Author Archives: John Mark Ockerbloom

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About John Mark Ockerbloom

I'm a digital library strategist at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

Surpassing all records

Posted on October 9, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

What will happen to all the White House emails after George W. Bush leaves office in January? Who will take charge of all the other electronic records of the government, after they’re no longer in everyday use? How can you … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, discovery, preservation, repositories | Comments Off on Surpassing all records

What are the marketers of EndNote afraid of?

Posted on September 30, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

If you write papers on a regular basis, you’ll find it worthwhile to keep track of sources you might cite. When I was in grad school, I manually edited a BibTeX file to keep track of the references for my … Continue reading →

Posted in citations, copyright, crimes and misdemeanors, formats, sharing | 1 Comment

Why Banned Books Week matters

Posted on September 29, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

It’s Banned Books Week again, and Amnesty International, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the American Library Association are among the groups noting the occasion. I’ve also updated the links on my ongoing exhibit Banned Books Online in … Continue reading →

Posted in censorship, crimes and misdemeanors, libraries, online books, reading | 8 Comments

Repositories: Benefits, costs, contingencies (with an example)

Posted on September 11, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

(This is the third post in a slow-cooking series on repositories.) In my last repository post, I listed a variety of repository types that we maintain at our institution, each with different content, operation, and policies. At the end of … Continue reading →

Posted in repositories | Comments Off on Repositories: Benefits, costs, contingencies (with an example)

Getting fair use right: Maximize what you give, minimize what you take

Posted on September 10, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

This week’s Harry Potter court decision in New York is well worth reading for anyone who’s interested in knowing whether something is fair use or an illegal copyright infringement. The case involved an unauthorized lexicon of the Harry Potter books … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright | 15 Comments

Changing the subject(s)

Posted on August 19, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

When I implemented subject maps for browsing the Online Books Page by subject a while back, I had a big problem to face: I didn’t actually have subject terms for the books. How could I implement subject browsing without subjects? … Continue reading →

Posted in discovery, libraries, meta, online books | 2 Comments

Celebrating freedom, in various ways

Posted on July 2, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

This week marks both the anniversary of Canadian confederation (Canada Day, July 1), and the anniversary of American independence (Independence Day, July 4, or should that be July 2?) This week I’m also finishing up subject cataloging of online books … Continue reading →

Posted in online books | Comments Off on Celebrating freedom, in various ways

Repositories: What they are, and what we use them for

Posted on June 26, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

(Note: This is the second of an ongoing series of posts on repositories. The first post is here.) The JISC Repositories Support Project defines a digital repository as “a mechanism for managing and storing digital content.” I find this a … Continue reading →

Posted in repositories | Comments Off on Repositories: What they are, and what we use them for

Now it’s official

Posted on June 20, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

As I hoped, the good news was announced by Peter Brantley of the Digital Library Federation while I was away in Canada: the recommendations of the ILS-Discovery interface task group, which we’ve been talking about and drafting over the last … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, libraries | Comments Off on Now it’s official

A break, and coming attractions

Posted on June 5, 2008 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I’m about to head off to the wilds (okay, the farms) of Saskatchewan to relax with family on a much-welcomed break. I’ve got to the point in packing where we’re trying to figure out which books to bring. (Which involves … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, online books, reading | 1 Comment