MetaFilter posts tagged with catalog

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.

Toekneesan — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:08:37 -0800

"Then there are the classification errors, which taken together can make for a kind of absurdist poetry. H.L. Mencken's The American Language is classified as Family & Relationships. A French edition of Hamlet and a Japanese edition of Madame Bovary are both classified as Antiques and Collectibles (a 1930 English edition of Flaubert's novel is classified under Physicians, which I suppose makes a bit more sense.) An edition of Moby Dick is labeled Computers; The Cat Lover's Book of Fascinating Facts falls under Technology & Engineering. And a catalog of copyright entries from the Library of Congress is listed under Drama (for a moment I wondered if maybe that one was just Google's little joke)." —Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg on Google's little metadata problem.

The history of the experimentalization of life.

tellurian — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:52:23 -0800

The Virtual Laboratory - A collection of essays, biographies, instruments and trade catalogues (e.g. experiment kit) from between 1830 and 1930. I must warn you that some of the films are a bit disturbing. Check out the eerie sounding vowel experiments in the audio section too.

This is phenomenal.

painquale — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:19:36 -0800

Dave Chalmers has just launched PhilPapers, a directory of nearly 200,000 online papers in philosophy. This is a jawdropping and amazing resource for philosophical research. For evidence of the scope of this project and the care that has been given to it, see the taxonomy of philosophy that was developed for the site.

I'll take Lots 1 through 800 pz

troy — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:24:49 -0800

Battlestar Galactica Auction Catalog Available for Download.

Stealing Your Library

mecran01 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:32:20 -0800

OCLC, owners of WorldCat, are getting greedy. It's now demanding that every library that uses WorldCat give control over all its catalog records to OCLC. It literally is asking libraries to put an OCLC policy notice on every book record in their catalog. It wants to own every library. It's not just Open Library that's at risk here -- LibraryThing, Zotero, even some new Wikipedia features being developed are threatened. Basically anything that uses information about books is going to be a victim of this unprecedented power[ ]grab. It's a scary thought. Open Library provides a free alternative to WorldCat, provided it doesn't get sued into oblivion.

I See Dead People's Books

stbalbach — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:46:39 -0800

I See Dead People's Books (wiki) is an impromptu project by LibraryThing members to catalog the libraries of famous dead people, from Tupac Shakur to Ernest Hemingway to John Adams. Many more in the works, anyone is able to create a dead library with all the attendant features of LT.

Turn Your Bookshelves into Art

thebellafonte — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:31:41 -0800

Brilliant bookshelves by color. What's that? You can't find The Scarlet Letter? Did you look under lipstick red? Colourlovers is a design blog where color-crazies go to peruse palettes, make their own swatches, and find color combination inspiration. The site also features posting capabilities (not unlike MetaFilter) where members can bring the brightest and latest to the attention of their colorful constituents (like this chess set.) If you're as into color and organization as me, you probably let out a hefty sigh after seeing the shots of these shelves. It's beautiful but it's also... comforting. Like the way a Germaphobe must feel after opening a pantry full of perfectly-lined spray bottles, rolls of paper towels, and rubber gloves. Or maybe your first thought was "is this practical?" Or "my books aren't that colorful." As some of the pictures show, this organizational structure allows one to station a book by any present color, whether it's the predominant color of the cover, the text of the title on the spine, or even the little red house emblem of the publisher. Hues allow for much flexibility and even whites are varied, some having a hint of green to them, some a whisper of yellow. There doesn't have to be a white section; these frosty shades can slide seamlessly in and out of the regular rainbow. And if you do judge a book by its cover, this could be an even more efficient method of cataloging than alphabetical.

1977 Penney Catalog

Doohickie — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:57:14 -0800

Strap in, shut up and hold on. We're going back. No one under 30 will really get it...

Buy them all and build it at home!

goodnewsfortheinsane — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:02:30 -0800

You got your Rube Goldberg machine in my department store catalogue. (Or the other way around, I'm not sure.)

Wishbook Web -- Christmas Catalogs through the 20th Century

Ufez Jones — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:16:24 -0800

Wishbook Web. Christmas catalogs scanned in their entirety from the 1944 Wards Catalog (152 pages) to the 1985 Sears Catalog (648 pages!). The site looks like it was built circa '97, but the scans are quite interesting. via - Similar posts to this one: 1, 2.

First public library in nation to drop Dewy Decimal

stbalbach — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 20:13:22 -0800

The Prelinger Library is a small privately owned "public library" in San Francisco with the unique philosophy that browsing library stacks can reveal new knowledge, if the books are arranged for browsing. This is counter to most public libraries who rely on computer terminal searching, databases and the Dewey Decimal system to atomize books and subjects, with stack browsing a sort of random after effect, and in some places--like the Library of Congress--normally not even allowed. Now a (real) public library in Arizona has joined the revolution and claims to be the first public library in the nation to drop the Dewey Decimal system. Instead, books will be shelved by topic, similar to the way bookstores arrange books. The demise of the century-old Dewey Decimal system is overdue, county librarians say: "People think of books by subject. Very few people say, 'Oh, I know Dewey by heart.' "

Spunk

serazin — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 15:25:51 -0800

Long un-updated, but still chalk full of anarchist theory, The Spunk Library (catalog indexes on upper right). Of possible interest to metafilter users: Maybe a "group" discussion dominated by two or three people ISN'T.

take THAT Montgomery Ward!

tweak — Fri, 26 May 2006 12:18:01 -0800

The Zobo! Spanish-American Chess Men! Where can you find these amazing products, including Sanitary Belt Pads the Toilet Mask, or a handy goat harness, at amazing, rockbottom prices? The Sears, Roebuck Catalog, of course. Everything you could need for the modern American family! They did houses (1, 2) even. Starting in 1888 and mostly selling watches, this venerable institution of consumerism spent its first 10 years rapidly growing and adding products, lasting for over 100 years before finally folding in 1993. The catalog still stands as a detailed historical document of what the average American would buy to get through life. They make a fun collector's item, too (1902 available on CD-ROM as well). [ This post inspired by the 1902 Sears, Roebuck Catalog blog. ]

The Office of Human Radiation Experiments

Dome-O-Rama — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 18:01:44 -0800

The Office of Human Radiation Experiments , established in March 1994, leads the Department of Energy's efforts to tell the agency's Cold War story of radiation research using human subjects. We have undertaken an intensive effort to identify and catalog relevant historical documents from DOE's 3.2 million cubic feet of records scattered across the country. Internet access to these resources is a key part of making DOE more open and responsive to the American public.

LibraryThing: Like Flickr for your books.

monju_bosatsu — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 10:08:54 -0800

LibraryThing. Like Flickr for your books.

Giant Robot, use rockets!

riffola — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 09:35:08 -0800

Zinc Panic is an archive of Japanese robot culture, documenting everything from the '50s to the present. From cataloging the genera of characters on shows such as Giant Robo and robography of people like Tezuka Osamu, to the latest robo news. See also Rocket Punch Go! [Via Engadget]

The Republic has no need of geniuses

thatwhichfalls — Fri, 30 Jul 2004 03:47:47 -0800

Panopticon Lavoisier

Farewell to the Whole Earth

Slagman — Sat, 31 Jan 2004 09:41:48 -0800

Farewell, Whole Earth magazine? A lament at worldchanging.com: "... spawn of the amazing Whole Earth Catalogs, source of the WELL, first to mention in print the Gaia Hypothesis, the Internet, Virtual Reality, the Singularity and Burning Man (or at least so the legend goes), the place where folks like Stewart Brand, Kevin Kelly and Howard Rheingold found their voices, and where a whole generation of young commune-kid geeks like myself learned to dream weird... " [via Smart Mobs]

topolino — Fri, 22 Jun 2001 00:26:39 -0800

Critics call Abercrombie & Fitch catalog soft porn. I can't comment on the catalog itself, since I haven't seen it; I just had to laugh out loud though when I read this sentence: "Boycott organizers contend the company... is wooing younger customers and using sex to popularize its image." Oh, the horror! Also striking was A&F's spin on it, calling it " the Norman Rockwell of 2001." Clearly, a divide in perceptions. Can anyone who has seen the offensive/inoffensive material in question explain why it is/isn't any different from the marketing practices of, oh, say, everyone else?