Here are some research notes and links on topics relating to
libraries, humanities computing, web tech
and databases
(notably SQL and Foxpro) issues. Most of these pages started as notes
made to investigate or follow particular issues. Not all pages are
maintained. Links to pages within this site are in boldface.
A small number of selected links to library-profession or conservation sites. See also the links on Data Formats.
- Library & Librarianship Links [Boohoo links]. Unrelated to data and web research: books, and some other things. See also links relating to Rare Books.
- Preservation and Conservation links [Boohoo links]. Links related to Conservation in libraries, museums, etc. For now visit the Stanford Conservation Online site. COoL is the
website for conservation. As an umbrella site, run by Walter Henry at
Stanford, it includes the Abbey Newsletter, Guild of Bookworkers,
American Institute for Conservation (AIC), and archives for a number of
important mailing lists including Exlibris (Rare Books), BookArts and
ConsDist (Conservation Distribution List).
- Research on Electronic Journals.
Some notes and links from October 1999 concerning electronic journals.
More of a sketch than an attempt at a comprehensive review. (I feel
that short, summarized e-newsletters with links to longer articles are
more effective; for example Ziff-Davis Anchordesk)
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Printing, Type & Letterforms
Some links to sites about printing, type and letterforms.
My most current links on printing, letterpress and history of the book
are on the APHA website.
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- Web Site Accessibility and Usability.
Some notes and links on why you shouldn't muck about with too much with
purely decorative graphics or with the latest technology (JavaScript,
Java, etc.). Like a well-designed book, the web is first about
intellectual content and second about appearance. We should not make a
site unusable to users with disabilities.
- Meta tags.
Embedded content within HTML pages for improved indexing of Web pages. Now includes discussion of Dublin Core, which can be used to catalog anything from web pages to museum artifacts.
- Digital
imaging. Notes
on issues such as resolution, file format, description and
organization), especially for cultural institutions like libraries,
archives and museums. There are also tips of doing it personally (some
of pages in my photo gallery were experiments with these techniques).
- Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Notes.
CSS is a means of getting a consistent and easy-to-modify style across
your entire site. (The <FONT> tag is now "frowned" upon.)
Dated:
- Cheapo Web site information. Where to host for cheap
(but not necessarily the best). Some notes that I've used in deciding upon hosting for APHA and which I passed along to colleagues (notably SHARP's wonderfully dedicated Patrick Leary).
- Mailing List Perl scripts. Quick research done in June 1999 on mailing lists, with an emphasis on distribution lists (informational or moderated).
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Data Formats for Libraries, Archives and Humanities: SGML and Tagged Text
Libraries, archives and scholars create large bodies of
electronic documents and texts that don't always index well or, when
tied to a specific software or technology, risk being lost due to
obsolescence. These are projects meant to address some of these issues.
Information below on data formats is now somewhat outdated with the
advent of XML. However, links to meta sites here and under Dublin Core
are still quite current and useful. (See also selected links on library cataloging.)
- SGML, or Standard Generalized Markup Language, a means of tagging text into discrete structured text. One well-known SGML "application" is HTML, the language of the web. Others linked here include the TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) and EAD
(Enhanced Archival Description, formerly Encoded Archival Description).
Much direct coding of SGML is being replaced by various forms of XML.
- EAD or Enhanced Archival Description, an SGML application for encoding archives, inventories and finding aids.
- METS or Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard,
intended as a sort of "structural metadata" (in fact, data about the
creation, structure and organization of electronic data). Potentially
quite powerful for documenting and administering electronic "objects."
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New Section. The most widely used library standard for indexing data is ANSI/NISO Z39.50 (a.k.a. MARC),
a library-based standard for machine-to-machine retrieval of
information, usually cataloging data. (A good general document on
Z39.50, written by William Moen of Syracuse University, is here.)
I do not maintain notes on this area, since it is evolving in ways that
I no longer follow. But these are interesting times in cataloging. (And
it's inexplicable to me that someone hasn't tried to create more
software to link MARC
records to simple--or not so simple--software for book collectors.)
There are some excellent links from the sites below. See also my Procite Notes and Other Links on Bibliographic Software in the same document. With XML, with Open Source, with Linuxheads all pushing, I think we will see increasing convergence.
- Open Source Software and Libraries Bibliography, maintained by Brenda Chawner, a library Ph.D. at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
- Open standards and software for bibliographies and cataloging. Maintained at SourceForge by Bruce D'Arcus and John J. Lee. Emphasis on GNU, Perl, Unix, etc.
- Open Source Systems for Libraries, a blog-style site (like slash-dot), run by Dan Chudnov.
- LITA Guide no. 9 Open Source Software for Libraries (book description only).
- OpenBiblio: A Library System that's Free,
an open source, automated library system written in PHP containing
OPAC, circulation, cataloging, and staff administration functionality.
- Related: Bookwhere,
commercial service and software from WebClarity Software for searching
multiple library sites, which can be downloaded to a local library
system. (Procite, Endnote, etc. only search those catalogs that you
select, and must be updated manually.) Also has special offer to buy
with Mitinet MARC Magician for original cataloging and MARC Notepad for copying the formatted records to local system. (Bookwhere can also integrate with the scholarly wordprocessor Notabene.)
- Vaporware (as of 7/2003): Open Office Bibliographic is a project of the Open Office
consortium (based on StarOffice) which intends (among other things) "to
develop a function which would allow easy import and export of
bibliographic data between OpenOffice and bibliographic databases such
as BibTeX." (This function would work similarly to Procite's or
Endnote's ability to insert bib citations into Word Docs.) Promising
since it appears to be intended to be open source.
- LC's Gateway to Z39.50 Catalogs.
- Notes on Procite Bibliographic Software.
I've cataloged my book collection using Procite. It's deficient for
cataloging rare books, but great for reference books which you might
cite in a bibliography. (Procite integrates with Microsoft Word.)
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Humanities & Miscellaneous Links
Links that I use on occasion.
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- Databases
on the Web, SQL servers and database-backed sites. (Subsection on SQL and SQL tutorials.)
-
Foxpro
links
Microsoft Foxpro links. Microsoft, O Microsoft, why have ye abandoned the Fox!
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I've found these links useful for researching not for
profits and charitable organizations. Not online, but recommended: the
excellent book by Joseph Barbato and Danielle S. Furlich, Writing for a Good Cause (Simon & Shuster, 2000).
Forbes magazine often has interesting articles about charity and giving from the perspective of the donor. It rewards careful reading. Forbes has helped raise awareness among donors of limited foundations, intended to spend themselves out of existence, rather than self-perpetuating organisms. Forbes's
constant drumbeat about researching a charity's administrative costs
has created bad press for some organizations, like United Way or Hale
House, before it was reorganized. Many donors now want to see how much
their money buys and whether the charity fulfills its purpose at
low-cost. Benjamin Graham's value investing philosophy comes to
charity? Maybe. Watch especially for Forbes's year-end issues.
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-
Links
on genealogy, genealogical software, and genealogical Tech Standards,
especially the GEDCOM standard for data interchange. (Hosted at
Rootsweb.)
4/21/2002: Dick Eastman noted that an XML implementation of GEDCOM has been defined.
- My Genealogy Pages at Rootsweb. Romaine family, plus picture galleries on the Fort Greene Martyrs' Monument.
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These links don't seem to fit anywhere else, but are useful, nevertheless.
If you want to use your computer to establish a direct
fax-to-fax connection, you will have to install a fax modem and connect
it to a phone line. A cable modem cannot send faxes directly to phone
lines.
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Contact Paul Romaine.