<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<div class="Section1" style1="">
<p align="center"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">OPLIN 4cast #35 -
December 19, 2006</span></b></p>
<table align="center" bgcolor="#f5f5f5" border="0" cellpadding="5"
cellspacing="5" width="90%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p>The <em><b>OPLIN 4cast</b></em> is a weekly compilation of
recent headlines, topics, and trends that could impact public
libraries. You can subscribe to it in a variety of ways, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>RSS feed</strong>. You can receive the <em>OPLIN
4cast</em> via RSS feed by subscribing to the following URL: <a
href="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?feed=rss2">http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?feed=rss2</a>.</li>
<li><strong>Live Bookmark</strong>. If you're using the <a
href="http://www.mozilla.com/" target="_blank">Firefox</a> web
browser, you can go to the <em>4cast</em> website (<a
href="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/">http://www.oplin.org/4cast/</a>)
and click on the orange "radio wave" icon on the right side of the
address bar. In <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/"
target="_blank">Internet Explorer 7</a>, click on the same icon to
view or subscribe to the <em>4cast</em> RSS feed. </li>
<li><strong>E-mail</strong>. You can have the <em>OPLIN 4cast</em>
delivered via e-mail (a'la OPLINlist and OPLINtech) by subscribing to
the <em>4cast</em> mailing list at <a
href="http://mail.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/OPLIN4cast">http://mail.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/OPLIN4cast</a>.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p class="style4">This week’s <em>4cast</em><b>:</b></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">1. <strong>'Tis the Season for
Looking Back </strong></span></p>
<blockquote>
<p>December brings the usual assortment of year-end reviews,
including many that are either technology or library-related. </p>
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/2006_web_technology_trends.php"
target="_blank">2006 Web Technology Trends</a> (Read/WriteWeb)</li>
<li><a
href="http://features.lisnews.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/15/137213"
target="_blank">Ten Stories that Shaped 2006</a> (LISNews)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist2006.html"
target="_blank">2006 Year-End Google Zeitgeist</a> (Google)</li>
<li><a
href="http://www.lifehacker.com/software/best-of-2006/geek-to-live--the-best-apps-of-2006-221920.php"
target="_blank">Geek to Live: The best apps of 2006</a> (Lifehacker)</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">2. <strong>'Tis Also the Season for
Looking Forward</strong></span></p>
<blockquote>
<p>December also brings the usual assortment of predictions of what
we'll be talking about in 2007 and beyond.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/2006/12/gartners_top_10.html"
target="_blank">Gartners Top 10 Predictions</a> (Stephen's Lighthouse)</li>
<li><a
href="http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20061215005116&newsLang=en"
target="_blank">7 Search Evolutions for '07</a> (Business Wire)</li>
<li><a
href="http://scanblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/10-hot-trends.html"
target="_blank">10 Hot Trends</a> (It's All Good)</li>
<li><a
href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/11/24/the-six-biggest-new-ideas-in-chat/"
target="_blank">The Six Biggest New Ideas in Chat</a> (TechCrunch)</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">3. <strong>A Cat That Barks is Not a
Cat </strong></span> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Stephen Abram has written an illuminating three-part series of
articles about libraries and their attempts to compete with the likes
of Google. <a
href="http://www.imakenews.com/sirsi/e_article000645245.cfm?x=b11,0,w"
target="_blank">Part 1</a> explores the strengths and weaknesses of
Google; <a
href="http://www.imakenews.com/sirsi/e_article000653422.cfm?x=b8b1PRv,b2rpPgSw"
target="_blank">part 2</a> examines the strengths and weaknesses of
libraries; and <a
href="http://www.imakenews.com/sirsi/e_article000678631.cfm?x=b829CQN,b2rpPgSw,w"
target="_blank">part 3</a> lays out some strategies that libraries can
pursue in order to "get our cat to roar."</p>
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://www.imakenews.com/sirsi/e_article000645245.cfm?x=b11,0,w"
target="_blank">Waiting for Your Cat to Bark - Competing with Google
and its Ilk (Part 1)</a> (SirsiDynix Webinar)</li>
<li><a
href="http://www.imakenews.com/sirsi/e_article000653422.cfm?x=b8b1PRv,b2rpPgSw"
target="_blank">Waiting for Your Cat to Bark - Competing with Google
and its Ilk (Part 2)</a> (SirsiDynix Webinar)</li>
<li><a
href="http://www.imakenews.com/sirsi/e_article000678631.cfm?x=b829CQN,b2rpPgSw,w"
target="_blank">Waiting for Your Cat to Bark - Competing with Google
and its Ilk (Part 3)</a> (SirsiDynix Webinar) </li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">4.<b><strong> The Revolution Will Be
Freely Distributed </strong></b></span></p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.maisonbisson.com/blog/" target="_blank">Casey
Bisson</a>, a library technology manager at Plymouth State University,
recently won a Mellon Fellowship for his open source, WordPress-based
OPAC called <a href="http://wpopac.blogs.plymouth.edu/" target="_blank">WPopac</a>.
The part that's causing a big stir in the library community is that he
plans to use the money to purchase Library of Congress MARC records and
distribute them to libraries for free. </p>
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2006/12/bisson-and-open-datalet-revolution.php"
target="_blank">Bisson and open data - let the revolution begin!</a>
(LibraryThing)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.librarian.net/stax/1916" target="_blank">The
really great thing about WPopac</a> (librarian.net)</li>
<li><a
href="http://onebiglibrary.net/story/open-data-is-not-the-point"
target="_blank">Open data is not the point</a> (One Big Library.)</li>
<li><a
href="http://talk.talis.com/archives/2006/12/the_mellon_rewa.html"
target="_blank">The Mellon rewards WPOpac... and opens an Open Data
door?</a> (Talking with Talis podcast) </li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
</div>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Joel Husenits
Managing Editor
Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN)
2323 W. 5th Avenue, Suite 130
Columbus, Ohio 43204
Phone: (614) 728-5252
Fax: (614) 728-5256
E-mail: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:editor@oplin.org">editor@oplin.org</a>
Web: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.oplin.org">www.oplin.org</a></pre>
</body>
</html>