LibWorm.com provides a librarian RSS filtering service. Over 1500 RSS librarian sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest headlines from journals and sites in the Open Source interest group. http://www.libworm.com/rss/librarianqueries.php Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:52:37 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://hhsmedia.blogspot.com/2009/11/fond-farewell.html Friday, 11.20.09 will be my last day here at Huntingtown High School. I will be taking on a new job which will allow me to explore Open Source Online Learning Management Systems that will let us provide classes for both students and teachers online throughout the state of Maryland. Every school in which I have worked has a special place in my heart, and HHS will be no different. I have learned so much from the HHS staff and students, and for that I thank you! I wish each and every one of you happiness and success in your future endeavors. Don't be afraid to embrace change and sieze opportunities that come your way. Remember that "keywords unlock information," and be a lifetime learner! My email address is the same, so if you need any help, feel free to email me at: voelkerc@calvernet.k12.md.us or follow me on twitter: voelkerc Proud to be a Hurricane,~Ms. Voelker (Source: Huntingtown High School Library Media Center) Thu, 18 Nov 2010 05:00:00 +0100 795093 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/03/09/mobile-ibm-will-research-mobile-access-for-the-aged-and-illiterate/ John Ribeiro Writes: IBM is teaming with researchers in academic institutions in Japan and India to explore an open, common user interface for mobile devices that will make them easier for aged or illiterate people around the world to use. [Snip] The findings of the research and any applications or technology developed will be released to the open-source community, said Nitendra Rajput, Open Collaborative Research lead at IBM Research India. IBM’s Open Collaborative Research program aims to promote innovation through research collaboration between universities and industry. [Snip] Most of the technologies to improve access to information through mobile phones are already available, but a lot of ethnographic field research needs to be done to find out which combination of technologies would be found useful by the two target groups — the aged and the illiterate, Rajput said. While voice would appear to be the most relevant technology for access to information on mobile phones for illiterate people, it may not be the best option when it comes to information like statistical tables or pictorial data, Rajput said. Access the Complete Article Source: IDG News Service (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:26:14 +0100 824987 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/03/08/european-commission-launches-joint-research-centre-publications-repository/ From the Announcement: The JRC launched today the Internet version of its Publications Repository. Bibliographic data of almost 10000 articles and papers published since 1993 and representing a wealth of knowledge are now available to the public. In addition, more than 1700 technical reports (EUR series) are freely available for download. More than 19 000 authors have contributed to these publications. Publications can be found by free-text search, or advanced search based on bibliographic data. [Browsing is also available.} The publications can be browsed by JRC Institute, publication year, author, or title and cross-links are supplied to find all works of a particular author. The JRC Publications Repository is based on the open source software DSPACE, which has been developed at MIT and is already used by more than 500 organisations for building open repositories. Access the Repository Source: EC/Europa/AlphaGalileo (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:41:15 +0100 824597 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/03/05/spalding-speaks-librarythings-tim-spalding-delivers-a-keynote-at-lianza-conference/ Via Clyde Smith at Cultural Research, we learn of a video of LibraryThing Founder and Developer, Tim Spalding, talking about LibraryThing and social cataloging at the LIANZA (Library & Information Association New Zealand Aotearoa) Annual Conference Closing Keynote Address. It took place at the end of 2009 in Christchurch, NZ. The presentation is titled, “What is Social Cataloging?” and runs about 55 minutes. It’s an insightful and interesting presentation full of both facts and ideas to consider. Additionally, Spalding is an excellent speaker. What follows is a NON-COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF a Few Facts and Discussion Points from the keynote. It’s well worth the 50-some minutes to listen for yourself. We think LIS students will also find this presentation worthy of their time. LT and Social Cataloging: + Started in 2005 + 850K Members + Members Have Cataloged More than 44 Million Books + Social Cataloging Will Become More Important to Libraries + The Social Cataloging Ladder + LibraryThing is More About the Content and Less About Pictures, etc. + Largest Tag on LT is Cyberpunk + Comparing LT Tags to LCSH + Explains TagMashing + Collaborative Cataloging + Brings Various Editions of Books Together [Not FRBR but FRBR Like] + Members Adding Value by Adding Metadata and More Not Provided by the Publishers + Legacy Cataloging + Flash Mob Cataloging + LibraryThing for Libraries (A Fee-Based Service) + Traditional Cataloging Will Remain + Still Believes in Structured Data + End of Intellectual Structures Rooted in the Limited of the Physical World–David Weinberger + Humanizing the Catalog (ie. recommendations) + Library Catalogs are Not Links or Search Engines + LibraryThing Gets Twice as Much Traffic as WorldCat.org + Consider Open Source Products + Social Cataloging Can be a Way for Libraries to Join Web 1. ... Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:41:39 +0100 823887 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=ByWater_Solutions_Celebrates_One_Year_of_Providing_Open_Source_--- In addition to ByWater's internal growth, the company now supports well over 40 libraries, including the Nelsonville Public Library of Athens, OH; th (Source: pligg - all) Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:00:30 +0100 823673 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalKoans/~3/D52WWyCPJnc/ The Indiana University Libraries are recruiting a Programmer/Analyst, Digital Library Tools. Here's an excerpt from the ad: Participates in the development and management of IU’s digital repository system (based on the Fedora open source software platform) and associated software tools for ingestion, management, and delivery of digital library content. Designs, evaluates, programs, and implements Web-based software tools supporting access to and ingestion of digital library collections. Works with other Digital Library Programs and IU staff to define requirements for tools to support delivery of image, text, audio, video, and data collections; evaluates potential commercial and open-source solutions; designs and tests user interfaces; designs, codes, and tests software; and defines and implements interfaces with other IU systems. Related Posts Computer Programmer Analyst II/Applications Developer at University of Connecticut Analyst/Programmer, Digital Library Tools at Indiana University Digital Library Programmer Analyst at George Washington University Systems Analyst/Programmer at Indiana University Digital Library Jobs: Digital Resources and Imaging Services Programmer/Analyst at University of Dublin (Source: DigitalKoans) Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:02:37 +0100 824234 http://digital-scholarship.com/digitalkoans/2010/03/04/programmeranalyst-digital-library-tools-at-indiana-university/ The Indiana University Libraries are recruiting a Programmer/Analyst, Digital Library Tools. Here's an excerpt from the ad: Participates in the development and management of IU’s digital repository system (based on the Fedora open source software platform) and associated software tools for ingestion, management, and delivery of digital library content. Designs, evaluates, programs, and implements Web-based software tools supporting access to and ingestion of digital library collections. Works with other Digital Library Programs and IU staff to define requirements for tools to support delivery of image, text, audio, video, and data collections; evaluates potential commercial and open-source solutions; designs and tests user interfaces; designs, codes, and tests software; and defines and implements interfaces with other IU systems. Related Posts Applications Programmer/Analyst Associate at University of Michigan Computer Programmer Analyst II/Applications Developer at University of Connecticut Librarian I at Wayne State University Libraries VIVOweb Pilot Coordinator at Indiana University Digital Library Program Systems Specialist/Library Systems & Application Administration at University of Kansas (Source: DigitalKoans) Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:02:35 +0100 823999 http://freegovinfo.info/node/2923 We mentioned GovPulse a few months ago as it was one of 3 finalists in the Sunlight Foundation's apps for America 2 Contest. But here's a reminder to check it out. GovPulse is an easy-to-use, open-source Federal Register browser. It lets you find any kind of notice, notification and solicitation that a federal agency puts out. GovPulse parses that data flow and gives you a way to browse the tens-of-thousands-of-pages-log register by agency, category or date. It also includes tools for visualizations and analysis of the register. For instance, check out the agency page to see sparklines of the notices from each agency, or the map of places mentioned by an agency. or search the Federal Register for proposed activities by location. GovPulse is a great addition to the documents/policy junky digital toolbox that includes govtrack.us, OpenCongress, OpenCRS (or, to toot my own horn, the CRS digital archive!) OpenSecrets, Legal Information Institute (LII), Justia. What are others that should be in this toolbox? Please leave us a comment with other suggestions. (Source: Free Government Information (FGI) blogs) Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:02:10 +0100 823606 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=Acton_Public_Library_Partners_with_ByWater_Solutions_for_Koha_--- ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company, announced today that Acton Public Library, of Old Saybrook, (Source: pligg - all) Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:00:24 +0100 823332 http://www.hsdl.org/hslog/?q=node/5405 Founded in 2002, the Institute for the Study of Violent Groups employs researchers and technical specialists to maintain the ISVG database and develops applications to analyze ISVG data. This institute is unique in that it has the capabilities to “[collect] and [organize] vast amounts of open source data in a highly structured format.” Additionally, ISVG uses highly sophisticated variables to “record tactical/operational details on incidents of terrorism and relational details that tie together individuals, groups, and organizations suspected of involvement in of terrorism, extremism, and related organized crime activities.” Since 2003, ISVG has catalogued more than 130,000 events relating to terrorism and other incidents of violence. (Source: HSDL Weblog - On the HomeFront) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:00:42 +0100 823025 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web2learning/YOVk/~3/pKB2E4jxb-I/3641 Yesterday there was a public meeting of those involved in the Koha Community. This includes developers, users and those just interested in the future of the product. After months of negotiations between those interested in furthering Koha and those holding the domain name, we decided it was time to move on and produce an up to date resource on Koha. It has been a long process and it’s a shame that we had to do this, but we did if we wanted the world to find accurate Koha information & downloads. Owen Leonard at Nelsonville Public Library wrote an awesome summary which basically explains the what and why: The Koha community has attempted to communicate with LibLime about the situation without success. The Koha community has nominated the Horowhenua Library Trust to act as an independent steward of Koha-related assets like the Koha.org and the Koha trademark. We have proposed to LibLime that, given their lack of care and interest in Koha.org, transfer the domain and its management to HLT and let the Koha community take back control. LibLime has not responded to these requests. The community was left with no choice: we had to create a new home for the Koha project. We can no longer depend on the good will of LibLime. Koha-community.org came together quickly and beautifully thanks to all involved. Thanks are owed especially to Liz at the Northeast Kansas Library System for all her hard work. If you want to share a link to the real open source Koha, please use http://koha-community.org For more on the decision, including links to the discussions visit the Koha site and read the welcome message. Technorati Tags: koha (Source: What I Learned Today...) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:32:11 +0100 823138 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechsourceBlog/~3/eW46LUgaYsY/librarything-delivers-mobile-access-to-library-catalogs.html This article appears in the Match 2010 issue of Smart Libraries Newsletter, available for purchase here. -Dan Freeman One of the most interesting mobile applications demonstrated at the ALA Midwinter Meeting came from outside the ILS vendors. LibaryThing, a company that has found a niche in adding value to existing library catalogs, has created a mobile app that can be used with almost any of the major automation platforms, allowing a broad range of libraries to create a mobile presence at a very low price. LibraryAnywhere, developed by LibraryThing, provides an inexpensive solution for libraries to engage their users with mobile devices. It includes features that will enable libraries to offer mobile users access to their online catalogs, including the ability to search the library’s collection and to perform services such as viewing currently charged items and to requesting or renewing materials. It’s designed to be a functional mobile online catalog with a reasonable set of features. No mobile interface offers the full set of capabilities found in full-fledged Web versions, but they attempt to focus on the features most needed and that can be operated through the more limited controls and keyboards of mobile devices. LibraryAnywhere also helps mobile users discover the libraries participating in the service. Features expected in subsequent versions include the ability to return search results in response to queries submitted through a simple SMS text message. LibraryThing designed LibraryAnywhere to work regardless of the automation system used by the library and for library users with all types of devices. It currently supports most of the major integrated library systems, including SirsiDynix Symphony, Horizon and Dynix sites using the HIP online catalog, Millennium from Innovative Interfaces, Destiny and InfoCentre from Follett Software Company, Voyager from Ex Libris, Polaris, and Alexandria. It also supports a wide range of mobile devices. ... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:11:23 +0100 824684 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=ByWater_Solutions-_Blog_Archive_-_Acton_Public_Library_Partners_--- ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company, announced today that Acton Public Library, of Old Saybrook, (Source: pligg - all) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:00:18 +0100 822961 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web2learning/YOVk/~3/mXGKHP-u3aE/3639 How Open Source Development is Funded flickrSLiDRAllows you to easily embed the classic Flickr slideshows on your website or blog. All you need to do is enter the Flickr URL address of the user, photo set or group you would like to embed along with some options. You’ll receive the HTML embed code in return. More of my links (Source: What I Learned Today...) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:02:03 +0100 823139 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TameTheWeb/~3/yDsfOqz8f8U/ Dr Michael Stephens delivered the Dr Laurel Anne Clyde Memorial Keynote Address at the ASLA XXI Biennial Conference, held in Perth, Western Australia, from 29 September to 2 October 2009. Reprinted with permission from the Australian School Library Association Inc. (ASLA) Access 2010 24(1): 5. The evolving Web is an open and social place. The Web has changed everything. Its impact on every facet of our lives — home, work and school — would be difficult to measure but the ‘always on, always available’ Internet is certainly a game changer. Can you recall the first time you realised that the Internet would change your job? Your school? Your students? Dr Laurel Anne Clyde recognised the power and potential for emerging technologies in schools and spent time exploring the implications. As technology evolved, so did her research. Her work examining weblogs was one of the first scholarly endeavours with emerging Web 2.0 tools. Now many of us study and move in a world of hyperconnected spaces: Facebook, WordPress Multi- User Blog communities (WordPress MU), Flickr and any number of socially enabled sites. What a world Dr. Clyde would see today! Sadly, this world includes the fact that many libraries are suffering financial setbacks. The recent news that Australian school libraries are in dire need of support all too well illustrates that changes are needed. The press release from the Australian School Library Association (ASLA 2009) detailed the findings of a 2007 study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), including: That means ensuring there are enough qualified teacher librarians as well as maintaining and improving infrastructure. Having a new or refurbished school library is important, but the full potential of these resources cannot be realised without a qualified teacher librarian in place as well. This fact cannot be ignored. Schools need qualified librarians. ... Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:09:41 +0100 822933 http://www.libology.com/blog/2010/03/02/open-source-integrated-library-system.html Found a fantastic slideshow covering the basics of Open Source ILS software via the Proverbial Lone Wolf Librarian: Open Source Integrated Library Systems View more presentations from stellacomans. Direct link to the slides on SlideShare (Source: LibrarySupportStaff.Org) Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:06:08 +0100 824536 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/qRCfsVj-KSM/ In this sixth post in my Kindle “shakedown” series, I find that the Kindle shakes and falls when it comes to note-taking. Reading my first book on the Kindle, I was satisfied with the way it let me highlight text. The functions for entering and editing notes were also acceptable. One immediate limitation I found was that notes must be linked to a particular location in the text. When I wanted to jot down a general note, I improvised by creating a general notes section at the beginning of the text. Jumping back to it was a bit of a pain. It is possible that a reader will never want to do another thing with their notes, other than view them again on some future re-reading of the book. Good old-fashioned marginalia. If so, that reader may be satisfied with the Kindle’s note-taking functions. Many readers like myself make notes so we can do something with them: homework, research, a book review, or a journal entry. These tasks require copy-pasting the notes into other files, operations not easily performed on a Kindle.In order to use the notes, I had to find a way to transfer them to my computer. I plugged the Kindle into my computer and inspected the files on its disk. Each book is associated with an “.azw” file, Amazon’s protected file format. You can open the file with the free Kindle for PC software. I was delighted to see the book content with highlights and notes neatly lined up beside it. I then discovered that I could not copy-paste from it! Furthermore, the software is tied to my purchased books. I cannot use it to view other files I may have read on the Kindle, nor does it show my newspaper subscription. The Kindle has an unprotected file, “My Clippings.txt”, in which I found the highlights and notes for all my books and subscriptions. I could copy-paste this content. ... Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:30:24 +0100 822830 http://acrlog.org/2010/03/02/the-art-of-the-electronic-message-display/ Editor’s Note: At MPOW we are ramping up to use a prominently positioned video display near our entrance for promotion. I realized I had no idea how to approach it. It seems so many academic libraries are using electronic display monitors to promote the library. I was wondering if there were best practices? So I put out a call for help and advice – and the academic librarians came through – big time. One response, from Wil Hutton, the Visual Communication Specialist at Penn State University’s main campus library, was so well thought out and informative that I wanted it to have broader exposure. So I asked Wil if he’d prepare it as a guest post for ACRLog – and I’m pleased that he did – so that we can share it with you. Many thanks to Wil for his contribution to ACRLog – and the wonderful gallery of screenshots from his library’s monitors that he organized for all of us. So, you want to put up some video display screens in your library to announce coming events and advertise services. Or perhaps you’ve been tasked with making this happen. Two questions arise: how do you create an attractive, effective display system without the expense of a turnkey, proprietary electronic signage solution; and how do you manage the system once installed? At Penn State, in 2006, we found ourselves in possession of three 42-inch plasma displays—just enough, as it happened, to cover our main library’s three entrances. Unfortunately, getting them mounted and wired proved so costly that there was virtually nothing left for additional hardware and software. So we used what we already had—we connected each screen to an obsolescing PC, and connected those PCs to our local area network. PowerPoint, for which we have a site license, became our delivery system: one copy on each PC, and one on my Mac, as it fell to me to design and maintain the screens’ content. ... Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:56:07 +0100 822880 http://www.slis.indiana.edu/careers/view_job_specific.php?job_id=6953 State: California This position is located in Mountain View, CA. The area: Corporate Engineering - Support In little more than a decade, Google created one of the world's largest global computing infrastructures for both internal and external use. We built it – and will continue to develop and support it – with the world's most talented administrators. Chances are that we exceed every example of a "large installation" you have encountered in your experience as a network, systems or security professional. Using our unique technologies along with open source tools, we keep Google's customer-facing products running, robust and secure. Our objective is to create solutions that allow people to work and communicate in new and innovative ways – giving back to the world's technical community whenever we can. ​The role: Internal Technology Resident As part of our commitment to hire and develop top talent, Google has created the Internal Technology Residency Program for recent and experienced university graduates. Based in our Corporate Headquarters in Mountain View, California, this 26 month program is an immersion into end to end IT support at Google. Residents learn what it takes to support and scale Google’s internal technology from our infrastructure to the end user. The program is broken into 3 areas: Training and Development, Front-Line Support, and an Internal Rotation Training and Development The IT Residency program will equip residents not only with the skills they need to do their job now, but those they’ll need as a future IT leader. You will choose from tailored learning and development tracks that map to your career interests and goals. Core IT competencies will complement specialized training in the following areas: Networking/Infrastructure, Hardware, Mobile Device Management, Multi-Platform System Administration, Enterprise Deployment, Communication Technology (video and voice) and People/Project Management. ... Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:50:02 +0100 822594 http://www.babsonlibrary.org/?p=812 Very frequently, librarians at Babson Library read about open applications (or open apps) on the Web, the free sharing of software.  Often, we find out about open apps in the blogs we read as part of our job.  (Ask us about blogs that might be relevant to your own interests!)   In a blog maintained by Lisa Hoover of Ostatic, Lisa describes five very useful open apps to assist writers and authors.  These applications help authors — whether a book author or a student researcher — accomplish many things easily and enjoyably, including formatting academic papers, creating newsletter, developing scripts, etc. To read about these tools, go to http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2009/five-open-source-apps-for-writers-and-authors/ If you would like any more information about blogs or open apps, please talk to staff at the Information Desk, use Ask the Library, or phone us at 1-800-730-5279. Rachael Naismith Asst. Director for Information and Research Babson Library (Source: Babson Library News) Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:55:27 +0100 823477 http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/Editorial/Feature/Open-source-ECM-platforms-bring-mobility-to-market-61180.aspx To realize the potential of remote access to ECM, developers must design effective interfaces to applications that are responsive to the needs of workers on the go... (Source: KMWorld RSS Feeds : Popular Articles) Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:00:00 +0100 822725 http://librarywriting.blogspot.com/2010/03/cfp-teaching-with-technology-radical.html CFP: Teaching With TechnologyTeaching today, from K-12 through graduate school, is ubiquitously tied to digital technology. from K-12 through graduate school, today's classroom is increasingly digital., and the call to make it more so grows. Institutional resources are increasingly directed toward classroom digital initiatives, libraries are merged with academic computing departments, and the instructional technologist has begun to occupy a central role on many campuses. New degree programs are popping up, and digital humanities is a newly, yet nebulously, defined discipline. As economic crisis continues to hold the country in its grip for a second year (at least), teachers and students are subjected to additional pressure to make themselves “competitive” as workers in a narrowly defined marketplace that demands technological skills as an end rather than a means to education. Much has already been published about the use of technology in the classroom, including a 2002 cluster of articles in Radical Teacher. It is unlikely that we will see any real decoupling of technology from teaching and learning in our future or lifetime, any more so than it is likely that we see it in any other aspect of our society. or culture at large. Given the fact that ignoring or rejecting technology wholesale is not a viable or palatable option for most of us, we must therefore continue to actively think about use the its use, of it, insist on approaching it with a critical eye, and ask questions at every turn about whose interests are being served, who benefits from our implementation of technology, and why when we choose to engage with technology in teaching and learning.Radical Teacher, the independent magazine for educational workers at all levels and in every kind of institution focusing on critical teaching practice, the political economy of education, and institutional struggles, solicits articles for an upcoming special issue devoted to teaching and technology. ... Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 824125 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web2learning/YOVk/~3/TxDV8FemiC8/3605 MacKenzie Smith, Associate Director for Technology at the MIT Libraries gave us a talk entitled “The Value Equation: Social Science Perspective (or Why I Love Google).” MacKenzie started by admitting that MIT (where she works) spends millions on research databases (570 of them including 45,000 e-journals), but she doesn’t use any of them … instead she relies on conference proceedings, white papers, email, blog posts and other related project websites. The problem she finds that most of the peer-reviewed journal articles are just way too old. She needs to know about these topics now! Not a year from now. Instead, many of the resources she relies on are free and open access – resources that are and always have been open access. The problem she finds when searching databases (and this is one I’m very familiar with) how do you search across disciplines – how do you know what database to use to find information that crosses disciplines. In my world this would be my common research areas of open source development (technology/computer programming) for and in libraries (social sciences). In addition – even though she has access to EndNote & RefWords she uses Zotero. This is because Zotero is evolving more quickly to deal with the varying types of content we want to save and cite. Also, Zotero offers more mobility – accessibility form all over – and the ability to share resources with her colleagues. (As a side note, MacKenzie pointed out Mendeley which is Zotero for scientists). When it comes to searching, MacKenzie doesn’t usually use advanced search, she instead starts with a seed and then builds on that. Then to review the content she doesn’t use the publisher to decide on the quality. She instead uses the author, the organization or the person who recommended that she read the article. ... Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:06:08 +0100 823154 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web2learning/YOVk/~3/4OfzfIDQj8Q/3596 This year’s NFAIS conference was opened by Clay Shirky. He started by giving us a 5 word synopsis of his book Here Comes Everybody — Group Action Just Got Easier. He then when on to a story about the power of social networks. HSBC (a bank in the UK) in 2007 decided they were going recruit new clients (graduate students and undergrad students). They offered these students accounts with an overdraft that had no fees associated with it. Then in the summer they took back their plan to offer the account with no penalties for overdrafts and said they were going to charge $140 per overdraft. They said you have 30 days to get your money out before we charge you. The idea was that college students are all over the world in the summer and won’t be around to throw a fit. But a college student found out about it and published it on Facebook. The bank didn’t realize that these students were still connected even though they were spread out. In the end HSBC changed their mind. This wasn’t because the students were unhappy – it was because they were unhappy and organized. Clay then went into talking about 3 information issues. Volume of Information When the printing press turned into the mechanical object we know today, books were able to be printed 300x faster than a scribe could pen the book. When a new tech comes along, previously impossible things become possible. Abundance breaks more things than scarcity does – when the web first became viable newspapers thought this was great! They could send out text and images for free and reach more than just their local customer base – they can reach people worldwide. ... Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:15:41 +0100 823157 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalKoans/~3/Ar_JRgJyFMU/ Philpapers Breaks New Ground for Discipline Based Repositories http://icio.us/nl1wfu # Jewel in the Open Content Crown Needs Help http://icio.us/mjxpa1 # OASPA: act now or lose credibility forever http://icio.us/a3w2cr # 50+ CSS Techniques Designers Should Know http://icio.us/xzl4h3 # Epub reader plugin for Firefox http://icio.us/0quiwr # January 2010 Profile: Michael Healy [Executive Director, Google Book Rights Registry] http://icio.us/tgooxz # E-Books and ISBNs: a position paper and action points from the International ISBN Agency http://icio.us/uygmsb # Europe 'will not accept' three strikes in Acta treaty http://icio.us/b5cffd # New Mexico State Must Cut Materials Budget by 27% http://icio.us/i2qnrq # 500,000 journal articles listed on RePE http://icio.us/nprlmy # Three-strikes petition gets attention of 10 Downing Street http://icio.us/lty5j0 # Next Generation Connectivity: A Review of Broadband Internet Transitions and Policy from Around the World http://bit.ly/az3fHe # RSA System Administrator/Manager at Alliance Library System http://bit.ly/aULzUz # 2010 Publication Schedule for the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography http://bit.ly/bSjT26 # Systems Librarian at Florida Institute of Technology http://bit.ly/devcGr # Modelling Scholarly Communication Options: Costs and Benefits for Universities http://bit.ly/b2rXwj # When using open source makes you an enemy of the state http://icio.us/stzzzn # European Commission Gets Tough Treatment From Parliament Over ACTA http://icio.us/mj4vps # How efficient is our licensing system? http://icio.us/mwudov # The Big Brother of Europe?: France Moves Closer to Unprecedented Internet Regulation http://icio.us/lfih1b # RIAA ’statutory damages’ argument trashed? http://icio.us/aozzu1 # Third RIAA trial for Jammie Thomas-Rasset http://icio.us/xrkoek # Riggio: Barnes & Noble to Become E-Commerce Retailer http://icio. ... Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:00:00 +0100 822384 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NetbibWeblog/~3/PiOHfDY8JMI/ Wenngleich viele Bibliotheken geknebelt sind durch die (oftmals sehr eigenwilligen und wenig am Dienstleistungsgedanken orientierten) Vorgaben von IT-Abteilungen, so sollte man sich doch im Bereich Software schlau machen und soweit als möglich Open Source-Software verwenden, schon aus dem Kosteneffekt-Aspekt heraus. Doch welche? Vielleicht hilft einmal mehr der Blick über den Tellerrand: Sarah Houghton-Jan ist “Digital Futures Manager for the San José Public Library in the heart of the Silicon Valley” und bloggt als “Librarian in Black”. Vor einem Monat schrieb sie einen Eintrag, in welchem sie für 13 Handlungsfelder freie Softwarelösungen vorstellte. Es lohnt sich auf jeden Fall, da einmal drüberzuschauen und zu überlegen, ob nicht manches doch einsetzbar ist. Vielleicht hat die IT noch nicht alles abgeklemmt? (Source: netbib weblog) Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:31:20 +0100 822142 http://digital-scholarship.com/digitalkoans/2010/02/28/last-weeks-digitalkoans-tweets-2010-02-28/ Philpapers Breaks New Ground for Discipline Based Repositories http://icio.us/nl1wfu # Jewel in the Open Content Crown Needs Help http://icio.us/mjxpa1 # OASPA: act now or lose credibility forever http://icio.us/a3w2cr # 50+ CSS Techniques Designers Should Know http://icio.us/xzl4h3 # Epub reader plugin for Firefox http://icio.us/0quiwr # January 2010 Profile: Michael Healy [Executive Director, Google Book Rights Registry] http://icio.us/tgooxz # E-Books and ISBNs: a position paper and action points from the International ISBN Agency http://icio.us/uygmsb # Europe 'will not accept' three strikes in Acta treaty http://icio.us/b5cffd # New Mexico State Must Cut Materials Budget by 27% http://icio.us/i2qnrq # 500,000 journal articles listed on RePE http://icio.us/nprlmy # Three-strikes petition gets attention of 10 Downing Street http://icio.us/lty5j0 # Next Generation Connectivity: A Review of Broadband Internet Transitions and Policy from Around the World http://bit.ly/az3fHe # RSA System Administrator/Manager at Alliance Library System http://bit.ly/aULzUz # 2010 Publication Schedule for the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography http://bit.ly/bSjT26 # Systems Librarian at Florida Institute of Technology http://bit.ly/devcGr # Modelling Scholarly Communication Options: Costs and Benefits for Universities http://bit.ly/b2rXwj # When using open source makes you an enemy of the state http://icio.us/stzzzn # European Commission Gets Tough Treatment From Parliament Over ACTA http://icio.us/mj4vps # How efficient is our licensing system? http://icio.us/mwudov # The Big Brother of Europe?: France Moves Closer to Unprecedented Internet Regulation http://icio.us/lfih1b # RIAA ’statutory damages’ argument trashed? http://icio.us/aozzu1 # Third RIAA trial for Jammie Thomas-Rasset http://icio.us/xrkoek # Riggio: Barnes & Noble to Become E-Commerce Retailer http://icio. ... Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 822699 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LibraryGarden/~3/6kSqLkqsRAs/ Mercier on Learning Author:  John LeMasney. As a supporter and fan of libraries and librarians, I find it a privilege and honor to be able to post on Library Garden. I also sometimes find it just the slightest bit intimidating. I’m always just a little bit reluctant to post something that I think might be too far outside of the librarian’s perspective. At the same time, I’ve been  working closely with libraries in New Jersey and elsewhere for the last 3 or 4 years as a presenter, trainer  and consultant, and I love the topics that I’ve been able to put into my personal Venn diagram with Libland. Topics such as technology, design, blogging, open source, outreach, and learning all have been focus points for my work with libraries, but my favorite by far has been design. As a result, for the posts I’ve created here at LG, I’ve made them about design. In order to increase and maintain my posting numbers here, I’ve decided that I’m going to not only write about design, but to actually do relevant designs for this blog. As inspiration, I’ve discovered many pages of quotes about libraries, learning, media, and librarians that I thought would be the perfect muse for illustration. This is the first of what I hope will be well received posts in this vein. Mercier’s quote here about indelibly learning that which is pleasurable rings very true in my experience, and I thought you, dear reader, might agree, so I’m sharing the thought with you. This was made in the open source illustration package called Inkscape. I typed out the quote in several single word blocks in order to have the most flexibility with their placement and manipulation. I kerned each word very tightly, as to add some speed to the reading. The font, one of my all time favorites, is Gill Sans. ... Sat, 27 Feb 2010 14:00:35 +0100 822967 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/26/oclc-research-and-alise-recipients-of-2010-library-and-information-science-research-grants-announced/ From the Announcement: OCLC Research and the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) have awarded 2010 Library and Information Science Research Grants to Louise Spiteri of Dalhousie University and Laurel Tarulli of Halifax Public Libraries; Hsin-liang Chen and Barbara Albee of Indiana University; and Besiki Stvilia and Corinne Jörgensen of Florida State University. Here’s a Small Amount of Info About Each Person Who Has Been Award the Research Grant and Their Research Project: + Louise Spiteri, Ph.D of the School of Information Management at Dalhousie University and Laurel Tarulli of Halifax Public Libraries will conduct research to examine and compare how library users access, use, and interact with two social discovery systems used in two Canadian public library systems. The objective of the study, “The Public Library Catalogue as a Social Space: Usability Studies of User Interaction with Social Discovery Systems,” is to provide important insight into the design or modification of social discovery tools to ensure they provide the best user experience. + Hsin-liang Chen, Ph.D. and Barbara Albee, of the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University, will examine the implementation of an open source library automation system (Evergreen) in Indiana public libraries and its impact on library users in the project, “Impact of Open Source Library Automation System on Public Library Users.” The expected significant outcomes of this project are to identify: benefits library users receive from the implementation of the open source library automation system, library users’ interests in using the OPAC to discover shared library collections, and whether the consortia library collections gain more usage by library users due to the implementation of the open source library automation system. ... Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:45:41 +0100 821823 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TameTheWeb/~3/0_ihs9cDvkk/ (Source: Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology) Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:52:07 +0100 821791 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web2learning/YOVk/~3/PgKbULC_K-M/3594 storytlrStorytlr is an open source lifestreaming and micro blogging platform. You can use it for a single user or it can act as a host for many people all from the same installation. More of my links (Source: What I Learned Today...) Fri, 26 Feb 2010 06:02:02 +0100 821680 http://freegovinfo.info/node/2917 Open source intelligence -- not to be confused with Open-source software -- is "a form of intelligence collection management that involves finding, selecting, and acquiring information from publicly available sources (my emphasis) and analyzing it to produce actionable intelligence." Libraries in the Federal Depository Library Program have since the early 1940s received output from this process in the form of Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) materials *for free*. FBIS materials offered translation of foreign news sources, and via the Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS) foreign language books, newspapers, journals, unclassified foreign documents and research reports. FBIS became the World News Connection in 1996, but it is a severely limited version (about half) of what's available for internal government use. The Federal of American Scientists has more on FBIS. Check out FBIS and JPRS materials in library collections near you! All that background as context to a very troublesome turn of events as described by a recent post on the govdoc-l list (see the email below stripped of personal information). This important piece of the govt information universe is now only available via a very expensive commercial database (World News Connection), depriving the academic and larger research communities of full access to all that is done by FBIS at taxpayer expense. Please help us by contacting the Open Source Center (OSCinfo@rccb.osis.gov 202-338-6735, or 1-800-205-8615) and Robert Tapella (PublicPrinter@gpo.gov) at the Government Printing Office and request that the Open Source Center offer free access of opensource.gov to depository libraries. Thanks! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:25:58 -0600 Subject: OpenSource.gov access Has any library successfully gained access to OpenSource. ... Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:55:32 +0100 821248 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/24/the-volunteer-mappers-who-helped-haiti-open-source-maps-are-helping-the-world-bank-save-lives-in-haiti/ + A BBC Magazine photo slideshow. 9 slides. + Access the Haiti Crisis Map from OpenStreetMap + OpenStreetMap Wiki + Open Source Maps Are Helping the World Bank Save Lives in Haiti (via Fast Company) (Source: ResourceShelf) Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:09:32 +0100 821170 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechsourceBlog/~3/hu8b1m8SEn4/focus-on-metadata-jennifer-bowen-on-the-new-metadata-environment.html In this post, Jennifer Bowen discusses the implications of Karen Coyle's January issue of Library Technology Reports, and places it in the current context of Metadata librarianship.--Daniel A. Freeman A couple of years ago, while in the thick of RDA development, I started hearing some pretty ominous statements from some of my metadata colleagues.   They were saying that if libraries are to remain relevant in the future, then library metadata MUST be transformed to enable it to function within a web environment.  They felt that if RDA fails to make this happen, then library catalogs and cataloging are doomed to oblivion.  Ouch – no pressure there!  Amid other equally strident voices warning that we shouldn’t stray too much from AACR2 and ISBD, I found these calls for drastic change to be more than a little perplexing! I admit that I first decided to listen seriously to the folks demanding change, not because I found the arguments to be immediately understandable and compelling, but because of the great respect that I have for the individuals (Karen Coyle and Diane Hillmann among them) who were making them.   And after listening for a while, the arguments DID become more compelling.  And the more I tried to understand what they were saying, the more compelling their explanations became. In her January 2010 issue of Library Technology Reports, “Understanding the Semantic Web:  Bibliographic Data and Metadata,” Karen Coyle has now written the explanation that I needed two years ago!  Thank you, Karen, for writing something so free of confusing jargon, and so full of real life examples to guide everyone through this difficult topic. ... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:18:31 +0100 821238 http://infobib.de/blog/2010/02/24/open-source-recommender-easyrec/ Die Recommender-Software easyrec ist seit sechs Tagen komplett Open Source. Benötigt werden für die Installation auf einem eigenen Server: Java 5 SE [1] or later Application Server Tomcat 6.0 [2] or later recommended or see other Application Servers Database Server MySQL 5.1 [3] or later Man kann den Dienst jedoch auch über eine API ausprobieren. Wer hat Zugriff auf einen Katalog und traut sich, das mal einzubauen? Mich würde doch sehr interessieren, ob die Ergebnisse so viel schlechter als die von Bibtip sind. Bibtip ist ein Projekt, dass zwar aus öffentlichen Mitteln finanziert wurde, aber dennoch sogar für öffentliche Einrichtungen kostenpflichtig ist. Kostenpflichtig für Hosting und Support würde ich ja noch verstehen. Wie auch immer: Easyrec wird z.B. beim Film-Shop Flimmit genutzt. Interessiert man sich z.B. für Plattfuss am Nil, wird sofort weitere Unterhaltungsware der schlagkräftigen Art angeboten (”Sie könnten auch an folgenden Produkten interessiert sein”). (Source: Infobib) Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:27:20 +0100 821778 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/24/minnesota-project-exists-to-preserve-digital-government-information/ From a NDIIPP Page: The partners from the Model Technological and Social Architecture for the Preservation of State Government Digital Information Project convened on January 20, 2010 in Sacramento, California. The project, lead by the Minnesota Historical Society, is working with legislatures in several states to explore enhanced access to legislative digital records. The purpose of this meeting was to provide an update on recent activities, concentrating on a demonstration of the open source eXist native XML database. [Snip] Bob Horton opened the meeting with updates for the attendees. He discussed the project outcomes, which are to test a model in Minnesota to capture, preserve and provide access to “at-risk” digital content from the state legislature. Minnesota is sharing their experience with the other partners, with each state providing input on the process and determining its capacity to adapt the model. The results are being regularly promoted through education and outreach while the project works to connect its activities to national cyberinfrastructure activities. Read the Entire Article Source: NDIIPP / Library of Congress See Also: Good Government through Digital Infrastructure and Preservation (From October 8, 2009) (Source: ResourceShelf) Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:14:10 +0100 821178 http://digital-scholarship.com/digitalkoans/2010/02/23/senior-web-specialist-for-library-services-scholarly-applications-at-villanova-university/ The Falvey Library at Villanova University is recruiting a Senior Web Specialist for Library Services & Scholarly Applications. Here's an excerpt from the ad (posting number: 2008217): Supports design and development of online environment for Villanova's 21st century library. In collaboration with Library Technology Development Team and the library director, responsible for identifying, exploring, planning, & managing implementation of new methods, tools and resources to extend and enhance digitally delivered library services, including applications that extend the library's reach on the social Web. Applies evolving user-centered design principles to all aspects (visual, information architecture, site structure, navigational features etc.) of the library Web environment. Supports new initiatives in the digital scholarship arena, including implementation and support for online publishing tools and associated services. Supports & collaborates with the Digital Library Team Leader to refine and extend power & functionality of the Villanova University Digital Library. Collaborates with the Systems Support Librarians to plan and manage the transition of library management systems to state-of-the- art open source technologies. Advocates for and advances the library technology agenda on the local, regional, and national levels by means of cooperative projects and inter-library collaboration. Convenes and coordinates activities of cross-functional teams for project implementation. Works with library director, library technology staff, and Unit to develop and revise mid- and long-term library technology plans. Collaborates with Instructional Design librarian and Center for Instructional Technology to integrate new library technologies into library educational services. Collaborates with Library Assessment Team to measure success of new technology projects. ... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 821033 http://digital-scholarship.com/digitalkoans/2010/02/23/senior-web-specialist-for-library-services-scholarly-applications-at-villanova-university/ The Falvey Library at Villanova University is recruiting a Senior Web Specialist for Library Services & Scholarly Applications. Here's an excerpt from the ad (posting number: 2008217): Supports design and development of online environment for Villanova's 21st century library. In collaboration with Library Technology Development Team and the library director, responsible for identifying, exploring, planning, & managing implementation of new methods, tools and resources to extend and enhance digitally delivered library services, including applications that extend the library's reach on the social Web. Applies evolving user-centered design principles to all aspects (visual, information architecture, site structure, navigational features etc.) of the library Web environment. Supports new initiatives in the digital scholarship arena, including implementation and support for online publishing tools and associated services. Supports & collaborates with the Digital Library Team Leader to refine and extend power & functionality of the Villanova University Digital Library. Collaborates with the Systems Support Librarians to plan and manage the transition of library management systems to state-of-the- art open source technologies. Advocates for and advances the library technology agenda on the local, regional, and national levels by means of cooperative projects and inter-library collaboration. Convenes and coordinates activities of cross-functional teams for project implementation. Works with library director, library technology staff, and Unit to develop and revise mid- and long-term library technology plans. Collaborates with Instructional Design librarian and Center for Instructional Technology to integrate new library technologies into library educational services. Collaborates with Library Assessment Team to measure success of new technology projects. ... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:02:09 +0100 821870 http://www.slis.indiana.edu/careers/view_job_specific.php?job_id=6944 State: Pennsylvania We have a great opportunity for a Web specialist at Villanova. Online applications only will be accepted, at the address below. Posting will remain active until the position is filled. To apply go to the Villanova University HR site at: https://jobs.villanova.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1266859218664 Apply online Senior Web Specialist for Library & Scholarly Applications Falvey Memorial Library Villanova University Position Summary: Supports design and development of online environment for Villanova's 21st century library. In collaboration with Library Technology Development Team and the library director, responsible for identifying, exploring, planning, & managing implementation of new methods, tools and resources to extend and enhance digitally delivered library services, including applications that extend the library's reach on the social Web. Applies evolving user-centered design principles to all aspects (visual, information architecture, site structure, navigational features etc.) of the library Web environment. Supports new initiatives in the digital scholarship arena, including implementation and support for online publishing tools and associated services. Supports & collaborates with the Digital Library Team Leader to refine and extend power & functionality of the Villanova University Digital Library. Collaborates with the Systems Support Librarians to plan and manage the transition of library management systems to state-of-the- art open source technologies. Advocates for and advances the library technology agenda on the local, regional, and national levels by means of cooperative projects and inter-library collaboration. Convenes and coordinates activities of cross-functional teams for project implementation. Works with library director, library technology staff, and Unit to develop and revise mid- and long-term library technology plans. ... Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:30:02 +0100 820614 http://digital-scholarship.com/digitalkoans/2010/02/22/a-survey-of-the-scholarly-journals-using-open-journal-systems/ Brian D. Edgar and John Willinsky have self-archived "A Survey of the Scholarly Journals Using Open Journal Systems" on the Public Knowledge Project website. Here's an excerpt: A survey of 998 scholarly journals that use Open Journal Systems (OJS), an open source journal software platform, captures the characteristics of an emerging class of scholar-publisher open access journals (with some representation from more traditional scholarly society and print-based titles). The journals in the sample follow traditional norms for peer-reviewing, acceptance rates, and disciplinary focus, but are distinguished by the number that offer open access to their content, the growth rates in new titles, the participation rates from developing countries, and the extremely low operating budgets. The survey also documents the limited degree to which open source software can alter a field of communication, as OJS appears to have created a third path, dedicated to maximizing access to research and scholarship, as an alternative to traditional scholarly society and commercial publishing routes. Related Posts The Online Guide to Open Access Journals Publishing PEER Behavioural Research: Authors and Users vis-à-vis Journals and Repositories; Baseline Report Selected Comments of Publishers to the White House OSTP Consultation on Open Access STM Reacts to Scholarly Publishing Roundtable Report Report and Recommendations from the Scholarly Publishing Roundtable (Source: DigitalKoans) Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 821038 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalKoans/~3/zpaLPccfwVU/ Brian D. Edgar and John Willinsky have self-archived "A Survey of the Scholarly Journals Using Open Journal Systems" on the Public Knowledge Project website. Here's an excerpt: A survey of 998 scholarly journals that use Open Journal Systems (OJS), an open source journal software platform, captures the characteristics of an emerging class of scholar-publisher open access journals (with some representation from more traditional scholarly society and print-based titles). The journals in the sample follow traditional norms for peer-reviewing, acceptance rates, and disciplinary focus, but are distinguished by the number that offer open access to their content, the growth rates in new titles, the participation rates from developing countries, and the extremely low operating budgets. The survey also documents the limited degree to which open source software can alter a field of communication, as OJS appears to have created a third path, dedicated to maximizing access to research and scholarship, as an alternative to traditional scholarly society and commercial publishing routes. Related Posts BioMed Central Launches Its 200th Open Access Journal "The York Digital Journals Project: Strategies for Institutional Open Journal Systems Implementations" The Future of Scholarly Journals Publishing Among Social Science and Humanities Associations Hindawi’s Open Access Journals’ Impact Factor Up over 27% African Journals Online Migrates to Open Journal Systems Platform (Source: DigitalKoans) Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:03:28 +0100 820724 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/22/new-report-from-unesco-information-society-policies-annual-world-report-2009/ From the Announcement: Information Society Policies. Annual World Report 2009 was written by researchers from the Information Society Research Institute of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. According to their analysis, the most important effect of the information society is probably the fact that it eliminates several historical divides. Social differences caused by the unequal distribution of ICT tools are being eliminated by the same tools, which causes a paradoxical situation. The Report outlines cultural and geographical aspects of the digital divide and highlights solutions offered by the information society, such as broadband Internet and mobile technology. It also analyses the link between social and technological changes, which vary from country to country. Among the most significant trends introduced in the Report are some important technical achievements that are likely to change people’s lives in several aspects. Information society strategies increasingly focus on e-government, which is becoming more and more socially oriented. The authors of the World Report examine the e-government aspects that proved to be the most important last year: the breakthrough of social networking, the increasing importance of open source software and of the green IT. No information society strategy today can disregard these trends. The last section provides an overview of the worldwide penetration of ICT tools, both globally and regionally, showing the social and policy challenges faced by particular regions. Access the Complete Report (63 pages; PDF) Source: UNSECO (Communication and Information Sector) (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:26:33 +0100 820629 http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/02/22/3239/ Someday I want to meet the researcher at OnlineCollege. (I harbour a hope that they are a librarian!). Anyway, there is a staff development idea at the end of this post: Online Lectures: 20 Great Talks on the Future of Information Here’s a list of the 20 lectures. Easy links are found here. Freedom of Information * Open-source economics: Yochai Benkler * Future of the Digital Commons * Brewster Kahle builds a free digital library * Jimmy Wales on the birth of Wikipedia * The Future of America’s Libraries: David Seaman * Richard Baraniuk on open-source learning * The Promise of Open Media in Iran * Internet Censorship and the Giant Firewall of China: Information Technology * Erik Hersman on reporting crisis via texting * Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos Photosynth * Transformation: From Newspapers to the New Newsmakers * Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology *Stunning data visualization in the AlloSphere * New Technologies Serving Educational Goals Information and the Web * Information Security: Why Cybercriminals are Smiling * The Past, Present and Future of Google * Tyranny of E-mail: The 4,000 Year Journey to Your Inbox * Tim Berners-Lee on the next Web * Blogosphere: Who’s Talking?: So here’s my idea. How many staff do you have? 20, 10, 5, 1? Divide them into groups and split up these lectures across the entire team. Have everyone take on a lecture or two. Think of it like the most anazing conference i the worlkd with this set of great speakers – only you can’t send everyone to the conference and some of the lectures are on at the same time. Sooooo, you have to send the team out to attend as many as possible and report back. Now set up a series of pizza lunches, extended coffee breaks or brown baggers and share. The grop facliitator are the person(s) who listended to the lectures and now they’re transferring the knowledge. See what happens. ... Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:02:08 +0100 820546 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/Y3jT53Cet1E/ On February 14, in a New York Times Sunday Magazine article titled “How Christian Were the Founders?”, the question of what control people with personal agendas have over what elementary and secondary school students are taught. The article reminded me of a book I read several years ago, The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn by Diane Ravitch (2004), which addressed the same issue. What bothers me most about what is happening before the Texas State Board of Education, which is the focus of both the article and the book, is that whatever decisions the TSBE make will affect the education not only of Texas students, but of students in 46 other states. I don’t care if Texas wants to dumb-down its student population, but it bothers me that it wants to drag down the rest country along with itThe problem, yet again, lies with book publishers. Because Texas has a centralized textbook purchasing procedure, it has clout in the textbook market, and publishers kowtow to its demands. Understandably from a financial perspective, publishers don’t want to be excluded from Texas’ $22 billion dollar expenditure on textbooks (some 48 million textbooks each year), but from an ethical/moral perspective, the publishers are contributing to America’s decline in exchange for the almighty dollar. In past years the problem was nearly insolvable. But now things have changed — or they should be changing — and ebook textbooks can be the answer. With today’s technology, there is no reason why publishers can’t create a pick-and-choose menu for school districts. Instead of printing millions of textbooks and locking knowledge in shackles for the next 10 years (the lifespan of the Texas review decisions), publishers could both reduce textbook costs and allow each state and/or school district to create custom books for local courses. ... Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:05:18 +0100 820440 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LibrariansMatter/~3/B6_DLuK8q58/ I finally uploaded a couple of movies that I took at VALA2010 – and I promise this is the last VALA conference post I will make…. 1. VALA2010 LINTy / Twittery / bloggy dinner at Berth, Docklands 8 February 2010 **WARNING** Volume is LOUD…. 2. Open Source and Libraries: Kathryn Greenhill **WARNING** Volume is kind of soft… Thanks very much to Michelle McLean for being impromptu camera person while she also tried to tweet and take notes during my introductory “L Plate” session on 8 February, Open Source Software and Libraries. The slides that go with this video are at: Open Source Software and Libraries . (Source: Librarians matter) Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:40:15 +0100 821730 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/ejVz8BR97a0/ Amazon designed the Kindle to be bookish, with the dimensions of a paperback and a tapering of width to emulate a book’s binding. Does this design work for Kindle newspaper and magazine subscriptions? I was given a Kindle for Christmas, and in this fifth post in my shakedown series, I give my take on reading subscriptions. Every Saturday I pick up a print copy of Canada’s The Globe and Mail newspaper. Unfortunately, the Globe does not deliver its print edition to my rural address nor is it available internationally. When the Kindle came to Canada late last year, I was pleased to see it in the list of twelve Canadian newspaper subscriptions available through the Kindle store. I requested its fourteen day free trial. The text content of the print and digital version is comparable. The absence of photos for international papers is a shortcoming, no doubt related to Amazon’s international wireless contract; Amazon, please sort this out. Personally, I do not miss the crossword, classifieds or advertising. Issues older than seven days are deleted unless you clip an article or tag them to be kept. I am fond of the standard newspaper broadsheet layout so I was curious how I would like reading the Globe in the Kindle’s book format. The Kindle version comes with indexes for sections and headlines. I can quickly browse the headlines using the Next Page button, read an article, then jump back to the headline index. I scan broadsheets visually, but the Kindle compensates with summary functions like the total number of words in an article. The Kindle shows up wirelessly every morning (sweet!) and it is more portable than the print version. I find myself reading the newspaper every day rather than just on Saturdays, and have renewed my subscription twice for $15.99 monthly. I like reading newspapers on the Kindle more than books, and this should be good news for the ailing newspaper industry. ... Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:28:17 +0100 820443 http://chicagolibrarian.com/node/532 Roy was a bit more taken with the recently introduced Apple iPad than I, to the point that he titled his post, "Kindle Killer". From what I've heard, the device is modeled on the iPhone which is both good and not so good. It's good because, as Roy points out, if you're familiar with one, you'll be familiar with the other. It's not so good because, among other things, Apple keeps a firm grip on what you can put on it through its App store. What's more, it's feature set isn't all that great and it seems the one word that's been associated with it following its release is, 'disappointment'. In walks the Dell Mini 5. With its 400x800 screen, the device fits somewhere between a smart phone and a netbook. Engadget calls it "neither too big nor too small". You can actually use it as a phone and the screen while smaller than the iPad is large enough compared to your average smart phone that reading is easier. In addition, the thing has a camera and runs on the open source Android system. At the moment, it's still in production. Things like the keyboard still need a bit more work. But once the kinks are ironed out, perhaps in a second iteration, this kind of middling approach where you can both read and phone seems far more worthy of 'Kindle Killer' status than the iPad. read more (Source: Chicago Librarian - Design, Techology & Culture from a Librarian living in Chicago) Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:42:15 +0100 820466 http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/002058.html One of the major issues facing libraries as the network reconfigures processes is how appropriately to source and scale activities. What does it make sense to do at institutional level, what does it make sense to source elsewhere (repository services in the cloud, for example, or insitutional email services from Google), and what should be left entirely to other providers? I discussed 'scaling' from the supply side - what libraries do and how - a while ago when discussing a NISO report on resource management .. Scalar emphasis has become an important question for libraries. At what scale should things be done as institution-scale is increasingly the wrong level for many activities? Oren [Beit-Arie] discusses the transitional effect of the network in broader collaborative settings, where the power of the network can be leveraged to improve services. Shared cataloging and resource sharing may be earlier instances of this. Consider now the potential for recommendations where circulation or other usage data is aggregated at a higher level. Consider incentives also in this context. Where are library users most likely to want to invest their effort? Kat Hagedorn [ppt] discusses a collaborative project of the HathiTrust, New York University, and the partners in the ReCAP shared print facility with the involvement of OCLC Research and CLIR. What policy and service apparatus needs to be in place to provide confidence of supply from HathiTrust and ReCAP sufficient to allow NYU relegate materials from its own collection? Such 'cloud library' provision will become more common as libraries seek to transfer resource away from 'infrastructure' and towards user engagement. Kyle Bannerjee describes [ppt] Orbis Cascade's work with OCLC on the integration of local, consortial and global discovery and delivery of resources. ... Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:18:14 +0100 820952 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Davidrothmannet/~3/_N6Gxokd8xU/ Got an email from a friend the other day: “I wonder if you have found a free add-on for Word 2003 that includes medical terms in the spell check feature and is secure enough for me to recommend to my users at the hospital?” This is such a great question and something that has come up at my place of work previously. Out of the box, Microsoft Office Word doesn’t recognize a whole lot of the specialized medical vocabulary that people at our hospital use every day. The result of this is that Word frequently fails to recognize clinical terms and underlines them in red, essentially making them false positives for spelling errors. Only one employee in my department has Stedman’s medical dictionary installed in her copy of Word 2003 because paying a license for each copy used in an entire hospital would add up to an unmanageable sum quite quickly. Among the books made available to all employees through our hospital’s intranet is a medical dictionary- and that’s okay for the kinds of people who don’t mind stopping what they’re doing to look up a word, but it would be so much faster and easier for Word to be able to spell-check and correct spelling issues with medical terms. So I promised the friend I’d think it over and come up with some recommendations. In MS Word, a “dictionary” is just a list of words. That’s all. Nothing on pronunciation, etymology, or definition. A quick search reveals that these “dictionaries” (word lists) are stored as .dic files. Microsoft even tells you how to MAKE a custom dictionary. So, what we really need is a list of words to turn into a custom dictionary. OpenMedSpel is pretty awesome. Free, open source, and released under a GPL license, OpenMedSpel includes nearly 50,000 medical terms. ... Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:58:26 +0100 820191 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalKoans/~3/TlzRxkX5Lis/ New Open Access Fund [SFU Library’] http://icio.us/uthzl3 # The BOAI is eight http://icio.us/fuf1aq # Google staunchly defends pact to digitize books http://icio.us/f0nywx # Google Argues for Approval of Book Search Settlements http://icio.us/cantx0 # The Google Books Settlement: Second Round Comments http://icio.us/lfxp4s # VU University Amsterdam backs Open Access and copyright for the researchers http://icio.us/2vpfc5 # RoMEO reaches 700 Publishers http://icio.us/sip4ri # Report on new ACRL Image Resources Interest Group (IRIG) http://icio.us/1ejas3 # Fantastic volunteer scanning project with National Archives–great example of crowdsourcing http://icio.us/lqamed # AIDA and repositories http://icio.us/trae3m # JSTOR Events at 2010 ALA Midwinter Meeting http://icio.us/tctd0t # Evergreen 1.6.0.1 and OpenSRF 1.2.2 released http://icio.us/xxrckh # Public Knowledge Statement on DoJ Intellectual Property Task Force http://icio.us/a3r235 # Google Book Search by the Numbers http://icio.us/ec44lz # Towards a Toolkit for Implementing Application Profiles http://icio.us/p10j4i # eBooks: Tipping or Vanishing Point?' http://icio.us/wrwhuz # Uncovering User Perceptions of Research Activity Data http://icio.us/r03a0o # Abstract Modelling of Digital Identifiers http://icio.us/gfuea1 # Fedora UK & Ireland / EU Joint User Group Meeting http://icio.us/npbjpr # Subject Repositories: European Collaboration in the International Context http://icio.us/io3cmr # Open-Access Journals Break Barriers to Academic Freedom http://icio.us/jzechc # Open Access and Libraries: Be my guest http://icio.us/3g1on4 # North Carolina State U. Gives Students Free Access to Physics Textbook Online http://icio.us/2e2adf # Culture Trumps Technology: The UC Berkeley Scholarly Communication Report http://icio.us/hux1bg # How to Find Free Public Domain Books from Google Book Search http://icio.us/yvsxvf # Royal Holloway embraces open access policy for all research http://icio. ... Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:00:00 +0100 820733 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=Peter_Scott39s_Library_Blog_Library_2-0_Gang_0210_The_Open_--- Library 2.0 Gang 02/10: The Open Source Library System Market - "Open Source Library Systems have definitely arrived. Nevertheless Marshall Breeding' (Source: pligg - all) Sun, 21 Feb 2010 08:00:32 +0100 820132 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/iRcS/~3/uvPTbXXUMPo/library-20-gang-0210-open-source.html Library 2.0 Gang 02/10: The Open Source Library System Market - "Open Source Library Systems have definitely arrived. Nevertheless Marshall Breeding's Perceptions 2009 report seems to indicate that the interest in open source systems, by those libraries with a proprietary system, is still not very high even for those expressing dissatisfaction with their current system. At ALA Midwinter PTFS announced their intention to purchase the leading open source system support company LibLime. Just before the recording of this month's show, they announced that PTFS and LibLime could not agree upon financial terms and have agreed not to proceed with the acquisition. So who better to join us as a guest on the show, than PTFS CEO, John Yokley. We open the show with John providing an overview of PTFS, the LibLime situation, and his gerneral view of the market. Gang members Talin Bingham, Nicole Engard, and Frances Haugen, filled the positions round our virtual table for a view on how these events and survey results indicate a future for the open source sector" (Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog) Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:23:08 +0100 819935 http://joblist.ala.org/modules/jobseeker/controller.cfm?rssjobid=14464 Emerging Technologies Librarian (St. Thomas Aquinas College, New York) FT Tues-Sat, 10 mos/yr. Responsible for operation & development of open source integrated library system, virtual library resources & services & outsourced library Web page. Recommends & implements new and emerging technologies to enhance ILS and library instruction, resources, services & communications. Some reference and library teaching. Attends professional meetings & training. Liaises with an academic division. Requires MLS, MLIS or MIS from ALA-accredited institution, high technological proficiency, and IRCA verification document establishing employment eligibility. Previous library experience desirable. Email cover letter, resume, 3 professional references to Dir. of Library Services, mlenk@stac.edu. ... Sat, 20 Feb 2010 10:20:02 +0100 819795 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/15873 There's a fairly popular open source product, although some find the setup daunting. MRBS - Meeting Room Booking System http://sourceforge.net/projects/mrbs/ -Edward At 9:10 AM +0800 2/20/10, Gerry O. Laroza wrote: (Source: gmane.education.web4lib) Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 819754 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=Library_2-0_Gang_0210_The_Open_Source_Library_System_Market_--- The Library 2.0 Gang More... Open Source Library Systems have definitely arrived. Nevertheless Marshall Breeding's Perceptions 2009 report seems to i (Source: pligg - all) Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:00:35 +0100 819541 http://www.lisnews.org/deconstructing_library_20 I realize I’m relatively new to the library scene as a second career librarian, so some of what I’m asking may have been covered somewhere already. I’m fine with being corrected in the comments (since there is no better way to learn than to question), but I’m still going to ask. In trying to get an idea of it, I plugged the term into some search engines and then just followed the trail. I found the Library 2.0 listing in Wikipedia which also provides an antiquated round up of writings on the subject (the most recent article mentioned is 2007). It lists the principles as the following: Browser + Web 2.0 Applications + Connectivity = Full-featured OPAC Harness the library user in both design and implementation of services Library users should be able to craft and modify library provided services Harvest and integrate ideas and products from peripheral fields into library service models Continue to examine and improve services and be willing to replace them at any time with newer and better services. The first principle seems very specific and certainly obtainable. I don’t know of any examples of such an interface, but it has my vote for how an OPAC should function. The second and third principles look like the application of market research. Ask users what they want, design around it, and customize where desired.  Maybe it's because I have a science background, but when I look at fourth and fifth principle, I see the basics of evolution. The concept of an organization changing due to external pressures (read: patron requested services and materials) over time does not strike me as being radical or controversial at all. It is basically a call for librarians to use some (pun intended) intelligent design in approaching . So, this concept is an intersection of a still-yet-to-be-realized vendor request, knowing and engaging your audience market research, and an evolving service model? Perhaps I do not understand. ... Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:41:17 +0100 819620 http://lisnews.org/deconstructing_library_20 I realize I’m relatively new to the library scene as a second career librarian, so some of what I’m asking may have been covered somewhere already. I’m fine with being corrected in the comments (since there is no better way to learn than to question), but I’m still going to ask. In trying to get an idea of it, I plugged the term into some search engines and then just followed the trail. I found the Library 2.0 listing in Wikipedia which also provides an antiquated round up of writings on the subject (the most recent article mentioned is 2007). It lists the principles as the following: Browser + Web 2.0 Applications + Connectivity = Full-featured OPAC Harness the library user in both design and implementation of services Library users should be able to craft and modify library provided services Harvest and integrate ideas and products from peripheral fields into library service models Continue to examine and improve services and be willing to replace them at any time with newer and better services. The first principle seems very specific and certainly obtainable. I don’t know of any examples of such an interface, but it has my vote for how an OPAC should function. The second and third principles look like the application of market research. Ask users what they want, design around it, and customize where desired.  Maybe it's because I have a science background, but when I look at fourth and fifth principle, I see the basics of evolution. The concept of an organization changing due to external pressures (read: patron requested services and materials) over time does not strike me as being radical or controversial at all. It is basically a call for librarians to use some (pun intended) intelligent design in approaching . So, this concept is an intersection of a still-yet-to-be-realized vendor request, knowing and engaging your audience market research, and an evolving service model? Perhaps I do not understand. ... Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:41:17 +0100 819490 http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?p=850 It’s great that the applications we use are so portable.  In fact, some of the apps OPLIN techs use can fit on a thumb drive.  Here are some of their favorites. PortableApps.com Suite™ is a complete collection of portable apps including a web browser, email client, office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, anti-virus, audio player, Sudoku game, password manager, PDF reader, minesweeper clone, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. Just drop it on your portable device and you’re ready to go. Win Patrol allows you to monitor start-up apps and stuff running in the background (such as spyware).  Read more about it and download it here. Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder is a freeware open source utility that retrieves your Product Key (cd key) used to install Windows from your registry. It allows you to print or save your keys for safekeeping. It works on Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, Server 2003, Server 2008, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007 family of products. It also has a community-updated configuration file that retrieves product keys for many other applications. Another feature is the ability to retrieve product keys from unbootable Windows installations. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to boot from a USB flash drive, but if you can, a great way to get a small, quick Linux install completed is by downloading a Knoppix CD.  The latest version includes recent Linux software and desktop environments. The DVD includes programs such as OpenOffice.org, Abiword, The Gimp, Konqueror, Mozilla, Apache, PHP, MySQL and hundreds of other quality open source programs. Keep those small applications handy for those moments when you least think you’ll need them. Cool fact: There were just too many apps to include in the OPLIN 4Cast. ... Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:35:05 +0100 820180 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/u_jaiPBHZuk/digital-book-piracy-copyright With the iPad and e-readers on the rise, will pirated books become as common as illegal music and films?For years, we have been able to combine our taste for music and film with our desire to stick it to the man, and all from the safety of our PCs. Our literary habits, however, have perforce remained largely legal. The closest we could come to the same thrill is by wearing a deep-pocketed coat to WH Smiths – which is such an analogue approach to theft. Soon, however, even the bookish will be able to frustrate Lord Mandelson because, at long last, thanks to the iPad, digital book piracy is almost upon us.The surest sign of this is that industry figures have started producing dubious statistics to show how endemic it is. In the US, it's just been announced that 10% of books read are now pirate texts. The same report claims that piracy has cost US publishers $3bn. But the source of the statistics was a company named Attributor, who provide online piracy protection for the publishing industry. Like a plumber tutting over the state of your pipes, they have a vested interest in finding problems. A glance at the top seeded ebooks on Pirate Bay shows that Christopher Ricks isn't about to lose much sleep over the downloaders. Filling the top slots are Windows 7 Secrets, Adobe CS4 for Photographers and, shamelessly playing up to the stereotype of all geeks being lonely boys, the Jan/Feb edition of Playboy magazine. According to Freakbits, the only non-technical or sexual downloaded book in 2009 was the Twilight series – a choice that only goes to show how masturbation and Photoshopping mess with the mind.More mainstream books are found on Scribd, a site you might well use – it's great for finding free books, citations and excerpts. It's also home to an awful lot of copyright infringements. You can find everything: Tintin in America, Martin Amis's Time's Arrow, Alastair Campbell's The Blair Years, Richard Brautigan. ... Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:18:46 +0100 819298 http://www.alatechsource.org/smart-libraries-newsletter/february-2010 In Smart Libraries Newsletter this Month: "The start of a new year and a new decade gives us a great opportunity to take a look ahead at some of the major technology trends that are currently playing out and examine how they will impact libraries. I think that it’s quite important to pay close attention to the changes and transitions playing out in the library automation industry, and also in the broader realm of information technology. In this month’s column, I’ll explore some of the key topics with forward momentum that I think that readers should keep in mind as they shape technology strategies in their libraries." --Marshall Breeding       Also in this issue From Marshall Breeding: Bibliomation Sets a Course for Open Source through Evergreen OCLC Opens up WorldCat through APIs Developments at SirsiDynix ABCD: A New Open Source ILS Launched From Editor Dan Freeman: Letter from the Editor From the Library Tech Blogosphere (Source: ALA Techsource) Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:02:46 +0100 820153 http://www.alatechsource.org/smart-libraries-newsletter/december-2009-0 In Smart Libraries Newsletter this Month: Two Major Lawsuits Jolt Library Automation Industryby Marshall Breeding"In recent months, two major lawsuits have been filed in the the library automation industry. Queens Borough Public Library filed a complaint on July 2, 2009 against SirsiDynix for breach of contract and 3M has filed suit against EnvisionWare for patent infringement. Both of these lawsuits address interesting issues that bring pivotal library automation legal concerns to the surface. Neither accusation has been proven, and both are still pending legal action or settlement. The complaints filed with the courts stand as public documents exposing the plaintiffs’ concerns in detail. The defendant’s response to those claims may not become public until the issue comes before a court, or may never be disclosed if the parties settle out of court. While major lawsuits attract much attention, they must be considered skeptically until both sides of the matter can be understood. With these caveats, we review some issues regarding these pending legal matters."Also in this Issue: dmMonocle: Better Viewing of CONTENTdm Images by Tom Peters Collections for Portable eReading by Tom Peters SkyRiver Ramps up as a New Bibliographic Service Business by Tom Peters ATLAS: One Route to a More Interactive Collection of Digital Images by Tom Peters Large-scale ILS Implementations: Open Source and Proprietary by Marshall Breeding (Source: ALA Techsource) Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:43:10 +0100 820156 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechsourceBlog/~3/EFjDf2cFZxk/library-20-gang-0210-the-open-source-library-system-market.html More...Open Source Library Systems have definitely arrived. Nevertheless Marshall Breeding’s Perceptions 2009 report seems to indicate that the interest in open source systems, by those libraries with a proprietary system, is still not very high even for those expressing dissatisfaction with their current system. At ALA Midwinter PTFS announced their intention to purchase the leading open source system support company LibLime. Just before the recording of this month’s show, they announced that PTFS and LibLime could not agree upon financial terms and have agreed not to proceed with the acquisition. So who better to join us as a guest on the show, than PTFS CEO, John Yokley. We open the show with John providing an overview of PTFS, the LibLime situation, and his gerneral view of the market. Gang members Talin Bingham, Nicole Engard, and Frances Haugen, filled the positions round our virtual table for a view on how these events and survey results indicate a future for the open source sector. Library 2.0 Gang 01/10 [49:09m]:Download (Source: ALA TechSource Blog) Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:11:06 +0100 819491 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/15836 I recommend that you take a look at UPEI's Islandora project which marries Drupal on the front end and dSpace/DuraSpace on the back end. There system is very straightforward to use (The word. easy. is not something that I would apply to any digital library system, but it makes great strides.). Of course, the combined cost of these two great free and open source products is free. http://islandora.ca/ Thanks, Cary On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 4:32 PM, Kelly McElroy <kellymce-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w< at >public.gmane.org> wrote: (Source: gmane.education.web4lib) Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 819451 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/15838 I have wanted to try the opensource OMEKA for this type of project. I have never used it, but it looks like it might suit your needs. http://omeka.org/ . It's from the Center for History and New Media, the same folks that brought us Zotero. -----Original Message----- From: Cary Gordon [mailto:listuser-c2h86gdR0VJBDgjK7y7TUQ< at >public.gmane.org] Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 8:36 AM To: Kelly McElroy Cc: web4lib-Lfqs8nn97uZKgiwHgTXaBw< at >public.gmane.org Subject: Re: [Web4lib] selecting a CMS/DAMS for a digital library I recommend that you take a look at UPEI's Islandora project which marries Drupal on the front end and dSpace/DuraSpace on the back end. There system is very straightforward to use (The word. easy. is not something that I would apply to any digital library system, but it makes great strides.). Of course, the combined cost of these two great free and open source products is free. http://islandora.ca/ Thanks, Cary On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 4:32 PM, Kelly McElroy <kellymce-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuM (Source: gmane.education.web4lib) Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 819449 http://enmarchaconlastic.educarex.es/2010/02/17/cursos_cpr_semana_del_15022010_al_21022010/ Esta semana, tenemos cursos relacionados con las nuevas tecnologías en los CPRS de Almendralejo, Azuaga, Badajoz, Brozas, Cáceres, Caminomorisco, Castuera, Don Benito-Villanueva, Hoyos, Jaraiz de La Vera, Mérida, Navalmoral de la Mata, Plasencia, Talarrubias y Trujillo. CPR Curso CPR de Almendralejo Escuela 2.0 Nuevas Aulas Tecnológicas CPR de Almendralejo Aplicación didáctica de las TIC en CC. SS., Geografía e Historia con LinEx CPR de Azuaga La utilización de las TIC en el IES Bembézar CPR de Azuaga Seminario de Profesores TIC de Secundaria CPR de Azuaga Jugar, pensar, aprender: enseñar ciencia mediante experimentos. CPR de Azuaga Programa Escuela 2.0: Pizarra Digital Interactiva. C.P. Miramontes CPR de Badajoz CURSO:”LABORATORIO VIRTUAL DE LECTOESCRITURA” CPR de Badajoz CURSO: “ESCUELA 2.0. NUEVAS AULAS TECNOLÓGICAS” CPR de Brozas Redes socioeducativas. Un enfoque dialógico en la construcción de comunidades CPR de Cáceres Elaboración de objetos digitales educativos con el Constructor de Atenex CPR de Cáceres “eXeLearning: Generador de U.D. Multimedia” CPR de Cáceres AULA ABIERTA: “JÓVENES EN RED: Potencialidades y riesgos de las Redes Sociales”. CPR de Cáceres Herramientas Docentes Y Web 2.0 CPR de Cáceres Enseñar con la Pizarra Digital Interactiva CPR de Caminomorisco INTRODUCCIÓN A LA ANIMACIÓN CON FLASH CPR de Caminomorisco RECURSOS TIC PARA MONITORES DE ACTIVIDADES FORMATIVAS COMPLEMENTARIAS CPR de Castuera FORMACIÓN PARTICIPANTES PROYECTO ATENEA. CEIP TENA ARTIGAS. CASTUERA CPR de Castuera ESCUELA 2.0: NUEVAS AULAS TECNOLÓGICAS. IES MUÑOZ TORRERO CPR de Don Benito-Villanueva Escuela 2.0: Nuevas Aulas Tecnológicas CPR de Hoyos Iniciacin a LinEx CPR de Jaraiz de La Vera Curso sobre LinEx 2009-2010 CPR de Mérida Escuela 2. ... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:29:21 +0100 819166 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/17/a-new-issue-of-ariadne-62-is-now-available/ Access Issue #62 of Ariadne (January, 2010) is Now Online Articles Include Editorial: The Wisdom of Communities Towards a Toolkit for Implementing Application Profiles Talat Chaudhri, Julian Cheal, Richard Jones, Mahendra Mahey and Emma Tonkin propose a user-driven methodology for the iterative development, testing and implementation of Dublin Core Application Profiles in diverse repository software environments. ‘An attack on professionalism and scholarship’?: Democratising Archives and the Production of Knowledge Andrew Flinn describes some recent developments in democratising the archive and asks whether these developments really deserve to be viewed as a threat to professional and academic standards. Get Tooled Up: Xerxes at Royal Holloway, University of London Anna Grigson, Peter Kiely, Graham Seaman and Tim Wales describe the implementation of an open source front end to the MetaLib federated search tool. Uncovering User Perceptions of Research Activity Data Cecilia Loureiro-Koechlin discusses the outcomes and lessons learned from user tests performed on the Oxford Blue Pages, a tool designed to display information about researchers and their activities at the University of Oxford. A Research Revolution: The Impact of Digital Technologies Dicky Maidment-Otlet and Judy Redfearn describe a new JISC activity to highlight how digital technologies are changing research. Abstract Modelling of Digital Identifiers Nick Nicholas, Nigel Ward and Kerry Blinco present an information model of digital identifiers, to help bring clarity to the vocabulary debates from which this field has suffered. eBooks: Tipping or Vanishing Point? Emma Tonkin investigates ebooks and takes a look at recent technological and business developments in this area. Intranet Management: Divine Comedy or Strategic Imperative? Martin White suggests that a failure to recognise the value of intranets is a symptom of a failure to recognise information as a strategic asset. ... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:30:08 +0100 819099 http://www.lisnews.org/files/DousingFirewalls.pdf Click on "Read More" to see the column as well as to get to the download link for the PDF version.By Stephen Michael Kellat, MSLSHead Writer, Erie Looking ProductionsSometimes I miss trends. When it comes to information science and policy, that is not hard to do. While noted in LISTen 106 that we were not sure where trend lines were going, further news since the release of the episode has helped show where things are going.The notion of a country cutting itself off from what it deems objectionable on the Internet previously was restricted to the People's Republic of China. The efforts of Senator Stephen Conroy in Australia have already shown that even countries outside the Communist sphere can consider the possibility of removing access from the proletariat to things the leadership deems unacceptable. The recent letters by Senator Conroy to Google requesting the removal of access to a few YouTube videos within Australia already show that what was previously deemed dangerous yet fruitless talk can eventually produce action.Librarians often worry about how to surmount barriers like this. Considering the current paradigms of the profession, solutions are likely not obvious. While new technology and talk of “the cloud” may reign, falling back to older technology may provide the easiest solutions.With the lack of any known criteria for how Senator Conroy's ministry may seek the withdrawal of access to a site, LISNews quite frankly stands at risk even while we have a distinct audience presence in Australasia. Having access to LISNews disappear would remove a chunk of the profession within the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules world from part of the realm of cultural discourse. Without any known appeal procedures, Blake would be left with part of the site's audience irretrievably gone. ... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:42:12 +0100 819637 http://lisnews.org/files/DousingFirewalls.pdf Click on "Read More" to see the column as well as to get to the download link for the PDF version.By Stephen Michael Kellat, MSLSHead Writer, Erie Looking ProductionsSometimes I miss trends. When it comes to information science and policy, that is not hard to do. While noted in LISTen 106 that we were not sure where trend lines were going, further news since the release of the episode has helped show where things are going.The notion of a country cutting itself off from what it deems objectionable on the Internet previously was restricted to the People's Republic of China. The efforts of Senator Stephen Conroy in Australia have already shown that even countries outside the Communist sphere can consider the possibility of removing access from the proletariat to things the leadership deems unacceptable. The recent letters by Senator Conroy to Google requesting the removal of access to a few YouTube videos within Australia already show that what was previously deemed dangerous yet fruitless talk can eventually produce action.Librarians often worry about how to surmount barriers like this. Considering the current paradigms of the profession, solutions are likely not obvious. While new technology and talk of “the cloud” may reign, falling back to older technology may provide the easiest solutions.With the lack of any known criteria for how Senator Conroy's ministry may seek the withdrawal of access to a site, LISNews quite frankly stands at risk even while we have a distinct audience presence in Australasia. Having access to LISNews disappear would remove a chunk of the profession within the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules world from part of the realm of cultural discourse. Without any known appeal procedures, Blake would be left with part of the site's audience irretrievably gone. ... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:42:12 +0100 819049 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/7JWA67ifdHc/ I have read about 2500 books. Print books. I have only read 2.5 ebooks on my new Kindle. In this fourth post in my Kindle shakedown series, I consider the Kindle book reading experience. Given my history with print it is not surprising that I maintain a preference for it, but I enjoy reading on the Kindle more than I expected. A primary reason for getting an ereader was my interest in reading the work of indie writers publishing via ebooks. Like many others, writer Cliff Burns was frustrated with the traditional publishing establishment and distributed his novel, So Dark the Night, full-length on the web. I was unwilling to read a 449 page PDF on my laptop. Reluctantly, I printed it, two pages to a side, two-sided. It was the first time I thought about getting an ereader. When I finally got a Kindle last Christmas, the first book I looked at was Burn’s PDF. It looked better when I used the Kindle’s screen rotation to view it horizontally. I had planned to buy the print version of Doctorow’s Makers, but once I had the Kindle I took advantage of the ebook download he distributes for free for publicity. I did not finish this selection but I do not attribute it to the ereader. The premise of the story was good, the writing was fine, but I am inclined to leave books that do not hook me by the hundredth page. The same thing could have happened with a print book. I have since read two more ebooks with greater satisfaction. For the most part, I felt like I was reading a book, only a bit slower. I suspect my base reading skills are being rewired just slightly, like the experience of seeing through a new pair of glasses. Sometimes I scan pages when I read, but on the Kindle I was forced to click ahead one page at a time, and could not easily jump back and forth over multiple pages. I would hate to cram a textbook this way. I prefer page numbers but can live with the Kindle’s “locations”. ... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:46:20 +0100 819085 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/kkJF/~3/CoicZ0vaT8w/de-nieuwe-keen-een-interview.html Dit interview verscheen eerder in Digitale Bibliotheek 1,  2010. In Digitale Bibliotheek 3, 2009 stond een interview met David Weinberger, auteur van het boek Everything is miscellaneous. Dat artikel opende met de woorden “Weinberger is een veelgevraagde spreker, die vaak wordt neergezet als de tegenpool van Andrew Keen. Door dat te stellen doe je de man echter tekort. Als je de boeken en artikelen van Weinberger leest, en zijn indrukwekkende cv bekijkt, zul je begrijpen dat deze man veel serieuzer genomen zou moeten worden dan Keen.“ Dit tamelijk ongenuanceerde oordeel over de auteur van het boek De @-cultuur was een reactie op het feit dat de man die zichzelf graag presenteert als ‘The Anti Christ of Silicon Valley’ zelf ook niet bepaald genuanceerd is. Een willekeurige selectie uit interviews en lezingen die Keen sinds 2007 gaf leert ons dat de auteur bewust de confrontatie zoekt met iedereen die enthousiast is over sociale media en het internet zoals we het nu kennen. Hij beschreef Web 2.0 ooit als “een grote utopische beweging”, die amateurs gelijk stelt aan experts. Dat is volgens hem een bedreiging voor creativiteit en onze cultuur. Het is echter niet alleen dit tegengeluid waarmee Keen de aandacht op zich heeft weten te vestigen. Zijn boodschap krijgt ook veel bijval. Zo sprak hij in november 2009 op het NVB Jaarcongres in Ede en zagen wij dat de commentaren op weblogs achteraf opvallend mild waren. Na afloop schreef Keen zelfs op Twitter (hij is zelf een fervent twitteraar): “Librarians give the best audience #nvb09 especially Dutch librarians”. Voldoende reden voor Digitale Bibliotheek om de auteur te interviewen. Het gesprek vond plaats op 7 december, via Skype. Dag meneer Keen, leuk u eindelijk eens spreken! Ik begreep dat u werkt aan een nieuw boek, Digital Vertigo. Verloopt het voorspoedig? Wel, ik ben nog maar net aan het boek begonnen en ik kan er alleen aan werken in mijn vrije tijd. ... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:20:00 +0100 819092 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/iRcS/~3/J__2pG6jN5g/lawgov-usa.html "Law.Gov is an effort to create a report documenting exactly what it would take to create a distributed registry and repository of all primary legal materials in the United States. By primary legal materials, we mean all materials that have the force of law and are part law-making including: briefs and opinions from the judiciary; reports, hearings, and laws from the legislative branch; and regulations, audits, grants, and other materials from the executive branch. Creating the system from open source software building blocks will allow states and municipalities to make their materials available as well. Law.Gov would be similar to Data.Gov, providing bulk data and feeds to commercial, non-commercial, and governmental organizations wishing to build web sites, operate legal information services, or otherwise use the raw materials of our democracy" (Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:41:31 +0100 819030 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/15829 Hi Kelly, Have you looked at DSpace, Fedora, Eprints or CDS Invenio? They're all open source and usually conform to Digital Repository standards like OAIS or Dublin Core. -Andrew On 16-Feb-10, at 7:32 PM, Kelly McElroy wrote: (Source: gmane.education.web4lib) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 818987 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/15830 I also heard something about Rescarta Foundation: http://www.rescarta.com/ It's open source and free as well. I haven't tried it out myself, but looks like they're a fine tool as well. Several examples: http://198.111.166.82:8080/ResCarta-Web/jsp/RcWebBrowse.jsp http://www.ecpubliclibrary.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=67&Itemid=193 http://www.flhiddentreasures.com/ ranti. On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 7:41 PM, Andrew Hankinson <andrew.hankinson-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w< at >public.gmane.org> wrote: (Source: gmane.education.web4lib) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 818986 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/15831 Oxfam commissioned a rather nice DAM that they've since made open source. I used ResourceSpace <http://www.resourcespace.org/about.php> last summer while organizing an advertising agency's image collections, and I was pretty pleased with the interface and affordances. It did require some PHP coding on the backend, though, so make sure you have someone on board who can cover that. Katie-Rose On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 9:03 PM, Ranti Junus <ranti.junus-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w< at >public.gmane.org> wrote: (Source: gmane.education.web4lib) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 818985 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/16/online-lectures-20-worthwhile-talks-on-the-future-of-information/ They’ve done it again. The team at Onlinecollege.org has once again compiled a great list of resources. This time the list is of 20 lectures (from various years and dates) dealing with the future of information. Here’s a list of the 20 lectures. You’ll find direct links to each lecture on this web page. Freedom of Information These lectures address information accessibility issues, especially those involving open media and the web. + Open-source economics: Yochai Benkler + Future of the Digital Commons + Brewster Kahle builds a free digital library + Jimmy Wales on the birth of Wikipedia + The Future of America’s Libraries: David Seaman + Richard Baraniuk on open-source learning + The Promise of Open Media in Iran + Internet Censorship and the Giant Firewall of China: Information Technology Learn more about the technologies being developed to manage information through these lectures. + Erik Hersman on reporting crisis via texting + Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos Photosynth + Transformation: From Newspapers to the New Newsmakers + Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology + Stunning data visualization in the AlloSphere + New Technologies Serving Educational Goals Information and the Web Learn what a big role the Internet will play in the future of information sharing, security and management from these talks .+ Information Security: Why Cybercriminals are Smiling + The Past, Present and Future of Google + Tyranny of E-mail: The 4,000 Year Journey to Your Inbox + Tim Berners-Lee on the next Web + Blogosphere: Who’s Talking?: Source: Onlinecollege.org (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:30:30 +0100 818920 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web2learning/YOVk/~3/qFD8v9kNq6A/3574 Over my years of working with Koha and libraries using Koha I have learned a lot. One of those things is that libraries need to understand that switching to an open source ILS is a game changing experience. You no longer follow the same rules you followed when with a proprietary vendor – in so very many ways. Owen Leonard (who’s library has recently switched support vendors – but not their ILS software) has a post at the Koha Blog that talks about how libraries need to take ownership of their ILS when using open source. One of the promises of using Koha or any other Open Source ILS is that you’re not tied any one support company. “No vendor lock-in.” But it’s important to understand that this isn’t a promise that libraries can take for granted–in particular, libraries who contract with a support company for hosting of their Koha system. We need to be aware of what that means in practical terms and be prepared to put that promise to the test when the time comes. There are steps that we can take to make sure we’re protecting our own interests. Owen goes on to list the ways librarians can take ownership of their ILS: Insist on access to your database Know what’s going on in the background Insist that any development you sponsor be released to the Koha community Read the entire post for some awesome pointers on how to be in control of your system – after all you chose open source for a change – and that means much more than a software change. Technorati Tags: koha, open source ils, open source (Source: What I Learned Today...) Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:42:06 +0100 819062 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LibrariansMatter/~3/wn4x-uKl8lo/ My main takeaway from VALA2010 is that I am at a spot in my life at the moment where what is happening to me domestically is more important than what is happening in library technology. I’ve been trying to blog about it since January and I keep writing that kind of TL;DR post that just makes the author look like a self-absorbed sook… Anyhow, here are my main takeaways. I’ve tried not to repeat too many of Mal Booth’s list that he pushed out on twitter, to be subject of a later blog post I believe… I don’t know everything that all libraries are doing, so if I don’t mention it here, feel free to jump in the comments… 1. Publishing, broadcasting, libraries, museums, galleries are converging as content user and content producer turn into the same person, use digital techniques and focus on the local. If libraries don’t better define what we do and form partnerships, we’ll get lost in the squeeze. 2. Linked Data is sexeh, sexeh, sexeh. Libraries connect information and people. Where are the Australian library efforts to get our authoritative data as nodes in the Linking Open Data project? (Since I first blogged about this in April 2008, it looks like Library of Congress is doing something about this also the German National Library has put their person authority data in Wikipedia, thus making it a node via DBpedia . In Australia, libraries putting images on Flickr is a fine start, but should we be adding to the list of Austalian Open Government datasets a bit more?) 3. Data mining and human metadata need to both play nicely in the sandbox .We provide information to suit the subject bias of our parent organisation. This has traditionally been by human effort assigning individual metadata to items. ... Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:53:49 +0100 818263 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LibraryVoice/~3/3p0pqaLJwV8/are-blog-comments-necessary-or-just-a-pain Click to see my blog spam Web Worker Daily has a post where they ask “Are Blog Comments Worth It?”  I often ask the same question, particularly with the comments I get on my Business Blog.  The Business Blog is primarily aimed at the faculty and students that I work with, although I do believe most of the hits to the blog come through search engine traffic.  While the blog has a modest 150+ subscribers (again, not likely my intended audience), I don’t get many comments from those readers.  Instead, I typically get comments like the ones that appear in the image in this post.  These comments get through the spam filter because  they are submitted by a human.  As you can see from the image, most commenters don’t have anything relevant to say but are simply looking for a link back to their own blogs.  The page ranking for the Business Blog is pretty high, so others are simply trying to cash in on the high Google indexing.  Since I moderate all comments on the Business Blog, these comments tend to sit until I get a chance to delete them all without approval.  I suppose if the Business Blog received more comments that were actually relevant, this would be more of a pain to deal with. I do have a commenting policy, but have only recently linked it on the comment submission form. We’ll see if that fixes things a bit.  I have also closed comments on the Business Blog for posts older than 60 days, and that seems to have reduced the quantity of these irrelevant replies. Here at Library Voice, comments remain open and un-moderated.  The Akismet spam filter for WordPress does a decent job at getting the really nasty stuff, and the comments with links get held for moderation automatically.  This blog doesn’t get nearly the comments as other library/tech blogs (though comments are welcome!   ), so I don’t have to worry so much about spam and trolls. ... Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:35:27 +0100 817924 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechsourceBlog/~3/WPYewU-cbfo/techtrends-webinar.html Our webinar, TechTrends: Midwinter 2010, was a huge success! We had some great presentations and some lively discussion. We tackled some exciting topics. Just to name a few: Vendor presence at the webinar--who was there and, just as importantly, who wasn't there. Exciting new eBook platforms/software and their potential for libraries Augmented reality Mobile PACs and library mobile services in general Discovery systems Libraries adopting open source software FourSquare and its potential for libraries Discussion wove in and out of these and other topics, and we wrapped up with a vibrant Q&A. Discussion on twitter (#TTWebinar) was also lively. We want to extend a special thanks to everyone who attended, and give a special thanks to presnters Sean Fitzpatrick, Jason Griffey, Greg Landgraf and Kate Sheehan, and to our sponsor the SirsiDynix Institute, as well as co-sponsors LITA and American Libraries. We will be posting an archive of the webinar to our website in the next few weeks, and will be sure to announce that posting on this blog and on Twitter. (Source: ALA TechSource Blog) Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:19:04 +0100 817853 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/talis/panlibus/~3/qjn6SLeD9UE/talis-news-for-academic-libraries-february-2010.php This month Talis is proud to announce its accreditation on the e4libraries scheme, recognising Talis’ ongoing commitment to electronic trading. Our products are also moving forward – the Talis Decisions Universes are available for download, and Talis Assure 1.3 is progressing well through beta test. And we’d love to hear from you if you’re interested in beta testing the Talis Alto Client Release during March. Alison Kershaw, Head of Products News from Talis Talis gains e4libraries accreditation Talis is now an accredited e4libraries supplier, under a scheme introduced by BIC. The accreditation acknowledges the strengths of Talis’ supply chain management suite, comprising Talis Gateway, which supports the full EDI procurement cycle, Talis Keystone finance and CRM system integration, and RFID interoperability. University of Chichester goes live with Prism 3 The University of Chichester has gone live with Prism 3.The university will run in parallel with Prism 2 for a short trial period, before moving to Prism 3 as its default catalogue. If you’d like to know more, a recent Talis Prism 3 development webinar is now available to view or download. Talis Assure is in beta test Talis Assure 1.3 beta test is making good progress in the three participating libraries, and is expected to be available on general release at the end of February. Talis Alto Client Release – Call for beta testers We are now working on a client-only release of Talis Alto, which will not involve a server upgrade. Libraries must already be running Talis Alto 5.0 to take this release. If your library is interested in beta testing this release during March, please contact Anne Stacey. Upgrading to Talis Alto 5.0 Fourteen academic libraries have now upgraded to Talis Alto 5.0. We advise those customers thinking of upgrading during the Easter or summer holidays to contact their account manager to schedule a date. ... Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:54:49 +0100 817666 http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6718921.html?rssid=191 Plan was in the works before PTFS/LibLime deal developed. (Source: Library Journal News) Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:00:00 +0100 817663 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/web2learning/YOVk/~3/iH_8Btu2VoA/3561 Libki.orgLibki is a Computer Kiosk Management System available as Free Open Source Software. IdeaScaleIdeaScale empowers communities to drive innovation. Collect ideas from your customers, give them a platform to vote, the most important ideas bubble to the top. More of my links (Source: What I Learned Today...) Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:02:02 +0100 818197 http://zenformation.blogspot.com/2010/02/consumer-confidence-which-consumers-on.html The astronomical growth in the wealth and cultural influence of multinational corporations over the last fifteen years can arguably be traced back to a single, seemingly innocuous idea developed by management theorists in the mid-1980s: that successful corporations must primarily produce brands, as opposed to products.- NAOMI KLEIN, from No Logo(2000, Full e-Text Here)OXFORD, Ohio (ZP) -- I'm not what anybody in their right mind would consider to be a man driven by consumerism.In fact, I'm quite the anti-consumer, especially when my infrequent forays into luxury spending are weighed against the downright gluttonous behavior of a good portion of my countrymen at the hog trough of reckless capitalism.A few DVDs, books, the occasional magazine or candy bar.Yup. That's about it.Not that I'm bragging or talking shit - that's not my point. I've always been like this. I've never really seen the point in spending money on things - often junk - that contribute nothing to my well-being or to that of my neighbors.I don't buy clothes for anything as silly and bourgeoisie as style; I consume my basic wardrobe of jeans and tee-shirts as thriftily (often second-hand or in the form of gifts) as possible, based on need, digest them slowly over years until the fabric's threadbare and the holes in the pockets can no longer be restitched.That's right. I said restitched. I'm lousy with a needle and thread, but I know at least how to sew on a button of fix a tear. I see no sense in wasting that which I have so carefully digested.Hell, my Baltimore Orioles baseball cap - the "lucky" one (not for the Os, obviously) my parents bought me at a game at the old Memorial Stadium - is roughly the same age as my last girlfriend. And, as ratty as the damned thing is, I'll probably keep wearing it until it rots into oblivion, or I do.I'm a notoriously cheap fucking bastard. Emphasis on the fucking bastard. ... Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 819736 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/mleggott/loomware/~3/LhDlLxcDeRA/relais-backtracks-on-open-source-commitment.html I couldn't find this recent press release on the Relais website, so have pasted in the original e-mail release below. Probably best for me not to comment beyond the lack of surprise that Relais has no open source product, or even a strategy, 2 years after announcing their intentions. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 8, 2010 Update on Relais and Open Source In 2008 Relais International announced that we would make parts of our Relais products open source. This has however remained a low priority for us in light of other commitments to customers; as a result we have not yet made a release under an open source license. Currently our resources are focussed on the launch of Relais D2D – Discovery to Delivery - we will provide an update on the status of an open source license by the end of 2010 after the implementation of Relais D2D. Relais International remains fully committed to ensuring our products, including Relais D2D, are open. This affords our customers the maximum flexibility in integrating Relais with systems in their own libraries. To this end Relais actively supports well known library standards such as NCIP, Z39.50, OpenURL and ISO 10160/1 (ISO ILL). In addition we offer and continue to develop web services to facilitate interaction between disparate systems – for example the ability to add and query requests. Relais™ International Inc is based in Ottawa, Canada and has been selling systems to support resource sharing, interlibrary loan and document delivery services since 1996. Relais International (www.relais-intl.com) assists libraries in implementing intelligent and automated methods to support requesting through to delivery of documents. Relais products range from scanning stations through to fully integrated request management, scanning and delivery software suitable for a single library through to a consortium. For more details contact: Dan Denault dan.denault@relais-intl. ... Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 817904 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/researchbuzz/main/~3/wCV8jKn8V90/ Hey! This looks pretty handy. The Open Educational Resources Center for California has a pretty unusual URL — http://grou.ps/oercenter/ — but a nice collection of resources that goes into open source education and a little beyond. The front of this site has a great left nav that leads you to seven different resources for finding open textbooks, four each for open educational resources and open courseware, five resources for open media, and two resources for open quizzes. The front page also has some information on the open education movement and links to additional resources. Looking for something more specific? You can get category links to over 400 open textbooks here. While you’re at the site, check out the Five Steps to Open Textbook Adoption and the goals of the OER Center for California. It’s a little sad; there’s a forum here but nobody’s participating in it, and the site itself feels a bit empty. Maybe take the ebook resources and turn them into a custom search engine? (Source: ResearchBuzz) Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:23:28 +0100 819195 http://dltj.org/article/xc-developers/ Last month, the eXtensible Catalog (XC) project posted job openings for Java developers. These are short-term, grant-funded projects and, having been on the hiring side of that equation before myself, I know how difficult it is to get good people for a one- or two-year project. The XC posting is different, though, in one important way: it is possible to have XC buy out the time of a developer on staff for the time that the development is happening.Consideration will be made for qualified developers that are currently employed at another institution, but who may be available for loan to the XCO [eXtensible Catalog Organization]. The XCO would cover the salary and benefits of such individuals in the form of a direct payment to their host institution. This is an excellent opportunity for a library to invest in open-source software for libraries as well as a way to temporarily offset staffing costs in a difficult economic environment. Only staff that can be made available to XCO at 100% time (or close to that level) will be considered for this arrangement.This is also an excellent way for the project to begin the process of building an open source community that will sustain development effort beyond the grant-funded period. What better way to build community that to infuse project work into people that will then return back to full-time work at their home institutions.I’m curious to see how this plays out…Post from: Disruptive Library Technology JesterExtensible Catalog Project Seeking Developers in Innovative Ways (Source: Disruptive Library Technology Jester) Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:05:47 +0100 818808 http://www.slaw.ca/2010/02/11/citability-org/ In the U.S. there’s a League of Technical Voters the aim of which is to motivate and assist “technical experts to improve lawmaking and governmental process.” Citability.org, a project supported by that league and other organizations, is tackling one small part of the lawmaking-improvement process by urging “advanced permalinks” on American legislatures. Their complaints about the situation outside commercial databases are familiar: links to statutes too often go to large PDF files; where there are HTML files of legislation online, it isn’t possible to link to particular clauses within the legislation when legislation changes, earlier online versions of provisions are lost and old links may no longer work This is something we’ve had a go at on Slaw from time to time, the last occasion being a discussion on linking to a section in our Criminal Code. In that specific case, i.e. the case of the Code, CanLII stepped in with a beautifully rendered, detailed, hyperlinked table of contents; and Maureen Heeny drew our attention to the fact that the federal laws site has a guide on how to construct links to sections of federal legislation. This latter is helpful, of course, but not the simple solution that is needed: it ought to be the case that anyone reading a statute online can find a permalink to any provision (section, clause, subclause, etc.) without fuss or bother. The technology is available. As Citability.org points out, U.K. legislation is further along in that the acts have hyperlinked tables of contents to each section, making it fairly easy to take the URL for that section. Citability.org is planning its second “codathon” in (snowy) Washington, D.C., for February 26-28, inviting programmers to come together to create open source tools of universal application that will enable governments and citizens to find, cite, and re-find the rules of law. (Source: Slaw) Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:31:13 +0100 818292 http://centeredlibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/02/open-office-32-ships-and-logs-300000000.html The OpenOffice.org Community this morning announced the release of the latest version of its personal productivity suite, and announced that the software has been downloaded 300 million times in total since its public debut in April 2002.Open Office is a free, open-source alternative to Microsoft’s Office desktop software suite, offering basic components of productivity tools such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, graphics, formula and database capabilities. In my experience, it is completely compatible with the Microsoft suite, as well.Oracle, OpenOffice’s main sponsor after its recent acquisition of Sun Microsystems, and other distributors, offers OpenOffice enterprise support with longer lifecycles.You can download the latest version of OpenOffice here. (Source: The Centered Librarian) Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 817199 http://www.librarywebchic.net/wordpress/2010/02/10/learning-about-subversion/ One of the things I’m learning about for the new job is version control systems. This was something that was on my list of stuff to learn about learn about long before I started at OCLC. Way too many times I’ve overwritten working code and not been able to go back. Also as the development shop grew at UH so did the likelihood that those of us coding would step on each other toes. So I started looking at version control systems CVS, Subversion, Git, etc. Understanding how these systems work on a 10,000 foot level isn’t that difficult, but understand the principles of how one might interact with one of these systems to build open source software are more elusive to me. I’m starting to get my head wrapped around it bit by bit. But I need more information. So I thought I’d look for a book that would be helpful. The problem is that physical books take time to acquire and ebooks well I’ve complained about my unwillingness to purchase DRM’d device specific ebooks before. What I was hoping for was that Packt Publishing whom I’ve purchased DRM-free ebooks before would have a book that met my needs. Unfortunately the book that looked the most promising was one from O’Reilly and not available at a library nearby. However, in trying to determined if it REALLY had the information I wanted I discovered that a PDF version was freely available. So I was able to get it quickly, consume it in digestible chunks, and not have to purchase the whole thing if I don’t need it. Major thumbs up. Also discovered that I can buy ebooks directly from O’Reilly in a variety of formats that seem to be device independant. Increasingly tempted by thought of an ereader. But also tempted by Safari Tech Books online in order to get access to a variety of tech ebooks. Choices, choices… (Source: Library Web Chic) Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:11:53 +0100 817918 http://enmarchaconlastic.educarex.es/2010/02/10/cursos_cpr_semana_del_08022010_al_14022010/ Esta semana, tenemos cursos relacionados con las nuevas tecnologías en los CPRS de Azuaga, Badajoz, Brozas, Cáceres, Caminomorisco, Castuera, Don Benito-Villanueva, Hoyos, Jaraiz de La Vera, Mérida, Plasencia, Talarrubias, Trujillo y Zafra. CPR Curso CPR de Azuaga La utilización de las TIC en el IES Bembézar CPR de Azuaga Seminario de Profesores TIC de Secundaria CPR de Azuaga Escuela 2.0: Nuevas Aulas Tecnológicas. IESO Cuatro Villas CPR de Badajoz CURSO: “LA WEB 2.0: REDES SOCIALES” CPR de Badajoz CURSO:”LABORATORIO VIRTUAL DE LECTOESCRITURA” CPR de Brozas Redes socioeducativas. Un enfoque dialógico en la construcción de comunidades CPR de Cáceres Elaboración de objetos digitales educativos con el Constructor de Atenex CPR de Cáceres “eXeLearning: Generador de U.D. Multimedia” CPR de Cáceres AULA ABIERTA: “JÓVENES EN RED: Potencialidades y riesgos de las Redes Sociales”. CPR de Cáceres “Buenas prácticas TIC en las AFC de Informática” CPR de Cáceres Herramientas Docentes Y Web 2.0 CPR de Cáceres Enseñar con la Pizarra Digital Interactiva CPR de Caminomorisco INTRODUCCIÓN A LA ANIMACIÓN CON FLASH CPR de Castuera FORMACIÓN PARTICIPANTES PROYECTO ATENEA. CEIP TENA ARTIGAS. CASTUERA CPR de Don Benito-Villanueva Escuela 2.0: Nuevas Aulas Tecnológicas CPR de Hoyos Iniciacin a LinEx CPR de Jaraiz de La Vera Curso sobre LinEx 2009-2010 CPR de Mérida Introducción al Adobe Premier CPR de Plasencia CURSO PORTAL WEB DEL IES Nº6 PLASENCIA CPR de Plasencia CURSO DE PROGRAMACIÓN WEB PARA DISPOSITIVOS MÓVILES CPR de Talarrubias ESCUELA 2.0: NUEVAS AULAS TECNOLÓGICAS. IES SIBERIA EXTREMEÑA CPR de Trujillo SEMINARIO: ELABORACIÓN DE MATERIALES PARA EL USO DE LA PIZARRA DIGITAL CPR de Trujillo SEMINARIO: “HERRAMIENTAS INFORMÁTICAS PARA LOS CENTROS DE ADULTOS” CPR de Zafra Escuela 2.0. ... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:07:06 +0100 817052 http://www.lpi.usra.edu/library/n_n.html Need to put a collection on the Web? Collective Access is a free open-source tool to do just that.CollectiveAccess is a highly configurable cataloguing tool and web-based application for museums, archives and digital collections. Available free of charge under the GPL open-source license, it requires little to no custom programming to support a variety of metadata standards, external data sources and repositories, as well as most popular media formats. In addition to multilingual cataloguing facilities, it allows publication of this data in the languages of your choice. (Source: New) Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:30:44 +0100 818578 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LibrariansMatter/~3/lscc93zPCNM/ Today I gave my Big Paper, the one I’ve known I’ve had to do since November 2008, the one that enabled me to go on the seven weeks’ overseas Trip of a Lifetime. I think I have lived with it for so long that I had gone beyond being nervous – which I made me feel a bit uncomfortable, because I think that nervous feeling makes me strive harder… The title: Taking matters into our own hands: influencing factors and concerning factors for libraries that developed their own Open Source Software . I was planning to Ustream it, but I think the wifi in the conf venue will be flakey. If it is not, try http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kathrynarium around 10:30am Australian Eastern Standard Time. For the paper, I interviewed managers who supported, and developers who coded: Scriblio SOPAC2 Evergreen Koha VuFind Blacklight These were bold, adventurous folk who went out on a limb and created something for the rest of us. They were the type of people that it was exciting to just be in the same room with. I also interviewed six librarians who were involved in specifying the Open Library Project. I wanted to find out three things: 1. Why they developed their Open Source Software? 2. What were the risks? 3. How can what they learned be used by libraries thinking of adopting Open Source Software? To keep it standardised, I took out of the formal literature a bunch of reasons given for libraries to develop/adopt OSS and another bunch of risks. I then asked my participants whether these reasons claimed to be influential actually were – and whether there were other factors. I will put up a link to my paper when it becomes available. After VALA has finished I will write a post explaining the 10 things that are valuable for libraries thinking of adopting software. I will be submitting a more detailed version – with more quotes from the interviewees – as my Masters’ Thesis in June this year. ... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:00:04 +0100 818264 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LibrariansMatter/~3/he5COsgHh6E/ I’m looking forward to Marshall Breeding’s keynote this morning: Blending evolution with revolution: a new cycle of library automation spins on Based on his ongoing research and analysis of the product, technology, and business trends of the library automation industry, Marshall Breeding will give his perspective on the current state of the field and what libraries can expect over the next few years. While some companies will continue a stable and evolutionary path, others articulate more dramatic changes in their strategies. Open source ILS options have already repainted the landscape, with new community source projects underway that promise additional change. The industry drives forward on two fronts, one focusing on automating internal library processes and the other providing new ways for users to discovery and access library collections. Major tech trends such as the rapid rise in smart mobile devices, the shift from local computing to platform-as-a-service cloud computing bring new mandates of change that demand new directions of innovation. These cycles all turn within an economic climate that presents great challenges in the levels of resources that libraries can bring to the table. I snuck into his “L Plate” session about Discovery Layers and from the back of the room, I watched the heads nodding in agreement as he very strongly critiqued the web interface that many librarians accept for (and even want to inflict on)  their users. ... Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:54:13 +0100 818266 http://www.betabib.org/2010/02/09/ex-libris-tar-over/ Ex Libris Further Expands Its European Organization with the acquisition of the company’s Scandinavian distributor … alltså Fujitsu Services A/S Library Division som har hand om ca. 200 kunder i Skandinavien med Ex Libris produkter. Sedan jag hörde talas om Ex Libris förvärv av den italienska regionala distributören har jag undrat över Fujitsus framtid som en del av Ex Libris. Det gick kanske något snabbare än vad jag trott och på det stora hela tror jag det är bra. Såvitt jag förstår tar Ex Libris över alla kunder och Fujitsus tidigare organisation dvs vi borde inte märka av någon skillnad i den support och service vi har idag från Fujitsu/Ex Libris. Den stora skillnaden är dock att våra lokala support hamnar i linje med Ex Libris. Det borde betyda att vi enklare har åtkomst till Ex Libris kundsystem och när företaget annonserar ut något borde detta gälla även oss. Då vi nu får vår service direkt från Moderskeppet. Det borde även betyda att när man har kontakt med Ex Libris Product Managers via användargruppsmöten och de säger saker att detta med självklarhet även gäller Skandinavienkontoret. Det kan inte ha varit lätt att vara Fujitsu på sistonde. I en tid när Ex Libris går mer mot globala delade system där beslut och anpassning sker långt från Fujitsus kontroll. Där jag föreställer mig att de regionala distributörerna ibland fått information mycket kort före kunderna om förändringar som påverkar dem mycket. Att Fujitsus personal nu hamnar på moderskeppet borde betyda bättre internkommunikation, rakare kanaler och tydligare ansvarsfördelningar. Det tror jag är mycket bra. (Source: betabib) Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:18:55 +0100 818219 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/rHUHYjnoHsU/ The ereader is changing the way we read books, but it has yet to enhance the way we discover titles. I am in the middle of shaking down my new Kindle. The Kindle store only has about 300,000 titles, precious few considering that three times that number of new titles appear annually (Bowker’s, 2003, 2007). I could not find Nabokov’s Lolita, though I credit Amazon’s preparation for the Canadian Kindle release, stocking Giller prize winners such as MacIntyre’s The Bishop’s Man. Once I found a potential purchase, the online reviews were useful, as was the free first chapter sent to my device. Traditional bookstores might find it worrisome that I almost purchased a book off their shelves, till I remembered I had a Kindle and purchased the ebook for half the price. The Kindle store is linked to the reading management software running on the ereader. I tested deleting my purchased content — the program restored it, apparently synchronizing with my account at the bookstore; nice. Still, I get an unnerving feeling from most proprietary software. Where the proprietor giveth will it also taketh? It is a complicated feeling. Consider digital rights management (DRM), the software Amazon uses to try to protect its content. On the one hand, I respect the right of authors, publishers and distributors to protect and profit from their work. I genuinely prefer to pay for my books. On the other hand, DRM often seems at least silly. It is easy to hack, and it filters out authors who would prefer to be DRM-free for self-promotion. Quick to protect its own rights, when it comes to ebooks, Amazon has been slow to respect book-sharing practices traditional in libraries and among friends, and negligent of author compensation for text-to-speech derivations. Not that all authors are worried about it. Some authors get the idea that protectionism can be detrimental to book discovery. ... Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:30:42 +0100 816617 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/15738 This looks like a good conference. "Unfortunately" I'm going to be presenting a workshop at a conference in Montpellier, France on the 28th. Feel my pain. Actually, the real reason for responding (although I changed the subject) was that I was wondering how others managed to go to conferences such as these across the pond (for those of us in North America). I've been on the planning committee for an open source organization (Jasig) conference for the past several years and the registration numbers for our upcoming and previous conference are way down. Most institutions just won't foot the bill to send people to conferences. Over the past couple of years it seems that almost every conference announcement I see eventually has a "registration deadline extended" post so I suspect that conferences in general are getting lower attendance figures. At my library I can essentially attend only one library funded conference a year (my attendance at one in Montpellier is being paid for by an externa (Source: gmane.education.web4lib) Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 816687 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/15753 Robert, Many of the problems we face in libraries are not simple. You can't just read a book to find a fix. Emailing people out of the blue can only get you so far. Having the opportunity to talk in depth with colleagues and vendors at conferences about common problems, and forming relationships that can lead to continued conversations (and even full-blown projects) after the conference is, I think, invaluable. It's an investment. And, like any investment, it may take time to pay off. For example, some of the contacts I've made at conferences over the last five years were critical to us implementing an open source system here to replace an older commercial system -- to the tune of $30k in annual savings. Was it worth it, then, for my employer to send me to those conferences? You bet, and then some! That being said, the State of California is not footing any conference travel for me this year. --Dave ================== David Walker Library Web Services Manager California State University http: (Source: gmane.education.web4lib) Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0100 816672 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/08/british-library-and-microsoft-announce-online-platform-for-collaborative-research/ From the Announcement: From 8 February 2010 the new open source ‘Research Information Centre’ (RIC) Framework v1.0 is available to download for free – http://ric.codeplex.com The RIC represents an entirely new way of conducting research by providing an online environment in which to navigate the unprecedented collection of digital information available to 21st century researchers. The RIC aims to maximise web technology to improve both flexibility and knowledge sharing for researchers, wherever they are in the world. The British Library and Microsoft Research have worked in partnership to design and develop a ‘virtual research environment’ that will provide a single easy-to-use interface enabling research teams to work collaboratively. The RIC will provide an environment in which users can create, share, discuss, manage, find and track articles, references, bookmarks, funding proposals, presentations and all the other digital information related to their research. “The RIC has amazing potential,” said Richard Boulderstone, Director of E-Strategy & Information Systems at the British Library. “Together with Microsoft and a selection of researcher-focussed development partners, we are building on the RIC research lifecycle framework to create a unique environment for biomedical research collaboration in the 21st Century.” Built using the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Platform, the binaries and source code are being made publicly available to encourage experimentation and use amongst the scientific community to develop the RIC’s foundation templates into an application that will offer support at every stage of the research life-cycle. The British Library is developing a RIC template that will incorporate a whole range of intuitive and customisable tools of relevance to biomedical research. ... Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:47:51 +0100 816472 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/02/08/superpower-your-browser-with-libx-and-zotero-open-source-tools-for-research/ A Note from Gary: Zotero is one of the most useful web research tools I’ve ever used. It’s worth money (that I would be willing to pay) but it continues to be made available at no charge. From the Article: by Jason Puckett, Librarian for Communication and User Education Technologies, Georgia State University, Most of our powerful research tools now exist on the Web, but libraries shouldn’t overlook the ability to add research features to the browser software itself. The extensible nature of the Firefox browser in particular makes it easy to install add-ons that help researchers at every stage of the research cycle, from search and discovery to writing and citation. Two such add-ons are LibX, which enhances the search process, and Zotero, which eases saving, organizing, and citing sources. The LibX search toolbar can be customized to search your library’s catalog and databases, insert library links into sites like Amazon and Wikipedia, and more. Zotero is a citation manager and bibliography creator that is as easy to use as iTunes. They run on any operating system that will run Firefox, and LibX will also work with Internet Explorer for Windows. Both plug-ins are free open source tools developed by universities for academic researchers. Source: C&RL News (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:01:33 +0100 816480 http://lisnews.org/google_person_finder_helping_haiti039s_survivors Since librarians are good at finding things (and people), you might want to consider adding Google Person Finder to your database. Here's info on the API, which is now available via open source. Google has a crisis response group that quickly went into action after the quake in Haiti in January, coordinating with groups internally and externally, including governmental and non-governmental authorities. A crisis response page was soon posted at here. It was realized there would be a need for a way to find out the status of family and friends who may have been impacted by the quake. As groups began to coalesce around this need, it was discovered that a Person Finder application had been created in the aftermath of the WTC attacks in 2001. Another was created in response to hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, a quick survey showed these applications could not be revived in a short time. However, they have since worked out the kinks and created a viable program. Google now cordially invites you to work with them in a coordinated effort to help the crisis relief efforts for the people of Haiti. (Source: LISNews.org) Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:13:39 +0100 816429