At the beginning of the month I was in Montreal and got to visit La Grande Bibliothèque! This library is one of the city’s largest public libraries, and the collection is part of the Library and National Archives of Québec. I presume that since this region of Canada includes a vibrant separatist movement they feel [...]

Google just announced a new tool that will help us search the web in languages other than English. If you use Google search in any of the non-English languages that Google supports you should see a small icon which when clicked on, should pop-up a small keyboard in that language. There is also a poll [...]

A couple days ago Google announced that they have given us yet another tool to help with instant translations. Word Translator is an addition to the Google Toolbar which allows you to hover over a word and get an instant translation. This tool will be most helpful when reading material in a language we already [...]

Late last month the Spanish Minister of Culture, Ángeles González-Sinde, announced the release of Hispana: colecciones digitales de archivos, bibliotecas y museos españoles. Hispana aggregates over one million digital items from 121 different Spanish institutions, including libraries, museums, archives, as well as private and public organizations. The site also includes a directory of ongoing digitization [...]

Today I went to visit a couple of the libraries that make up the BiblioRed in Bogota. BiblioRed is Bogota’s public library systems, and it’s composed of a number of large, and small libraries, as well as a bibliobus. Today I went to visit the Biblioteca Pública Parque El Tunal, and the Biblioteca Pública Virgilio [...]

Travesía is a website put together by Spain’s Ministry of Culture’s General Subcommittee on the Coordination of Libraries. Basically the sites aims at promoting collaboration among Spanish librarians, and offers them a space to work together. Information on the site is divided into three main categories; 1) Documentation that will aid collaboration among Spanish Librarians; [...]

My friend Lena always says she wished she had taken advantage of my fluency in Spanish to learn the language while we were roommates, since as a doctor in the USA she is constantly running into patience who have a hard time explaining their medical needs in English. Well I may not be in the [...]

Mi Vida Loca is a web based tutorial created by the BBC to help you learn Spanish. The lessons consist mainly of videos that will teach you key phrases for specific situations. The videos include a local host who takes the viewer out. During the duration of the video can turn the subtitles, in English [...]

Colegio de Mexico, in Mexico City is looking for a new librarian. Job duties will includes  descriptive cataloging, Dewey Decimal System classification, collection development, and reference.  The successful candidate must be fluent in both English and Spanish. El Colegio de Mexico is one of Mexico’s leading universities. The school includes one of the best libraries [...]

I just received an email with a call for simultaneous interpreters – English/Arabic to translate at IFLA‘s annual conference, which will take place in Gothenburg, Sweden, August 10 – 15, 2010. The title for the upcoming conference is “Open access to knowledge – promoting sustainable progress.” Here is the description for the position. As the [...]