Author Archives: Laura

Big news!

Today is my birthday, so it’s a bit of a treat for me to share my happy news with you today in particular! Next month, I will be leaving Grand Valley State to work for Springshare, Inc. I will be … Continue reading

Posted in administrative | 1 Comment

Information literacy & post-apocalyptic science fiction = win?

My friend Scott was trying to recall a television show he saw as a child. As it turns out, the show was called Tomes & Talismans: Library Venture. It’s apparently set post-apocalypse, and children learn research concepts from some sort … Continue reading

Posted in geekery, the wonderful weirdness of the internet | Leave a comment

Federated search vs. unified discovery services: an update

I recently received an e-mail that the next Serials Solutions/Library Journal webcast about Summon will discuss – among other things – the differences between federated search and unified discovery systems. Upon discovering this, I decided to review the entries I’ve … Continue reading

Posted in unified discovery services | Leave a comment

My impression of the EbscoHOST Mobile interface

I recently discovered that my place of work has an iPhone application, and I have been investigating library resources that have mobile interfaces to see what might work well as an addition to that application. Apparently, Ebsco has had a … Continue reading

Posted in mobile | 1 Comment

A brief follow-up to the rant

Peter Chapman recently e-mailed me, noting that he’d seen my last post because Sol Lederman (who writes at the Federated Search Blog) kindly linked to me. Sol notes that he “didn’t realize that federated search doesn’t work.” I wanted to … Continue reading

Posted in i don't get it, vendors and businesses | Leave a comment

Ranting about library technology

I’m meeting with my Dean later today to discuss the libraries’ strategic plan with relation to technology. I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the course of this morning and afternoon, and I thought I’d share a bit of … Continue reading

Posted in i don't get it, vendors and businesses | 6 Comments

Thou shalt not use Comic Sans

Especially not on cover letters or really anything that you want to be taken seriously. I have learned via Wikipedia that there is actually a movement to ban Comic Sans, and the authors of this movement argue that Comic Sans … Continue reading

Posted in administrative | 2 Comments

Blackboard, You’re On Notice!

As I’ve mentioned in previous entries, my place of work subscribes to the Summon unified discovery service. Summon quite nicely provides RSS-powered search alerts. Summon uses the RSS 2.0 (or perhaps the 2.0.1?) specification. This is pretty standard. Summon’s feeds … Continue reading

Posted in pissed off | Leave a comment

The e-book divide

Like many librarians, I’m an avid reader. Reading can be an expensive habit, and as there is this lovely place called a library where I can get books for free, I am a heavy library user. I’m also an e-book … Continue reading

Posted in i don't get it | 4 Comments

Cliff Landis is my hero

My friend Cliff Landis – Technology Librarian at Valdosta State University – pledged to match donations to Partners in Health (one of the many organizations offering relief to those affected by the earthquake in Haiti) up to $10,000. People donated. … Continue reading

Posted in miscellaneous | 1 Comment