Author Archive

Top Tech Trends for ALA (Summer ‘08)

June 19th, 2008 by Eric Lease Morgan

Here is a non-exhaustive list of Top Technology Trends for the American Library Association Annual Meeting (Summer, 2008). These Trends represent general directions regarding computing in libraries — short-term future directions where, from my perspective, things are or could be going. They are listed in no priority order.

“Bling” in your website - I hate to [...]

Top technology trends: ALA Mid-Winter 2008

January 7th, 2008 by Eric Lease Morgan

Here, listed in no priority order, is a set of top technology trends/predictions for fellow librarians to chew on during the ALA Mid-Winter Meeting, 2008.

The use of Linux as a server platform as well as a desktop platform will increase - The latest version of Windows seems to have gone over like a lead balloon. [...]

The “original” MyLibrary

September 24th, 2007 by Eric Lease Morgan

In the news recently has been talk about Google’s “my library”, well, don’t hesitate to visit the “original” MyLibrary, now hosted at http://mylibrary.library.nd.edu.
The home page is complete with bunch’s o’ documentation, sample scripts, descriptive text outlining what MyLibrary is (and is not), mailing list administratativia, links to sample applications and production-level applications, etc. The whole [...]

“Sum” Top Tech Trends for the Summer of 2007

June 15th, 2007 by Eric Lease Morgan

Listed here are “sum” trends I see Library Land. They are presented in no particular order:
1. Gaming and Second Life - I hear a lot of noise about gaming, Second Life, and libraries. Hmmm…
I consider librarianship to be about a number of processes surrounding data, information, and knowledge, specifically: 1) collection, 2) organization, 3) [...]

Leading a large group

March 16th, 2007 by Eric Lease Morgan

The other day someone asked me about how we here at Notre Dame managed a team of 28+ members in regards to our one-year institutional digital repository pilot project (www.library.nd.edu/idr). I did my best to address their questions, and I thought I would copy my reply below. It might prove useful in your setting. (Then [...]

Unordered list of “top tech trends”

January 16th, 2007 by Eric Lease Morgan

This is an unordered list of “top tech trends” from Library Land. Season to taste:
* Full-text data/information is increasingly available. Now this presents real opportunities (as well as challenges) for libraries. To what degree is surrogate description necessary when full-text indexing an option.
* Increasingly libraries are thinking about repurposing existing staff. “I know things are [...]

Building the “next generation” library catalog

September 1st, 2006 by Eric Lease Morgan

How will we, the library profession, build the “next generation” library catalog, and to what degree will the process include vendor support and open source software?
I must admit that there are few things that do not succeed over time without some sort of commercial interest. Think OCLC. JSTOR. Even NOTIS. The only exception to the [...]

A “Next generation” library catalog - Executive summary (Part #1 of 5)

July 7th, 2006 by Eric Lease Morgan

This is the Executive summary of a text outlining an idea for a “next generation” library catalog. In two sentences, this catalog is not really an catalog at all but more like a tool designed to make it easier for students to learn, teachers to instruct, and scholars to do research. It provides its intended [...]

A “Next generation” library catalog - Introduction and assumptions (Part #2 of 5)

July 7th, 2006 by Eric Lease Morgan

This is an introduction and list of assumptions outlining an idea for a “next generation” library catalog. In two sentences, this catalog is not really an catalog at all but more like a tool designed to make it easier for students to learn, teachers to instruct, and scholars to do research. It provides its intended [...]

A “Next generation” library catalog - Technologies (Part #3 of 5)

July 7th, 2006 by Eric Lease Morgan

This is an outline of computer technologies for implementing a “next generation” library catalog. In two sentences, this catalog is not really an catalog at all but more like a tool designed to make it easier for students to learn, teachers to instruct, and scholars to do research. It provides its intended audience with a [...]