=25&id=&page= Citations: 26
Rhind, D. (1992). Data access, charging and copyright and their implications for geographical information systems. International Journal of Geographical Information Systems, 6(1), 13-30. doi:10.1080/02693799208901892
Citations: 35
Suber, P. (2002). Open access to the scientific journal literature. Journal of Biology, 1(3), Retrieved from http://jbiol.com/content/1/1/3 doi: 10.1186/1475-4924-1-3
Citations: 45
Suber, P. (2003, February). Removing the barriers to research: An introduction to open access for librarians. College & Research Libraries News, (64), Retrieved from http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3715477/suber_crln.html?sequence=5 Citations: 98
Tushnet, R. (2005-2006). My Library: Copyright and the role of institutions in a peer-to-peer world. UCLA Law Review, 53. Retrieved from http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage? collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/uclalr53&div=31&id=&page=
Citations: 23
I found that both sites had their own advantages and disadvantages, with neither being the obvious choice for this type of work. At the same time, combining the LLIS and SSCI with Google Scholar would be a useful combination.
Like all things Google, Scholar is fast. I began with a simple search for copyright access and had 2.6 million hits. Google Scholar conveniently shows how many articles have cited the article on the results page. Finding this was a two step process involving both the LLIS and the SSCI. Also, many of the articles on Google Scholar had well over 5 citations (the required minimum) with some in the hundreds.
While it is fast, there are several areas that Google Scholar is lacking compared with the LLIS/SSCI combination. The first result from my Google Scholar search ended up being a Powerpoint presentation, not the correct format or a source that I would want to site. Additionally, there is no way to search for full-text, so some of the results were abstracts or citations only. Even when a search returned a full-text result, it didn't mean I could read it, because many of the results come from subscription databases like the Social Science Research Network and InformaWorld. Without access to these databases, there is no way to access the journal article. This was frustrating, because many of the most interesting articles were in one database, HeinOnline. This is not a problem with the LLIS because you are searching within the database and therefore have access to its contents. A discussion with a current college student confirmed that he had been stymied by the lack of access to these databases trying to use Google Scholar.
I am also unsure of how Google Scholar comes up with the number of citations it lists. Many of the subscription databases also offer this service, however their number would be significantly lower than those quoted by Google Scholar. Perhaps they are only referring to other journals within their databases. You can view a list of the citations by clicking on the link, so there is a way to follow the trail and verify them if necessary.
To summarize, neither method was the clear winner with both excelling and failing in important areas. The access to subscription databases is the main difference, and it is unlikely that content providers will remove this, since it would mean a loss of revenue.
The citations:
Arms, CR. (1999). Getting the picture: observations from the library of congress on providing online access to pictoral images. Library Trends, 48(2), 379-409.
Citations: 20
Bennett, S. (1994). The Copyright challenge: strengthening the public interest in the digital age. Library Journal, 119(19), Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp? _nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ493395& ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ493395
Citations: 9
Covey, D.T. (2005). Acquiring copyright permissions to digitize and provide open access to books. Washington, DC: Digital Library Federation. http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub134/pub134grey.pdf
Citations: 313
Gadd, E. (1997). Copyright clearance for the digital library: a practical guide to gaining electronic permissions for journal articles. Serials, 10(1), Retrieved from http://uksg.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp? referrer=parent&backto=issue,5,17;journal,42,69;linkingpublicationresults, 1:107730,1 doi: 10.1629/1027
Citations: 7
Gasaway, LN. (2002-2003). The New access right and its impact on libraries and library users. Journal of Intellectual Property Law, 10. Retrieved from http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage? collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/intpl10&div=18&id=&page=
Citations: 23
Ginsburg, JC. (1993). Copyright without walls?: Speculations on the literary property in the library of the future. Representations, 42. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/pss/2928618
Citations: 18
Ginsburg, JC. (2003). From having copies to experiencing works: The development of an access right in U.S. copyright law. Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA, Vol. 50, p. 113, 2003. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=222493 or doi:10.2139/ssrn.222493
Citations: 71
Heide, TP., Copyright in the EU and U.S.: What 'Access-Right'?. Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA, Vol. 48, No. 3, Spring 2001. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=270861 or doi:10.2139/ssrn.270861
Citations: 31
Jensen, MB. (1993). Is the Library without walls on a collision course with the 1976 copyright act?. Law Library Journal, 85. Retrieved from http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage? collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/llj85&div=50&id=&page=
Citations: 17
Koch, E, & Zhao, J. (1995). Towards robust and hidden image copyright labeling. Proceedings of the 1995 IEEE Workshop on Nonlinear Signal and Image Processing, http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download? doi=10.1.1.49.2067&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Citations: 375
Proskine, EA. (2006). Google's technicolor dreamcoat: A copyright analysis of the Google book search library project. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 21. Retrieved from http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage? collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/berktech21&div=25&id=&page= Citations: 26
Rhind, D. (1992). Data access, charging and copyright and their implications for geographical information systems. International Journal of Geographical Information Systems, 6(1), 13-30. doi:10.1080/02693799208901892
Citations: 35
Suber, P. (2002). Open access to the scientific journal literature. Journal of Biology, 1(3), Retrieved from http://jbiol.com/content/1/1/3 doi: 10.1186/1475-4924-1-3
Citations: 45
Suber, P. (2003, February). Removing the barriers to research: An introduction to open access for librarians. College & Research Libraries News, (64), Retrieved from http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3715477/suber_crln.html?sequence=5 Citations: 98
Tushnet, R. (2005-2006). My Library: Copyright and the role of institutions in a peer-to-peer world. UCLA Law Review, 53. Retrieved from http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage? collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/uclalr53&div=31&id=&page=
Citations: 23
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Copyright and Access citations
The following is a bibliography for the topic of copyright and access. I articles can be found in the Library Literature and Information Science (LLIS) Full Text Database. The other requirement for the assignment was to verify that each article has been sited by at least five other scholarly papers by using the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). This was pretty tricky as the search functions on both sites are not very good. The five citation minimum also limited what I could find. Many of the papers I found in the LLIS had few citations according to the SSCI. Also, when I attempted to find other articles by looking at citations, many of the sources were law journals, because of my topic. Unfortunately, law journals are not part of the LLIS, so I could not use these articles. After hours of searching, I was only able to find one page of citations that met all of the criteria. Still, I have never used the SSCI before and will definitely be relying on it to research my Culminating Experience paper.
Bibliography
Bennett, Scott Boyce. "The copyright challenge: strengthening the public interest in the digital age." Library Journal (1976) 119 (November 1994): 34-7. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 5
Berry, John N.. "Copyright must serve its true purpose: can we avoid open warfare this time around?." Library Journal (1976) 117 (August 1992): 6. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 5
Britz, Johannes J. and Tomas A. Lipinski. "Indigenous knowledge: a moral reflection on current legal concepts of intellectual property." Libri 51, no. 4 (2001): 234-46. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 5
Cornish, G. P.. "The impact of networking on international interlibrary loan and document supply." Libri 41 (October-December 1991): 272-88. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 5
Cullen, Rowena and Caroline Houghton. 2000. "Democracy online: an assessment of New Zealand government Web sites." Government Information Quarterly 17, no. 3: 243-67. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 15
Ensign, David. "Copyright considerations for telefacsimile transmission of documents in interlibrary loan transactions." Law Library Journal 81 (Fall 1989): 805-12. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 6
Fernández-Molina, J. Carlos. "Laws against the circumvention of copyright technological protection." Journal of Documentation 59, no. 1 (2003): 41-68. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 8
Foroughi, Abba, Marvin Albin and Gillard Sharlett. "Digital rights management: a delicate balance between protection and accessibility." Journal of Information Science 28, no. 5 (2002): 389-95. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 9
Goodram, Richard J.. "The E-RBR: confirming the technology and exploring the law of “electronic reserves:” two generations of the digital library system at the SDSU library." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 22 (March 1996): 118-23. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 6
Melamut, Steven J.. "Pursuing fair use, law libraries, and electronic reserves." Law Library Journal 92, no. 2 (Spring 2000): 157-92. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 5
Okerson, Ann. "With feathers: effects of copyright and ownership on scholarly publishing." College & Research Libraries 52 (September 1991): 425-38. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 15
Perritt, Henry H., Jr.. "Open government." Government Information Quarterly 14, no. 4 (1997): 397- 406. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 6
Bibliography
Bennett, Scott Boyce. "The copyright challenge: strengthening the public interest in the digital age." Library Journal (1976) 119 (November 1994): 34-7. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 5
Berry, John N.. "Copyright must serve its true purpose: can we avoid open warfare this time around?." Library Journal (1976) 117 (August 1992): 6. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 5
Britz, Johannes J. and Tomas A. Lipinski. "Indigenous knowledge: a moral reflection on current legal concepts of intellectual property." Libri 51, no. 4 (2001): 234-46. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 5
Cornish, G. P.. "The impact of networking on international interlibrary loan and document supply." Libri 41 (October-December 1991): 272-88. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 5
Cullen, Rowena and Caroline Houghton. 2000. "Democracy online: an assessment of New Zealand government Web sites." Government Information Quarterly 17, no. 3: 243-67. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 15
Ensign, David. "Copyright considerations for telefacsimile transmission of documents in interlibrary loan transactions." Law Library Journal 81 (Fall 1989): 805-12. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 6
Fernández-Molina, J. Carlos. "Laws against the circumvention of copyright technological protection." Journal of Documentation 59, no. 1 (2003): 41-68. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 8
Foroughi, Abba, Marvin Albin and Gillard Sharlett. "Digital rights management: a delicate balance between protection and accessibility." Journal of Information Science 28, no. 5 (2002): 389-95. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 9
Goodram, Richard J.. "The E-RBR: confirming the technology and exploring the law of “electronic reserves:” two generations of the digital library system at the SDSU library." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 22 (March 1996): 118-23. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 6
Melamut, Steven J.. "Pursuing fair use, law libraries, and electronic reserves." Law Library Journal 92, no. 2 (Spring 2000): 157-92. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 5
Okerson, Ann. "With feathers: effects of copyright and ownership on scholarly publishing." College & Research Libraries 52 (September 1991): 425-38. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 15
Perritt, Henry H., Jr.. "Open government." Government Information Quarterly 14, no. 4 (1997): 397- 406. Library Lit & Inf Full Text, WilsonWeb (accessed August 12, 2010). Citations: 6
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
The next assignment in my "Access to Information" class was to use the Library of Congress's online catalog for Prints and Photographs. It followed the Flickr assignment, so a comparison was inevitable.
I began with a simple search for "Jazz." I wasn't sure how much detail I would need in my search, so I figured the broader, the better. The search returned 159 pages of results. This did not yield the trove of images that it would imply, because many of the results are not actually images, but reference images in the the LOC catalog. Sometimes, it even states, "Not Digitized," a curious statement to find in an online collection of digitized photographs. Also, it was disappointing to find out that most of the images can be displayed only as thumbnails outside of the LOC because of copyright considerations.
I did find the layout to be very well conceived, especially that users can toggle the view from List to Grid. This also simplifies viewing, because clicking on the image takes you straight to it, bypassing the information screen. This is still accessible, by clicking "About This Item."
The "Jazz" search did not yield much, so I changed to the "1950s." This was too vague, so I tried the "Gilded Age." Photography was relatively new during this time so it predictably yielded little. Finally a search for "Cold War," brought 44 pages of results. Unfortunately, I again found myself looking at thumbnails and place holders for collections. Many of the images were detailed political cartoon, which could not be read because of the size of the image. That the LOC places these images online in this form makes them next to useless. I understand that copyright law is involved here, but surely they can look to Flickr for ideas about how to display images large enough for people to view them comfortably and yet with enough protection that they aren't easily pilfered.
It is obvious from searching the site that the LOC has an incredible collection of images with great historical and culture significance. Unfortunately, rather than expanding access to them, their online catalog merely offers a small taste, and then encourages the viewer to come to D.C. for the full meal. Interestingly, in the "About Prints and Photographs" section, the LOC explains that thumbnails are
only available for some images because of "potential rights considerations." It is unfortunate that copyright law lumps the online display of the LOC's historic collections into the same category as a bootleg copy of "Avatar."
I began with a simple search for "Jazz." I wasn't sure how much detail I would need in my search, so I figured the broader, the better. The search returned 159 pages of results. This did not yield the trove of images that it would imply, because many of the results are not actually images, but reference images in the the LOC catalog. Sometimes, it even states, "Not Digitized," a curious statement to find in an online collection of digitized photographs. Also, it was disappointing to find out that most of the images can be displayed only as thumbnails outside of the LOC because of copyright considerations.
I did find the layout to be very well conceived, especially that users can toggle the view from List to Grid. This also simplifies viewing, because clicking on the image takes you straight to it, bypassing the information screen. This is still accessible, by clicking "About This Item."
The "Jazz" search did not yield much, so I changed to the "1950s." This was too vague, so I tried the "Gilded Age." Photography was relatively new during this time so it predictably yielded little. Finally a search for "Cold War," brought 44 pages of results. Unfortunately, I again found myself looking at thumbnails and place holders for collections. Many of the images were detailed political cartoon, which could not be read because of the size of the image. That the LOC places these images online in this form makes them next to useless. I understand that copyright law is involved here, but surely they can look to Flickr for ideas about how to display images large enough for people to view them comfortably and yet with enough protection that they aren't easily pilfered.
It is obvious from searching the site that the LOC has an incredible collection of images with great historical and culture significance. Unfortunately, rather than expanding access to them, their online catalog merely offers a small taste, and then encourages the viewer to come to D.C. for the full meal. Interestingly, in the "About Prints and Photographs" section, the LOC explains that thumbnails are
only available for some images because of "potential rights considerations." It is unfortunate that copyright law lumps the online display of the LOC's historic collections into the same category as a bootleg copy of "Avatar."
Monday, August 2, 2010
Exploring Flickr
I decided to make the subject of my album Montreal. I visited the city several years ago and really enjoyed myself. It is a visually interesting city with lots of modern architecture blended in with the old city, which was first settled in 1642. Montreal is the second largest city in Canada, after Toronto, and is located on an island in the St. Lawrence River. The city got its name from Mount Royal, which rises 763 feet from the center of the island.
I began creating my album by searching for "Montreal" in Everybody's Uploads. I first noticed that nearly all of the photographs were professional quality. Some of the photos were of landmarks in the city, though others were studio portraits with no visible connection to the city. On the right hand side, I found the places category. In this section, you can search with in photos of Montreal. The first thing I could think of was "poutine" a local delicacy that I sampled on my first day. The search yielded many photos of the dish, which looks like its made of french fries, cheese curd and gravy, because it is. I also found pictures of Montreal's Latin Quarter by searching here. The photos in this section included many that looked like amature shots. I was really impressed with how well the pictures were tagged. Even when I chose photos that I thought might be mistagged, they weren't. I even tried a search using the word "gravy" just to see how a search that lacked a proper noun would work. Nearly every picture featured food with brown or tan gravy topping it. To me, this shows that Flickr has created the expectation that people stand to gain something from tagging their photos well. Maybe its the organization or the hope of increased exposure. Either way, I hope library catalogs are some day able to emulate this.
One feature that I found interesting was the ability to search pictures from Getty Images. I found one that I liked, and after adding it to my album, I noticed the option to purchase rights for the image. Walking through the form, I was able to select what I would be using the image for and for what duration. Completing the form would have generated a quote for purchasing the rights. This highlights something that Flickr does very well, giving clear information about copyright requirements for its images. Some are protected by Creative Commons licenses, other by traditional copyrights.
All in all I think Flickr is a great website. Its success is definitely based on the devotion of its users who upload all of its content and then organize. However, this is because Flickr allows you to organize and find photos well. Search engines do not excel at finding photos, because you can't search for what is the in the picture, you have to hope that someone has described the photo in terms you would use. On Flickr, you still have to do this, but the format makes it so easy, why wouldn't you.
I began creating my album by searching for "Montreal" in Everybody's Uploads. I first noticed that nearly all of the photographs were professional quality. Some of the photos were of landmarks in the city, though others were studio portraits with no visible connection to the city. On the right hand side, I found the places category. In this section, you can search with in photos of Montreal. The first thing I could think of was "poutine" a local delicacy that I sampled on my first day. The search yielded many photos of the dish, which looks like its made of french fries, cheese curd and gravy, because it is. I also found pictures of Montreal's Latin Quarter by searching here. The photos in this section included many that looked like amature shots. I was really impressed with how well the pictures were tagged. Even when I chose photos that I thought might be mistagged, they weren't. I even tried a search using the word "gravy" just to see how a search that lacked a proper noun would work. Nearly every picture featured food with brown or tan gravy topping it. To me, this shows that Flickr has created the expectation that people stand to gain something from tagging their photos well. Maybe its the organization or the hope of increased exposure. Either way, I hope library catalogs are some day able to emulate this.
One feature that I found interesting was the ability to search pictures from Getty Images. I found one that I liked, and after adding it to my album, I noticed the option to purchase rights for the image. Walking through the form, I was able to select what I would be using the image for and for what duration. Completing the form would have generated a quote for purchasing the rights. This highlights something that Flickr does very well, giving clear information about copyright requirements for its images. Some are protected by Creative Commons licenses, other by traditional copyrights.
All in all I think Flickr is a great website. Its success is definitely based on the devotion of its users who upload all of its content and then organize. However, this is because Flickr allows you to organize and find photos well. Search engines do not excel at finding photos, because you can't search for what is the in the picture, you have to hope that someone has described the photo in terms you would use. On Flickr, you still have to do this, but the format makes it so easy, why wouldn't you.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Online Reference comparison
For my next assignment in my LIS class, I needed to compare the experience of using two online reference services: Know-It-Now and the Kent State University library’s Ask A Librarian. To compare the services, I asked them the same reference question I used for my previous assignment: finding information about home brewing.
First a little background. Know-It-Now (KIN) is maintained by the State Library of Ohio. It offers 24/7 live chat reference. The site is staffed by librarians around the state who take one hour shifts during normal library hours, and then a group of librarians who work from home during the night. Kent State’s Ask A Librarian (AAL) service is available during the same hours that the reference desk at the Main Library is open. I learned this from their website so I don’t know much more about the service.
Speaking of service, a comparison of my experiences. I tried the chat option from AAL since it would be the most similar to the service offered by KIN. I signed in to the service around 6:30 PM to see the status showing AWAY. I typed in my question, assuming that the librarian would eventually return to the computer, and then began to read the information about the service. The first thing that I noticed was that it took two clicks and some scrolling to find out what hours for the AAL are. This is because the service is offered “Whenever the Main Library Reference Desk is open,” and this information is not on the AAL site. I think it would be beneficial to have this on the same page. I was also struck by the section titled “IM and Phone Reference Tips.” The guidelines asked that all question pertain to known items or quick reference look-ups. This greatly restricts the type of questions a person can ask, and made me wonder if I would receive a response to my question would be. I didn’t have a chance to find out, because around 7PM, the status of the chat box changed to offline, and no answer had been offered.
KIN, in comparison, was very prompt. I signed in and waited about a minute before the librarian on the other end answered. I asked my question and they offered to look for some websites. One was a site I had already visited, but the other was new to me and contained very useful information. The librarian also suggested I check my local library, and even suggested some search terms when I asked. The conversation ended with the librarian telling me to come back when I had another question.
It is obvious that AAL and KIN are designed for two different user groups. While public libraries do have limits to the type of questions that people can ask, these are guided by reference policy and not by the medium. The AAL service seemed to offer quick help for users while implying that more detailed requests would need to be made in person, while KIN made me believe that the librarian would attempt to offer any question presented.
First a little background. Know-It-Now (KIN) is maintained by the State Library of Ohio. It offers 24/7 live chat reference. The site is staffed by librarians around the state who take one hour shifts during normal library hours, and then a group of librarians who work from home during the night. Kent State’s Ask A Librarian (AAL) service is available during the same hours that the reference desk at the Main Library is open. I learned this from their website so I don’t know much more about the service.
Speaking of service, a comparison of my experiences. I tried the chat option from AAL since it would be the most similar to the service offered by KIN. I signed in to the service around 6:30 PM to see the status showing AWAY. I typed in my question, assuming that the librarian would eventually return to the computer, and then began to read the information about the service. The first thing that I noticed was that it took two clicks and some scrolling to find out what hours for the AAL are. This is because the service is offered “Whenever the Main Library Reference Desk is open,” and this information is not on the AAL site. I think it would be beneficial to have this on the same page. I was also struck by the section titled “IM and Phone Reference Tips.” The guidelines asked that all question pertain to known items or quick reference look-ups. This greatly restricts the type of questions a person can ask, and made me wonder if I would receive a response to my question would be. I didn’t have a chance to find out, because around 7PM, the status of the chat box changed to offline, and no answer had been offered.
KIN, in comparison, was very prompt. I signed in and waited about a minute before the librarian on the other end answered. I asked my question and they offered to look for some websites. One was a site I had already visited, but the other was new to me and contained very useful information. The librarian also suggested I check my local library, and even suggested some search terms when I asked. The conversation ended with the librarian telling me to come back when I had another question.
It is obvious that AAL and KIN are designed for two different user groups. While public libraries do have limits to the type of questions that people can ask, these are guided by reference policy and not by the medium. The AAL service seemed to offer quick help for users while implying that more detailed requests would need to be made in person, while KIN made me believe that the librarian would attempt to offer any question presented.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Information Search
The following is an information awareness report I created about my recent attempt to learn about the art of home brewing.
During a conversation with a co-worker, I learned that he brewed his own beer in his apartment. I like to cook, perform home and bicycle maintenance and generally work with my hands, and prefer to make as many of the products that I use at home as I can, so I was immediately interested. This is a topic I know nothing about, so I began a search for information.
I began by questioning my co-worker and discovered he has brewed beer for many years. I asked him the following questions:
“How did you first become interested in brewing beer?”
“Where did you find information?”
From these two questions I learned that he became interested after meeting people who brewed their own beer and he sought their advice about how to start brewing beer. He had also read books about brewing and he recommended two that he knew were available at the library: Brewing the World’s Great Beers by Dave Miller and Clone Brews by Tess and Mark Szamtulski.
To find the books that were recommended, and to see what other titles were available, I searched the catalog of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. After finding the two suggested titles, I performed the following searches:
brewing beer
clone brews
Belgian style ale
This search returned over 100 titles, many of which focused on brewing beer. The books ranged from a Dummies book to titles that focused on a specific style of brewing. Since I also had access to it, I then searched CML’s Premium Resources, a collection of online databases, with the following search:
brewing beer
This search yielded 86 articles, but scanning the first 20, I did not find one that was actually about brewing beer. I didn’t really expect to find much from this resource, an introductory article at most, so I turned to Google.
I performed the following search on Google:
brewing beer how-to
The first hit was the site www.howtobrew.com. Maintained by John Palmer, it is actually a book on brewing beer that can be read entirely on this site. The detail was astounding; a very scientific approach.
My initial information search was very satisfactory. I feel like I now know that finding information about this topic is easy and that I have my choice of either print or electronic resources. This has encouraged me to begin reading about brewing, formulating new questions and conducting additional research. I do not believe that there are any validity issues with my sources. The books were recommended by a knowledgeable person and were both in their second edition. The website is the top hit on Google, showing that it is a popular first place to start for brewers. The author is clearly displayed and a copyright placed on the content. I used the search link:www.howtobrew.com in Google to find out that 110 sites link to this website and nearly all of them are also about brewing.
I feel like my information needs have been met for the time being. Since brewing is a complicated task, a detailed review of my information sources will be necessary in order to evaluate any gaps in my knowledge. Also, because this is a process, performing the actual steps and attempting to brew will certainly reveal gaps, and hopefully yield beer.
Documenting this process has shown me that if I know someone who is knowledgeable in an area, I am inclined to consult them in order to begin my search for information. If I perceive my information needs to be complex or detailed, I would rather start with the library catalog than the internet, though I was happy to find and use a good internet source.
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