...in which Ross Singer tells us all about his new job at Talis and his work on Jangle, aka Just Another Next Generation Library Environment. Jangle is an effort to connect and expose library resources using the Atom Publishing Protocol, but it's not as easy or obvious to do that as it sounds at first. Ross takes us through the reasoning of why Jangle is a compelling next step in the evolution of library web services and what needs to happen next.

We recorded this interview a few weeks ago, on the day of Halloween, before the U.S. presidential election, so if there's a reference or two to costumes or voting, that's why.

Read more about Jangle at:

• jangle.org, where Version 1.0 of the Jangle specification is now available
• the google group for jangle discussion
• see Ross's lightning talk about Jangle at this past February's code4libcon 2008
• we also mentioned the DLF ILS API

Thanks for keeping it tuned to Library Geeks!

Joshua Ferraro, Debra Denault, and Chris Cormack (see two of their smiling faces here) of LibLime joined me to discuss their work at LibLime and on koha in particular. I've been watching koha for the better part of eight years, since it was first released (if you don't believe me, check here). That this "gift" has led to hundreds of implementations in many countries worldwide in 27 languages is a remarkable testament to the power of free/libre/open source software in libraries.

The most exciting thing to me is that they're growing a healthy company around the koha project and related services without sacrificing anything about what made this one of the first important library free software projects. It's just as available to everyone today as it was back in 2000 when they first started sharing it with all of us, and it's better than ever.

Listen in to hear this whole story, and in particular, to hear about the latest and greatest features coming in the soon-to-be-released koha 3.

Some things we mentioned included:

• Marshall Breeding's History of Library Automation, which stops at 2006 - LibLime, Index Data and Equinox don't even appear!
• translate.koha.org, the Koha Translation Manager, which is based on Kartouche.
• Version Control for Koha using Git, the koha documentation for using their git environment, which you can also browse right here.
• Wikipedia on electric fences. You'll have to listen to understand.

It's been a while since I've done one of these, so I'll apologize to Josh, Debra, and Chris and anyone listening for the audio being a bit uneven, and for the annoying echo you'll hear sometimes. I'll iron out the gear upgrades and things will sound better next time around.

Oh, one last thing - I've installed the encl_remote module for drupal which should allow me to *finally* link to the podcast audio directly from this blog with enclosure-style links. So if you're subscribed here, you should get the 'cast files, too! And the link to the audio file is just below these very words a few centimeters or so. Let me know if these work for you.

Gary Price of ask.com is like that great reference librarian you remember from childhood or with whom you used to work who *always* knows seven great answers to any question that starts with "Where would I go to look for...", and tells you which ones to try, in which order, and how they complement each other, and is always right. Except Gary and his colleagues do this for everybody on the whole web through his sites ResourceShelf and Docuticker, and for the past year through his job at Ask. Gary and I met several years ago, and we're new neighbors now, so we sat down together at a local coffee shop to catch up and to talk about his career and how he approaches his work.

There's a bit more ambient noise on this recording than usual, which means our recording levels are uneven sometimes, and I'm sorry about that. I hope you'll agree, though, that we have so much to learn from Gary about politely getting in the faces of our users to teach them what's out there and how to get the most out of it while saving them time, effort, and aggravation that it's worth listening through the noise.

Some of the many resources Gary mentions included:

• Price's List of Lists
• Intute
• the International Children's Digital Library
• Ask City
• Exalead
• WebSite-Watcher

This is one to listen to when you're sitting at your machine, or at least with a notepad nearby, because for everything listed above, he mentions at least two more resources worth your time and attention, and you'll want to try them out.

...oh!, and, I'd be remiss not to remind you that Gary just got married! Mazel tov to husband and wife, and safe travels! Stay tuned for more episodes to feature Gary and news about the latest and greatest resources on the 'net.

Find the feed at left, or just search for "library geeks" in iTunes to subscribe.

Congrats to the ubiquitous Bruce D'Arcus, previously featured here in Library Geeks Episode 007, for winning the AAG Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography!

A break from form to participate more actively and more publicly in the U.S. holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., if only just by reading aloud some of his words.

To learn more about the life of Dr. King, see his biography from The King Center or nobelprize.org.

To read the full text of the speeches I read from:

• His Influence Speaks To World Conscience, written on the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Gandhi, January 30, 1958
• Speech at the Great March on Detroit, June 23, 1963
• Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, April 4, 1968

For many other resources of note, see "A Collection of Web Resources For Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2007," from ResourceShelf.

For firsthand accounts of the day of his assassination, including video clips from the "I've Been to the MountainTop" speech he gave to support a sanitation workers' strike on the eve of his assassination, see today's episode of Democracy Now. It is beyond eerie to hear how clearly he perceived the threats against his life.

To learn more about principled nonviolence, see the UC-Berkeley course lecture podcast for PACS 164A - Introduction to Nonviolence.

Audio files are available through the feeds linked at left.

What are you doing to celebrate or serve today, at home or in your library? Leave comments or links below so we can share ideas.

A happy and peaceful King Day to all!