Category: Glenda’s Online Currents articles

Gale’s literature databases

First published in Online Currents – Vol. 21 Issue 5, Jan/Feb 2006

Green libraries (PDF)

First published in Online Currents, v.25/4, 2011, pp.188-194

This article describes green websites that provide information that may help librarians and other information professionals manage their work in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way.

Ebook indexes, EPUB and the International Digital Publishing Forum (PDF)

Ebooks, their indexes, and the work of the IDPF EPUB Indexes Working Group.

Online Currents June 2012, pp 127-130

IPEd, Style Council and ANZSI Conferences (PDF)

Three conferences for information professionals.

First published Online Currents February 2012 read more

This article begins with a discussion of meteorology Web sites, followed by sites on natural disasters.

The Glossary from the American Meteorological Society (http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary ) contains 12,000 terms and is an excellent starting point for research into meteorology. It defines meteorology as the study of the physics, chemistry, and dynamics of the earth’s atmosphere, including the related effects at the airearth boundary over both land and the oceans or, in popular usage, as the underlying science of weather and weather forecasting. read more

First published in Online Currents – 20(5) June 2005

This is the third article in a series investigating Web search engines, following others about Google (Online Currents October 2004, pp.13-16) and Yahoo! (Online Currents March 2005, pp. 21-24).

MSN launched its new search engine on 2 February 2005.  In addition to the search function, the home page (http://www.msn.com ) provides links to news, reference sources, shopping, entertainment and technology, and services such as Hotmail and Messenger.  The Australian site, ninemsn, is discussed later. read more

First published in Online Currents – Vol.18 Issue 4, May 2003

Theres just no pleasing anybody  we all complain that we have too much information, but then keep seeking more. David Skyrme (http://www.skyrme.com/updates/u10.htm#push ) explains this information paradox by pointing out that while we want less junk, we long for more relevant information. Push technology  in which information is automatically sent to users according to pre-defined profiles  claims to be the ideal way of providing the relevant information.

The earliest use of push technology was for sending updates of new bibliographic references on specified topics to library users. Push technology is now used to offer the following types of information: read more

I write a bi-monthly column for Online Currents in which I describe websites of interest to librarians.You can link to them here. read more

OLC Oct2012 WebWatch — Satire and Soapboxing

This instalment of Web Watch includes discussions on:

• satire, irony and parody
• men’s groups and mental health
• crowdsourcing – eCAPTCHA and Duolingo
• Olympic medallists in art competitions
• rabblerousing via soapboxing

OLC Dec 2012 — Web Watch

• What day is it? (Australian and international events)
• QR codes
• Financial transfers
• FreePint
• Communication and Language
• Google Art Project
• Infographics

Web Watch Online Currents Feb 2013

• cloud-based computing and librarians
• engineering information
• patron-driven acquisition
• Digital Curation Resource Guide
• Digital Publishing Guide
• ebooks and book reviews on the web
• plastic books and recycled paper books
• TinEye: reverse image search

OLC April 2013_Browne_Web watch

This issue of Web Watch contains information on:

• Open information and internet activism (including Aaron Swartz’s achievements)
• JSTOR
• Bushfires and vegetation
• ALA on ebooks
• Tumblr
• Underwater music
• Adjusting to modern technology (humour)