Talis is delighted to announce the winners of the first competition intended to openly encourage innovation in the display, use, and reuse of data from and about libraries – Mashing Up The Library 2006.

Our First prize of £1,000 was awarded to John Blyberg of Ann Arbor District Library in Ann Arbor, MI. His entry, Go-Go-Google-Gadget, shows how simply library information can be integrated into the personalised home page offered by Google, and is described by competition sponsor and member of the judging panel, Talis’ Paul Miller, as;

“an excellent example of taking information previously locked inside the library catalogue and making it available to patrons in other contexts where they may spend more time than they do in their catalogue.”

Available information includes new and the most popular material in the library, and patron-specific information on checked-out and requested items. ‘Superpatron’ Ed Vielmetti applauded the simplicity of this entry, remarking in a clear invitation for others to follow John’s lead that;

“the visible source code is very tiny and easily hackable.”

Vanderbilt University’s Marshall Breeding concluded;

“I like this entry’s spirit of opening up information in the library system and putting it under the control of the user.”

In recognition of the current exchange rate, the sum of $2,000 has been paid to John.

John Blyberg will be appearing on a special episode of the Library 2.0 Gang, to be recorded on Wednesday 13 September and made available via the Talking with Talis podcast site on Thursday 14 September.

Technorati Tags: Google, Library 2.0, Library 2.0 Gang, mashup, MUTL06, AADL, Talis, Talking with Talis, TDN

Talis is delighted to announce the winners of the first competition intended to openly encourage innovation in the display, use, and reuse of data from and about libraries – Mashing Up The Library 2006.

Our Second prize of £500 was awarded to the Alliance Library System in East Peoria, IL, and their global partners in the Second Life Library. Their entry, the Alliance Second Life Library 2.0, was described by Talis’ Paul Miller as;

“both a testament to international co-operation amongst libraries and a compelling demonstration of the ways in which traditional library functions can be extended into cyberspace, reaching new audiences in ways exciting and relevant to them as they live their lives.”

In recognition of the current exchange rate, the sum of $1,000 has been paid to the Alliance Library System, and they intend to use the funds to extend their work within Second Life.

Members of the Second Life Library team will be appearing on a special episode of the Library 2.0 Gang, to be recorded on Wednesday 13 September and made available via the Talking with Talis podcast site on Thursday 14 September.

Technorati Tags: mashup, MUTL06, secondlifelibrary, Talis, Talking with Talis, TDN