DOK, the cutting-edge library center in Delft, the Netherlands, has been finding new ways to elaborate on the social networking impulse. A good library unites people from all levels of society, and DOK's unique innovation department focuses specifically on how media can bring people together. It's doing so using technology to inspire and connect…

May 31, 2010, was Quit Facebook Day. But although only around 35,000 of the 500 million Facebook users pledged to quit Facebook on Memorial Day, there's a sense of unease stirring with the social network's strategy. Congress has called for Facebook to explain its stance on the collection and sharing of user information (see…

As always in real estate, everything in technology these days seems to be about location. From Google's recent addition of a "nearby" location limit to its suite of search options to the spate of location-based mobile apps and social networks, physical proximity has become the linchpin of a trend to connect technology to the real world. In this…

For the past half dozen years or so, BookExpo America (BEA) has biennially touched down in New York City, hopping to Chicago, DC, and Los Angeles in between. No more. For the next four years--at least--the annual book bonanza will call Manhattan's Jacob Javits Convention Center home. Times are hard, and publishers are hurting, so anchoring in the…

When product pipeline first covered Twitter back in July 2007, the tool was so novel that only a very few libraries and librarians were experimenting with it. Now, over two years later, Twitter has gone mainstream, thanks to promotion by high-profile stars. From its early beginnings as a microblogging application, Twitter morphed into a…

The Web 2.0 "buzz" starts with new technologies such as virtual worlds, cell phones and handheld devices that offer 24/7 web access, tagging, social networks, and blogs and brings together various web capabilities in unique combinations. Web 2.0, however, is about much more than the technology--it is about a change in focus to participation, user…

Information overload is so five years ago, but the problem it describes is all too real. Fortunately, there's hope yet for the savvy librarian: Twitter and FriendFeed turn information dissemination on its head, using friends and subscribers as a filter for the best, most credible, and most engaging information out there. Like other social media…

This article identifies 13 cultural trends that libraries can turn into opportunites to reach patrons. These trends include: Twitter, online reputation management, value added content, mobile marketing, and emotional connection.

The program for the march by librarians on America's capital for the American Library Association (ALA) conference is predictably loaded with lobbying, legislation, and DC tours. It also abounds with professional opportunity and reflects the impact of Leslie Burger, one of the most activist ALA presidents in recent history. Her "Transformation"…

Yoga and Pilates are everywhere these days, and it's no wonder. Innumerable medical studies have shown that yoga and Pilates not only help people improve their fitness levels and slim down but also help them to alleviate asthma symptoms, manage arthritis and carpel tunnel pain, decrease cardiovascular risk factors, and improve one's emotional…

In the article, the author talks about the benefits of grid networks. In speaking of grid networks the author is referring to both networks of computers and networks of humans connected together in a grid topology. Examples are provided of how grid networks are beneficial today and the ways in which they have been used.

The information industry continues to consolidate, just as agribusiness has consolidated and now dominates farming. Both the family farm and the small information company still exist but are becoming rarer in an age of mergers, acquisitions, and increased economies of scale. Small companies distinguish themselves by high quality, special themes,…

Social networking and other Web 2.0 technologies led the social whirl of the information industry. Publishers and librarians tried to keep their products and services relevant by mixing authoritative content with user involvement, but that was not enough. Enhancing interfaces, adding new forms of content, and making strategic acquisitions--all are…

This article observes that it's not hard to understand why Google creates such unease among librarians. The profession, however, can't afford to be myopic when it comes to Google. As inescapable as it is, Google is not the Internet. And as the web evolves, new opportunities and challenges loom larger for libraries than who's capturing the bulk of…

The year's business reading identified new trends, reckoned with old challenges, offered counteropinions on hot topics, reinforced some old lessons, highlighted gains over losses, celebrated innovations that have potential for all, and observed the failures of these innovations to keep their promise. In short, it was a year of balancing…