Biblio Bytes: Pondering Library Science in the News

Finland's Free Wi-Fi Nearly Everywhere

What Helsinki Can Teach America about the Internet

Daniel Faris | June 30, 2015

...Which is pretty much the opposite approach the government in Helsinki, Finland, is taking to connectivity. Believe it or not, the Finnish capital city is nearly blanketed with free Wi-Fi hotspots. And they’re not just the kind of hotspots you can connect to and access content like it was 1997. No, these Wi-Fi connections—which don’t require users to input any personal identification, but do features warnings about the dangers of public networks—are plug-and-play solutions that give users the ability to download and upload content quicker than many Americans can do in their own homes. You can even stream high-definition video!

Coverage in Yellow
Source: http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/network_info.php?nid=629&org_id=210&cid=12

Cuban Ancestry

"Cuban Equivalent" of Ancestry.com a Boon to Family Historians

Florida International University Libraries has unveiled an online resource to help families of the Cuban diaspora research their roots—and already several have hit pay dirt

Alexandra Pecharich | June 1, 2015

An extensive set of family trees, civil records and sacramental documents is now available on the Internet. It references thousands of Hispanic surnames and gives everyone from the Abadias to the Zúñigas the opportunity to search for their ancestors.

<more at https://news.fiu.edu/2015/06/cuban-equivalent-of-ancestry-com-a-boon-to-family-historians/88594; related link: http://dloc.com/iFiuHurtado (Cuban Genealogy website from the Green Library at Florida International University Special Collections and University Archives) [About Enrique Hurtado de Mendoza Collection of Cuban Genealogy: The Enrique Hurtado de Mendoza Collections is a unique research collection at the Green Library at Florida International University Special Collections and University Archives which includes thousands of books, handwritten and typed letters, photos and other primary documents relating to Cuba and Cuban genealogy, collected over four decades by Felix Enrique Hurtado de Mendoza. The Enrique Hurtado de Mendoza Collection includes rare 17th and 18th century books, long out-of-print publications and periodicals that few, if any, U.S. libraries hold in their catalogs. Additionally, thousands of unpublished family genealogies and manuscripts make this collection particularly significant.]>

Gigablast

Gigablast to Build the Biggest Search Engine

PR Newswire | July 1, 2015

Shortly after releasing its web search engine as open source and available for free download, Gigablast, Inc. has inked a deal with the Internet Archive. Gigablast has agreed to provide search for the archive's 400+ billion web documents.

<more at http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gigablast-to-build-the-biggest-search-engine-300107382.html; related links: http://gigablast.com/ (An alternative open source search engine) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigablast (Gigablast is a small independent web search engine based in New Mexico.[2] It was founded in 2000 by Matt Wells, formerly of Infoseek. Its source code was released under the Apache license in 2013.
Gigablast provides, or has provided, search results to other companies, such as Ixquick,[3] Clusty,[4] Zuula, Snap,[5] and Blingo.)>

Electronic Signatures

Electronic Signatures: What Should We Know

King & Wood Mallesons | July 1, 2015

The essential feature of electronic signatures is digital certification technology. Any technique that can verify one party’s identity and recognize electronic data in the course of electronic communications falls within the category of electronic signature.

Source: http://bestmedicineonline.info/tag/enabling-digital-signatures-in-a-form-from-the-course-

How Discs Play

Watch a Needle Ride Through LP Record Grooves Under an Electron Microscope (+Video)

Open Culture | June 30, 2015

Last year, we highlighted a 1956 video from RCA Victor which demonstrated how vinyl records were made back in the good old days. If you have 23 free minutes, you can get a pretty good look at the production process — the live audio recording, the making of a master disc, the production of a mold, the eventual mass production of vinyl records, etc.

Source: http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/a-stop-motion-of-a-needle-riding-through-lp-record-grooves.html

Revitalizing the 21st Century Library

The Library of the 21st Century

Patrick Cain | April 23, 2015

This past month in Philadelphia, nearly 60 library administrators, academic leaders, and facilities personnel gathered to discuss trends characterizing modern library spaces. These participants in our 2 ½ day Academic Library Planning and Revitalization Institute reached consensus on four key areas needed in order for modern academic libraries to better serve student users. From there, we collectively brainstormed how to provide these four key items through both physical design and programmatic choices.

<more at http://www.academicimpressions.com/news/library-21st-century?qq=35016w636281kS400>

Library Issues Certification in 3D Printing

Interns Learn 3-D Printing Techniques: 3-D Printing Certification Offered at Rodgers Library

Jeremy Connor | June 24, 2015

Fourteen students met in Rodgers Library last Friday to learn about the basics of 3-D printing and to watch The University of Alabama’s professional equipment begin to create real models  of molecules.

Source: http://www.cw.ua.edu/article/2015/02/rodgers-hosts-lecture-series-on-led-technology

Vincent Scalfani, an assistant professor and science and engineering librarian, led the participants in an informational session on the topic of 3-D printing, utilizing a computer lab called Scholars’ Station located in the back of Rodgers Library.

<more at http://www.cw.ua.edu/article/2015/06/interns-learn-3-d-printing-techniques-3-d-printing-certification-offered-at-rodgers-library>

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Thursday, July 2, 2015