Keeping up

The Authors

John Maxymuk, Paul Robeson Library, Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey, USA

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight current awareness web sites.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a general review.

Findings – Staying current is essential today more than ever.

Originality/value – The sites reviewed in this paper are useful tools to that purpose.

Article Type:

Viewpoint

Keyword(s):

Libraries; Online catalogues; Online databases.

Journal:

The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances

Volume:

21

Number:

1

Year:

2008

pp:

27-29

Copyright ©

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

ISSN:

0888-045X

In this space in each issue, I sing the praises of technology, but I have a confession to make – there are some applications of technology in libraries for which I fail to see the purpose. With some things, I just do not understand the appeal. While it is not a library function, I do not get text messaging for example. More to the point, I have no interest in MySpace, which appeals to the same youthful demographic as texting, although some librarians see it as an opportunity to reach students in their natural environment. I think students using MySpace will look at library sites in those environs the same way a savvy bear would view a spring trap in the woods – something to avoid.

Technology is ever new and as such presents a continual challenge in keeping up with what is current. How things worked before is not how they work now. In general, capabilities increase, but sometimes capabilities disappear as well in the steady march of progress. The trick is sifting useful and transformative devices from ones that merely offer change for the sake of change.

Keeping up is more than simply having the new pushed upon you. The best current awareness sites specialize in presenting what this new technology or application makes possible. After all, what new technology should offer is the chance to transform the library landscape or even just your part of it into something better and truly more engaging to our patrons.

Library automation

Library automation topics still begin with the metamorphosis of the online catalog, and there is one place to start for that. Marshall Breeding is Director for Innovative Technologies and Research at Vanderbilt University and a columnist for Computers in Libraries. His Library Technology Guides website (www.librarytechnology.org/) is perhaps the finest site offering information on library automation. The site provides up-to-date industry news as well as the latest developments in the field. Moreover, his blog offers informed commentary on the field of integrated library systems.

Lexis/Nexis is a well-known publisher of online indexes and databases for libraries. Their Keeping Current page (www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayCiteList&orgId=681&topicId=14121) on their InfoPro website features a frequently updated selection of the latest library technology news culled from Lexis/Nexis products. It is an online current awareness tool that covers newspapers, periodicals, newsletters and government resources and is very broad in scope.

Two online journals regularly address the issues that most concern libraries in the digital age. D-Lib (www.dlib.org/) is published every other month and features digital library research that emphasizes new technologies, applications, and social and economic issues. It began in 1995, and its articles are often thought provoking and unique. Ariadne Magazine (www.ariadne.ac.uk/) is a quarterly British offering that explores current digital library initiatives as well as more expansive technological developments. It began in 1996, and its focus is often technical, but its articles also examine practical strategies.

Two staples of library print literature have web presences that are worth consulting. American Libraries is the venerable house organ of the American Library Association. Its online counterpart (www.ala.org/ala/alonline/index.cfm) features all the familiar sections of the magazine while adding Breaking News content that is routinely updated. Meanwhile, Library Journal also provides online access to print content, but adds blogs and other substance to its website. Most interesting is its Library 2.0 page (www.libraryjournal.com/community/Library+2.0/47126.html) that links to the latest news, features and best practices in technology on the web.

Information technology

A broader approach is befitting the broader mission of libraries themselves. It is not just book catalogs and article indexes and databases to which we try to direct our patrons. The wide world of the web provides access to a vibrant virtual world ripe for research and investigation. For close to 20 years, a good place to keep up has been Roy Tennant's Current Cites (http://lists.webjunction.org/currentcites/). Tennant, who started at Berkeley and now works at OCLC, is a veteran observer of library and information technology. He employs a team of librarians to monitor roughly 50 leading publications that cover the field in great and small detail to produce a monthly, annotated bibliography of the top 8-12 publications, both paper and electronic. Readers get to skim the cream of the literature and decide which documents to pursue in full.

Another academic favorite is the Chronicle of Higher Education's Information Technology page (http://chronicle.com/infotech/index.htm) that is updated daily. It features blogs, podcasts, links and news articles of interest. The news articles are national in scope and tend to focus on information technology in academic institutions, but have implications for all librarians.

There are several Information Technology publications that IT professionals rely on for the most current lowdown, and they all have a strong web presence. InfoWorld (www.infoworld.com/index.html) provides technical analysis on products and technologies for business. The website relays breaking news of issues, trends, and products. Information Today's News Breaks page (http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/) is updated biweekly. Information Today aims to provide the library, information and knowledge management community with the latest reports on databases, software, industry news and trends. The tagline of Information Week's site (www.informationweek.com/newshome/) reads “Defining the Business Value of Technology” and that sums up their approach and audience. However, that should not scare off librarians because business decisions are very much a part of our world as well, as Bottom Line readers know.

Finally, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.org/) takes a very different approach to information technology, but one that forms a natural alliance with librarians – the protection of online civil liberties and privacy rights. The regular updates on this site involve the political and legal challenges that frame the evolving interaction of information technology and citizens. It is essential viewing.

Computer technology in general

There is also value in further expanding our view to that of the greater field of computer technology in general. Ziff-Davis has long been a major computer industry publisher. The ZDNet site (www.zdnet.com/) covers business technology with daily news updates, blogs, reviews, white papers, Webcasts and analytical reports. Topics range from hardware, software, operating systems, netware and security to industry trends and business solutions

ZDNet's parent is CNET, and CNET is made up of several information and entertainment-based networks that deliver programming and content on everything from gaming and television to IT and business. CNET's Technology News site (www.news.com/) offers daily updates of the top technology headlines across all the areas outlined above. There is a subject arrangement of the headline news as well as blogs, photo galleries and international links.

Another substantial segment of the technology market is government. The best way to keep up in that field is Government Computer News (www.gcn.com/#), a longtime provider of integrated information and media related to government users. At this site, there are blogs, expert commentary, white papers, multimedia and the latest headlines updated daily.

A perennial favorite for all computer users is Wired (www.wired.com/) a popular monthly magazine whose website drifts pretty far afield. In addition to the magazine content, the site includes blogs, links, reviews, galleries and news on a spacious range of topics: consumer electronics, gaming, technology business, science, culture, entertainment, art, security and politics. The writing is lively and the site is updated regularly.

I have limited myself in this brief column to current awareness websites, but there are certainly many Web 2.0 applications that are helpful in keeping up, and I have written of blogs and wikis and RSS and social bookmarking in the past. Indeed, many of the sites noted above feature blogs, utilize bookmarks and can be pushed via RSS. The delivery method is a matter of personal preference, but staying current is essential today more than ever. These sites are useful tools to that purpose.

Corresponding author

John Maxymuk can be contacted at: maxymuk@camden.rutgers.edu