News Report 4

The Wired Campus
April 14, 2009
Microsoft's Encarta, Rendered Obsolete by Wikipedia, Will Shut Down by Brock Reed

I found this to be a very interesting article. The once extremely popular encyclopedia, Encarta, is going to be “euthanized” thanks to information powerhouses like Google and Wikipedia. Although the encyclopedia is only fifteen or so years old, Microsoft announced that it will no longer continue the series. I remember using Encarta as a child and it was usually one of the first sources that I would rely on for small grade-school projects. I remember being overwhelmed at the amount of information that the series contained and on the sheer amount of items it contained. Now, however, I am sure that many people have forgotten completely about Microsoft’s Encyclopedia Encarta. Unfortunately for Encarta, internet sites such as Wikipedia and Google have won over many hearts of today’s students and researchers. I think that it is unfortunate that people rely solely on these two sites in general, when there is so much more to be offered. However, Microsoft was the first to admit that the information was not as relevant and up to date as the information that Wikipedia and Google offer. Those two sites have constant updates and information added to them every day, sometimes every hour, and the sheer amount of information that can be obtained on these two sites alone is incredible. Although some people are forever against Wikipedia due to the unknown source of information at times, there are so many other means of obtaining information. So we must say farewell to the beloved Encyclopedia Encarta and never forget the wonderful projects that the series helped us to complete.

News Report #4

Investing in The Future: Pressing onward in an uncertain economy, many industry players are adding staff and expanding development
By Marshall Breeding -- Library Journal, 4/1/2009


Here is an interesting news report that deals with the scholarly communication crisis that has come up so much in class. Libraries of today are constantly striving to stay alive in the struggling economy, as well as improving their technology to appease their clientele. Many libraries are making most of their efforts in the “software” branches. The more up to date the software, the more likely the library will be visited and used as a resource. This software growth is called “Software as a Service” or SaaS. This is a difficult service to maintain due to the high maintenance fees that often exceeds the fees that users contribute, a perfect example of the scholarly communication crisis. The library has suffered in several ways due to the scholarly communication crisis. For example, the number of new customers has seen a significant drop in the past two years. This is affecting the income of the libraries on a very significant level. Libraries rely on annual fees to keep their software updated and their databases open. However there have been several library-related companies that have been able to expand despite the struggling economy. Companies such as The Library Corporation and the Polaris Library Systems have added more staff to deal with the increase in customer support. The new technology and software of these companies is drawing in mew customers and adding the annual revenue of local libraries. Small steps like these are crucial in recovering or avoiding the scholarly communication crisis of today.