Mosman Library vs That Search Engine

For those of you who haven't already caught up with it you should definately check out Mosman Library's wonderful promotion for their online reference collection, Mosman Library vs That Search Engine.

What an ingenious, fun way to illustrate the worth of their databases.

Google Scholar and Google Books Stand Alone

Did everyone see this...

Google Books and Google Scholar are set to be left as the 'last man standing' in the mass online digitisation game as Microsoft cancels its Live Search Books & Academic programs.

This via Sarah at Librarian in Black:

Libraries and publishers who before had a choice now have to go with Google if they want mass digitization of their materials in an affordable way. Microsoft wanted to make money, and online books were expensive to produce and weren't making money. And yet, Google's projects are going strong. I hope that a non-corporate entity springs up to take up the slack and compete with Google's commercial model.

hmmm...

Reference desks - part 1

As part of the trend for reference and information staff to be more mobile within a library the service desks are becoming smaller.

This example from King County Library System in Washington State shows an ergonomic reference and information desk. It can be raised or lowered depending on the staff member on duty, or the clients needs for example it can be low enough for people to sit at. It is easy to approach and very easy for a staff member to be able to walk away from it to help someone. The desk does not present a barrier, but gives opportunities from staff to help the public.

King County has done a lot of work about changing service models – see Barbara Pitney and Nancy Slote’s article Going mobile: the KCLS roving reference model, Public Libraries. Chicago: Jan/Feb 2007. Vol. 46, Iss. 1; p. 54 (15 pages)

Google Custom Search

Wow, talk about rapid innovation. I'm not sure if you keep an eye on all the tools that the Google tech lab creates, one thing I can say is that they are obviously a busy bunch of caffeine fuelled tech heads.

One of the latest tools to be unleashed is Google Custom search. This new technology provides individuals with the option to create a subject specific search interface that is populated with websites selected by the creator.

The first thing that came to mind when reading about this technology was it's potential application in creating subject guides for library users. Instead of creating lists of site URLs, Librarian's now have the option to create a subject specific web search portal. The text box can be embedded into the web page. For an example of the Google Custom Search please check out the Western Australian Governments website.

I do not know of any library service that has created a subject specific search portal using this application and whilst I intend to tinker with this technology I have not had an opportunity to do so as yet.

So for those intrepid souls amongst us uncharted water beckons! I would love to here any feed back regarding Google Custom Search; please forward any comments/stories to your-stories@nsw-risg.org

Google Maps Australia

Google has recently launched a product called Google Maps Australia. Based on the existing Google earth platform the new service provides excellent street maps for metropolitan and rural areas. The user has the option of viewing maps and/or aerial photos. Additional functionality includes; driving directions, city guides, address and business search and reportedly the product will operate on mobile devices such as BlackBerries and Palm PDA’s.

In trialling this product I was impressed by the breadth of detail in the maps. I grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Daylesford in Victoria that to this day has no street signage; yet Google maps listed all the street names even for obscure dirt roads.

Considering the above functionality and the simplicity of the interface this should be a very useful reference tool.

http://maps.google.com.au/

Ross Balharrie