This week’s “What We’re Reading” starts with a number of questions: Can Google’s new open encyclopedia best Wikipedia? You mean I can’t throw these out? How do I survive the Job Register? Read on for the articles that attempt to answer these questions. Then, peruse an overview of the articles available (from restaurants in D.C. to National Security) in the 2008 Annual Meeting Supplement.

• Can Google’s New Open Encyclopedia Best Wikipedia?
  The Chronicle’s Wired Campus blog looks at Google’s new take on the web encyclopedia, knol, meant to draw on the knowledge of experts, and generate money through the incorporation of Google ads. Also see Google’s own release on the project, and a small critique at the blog if:book.
• You Mean I Can’t Throw These Out?
  Over at the ACRLog, Marc Meola offers a useful response to Jim Cortada’s article in the December Perspectives ("Save the Books!"). As Meola observes, the interests of librarians and historians are not completely divergent, but finding the right balance between preservation and the limits of space and resources in the libraries can be a real problem. We would like to think the kind of dialogue he suggests is possible and already taking place on college campuses.
• More Advice on How to Survive the Job Register
  Ari Kelman and Eric Rauchway at "The Edge of the American West" provide some good advice on how to survive the Job Register and interviewing for an academic job in general. See also our advice from late November.

2008 Annual Meeting Supplement
The 2008 Supplement to the Annual Meeting is now available online, and is a great place to find last minute general reminders and details on the Annual Meeting. There are also numerous articles to help you learn about and explore the city, like:

• Washington, D.C.: The Local History of the National City, by Matthew Gilmore
• Washington’s Parks, Memorials, and Historic Sites, by Brian Joyner
• D.C. Confidential: Personal Favorites, by Dane Kennedy
• National Security Sites in Washington, D.C., by David Hatch

Use the supplement to plan your eating and shopping destinations as well:

• Restaurants in Washington, D.C., by Phillip J. Stern
• Shopping: A Few Suggestions, by Kristen Ahlberg
• Independent Bookstores in Washington, D.C., by Sharon Cohen

And finally, if you’re a graduate student you’ll want to make sure you read:

• D.C. for Graduate Students, by Lindsay Moore
• The Insider’s Guide to the Job Register, by David M. Darlington
• D.C., the Annual Meeting, and Graduate Students, by Chris Hale

Check out the Annual Meeting Supplement online for all of these articles and more.

Contributors: David Darlington, Elisabeth Grant, Robert Townsend

This post first appeared on AHA Today.