Christmas gift ideas for Librarians

I love these Book chairs! Not too sure how comfy it would be, but it looks cool.







T-shirts, Jewellery, mugs, stationery, Librarianimals and more at Teasecatalog.com.

Men of Texas Libraries calendar - actually, a bit worrying this one!



Cafe Press has some fantastic librarian items, including badges, mugs, t-shirts, magnets etc, with some funky designs:

Google Book Search: added extras.

Google have updated their Book Search “In an effort to make online book reading easier”. I think it worked.
Check out Nathan Naze’s Google blog entry: A new way to browse books, where he explains that you can now:
• Zoom in (and out)
• View the whole book on one web page (so you don’t have to load a new page for each new page)
• View the book two pages at a time (like an actual book)
• Scroll through the book using the scrollbar or your mouse wheel, or keyboard
• Find other books of interest
• See other books which cite or refer to a book.

It all sounds good, and from what I’ve tried so far, looks pretty good too.

• The zooming-in function is great, because it works quickly and easily.


• Having the whole book on one page, so you don’t have to click to the next page, is great, and makes it much easier to read, though the book I tried (Mansfield Park) was still a bit slow (a few seconds, but enough to interrupt the flow) to load up, even if it was all on one page.
  (Plus, there are still problems with the actual scans of the books: )


• The two-page view is ok - makes you feel almost like you’re reading a real book - but you can’t scroll down to the next two pages, you have to click on the arrow button to move on, which is a shame.


• Navigation (in one-page view) is easy. You can scroll through in lots of different ways, scrollbar, mouse wheel, pressing the space bar or page down moves you to the next page - or rather to the line above the last visible line, so you can find your place easily. But, you can’t go through by Chapter though, just by Section, which seems arbitrary (eg in Mansfield Park Section 2 is Chapter VI).


• They have cleaned the page up a bit too (except for the navigation and buy this book stuff) - and what is even better you can view in full screen and get rid of everything but the book and the page navigation. Or, you can download as pdf.


• The information (About this Book) page has changed too - this is where you can see related books, books and scholarly works which refer to the book. Plus you can search within the book, and click through to view the full (or preview) text.

For more articles see:
Inside Google Book Search - What we've been working on

Greg Notess, SearchEngineShowdown - New Google Book Viewer

Search Engine Watch Blog: Google Book Search Catches Victorian Plagiarists

And to keep up to date with changes, check out the Google Book Search Blog.

To compare with the old version, take a look at these screenshots.

Phil Bradley

Oh no! Phil Bradley has yet another blog - this one a less work-related, more personal one. And it's funny. Damn it, now I'm signed up to three of his blogs. I feel like a stalker!
Oh well. His first few postings have been amusing, very weird, and fun. Here's looking forward to more.

Justis 2.0

Justis 2.0 is up and running, and seems good so far. The links to JustCite are probably very good if you also subscribe to JustCite, otherwise, seems pretty much the same as the old Justis, with a few added bits and bobs (ie JustCite style links to related cases) - though it does look quite different. You can't download as rtf anymore by the looks of things, just html or pdf (not a big problem). A Quick Search tutorial is available.

Content hasn't changed:

• Official Series (Queens Bench, Kings Bench, Appeal Cases, Chancery Division) 1865 -


• Weekly Law Reports 1953 -


• The English Reports 1220 - 1873

Searching is easy - there is a quick search box on the front screen, which (if you have the box ticked) will suggest as you type - this can be useful if you're not sure of the spelling of a party. Otherwise you can click on Cases to bring up a structured (and very like the old Justis') search page. You can still browse, if you so desire.
The results screen gives you the option to print, email or download multiple documents (in html format only).
Or you can click into a result to view the document. You can Print, Email, or Download directly from this screen using the options (again html only), or you can open the document as a pdf and then print or save from there. The pdf version is scanned from the original text and is admissible in court.

The document screen has some green tabs at the top. Clicking on these gives you further information related to the case:

• the 'Also Reported in' tab provides a list of other report series which reported this case


• the 'Cases Considered' tab gives a list of cases which this case considers


• the 'Subsequent Cases' tab lists later cases which refer to this case (for checking the case history)


• the 'Legislation Cited' tab is only available to JustCite subscribers, who can link to any legislation cited in the case


• the 'Related Articles' tab is also only available to JustCite subscribers, who can link to any articles cited in the case

The My Justis tab remembers your previous searches/documents history (with a calendar!), which can be handy. You can also save searches and set up alerts.

Generally, I like it. I think that it looks a bit messy (the top sections of the results and document screens seem a bit cluttered), and it is annoying that you have to have the Legislation and Articles tabs even if you don't subscribe to JustCite (ok, so only annoying to non-JustCite subscribers!), but otherwise, it's good. The help section is thorough (if not a little over the top, especially the way it slowly slides out). I like the history sections under My Justis (though not the name My Justis, anymore than the name Justis 2.0). Basically, it works fine (which is the most important thing) - there are no problems with the functionality, searches and downloads are quite speedy, and the related cases tabs are useful.

Librarians: images and stereotype busting

Librarians: we're not what you think is an essay about librarians and their public image, and how great we are basically. It has lots of fun pictures too of librarians from the web, movies, and TV. Yes, Giles is there! Of course.

Librarian Avengers has blogged about a couple of Librarian outfits - including a Sexy Librarian outfit from Zoogster Costumes, and a Librarian Costume from Target. Not sure whether to be pleased we are moving away from the old stereotype of old woman with a bun, or just very very scared.

And of course, Ms. Dewey, who, while not being particularly good as a search engine (and therefore not exactly helping the image - we're much better than she is!), is again a step forward from old lady with bun syndrome.

Sites that challenge the stereotypical image of a librarian:
Lipstick Librarian
Illustrated Librarian
Wear lipstick, have a tattoo, belly-dance, then get naked: The making of a virtual librarian - Impact magazine
The Image of Librarians in Pornography!
Librarians in the Movies

Plus, lots of Librarian pictures (many of which are flattering or funny) from a Google image search!

Google OneBox

The final part of SearchEngineWatch's four-part series on instant answers - A Closer Look at Google OneBox Results is published on their website.

Law Librarians - Useful Blogs & Sites

Just a list of Law Librarian blogs, and a couple of other useful sites:


Blogs:
Batgirl was a Librarian
Binary Law
Law Librarian Blog
Lo-Fi Librarian
Vancouver Law Librarian Blog


Other:
A Day in the Life of a Law Librarian
RSS Tutorials for Law Librarians
US Law Library Blogs and Blogs by Law Librarians or Law Library Associations
Want to be a Law Librarian?

Useful things

Ok, I've been away, so no blogging, and I come back to a massive backlog in bloglines. Massive! Anyway here are some useful things:

PDF Pad provides useful forms and templates to print in pdf format - calendars, graph paper, sudoku puzzles. A really good idea, very handy, and nicely free.

Zamzar - Free online file conversion - fantastic. Just select a file, select the type of document (eg html, xls, pdf, gif, tiff, mp3, avi) that you want the file converted to, and Zamzar converts the file to the new format.

Research Beyond Google lists useful databases and other resources, both paid for and free sites, grouped by subject. A handy resource, though US-centred (there's a surprise).

Librarian: Return To King Solomon's Mines

Librarian: Return To King Solomon's Mines - the sequel to Librarian: Quest for the Spear - Noah Wyle returns as the eponymous hero. Directed by Jonathan Frakes.

Yahoo Shortcuts

Part three of SearchEngineWatch's four-part series on instant answers - A Closer Look at Yahoo Shortcuts is up. Goes through the Defined Shortcuts (apparently there are thirty two of these, eg Local, Map, News) and the Open Shortcuts - where you can set up your own.

Yahoo's search blog also has an article on this - More Open Shortcuts