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<p align="center"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">OPLIN 4cast #44 -
February 27, 2007</span></b></p>
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<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>
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<p class="style4">This week’s <em>4cast</em><b>:</b></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">1. <strong>Some Things About
LibraryThing</strong></span></p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.librarything.com/" target="_blank">LibraryThing</a>,
the popular social network site built around people and their book
collections, recently concluded that their users are tagging books at a
rate 10 times greater than on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/"
target="_blank">Amazon</a>. LT continues to add nifty tools (like <a
href="http://www.librarything.com/unsuggester" target="_blank">UnSuggester</a>,
which recommends books to you based on ones you dislike) and is sort of
becoming THE online destination for book lovers. </p>
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2007/02/when-tags-works-and-when-they-dont.php"
target="_blank">When tags work and when they don't: Amazon and
LibraryThing</a> (Thing-ology)</li>
<li><a
href="http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/02/comparing_libra.html"
target="_blank">Comparing LibraryThing and Amazon's Tags</a> (O'Reilly
Radar) </li>
<li><a
href="http://www.bibliotechweb.com/archives/2006/11/06/using-librarything-in-a-library/"
target="_blank">Using LibraryThing in a Library</a> (BiblioTech Web) </li>
<li><a
href="http://lifehacker.com/software/books/find-books-you-like-with-books-you-dont-239200.php"
target="_blank">Find books you like with books you don't</a>
(Lifehacker) </li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">2. <strong>Google Gets All Up in
Microsoft's Face</strong></span></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Last week, Google officially stepped into the business
productivity software arena with the introduction of <a
href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/google_apps.html"
target="_blank">Google Apps Premier Edition</a>. The new package
includes everything from e-mail and calendar software to basic document
and spreadsheet capabilities, all housed online instead of on local
machines, and at a significantly cheaper cost. Should libraries make
the switch? </p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/technology/22google.html?_r=1&oref=slogin"
target="_blank">A Google Package Challenges Microsoft</a> (New York
Times)</li>
<li><a
href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/02/21/google-launches-apps-premier/"
target="_blank">It's G-Day: Google Launches Apps Premier</a>
(TechCrunch)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/9889/53/"
target="_blank">Google manager: Google Apps replaced Microsoft Office
at 100,000 businesses</a> (iTWire) </li>
<li><a
href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/software/0,72781-0.html?tw=rss.index"
target="_blank">Google Apps: Should You Switch?</a> (Wired News) </li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">3.<strong> Does the Information
Superhighway Need More Lanes? </strong></span></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Although half of all households in the United States will have
high-speed Internet service by the end of 2007, this rate is still
lower than a lot of other countries. Some observers are beginning to
worry that the increasing popularity of bandwidth-intensive websites
and online activities could create an Internet capacity crisis in the
near future. </p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://crunchgear.com/2007/02/19/study-2007-to-bring-broadband-to-50-of-all-us-homes/"
target="_blank">Study: 2007 to Bring Broadband to 50% of All US Homes</a>
(CrunchGear) </li>
<li><a
href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=QYZZZJYOHGZNAQSNDLRSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=197006038&pgno=2&queryText="
target="_blank">When It Comes To Broadband, U.S. Plays Follow The
Leader</a> (InformationWeek)</li>
<li><a
href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070131-8748.html"
target="_blank">Bandwidth hogs exist, but the light users are key,
says report</a> (Ars Technica) </li>
<li><a
href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0702230143feb23,0,1395493.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed"
target="_blank">Videos have Net bursting at the seams</a> (Chicago
Tribune)</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">4.<strong> Opening Up the Library of
Congress</strong></span></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Following in the footsteps of <a
href="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?p=50">WPopac</a>, Simon
Spero has methodically queried almost all of the <a
href="http://authorities.loc.gov/" target="_blank">Library of Congress
authority records</a>, assembled them in MarcXML, and <a
href="http://www.ibiblio.org/fred2.0/authorities/" target="_blank">made
them freely available</a>. This is big news for library catalogers and
others who want to make library data more accessible. </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/fred2.0/readme.pdf"
target="_blank">Fred 2.0</a> (PDF announcement) </li>
<li><a
href="http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2007/02/library-of-congress-authority-files.php"
target="_blank">Library of Congress Authority Files, Open!</a>
(Thingology)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.librarian.net/stax/1970" target="_blank">LoC
Authority files, yours to keep!</a> (librarian.net) </li>
<li><a href="http://www.goblin-cartoons.com/2007/02/14/opac-sesame/"
target="_blank">OPAC Sesame!</a> (the goblin the library) </li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
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<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>
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