Web 2.0 seems to be all the rage these days. One cannot go to a library conference and attend presentations or stroll down the halls without hearing some mention of it in magical tones reserved for some great discovery. The excitement surrounding Web 2.0 reminds the author of the frenzy that gripped the country between 1848 and 1855, when…

The workload of Web librarians is already split between Web-related and other library tasks. But today's technological environment has created new implications for existing services and new demands for staff time. It is time to reconsider how libraries can best allocate resources to provide effective Web services. Delivering high-quality services…

Purpose: DBpedia extracts structured information from Wikipedia, interlinks it with other knowledge bases and freely publishes the results on the web using Linked Data and SPARQL. However, the DBpedia release process is heavyweight and releases are sometimes based on several months old data. DBpedia-Live solves this problem by providing a live…

Case-based learning has been widely used in many disciplines. As an effective pedagogical method, case-based learning is also being used to support teaching and learning in the domain of information security. In this paper, we demonstrate case-based learning in information security by sharing our experiences in using a case study to teach security…

The author, a digital access architect in the information systems department of the Orange County Library System in Florida, was given the challenge of creating a library mobile app around the 2009 holiday season. At that time, Sheri Chambers, digital content manager in the information systems department, and Debbie Moss, assistant director of the…

Literature on library service models is scarce and exists mainly in non-traditional formats such as blog entries and webpages. Nonetheless, the subject evokes heated debate among librarians with many supporting the model they are using, sometimes without understanding that there are other options which perhaps could be better for their…

Near field communication is an emerging technology that allows objects, such as mobile phones, computers, tags, or posters, to exchange information wirelessly across a small distance. Though primarily associated with mobile payment, near field communication has many different potential commercial applications, ranging from marketing to nutrition,…

Libraries have been increasingly concerned with data creation, management, and publication. This increase is partly driven by shifting metadata standards in libraries and partly by the growth of data and metadata repositories being managed by libraries. In order to manage these data sets, libraries are looking for new preservation and discovery…

With the release of Google's App Inventor for Android, though still officially in beta, the company sought to make app development "simple but powerful" so that teachers could create study tips and quizzes, anyone could create geographic information systems (GIS) to help people find their way to some destination, and people could communicate over…

Traditional online library catalogs do not tend to order search results by ranked relevance, and they can befuddle users with clunky interfaces. However, that's changing because of two technology trends. First, a growing number of universities are shelling out serious money for sophisticated software that makes exploring their collections more…

The Association Supporting Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) initiated a refereed track for paper submissions to the conference in 2008. In fact, at the 2008 business meeting, the membership approved three different presentation tracks: refereed with 3 blind reviews for each paper, session with paper where the author submits a paper but it is…

Changes presented by cloud computing--shared computing services, applications, and storage available to end users via the Internet--have the potential to seriously alter how libraries provide services, not only remotely, but also within the physical library, specifically concerning challenges facing the typical desktop computing experience.…

It's been well documented in a number of articles regarding the contemporary library patron that with the rise in mobile computing and smart phone technology, patrons are looking for fast and easy service from whichever technological avenue they are using to access library services. Libraries are responding with increasing numbers of online…

The web site is a library's most important feature. Patrons use the web site for numerous functions, such as renewing materials, placing holds, requesting information, and accessing databases. The homepage is the place they turn to look up the hours, branch locations, policies, and events. Whether users are at work, at home, in a building, or on…

Back in 2008, the authors were looking for a tool that would replace the library's Outlook folders and much of what the library had stored on shared network drives. So they were mainly looking for something that would hold their documents, allow them to better organize those documents, offer an easy way to search for those documents, and be easy…