Monthly Archives: May 2009

Getting bugs out of our systems

Posted on May 27, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

Very soon after we start learning to program, we start learning to deal with bugs.   Folks who have programmed for a while might forget that effective bug handling, like effective programming, is a skill that doesn’t come entirely naturally. Many … Continue reading →

Posted in crimes and misdemeanors, people | 3 Comments

Free Decimal Correspondence: Now with more detail and CC0 goodness

Posted on May 16, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I’ve just released a new version of the Free Decimal Correspondence (FDC).  FDC is a set of associations between numbers and subject terms that can be used as the basis for linear shelving or subject browsing of a simple library … Continue reading →

Posted in libraries, metadata, open access, repositories, sharing | Comments Off on Free Decimal Correspondence: Now with more detail and CC0 goodness

Will OCLC move to a service-oriented business model for bibliographic data?

Posted on May 15, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

As you may recall, there’s been a fair bit of criticism (including some of my own) against OCLC’s proposed records use policy, which asserts OCLC’s rights over libraries’ cataloging in ways that would make it very difficult for libraries and … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, libraries, metadata, open access, sharing | 3 Comments

What you’re asked to give away

Posted on May 8, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

If you’ve published an article in an Elsevier journal, you might have missed an interesting aspect of the contract you signed with them to get published.  It goes something like this: I grant Elsevier the exclusive right to select and … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, crimes and misdemeanors, open access, publishing, serials | 1 Comment

Do we need a “reader’s rights registry”?

Posted on May 5, 2009 by John Mark Ockerbloom

This spring’s Digital Library Federation forum, the last under DLF as an independent organization,  included a session for “lightning talks”, where speakers take 5 minutes or less to present an idea or make a demonstration.  Here are the remarks I … Continue reading →

Posted in censorship, copyright, metadata, online books, open access, reading, sharing | 3 Comments