EBSCO A-to-Z®: Upcoming improvements to display of e-journals purchased through EBSCO

www.ebsco.com

On 5 April 2011, starting at 8:00 PM Eastern Time (6 April, 00:00 GMT), we will begin an upgrade to EBSCO A-to-Z that will improve how e-journals purchased through EBSCO are represented in the knowledge base and in your collection. This upgrade will make these titles easier to maintain and will help your users and staff to more easily locate these titles in your collection by clearly representing the journal in the context of its provider.

Currently, e-journals purchased through EBSCO display as a part of the E-Journals from EBSCO package within the A-to-Z Administrator Site Collection Editor and Title Wizard, as well as on the A-to-Z Reader Site. For example, the Sage Publications title American Politics Research (when ordered through EBSCO) would display on A-to-Z as part of the E-Journals from EBSCO package. After this upgrade, individual e-journals and e-journals in publisher packages purchased through EBSCO will be in the context of the appropriate publisher offering as represented in the A-to-Z Integrated Knowledge Base. In the previous example, American Politics Research would be displayed under the vendor Sage and in the appropriate e-journal package on both the Administrator and Reader Sites.
We expect this transition to take approximately 2 hours; therefore, if you are working within A-to-Z Administrator during this time, please note you may experience unexpected session timeouts.

In addition, if you applied proxy settings and notes/icons to an e-journal package or title that was formerly offered in the E-Journals from EBSCO package, these settings will NOT be applied to the new vendor or package (since they are usually not applicable). In the unlikely event that certain customizations, such as a note or icon, do apply to the new context as well, Customer Satisfaction will be happy to assist you by associating these settings for you upon request. Customer Satisfaction can be contacted at support@ebsco.com or by phone at (800)758-5995, option 2.
Please visit the context-sensitive help pages within A-to-Z Administrator for FAQs containing additional information regarding this transition.
Questions? Contact EBSCO Customer Satisfaction. Phone: (800) 758-5995, option 2 (U.S.A. and Canada), 00-800-3272-6000 (International Toll-Free), +1-978-356-6500, option 6 (International Toll). Support is available 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday. Email: support@ebsco.com.

Google Who? Despite legal roadblock in Google Books project, libraries might soon benefit from other digital search-and-retrieval services

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/03/28/new_library_tools_could_improve_digital_search_retrieval_services_despite_rejection_of_google_books_settlement

March 28, 2011
The Google Books project has been put on ice, delaying what some academic librarians had hoped would be a watershed moment in the accessibility and searchability of digital texts. But a pair of library services scheduled to be announced today show that even as the world’s most high-profile digital search-and-retrieval effort has been set back, smaller, academically oriented projects are hoping to continue making electronic texts more discoverable.

The first is from the HathiTrust Digital Library, a cooperative based at the University of Michigan that owes much of its 8.2-million-work collection to duplicate copies of books scanned by Google, and the popular journal and newspaper aggregator ProQuest, which are teaming up to let students and scholars conduct searches that query the full texts of every item in the HathiTrust archive. The second is from the Copyright Clearance Center, which is offering a digital retrieval service that it says will cut the lag time in delivering individual journal articles from five days to five minutes.

Officials at ProQuest and HathiTrust think their service could vastly improve the ability of students to find obscure but relevant book content using a search tool that is as simple to use as Google's. Most library search databases currently query only titles, authors, and “metatags” — keywords referring to certain themes in the work — says John Law, vice president of discovery services at Serial Solutions, the ProQuest division that developed the search tool, which is called Summon. That means books that might have relevant chapters or passages that are not accounted for in those basic identifiers are left out of search results.

But the new tool will use advanced algorithms, a la Google, to troll every word of every book, monograph, journal, and magazine held in the HathiTrust Digital Library that is also either in the library’s print collection or part of the “public domain,” a body of non-copyrighted works that comprises at least 20 percent of HathiTrust’s digital holdings. If the work is under copyright, Summon directs the user to where it can be found in the stacks. If it is in the public domain, Summon links to the full electronic text.

The idea is to make library catalog searches simpler and more like Google. Recent studies suggest that students tend to rely on the company’s popular search engine as a starting point for research. Andrew Asher, an anthropologist at the Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries (ERIAL) Project, has done research indicating that students, their expectations primed by Google’s simple search function and the faith it inspires, tend to favor similarly straightforward tools, even when doing academic research.

This finding has prompted different reactions within academe, with some saying librarians and professors need to do a better job steering students toward more discriminating scholarly research tools, and others saying that the methods popularized by Google are here to stay and libraries would do well to imitate the simple search in order to appeal to students.

Law, the Summon developer, falls in the latter camp. Princeton University, he says, presents students starting research projects with hundreds of possible starting points. While it is great that Princeton makes so many resources available to students, students can be paralyzed by choice, Law argues. “Libraries need to be as simple, easy and fast to access and use as commercial alternatives like Google,” he says. “Having a search box for the library that is easy for users is important.”

Imitating Google-type searches of libraries’ print holdings has been difficult. Aside from the obvious challenges of duplicating the effectiveness of the company’s closely guarded search formulas, many libraries simply do not own full digital texts of many of their print collections, and therefore have no choice but to rely on searches that troll through titles, abstracts, and metatags, rather than full texts. But by aggregating the digital copies from many different libraries in one searchable archive, HathiTrust — which was founded in 2008 and has quickly grown to include contributions from 52 research libraries — offers an unprecedented opportunity for libraries to search the full texts of works they own in print but have not digitized.

For example: Library A might not have a digital copy of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, but as long as Library B does, and has contributed it to HathiTrust, a student using the Summon tool for a research project on early American poetry at Library A might discover Tocqueville’s brief but insightful musings on “the sources of poetic inspiration in the democratic age” hidden deep in HathiTrust’s digital copy from Library B, even though it is doubtful that a search of titles and abstracts would have pointed her in the direction of the French political thinker.

A recent study by the Online Computer Resource Center predicts that by 2014 HathiTrust’s digital archive will mirror 60 percent of works currently held in print by the major U.S. research libraries.

The reach of the Summon service therefore stands to be significant, says Law. “It really is unlocking the hidden content in the library content,” he says. “It’s really going to have a massive, massive impact on libraries’ collections.”

Golden Retriever

Another offering for libraries scheduled to be announced today is a service from the Copyright Clearance Center, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit, called Get It Now. Designed to eliminate inefficiencies in inter-library lending of journal articles, Get It Now allows students who want to read articles from journals to which their libraries do not subscribe to get a digital copy of the article e-mailed to them in minutes, rather than having a librarian send away for a photocopied version from another library.

The old way tended to take 5 to 10 days, says Gerry Hanley, senior director for academic technology services at the California State University chancellor’s office, which has been piloting the service for a year. The new way takes 5 to 10 minutes.

Get It Now essentially allows college libraries to purchase individual articles for students for less than it would cost, on average, to get a copy made and sent from another library. “The service has been a boon to graduate students and faculty who have had access to a greater scope of digital content than what was previously available through licensed content agreements,” Hanley wrote in an e-mail.

Some journals do allow colleges to purchase single articles on demand, but by using the Copyright Clearance Center as an intermediary, colleges avoid the hassle of negotiating those discrete exchanges with different publishers, says Tim Bowen, a product manager at the center. And rather than paying publishers for each exchange with a credit card, the libraries would pay the Copyright Clearance Center for the articles students order each month.

During the California State pilot, the center has charged about $24 per article, according to Hanley. The cost to the university of ordering a copy through inter-library loan is often higher. The biggest part of that cost is royalties. As of 2005, the average cost of royalties for an article acquired through inter-library loan was about $29, says Hanley. In some cases it can run higher. And then there are the postage and labor costs.

“When a library adds up the various unit costs: rush fees and other marginal costs of an inter-library loan transaction, it is not uncommon to find that filling a request through inter-library loan can make this content some of the most expensive, per-use content, that a library purchases in the course of a year,” Hanley says.

However, Get It Now is not necessarily a super-saver, says Hanley. There are upfront costs to implementing the service, he says. And of course, when you make ordering articles quicker and easier — users need only to click on the “Get It Now” button in their library’s discovery engine to place an order — patrons might be more apt to do so. The delivery mechanism is more efficient, but Get It Now expands access more than it trims costs, Hanley says, noting that some California State libraries might have to charge user fees to help subsidize the expense.

“Since this service does carry a new cost for libraries, libraries have had to explore where they might find the cost savings in their budgets to cover the expense of offering the new patron-driven services,” Hanley says. “Publishers, too, have had to be flexible adopting a business model that supports selling content by the article. This is not an easy or comfortable adjustment for publishers or libraries to make, but both are necessary for new patron-driven services to flourish."

For the latest technology news and opinion from Inside Higher Ed, follow @IHEtech on Twitter.

— Steve Kolowich

IOP Publishing Librarian Insider News for Librarians December 2010 Issue 25

http://ej.iop.org/pdf-nfs/insider/2010_librarian_insider_25.pdf

Louisiana Library Association Annual Conference 2011 Wiki

http://llaconference2011.pbworks.com/w/page/30070830/FrontPage

LISWire: WorldCat Local offers more content from leading publishers

http://www.oclc.org/us/en/worldcatlocal/default.htm

BookFinder.com Journal: What is the value of book?

http://journal.bookfinder.com/2011/03/what-is-the-value-of-book.html

American Public Media Marketplace: Do you read self-published e-books?

http://www.publicinsightnetwork.org/form/marketplace/b271b0b9591c/do-you-read-self-published-e-books

LISTen: An LISNews.org Podcast -- Episode #146

http://lisnews.org/listen_lisnewsorg_podcast_episode_146

Librarians in Fashion

http://lisnews.org/librarians_fashion

Springer for Librarians - LibraryZone, Volume 6, Issue 1

http://www.springer.com/librarians?SGWID=0-117-0-0-0

LALINC - Louisiana Academic Librarians Discussion List - LUC 2011 Call for Presentations

http://appl003.lsu.edu/ocsweb/louishome.nsf/index

It’s time to start thinking about LUC 2011. Some of you may have attended LLA and some good ideas may have been sparked at the conference last week. COSUGI, the SirsiDynix Conference, is also coming up and some ideas may come up there too. So we are opening the call for presentations for LUC 2011 today.

Here are some specifics about LUC this year. It will be held on Thursday Oct. 13 and Friday Oct. 14 and it is tentatively scheduled at the same venue this year, Patrick Taylor Hall. The format will be the same in that we will go all day on Thursday and half the day on Friday. We will offer breakfast both days, snacks both days and lunch on Thursday. Also, we had such a good response to our reception the last two years that we will again host a reception on Thursday evening.

If you will be submitting a presentation for consideration please include your name, your job title, your institution, the title of the presentation and a brief description of the presentation. Submissions are due no later than Friday July 1, 2010. This will give us ample time to review the submissions, contact the presenters we elect and have the agenda complete prior to registration. We hope to open registration in mid July.

Please consider submitting a presentation. The success of LUC has always been due to the fact that we have great presenters stepping up and showcasing their knowledge. Let’s continue that tradition and submit your presentation.

Thanks and have a nice afternoon,
Marcy Stevens

eBook Browse

http://ebookbrowse.com/

EBSCOhost: Preview eBooks (formerly NetLIbrary)

http://ebookpreview-web.ebscohost.com/

Dear EBSCO Customer,

We have exciting news:  you now have access to a preview of the integration of eBooks on EBSCOhost, providing eBooks and EBSCO databases from a single source – EBSCOhost, the most-used interface in libraries worldwide.

As a subscriber of EBSCOhost and the newly-named eBooks on EBSCOhost (formerly NetLibrary), you can link to the preview of eBooks on EBSCOhost in either of the following ways:

• To view your own collection in the preview, use this URL: http://crm.ebscohost.com/app/crm/marketing/campaignlistener.nl?__lstr=__cl&c=392875&__h=95ae34b1558efd06e9d0&__r=7216445&eou=aHR0cDovL2Vib29rcHJldmlldy5lYnNjb2hvc3QuY29tL3dlYmF1dGgvbG9naW4uYXNweD9wcm9maWxlPWVob3N0JmFtcDtkZWZhdWx0ZGI9bmxiY3RzdA**&_od=aHR0cHM6Ly9mb3Jtcy5uZXRzdWl0ZS5jb20*&url=http://ebookpreview.ebscohost.com/webauth/login.aspx?profile=ehost&defaultdb=nlbctst

• To access a generic eBooks collection, go to the New Features area on EBSCOhost.

These key features of eBooks on EBSCOhost will enable you to:

• View the Table of Contents directly from the Result List and Detail Record

• Browse by subject, genre, etc.

• Enjoy the rich Result List with evaluative data

• Use the “search-within functionality” to search for specific terms within a book (a search will yield a list of hyperlinked pages)

• Examine documents more closely using the enhanced viewer

• Choose your checkout time when downloading eBooks, from a drop-down list with options such as one day, two days, etc. (if enabled by the library administrator)

• Libraries that have downloads enabled can view downloaded, checked-out books in the folder, including the amount of time left on active check-outs

• Libraries that have holds enabled can place holds on books that are in use by other patrons and will receive an email notification when it becomes available.

• Create and print your notes while viewing and reading eBooks, and save them for reference in your my EBSCOhost folder.
  
  Note:  All pages being printed or emailed will include the EBSCOhost watermark, copyright information, and citation information, and can be printed by chapter or section.

We hope that you enjoy this opportunity to become familiar with eBooks on EBSCOhost.  You will be notified once the final integration has been completed and in the meantime, we encourage you to provide your feedback on eBooks on EBSCOhost by taking our survey http://support.epnet.com/contact/surveys/index.php?sid=55897&lang=en .

Some notes about the use of this preview:

·         Changes to your collection will not be reflected within the preview environment and usage will not be tracked during the preview period. 

·         My EBSCOhost folder users must create a new and unique account for preview period use only.  Information stored, including username, password and eBook information, will be deleted once the preview ends, or in about three months.

·         Activity in this preview environment will not impact/affect your current live NetLibrary account, e.g., checkouts in the preview environment will not count as checkouts in the live NetLibrary environment.

Please visit EBSCO's Support Site (http://support.epnet.com/) to sign up for free, online training on how to get the most from your eBooks on EBSCOhost preview, and to learn about all of EBSCO's products.  Don’t miss the special eBooks Preview section of the NetLibrary Support Center, available here: http://support.ebsco.com/netlibrary/eBook_preview.php.   You may also communicate with Technical Support at any time, using the EBSCO Online Support Form.

Sincerely,


Marcie Brown, Technical Communications Manager
EBSCO Publishing
10 Estes Street
Ipswich, MA 01938

Message from Robert Stevens / ALA President on eBooks / March 4, 2011

Message to the ALA Executive Board, Council, Division and Round Table Leadership, Equitable Access to Electronic Content Task Force and OITP’s E-Book Subcommittee:

Recent developments in the e-book marketplace have underscored the importance of a model for e-book purchasing and lending that reflects the interests of all of the stakeholders: authors, publishers, booksellers, libraries and, ultimately, the public.

At the recent Midwinter Meeting, my president’s report identified the names of the members of the Equitable Access to Electronic Content task force, which was created in response to a Council resolution. The task force, chaired by Linda Crowe and Michael Porter, will be meeting in Washington next week for a working retreat that is being financially supported by ALA. Among other groups, they will get assistance from OITP’s E-Book subcommittee.

I do not take your concerns about changes in the e-book pricing approach lightly. However, due to the far-reaching and long-term effects, the task force deserves time to gather information and examine the complex issues involved in equitable access to electronic content, including e-books. We will receive their report at the Annual Conference and I look forward to our using it, as an association, to formulate actions that will ensure we have 21st century libraries to meet the needs of our users.

Meanwhile, please feel free to continue communicating your viewpoints to publishers and e-book distributors.

Thank you for speaking up.

Roberta Stevens

ALA President

Funding-and-PrioritiesThe-Library-Resource-Guide-Benchmark-Study-on-2011-Library-Spending-Plans

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B9_KwJdDOiGrNjMzMzg5MmItZDg2NC00M2IwLWE1NzUtMGFmZWVkOTBmMDJh&hl=en

Journal of the Louisiana Chapter of the ACRL Vol 1, No 3 (2011)

http://acrlla.org/journal/index.php/codex/issue/current

The Chronicle of Higher Education: It's Time for a National Digital-Library System but it can't serve only Elites!

http://chronicle.com/article/Its-Time-for-a-National/126489/

February 24, 2011

By David H. Rothman

Academic Impressions: Libraries and Copyright in a Digital Age :: Webcast Series

Learn more about how copyright law applies to digitization and reproduction of library materials.

http://www.academicimpressions.com/events/event_listing.php?i=1123&t=Overview&q=7779r427988xO101 

Copyright law affects library users today in unprecedented ways. Standard library activities, such as interlibrary loan and preservation copying, raise concerns for copyright holders, and yet the Copyright Act of 1976 recognized these as legitimate library activities - within certain parameters. The law has become dated as technology has advanced, and libraries now struggle to comply with its provisions while still serving their user communities.

Join us online for a two-part webcast as our expert instructors discuss the limitations and exclusive rights of the US Copyright Act that apply to digitization and reproduction of library materials and archives, as well as the new challenges for libraries with emerging technologies. We will use case studies throughout the program to help you test your knowledge and apply the concepts you're learning.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

Session 1: Preservation and Interlibrary Loan in a Digital Age
After participating in this webcast, you will be able to apply Section 108 of copyright law appropriately to preservation and ILL.

• Library exceptions to Section 108
• Reproduction and distribution of library materials
• Restriction on digital copies
• Options for required notice to users
• Commission on New Technological Uses (CONTU) guidelines for ILL
• Alternatives and recommendations

Session 2: New Challenges for Libraries with Emerging Technologies
After participating in this webcast, you will be able to apply licensing and fair use to new challenges for libraries with emerging technologies.

• Digital collections
• E-reserves
• Digital video reserves
• Digitization of images and other special collections
• Licensing challenges (Kindle and Netflix)

REGISTER FOR THE LIVE SESSION, PURCHASE A CD

Register online or call  720.488.6800  720.488.6800 . Want to share this valuable information with your colleagues? Register your institution for a single site connection and an unlimited number of people can participate.

You can also add this event to your training library by purchasing a CD recording of the live webcast and a bound set of the presentation materials. Questions? Call us to help determine if this event is right for you.

Future Webcasts
Using Social Media for Teaching and Learning April 25, 2011
Copyright and Faculty Rights May 12, 2011

Future Conferences
Using Assessment to Improve and Account for Student Learning March 24 - 25, 2011 | San Antonio, TX
Evaluating Academic Support Services for Continuous Improvement May 23 - 25, 2011 | San Diego, CA

ACADEMIC IMPRESSIONS   4643 South Ulster Street, Suite 350, Denver, Colorado 80237

Apply for graduate student stipends to attend "Beyond Books" through March 15th 2011

http://journalismthatmatters.org/biblionews/2011/03/03/fellowships

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Up to 10 fellowships, consisting of registration,

travel and lodging stipends for graduate students, are available to attend

"Beyond Books: News, Literacy, Democracy & America's Libraries," an

unprecedented collaboration of journalists and librarians set for April

6-8 at the MIT Center for Future Civic Media.

The two-day, agenda-setting work session and symposium will consider how

journalists and librarians can work together to promote civic engagement

and open information access.  It is designed to amplify the voices of

between 90 and 130 librarians, teachers, graduate students, journalists,

technologists, scholars and citizens in dialog, discussion and work.

The event is immediately before the National Conference for Media Reform,

in Boston, April 8-10. (https://mex07a.emailsrvr.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=5c90f01b1fa0474191b87ce87faa9deb&URL=http%3a%2f%2fconference.freepress.net )

HOW TO APPLY

Graduate students in library and information sciences or journalism are

eligible. Send an email to jtm@journalismthatmatters.org<mailto:jtm@journalismthatmatters.org> or register

directly for the gathering via https://mex07a.emailsrvr.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=5c90f01b1fa0474191b87ce87faa9deb&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.biblionews.org and choose the

$20 .request stipend. option.  Applications will be considered, and award

amounts determined, based on need, timeliness and the relevance of an

applicant’s experience or research focus.

For more information go to:

https://mex07a.emailsrvr.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=5c90f01b1fa0474191b87ce87faa9deb&URL=http%3a%2f%2fjournalismthatmatters.org%2fbiblionews%2f2011%2f03%2f03%2ffellowships%2f

Find out who's participating:

https://mex07a.emailsrvr.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=5c90f01b1fa0474191b87ce87faa9deb&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.journalismthatmatters.org%2fbiblionews%2fwhos-coming

DETAILS BELOW

==========================

Available funds will reimburse travel, lodging and registration expenses

of at least 10 "fellows" -- U.S. library or information-science graduate

students or recognized thought leaders (by publication or reputation)  in

civic engagement and open information access -- especially those with

knowledge of new media technologies.

"Beyond Books"  will inform next steps for designing and implementing a

possible national collaborative among, and training for, journalists,

libraries and museums on methods for improving open access to public

information and civic engagement -- consistent with the recommendations of

the 2009-2010 report of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of

Communities.

The event seeks to identity recruit,  and begin training journalists,

technologists and other members of the public to uncover, study and test

new methods of access to public information and civic engagement,

particularly in common purpose between and among libraries, journalists

and local news providers.  It will:

(a)   Outreach to library and information science thought leaders,

especially graduate students, for their participation both onsite and

through pre- and post-event virtual proceedings and networking.

(b)   Prepare, convene, report and provide post-event assessment and next

steps for "Beyond Books: News, Literacy, Democracy and America's

Libraries."

CONVENING PURPOSE / APPROACH

For three centuries -- in American towns large and small -- two

institutions have uniquely marked a commitment to participatory democracy,

learning and open inquiry -- our libraries and our free press.  Today,

economic and political realities -- or fashions -- invite a thoughtful

examination of their roles, and the opportunity for collaboration among

these two historic community information centers, one largely public, one

largely private.

With via a pre-event social network, an evening agenda-setting dialogue, a

day of roundtable planning and closing action commitments, we'll discover

what’s possible at the intersection of public spaces, open documents,

citizen reporting and journalistic purpose.  Among the questions we may

ask:

     * What might libraries do to facilitate community social news

       networks?

     * Must free speech be absolute within a taxpayer-supported

       institution?

     * Should librarians be more partisan than reporters? Reporters more

       partisan than librarians?

     * Are libraries poised to become public-access media centers as cable

       fades?

     * Should a library operate a news collective, non-profit or

       citizen-journalism service?

     * How can libraries help preserve a free digital information commons?

To download a printable version of this stipend posting notice go to:

https://mex07a.emailsrvr.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=5c90f01b1fa0474191b87ce87faa9deb&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.newshare.com%2fbiblionews%2ffellowships.pdf

For a narrative description of the event purpose and general posting

notice see:

https://mex07a.emailsrvr.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=5c90f01b1fa0474191b87ce87faa9deb&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.newshare.com%2fbiblionews%2foverview.pdf

STIPEND CRITERIA/SELECTION

Selection of Fellows will be based upon the following guiding criteria:

     * Graduate students enrolled in an accredited U.S. school of library

and information science, a journalism graduate program or in a

professional position undertaking research or practice of library civic

engagement, social-media technology application or new applications of

digital media to open information access.

     * Graduate students should ideally demonstrate  interest, experience

or expertise in applying new technology or community engagement or

collaboration strategies among libraries, news and cable public-access

entities, either profit or  not-for profit.

     * Prospective stipend recipients will apply by registering to attend

the conference. Allocation of travel, lodging and registration stipends

will be determined by a selection group including  Dietmar Wolfram,

interim dean, School of Information Studies, University of

Wisconsin-Milwaukee;  Nancy C. Kranich, advisory board chair, American

Library Association's Center for Public Life, (and past ALA president) /

Rutgers Univ. library, Highland Park, N.J.; and Bill Densmore, director,

Media Giraffe Project at UMass Amherst and co-founder, Journalism That

Matters.

"Beyond Books" sponsors include the Institute for Museum and Library

Services (IMLS); the Office of Information Technology Policy of the

American Library Association; the MIT Center for Future Civic Media;

Journalism That Matters; the Media Giraffe Project and New England News

Forum, both at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and others. The

conference is organized in part of a three-year IMLS grant to the

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee:  "Overcoming Barriers to Information

Access: Educating the Next Generation of Library and Information Science

Leaders."

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Journalism That Matters Collaborative /  c/o Media Giraffe Project /

Journalism Program / University of Massachusetts /  Amherst MA 01003  /

413-458-8001 / densmore@mediagiraffe.org  <mailto:densmore@mediagiraffe.org>

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Collaboration Seeks to Provide Easier Access to E-Books

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/collaboration-seeks-to-provide-easier-access-to-e-books/30054

February 28, 2011

By Tushar Rae

The steady growth of e-books has forced libraries to contend with how to curate and distribute materials in a way that makes them easy for increasingly technology-oriented patronage to access.

Some 150 public and academic libraries are trying to respond to that challenge through a new collaboration with the Internet Archive and Open Library. The arrangement will allow library patrons at participating institutions to access e-books owned and stored at libraries other than their home libraries. Brewster Kahle, founder and digital librarian at the Internet Archive, says the group has come up with a solution in which “the tech doesn’t suck” and “everyone will get paid.”

The collaboration will use Open Library, an existing e-book lending service, as a means to curate the more than 80,000 e-books that partner institutions have offered up as part of the initial push, Mr. Kahle says. Open Library allows users to check out an e-book that can be read through a Web browser or downloaded as a PDF or ePub file. After an allotted checkout period, the e-book self-destructs.

Most of the titles now available as part of the collaboration are works from the 20th century, but as the effort moves forward, the collaboration will place a greater emphasis on purchasing newer materials. Mr. Kahle says, for now, the group’s motto is “Buy what we can; scan the rest.”

Recently, some publishers have expressed concerns that e-books, because they are immune from the wear-and-tear of traditional print books, might undercut profits if circulated without limits. Mr. Kahle believes that libraries have long ago dealt with that problem by simply paying more for some titles than do individual buyers. He said the collaboration is working with publishers, such as Cursor and OR Books, to create more amicable agreements that allow for the purchase and distribution of e-books.

Though most of the libraries in the collaboration are public, Mr. Kahle says, he believes academic libraries will benefit from being able to share the vast materials in their research collections.

Judith Russell, dean of university libraries at the University of Florida, has worked with Mr. Kahle before in an effort to digitize some of the materials in Florida’s libraries. She says that since 82 percent of her budget for new acquisitions is now devoted to digital materials, any effort to better curate and share them is welcome. “We are all watching to see it mature, to see how it grows and expands,” she says of the new collaboration.

Florida’s initial offerings to the collaboration will be brittle books: books in which the “paper has deteriorated to the point that they can’t be handled” but that contain information that is still valid for students and faculty members, Ms. Russell says.

Mr. Kahle explains that the kind of knowledge found in such works is especially relevant for public-library users pursuing genealogy. “Lots of people are interested in research collections; people don’t just want the latest monograph,” he says.

So far, Mr. Kahle says, he has received lots of positive reactions from users, but he remains cautious: “I don’t know if this will blossom,” but it is a step in the right direction, he says.

March 2011 Crossroads - Focus on Patron Training - Libraries Seek Low-Cost, High-Impact Training

http://www.webjunction.org/

Libraries Seek Low-Cost, High-Impact Training
Library staff have taken on the role of trainer in more ways than ever, to help equip patrons with essential skills such as finding a job, submitting tax forms, getting citizenship and other legal information, and connecting with family and friends across the miles. As the volume of training needs grows and staff resources continue to shrink, libraries are considering how best to cost-effectively teach patrons. This month we are discussing trends in both online and in-person training. Join us for two webinars that cover current approaches to online tutorials; and browse our collection of sample curricula from libraries who have successfully deployed in-person technology training.

Cross-Cultural Database for LOUIS Consortium

For more information on eHRAF Databases Setup click on  "eHRAF World Cultures" and "eHRAF Archaeology" in item #1 at https://mex07a.emailsrvr.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=6d93ecd2c8274b89b3c33063ccc2da48&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.yale.edu%2fhraf%2flibrary_information.htm to set up the databases (the web site provides the titles, EZ Proxy configuration, short description, etc.).

Support for eHRAFFor technical support (e.g. access issues) email https://mex07a.emailsrvr.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=6d93ecd2c8274b89b3c33063ccc2da48&URL=mailto%3ahelp%40ehraf.org.  For any other questions contact email HRAF at https://mex07a.emailsrvr.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=6d93ecd2c8274b89b3c33063ccc2da48&URL=mailto%3ahraf%40yale.edu or call 203-764-9401.  Please note that HRAF offers free webinars for librarians, faculty, and students to better understand eHRAF.  Here is more info:

**What’s a Webinar and what is needed for the set-up? The Webinar is an online communication tool and a good alternative to on-site training. A download allows attendees to remotely view the eHRAF training on their screens.  The essential components are computers that allow downloads, internet access, a phone line, and a speaker phone.  For the eHRAF training of a group of people a computer classroom with workstations and/or a projector with a screen is commonly used.  However, eHRAF webinar training can also be set up for one person, or a group of individuals logging on from different locations.  The set up for multiple log-ins from different locations requires users to have voice-over-IP (VoIP) and headsets with microphones.

**Why eHRAF Webinar phone training?  The webinar serves as good "contact" opportunity for HRAF and its member institutions.  During a webinar a HRAF representative discusses the various ways eHRAF can used for research and teaching, and provides a comprehensive overview of eHRAF's unique indexing system, the search and browse navigation, and useful search strategies.  Answering questions from attendees makes the Webinar more interactive.

**Who should attend? Anyone who is interested in learning more about eHRAF...librarians, faculty, students, research staff. Sometimes institutions invite all who are interested to the webinar.  Other times separate webinars are held for librarians, faculty, and students.

**How long does it take? It usually takes one hour, but time can vary depending on the questions asked and topics covered.

**New! eHRAF just for students.  If eHRAF is used for a course a Webinar can be "customized" to focus on specific topics in a syllabus.  This makes eHRAF more interesting and fun for faculty and students.

 **Who organizes the Webinar training? HRAF does the training, but the institution (usually the library) has to organize it and announce it to its institution. 

**How much does it cost?  This service is free (HRAF pays for the phone call and for the Webinar set-up).

Please let me know whether your library and/or department would be interested in such a Webinar phone training session for eHRAF. 

Please also let your colleagues and faculty know that HRAF provides online student exercises at https://mex07a.emailsrvr.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=6d93ecd2c8274b89b3c33063ccc2da48&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.yale.edu%2fhraf%2fteaching.htm and research help for eHRAF through individual consultation and classroom instructions. 

Christiane Cunnar
Member Services
Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) at Yale University
755 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Embedded Librarian on Twitter Served as Information Concierge for Class

February 25, 2011

By Jeff Young

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/embedded-librarian-on-twitter-served-as-information-concierge-for-class/30000

What if a reference librarian was assigned to a college course, to be on hand to suggest books, online links, or other resources based on class discussion? A media-studies course at Baylor University tried the idea last semester, with an “embedded librarian” following the class discussion via Twitter.

At the start of each class session, the professor, Gardner Campbell, asked the 11 students to open their laptops, fire up Twitter, and say hello to their librarian, who was following the discussion from her office. During the hourlong class, the librarian, Ellen Hampton Filgo, would do what she refers to as “library jazz,” looking at the questions and comments posed by students, responding with suggestions of links or books, and anticipating what else might be helpful that students might not have known to ask.

“I could see the sort of germination of an idea, and what they wanted to talk about,” she said, noting that it let her in on the process of students’ research far sooner than usual. “That was cool for me,” she added. “When I work with students at the reference desk, usually they’re already at a certain midpoint of their research.”

When the class was discussing the work of the science-fiction author Clifford D. Simak, for instance, she tweeted a link to his archives at the University of Minnesota.

“One of the students said, ‘Hey, is there anything like that for Rilke?’,” Ms. Filgo said. “He was all excited. I don’t even think he knew of the idea that a library might collect an author’s papers.”

Mr. Campbell, who just left Baylor to take a job as a professor and e-learning administrator at Virginia Tech, said one moment, in particular, made the experiment worthwhile. The students were discussing a rare book by Theodor Holm Nelson, a sociologist who coined the term “hypertext.” The book, Computer Lib, is really two books in one, with an unconventional layout that tries to simulate linking among segments and marginal comments that Mr. Nelson said would come as text was increasingly stored on computers.

Ms. Filgo tweeted that she had something for the class. Then she grabbed a copy of Computer Lib from the library’s shelves and walked over to the classroom. She had never actually met the students in person, so they were surprised when she appeared with a copy of the book to pass around, as they were still discussing it.

“There was apparent magic to it,” Mr. Campbell said. “It made that class unforgettable.”

Ms. Filgo said she would try it again, but she worries that it would be difficult to expand the effort to a wider number of classes. “It took out three hours of my workweek,” she says. “The question is how can you scale this up?”

What is LOUIS and LOUIS Cost Summary

http://appl003.lsu.edu/ocsweb/louishome.nsf/index

As you are contemplating who to contact and what to say, each of these documents might help. The What is LOUIS doc can be used as is or you can strip what you want from it. A good page to always share is the one that has funding since 1992.

The LOUIS Cost Summary shows for each library:

09-10 membership fee

10-11 membership fee

Cost to do it on your own.

You can pull your campuses info to include in you correspondence if you want to tailor your letters/emails to your institution specifically. I think this is powerful. The page as a whole demonstrates that consortium purchases cost $3.1M and saved the state $16M….basically, we bought $18+ million for $3.1

Just another couple pieces of trivia. And thank you for all the responses. I’m keeping track of our activities so feel free to send me anything you did starting in July of 2010. The more recent activities should be shared on the list and I’ll grab it from there.

https://mex07a.emailsrvr.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=a21174d22bc842f78c47225989b543c1&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.youtube.com%2fuser%2flouislibraries

Thank you!

Sara Zimmerman, MLIS

Executive Director

LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network

Frey Computing Services, LSU

Baton Rouge, LA 70810

225.578.3705

Sara@lsu.edu