EEVL-doer Roddy MacLeod informs me that EEVL is looking for your feedback and is drawing four lucky winners from respondants for £25 amazon gift vouchers (I presume for amazon.co.uk). The survey can be filled out here.

The latest issue of the Bulletin of the ASIST (v30i2) has a special feature section on biological informatics including articles on (via The ResourceShelf):

• A Comparison of Biodiversity Informatics and Neuroinformatics by Bryan Heidorn
  
• Publishing Digital Floras and Faunas by Bryan Heidorn
  
• Intellectual Property and Biological Knowledge by Gwen L. Williams
  
• Biological Information Standards by Chulin Meng

One of my favourite thinking-outside-the-box scientists is cellular automata guru Stephen Wolfram (one two). If you've always thought his brick-like tome A New Kind of Science was a little too scary looking to actually buy (or check out, natch) and read, he's put it online here. It I may attempt a vast oversimplification of his ideas, he generally believes that the natural world is better understood through algorithms rather than equations. via OAN

Some interesting (or not, depending on your standards) new blogs or blog directories:

• MedLib, a medical library weblog.
  
• BigBlog is more or less a collection of scitech clipping service blogs. Limited but interesting, similar to the vital ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily also has a feed available, with information here.
  
• Blogarama is another big directory site with a scitech section.via ResearchBuzz
  
• CS Daily is a computer science current events blog that is almost never updated. via STLQ.

York University faculty member Bernie Lightman has scored a real coup with the relocation of the important history of science journal ISIS to York. Isis is published by the History of Science Society.

Following up on my reading habits, I really must mention two annual book series that I absolutely love. The Best American Science and Nature Writing and The Best American Science Writing. Both take their selections from popular science and general interest publications. Both are perfect for keeping up with the latest developments in a wide range of fields. The one thing that is too bad is that both feel the need to restrict themselves to American sources, missing out on numerous UK and other sources. Canada is technically included, but I have yet to see anything from here.

A few intesting pointers came out of our blogging session:

• First of all, Art Ryhno's blog LibraryCog is great and I would suggest everyone check it out.
• Reading and the Reference Librarian: The Importance to Library Service of Staff Reading Habits was recommended at the session. I've already ordered it via the York Bookstore. I'm a great believer in voracious reading habits as the best strategy for reference desk sanity.
• Refgrunt is a hoot.

Two recent presentations at the Ontario Library Association Superconference by your humble blogger:

• Creating Dynamic Subject Guides with York colleagues Patti Ryan, Merle Steeves and Jody Nyasha Warner.
  
• Creating a Subject Specific Blog was part of a panel session co-presented with Steven M. Cohen (blog, ppt) and Mita Sen-Roy (blogs 1 2 3, ppt). This one was kinda interesting for a couple of reasons. First of all, I was going to use one of the other participant's laptop for my ppts. Unfortunately, my diskette gave up the ghost and would let me transfer the file. Guess what? I just talked. The world didn't come to an end. The other reason it was interesting was because, of course, the other participants (Mita and Steven) both gave such stimulating presentations. Steven's about marketing ourselves as professionals using blogs and Mita's about what blogs mean for reference service (among other things). Very good energy in the session, from the audience too.

Many thanks to Carolyne Sidey and the Sheridan Park Library and Information Science (SPLISC) Committee for inviting me this past Thursday January 22nd to talk about Blogging for Science Librarians.