Levar Burton's for profit company RRKidz announced that it will be creating a Reading Rainbow iPad app for kids to explore different topics in a media rich environment.

Read full article here.

I'm glad this next generation won't miss out on the greatness that is reading rainbow.

Alright kids, take a breath, it's not that this is happening, it's just that they're thinking about it. According to this article, Amazon is looking at Netflix's model to create a subscription library.

From the library science perspective this is a really good example of going back in time to solve problems of the present (closed stacks, subscription/membership collections, reinstatement of the ivory tower). It'll be interesting to see how this sort of thing stacks up against Open Library and other services like it.

According to this article, this poor guy in Newtown, Iowa was jailed for failing to return 27 library books. The charge was theft.

Bellstrike Intro Video from Bellstrike on Vimeo.

As the plot is won't to do, it has THICKENED!

I just finished reading this article from search engine watch. The author of this article compares the Google+ real identity to the South Korean effort with similar goals. The important thing here, is she really focuses on the consequences of something describing itself as an "Identity Service" but identified as a social network by it's users. Another important nugget that I wasn't aware of previously is the U.S. government's National Strategy For Trusted Identities In Cyberspace. The article goes on to to describe this initiative as government supported, but it is a private sector project developed to create an identity service outlined here.

An interesting thing pointed out here is the thing that's always pointed out. While privacy settings will prevent your information from getting out to other users, it will not prevent it from being collected and stored by these private companies, nor the government. Sounds on the line of a conspiracy theory, but it is worth knowing what you are buying into in these circumstances. I feel that all of this may serve to make people more responsible in their participation online. We are not free to behave however we see fit, because our actions are being recorded and serving somewhat fuzzy purposes behind the scenes.

Library Lab is a mobile physical manifestation of a digital library and it includes modular units. Pretty cool, though the advert indicates it could be used in libraries as archives. It also seems like it's something that could live anywhere, particularly in rural areas, like a supermarket, mall or other high traffic locations.

Since we were talking about it today, I thought I'd throw up a link to the Pressible site Becca was working on this summer as well as one of my favorite photos from the collection.

Another entry for the Gossip Column, some Library Propaganda for all of you lovely people. This was making the rounds in my library list servs and I thought I'd share it with all of you.

While I appreciate the gesture, putting things off site and available by request only is a pretty common practice in libraries where space is at a premium. While a floor of empty shelves knots my bun as much as the next Librarian, I highly doubt the plan is to leave it like that. Perhaps they are planning a reading room, or cafe.

This article got me thinking about all the articles I have read lately about the complications of "true identity" online.
This is a long standing issue and most of the time, Facebook and Google have been pretty straight forward about the fact that they are selling our provided information as a product. Many people have said to me "this is just the reality of the new economy" and "if you're not paying for it, you're the product." As well as this piece, which makes many excellent points about online identities. While yes, hitting the ol' fear button of "bad people hiding from us on the internet" is a fair point, there are also the protections pseudonyms provide.

This is a nuanced argument as there was a culture of pseudonymity on the internet for early adopters who are being forced to give up an identity by being forced to use their "real" names online. There are reasons to use a pseudonym online outside of devious plots and plans. There are also trades being made on your identity and behaviors online.

The gossip column is back.

Apparently this school district is using sheep to mow their lawn.

Full article here

Talk about innovating in the face of economic hardship!