ILS News, Google etc.

Here are a few random things I've wanted to post about but haven't

• It's not really news anymore but Sirsi/Dynix (the largest ILS vendor) has announced that is is not going to release upgrades for its two ILSs (Unicorn and Horizon) but instead is unveiling a new technology platform named Rome. If you are interested in staying current in the ever changing world of library automation vendors I highly recommend Andrew Pace's blog Hectic Pace. Mr. Pace (Andrew?) works at NC State and is a columnist for American Libraries.

• Google has created a book bar API that allows you to add book images from Google Books to your website. I haven't spent a lot of time with this but it looks like it will create a pretty clean and dynamic virtual book displays that we should be able to incorporate into library sites.

• Speaking of Google (2) there was an interesting article in this month's Atlantic about online translation services of which Google is now one of the leaders. Apparently translation is increasing being done by doing mathematical analysis of existing works in translation with very little knowledge of the actual languages. Personally, I'm continually amazed at what can be accomplished by high powered mathematical analysis. I think that as librarians we have not really tapped the power mathematics but also wonder about a world where number crunching becomes increasingly central.

• Speaking of Googe (3) you may want to check out Casey Bisson's short take on the Google economy and how it changes the way we think about information.

• In other news, former Head of Technical Services at Rolfing, Blake Walters, now has his own library blog.
  

• Finally, I don't know if electric paper is actually doable but the concept is fascinating.