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Author Archives: GilPress
Libraries: Chicken Soup for the Soul
Rameses II, who ascended the throne in 1300 B.C.E., assembled a library that contained official documents, literature, historical treatises, and works of moral philosophy and proverbial wisdom, science, and medicine. Rameses’ library bears the inscription “the dispensary of the soul” … Continue reading
Posted in Libraries, Quotes
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Daniel Bell in 1980 on the “End of the Alexandrian Library”
“Clearly, if the explosion in information continues, it cannot be handled by present means. If by 1985 the volume of information is four (low estimate) or seven times (high estimate) that of 1970, then some other way must be found … Continue reading
Posted in Libraries, Quotes
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Librarians Against the Machine
“They can’t build a machine to do our job; there are too many cross-references in this place”—The head librarian (Katharine Hepburn) to her anxious colleagues in the research department when a “methods engineer” (Spencer Tracy) is hired to “improve workman-hour … Continue reading
Posted in Libraries, Quotes, Race Against the Machine
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The First Laptop
Today in 1892, George Blickensderfer received a patent for the first portable typewriter.
Posted in Mobile, This day in information
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Books Published, Indexed, Digitized, 1650-2000
8 million books were published prior to the 19th century, while 1 million books were published in 2008 alone. Sine the invention of the movable type, an estimated 100 million books have been printed. The graph below shows the number … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Data growth, Statistics
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Carnegie Free Libraries: Building a Very Solid Temple of Fame
LIBRARY: From Fr. libre, meaning free, and proper name ANDY. Something free from Andy Carnegie–Gideon Wurdz, The Foolish Dictionary, 1904.
Posted in Libraries, Social Impact
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The Horror of 3D Films
Today in 1953, the horror film House of Wax premiered, the first 3D film with stereophonic sound. From Wikipedia: “Due to growing popularity of 3D and an increase in 3D screens, an increasing amount of newly released films have been screened in … Continue reading
Posted in Film, This day in information
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Are You Paying Attention?
Advertising Age: “A recent study found that consumers in their 20s (“digital natives”) switch media venues about 27 times per nonworking hour… “digital immigrants” (consumers who grew up with old-school technologies, such as TV, radio and print, and adapted to newer … Continue reading
Posted in Information Overload, Quotes
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First Tax-Supported Public Library
Today in 1833, the Peterborough Town Library in New Hampshire was established by the Peterborough Town Meeting. It was the first public library in the world supported by taxation. In 1849, New Hampshire was the first state to pass a law … Continue reading
Posted in Libraries, This day in information
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Race Against the Machine: End of Professional Musical Instrument Tuners?
Algorithm Spells the End for Professional Musical Instrument Tuners
Posted in Automation
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The Story of Information 