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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. Current users include representatives from a wide range of fields: fine art, anthropology, film, oral history, local history, architecture, material culture, biodiversity conservation, libraries, corporate archives, digital asset management, and many more. This community of partners has contributed funding, planning and software development resources, resulting in a series of specialist features. CollectiveAccess can handle a long list of digital media formats, including many popular image, video, audio and document formats. All accepted formats can be automatically re-sized, watermarked and converted to web-viewable formats using criteria you define. Multi-page documents can be conveniently viewed on the web, regardless of original format, using a standards-based page-viewing interface. Take a tour here: http://collectiveaccess.org/tour Download the QuickStart packages intended for single-user evaluation only, or, to use CollectiveAccess for a real project, install the standard application packages on appropriate server hardware.
The School of Information Studies (iSchool) has opened registration for its second massive open online course (MOOC), the New Librarianship Master Class. The MOOC will examine librarianship and library practice using the fundamental concept that knowledge is created through conversation. Lankes’ book, The Atlas of New Librarianship, will serve as the text for the course, which will feature Lankes and three other iSchool faculty members (Jill Hurst-Wahl, Megan Oakleaf and Jian Qin) as instructors and moderators. MIT Press will provide participants in the course with a 20% discount on the book. The course is available for free online, and begins on July 8. Participation in the course can also lead to Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) for an additional fee, or graduate academic credit with additional work and tuition. To register for the MOOC, visit the New Librarian Master Class web page. More on the first MOOC here: http://www.infodocket.com/2013/06/11/registration-now-open-david-lankes-will-be-instructor-for-new-librarianship-master-class-2nd-mooc-from-syracuse-universitys-ischool/
The field of library and information science has a wide variety of types of jobs available. Most of them are in either public libraries or in the libraries of education institutions such as colleges and universities. This is where the majority of the positions are that offer specializations and the opportunity to work in the library setting but to further concentrate on an area of individual interest. This list includes 30 of the kinds of jobs available to those studying library and information services, including the title of the job with a description of the kind of facility it is in, as well as a brief description of that job’s duties. The link of the title transports to an example of a job listing for that kind of position with more details, including job requirements and salary ranges offered for that particular position.
Librarianship has lost its focus—our professional concern for people has been eclipsed by a preoccupation with collections and technology. This is understandable. Historically, libraries have been centered on bringing the world to our members through our collections. This problem of access was important to help solve, meeting a vital societal need. Likewise, our focus on information technologies and the web is natural, too. Throughout the years, these tools have presented some outstanding challenges, though generally they have aided tremendously in our mission to expand access to accumulated cultural knowledge and output. But our fixation on collections and technology is no longer serving us—nor our members.
DOAJ has reached two important milestones: For the first time since launch in 2003, more than 50% of the journals are providing metadata at article level. More than 1 million articles are now searchable in DOAJ which means more than 1 million article-level metadata entries are available for harvesting! Check out DOAJ now: http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=loadTemplate&template=about&uiLanguage=en
Collaborative Librarianship Advisory Board Member, Lourdes T. David, provides an overview of library collaboration in the Philippines and in other countries in Southeast Asia. As part of a series of interviews with members of the Advisory Board, Ms David was asked to reflect on her experience as a librarian and, in particular, aspects of library collaboration in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. She brings to the Journal an extensive resume of library work covering several decades reaching across the Philippines and many other countries including Myanmar, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Laos, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Conference en- gagements have ranged widely, too, including those in Canada and the USA, the United Kingdom, Australia, China, Korea, and Greece. View more interesting articles published here: http://collaborativelibrarianship.org/
In an effort to share insight regarding some of the latest trends in the information profession with individuals from across the globe, the San José State University School of Library and Information Science (SJSU SLIS) will be offering a massive open online course (MOOC) in the fall.
The open online course will bring individuals from diverse backgrounds and geographic regions together in an interactive online learning environment. SJSU SLIS award-winning instructors will spearhead this professional development opportunity. The MOOC is available to the public for free, and anyone can register. MOOC students will not receive college credit.
The information school’s first open online course, the Hyperlinked Library MOOC, will begin September 3, 2013, and it explores how libraries are using emerging technologies to serve their communities.
The term “Hyperlinked Library” describes how our connected world is transforming 21stCentury libraries into participatory, playful, and user-centered spaces while upholding traditional values. It encompasses both physical and virtual space, as well as many types of libraries.
Fifty Digital Preservation Activities You Can Do. A blog post at "The Signal: Digital Preservation" on 2013-05-09.
Fellowship Opportunity Announcement: The Center for Southeast Asian Studies and the University Library at the University of Michigan offers a four-week research fellowship to Southeast Asian scholars to use the research resources of the University of Michigan. Information on U-M collections can be accessed here and include specialized collections on the Philippine-American period, Philippine ethnology and archaeology, and the Vietnam War. The Fellowship provides reimbursement for international airfare, research funds, and stipend and housing while the scholar is in residence at Ann Arbor. The scholar will enjoy research space and computing privileges at the University, as well as assistance from the Southeast Asia research librarian and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. The Center for Southeast Asian Studies is a vibrant, interdisciplinary academic community at the University. CSEAS collaborates with students and faculty members on programming at the University, including a regular lecture series, courses, workshops, and conferences, as well as outreach to the community in the form of school visits, resources for teachers, and public performances. For more information, visit: http://www.ii.umich.edu/cseas/academics/libraryfellowship
A list of most tremendous examples showing how modern libraries are shaping the way we learn and enjoy reading in the digital age. As you will see from these amazing photos (http://ebookfriendly.com/2013/04/11/modern-libraries ;), libraries around the world are heading into the future, creating for their patrons a more dynamic, multi-level environment for learning and pleasure.
The online C&RL archive now contains the complete contents of the journal from its beginnings in 1939 through the current issue. C&RL archival contents from 1939 through 1996 were digitized through the generous volunteer efforts of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. The library’s Digital Content Creation department performed scanning and metadata creation for the approximately 340 back file issues of the journal in 2011 and 2012. The digitized files were added to the journal’s online presence with the financial assistance of the ACRL Friends Fund. C&RL will become an online-only publication in Jan. 2014.
The BBC reports that the British Library, National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries, Cambridge’s University Library and the Library of Trinity College in Dublin will be cataloging billions of web pages created in the U.K. A total of 4.8 million websites will be included, covering everything from academic journals to Stephen Hawking’s official website. The British Library has been given the right to archive the digital world. Following new regulations coming into force on Saturday, six major libraries will be able to collect, preserve and provide long term access to internet based information, including blogs, e-books and even the entire UK web domain. An estimated 1bn pages a year will be available to researchers through the new archive. During the process, the British Library launched a survey of the top 100 U.K. sites that should be preserved right away. Sites collected as part of the project will all be available publicly on computers in the libraries.
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Some librarians like to disparage something they call the “traditional library.” The reasons vary depending on circumstances, and understanding the criticism is made more difficult because no one seems to agree on what a “traditional library” is. This article speaks of traditional libraries rather than “the traditional library” because libraries vary widely, and the only fair way to discuss academic libraries is in generalities. There might be one single library somewhere that would embody everything “traditional,” but most libraries are amalgamations of changes over time. It’s only by looking at the whole that we can make such general statements about libraries. Traditional academic libraries discovered problems and solved them, adapting to the demands of new scholarship, embracing new media of communication, and developing appropriate organizational and cooperative schemes, in a steady march of progress over the course of the twentieth century away from the tiny, inaccessible, and inadequate historical libraries that had preceded them. Perhaps, as some now say, the traditional library is dead, which is not so, given the enormous benefit traditional libraries have provided for research and education in the country over the past century. If it is so, whatever replaces them is as successful at collecting information, organizing it, and making it as accessible and useful as possible to scholars and students as traditional libraries were. They were good things, traditional libraries, and we will miss them when they’re gone.
Here's a short survey result from a bunch of library friends around the country—folks who’ve worked in public, academic, and special libraries, who are on the front lines, in back rooms, at the top, and in-between. Guaranteeing them complete anonymity, they were asked to reply to four questions. Here are the questions and the unexpurgated replies received: What do you like best about your library job? What do you like least? If you had it to do over, what, if anything, would you change about your library career choices? Any advice for up-and-coming librarians?
This infographic shows the evolution of information search and usage, and the evolving roles of the future librarian. It was adapted from PewInternet.com, from a keynote address for the 2012 State University of New York Librarians Association Annual Conference.
They require less space, and they offer what under-served communities often really need -- internet access.
The "inhabitable" library looks more like a weird robot or a doughnut on stilts. The curious reading hovel is the work of Stereotank, a design collaboration between Venezuelan architects Marcelo Ertorteguy and Sara Valente, who were responsible for last summer's bicycle-powered musical whirligig on Astor Place. The couple built the library at the invitation of the Architectural League of New York and the organizers of the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. It is one of 10 mini-libraries now scattered in the 'hoods below 8th Street, which will serve printed words to the public until they disappear in September. In the tradition of the Little Free Library movement, started by a pair of Wisconsinites in 2009, the books are provided by members of the community and you're kind of expected to put one in if you take one out. More photos here: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2013/05/worlds-tiniest-library-pops-new-york-city/5742/
User experience is an important tool for libraries to employ against a number of competitors like bookstores and at-home Internet access. Libraries have taken this as an opportunity to provide services that are not available elsewhere. The strategy to focus on users and their needs has earned libraries strong support not only from the public but also from the academic community of users in higher education, most especially. This article offers three main tips for fostering user experience or UX in a library environment. As with product and service design scenarios, UX in libraries is about listening to your community, meeting their needs, and making their desires come true before they even know what they want. Implementing front-line staff suggestions allows staff to take ownership of a patron’s experience and provide interactions that users cannot have elsewhere. Read more here: http://uxmag.com/articles/libraries-a-canvas-for-creating-meaningful-user-experience
"The very nature of what we do and how we do it is undergoing fundamental changes" While the dramatic growth in the use of ebooks and other digital content has attracted the greatest media attention regarding library services in the past couple of years, equally dramatic changes are occurring in almost every dimension of our work. The reality is that libraries are experiencing a number of transformations. These include fundamental changes in our: communities community relationships user expectations and user services collections physical space library workforce library leadership
What is the role of public and academic libraries in supporting MOOCs (maasive open online courses), or why would MOOCs need libraries? There are multiple potential roles for libraries in the MOOC development, support, assessment, and preservation process, some of which have been more fully explored than others in the few months since Coursera and EdX began rolling out offerings. One important role has to do with librarians helping faculty ensure the materials they use to create their MOOC presentations and readings are not going to get them or their institutions into trouble as far as copyright content is concerned. Then there's another potential role for libraries to curate and preserve the user-generated content—student work—that is created during a MOOC. The Library as Content Creator has received considerable attention in the OCLC symposium aside from the possibility of libraries offering MOOCs on research skills, such as how to navigate databases and recognize seminal articles.
We could write volumes about our love for libraries — and, well, we kind of have. During our Internet travels, we've stumbled across some pretty amazing places for book lovers. After spotting an es...
A list of the 25 most famous librarians in history
Although the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) launched event in Boston was cancelled, the debut of its online portal today at noon ET went ahead as planned. The question that has most frequently come up in the course of the two-year planning process for the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has been a very simple one: What is it? The first beta version of the DPLA will combine a group of rich, interesting digital collections, from state and regional digital archives to the special collections of major university libraries and federal holdings. The DPLA will demonstrate how powerful and exciting it can be to bring together digitized materials, metadata (including catalog records, for instance), code, and digital tools and services into an open, shared resource. Imagine the ability to access a vastly larger set of materials than ever before, both through a single web portal and through your local library, which has carefully curated a subset of the national database. The DPLA will also seek creative ways to highlight content from digital collections throughout the country and internationally. So far, the DPLA has tackled only materials in the public domain. These books, images, sound files, videos, and other digital artifacts are not encumbered by copyright restrictions. The DPLA process has also focused primarily on pulling together the metadata, not the content itself. As the DPLA expands, it will support digitization and may establish a central repository, but for the time being, the strategy is to rely on the distributed network of partners to host and preserve the materials. The DPLA is focused on making these materials accessible and providing a useful platform for libraries and their patrons to make great use of them.
"If I can't beat the gurus, sherpas, and assorted sages, I'm going to join them. Today I'm going to tell you, fellow librarians, the most basic, core skill that all of you need, more important than coding, cataloging, database searching, or anything else. It’s a subject barely taught in library schools, and yet mastery of it will do more for your career than just about anything actually taught there. What is librarianship really about? It’s about communication. And where there’s communication, you need rhetoric. ... "Think about all the communication that goes on in libraries every day: phone calls, meetings, emails, IMs, negotiations, reference questions, performance reviews, grant proposals, instruction sessions, research guides, cover letters, job interviews; every one of these interactions is about communication with an audience for a purpose and could benefit from improved rhetorical skill and knowledge of rhetorical theory and techniques. "Before you learn whatever new thing you’re planning to learn, learn rhetoric first. Then practice it for a few years. You’ll thank me later." More here: http://blogs.princeton.edu/librarian/2013/03/essential-skill-all-librarians/
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"Libraries have become technology leaders by integrating cutting-edge tools to enhance users’ experience. It’s not enough to redesign the library website. Best practices mean developing user personas and following usability strategies to produce user-informed designs. New digital collections are stored in the cloud and mobile applications are developed around them. Libraries are claiming their venues on location-based mobile social networks, developing bleeding-edge augmented reality applications, and participating in semantic web efforts. . . . 10 ideas for you to leverage today’s most innovative tools and techniques:
http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/features/02192013/10-great-technology-initiatives-your-library