Tim Bray writes: About as Big as the Web In recent months, I've been having serious fun on the job working with OCLC WorldCat data. WorldCat is big - about as big as the Web, and in some respects richer. It is also amazingly under-utilized (what was the last time you did a large-scale search on anything but Google?), and we'd like to fix that. Herewith some notes on who OCLC is, what WorldCat is, and some of the fun we're having. (Warning: long, and with some pitching for Antarctica; but some juicy screenies, and infojunkies must read.)...

[via ongoing]

Something else to read when I have more time...

This looks really interesting - especially this Squeak thing!  I'll have to check this out when I have some free time.

 

Alan Kay At Etech 2003 Confession time: I didn't even know who Alan Kay was until a week ago. (Bio 1, Bio2.) Now my mind is forever changed. For this reason, it became important to me to preserve this presentation so that the information and wisdom it contains could be spread to a larger audience. This page is still very much a work-in-progress, as there are still several names, dates and facts that need to be included. Please feel free to email me with any factoids and links that might serve to enrich the page. Thanks! Alan explains what his talk is going to be...

[via On Lisa Rein's Radar]

GooglePlus

Promoting Online Resources

"In a new issue of the xrefer newsletter, Peter Bolger, a Reference and Information Manager in the U.K., offers a few suggestions for promoting online databases and services. Btw, I love what the New York Public Library says on their electronic resources page, 'Search the Branch Libraries' e-resources for great information you won't find on Google.' How's that for short and to the point. It goes on to list many types of material including full-text magazine and journal articles, biographies, and reliable encyclopedias. Actually, another large challenge remains, getting potential users to go to library web site and click on the e-resources page." [The ResourceShelf]

Emphasis above is mine, along with a hearty "me, too!"

[via The Shifted Librarian]

That sounds like a pretty good way to make the point!