Looking for information on Open Source Library Systems

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oss4lib : Open Source Systems for LibrariesIn addition to work on the computer lab and updating our iMacs to OS X, we are beginning to talk about automating our library. Our district library supervisor shared with us the costs associated with using the Dynix system that is the current school district solution. Very expensive... We got a ballpark figure of $5000 to $6000!, plus ongoing support costs...

So got to thinking there must be Open Source solutions. After a quick Google search I came across this site. Looks interesting, will have to some more research on this topic. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated...

Google Halloween...

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Lewis Elementary School, we are in the process of creating new landscaping around the entrance to the school. Through the efforts of many of our parent community this project is reaching a critical step... Today the concrete will be poured for the new sidewalk. This necessitated ordering some temporary fencing from the school distict to protect the new concrete. I was tasked with determining how much fencing to ordering. Looking around the school, I could not find a tape measure, but was able to round up a meter stick. (Very similar to a "Yard Stick" except it is a meter in length... :-) ) Using the meter stick, I was able to determine we needed 47 meters of fencing to protect the work area. I needed to convert meters to feet. Here comes the Google connection... Went to Google... Typed in the following..

"How many feet in 47 meters"

Google responded.... "47 meters = 154.199475 feet"

Other interesting Google tools can be found at Google Labs...

Interesting Book

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Booknoise.net | The Flickering Mind The Flickering Mind The False Promise of Technology in the Classroom and How Learning Can Be Saved By Todd Oppenheimer

An interesting web site for an interesting looking book. For a flavor of what Oppenheimer thinks of some of the uses of technology in our classrooms, take a look at this excerpt...

I'm going to go pick up the book today. From reading the reviews and looking around the web site, I'm thinking I'm inclined to agree with him. The realy interesting uses of technology, where I believe it is relevant and useful is in the arts (photography, video, animation, writing...) but most of the folks I work with have latched on to computers as a glorified workbooks... And don't get me started on the insanity of PowerPoint...

Comment Spam

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Ben Hammersley's Book of Blog this week talks about comment spam in weblogs. He points to two Moveable Type plug-in solutions. James Seng's MT Captcha

The idea is pretty simple: Display an image with a Security Code and demand the user to enter a Security Code manually before allowing posting to go through.

Jay Allen's MT-Blacklist allows for the creation of spam blacklists and allows for the sharing of these blacklists.

Typepad Official Launch...

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Typepage Official Launch Today Sixapart announced the official launch of Typepad.

New features in the system include the ability to map your own domain name to your TypePad site so that your site would appear at example.com if you own that domain name, in addition to the example.typepad.com address that is included with your TypePad account. There's also more bandwidth for users at the Plus and Pro levels, giving users 3 and 5 gigs per month in data transfer, respectively. Plus, all levels now have the ability to password protect any weblog or photo album for privacy.

Also the folks behind Typepad and Movable Type were featured on CNN tonight. They have a video clip on their web site.

What is Time Warner Thinking...

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After the Cubs won tonight, I checked Sports Illustrated's site for the results of the Woman's World Cup game between USA and Germany. I found the link just fine. What bothered me was that the ads displayed along with the story were all about bimbos in bathing suits. Take a look at the screen grab... What the heck are they thinking???