Better Websites Make Happier People: Web Management Essentials Beyond Visual Design

With the trend toward responsive web design, which is the making of websites that automatically adjust themselves to fit desktops, laptops, tablets, or smartphones, there is a new emphasis on text on websites. Fewer graphics are being used and a bit more text may be needed. But the text itself must be visually pleasing, friendly, and concise. This was one of the key points of the program Better Websites Make Happier People: Web Management Essentials Beyond Visual Design.

Richard Kong of the Skokie Public Library (formerly of Arlington Heights Public Library) began the session by discussing the importance and methods of user testing. He urged libraries to avoid massive redesigns if possible, making incremental tested changes, always being in a state of subtle reconstruction. For testing, he recommended watching members of the library public try to accomplish assigned tasks, such as find the hours or send a message to library staff. The test conductor should, of course, emphasize that the website, not the volunteer, is being tested.

Anne Slaughter from RAILS (formerly of Oak Park Public Library) talked about having a content strategy from the beginning of a website design. Too many sites work on the look and the structure first, with the result that content is then wedged in. The overall consideration should be that the website is a platform for providing information and services. Only pages that serve the goals enumerated in the content strategy should be created.

Brodie Austin of Skokie Public Library (formerly of Des Plaines Public Library) made the observation with which I started this report. He said that websites heavy with images load slowly on mobile devices and tablets, so reducing the number of them serves everyone well. Cleaner design aids with simple, effective text is the new goal. To help web writers, there are new simple word processors, such as Draft and Prose.

In the questions period, Kong described an exercise that he had website stakeholders do to identify the reduced number of items to get space on a library's main webpage. It involved giving each person ten post-its, each marked 10 cents. Once all the proposed main webpage items are posted on a board, each person sticks her post-its on their preferred items. The items with the most post-its make the cut.

Austin agreed that many library website users are seeking links to other services, such as library catalogs, ebook platforms, and other online resources. More than most other websites, a good library website with have a high bounce rate.

Google Art Project Thoughts

I am surprised to find that I have not written about the Google Art Project. I thought that I had. I remember when Bonnie introduced me to the website, which had images from about a dozen art museum from several countries, I thought everyone should know about the project. Google had loaded very high quality images that could be inspected minutely. I was impressed. I could see art in Paris, London, or Tokyo without leaving home.

I am still impressed. The images are still beautiful, and navigation of the website has improved. There are now 261 collections, over 9,500 artists, and over 45,000 images with detailed descriptions, including artist, date, media, size, original name, provenance, and notes on viewing. Paintings, sculpture, tapestries, mosaics, jewelry, etc. are included. You may browse a collection, view representative work by an artist, or search by keywords.

The Google Art Project lets you share images through your social media and put together your own virtual galleries. Users galleries may be an art lovers favorite pieces or guides developed by museums to help visitors. Some are thematic presentations, such as "Mathematics and Art" and "Boats and historical events."

Not everything with the Google Art Project is right, however. I can not imagine why we are expected to browse for artists by their first names. I remember that Picasso's first name is Pablo and that Pollack's first name is Jackson. Some are known by first names, such as Titian or Rembrandt. What are the first names of Rubens or Renoir? What about Van Dyke? It's not Dick. Actually, there are so many artists that I do not even recommend browsing. Use the search box instead.

Not every museum is participating. The Louvre and the Prado museums are among the missing.

The level of participation for collections varies, and even in the best cases is selective. Having just gotten home from a trip to New York, I have found that the Google Art Project just doesn't have many of my favorites from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collection, and the Museum of Modern Art. Looking at the collection for the Morgan Library, I almost wonder if I went to the right place. I recognize very little from its project images. Of course, the Morgan is always changing much of what is on exhibit.

The Google Art Project does not substitute for a trip to the museum, but it may certainly make you want to go.

Worldometers.info

Christine Bulson at Points of Reference, the reference services blog at Booklist Online, reported this week on the website Worldometers: Real Time World Statistics. Christine suggests the site as useful for people needing statistical estimates on how many or much there is now, not three years ago, of people, money, natural resources, books, websites, and other quantifiable concepts. For someone used to looking at statistics that have set points in time, however, it is a little disconcerting. How do you even read the numbers that are constantly changing? Of course, the reality is that statistics are always a bit fuzzy.

With the print and online Statistical Abstract of the United States being threatened by the federal budget cutters, Worldometers and sites like it may become our new standards. There are links from each reading describing the method and source of the numbers. I'll try to remember this site to help students and business clients.

On Elephants and Relatives

For nearly sixty years, Dame Daphne Sheldrick has been caring for orphaned wildlife of Kenya, raising everything from dik-diks to rhinoceroses. What she is most known for, however, is raising orphaned elephants. Through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, she and her devoted staff care for dozens of young elephants with the goal of reintroducing them to the wild. The Trust runs several camps in Kenya (the Naibori Nursery, Ithumba Unit, and Voi Unit), which can be visited by well wishers when touring the country. She has become quite famous and was recently featured on NBC News and the Today Show. Because many people want to follow the orphaned elephants' progress, she writes monthly letters that can be received through email.

Bonnie is a sponsor and receives the emails, which she passes on to me. These letters from Dame Daphne remind me of the letters that I used to get from my grandmother. My grandmother had eight siblings, and my grandfather had four siblings, and I think they all had children. Three of my great aunts lived in or near Big Lake, Texas when I was a boy and more relatives were in San Angelo, Ozona, Alpine, Ft. Davis, Lubbock, Midland, and Austin. She was constantly getting cards and letters from the relatives, as well as visits. When I left for college and jobs in other states, Grandmother sent letters that reported on the lives of my great uncles, great aunts, and cousins to many degrees. I had tremendous trouble keeping them all straight.

Dame Daphne's letters are longer and include even more names on average than those I received from my Grandmother. She and her organization are probably not taking care of more elephants than I have cousins, but she tells us more about them. Most letters start (unfortunately) with a story about an elephant rescue. Then we learn who is at each camp, who is comforting younger elephants, who is leading the daily walks, and who's joined the wild herds of their own accord. We also learn who's playing with whom. I think the elephants are closer and have more fun together than my relatives ever did (at least at the cousins level).

Like any good family, there are photos to see. Bonnie often prints some with the monthly letters. I get to see the latest shots of Zurura (above), Bonnie's elephant, who has grown into a mischievous and rowdy boy who likes pushing games but also is a devoted to his friends. He was a constant companion to a dying elephant last year.

You have to love elephants when you read Dame Daphne's letters. Learn more at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust website.

Marketing as Conversation: How to Interact with Your Community Through Your Website

What I liked best about this meeting at the Public Library Association Conference in Portland was seeing Gina Millsap with whom I worked at Daniel Boone Regional Library in Columbia, Missouri years ago. The program was good, too!

The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library is a leader among libraries in innovative adoption of social networking tools to advance its mission. TSCPL has ten people working for "the digital branch," which includes its website and social websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. The Lester Public Library in Two Rivers, Wisconsin is a small library in town on Lake Michigan north of Milwaukee. All of the library's social networking and web development falls on the library director. The difference in size between the two libraries is vast, but both are creating digital identities and connecting with their communities.

Jeff Dawson is the Director of the Lester Public Library in Two Rivers. (He said there are two other libraries by the same name in other parts of the state.) He said that he had never even had a computer of his own before he became the director about three years ago. Knowing he needed to do something easy to get his library into social networking, he got a camera and an account on the photography website Flickr. He began posting pictures with some library information and then broadened his efforts posting pictures about sites and events in his community. Soon people began to say that he covered the community better than the local newspapers. He then started a blog to serve as the library website; he write posts there but usually posts photos from Flickr that feed automatically onto the blog. He has now also set up Facebook and Twitter accounts; again most of the content comes via Flickr. Dawson said that he takes fifteen minutes each day as he arrives at work to load a new picture on Flickr, which then goes to the other three websites. The result has been that the visibility of the library is up as is its use, and Dawson has become a recognized person in a community that strongly values being native-born.

David Lee King is a well-known figure in the online library community. As Digital Services Manager at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, he leads a team that builds an elaborate website, manages the library use of social networking tools, and even produces podcasts and YouTube videos for user education and promotion of the library. Even with a large staff, King repeats that reusing content and feeding it to different websites is important. One of his department's jobs is constant watching for and responding to comments from the community harvested from the library's blogs and all of its social networking sites. King showed examples that resulted in the purchasing of library materials, answering of informational queries, solving service problems, and improving library services.

Gina Millsap, the director of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, spoke about how important her library's digital efforts have been. She said that her library has mastered the art of conversation, increasing community involvement and the demand for library services. Though not a primary mission, getting community involvement has led to political strength when the library has been threatened with reduced funding. When asked how a library gets reluctant staff to participate in providing digital services, Millsap said that she wouldn't let staff refuse to use the telephone; digital services are now basic and everybody's duty. "Serving our patrons wherever they might be is not optional."

The slides for the presentation may be found at http://www.slideshare.net/davidleeking.

Prairie Home Companion Quizzes

When I was using the Prairie Home Companion website to see if I was spelling character names correctly, I discovered that there are a variety of trivia quizzes to test listeners knowledge of all things Lake Wobegon. I did fairly well (80 %) in general information about Minnesota and about the show sponsors (Powdermilk Biscuits, Bertha's Kitty Boutique, etc.) but I did really badly (40 %) in quizes about the band, Guy Noir, and Lives of the Cowboys.

How do you do?

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: A Reference Librarian Looks at Consumer Health Reference Sources

This is Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Awareness Month. EDS is a group of connective tissue disorders which may, depending on the type and severity, make a person super flexible, reduce mobility, cause constant pain, or even threaten life. Basic to all is that a person's collagen is defective, resulting in stretched skin and dislocated joints. The Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation website is a good starting point for learning about the condition.

A good website from which to learn about the life of a person with EDS is LibrarianInBlack. Last week Sarah Houghton-Jan wrote about her life with EDS. As a dedicated librarian intent on educating readers, she embedded two videos about other EDS cases and photos showing hyperelastic skin and joints. She also included a link to the Ehlers-Danlos Support Group. You can also look through the recent posts and archives of LibrarianInBlack to see what an active person Sarah is despite her condition.

The following is a collection of EDS resources available in public libraries (many at the Downers Grove Public Library). Readers will notice that there is disagreement in the EDS literature as to how many types of the syndrome exist. No one source tells the whole story. Persons with EDS will, of course, seek many sources to help them understand their prognosis. Friends and family are urged to take time to also explore many resources.

Missing from the list are book-length EDS memoirs. I found none through our local library system catalog, Worldcat, or Amazon.


Reference Books

Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 31st ed., 2007 - A user has to look at two entries to see all that the dictionary says about about EDS. On page 603 is an entry "Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome" which provides a pronunciation and the names of the two dermatologists for whom the syndrome is named, Edvard Ehler of Denmark, 1863-1937 and Henri Alexandre Danlos of France, 1844-1912. For more information, readers have to turn to page 1854 and look under "syndromes." Dorland's describes six types of EDS (down from ten) and includes a photo of hyperextensible skin.

American Medical Association Family Medical Guide, 4th ed., 2004. - This AMA guide has about a page of information about EDS under the heading of "Autosomal Dominant Disorders." Across pages 969-70 are paragraphs about symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. Near the end is a stern warning to parents to reduce injuries by preventing their children from "showing off" their unusual flexibility.

Dictionary of Syndromes and Inherited Disorders by Patricia Gilbert, 3rd ed., 2000 - Gilbert says that an alternate name for the syndrome is "joint laxity." On pages 102-5, she describes population incidence of EDS, genetic causation, syndrome characteristics, and case management. She emphasizes the need for good dental care.

Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment by Stephen J. McPhee and Maxine A. Papadakis, 2009 ed. - CMDT does not have a separate entry for EDS, but it is mentioned in entries for mitral valve prolapse (p. 301), cardiac involvement in miscellaneous systemic disease (p. 373), cardiac patient and pregnancy (p. 374), and thoracic aortic aneurysms (p. 414).

Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 17th ed., 2008 - Harrison's includes about two large pages of professional level content about EDS, pages 2465-67. A chart explains eight types of EDS. The syndrome is also mentioned in entries about skin manifestations of internal disease (p. 335), bleeding (p. 366), valvular heart disease (p. 1472), cardiac manifestations of systemic diseases (p. 1499), aortic aneurysms (p. 1563), stroke (p. 2519), and osteoporosis (p. 2400).

Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 3rd ed., 2006 - Like other resources, the encyclopedia describes many types of EDS and explains family genetic patterns. Friends and family may appreciate the prognosis section, which describes the challenges of living with EDS. A total of five pages is included in the encyclopedia. Entries in two other Gale titles, Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health and Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders, 2nd ed., resemble this entry. The latter, however, also mentions EDS in entries for other syndromes.

Genetic Disorders Sourcebook, 3rd ed., 2004 - Only two brief pages about EDS. A bit disappointing.

Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders and Birth Defects by James Wynbrandt and Mark D. Ludman, 3rd ed., 2008 - The authors note that EDS experts have proposed that the official number of types of EDS be reduced to six, but they then describe ten types anyway. Two full pages of data.

Encyclopedia of Skin and Skin Disorders by Carol Turkington and Jeffrey S. Dover 3rd ed., 2007 - The authors focus on skin in their entry about EDS but also describe the overall condition of the EDS patient on pages 125-26.

Rudolph's Pediatrics, 21st ed., 2003 - This pediatrics medical guide describes the clinical features of six types of EDS and emphasizes injury prevention (shin guards, knee pads, braces). Surgical correction is also discussed.


Newspaper and Magazine Articles

"Kids' Illnesses Spark Battle with State: A California Mom Spent Years Trying to Figure Out What Made Her Children Sick, Then Almost Lost Them," Chicago Tribune, March 20, 2008, p. 4 - A story about how a pattern of bruises and injuries in her children nearly led to abuse charges against a mother whose children have EDS.

"A Life with Purpose," Swimming World, May 2005, pp. 29-30 - A profile of Nancy Burpee, a champion swimmer who has had EDS for 40 years.

"Coping with Livelong Pain," Toronto Star, April 30, 2009, p. U10 - A story about how a pain clinic is helping a mother and her two daughter, all of whom have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

"A Mother's Burden," Santa Fe New Mexican, August 8, 2007, p. D1 - A story about a mother and three daughters with EDS. Tells how use of braces reduced pain and injuries in the children.

"After a Multitude of Tests, an Answer from Grandmother's Memory," New York Times, August 24, 2004, p. E5 - A story about the difficulty of diagnosing EDS in infants and toddlers.


Websites

Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation - Sarah says that this is the website with the most useful information.

Ehlers-Danlos Support Group - This British site has a message board and a section with advice for living with EDS.

Mayo Clinic - The Mayo Clinic website includes a basic definition, symptoms, causes, complications, treatment, and advice for coping with the syndrome.

Medline Plus - This site from the National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health tells us that EDS is also called "cutis elastica." The EDS page includes links to articles from nonprofit organizations and medical journals.

National Organization for Rare Disorders - Basic information on EDS, identifying eight types. The site has a list of recommended websites.

NLM Gateway - Search this website to find basic information, medical journal articles, and clinical trials that may be recruiting participants.


Final Note

My abbreviated notes about these resources, of course, oversimplify what they contain, but together they suggest the vast amount of information on the topic. Ironically, there is still much that is not known or understood, and being a rare condition, as Sarah explains, EDS is not a priority in medical research. I hope that you spend a bit of time with these resources to comprehend the uncertainty of the EDS experience and the hand dealt to people with the syndrome.

ricklibrarian's Short Guide to Family History on the Web

I created this short list of websites of interest to family historians for my workshop at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library. The workshop was focused on using Heritage Quest, to which the library subscribes, but I wanted to provide further resources that may be useful to novices and experienced amateur genealogists. I have added these links to the Library's website. Here I expand and get more personal with the reflections.

Local Resources

Cook County Clerk's Office - Genealogy Online: Search for birth, death, and marriage records from Cook County, Illinois. You will have to register, but registration is free. Due to privacy laws, none of the data is recent.

The Newberry Library's Chicagoancestors.org: In addition to the Newberry Library files, there are links to many Chicago area genealogy and history websites. Of course, a trip to the Newberry is even better. I found much about my ancestors in New England through books in the Library's collection.

Western Springs Historical Society: Network of Western Springs residents interested in local history and genealogy. Information about the society's collections, programs, and events.

Illinois State Archives: Links to a variety of Illinois records of interest to family historians, including vital records, court records, and military service records.

National Archives - Great Lakes Region: Describes resources of the National Archives with visiting hours and contact information. It used to be difficult to get an appointment to use the microform readers at the National Archives. With so many people now on the Internet, there are plenty of openings to use the equipment.

General Resources

Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet: A portal to over 240,000 websites of interest to family historians.

Family History Archives: A combined catalog of family histories and local history books from leading libraries and archives across the country. Hosted by Brigham Young University.

Family Search: Internet access to some of the genealogy resources of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints.

Find a Grave: A searchable database of grave records from across the country. Use the search link in the body of the page, not the rectagular ad at the top of the site's pages.

Mike's Index: Found on the Fox Valley Genealogical Society's website, Mike's Index searches 243 genealogy periodicals.

The USGenWeb Project: Volunteers from counties all over the United States are putting their files up on the Internet to help family historians. I think this is one of the most interesting projects on the web. I have often found interesting lists on the county level webpages. Cemetary records are a strength of this resource.

Google Books: With so many books about local history scanned as part of the Google Books project, it is a great source for genealogy. The books not under copyright have full text viewing. Knowing about the other books, allows researchers to identify books to borrow through interlibrary loan or view at genealogy libraries. I found sources about many of my New England, Maryland, and Texas ancestors here.

My Geek Chart is Rather Simple

Ricklibrarian's Geek Chart

My Geek Chart as I post it looks a bit like a Y for "Yes" which is a nice thought. It also looks somewhat like an upside down peace symbol. I think it will adjust accoding to my activity.

Google Web Elements for Feeds on Library Websites

This week's American Libraries Direct includes a story about new Google Elements, saying that it is very easy to add news feeds to websites. Here is a test. It does seem very easy. Instead of taking a basic feed, I typed the keyword "books" into a custom feed box. Most of the news displayed seemed on topic. What do you think?

Watch for a moment and the stories will change.




Here is another using the keyword "library."




Those are pretty broad categories. Here is something more specific: memoirs.




It is very easy. Whether it serves a great purpose is another question.

Awful Library Books

Ulotrichous twitted. Librarian.net noticed. I am re-blogging.

Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner, two librarians from Michigan, have a crusade to get public libraries in their state to weed. They have a blog Awful Library Books, which shows books that should have been removed from collections long ago. They are kind and do not reveal the libraries at which they find these "gems." Take a look. You may both laugh and cringe.

Mendelssohn Bicentennial Links

The composer Felix Mendelssohn was born on February 3, 1809, nine days before Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. The celebration of his two hundredth birthday has not been as widespread as that for the other two men, but some people remember, especially in the world of music.

NPR Music has a page full of Mendelssohn links. This includes an 8 minute interview with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter (it can be downloaded as a podcast from iTunes) discussing the life and work of the Romantic German musician who is commonly remembered for his Scottish Symphony, Italian Symphony, and music to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, especially the "Wedding March." Though he only lived to be 38, he was a prolific composer, who reached opus number 121. NPR includes for listening selections from Mutter's Mendelssohn recordings.

For readers, a good introduction to the composer is The Life of Mendelssohn by Peter Mercer-Taylor (2000). Mendelssohn was a model nineteenth century musical gentleman. The son of a wealthy banker from Berlin, he received early training in violin and composition and had written several polished pieces by age ten. In his adolescence, he performed with his sister Fanny for audiences across Europe, wrote music criticism, and championed the forgotten works of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. In this admiring biography, Mercer-Taylor reveals that the composer's seemingly idyllic life was complicated by fears of anti-Semitism, the demands of royal patrons, and the ill-health that shortened his life. R. Larry Todd goes into greater depth in Mendelssohn: A Life in Music (2003). No major biographies are being published to celebrate his bicentennial.

Mendelssohn had good reason to be fearful of religious hatred. Ironically, he may have suffered more after his death than during, as Richard Wagner maligned him for being of Jewish (though his parents converted the family to Christianity), and the Nazi regime in Germany banned the playing of his music. His popularity has never fully recovered. He does have his champions. The Mendelssohn Project seeks to recover his lost works and increase the frequency that his music is performed. Its website profiles the composer, his sister Fanny, and their family, and includes information on how to help the Mendelssohn cause.

Why Not .lib as a Top-level Domain Name?

I saw this article from c/Net News about a group called ICANN choosing web domain names in my email from AL Direct this week. It tells about ICANN voting to allow specialty top-level domains (TLD) , also called top-level domain names (TLDN), such .ebay or .intel for clients willing to pay for the right. It made me think about library TLDs. They are inconsistent, as there is a mixture of .com, .net, and .org right now. Wouldn't it be great to have a generic library TLD that the public would know, like .lib?

Wouldn't it be great if a library user could find the local library web site by just entering the community or college name and ".lib" in the "go to" box on a web browser?

www.downersgrove.lib = Downers Grove Public Library
www.mortoncollege.lib = Morton College Library
www.westernspringsil.lib = Thomas Ford Memorial Library in Western Springs

The consistency would help in those communities where the library is named for a benefactor, local hero, or geographical feature.

There might have to be some use of state codes for cities like Springfield, Illinois and Springfield, Missouri. Perhaps web pages giving links to all the library choices could direct people who put in just www.springfield.lib.

Libraries probably would not want to get rid of their current web addresses, which are already known, but the new address could direct new users to their sites.

Usually it is easy to find a library through a search engine, but not always. Plus, it would say that libraries are a big part of the web if they had their own TLD.

Picasa Web Albums

Bonnie received via email a link to a Picasa Web Album from our niece Stephanie with photos from birthday party. The photos in the slide show were big and sharp, and I was impressed. This morning I decided to see if I could set up an album myself and discovered that I already had one web album. By being a member of Blogger and already having loaded Picasa onto my PC, I had a default album collecting all the illustrations that have added to this blog this January 3, 2007.

Because I mostly review books, my Picasa Web Album is mostly a wall of books. It looks pretty cool. We could easily set up something like this for our library website. You could, too.

On the Joy of Reading Mail and Email, with Notes on Elephants

This morning, as I rode our stationary bike, I read an essay "Mail" by Anne Fadiman from her collection of familiar essays called At Large and At Small. According to Fadiman, familiar essays stake a position midway between critical essays and personal essays, taking elements of both and mixing them. Through history such essays have often had titles starting with the word "On." They might be serious, as "On Going to War with Thoughts of Peace" or "On the Passing of an Old Friend." They might be light, as "On Shopping for Silk Ties" or "On the Sinking of a Toy Boat." (Those were not real titles, so do not expect them in Fadiman's book.)

In the essay "Mail" Fadiman tells us about her father who eagerly anticipated receiving an extra large delivery of mail everyday by watching for the mail carrier to lift the flag on his jumbo mailbox. He had a large desk heavier than a refrigerator on which he would sort and answer the letters that brought surprises to his routine of reading and writing. From there Fadiman tells about the history of the British postal service. Before the reform of 1939, the recipient (not the sender) paid for the mail. Her hero Charles Lamb (who wrote familiar essays) was fortunate to work at a firm that would pay his postal fees, for it could drive you toward bankruptcy to receive lots of mail. The reform with its simplifying of fees was an important move for the development of the economy and culture of Great Britain. Fadimon turns then to her own joyous story of mail and email to complete the essay. Being sentimental, she has the stamp dispenser and the copper waste basket that her father used at his desk.

After reading the essay, still riding the bike, I picked up the newsletter from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which Bonnie receives via email as a foster parent of an orphan elephant in Kenya. I immediately realized that I was experiencing a joy of correspondence much like Fadiman. Bonnie and I look forward to the elephant news every month. The January newsletter is particularly interesting. Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick assures us that the political troubles in Kenya have not reached the elephant sanctuaries. Fewer visitors have come, but those who do have ready access to the orphans. Sheldrick tells us that an eye specialist came to examine the blind orphan rhino Maxwell and diagnosed that an operation would not restore his sight. The keepers are making a special enclosure for Maxwell for his health and safety. To help him still feel part of the community, they are bringing in dung from other rhinos. Isn’t that sweet! The newsletter also tells about a walk in the bush with young elephants and their guardians. When a leg from a warthog fell from a tree, they realized that they were right under a leopard and his dinner. They beat a hasty retreat. We never have stories like that in our library newsletter!

With her newsletter, Bonnie also gets excerpts from a keeper's diary to let her know how her orphan Zurura is doing. Lately he seems to be a regular cut-up, a bit of a show-off. He has also been taking lots of mud and dust baths. There were lots of great photos with the report but none of Zurura this time. She is hoping to see him in action if Animal Planet will ever show the second season of Elephant Diaries.

You may also get this entertaining email by adopting an elephant at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust website. It will add nicely to your letters from family, friends, and lovers.

Critical Compendium: A Daily Dose of Book Reviews from Around the World

A couple of weeks ago, the weekly ALA Direct newsletter highlighted Critical Compendium, a blog with links to book reviews, mostly in newspapers. As its subtitle says, it supplies a daily dose of reviews, and the biggest dose for a day that I have found is seven reviews. I gather from this that there is no attempt at being comprehensive. A thorough attempt would have dozens of reviews every day, especially weekends. As a reference librarian helping students and book discussion leaders, I would have liked a more comprehensive effort, but as a book selector, I am pleased with the number and variety of titles reviewed.

In the left hand column of the website are links to over 100 sites from which the editors of the blog are choosing reviews. Click on any link to see more reviews. I find it interesting to see how varied the book reviewing selections are for different newspapers. My first impression is that some big city papers strive for serious and emphasize academic press titles. I can imagine that for some of these the reviews will be read by many more people than the actual books.

Critical Compendium has a customized Google search, but it has not worked well for me. Some words that I clearly see on the blog do not work as searchwords

Someone with a little time could take the sources links in the left hand column and make a customized search engine for book reviews that identify many more titles than the blog itself.

I am glad someone is looking at newspaper reviews. I hope the effort at Critical Compendium expands.

Librarians' Book Revoogle Article on Readers' Advisor News

Take a look at the June 2007 issue of Readers' Advisor News, which has my article on the Librarian's Book Revoogle. In the article I describe the tool, how it was made, and ask for help identifying book reviews from libraries and librarians to add to the customized search. The article appeared yesterday, and so far, three readers have replied with suggestions.

The link to the article is beside the photo of me taken by Aaron Schmidt last year. Thanks, Aaron.

I am honored to have my article placed with articles by Jessica Zellers and Sharron Smith. Jessica describes the growing genre of women's nonfiction, and Sharron tells about her passion for readers' advisory. There is also an article remembering the author Lloyd Alexander.

Ladybookbug: A New Anonymous Book Reviewer

Ladybookbug has joined the ranks of librarians writing reviews of the books she reads. Her blog is titled "On the Bookshelf," and her latest review looks at The Road by Cormac McCarthy. She would not have read the book if she had not heard the author interviewed, but then she was glad that she had.

So far, all but one of her books have been fiction, and most are top sellers. My favorite review, however, was of a first novel, Summer People by Brian Groh. I hope that she tackles more lesser-known authors to help us learn about them.

I added her URL to the Librarian's Book Revoogle, but none of her reviews appear in results yet. It appears that Google does not rank her blog yet. Visit her blog to help it out.

Prelinger Library

If you subscribe to LISNews, you may have seen the Prelinger Library already. The reason it was highlighted at LISNews is that in its May 2007 issue Harper's wrote about the "appropriations-friendly" library, which exists physically in San Francisco and virtually on the Internet with 2098 books. The Prelinger is a research library that free for anyone to use and holds many unusual items. The focus is "landscape and geography; media and representation; historical consciousness; and political narratives from beyond the mainstream." It sounds like a nice place to spend an afternoon.

Right now it is the free to view eBooks that impress me. Take a look at The Bird Book by Chester A. Reed (1914). On the left of the description page is a box with viewing options. I really like the simplicity and easy use of the flip book version, which is much nicer than netLibrary books, but the display is a little small. The DjVu version has a larger display and works almost as easily. Both version make reading a book from a computer with a 17-inch monitor possible. Avoid the PDF version, which takes a long time to load.

There are many items that will interest readers of history. Having grown up in Texas, I might want to come back and read Sam Houston: Colossus in Buckskin. (Maybe not, as it glorifies Houston without criticism.)

It looks as though the online library is really a collaboration with other online collections. The digitization of the book I chose may not actually have been Prelinger Library work, as there is an Internet Archive logo in the top left corner of the webpage and links to other institutions in the navigation. For the reader, the origin of the book probably does not matter. The Prelinger Library website provides the portal.

I am making a bookmark.

A Visitor from Australia at Thomas Ford

Michelle McLean came to Thomas Ford! If you do not know Michelle, she is the Australian librarian who toured American libraries to learn about their library 2.0 services. She works at the Casey-Cardinia Library Corporation, a public library outside Melbourne, and blogs as connectinglibrarian. At her blog you will find detailed reports on all her library visits and her experiences at the Computers in Libraries conference in Washington, DC.

Thomas Ford was Michelle's last stop. She had already been to Princeton Public, Darien Library, Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN), Webjunction, St. Joseph County Public Library, Ann Arbor District Library, and Hennepin County Public Library. Looking at all these libraries' websites and reading Michelle's reports would make a good virtual lesson in web services and design. We were honored to be added to the list.

We spent much our time around PCs looking at the front ends and back ends of websites, trading ideas. Several things that we at Thomas Ford want to do include in our redesign:

• putting news feeds from blogs for each of our primary audiences (youth, teens, and adults) on our new home page
• let members of our film discussion vote via the web on some upcoming films
• try a new statistics plug-in
• write our publicity for upcoming events well in advance and preset it to post at the moment we need to replace publicity as events pass

Our conversations did not stick to libraries all day. We learned that contrary to rumor, Australia is not overrun with poisonous snakes, and it is safe to visit. Koalas sleep most of the time. Winter temperatures are mild. American and Australian suburbs and libraries are much the same.

One difference that Michelle did notice was the U.S. has far fewer independent shops selling music CDs. Big chain stores and the Internet have taken down American music shops but many still remain in Australia. Independent book sellers in Australia are in as much trouble as they are in the U.S.

Michelle said that Australian librarians would like for a lot of us to visit, especially Michael Stephens. Shall we charter a jet?