The Distant Librarian

Digsby now works with LibraryH3lp, but Pidgin no longer does

We've just started testing LibraryH3lp at the U of Calgary as a probable replacement for Meebo in offering IM / Chat reference service.  I switched from Digsby to Pidgin in order to be able to monitor queues from a desktop client instead of having to log in to the LibraryH3lp website, but yesterday the LibraryH3lp blog reported that Pidgin 2.6.x no longer will work for monitoring chat queues, but that Digsby now does.  They do offer a download link to Pidgin 2.5.9, but I think I'll be going back to Digsby when I get done with my desk shift here...  BTW, you know you can get LibraryH3lp system updates via Twitter, right?

Putting your money where your mouth is

Last week I wrote about indie publishing innovator MCM's challenge to TV viewers in the US to watch the US premiere of his cartoon, Rollbots.  Well the results are in, and it looks like he'll be donating nearly $10,000 to the EFF!!! In addition, and perhaps even more significant, he'll be relinquishing all copyright claims on his next book, Typhoon, by releasing it under a Creative Commons 0 license, which I hadn't heard of until this challenge.

CC0 enables scientists, educators, artists and other creators and owners of copyright-protected content to waive copyright interests in their works and thereby place them as completely as possible in the public domain, so that others may freely build upon, enhance and reuse the works for any purposes without restriction under copyright.

In contrast to CC's licenses that allow copyright holders to choose from a range of permissions while retaining their copyright, CC0 empowers yet another choice altogether – the choice to opt out of copyright and the exclusive rights it automatically grants to creators – the "no rights reserved" alternative to our licenses.

This is from a small-time guy who makes almost all his income from his writing projects.  If that's not putting your money where your mouth is, I don't know what is.  I know I'll be buying Typhoon (The Vector was excellent!)

Archive now available for Returning the Researcher to the Library: The Summon™ Service in Real Life

This past Tuesday I participated as a panelist in the the fourth and final Library Journal session in the "Returning the Researcher to the Library" series: The Summon™ Service in Real Life.  The archive of that webinar is now available for your listening pleasure .  Let me know how you think I did, and if you have any questions.

Support a publishing innovator by watching TV

I've mentioned MCM before.  He's the author of The Pig and the Box, and a true innovator in the world of independent publishing.  I've been fascinated reading his blog posts over the past year as he explores one interesting idea after another for publishing via crowd sourcing, PDF, print, epub, donations, sponsorship, releasing work under Creative Commons, etc.

And now's he's back for season two of his excellent cartoon, Rollbots.  Rollbots has been available in Canada for about a year (viewing season), and now it's about to debut in the US on Saturdays at 8 AM on CW4Kids.

So what?  You don't watch cartoons?  But check out what will happen if you do!  If enough of you watch it, MCM will donate nearly $10,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.  Go read the post, and watch the cartoon on Saturday, it's for a good cause!

BTW, this is not a sponsored post; I love the guy's work, and really enjoy the cartoon too!

Webcast: Returning the Researcher to the Library: The Summon™ Service in Real Life

Library Journal and Serials Solutions are presenting the fourth and final session in the "Returning the Researcher to the Library" series: The Summon™ Service in Real Life.  I'm one of three panelists, joining librarians from Grand Valley State University and Western Michigan University in discussing why we're exploring the idea of Web-Scale Discovery (that appears to be what Serials Solutions has settled upon calling this type of product).  Personally, I'll be talking about our fairly-rare (can't say for certain that it's unique) organizational structure at the U of Calgary and why it begs for such a product, as well as touching upon some of the challenges we've experienced as we're exploring bringing up Summon.

You can find archives of the first three "Returning the Researcher to the Library" webcasts at http://www.libraryjournal.com/webcastsDetail.

Screencasting Review: On the subject of Camtasia for Mac and Screenflow

While I have copies of Camtasia:Mac and iShowU HD and a demo copy of Screenflow, I haven't made the time to do a comparison of them.  John Basile at Scrast.net has taken a fairly comprehensive look at Camtasia:Mac and Screenflow though.  No clear winner is the ultimate conclusion (except maybe for the end-user :-)

Additional observations about unified discovery services

As Grand Valley State U works towards launching Summon, Laura at Llyfrgellydd posts some additional observations about unified discovery services.  I think all her points are valid; well worth the 2-3 minutes it'll take you to read.