Copyright Documentary

This seems like it would be worth checking out. It's screening next Thursday (1/31) at NYU. I can't make it, but if someone does, please let me know how it goes!

via Stay Free!, which organizes the Illegal Art Exhibit, and about which I have previously gushed.

Lorcan Goes Easy on Aquabrowser

Jess and I did a presentation for our Knowledge Organization class on Aquabrowser, the catalog browser interface that uses a word cloud and facets to enhance a library search. We found it to be pretty disappointing, but Lorcan Dempsey from OCLC is a bit more positive about it. It is certainly an improvement over the traditional interface that makes a user feel like they're performing a search in the early 90s at best, but the accuracy is way off.

Flickr+Library of Congress Photo Collection=Viable User-generated Metadata?

Time will tell.

Welcome back, Cannoneers!

To get the semester started off right, may I recommend a library-themed online game? It's marginally fun for a few minutes, although I think it tells you less about how the LC system works and more about how fast you can alpha-numerically order something.

Via The Triumph of Bullshit, which wonders if it is the most boring video game of all time. Possibly.

There is another one here.
I find it weirdly satisfying when one of the people in the "I'll Get It" game says "This is exactly what I was looking for." Thanks for spicing up the musty old library image, Carnegie Mellon! Sort of.

UPDATE: Here is another one.

America's Most Literate

Top 10
Library Support, Holdings, and Utilization

These five variables were indexed to determine a total score and consequent ranking:
1. Number of school media personnel per 1,000 public school students
2. Number of branch libraries per 10,000 library service population
3. Volumes held in the library per capita of library service population
4. Number of circulations per capita of library service population
5. Number of library professional staff per 10,000 library service population

These numbers were then divided by the city population in order to calculate ratios of library services and resources available to the population.

1 Cleveland, OH
2 St. Louis, MO
3 Kansas City, MO
4 Seattle, WA
5 Cincinnati, OH
6 Denver, CO
7 Pittsburgh, PA
8 Toledo, OH
9 Tulsa, OK
10.5 Minneapolis, MN

From CCSU's 2007 listing of America's Most Literate Cities. Minneapolis is the most literate city overall.