LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

Google Maps and Google Earth brought the world to our fingertips. Then, with varying degrees of success, they did the same thing with the sky, the street, and Mars. Now, Google calls together a team of oceanographers with a plan to map the ocean floor.

Google's current plans are to provide a framework and basic map of the ocean floor and, like Google Earth, provide the ability to add things to it. Ideas for additional data include shipwrecks, coral reefs, and currents.

The Associated Press looks into a dimly lit back room on the second level of the University of Michigan library's book-shelving department, Courtney Mitchel helped a giant desktop machine digest a rare, centuries-old Bible.
Many libraries began digitizing books a decade ago to preserve them. Funding from Google allows the 28 libraries it's working with to cut their digitizing costs because they don't have to pay for scanning the books Google wants to include in Book Search.

Story on "All Things Considered" on NPR: Technology has made it possible to make books accessible to anyone, anywhere. But in the effort to digitize the world's books, there's a fight brewing over who should control tomorrow's virtual libraries, and how open they should be. Some libraries are choosing to pay to digitize their collections rather than accept offers from Google and Microsoft to do it for free.

Story here.

Deschutes Public Library is excited to announce the availability of book previews from Google in the online catalog. DPL was one of two public libraries invited by Google to test their new interface for linking to previews, and sometimes the full text, of books at Google Book Search. This resource is now available in the Deschutes Public Library’s online catalog.

From the Google announcement:
"As an example of the API in use, check out the Deschutes Public Library in Oregon, which has added a link to "Preview this book at Google" next to the listings in their library catalog. This enables Deschutes readers to preview a book immediately via Google Book Search so that they can then make a better decision about whether they'd like to buy the book, borrow it from a library or whether this book wasn't really the book they were looking for."
Links to sample books below...

Homeland Security is taking its job very seriously these days. Due to author Sebastian Horsley's involvement with several 'unseemly' activities, the U.S. barred him from entering the country on the grounds of "moral turpitude" after landing in Newark on March 18. According to PEN American Center , U.S. Customs officials at Newark Liberty made the call after running "a Google search" on the writer and questioning him "for several hours about his statements and writings." The decision to turn Horsley away was based on the author's "admissions of past involvement with drugs and prostitution, as well as his participation in a self-crucifixion in the Philippines in 2000," according to PEN.

PEN wants him back for its upcoming World Voices Festival at the end of April, and has drafted a letter to Homeland Security making that request. The Washington Post and Publishers Weekly report.

ps - I did a Google check on him too.

This link came courtesy of Michael Sauers from Cnet.
Apparently Google has an age limit to use, well anything associated with it. From searching to using services such as Gmail. Here' the link to the article. Who knew? So often we ignore or look quickly at the terms of use, that we miss things like this. I guess I should be glad that I'm old enough to use their services.

BookLamp offers an interesting and (ahem) novel idea when it comes to finding books.

Those familiar with Pandora know that it works by analyzing a musician or song that you like and making choices for new songs based on the artist, style, beat, and other musical elements. BookLamp seeks to do that, but with books. Through the analysis of things like writing style, word use, and the like, BookLamp tries to make recommendations for further based on similarities between the book you selected and other books within its database.

A video on their site explains everything in greater detail.

They've only got a few items in the database, but they're looking to grow... and hopefully have their idea purchased by Google.

Teleread discusses a Google API and ponders the impact this can have on both libraries and competitors of Google. Full story here.

sometimes a little common sense wouldn't hurt.

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2008/03/4707-i-love-google-but.html

Google will begin storing the medical records of a few thousand people as it tests a long-awaited health service that's likely to raise more concerns about the volume of sensitive information entrusted to the Internet search leader.

The pilot project to be announced Thursday will involve 1,500 to 10,000 patients at the Cleveland Clinic who volunteered to an electronic transfer of their personal health records so they can be retrieved through Google's new service, which won't be open to the general public.