Yahoo as an Agent of Change

Three Minutes with a Chief Yahoo. John Ribeiro. IDG News Service (via Yahoo News). April 29, 2007.
In this interview, Yahoo cofounder David Filo defends his company's marketing to third world countries as having the benefit of making non-democratic countries more open. Yahoo has most recently been accused of assisting the Chinese government in identifying a dissident who was subsequently imprisoned.

Google Facilitating Access to Government Info

Google Helps Make Public Records Available. Dibya Sarkar. Associated Press (via Yahoo News). April 30, 2007.
Google will announce that is is working with state and government agencies to try to make government information accessible to Web searchers, much to the alarm of privacy advocates.

Banning the Reference Desk

No Longer the Sacred Cow - No Longer a Desk: Transforming Reference Service to Meet 21st Century User Needs. Gabriela Sonntag and Felicia Paisson. Library Philosophy and Practice. 2007.
Some academic libraries are looking for alternatives to what they call the "sit and wait" model of reference service. Rather than having to answer directional questions, they are in their offices working on other tasks, such as planning information literacy instruction, while remaining on call for reference requests.

The Value of Writing

Is the Pen Still Mighty in the Computer Age? Candace Lombardi. ZDNet News. April 19, 2007.
With students today being proficient at keyboarding, the value of writing with a pen is being debated. Some teachers believe that writing is a better way to encourage thought

Assessing Credibility Online

Credibility of Content and the Future of Research, Learning, and Publishing in the Digital Environment. Kate Wittenberg. The Journal of Electronic Publishing. vol. 10, no. 1, Winter 2007.
As young people use Google for research and online communities for socializing, they have their own methods of assessing the credibility of the information and people they encounter. The author maintains that these skills should be recognized by information providers as they adapt their services to students' needs.

The Boston Athenaeum, a Notable Subscription Library

Booking Your Own Private Library. Teresa Méndez. Christian Science Monitor. April 6, 2007.
Private subscritpion libraries were the forerunners of today's tax-supported public libraries. Many, such as the Boston Athenaeum, profiled here, still exist and offer services and ammenities not found in public libraries. Although not mentioned in this article, the Boston Athenium was once run by one of the great librarians, Charles Ammi Cutter.

Keeping Up with Integrated Library Systems

An Industry Redefined. Marshall Breeding. Library Journal. April 1, 2007.
The author presents an overview of recent goings on in the ILS arena, including mergers and acquisitions and the growing adoption of open source solutions.

Fear of Google

Is Google too Powerful? BusinessWeek Online. April 9, 2007.
Many of its competitors are alarmed by Google's growing power and influence as it dominates so much of the online world in areas ranging from search to advertising. As the company points out, however, its success is a result of providing services that many consumers value.

Learning Web 2.0

Public Library Geeks Take Web 2.0 to the Stacks. Beverly Hanly. Wired. March 29, 2007.
Helene Blowers, IT director at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, developed a program named Learning 2.0 to teach library staff the web 2.0 technologies. Although they have completed the program, the site remains up so that others may take advantage of her self-discovery tools and exercises.