The future of data storage?

According to New Scientist Tech, researchers have discovered a potential way to store data at a density millions of times greater than what is currently possible. Kurt Kleiner writes here:

Researchers at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania, both in Philadelphia, and Harvard University in Massachusetts, US, discovered that water turns barium titanate (BaTiO₃) nanowires into a potential form of computer memory....Jonathan Spanier, a team member from Drexel University, estimates that the wires could theoretically be used to make computer memory drives with a density of 10,000 terabits (10¹⁶ bits) of data per cubic centimetre. By contrast, current flash memory drives store about five gigabits (5 x 10⁹) of data per cubic centimetre.

Just how much information is contained in 10,000 terabits? Eric Berger puts it into context:

By way of comparison, the entire text of all volumes in the U.S. Library of Congress comprises about 10 terabits. The Internet -- you know, where you're reading this -- is about 100 terabits....Within the space of about 100 cubic centimeters of this memory you could store every printed word, from Webster's dictionary to Gutenberg's bible. With 1,000 cubic centimeters you could store every word spoken by every human being in Earth's history.

Innovative public libraries enable digital media downloads

For a month now patrons of the Chicago Public Library have been able to download over 1300 audio books from its Digital Audio Books Catalog. After downloading the free OverDrive software, patrons can check out up to 6 titles for 21 days, after which the they are automatically "returned to the shelf" and become available for another patron to check out. Some items can be legally burned to CD, on an item to item basis. OverDrive works with many portable devices, though notably not the iPod.

Not to be outdone, Denver Public Library now uses OverDrive for its digital audio books collection and its digital video ("eflicks") collection. --More info from CBS Denver--

Firebrary!

Some exciting local news today: UB's own Dr. June Abbas and the students of her Digital Libraries class unveiled the Firebrary: the Buffalo Fire Historical Society Digital Library. Congrats June, et al., it's beautiful! I particularly like the pics of the 1896 smoke mask, and accompanying audio commentary.

...more about the making of the Firebary.

Past Digital Libraries classes created the Bentley Snow Crystal Collection and the Pierce Arrow Musuem Digital Library.


Are you involved in an interesting student project? Let us know about it: lis-lsj@buffalo.edu

Blogging at the ALA

American Library Association president Michael Gorman got the blogosphere riled up last year when he published an article in Library Journal entitled Revenge of the Blog People!, which contained, among other things, this statement: "Given the quality of the writing in the blogs I have seen, I doubt that many of the Blog People are in the habit of sustained reading of complex texts."

President-elect Leslie Burger, by contrast, has a blog of her own. In this post she explains why it is important for us to engage with the blogosphere.

And another ALA VIP is now blogging: Mary Ghikas, Senior Associate Executive Director, has recently started The Green Kangaroo.

What a difference a year makes!

Is the Book Burro friendly?

There is a free add-on to the Firefox browser called Book Burro which does something very interesting: it senses when you are searching for a book on the Web, gives you the prices from several online bookstores, and tells you if the book is available at your library (for now it only works at a select few libraries, but soon ,they promise, you will be able to customize it for your own local library).

Let's imagine I'm searching Amazon and I come across The Enduring Library by Michael Gorman and I think Now there is a book I have got to read. I'm about to Add to Shopping Cart but instead I glance up at Book Burro and I see that the Seattle Public Library has a copy of it. With one click it takes me not only to the SPL catalogue but specifically to the record for The Enduring Library, which confirms that the book is available. So I put the credit card back in the wallet and I head to the library--bad for MG and Amazon, perhaps, but good for me and the SPL.

Seems pretty great, no? But I wonder if there are other implications. What is stopping a reader in Seattle, for instance, from searching Amazon instead of the SPL OPAC? This is, in a way, the opposite of attempts by librarians to catalogue the Web to be searchable in library catalogues. Perhaps in the future we wont even go to the OPAC to find library resources; we'll go to Google OPAC or somesuch. And we'll put up with the advertisements because it will work. Of course none of this would be an issue if OPAC design was not so outdated...but that's a subject for another day.

The Book Burro site doesn't say much about the technology behind it. Anybody care to enlighten me on how it works?

LSJ Seeks Editorial Board Members

Library Student Journal is now officially forming its editorial board.  The board's
primary responsibilty is to ensure a high quality of peer-review and to assist the
editors in making editorial decisions.  Members will be asked to review papers
on topics familar to them.  For more information about the role/duties of the
editorial board please go to http://informatics.buffalo.edu/org/lsj/board.html.

To apply, please send an email to lis-lsj@buffalo.edu with a current CV or resume
attached; write "editorial board" in the subject line, and in the body state your
name, affiliation, expected graduation date, primary interests and experience in
the field, and a paragraph explaining why you are interested in serving on the
board (less than 200 words please).

Please apply by May 6.

Any questions, feel free to email us at lis-lsj@buffalo.edu.