A visit to the Stedelijk Museum library, May 18

I had the pleasure to meet with Michiel Nijhoff, Head of Library/Collection Registration at the Stedelijk Museum and received a tour of the collection (currently in a temporary off-site location while the main museum is being renovated). Nijhoff also showed the online system that manages the library, archive, and museum collections as well as the digitization program for the archives collection.

It was very interesting to see how the three LAM (library/archive/museums) collections all intermingled.

A visit the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) in Den Haag, Netherlands

Ed Summers (LC) and me at the KB

Had a chance to visit the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (aka the KB, aka De Nationale Bibliotheek van Nederland) in Den Haag today to meet with some staff of the Europeana project. Had a good meeting and got to see a bit of the building.

Smithsonian Library Cake

Smithsonian Libraries Hall, last walk ...

Smithsonian Libraries Hall a photo by martin_kalfatovic on Flickr.

Taking my last few walks down "Library Hall" at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum (location of central offices of Smithsonian Libraries). The hall will be under construction for 16+ months (all staff are in temporary offices).

If libraries still exist in 2012, we'll move back to the new, improved spaces ... wish us luck!

And here's the view looking back:

Smithsonian Libraries

Research annex, Maryland

Boston Public Library courtyard, snow

Sharing Data for Biodiversity: Presentation at the Internet Archive

Sharing Data for Biodiversity: The Biodiversity Heritage Library. Martin R. Kalfatovic. Leaders' Forum: The Internet Archive. 21 October 2010. San Francisco, CA.


Presentation given at the "Leaders' Forum" sponsored by the Internet Archive (held at the Richmond branch of SFPL). Also, held at the same time, was the "Books in Browsers" meeting, also sponsored by the Internet Archive (held at the still new Internet Archive HQ).

I was able to slip between both. Though quite different, both had a lot of great information.

Sharing Data for Biodiversity: The Biodiversity Heritage Library

View more presentations from Martin Kalfatovic.

QotD: The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” - Alvin Toffler. Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth, and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century, 1990.

Next time you complain about having to "figure out some new computer/system/reading device/etc." think about what this really means. If you could not read or write, would you complain about those who invented writing?

AACR II, Buh-bye

AACR II, Buh-bye
Originally uploaded by martin_kalfatovic

Doing some more office cleaning ... or purging as my office moving consultant calls it ...

Internet Archive Glassware

IA glasses
Originally uploaded by chrisfreeland2002

The celebration at the new Internet Archive headquarters and unveiling of the "Bookserver" also brought the opportunity to distribute more if he very nice Internet Archive glasses.

Suitable for all occasions, this fine bit of glassware can be seen all around the world.

If you have one and want to take a picture of it, post it to Flickr and add it to the "IA Glasses" group.

Angry Fish : Dr. Seuss

Angry Fish : Dr. Seuss
Originally uploaded by martin_kalfatovic

1,000 views! Wow. I'm glad the world has liked this photo.

I didn't realize when I crashed the ALA reception for the 50th anniversary of The Cat in the Hat that this photo of the the Fish popping out of the fishbowl - in the form of a cake - would become one of my most popular photos.

The ALA Midwinter meeting in Seattle was pretty good, but when I ran across the Cat in the Hat party, it was really great. Dr. Seuss' editor was there and they created special drinks, Thing One and Thing Two for the event (basically, they were variations on the Cosmo).

Some of my ALA friends were there and we all received a copy of the 50th anniversary edition of the Cat in the Hat!.

Dodos and galleons

Dodos and galleons
Originally uploaded by martin_kalfatovic

My interest in dodos (Raphus cucullatus) seems to be spreading. Today I received a copy of Dodo's en galjoenen (Dodos and Galleons by Perry Moree, 2001). It's an interesting looking book about the Dutch ship, Gelderland, and its exploration of Mauritius. Lot's of good information about dodos, including some of the earliest depictions of dodos!

Also included is a music CD by the group Pekel. Pekel, a Dutch folk group, composed songs around some of the narrative from the voyage. The song is "Dodo Song" in two parts, "Meat of the Dodo" and "Dead as a Dodo". The song is sung in English, French and Dutch.

World Digital Library

World Digital Library
Originally uploaded by martin_kalfatovic

I attended a reception at the Library of Congress to honor the World Digital Library. The reception, held in the Members Room at LC (the reading room reserved for members of Congress) was very nice. James Billington (Librarian of Congress - pictured) gave a nice introduction to the project. Member of the Obama administration attended as well as staff from the embassy community.

The highlight was when students from Westlake High School in nearby Charles County, Maryland, demonstrated how there used the WDL in class assignments in the past few months.

I spent a nice time before the speechifying with Ronald Cunningham, Deputy Superintendent of Schools for Charles County discussing the changes that the Internet and digital libraries have brought to the K-12 environment. Mr. Cunningham is clearly a believer in new styles of learning (while keeping the successful lessons - pun intended - from the past!).

An aside, the food at the reception, was quite nice!

Who needs cloud computing?

Me! Or something other than a monthly fix of a case of 500 gig hard drives from my dealer, Iomega.

Oh yeah, the 4 tb NAS came with the same delivery!

I Am Library 101

I Am Library 101
Originally uploaded by libraryman

FYI, an interesting project done at the OCLC Bloggers' Salon (click on the picture to see MANY MORE).

Here's the description of the project:

These photos will be in the next video Michael Porter (Libraryman) and David Lee King are making for the sond "Library 101". Libraries have, are and will do 101 things and the zeros and ones that make up computer

These photos will be in the next video Michael Porter (Libraryman) and David Lee King are making for the sond "Library 101". Libraries have, are and will do 101 things and the zeros and ones that make computers work are shaping our industry. The sond and video are about that...and about YOU, about US and our work to make the world a better place through libraries.

You can be in the video by uploading a photo of
YOU with a zero and and

These photos will be in the next video Michael Porter (Libraryman) and David Lee King are making for the sond "Library 101". Libraries have, are and will do 101 things and the zeros and ones that make computers work are shaping our industry. The sond and video are about that...and about YOU, about US and our work to make the world a better place through libraries.

You can be in the video by uploading a photo of
YOU with a 0 and a 1 and tagging it with library101. Send Michael a message to to make sure he puts you in the video (coming in the Fallof 2009)

These photos will be in the next video Michael Porter (Libraryman) and David Lee King are making for the sond "Library 101". Libraries have, are and will do 101 things and the zeros and ones that make computers work are shaping our industry. The sond and video are about that...and about YOU, about US and our work to make the world a better place through libraries.

You can be in the video by uploading a photo of
YOU with a 0 and a 1 and tagging it with library101. Send Michael a message to to make sure he puts you in the video (coming in the Fallof 2009)

Giant Fishing Squirel

2009-07-11-IMG_3186
Originally uploaded by martin_kalfatovic

Yes, that's a giant squirrel. And yes, it has a fishing rod. Has it caught this man? Is the man stealing the fish the squirrel caught?

Answer those and many more questions at the ALA Exhibits Hall.

Hard-core cataloging backlog

Hmmm ... didn't know we had that kind of material

Gnome in a cup

It's been a day of gnomes...

Washington and Lee HS Library

Washington and Lee HS Library. The W-L HS had an open house today for their new building. Quite amazing! A much better facility than my college ;-)

The electronic white boards in every classroom were pretty nifty.

National Library of Addiction

2007-12-30-dscn1983
Originally uploaded by martin_kalfatovic

There is a library for just about everything!