Interested in a huge sound database that you can download from for free?

Look no farther than the BBC! Sounds are copyrighted by the BBC, but available for download and can be freely used for personal, educational, and research purposes.  There are over 16,000 sounds in this collection.  Go to BBC Sound Effects to download or learn more.

Thanks to Darren Moura-Smith for the heads up, sharing this link on the Call of Cthulhu Role-Playing Game & Players Facebook page.

Cool

UK Digital Library chosen as one of five nationally for pilot project

As any researcher knows, it's easier to click a mouse than burrow through paper archives, looking for one piece of paper.

At the University of Kentucky, the Kentucky Digital Library has worked since 1997 to aid that process, slowly transforming huge historical collections from UK and other state universities — including old newspapers, family papers, photographs and oral histories — into digital content.

That work was recently recognized when the Kentucky Digital Library was chosen as one of five digital libraries nationwide to form the hub of a pilot project to make that information even more available: The Digital Public Library of America.

One of my first jobs years and years ago (the late 1980s) was a work-study position in micrographics where we ironed newspapers and microfilmed them from all over the state as part of the Kentucky Newspaper Project. It was a first step in preserving and making the information in them accessible. Now, the University of Kentucky has gone beyond that and that's great. Here's a relevant tidbit:

The launch of the Digital Public will take place on April 18 at http://dp.la. The Kentucky Digital Library can be accessed at http://kdl.kyvl.org.

I think I'd be yanking my child out of this school

Welcome to the library. Say goodbye to the books.

Instead of a library, the academy is spending nearly $500,000 to create a "learning center," though that is only one of the names in contention for the new space. In place of the stacks, they are spending $42,000 on three large flat-screen TVs that will project data from the Internet and $20,000 on special laptop-friendly study carrels. Where the reference desk was, they are building a $50,000 coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine.

And to replace those old pulpy devices that have transmitted information since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1400s, they have spent $10,000 to buy 18 electronic readers made by Amazon.com and Sony.

Such changes will bring Cushing Academy into the cutting edge of education, according to their headmaster, Dr James Tracy. Okay, so leaving the cost of coffee gizmos and its relation to learning aside for a moment, you're going to have 18 e-book readers to serve the needs of 450 students (or at least that was the number as of 2006)? What about licensing digital content? What about the cost of digital content? What happens when the lights go out? Digital content can enhance learning--but that doesn't mean you have to throw out the baby with the bathwater, either. It's not cheap, it's not always reliable. In some cases print is actually superior--which is why most libraries offer a combination of the two, rather than throwing out all print in favour of electronic data.

The comments are largely against this move; they talk about the visceral experience one has with paper, the ability to browse the stacks for paper topics, the wonder of the library experience. That's rather heartening. (And I agree with one of the commentators...they should get rid of that awful carpet next.) Anyway, check out the story make your own decision. If I were a parent forking over a lot for tuition, I think I'd be appalled.

Thanks to Cynthia David from MEDLIB-L for the link.