Tagging's Not A Crime: Graffiti In The Library

My first memories of graffiti as an artistic display originate from the mainstreaming of hip hop culture through theatrical vehicles such as 1984's Beat Street and Breakin'. Graffiti, along with amazing break dancing moves and upbeat characters, seemed to brighten up the urban decay both films displayed as symptoms of a society unsympathetic to the needs of urban adolescents looking for a way out of their less than ideal situations. The graffiti painted on buildings, trains and just about everything else seemed to transcend the more rigid world of art I was taught to appreciate. My appreciation for graffiti and the nuances of the art form continued to grow with seminal documentaries such as PBS's Style Wars, a fascinating study of graffiti artists in New York. My love of graffiti was further fostered by the area I live in. In Atlanta we have some amazing graffiti on display, most notably in the Krog street tunnel located in Grant Park (pictured above).

In the last few years a number of books have appeared to document and celebrate graffiti culture, both in the United States and abroad. Any library wishing to serve the interests and needs of all patrons would be remiss in forgoing books dealing with graffiti art due to negative connotations ascribed to the form. Many people still view graffiti as a visual blight, a contention I would sometimes have to agree with given the lack of creativity displayed by some taggers. However, the continued outsider status of graffiti art allows it to stay fresh, interesting and viable.

Below I have listed graffiti books in the CFL collection and some websites I enjoy.

The Birth of Graffiti / Jon Naar
080 NAAR

Graffiti Paris / Photographs by Fabienne Grévy.
751.7 GREVY

Graphic Design: A New History / Stephen J. Eskilson
760 ESKIL

Piecebook: The Secret Drawings of Graffiti Writers / Sacha Jenkins
751.7 JENK

Postmodern Perspectives: Issues In Contemporary Art
709.04 POST

Art Crimes: The Writing On The Wall
The largest online collection of worldwide graffiti photos

Graffiti Maker
Create your own graffiti on your computer

Banksy
An amazing British graffiti artist!!!

Flickr
Collection of photos on Flickr tagged as "graffiti"

- Krog street tunnel photo courtesy of Glenn Lewis Images.

- Christopher Bishop

Poetry in the Library

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Main Floor, Carlyle Fraser Library

Drop in to listen to faculty reading favorite and/or original poems. Individuals and Classes are welcome!

Class Periods:

4^th: Mary Heald and a Kenyan guest

5^th: Jen Dracos

6^th: Eddie DuPriest and Nedra Roberts

7^th: Lasley Gober

1^st: Gavin Drummond and Roy Lovell

2^nd: Frances Fondren and Jack Morgan

Reimaging A Crime Scene: Or, How I Found Some Truth In A CSI Episode

On a recent episode of CSI a crime scene investigator was provided with video for analysis from a party where a murder had taken place. From a surveillance video of the party, the investigator was able to focus in on a man's face and identify him to create a larger image for other investigators. Usually, I try to overlook some of the more outlandish technology and gadgets presented on CSI as possibilities or composites of something else, but this one had me annoyed since resizing digital images, especially from video, can be such a pain with the loss of clarity as images are made larger. I made some remarks regarding the ridiculousness of the technology and tried to continue enjoying the episode.

A few days after I watched the show, a student happened to show me a panoramic picture of President Obama's inauguration speech wherein tiny details could be viewed by panning into selected portions of the image. The effect reminded me of Google Earth and its ability to allow for the viewing of street scenes. After looking at the image some more I thought of the CSI episode and the connection between the panoramic image of the President's inauguration and the video analysis on the show. My suspicion regarding the plausibility of the CSI image exposure was probably still valid but I definitely saw a connection between the two.

The equipment for producing panoramic images is made by a company called Gigapan who produces both a commercial and consumer version of their product. Simply put, the Gigapan device lets you "stitch" together multiple images from your digital camera. The panorama created is then viewable in closer detail since multiple smaller images have been used to create the whole picture. I'm fascinated by the possibilities tools such as Gigapan hold for the future of photography.

Below I have listed a few CFL books on the subject of forensics and digital photography.

Forensics Demystified
Barry A.J. Fisher, David R. Fisher and Jason Kolowski
363.25 FISHER

A Question of Murder: Compelling Cases From A Famed Forensic Pathologist
Cyril H. Wecht and Dawna Kaufmann
363.25 WECHT

World of Forensic Science
K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner
Ref. 363.25 WORLD v.1

Murder at Golgotha: Revisiting The Most Famous Crime Scene In History
Ian Wilson
232.96 WILSON

Advanced Digital Photography: [Techniques & Tips For Creating Professional Quality Images] Tom Ang
775 ANG

- Christopher Bishop

The Newseum

This is possibly one of the coolest resources that I've come upon. The Newseum, "— a 250,000-square-foot museum of news — offers visitors an experience that blends five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits."

In addition to its physical presence, the Newseum has a home in cyberspace at: http://www.newseum.org/ This information-packed website includes virtual versions of its permanent physical exhibits including Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs; a 9/11 gallery; Berlin Wall gallery; and a Journalists Memorial.

The gallery that I found the most fascinating is the Today's Front Pages Gallery:
Front Pages From Across America and Around the World. Here's the description from the Newseum's website: "More than 700 newspapers transmit their front pages electronically
to the Newseum every day. Up to 80 are enlarged and printed for display
in this gallery — among them one from every state and the District of Columbia
as well as a sampling of international newspapers. Additional front pages
are displayed outside the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue."

One can access this gallery online at: http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/

More than 700 newspapers from around the world electronically submit their front pages on a daily basis. 10 are chosen for a "Top Ten" each day, but visitors to the site can access the front pages via list or map. As a neat bonus, each front page is available as a PDF, allowing one to enlarge and read the stories. A link to each newspaper's website is provided, as well.

This is obviously not the best way of getting a complete "news fix" each day, but that isn't the point; rather, as the site states: "This daily exhibit is part of the Newseum's mission to promote better public understanding of news and journalism. A front page can reveal as much about a newspaper and its community as it does about the day's news. Some days, one story dominates these front pages. But often the stories on page one reflect communities with different interests."

Fascinating!

Kimberley Barker

Bishop's Book Speak (Tony Horwitz's A Voyage Long and Strange reviewed), Installment 5

Click here for Mr. Bishop's podcast review of Tony Horwitz's A Voyage Long and Strange, an enthralling exploration and travelogue of discovery in America, including many of the seemingly forgotten who have been lost to the greater mythology of origin and place in America.

The following titles are also suggested:

Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before
Tony Horwitz
910.45 HORW

Confederates In The Attic: Dispatches From The Unfinished Civil War
Tony Horwitz
973.7 HORWITZ

Skeletons On The Zahara: A True Story of Survival
Dean King
916.48 KING

- Christopher Bishop

Google Earth 5.0 Updates: Historical Imager, 3D Mars, Oceans and Narration

The newest version of Google Earth is out and includes some really cool tools for educators and those who like to play with all things geographic. My favorite addition is the historical imagery slider that allows users to view landscapes over time. For most areas the historical imager reveals about ten to twenty years of change with picture quality generally declining as older views are retrieved. A tool such as the historical imager could be used in tandem with Google Earth's overlay option to highlight resources such as the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, a collection of maps produced from 1884 to 1922 in various parts of the country, including Georgia, for property claims.

Another new feature is the Oceans view that allows users to see thousands of data points including undersea land forms, shipwrecks, ocean expeditions, National Geographic's ocean atlas and a ton of other great options. The inclusion of video and pictures to illustrate life in the ocean makes for a great learning tool. The information presently available is a good start, however, the input of community users and official institutions should lead to some amazing information.

The addition of 3D Mars is interesting but obviously lacks the detail found on Google Earth. I thought the most interesting view to be information and images of various lander and rover missions. Global maps and imagery are also available.

The final item added to Google Earth is the touring feature that allows users to record a narration while leading viewers through some portion of Google Earth. I love the possibilities of the touring feature for everything from class projects to describing your local neighborhood to others. The touring feature is also incredibly easy to use and very intuitive.

The updates to Google Earth, especially the historical imagery tool, remind me of a photo collection link recently sent to me by a friend. The collection includes older photos from the Battle of Stalingrad overlayed on more recent photos of the city. The resulting collages are fascinating and add a new dynamic to past and present. The other photo collections found on the site are equally interesting and focus on Russian subjects.

- Christopher Bishop

Gliffy, Or How I Learned To Love A Visual Organizer

I love to organize, design and map physical spaces! My need for organization recently led me to create a few maps of the CFL to assist library users in finding physical items housed in the library. Some might say creating maps for a two floor library amounts to overkill, but i noticed a need. Personally, I hate wandering around aimlessly while looking for something despite a nagging feeling I should ask for help. I often wish signs and maps were more abundant for those of us who want to look then ask.

In addition to serving a utilitarian purpose, my endeavour was a first step to creating a map similar to the one for the Lucy Scribner Library. The minimal front page of the LSL map soon discloses an interactive smorgasbord as users delve into the multifaceted finding aid, a resource for locating collections and

connections to additional material. This is truly the Rolls Royce of library finding aids. This is a map for the true library nerd.

All of the above leads me to a cool new tool I found after creating my library maps in Microsoft's Word program, an application called Gliffy that allows users to create floor plans, flow carts and network diagrams in a simple to use online format. Gliffy certainly isn't revolutionary if you are adept at using Word or Paint for simple maps, charts and diagrams, but it does offer some interesting and easy to use features that expand on tools available in Microsoft Office products. The image uploader, collaboration tools similar to Google Docs and limitless proportions are very helpful. I also like the ability to import various shapes, common images for networking diagrams and an interactive toolbar. The program is free and does not entail any software downloading or storage on your computer. If I would of found Gliffy earlier I probably would of saved myself some time and made a more interesting map. I'll redo the maps soon using Gliffy.

For those looking for inspiration, this link leads to a LibrayThing collection including books in the CFL chosen because of their connection to design. The selection process may seem haphazard and some of these may not be obtainable from online sources, however, one of the rationales, in my opinion, for a library should be the joy of browsing, of finding items that may be past their prime or hard to find.

The picture of Giles the librarian from Buffy The Vampire Slayer is completely arbitrary and has no real connection to this entry except to illustrate the connection between my status as a male librarian and Giles fan. Photo courtesy of 2010: A Book Odyssey.

The DESIGN logo was made using Spell With Flickr. A cool tool you should check out.

- Christopher Bishop

Video Making With Animoto

I recently attended a very informative Web 2.0 presentation by the IT administrator at The Woodward Academy in College Park, Georgia. The speaker geared the overview towards librarians with applications for anyone interested in using Web 2.0 tools as a platform for learning and collaboration among colleagues, students and friends. The tool I found most interesting and fun is Animoto, an extremely easy to use application for creating professional looking videos using images, music and text. Pictures can be unploaded from your computer, Animoto's collection, or an online site such as Flickr. After adding pictures the user is prompted to add music, either from their collection or your computer, and any text they need to illustrate the images. The whole process of creating the finished video literaly takes a few minutes from start to finish with an option for publishing the final product to Youtube or a personal site such as a blog. Videos can also be e-mailed to others.

The only drawbacks of the site include a limited selection of music and photos hosted by Animoto. There is also a yearly fee ($30) to create videos of more than 30 seconds and to download videos. The positives of the site certainly outweigh any minor drawbacks.

I created the video below (see next post) using images from the Library of Congress collection on Flickr entitled "1930s-40s In Color." The site is a wonderful collection of vintage photographs.

- Christopher Bishop

Connections

Animoto for Education

The Library of Congress' Photostream

Public Domain Collection (Government Sources)

Public Domain Music

Video Making With Animoto

Library Thing

I like to inform the Westminster community when we add new books to the collection. I used to spend a looooo-ooong time cutting and pasting reviews from Amazon into an e-mail, as well as typing the titles and authors. It was such a time-consuming process and the end result, while informative, wasn't very snazzy.

I first heard about Library Thing last year. I went ahead and made an account, but didn't play around with it that much. Then, about a week ago, I was inspired to play around with it again. The result? Well, read on.

I heart Library Thing :) Now all I have to do is type in the title of a book, click on the correct one, and a record is automatically created in my Library Thing "library". All one has to do is click on the record and one will be taken to a page with, among other entries, a review from Amazon. Library Thing will also post a picture of the book's cover. It is fast, easy to do, and the end result is really nice. Check it out: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/cflibrary !

Kimberley Barker

A Few Notes of Interest Regarding Folk and Punk in Georgia

This Saturday, January 31st, the Atlanta music label Dust To Digital is hosting a concert in Athens, Georgia to celebrate the release of their new box set entitled Art of Field Recording: Volume II. The concert will host a number of gospel, blues and country artists from north Georgia who are featured on the box set including Sister Fleeta Mitchell, Mary Lomax and a plethora of other artists who are unknown to many. The box set and concert are the culmination of many years of field recordings and research. Many of the musicians are performers who played locally but never had a chance to make an official recording. This is a chance to hear and see a part of Georgia's musical heritage that is quickly being lost to both age and changing tastes.

My music listening tastes run the gamut so I thought a blog entry noting the Art of Field Recordings box set release concert would be a good place to talk about some other local music groups and resources falling outside of the mainstream. Westminster's own Black Lips have gone from being a local garage rock sensation to being hyped by the music press as the wildest thing to come out of Atlanta in recent memory. The Black Lips, along with local groups such as The Selminaires, Mastodon and Snowden, are certainly gaining in national attention as newer groups such as The Balkans step up to fill the local music breach left by bands who have moved beyond the Atlanta circuit. All of these groups, to some degree or another, are products of the Atlanta punk and indie scene that seems to of been overlooked in the past as groups from Athens, Georgia garnered a large amount of local press attention.

To gain a better perspective on the Atlanta independent scene from the mid 1980s to the near present I really like the Beyond Failure blog done by an Atlanta local active in bands and the scene since the early 1990s. The blog has a ton of rare flyers, photos, sound files and interviews from a time that meant a great deal to those of us who sought out an alternative to mainstream culture in the '90s.

Another favorite of mine for independent local music news and information is the now long running Stomp and Stammer. The monthly periodical features lots of insightful interviews featuring local and national acts, coupled with great writing concerning everything from movies to upcoming shows in the Atlanta area. A recent article featuring the history of soul and R & B music in Georgia was especially informative for those of us who had no idea such a scene existed here in the past. The Atlanta edition of Creative Loafing also features some great music writing and lots of information concerning upcoming shows and happenings in the area. I also like the Atlanta Music Blog for timely posts on a pretty diverse array of local musicians.

Atlanta's musical past and present are certainly extraordinary as new and challenging artists emerge to build on the framework laid by older local musicians, many of whom we are only beginning to learn about.

- Black Lips image courtesy of Paste Magazine
- Mary Lomax Image courtesy of Oren Rosenthal's blog

- Christopher Bishop

New Fiction Titles In The CFL

The Carlyle Fraser Library is always buying new fiction titles for the collection to suit the needs of a wide cross section of readers here on campus. New titles are added weekly to a cumulative list that includes both book covers and a short synopsis. The New book page also features an RSS feed for those who use an aggregator to keep up with sites of interest. Enjoy!

Nystic 2, The Web 2.0 Blogging Source

Super3boy, the online pen name of a Westminster school student, constantly amazes me with his technology prowess when discussing and exampling Web 2.0 applications. One of his new ventures is the Nystic 2.0 blog wherein he, along with collaborators, shares news and tutorials including everything from Blender to digitizing vinyl records. The Nystic 2 blog is definitely a valuable resource for those interested in finding fresh young voices for staying informed in the Web 2.0 world.

Release The Comic Strip Creator

I have a severe lack of skill when it comes to drawing despite a life long love of art and comic books. As a child I checked out the instructional drawing books such as the Marvel comics book to the left from my library hoping to recreate the superheroes, animals and crazy cars created through guided steps. My results usually lacked the finished touches of the book examples but I kept on trying into my teenage years. Now, the internet and a host of comic creating websites have alleviated my lack of drawing prowess with ready made drawings, panels, word bubbles, fonts, and other assorted features that allow the most artistically disadvantaged among us to create our own comic strip creations. Below I have alphabetically listed six of the most dependable sites along with some personal observations regarding their pros and cons. The fifth and sixth sites listed below are my favorites.

Comic Life features an easy to use interface with tons of really cool page templates featuring every possible page configuration you can imagine. Once the page templates are chosen, images from your computer or an image sharing site such as Flickr can be uploaded along with varying modifications including word balloons, fonts and colors. The program does not come with ready made cartoon drawings so any artwork would have to be uploaded from your computer. Your final creation can be saved, printed and shared with an online community. The program also requires a sign up fee ($24.95) but does allow for a 30 day free trial period. Final verdict - I love the templates but the lack of ready made art to manipulate limits what you can do. This would be my third or fourth choice from the list.

Comiqs has a very simple interface and features limited editing in comparison to the other comic creators. Images from your computer or sites such as Flickr are uploaded and added to a choice of ten different templates with varying comic strip panel layouts. Word balloons and graphics can then be added to the comic panels from a limited selection. Comiqs is free and only requires a login to share your creations. Comics you create can be shared with an online community, printed, or saved to your computer. Final verdict - Comiqs is fine for adding captions to an image but the lack of editing tools in comparison to other online comic creators really disappoints.

MakeBeliefsComix is great for anyone who wants a selection of already created drawings to manipulate. The drawings include fifteen different characters rendered from the shoulders up. Multiple characters can be added to a panel and adjusted to change their expressions, position and scale. Users also have the ability to change background colors, add various word balloons, change panel prompts and panel layouts. MakeBeliefsComic is free and features a wonderful repository of ideas. Completed comic strips can be printed or emailed. Final verdict - This is a fun and very simple program that would benefit from a little more versatility in the scope and range of already created character drawings.

Pixton includes a "quickie" and an "advanced" version with already created drawings of characters, settings and props. In the quickie version you choose a comic strip with completed art that only lacks text for the word balloons. In the next step you can add dialogue and leave everything the same or manipulate elements such as characters, background, scale, color, et cetera. The advanced version requires users to build a comic panel by panel with the same editing tools available in the quickie version. The site requires a fee but does have a free trial. Completed comics can be saved to an online forum, printed, or saved. Final verdict - The stock drawings have a somewhat generic stick figure like appearance that makes everything seem somewhat one dimensional. The site is good for creating a story with ready made drawings.

ToonDoo is probably my favorite online comic strip creator because of the range of choices presented. After creating a free account users are presented with a wide range of already created and easy to edit characters, backgrounds, props, texts, captions, et cetera to manipulate in a myriad of ways. The site also allows users to upload their own images, making this the only application wherein site generated artwork and personal images can be combined. ToonDo also features a rich collection of user content, forums, groups, and how tos. Final verdict - I wish the site had more layout templates to choose from, however, the range of editable artwork and ability to combine photos from your computer with site generated art makes this the most versatile comic creator site I have encountered.

Toonlet has the look of an Edward Gorey comic strip filled with weird site generated characters rendered in black and white. Users "build" characters from the waste up using a set of options including clothes, hair, facial expressions, et cetera, in a manner similar to a paper doll. After constructing characters users can add text and background color to their comic strips but have limited ability to change anything else. Only one character can be added per panel. Toonlet requires a free sign up to create a comic for online sharing, printing, or saving. Final verdict - I love the look of the comic strips given their Edward Gorey, Robert Crumb feel, but the limitations on editing the drawings can be annoying.

Enjoy!

How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way is a Marvel comics product and copyright

-Christopher Bishop

Google Maps and Google Earth

Google Maps and Google Earth are amazing resources and tools used by many people for a variety of reasons including everything from finding directions, to locating cheaper gas, or looking up their home address for the fun of it. Transforming users of new tools such as Google Maps and Google Earth into producers of their own content is key to harnessing these tools for truly enriching educational purposes. I am always looking for ways to introduce technology into the classroom as a way to reinforce classroom lessons through the use of what will hopefully be exciting and engaging new tools for displaying student learning. This semester I had a chance to collaborate with history and Spanish teachers as we introduced Google Maps and Google Earth to students as a platform for class projects.

Students in two history classes were assigned to groups with specific questions concerning geographic terms. Both online and print atlases were used by students to locate specific geographic areas that matched the questions. Each group then used Google Maps to illustrate the geography terms and locations through the use of text, pictures and external links. Students then presented their finished Google Map in Google Earth. The research guide and student work are available online.

In the Spanish classes we decided to do something along the lines of Google Lit Trips, a repository for Google Earth "tours" based on locations, characters and themes in varying literary works. Students were divided into groups of two with specific terms to illustrate from Ladrón de la mente, a novel they read in class. Each group used pictures, text, and embedded links to illustrate their assigned terms. Additionally, each student created a VoiceThread using images and their own audio spoken in Spanish for embedding in one of their Google Map posts. The research guide, student examples and VoiceThread directions are available online.

The learning curve with Google Maps and Google Earth is fairly small given the number of resources available to assist with both creating and finding inspiration for your own projects. I find Google Maps to be the easiest resource for creating personalized maps due to the very user friendly interface, however, some people prefer to create maps in Google Earth. Google Maps are viewable in Google Earth. Below I have listed websites containing everything a new user would need to create their own Google Map or Google Earth project.

Google intros Maps mashups for dummies
This site has a very concise and highly informative video explaining how to create a map in Google Maps using the "My Maps" feature.

Google Maps User Guide
Very easy to follow directions and a good place to start.

Google Earth User Guide
Again, easy to follow directions with lots of images for clarification.

Educational Uses
A wonderful repository of class projects and ideas spanning the curriculum.

Google Earth Education Community
Educational ideas divided by discipline.

Ireland in 1898
A fascinating historical project using photography from the turn of the century to recount Irish history.

Google Maps and the exploration of Canada
An ongoing project to map the settlement and exploration of Canada.

- Christopher Bishop

Would you like facts with that?

One of The Economist's pizza boxes, with a pie chart showing
information on arable and permanent crop land by country.

The British news magazine, "The Economist", recently struck a deal with some Philadelphia pizza restaurants wherein pizzas were delivered in Economist branded pizza boxes-- each of which featured one of several pie charts with information related to world food distribution. This under-the radar advertising is part of the Economist's "Get a World View" campaign, meant to educate the public about various issues and of course about "The Economist" itself.

I call it darn clever guerrilla marketing!

Kimberley Barker

Viewzi

A screenshot of Viewzi

Fans of visual search engines, take note: Viewzi is here, and it is fabulous!

With Viewzi, a searcher enters her keyword (s) into a plain search box and then decides in which "view" to receive the results. The different views are lined up across the top of the page and one need only click on one to see the results for that view. The different views options are:

1) Album View (searches Amazon Music Search, Last FM Album, and Last FM Related)

2) Song View (searches Amazon Mp3, Mooza Mp3, Mp3 Realm, and SeeqPod)

3) Wide Screen Shot View and 4) Power Grid View (both search Yahoo)

5) Simple Text View (searches Yahoo and Google)

6) Google Timeline View (searches Google Timeline)

7)Photo Tag Cloud View (searches Flickr)

8) 4 Sources View (Ask, Google, MSN, Yahoo)

9)Video x3 View (searches BlinkX, Veoh, and YouTube)

10) Photo View (searches Flickr and Smugmug)

11) Weather View (searches various weather sites)

12) Amazon Book View (searches Amazon)

13) Everyday Shopping View (searches Amazon, E-bay, Target, and Wal-Mart)

14) Recipe View (101 Cookbooks Recipes, 101 Cookbooks Search, Epicurious)

15) Celebrity Photo Buzz (searches CelebBuzz and Just Jared)

16) TechCrunch View (searches CrunchBase, TechCrunch, TC by date, TC Posts Info, Yahoo)

17) Celebrity Gossip (searches Just Jared, Perez Hilton Search, Pop Sugar, and TMZ Search)

18) News View ("newspaper-style layout from major news sources")

A search for the keywords "Beethoven biography" returned a YouTube clip from the
BBC's "The Genius of Beethoven"; the book Diagnosing Genius: The Life and Death of Beethoven; the Wikipedia entry on Beethoven; a clip of a performance by the Nicholls Trio; and biographical information from The Classical Archives.

Though library resources such as books and online databases are always the best option for academic research, there's no doubt that search engines are great for answering quick questions, getting an overview of a topic, etc. What I like about Viewzi is that it very definitely separates the various returns on one's search, thereby making one's returns faster and (hopefully) more what one needs.

Give it a try and see (get it, "see") what you think.
Kimberley Barker

Books For Everyone

I have slowly come around to the idea of reading books online, especially when something I'm interested in is not easily available in print or I do not have a copy of the book I am reading with me. Other than convenience, I also like the idea of reading books online when a community is available to share interests, ideas and book recommendations. One of the coolest resources for reading books online, joining communities based around interest, joining discussions and discovering new titles is BookGlutton. Users can sign up with BookGlutton to create a personal account tracking favorites, books read and group memberships. Visitors do not have to create an account to search and read full-text titles or to look at possible discussion groups. Available titles include everything from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to the obscure such as Frank Norris' McTeague. Titles can be searched alphabetically or by specific title.

There are a number of other Web 2.0 sites featuring networking and discussion forums for finding new books and reader suggestions that work similarly to BookGlutton, but without the full-text.

goodreads
An attractive and easy to use site for both personal and community interaction that includes a price comparison for online retailers when viewing a title.

LibraryThing
The granddaddy of social networking book sites. Great for book recommendations and cataloging your personal print collection, should the librarian in you find a need.

shelfari
The visually appealing interface and ability to see covers for all of the books you have read is the coolest feature of this site.

StoryCode
The site requires a login for searching but features helpful readalikes and suggestions.

What Should I Read Next
A simple interface allow users to input a title and author to receive recommendations based on users suggestions. I found the returns to be quite accurate.

Whichbook.net
A very interesting site that uses mood questions to compile a list of recommended titles. I think this may be the most interesting recommendation site out there.

Image courtesy of The Guardian UK

- Christopher Bishop

Retro photo fun

"rotten world" by peatle, on the Poladroid Flickr group

So I can't seem to get away from cool apps lately, lucky me. And lucky you since I feel the need to share-- I'm just nice that way!

This latest one, Poladroid, will provide you with hours of fun and add a kitchy, retro look to your Facebook photos. For those too young to remember, Polaroid cameras spat out photos instantly and you could watch the picture develop-- you can watch a video about the invention of the Polaroid here. These photos were characterized in later years by high color saturation and a white border.

Currently only available for Macs, Poladroid works like this: 1) download and launch Poladroid (it's free!), 2) drag & drop your photos, 3) look at or print your Poladroids. You can see what people have done with this app by viewing examples in the Poladroid Flickr group.

Happy editing!

Kimberley Barker

New Tools For Searching The Internet

During a recent visit to the Internet Librarian Conference in Monterey I attended an excellent presentation by Mary Ellen Bates called "Super Searcher Shares." Below are the sites mentioned I thought were most interesting and possibly useful to researchers.

Google Translate allows the user to look for translated content from websites in multiple languages using a keyword search. The search interface is great for finding "invisible" content within sites that are not available in a language spoken by the searcher. Google Translate is still in beta so advanced search options such as limiting types of content are not available.

Google News Archive allows a searcher to input a keyword that returns results from online news sources according to a time line. The time line can then be used to isolate trends, look at selected content for specific time periods and to create historical overviews. The site is a nice addition to subscription databases such as Access World News and Proquest Historical Newspapers that lack this degree of date searchability, however, some content requires a fee. Many of the articles requiring a fee are available through library databases for free to patrons.

Google Trends charts the frequency of online searches and use of terms in the news. Regional location and source of language information over time is available. This is a great tool for isolating regional trends and key moments.

Yahoo Glue is a product of IT in India who have created a blended search engine that returns results including news, blogs, images and general sites on one page.

Searchme.com is a visual search engine with a beautiful interface that reminds me of an ipod shuffle. Returns can be isolated according to web, image, video and music results with category suggestions given to the right of the search box. This is a great search engine for those who prefer a visual approach.

Searchcloud.net allows a user to add keywords and then weight the term for importance in the search results according to the size of the cloud you choose. Instead of adding terms in a search box and allowing the search engine to determine the importance of each word, your decision regarding the relevance of each term decides the results.

Twing.com searches online discussion forums and communities for content often buried during regular search queries. This is a great tool for locating obscure experts not readily findable on the web.

Bates.info lists additional sites discussed at the conference.

Image courtesy of Modern Life

- Christopher Bishop