Featured Link

Featured Link: World Book Trade (e-books, awards, videos)

Saturday, June 30, 2012

New book: Greening Libraries

New book: Greening LibrariesGreening Libraries: Editors: Monika Antonelli and Mark McCullough. It is difficult to turn on the television or read a news story today without learning about how green and sustainable practices are being implemented throughout society. Libraries are not exempt from these broader trends. In some cases, libraries and librarians have been at the forefront of these efforts. Greening Libraries provides library professionals with a collection of articles and papers that serve as a portal to understanding a wide range of green and sustainable practices within libraries and the library profession. The book's articles come from a variety of perspectives on a wide range of topics related to green practices, sustainability and the library profession. Greening Libraries offers an overview of important aspects of the growing green library movement, including, but not limited to, green buildings, alternative energy resources, conservation, green library services and practices, operations, programming, and outreach

World Drug Report 2012

The World Drug Report 2012 was produced under the supervision of Sandeep Chawla, UNODC Deputy Executive Director and Director, Division for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs

Current Cites - June 2012

Current Cites (edited by Roy Tennant) - June 2012 is now available

E-News for ARL Directors - June 2012

E-News for ARL Directors - June 2012 is now available online from the Association of Research Libraries

The British Library publishes four original recordings of Tom Stoppard’s radio plays for the first time to mark the playwright’s 75th birthday

The British Library publishes four original recordings of Tom Stoppard’s radio plays for the first time to mark the playwright’s 75th birthdaySir Tom Stoppard, the eminent playwright and scriptwriter, will celebrate his 75th birthday on 3 July this year. To mark the occasion The British Library is publishing a 5CD set entitled Tom Stoppard: Radio Plays, containing the original BBC broadcasts of four of his plays written specifically for radio: Albert's Bridge, Artist Descending A Staircase, The Dog It Was That Died and In The Native State. The recordings are being released under license from the BBC and, with the exception of The Dog It Was That Died, this is the first time they have been made commercially available

Four new members join Center for Research Libraries

On July 1, 2012 Center for Research Libraries will begin fiscal year 2012-13 with a historic high membership of 267 institutions. This includes the following new members:

* Boston College
* University of Nebraska
* Chicago Botanic Garden
* Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archive

Thomson Reuters publishes new 2011 Journal Citation Reports

The Intellectual Property & Science division of Thomson Reuters has announced the release of the 2011 Journal Citation Reports. The 2011 release, with separate editions for Science and Social Sciences, features the largest-ever JCR with 10,677 journal listings in 232 disciplines; 2,552 publishers from 82 countries are represented. A total of 528 journals receive their first Journal Impact Factor in this latest JCR release

USC Shoah Foundation Institute completes preservation of Holocaust testimonies

USC Shoah Foundation Institute completes preservation of Holocaust testimoniesThe USC Shoah Foundation Institute has completed a multiyear, multimillion-dollar project to digitally preserve the video interviews in its Visual History Archive. The archive contains testimony from nearly 52,000 Holocaust survivors and other witnesses. "The completion of this effort is one of the most significant milestones in our 18-year history," USC Shoah Foundation Institute Executive Director Stephen D. Smith said. "It helps guarantee that survivors' voices will be heard, that their faces will be seen, and that their memories will endure for generations to come."

Robert Louis Stevenson papers (Scotland)

A prized collection of papers and books relating to Robert Louis Stevenson which is said to have few rivals in the world is being donated to the National Library of Scotland and Edinburgh's Napier University. The collection was built up over 50 years by the leading independent Stevenson scholar Dr Ernest Mehew who died last year

Teen Librarian Monthly: June 2012

Teen Librarian Monthly: June 2012 is now available for download

Authors call for 'a library in every school' legislation (UK)

A host of award-winning authors including Sarah Waters, David Almond, Philip Reeve and Malorie Blackman are calling on the government to make it a legal obligation for every school to have a library. The position of the Department for Education is that while it would like to see a library in all schools, "this should be a local decision, not one mandated by government", and it is "up to schools to target resources appropriately". But the campaign, run by writers' body the Society of Authors and backed by a mass of writers, publishers, academics, librarians and education professionals, is asking schools minister Nick Gibb to make it a statutory requirement for every primary and secondary school in England and Wales to have a library, on the grounds that "there are proven links between reading and attainment"

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #204

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #204. "This week's episode presents a news miscellany. As to the fate of LISTen #203...we'll address that another day. Please bear in mind that there has been a de-Google incident which has resulted in there no longer being FeedBurner feeds, delivery of the podcast via FeedBurner e-mail, or the Google Voice line previously mentioned. The podcast masthead has been updated to reflect the changes that occured on Friday". Previous Podcasts/Programs can be found here

Friday, June 29, 2012

Library of Congress acquires Carl Sagan papers

The Library of Congress has acquired the personal papers of American astronomer, astrobiologist and science communicator Carl Sagan (1934-1996). A celebrated scientist, educator, television personality and prolific author, Sagan was a consummate communicator who bridged the gap between academe and popular culture

Wytfliet Atlas, stolen a decade ago from Royal Library of Sweden, returned to owner

Wytfliet Atlas, stolen a decade ago from Royal Library of Sweden, returned to ownerA rare atlas stolen a decade ago from the Royal Library of Sweden by one of its chief librarians was recovered in New York and given back to its rightful owner. Swedish and U.S. authorities showed off the 415-year-old Wytfliet Atlas at a news conference Wednesday. The book, created by Cornelius van Wytfliet and containing the earliest maps of the Americas, had been in the Royal Library collection for more than 300 years before it was stolen. There are only eight other copies worldwide, according to the library. The atlas was one of 56 rare books stolen by Anders Burius, the chief of the Royal Library's manuscript department, and the first of his haul to be located

Wellcome Trust strengthens its open access policy (UK)

The Wellcome Trust has announces that it will be strengthening the manner in which it enforces its open access policy with immediate effect. Failure to comply with the policy could result in final grant payments being withheld and non-compliant publications being discounted when applying for further funding

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - June 29, 2012

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Popular Writers. "Several organisations issue lists of the most popular authors whose books people buy or borrow from a library. See if you can answer this brainteaser about some of these popular writers and their books" Answers here.


1. What name is usually used for Theodor Seuss Geisel, whose children's books are known for their blend of whimsy, zany humour, catchy verse, and outlandish illustrations?
2. Which English novelist wrote "Sense and Sensibility", "Mansfield Park" and "Emma"?
3. Which US author wrote "The Firm", "The Pelican Brief", and "The Client"?
4. What was the first novel by J. D. Salinger, about a mixed-up teenager called Holden Caulfield?
5. The real name of the author of "Animal Farm" and "The Road to Wigan Pier" was Eric Arthur Blair. What name did he use when publishing his books?
6. Name the only novel by US writer Harper Lee which was about the trial of a black man accused of raping a white woman, The events are seen through the eyes of Scout, the six-year-old daughter of defence lawyer Atticus Finch.
7. Which US author wrote "Mother Tongue", "Notes From a Small Island" and "A Short History of Nearly Everything"?
8. Which English novelist wrote "Rebecca" and the short story "The Birds" which were both made into films by Alfred Hitchcock?
9. Which British children's author wrote "The Story of Tracy Beaker" and "The Dare Game"?
10. Which writer published the autobiographical "Moab Is My Washpot"?

Thursday, June 28, 2012

African Statistical Yearbook 2012

The 2012 African Statistical Yearbook was prepared under the overall umbrella of the African Statistical Coordination Committee set up by the principal continental organizations dealing with statistical development, namely the African Development Bank, the African Capacity Building Foundation, the African Union Commission, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa within the framework of the implementation of the Reference Regional Strategic Framework for Statistical Capacity Building in Africa

New Yorkshire parish records to search at findmypast.co.uk

findmypast.co.uk has just published 4,625 new parish records for Yorkshire

China's first international psychology journal launched with Wiley

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has announced the launch of PsyCh Journal, China's first international psychology journal. The new journal will be published in partnership with the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China's national psychology research institute

Wiley creates new role to lead Open Access

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has announced today the creation of a new role to lead open access. Rachel Burley has been appointed to the position of Vice President and Director, Open Access. In this new role Rachel will lead all aspects of the growth and development of open access publishing at Wiley. Working with colleagues, societies, funders, and academic institutions, she will facilitate the identification of open access opportunities and lead the development of products, policy, technology, processes, sales, and marketing initiatives necessary to provide first class support to authors

American Civil Liberties Union launches The Torture Database

The Torture Database a compilation of over 100,000 pages of documents related to the Bush administration's rendition, detention, and interrogation policies and practices. The database is ACLU's effort to provide meaningful public access to the primary documentation of torture and abuse during the years following September 11, 2001. The database is both simple and advanced. It allows easy searching by keyword or through useful tags. And it allows more sophisticated searching by taking advantage of an enormous amount of metadata individually tagged in each and every document

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The Endangered Languages Project

The Endangered Languages Project is an online resource to record, access, and share samples of and research on endangered languages, as well as to share advice and best practices for those working to document or strengthen languages under threat

'Lunch Hour NYC' opens at the New York Public Library (USA)

To celebrate Lunch Hour NYC, the NYPL is partnering with the New York City Food Truck Association and Bryant Park to bring food trucks to the library this summer. Weekdays starting June 27 and running through Labor Day, one truck from the Association will park on the Bryant Park plaza at 40th Street and Fifth Avenue, selling lunch from 11am - 3pm

Cat Librarian Calendar 2013

Cat Librarian Calendar, which will feature librarians with their feline friends, is asking for submissions

InSITE: A Current Awareness Service of Cornell Law Library - Vol. 17, No. 154, June 25, 2012

InSITE: A Current Awareness Service of Cornell Law Library - Vol. 17, No. 15, June 25, 2012 is now available. Contents:

* Cultural Survival
* European Forum of Official Gazettes
* Human Rights Documentation Initiative

HathiTrust 2012 Mid-Year Review

HathiTrust is an international partnership of academic and research institutions dedicated to ensuring the preservation and accessibility of the vast record of human knowledge

The LERU Roadmap towards Open Access

The LERU Roadmap towards Open Access represents a conscious decision by the League of European Research Universities to investigate new models for scholarly communication
and the dissemination of research outputs emanating from LERU universities

Video: woman worried she’ll have to burn thousands of books (Canada)

A Saskatchewan woman is faced with the prospect of burning thousands of books after being evicted from her Pike Lake home. Seven years ago Shaunna Raycraft acquired a collection of 350,000 titles after a neighbour - an avid book collector - died. Not knowing what to do with the 60 tonnes of books he left behind, his widow began burning the collection, which includes everything from car manuals, to sports titles to fiction. That's when Raycraft stepped in and offered to give the books a home - but now she faces the same dilemma

2 million new Welsh parish records published at findmypast.co.uk

findmypast.co.uk has just published 2 million new Welsh parish registers. These new records follow the first release of Welsh parish registers earlier this year. This is the first time that the complete Welsh parish baptism, marriage and death records have been made available online

North Yorkshire County Council and North Yorkshire Music Action Zone win 2012 CILIP Libraries Change Lives Award (UK)

Judges for the 21st CILIP Libraries Change Lives Award have rewarded staff at North Yorkshire County Council and North Yorkshire Music Action Zone for showing the powerful and positive impact that libraries have on their communities. The ceremony, organised annually by The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, took place this year at the House of Commons, where Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey presented the winners with their trophy and a cheque for £4000. In a year marred with drastic cuts and uncertainty for the sector, the Libraries Change Lives Award has become more even more important in recognising outstanding library-based initiatives enriching lives and strengthening communities

The Code4Lib Journal - Issue 17

The Code4Lib Journal - Issue 17 is now available. The Code4Lib Journal exists to foster community and share information among those interested in the intersection of libraries, technology, and the future

Monday, June 25, 2012

Cites & Insights 12:6 (July 2012)

Cites & Insights 12:6 (July 2012) is now available for downloading. Edited and published by Walt Crawford

Libraries, patrons, and e-books

Libraries, patrons, and e-books by Kathryn Zickuhr, Lee Rainie, Kristen Purcell, Mary Madden and Joanna Brenner. Published by pew Internet - June 22, 2012

Britain From Above launches (UK)

Britain From Above launches (UK)More than 16,000 images from one of the earliest and most significant collections of aerial photography of the UK have been made freely accessible online to the public for the first time. The Britain from Above website is launched today - 25 June 2012 - by English Heritage and the Royal Commissions on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and Wales. It features some of the oldest and most valuable images of the Aerofilms Collection, a unique and important archive of over 1 million aerial photographs taken between 1919 and 2006. The Aerofilms Collection embodies all that is exciting about aerial photography. Many shots were taken in the early days of aviation by ex-First World War pilots, from extremely low altitudes, a technique which was very dangerous. It shows just how far their pilots were willing to go for a great photograph. The photographs featuring on the website date from 1919 to 1953, and have gone through a painstaking process of conservation and cataloguing. Due to their age and fragility, many of the earliest plate glass negatives were close to being lost forever

Sunday, June 24, 2012

OCLC announces new agreements with publishers around the world, adding high-quality content to WorldCat Local

OCLC has signed new agreements with leading global publishers and has added a significant list of important new collections to WorldCat Local, the OCLC discovery and delivery service that offers users integrated access to more than 969 million items

SAGE Knowledge launched

SAGE Knowledge is a social sciences digital library for students, researchers, and faculty, with more than 2,500 titles

Credo Reference and YBP Library Services announce new partnership

YBP Library Services has announced a partnership with Credo Reference to incorporate Credo Reference titles from 80 of the world's best reference publishers into GOBI (Global Online Bibliographic Information), YBP's acquisition and collection management database

'Pin-a-Tale' with the British Library - help to create a literary map, from Land’s End to John O’Groats and beyond

The British Library has launched an online literary map alongside its major summer exhibition, Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands. Writing Britain is a once in a lifetime chance to see such treasures as John Lennon's original lyrics for The Beatles' 'In My Life', J K Rowling's handwritten first draft for the first Harry Potter novel and the original manuscripts of Jane Austen, William Blake, Charlotte Bronte, Arthur Conan Doyle, J G Ballard, Charles Dickens and many more. However, the Library is asking the public to help to curate this landscape-inspired collection beyond the walls of exhibition with an interactive map, 'Pin-a-Tale'

TWIL #77: Justo Hidalgo (24symbols)

Streaming books. A new "Golden Age of Publishing"? A need for more experimenting and sharing inside of platforms. All of this and more in this week's episode of TWIL: your weekly dose of library innovation

Alexander Street debuts streaming video series of Milgram's defining experiments in social psychology

Alexander Street Press has announced the addition of a six-film series featuring the innovative and often controversial experiments of social psychologist Stanley Milgram. This set is available for the first time in streaming format exclusively through Alexander Street. The series centers around the defining experiments of Milgram's career, most notably his revolutionary study on obedience to authority. The film Obedience includes the only authentic footage of Milgram's famous 1961 experiment, in which subjects at Yale University were told to administer electric shocks of increasing severity to another person. The stunning results of the experiment, which showed that sixty-five percent of participants administered the experiment's final massive 450-volt shock, remain relevant more than fifty years later as people continue to ask themselves, "Would I pull that lethal switch?"

Credo Reference and Mosio announce new partnership

Mosio's "Text a Librarian" service including live chat and email now available within Literati by Credo

EDINA Newsline - June 2012

EDINA Newsline - June 2012, Volume 17.2, is now available. EDINA is a JISC-funded National Datacentre

Tutor.com launches Ask A Librarian™ Online Reference Center

Tutor.com has announced that Ask A Librarian™ Online Reference Center is being integrated into the Tutor.com Learning Suite

EBSCO Publishing and SirsiDynix sign partnership agreement to enhance discovery for mutual customers

A new agreement between EBSCO Publishing and SirsiDynix will provide mutual customers with easier access to the databases, e-journals and other e-content end users are looking for. EBSCO and SirsiDynix will work together to allow EBSCO Discovery Service™ to be seamlessly integrated into SirsiDynix's eResource Central solution. The plan also calls for a refined approach to the integration of eBooks on EBSCOhost™ within the SirsiDynix experience

Lake County's first Little Free Library debuts in Tavares (USA)

First Little Free Library debuts in Tavares (USA)A few feet from the tall, thick trunk of the Reading Tree in Aesop's Park stands a small, curious structure. It's the first Little Free Library in Lake County, Florida. Little Free Library is an international initiative to place books in public places where readers can borrow and swap without worrying about whispering or overdue fines. Aesop's Park's Little Free Library joins more than 1,500 libraries worldwide

New book vending machine for Fullerton Public Library. (USA)

New book vending machine for Fullerton Public Library. (USA)Commuters looking for a mental escape on their train rides will be able to choose from hundreds of best-selling books at a new vending machine stocked by the Fullerton Public Library. The vending machine, dubbed the FPL Station, is believed to be the first of its kind in Orange County. The machine will be available to the public at the SOCO West Parking Structure across Harbor Boulevard from the Fullerton train station, which is at Santa Fe Avenue. The library is using a $35,000 federal grant to install the machine, which will include a drop box for returns and a selection of about 500 books for checking out

Friday, June 22, 2012

White paper: Scholarly eBooks: Understanding the Return on Investment for Libraries

A new white paper recently released by Springer, in partnership with Publishers Communication Group, entitled Scholarly eBooks: Understanding the Return on Investment for Libraries, explores how libraries might determine the value of eBooks, and why it is important to do so. The paper provides a broad view of the current state of eBook valuation, the implications of this measurement for the library community and the challenges that face those who are tracking these metrics

Podcast: Lost in London (UK)

Tracing ancestors before civil registration and the census presents a real challenge to family historians. In London, the problems can be even greater, where the population doubled between 1801 and 1841 and boundaries were often redrawn. Administering the area was complicated, and the records are now spread around several record offices. This podcast explains how to make the most of the capital's diverse collection of records. Dave Annal worked for The UK National Archives from 1998 to 2009 and he is now a freelance researcher running Lifelines Research. Dave is a regular columnist in Your Family History magazine and talks on all aspects of family history research

TWIL #76: Eva Cossee (Publisher)

Starting your own publishing company. Imagination in literature. Investing in e-content and books in the cloud. All of this and more in this week’s episode of TWIL: your weekly dose of library innovation

Joe Smith donates recorded interviews with music's who's who to the Library of Congress

More than 25 years ago, retired music executive Joe Smith accomplished a Herculean feat - he got more than 200 celebrated singers, musicians and industry icons to talk about their lives, music, experiences and contemporaries. The Library of Congress has announced that Smith has donated this treasure trove of unedited sound recordings to the nation's library. The list of noted artists and executives is a veritable who's who in the music industry. They include Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Little Richard, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Elton John, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Billy Joel, Sting, Tony Bennett, Joan Baez, James Taylor, Dick Clark, Tina Turner, Tom Jones, B.B. King, Quincy Jones, David Geffen, Mickey Hart, Harry Belafonte and many others. All types of popular music are represented - from rock 'n' roll, jazz, rhythm & blues and pop to big-band, heavy metal, folk and country-western

"Wikipedia Loves Libraries"

Wikipedia Loves Libraries is a general initiative for improved Wikimedia engagement with libraries and archives

Science as an open enterprise report

The Science as an open enterprise report highlights the need to grapple with the huge deluge of data created by modern technologies in order to preserve the principle of openness and to exploit data in ways that have the potential to create a second open science revolution

Special Collections and Archives in the Digital Age: ARL releases pre-pub of RLI 279

The Association of Research Libraries has released a pre-publication version of Research Library Issues (RLI) no. 279, which is devoted to legal concerns and evolving professional practices around digitizing special collections and archival materials

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - June 22, 2012

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Place Name Origins. "Our brainteaser this week is about the origins of place names." Answers here.

1. Which continent was named after the Spanish explorer Amerigo Vespucci?
2. Which country is called by its natives Nippon, "the land of the rising Sun"?
3. Which city on Manhattan Island was originally called New Amsterdam?
4. Which American state is named after France's King Louis XIV?
5. Which bay was discovered by Captain Cook in 1770 and named on account of the great variety of new plants observed there?
6. Which Central American country was given a name which meant "rich coast"?
7. In 1642, a Dutch navigator discovered an island southeast of Australia which he named Van Diemen's Land. It is now named after him. What is its modern name?
8. Which African country was formed in 1964 when Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged?
9. Which South American country was explored in 1499 by Amerigo Vespucci and nicknamed with a name that means "little Venice"?
10. Which Australian city was founded in 1835 and named in 1837 after the British prime minister?

Thursday, June 21, 2012

FreePint Newsletter 353

FreePint Newsletter 353 - 21 June 2012 now available

Rowing & Regatta now available via Exact Editions

Rowing & Regatta now available via Exact EditionsPublished nine times a year, Rowing & Regatta aims to provide a voice for intelligent rowing fans. The official magazine of British Rowing, the governing body of the sport, Rowing & Regatta is the only full colour rowing magazine in the UK. Affectionately known as R&R, the magazine aims to cover all aspects of the sport worldwide from the Olympic Games, Henley Royal Regatta and the Boat Race through to annual head races, indoor rowing plus surf boat, gig, coastal and even extreme rowing

48 more Open Access and subscription Journals added to JournalTOCs

Roddy MacLeod has added 48 more Open Access journals to JournalTOCs, where you can find the latest Tables of Contents from over 19,200 scholarly journals, including over 4,000 Open Access journals

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

New Royal Household records just published at findmypast.co.uk

findmypast.co.uk has just added more than 25,000 new Royal Household records to its collection:

* Establishment Lists for Master of the Household's Department 1835-1924: 7,158 records
* Establishment Lists for the Royal Mews 1717-1924: 18,281 records

A Look Back at 23 Years as an Open Access Publisher by Charles W. Bailey, Jr.

Charles W. Bailey, Jr. writes: On June 29, 1989, I established the PACS-L LISTSERV mailing list, and, shortly after, I established The Public-Access Computer Systems Review, a freely available scholarly journal that was initially distributed using the LISTSERV software and the mailing list. Other freely available digital publications followed, technology evolved, "open access" became a movement with the Budapest Open Access Initiative in 2002, and, 23 years later, I'm still publishing open access works

Gale and National Geographic to bring resources to library audience

Gale, part of Cengage Learning, and the National Geographic Society have announced an extended agreement to create additional library products as part of a new product suite, National Geographic Virtual Library

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

OverDrive to provide streaming audiobooks to libraries and schools

OverDrive has announced that it will update its audiobook download services to include new options for readers to instantly "See Book-Hear Book." Scheduled for launch later this year, streaming audiobooks will be available on a wide range of Internet-connected devices, including smartphones, tablets and computers. This instant-access technology will eliminate long downloads before listening to popular audiobooks from libraries and schools throughout the OverDrive network

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #202

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #202. "This week's episode contains a bit of a cross-cutting discussion about spectrum in the United States, the purported "spectrum crunch" in the United States, and why some of the domestic proposals on the table for solving such really do not mesh well with today's planet-wide knowledge ecology. A news miscellany is also presented.". Previous Podcasts/Programs can be found here

800,000 reviews on LibraryThing for Libraries

800,000 reviews on LibraryThing for LibrariesLibraryThing for Libraries just hit 800,000 professionally vetted reviews (812,839, to be precise!). We had been working through a backlog (we had hit 600,000 in April) and are now entirely caught up, which is great. We have between 3,000-4,000 new reviews to read and approve every week, so the number is ever growing, and you can be sure that new popular books will have reviews on them quickly

Toronto libraries to charge patrons for not picking up holds (Canada)

People using city libraries are going to start paying fines if they don't pick up holds they've requested. The Toronto Public Library has announced its intention to charge users $1 for every held item they do not pick up, starting July 16. The library currently does not charge its users for not picking up the holds they have requested. Library patrons can avoid incurring the forthcoming fines by either picking up their holds on time, or cancelling them. If patrons are going to be away for a period of time, they can contact the library or go online to suspend their hold requests for the duration of their absence

'Catch-22' author's desk at USC Libraries (USA)

'Catch-22' author's desk at USC Libraries (USA)University of South Carolina Libraries is now home to a desk and desk lamp owned by American author Joseph Heller. The items are on display, along with the typewriter Heller used to write his iconic novel Catch-22, in the Hollings Library through December 20. Donated by his widow Valerie Heller, the desk and lamp arrived in the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections in April. Along with the typewriter, which was acquired by USC in the late 1990s, the desk and lamp re-create the writing environment that yielded some of the best in 20th-century American writing. "This old desk of Joe's shows much wear and tear," Valerie Heller said. "When I came to East Hampton in the spring of 1982, the desk was in the main house and during the summer was moved over to a writing studio on the property. Joe would "escape' the house to the studio to write in longhand on a lined, yellow pad and then transcribe to the typewriter."

Wichita's first Little Free Library opens in North Riverside (USA)

In North Riverside, at 1450 N. Salina, passersby might spot a miniature white house with a gray roof and blue trim, suspended in someone's yard like a large birdhouse. It is Wichita's first registered Little Free Library, one of several hundred miniature libraries around the world, where people can pick up or donate books as they wish. The library's owner is Rochelle Wilson, 59, a retired book business owner who wanted to continue a lifelong passion for books at her own pace

Prime Minister nominates next Parliamentary Librarian (Canada)

The Prime Minister of Canada has announced the nomination of Sonia L'Heureux as the new Parliamentary Librarian

Global Interoperability and Linked Data in Libraries (Italy)

Global Interoperability and Linked Data in Libraries - June 18-19, 2012 - Florence, Italy

Gale announces ed2go

Gale, part of Cengage Learning, has announced ed2go for public libraries, bringing turnkey online training and education solutions to the public library market

2012 World Open Educational Resources Congress (France)

World Open Educational Resources Congress 2012 (France)World Open Educational Resources Congress - 20 to 22 June, 2012 - UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France. UNESCO hosts the 2012 World Open Education Resources Congress at its Headquarters in Paris, from 20 to 22 June 2012 to lead the debate on the development of OERs worldwide, with the participation and support of global governments, educators, NGOs and prominent universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Congress, organized in full partnership with the Commonwealth of Learning and through the generous support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, aims at releasing the 2012 Paris OER Declaration; showcasing the world's best practices in OER policies and initiatives; and celebrating the 10th anniversary of the 2002 UNESCO Forum that coined the term Open Educational Resources

Scholastica - online publishing platform for peer-reviewed academic journals

Scholastica - online publishing platform for peer-reviewed academic journalsScholastica, a publishing platform for scholarly journals, gives power back to the academic community by allowing new and existing journals to manage article submissions and publish their Open Access (OA) content without the need for expensive contracts with large academic publishing companies. The cloud-based software service, created by graduate students from the University of Chicago, lowers the barriers to entry for creating a scholarly journal by giving academics across disciplines all the infrastructure they need to manage and publish a journal, from accepting publications to managing the peer review process to making decisions to publishing their content online

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Congress and the Courts (HeinOnline)

Congress and the Courts is now available as an a-la-carte library in HeinOnline. Congress and the Courts, featuring William H. Manz's Congress and the Courts: A Legislative History 1787-2010, brings together materials reflecting congressional concern with the composition and structure of Article III Courts and provides all relevant documents prepared by various Congresses relating to the purpose, formation, organization, and restructuring of the federal government. This new library focuses on development and growth of the federal courts and the judiciary as a source of original material of congressional fact finding and decision making. Decades of legislative intent, testimony, and pre-enactment history is provided in one centralized library

TechSoup for Libraries

TechSoup for Libraries is a project of TechSoup Global, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit devoted to making technology and technology education available and affordable to nonprofits and libraries all over the world. As of June 2009, it has distributed over 4.9 million donated and discounted products to nonprofits and public libraries across the globe, freeing up more than US$1.4 billion dollars for other uses

Cambridge University Press to publish proceedings of prehistoric society from 2013

Cambridge University Press is to publish the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society from 2013. The publisher says that for the third consecutive year the Cambridge list in archaeology and classics has seen expansion

Information Technology and Libraries - June 2012

Information Technology and Libraries - Vol 31, No 2 (2012) - now available online

Going to the pictures: Scotland at the cinema

Going to the pictures: Scotland at the cinemaCelebrate Scotland's love affair with the movies in our summer exhibition, open daily from 15 June to 28 October. Explore the story of cinema in Scotland for the past 120 years. From the first screening in 1896 to modern-day blockbusters, we present a century of Scots and Scotland on the big screen. Original footage from the Scottish Screen Archive and elsewhere ranges from clips from famous movies to local films of community life in Scotland. As well as how 'Scottishness' has been portrayed on celluloid, the exhibition charts the changing pattern of 'going to the pictures' - that's 'cinema-going' in Scotland, in case you're not sure

Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles, 2007-2011

Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles, 2007-2011Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles, 2007-2011 edited by Rebecca Ann Bartlett. For nearly five decades, Choice's Outstanding Academic Title distinction has been a valued scholarly accolade. Books and electronic materials so honored represent the best work reviewed in Choice over the course of a calendar year. Works that are selected as Outstanding Academic Titles, OATs, are distinguished by overall excellence in presentation and scholarship, importance relative to other literature in the field, and value to undergraduates. Titles may be selected because they are a first treatment in an evolving field of study or because they present an original or unique treatment in an established field. The OATs are the best of the best in scholarly publishing for undergraduates

Release of new orientation video from Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada has announced the release of its new orientation video. This video is the second in a series of tutorials that provide useful tips and recommend tools to help you discover and access archival records, genealogical resources and published materials at LAC. The tutorial series is just one of a number of LAC modernization initiatives that focus on providing you with quick and useful information about our services. Learn where and how to begin your research at Library and Archives Canada by watching this short orientation video: Orientation Services for Clients at 395 Wellington

Anatomical archives available - Wellcome Library, UK

The archive of the Anatomical Society has recently been catalogued and is now available to researchers at the Wellcome Library. The collection covers the founding of the society until the 1980s, and includes a range of documents on membership, (SA/ANA/C) financial information (SA/ANA/B ) and a considerable amount of correspondence ( SA/ANA/D). The Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded in May 1887 by Charles Barrett Lockwood, after collaborating with George M Humphry and Alexander Macalister. Lockwood was a surgeon at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and taught at the Medical College there, while Humphry and Macalister were renowned Professors and surgeons from the Medical College at Cambridge. The original minutes from the founding meeting in 1887 up until 1982 can be found in SA/ANA/A. By 1890 the society had its first overseas member and in 1894 two women were admitted from the London of Medicine for Women

Pope looks for new librarian

Up until just a few days ago, Cardinal Raffaele Farina looked over one of the world's most famous libraries. But now, he will no longer head the Vatican's Apostolic Library or its Secret Archive

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Today is Bloomsday

Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce during which the events of his novel Ulysses (which is set on 16 June 1904) are relived. It is observed annually on 16 June in Dublin and elsewhere. Joyce chose the date as it was the date of his first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle; they walked to the Dublin suburb of Ringsend. The name derives from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses

War art in The National Archives (United Kingdom)

War art in The National Archives (United Kingdom)Hundreds of original wartime art works are going online following a partnership between The National Archives and Wikimedia UK. Photographed with a digitisation grant from Wikimedia UK, the collection is now freely available on Wikimedia Commons and includes oil paintings, drawings, posters, caricatures and portraits produced as propaganda for the Ministry of Information during the Second World War. There are currently over 350 pieces available to view online, but there are plans to digitise the entire collection of almost 2,000 art works. The collection includes portraits of Allied commanders, members of the Royal Family and leading figures such as Stalin, Churchill and Eisenhower. Also showcased are some of the original works behind famous campaigns such as 'Dig for Victory' and 'Careless talk costs lives', as well as works by artists such as Terence Cuneo and Laura Knight. The collection also includes unpublished and draft works, many with pencilled comments by the artists or Ministry officials clearly visible

Podcast: Tracing merchant seamen, 1857-1918 (UK)

A frustrating aspect of researching merchant navy ancestors is the 'black hole' between 1857 and 1918 when there are no records for individual seamen. This podcast looks at what records there are for this period, how to access them and what work is currently being done to make this period more accessible to both family and academic researchers. Janet Dempsey is a records specialist with the Military, Maritime and Transport team, working at The National Archives for almost nine years. She specialises primarily in Merchant Navy records, spurred on by a long line of seafaring ancestors

SLA’s 75th Birthday (UK)

SLA’s 75th Birthday (UK)Join us this November in Newcastle to celebrate the SLA's 75th Birthday. We have joined up with an exciting new conference venue in the North East for a one-day special event with a broad mix of training, networking and celebrating! Date: 16 November 2012. Venue: Jury's Inn, Newcastle Gateshead Quays, South Shore Road, Gateshead

SAGE expands open access publishing portfolio into engineering and medicine

SAGE has announced that they are launching a further three broad-spectrum open access journals - SAGE Open Medicine, SAGE Open Medical Case Reports and SAGE Open Engineering. The new journals build on the success of SAGE Open: the only broad-spectrum open access journal for the humanities and social sciences. Launched in March 2011, the journal has received more than 1000 submissions in its first year of publication

National Printing Office unveils new digital library in Costa Rica

Thanks to an initiative by the National Printing Office, public school students in Costa Rica will soon be able to access all their mandatory reading assignments online. The project named "Editorial Digital" was presented to the government weeks ago, and according to Jarmon Noguera Gonzalez of La Prensa Libre, the initiative also aims to foster good reading habits among citizens of Costa Rica

Attachments: Faces and Stories from America's Gates

A new National Archives exhibition, Attachments: Faces and Stories from America's Gates draws from the millions of immigration case files in the Archives to tell a few of these stories from the 1880s through World War II. It also explores the attachment of immigrants to family and community, and the attachment of government organizations to laws that reflected certain beliefs about immigrants and citizenship. These are dramatic tales of joy and disappointment, opportunity and discrimination, deceit and honesty. Attachments: Faces and Stories from America's Gates is free and open to the public, and will be on display in the Lawrence F. O'Brien Gallery of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, through September 4, 2012

Credo Reference partners with public libraries to launch Literati Public

Credo Reference has announced plans to serve public libraries with Literati Public, a new expression of its suite of Digital and Information Literacy solutions

Osceola Mills Public Library forced to close (USA)

In two weeks, the Osceola Mills Public Library, Pennsylvania, will no longer exist. After funding cuts over the last few years, the library is being forced to close. Since 2008, state aid for the library has decreased 33 percent. In 2008, it received $173,265. In 2012, the library received $115,876 in state aid

Above the Fold - June 11, 2012

Above the Fold is a Web-based newsletter published by OCLC Research. It has been developed to serve a broad international readership from libraries, archives and museums - June 11, 2012 - Vol. 5, No. 23 now available

Friday, June 15, 2012

Search 70,000 new Sheffield parish records (UK)

findmypast.co.uk has just published almost 70,000 new parish records for Sheffield. The records span the vast period 1767 to 1986 and will be essential to anyone with ancestors from Sheffield

ArtsGuide Anaheim 2012

The ACRL Arts Section has published an updated Anaheim ArtsGuide, just in time for the upcoming 2012 ALA Annual Conference. Check it out for all the best in art, music, architecture, theater, and more that the Anaheim and Orange County area has to offer. ArtsGuides are semi-annual guides developed by members and associates of ACRL's Arts Section to help ALA conference attendees find arts-related venues and events in and around host cities (ArtsGuides are also published for ACRL conference host cities)
The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Tony. "Tony Augarde writes these weekly brainteasers, so he thought he would set a quiz about his first name. Can you identify these people whose first name is Tony - or its longer forms, Anthony or Antony?" Answers here.

1. British prime minister from 1997 to 2007.
2. US film actor who appeared in "Trapeze" and "Sweet Smell of Success", and starred in "Some Like It Hot" with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe.
3. Television actor who was brought to fame largely through his role as Baldrick in the "Blackadder" comedy series. He presents the "Time Team" archaeological series for Channel Four.
4. English novelist whose work includes "A Clockwork Orange" and "Earthly Powers".
5. Welsh actor who appeared in the films "The Lion in Winter" and "The Elephant Man", and performed as serial murderer Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs".
6. A photographer who married Princess Margaret in 1960 and was created Earl of Snowdon.
7. English novelist (1815-82) who wrote the Barsetshire novels, including "Barchester Towers", "Doctor Thorne" and "The Small House at Allington".
8. American singer, born Anthony Dominick Benedetto, who is most associated with the song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco".
9. English sculptor who cast his own body in plaster, lead, and fibreglass to create faceless, featureless nudes. His best-known sculptures include "Another Place", an installation of 100 cast iron figures spread out on Crosby Beach, Merseyside, and "Angel of the North", erected near Gateshead in 1998.
10. A teenage prodigy as a jazz drummer, this American musician was the mainstay of Miles Davis's group from 1963 to 1969. He later formed the group Lifetime.

Tales from the Terminal Room - May 2012, Issue No. 101

Tales from the Terminal Room - May 2012, Issue No. 101 is now available. Tales from the Terminal Room is an electronic newsletter that includes reviews and comparisons of information sources; useful tools for managing information; technical and access problems on the Net; and news of RBA's training courses and publications. Editor: Karen Blakeman. Published by RBA Information Services

2012 Brick and Click Libraries Symposium (USA)

Now in its 12th year, the Brick and Click Libraries Symposium is a one-day event featuring concurrent and lightning round sessions that explore cutting-edge technologies, practical solutions, and timely topics. The Symposium supports the academic information needs of both on-ground (brick) and online (click) students, library professionals and paraprofessionals - October 26, 2012 - Maryville, Missouri, USA

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Cleveland Public Library's TechCentral offers users advanced technology

The Cleveland Public Library is getting a high-tech upgrade - one it says is the first of its kind in any U.S. library. Today, the library unveils TechCentral, its downtown destination for computing and emerging technologies. The center will give visitors access to dynamic, interactive technology unrivaled in any library in the country, said library Executive Director Felton Thomas. Anyone with a library card can toy with tablet computers, print plastic 3-D models, engage in wireless computing and do much more in the 7,000-square-foot center on the lower level of the Louis Stokes Wing

Bodleian Library considers lending books after 410 years (UK)

For 410 years, the Bodleian library at Oxford University has stood as a beacon of exclusive learning, a reference archive hosting some of the world's rarest and most sought after books. Now all could be about to change. Plans are being discussed to allow students to borrow books from the Bodeian for the first time, and the very idea has caused a stir amongst academics and students. The changes are being proposed as the History Faculty Library moves into the Bodleian this summer, and the university is considering using the merger as a vehicle to alter the centuries-old regulations on lending - The Telegraph

New WWI and WWII Prisoner of War records published (UK)

You can now search for your ancestors in new WWI and WWII Prisoner of War records published on findmypast.co.uk. These records hold vital information about men taken prisoner of war during both World Wars. Naval and Military Press provided findmypast.co.uk with these records

Presentations from 'Scholarly Communications: New Developments in Open Access'

This free one day event was aimed at those working in research repositories and higher education libraries. It showcased examples of innovative approaches which support open access to research outputs and an open approach to scholarship. This includes new publishing initiatives – journals and monographs, new approaches to peer review, data sharing, the role of repositories and the use of social networking tools by academics - June 1, 2012 - London, UK

The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (USA)

The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library contains more than 13 million documents (70+ million pages) created by major tobacco companies related to their advertising, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and scientific research activities - University of California, San Francisco

ARL Statistics® Webcast recording now available

The Association of Research Libraries has released a YouTube video of the ARL Statistics® Webcast, held on June 5, 2012. The webcast informs survey coordinators and library staff about the nature of descriptive research library statistics, demonstrates how ARL members and nonmember libraries can access the ARL Statistics® data, and shares how data can be used to make a case for your library. The webcast also unveils some of the upcoming changes to the ARL annual surveys and discusses the benefits of these changes

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Digital Preservation Awards 2012

The Digital Preservation Awards 2012 is now open. The Digital Preservation Awards celebrate the excellence and innovation that will help to ensure our digital memory is available tomorrow. It was first awarded in 2004 as one of the Conservation Awards and it has been presented on four occasions (2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010), sponsored by the Digital Preservation Coalition with the Institute for Conservation. Although based on the Conservation Awards the Digital Preservation Award has always been distinctive in how it implements the criteria and eligibility

Rose Book-Collecting Prize winner 2011-2012

The winner of this year's Rose Book-Collecting Prize is Alessandro Bianchi of Robinson College, for his collection Japanese Popular Publications before the Twentieth Century. Alessandro is studying for a PhD in Japanese Studies, focussing on early-modern literature, and is the sixth winner of the student book-collecting prize, endowed in 2006 by Professor James H. Marrow and Dr Emily Rose in honour of Dr Rose's parents, Daniel and Joanna Rose. He receives £500 and 10 years' membership of the Friends of the University Library

Digging into data challenge - Phase 2

The Digging into Data Challenge is an international grant competition to explore the possibilities of using large-scale digitised corpora into social socience and humanities research. Phase 1 (2010-11) is completed and Phase 2 (2012-14) is underway

Nominations invited for the 2012 UKeiG Jason Farradane Award

UKeiG is now seeking nominations for the UKeiG Jason Farradane Award 2012. The UKeiG Jason Farradane Award is made to an individual or a group of people in recognition of outstanding work in the information profession. The Award embraces activities in the information profession in its widest sense, while the Group's other award, the UKeiG Tony Kent Strix Award focuses more narrowly on information retrieval. The closing date for nominations is Friday October 5th 2012

Disaster response and salvage training (UK)

Disaster response and salvage training - Preservation Advisory Centre Training Day - 4 July 2012 - British Library Centre for Conservation, London, UK

The Mills Archive is 10 years old (UK)

The Mills Archive is 10 years old (UK)This year the Mills Archive is 10 years old. The Mills Archive was established in 2002 as a permanent repository for historical and contemporary material on traditional mills and milling, and to make that material available for public inspection and use in research and learning. It is managed by the Mills Archive Trust and has rescued over a million documents and images that might otherwise have ended up in a landfill site. The archive was originally set up to care for four historically important Foundation Collections. The private collections of M. M. Cookson, J. K. Major and A. Stoyel are three of the largest collections of material on traditional mills and milling in the UK, and represent between them more than 130 years researching and working with mills. The fourth collection consists of material deposited over the years with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings Mills Section by various mill researchers and enthusiasts; as the Section does not have the space or the expertise to develop these collections it has agreed to pass them to the Mills Archive to better care for them. In addition to these, the archive has been given more than 70 other collections of varying size. All together the collections have more than 2,000,000 items. These show the rich and diverse crafts, buildings, machinery, equipment and people involved with mills in the UK and around the world

Library and Information Science (LIS) Research Coalition June newsletter available

In 2012 the LIS Research Coalition will issue regular newsletters to keep the LIS research community and practitioners informed of its work. The June newsletter is now available

Blackwell Companions Humanities Collection from Credo Reference

Credo Reference presents the Blackwell Companions Humanities Collection, one of 47 Credo Publisher Collections

ebrary announces new Android app

ebrary®, a ProQuest business, has announced a new Android™ app that will be freely
available on Google Play this summer

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice - Vol 7, No 2 (2012)

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice - Vol 7, No 2 (2012) is now available. RSS Feed

PeerJ Inc. - new Open Access academic publishing company

PeerJ Inc., a new Open Access academic publishing company, has been announced. Founded by seasoned academic publishing and technology professionals from PLoS ONE and Mendeley, PeerJ will publish a broad based, rapid, peer-reviewed journal ('PeerJ') and an innovative preprint server ('PeerJ PrePrints'). PeerJ will open for submissions in Summer 2012, and will publish its first articles in December 2012

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Library Connect - July 2012

Library Connect - July 2012 - Volume 10, Number 2 is now available online from Elsevier

Berlin 10 Open Access Conference 2012 (South Africa)

The upcoming Berlin 10 Open Access Conference will mark the first such meeting to take place in Africa. The meeting will be held at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, Wallenberg Centre, Stellenbosch, South Africa, from 6-8 November 2012. The Conference is an international forum, and this year's location provides a unique opportunity for African organisations to fully participate in shaping the program and ensure a lively, inclusive, and productive conference. Berlin 10 is being organised by representatives from the science, humanities, research, funding and policy communities

Open Access Week 2012

Open Access Week 2012 is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they've learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research - October 22-28, 2012

Above the Fold - May 25, 2012

Above the Fold is a Web-based newsletter published by OCLC Research. It has been developed to serve a broad international readership from libraries, archives and museums - May 25, 2012 - Vol. 5, No. 21 now available

Monday, June 11, 2012

Dolly Parton book scheme to be launched in Bradford

A children's centre in Bradford plans to adopt a reading scheme launched in Rotherham by US country singer Dolly Parton. The Imagination Library encourages children under five to read by sending them a free book every month. Parton launched it in Rotherham in 2007 after pioneering the scheme in the US. Chris McKay, head of Canterbury Children's Centre, said the project would help families who could not afford to buy books. The centre would be the 31st place in the UK to start an Imagination Library

"A library in every school, please" by Susan Elkin

Susan Elkin writes in The Independent: "Books are to education and learning what air and water are to life. Every child needs access to the printed word and lots of encouragement to explore it in order to develop properly. You might, therefore, be surprised to learn that many schools do not have a library or a librarian - which seems a contradiction in terms. How can you have an organisation whose raison d' ê tre is learning if it has no library? It's like a restaurant without a kitchen or a zoo without any animals..."

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #201

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #201. "This week's episode brings not just an editorial about the Smith-Mundt Act & domestic dissemination of the Voice of America, economic chatter, but a news miscellany too". Previous Podcasts/Programs can be found here

Acorn Park Little Free Library opens (USA)

A world-wide movement called the "Little Free Library" has now started up in Eugene. The movement started in Wisconsin in 2010. This is the first Little Free Library in Eugene. The library is simple. Pick any donated book and read it. Then bring it back with other books to contribute. The library is located at 1595 Buck Street in Eugene. Residents say it is a great way to bring the community together. "It has allowed us to interact in a different way and gotten us to work together and put together this project. It is completely community based, community built and donated. It is a great way to build a community," said Val Hoyle

2012 Library of Congress National Book Festival (USA)

2012 Library of Congress National Book Festival - September 22-23, 2012 - Washington, DC, USA

First Monday - June 2012

First Monday - Volume 17, Number 6, 4 June 2012 now available. First Monday is a Great Cities Initiative of the University of Illinois at Chicago University Library, USA

OLAC 2012 Conference (USA)

2012 Online Audiovisual Catalogers Conference - October 18-21, 2012 - Albuquerque, NM, USA

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Digital Preservation Network: Cliff Lynch speaks with UVA's James Hilton

CNI Executive Director Clifford Lynch speaks with James Hilton, Chief Information Officer, University of Virginia about the Digital Preservation Network, an initiative which aims to create a federated approach to preservation of academic content

Estonian ministry funds online database for folk costumes

A project to collect detailed information on the traditional regalia of Estonia's 108 historical parishes and make it available in an online database has been approved for funding by the Ministry of Culture. Although the database was set up by the non-profit Rahvarõivas (Folk Costume) and the Estonian Folk Art and Craft Union as far back as 2008, the website currently provides information on only a small number of traditional clothing items

SAGE to publish Adoption & Fostering from 2013

SAGE and the British Association for Adoption & Fostering have announced a new agreement to publish BAAF's journal, Adoption & Fostering, from 2013

Birth: a changing scene. Part I: Images of home birth in the Wellcome Library

Library Assistant Anna Ostrowska shares some of her research for her recent Wellcome Library Insight Session

Collaborative EuropeaN Digital Archive Infrastructure (CENDARI)

The Collaborative EuropeaN Digital Archive Infrastructure (CENDARI) will provide and facilitate access to existing archives and resources in Europe for the study of medieval and modern European history (specifically the First World War period) through the development of an 'enquiry environment'. Lead institution: Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Partner institutions: Die Freie Universitaet Berlin (FUB) Germany, Mathematical Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MISANU), Serbia, University of Birmingham, UK, Georg August Universitaet Goettingen, Germany, Czech National Library, Czech Republic, International Society for the Study of Medieval Latin, Italy, Fondazione Ezio Francheschini, Italy, Bibliothek fuer Zeitgeschichte, Germany, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique, France, Consortium of European Research Libraries, UK, The De Koninkljike Bibliotheek - European Library, Netherlands

2012 Scottish International Storytelling Festival

The 2012 Scottish International Storytelling Festival celebrates the art and humanity of folktales across Europe, tracing the way in which the publication of the Brothers Grimm Tales 200 years ago, sparked a revival of interest in nations and regions across the continent and influenced every artform - 19-28 October, 2012 - Edinburgh, Scotland

New peer-reviewed journal on Big Data launching in Fall 2012

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. has announced the launch of Big Data, a peer-reviewed journal that will provide a unique forum for world-class research exploring the challenges and opportunities in collecting, analyzing, and disseminating vast amounts of data, including big data analytics

Hay Festival 2012: Life Changing Literature - David Lammy (UK)

"Libraries are the universities of the masses – we can't lose them", writes David Lammy - The Telegraph

Turning the Page 2.0 (USA)

Turning the Page 2.0 is a free library advocacy training course developed and presented by the Public Library Association with generous support from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In this six-week, facilitated online course, library staff and supporters will learn how to create and tell their library's story, deliver effective presentations, develop a compelling case for support, and build and sustain partnerships along the way. Participants are encouraged to come with a specific, self-determined advocacy goal for their library. At the end of six weeks, you'll have a complete Advocacy Work Plan to guide your efforts. Turning the Page 2.0 consists of the following components:

* In-person kick-off (optional)
* Facilitator-led virtual classroom sessions (1 hour each week for 6 weeks)
* Independent work on Turning the Page online modules (about 1 hour each week)
* Online community for discussion (optional)
* Completion of an Advocacy Work Plan (about 1 hour each week)
* One-on-one feedback via email from professional facilitators (free consultancy)

Utah State University adopts Open Access policy (USA)

Utah State University has joined an emerging national trend and the ranks of a growing number of the country's universities in adopting an official "Open Access" policy. USU's University Libraries headed the effort. "For the library and, indeed, the whole university, this is a momentous occasion," said Richard Clement, USU's dean of libraries. "It enables faculty authors to retain rights to their own publications and to make the fruits of their research and scholarship freely available to all." The new open access policy - officially known at USU as Policy 535 - ensures that all employees at Utah State University retain the ability to share their publications with colleagues, students and the public upon their publication. The policy was first unanimously approved by USU's Faculty Senate in April, followed by approval by the President's Executive Committee with the endorsement of USU President Stan Albrecht

TWIL #75: Leonee Ariel Derr (Youth Services Librarian)

How can we provide value for young people? "Nothing is really easy" and traveling the world on a scholarship to learn about libraries. All of this and more in this week's episode of TWIL: your weekly dose of library innovation

Friday, June 08, 2012

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - June 8, 2012

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Singer-Songwriters. "In the world of popular music, singer-songwriters not only sing but also write songs, usually for themselves to sing. Try to answer these questions about singers who also write songs" Answers here.

1. Which US singer-songwriter had the most successful album of the early 1970s, in a duo with Art Garfunkel, with "Bridge Over Troubled Water"?
2. Which popular singer and songwriter had best-selling albums with "Off The Wall" (1979) and "Thriller" (1982)?
3. Born Robert Zimmerman in 1941, which influential singer-songwriter "went electric" for the albums "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde on Blonde"?
4. Which singer-songwriter was murdered by Mark David Chapman in 1980?
5. Which Canadian singer-songwriter composed the songs "Both Sides Now" and "Big Yellow Taxi"?
6. P. J. Harvey is a singer-songwriter. What is her first name (starting with P)?
7. Which Canadian singer-songwriter was a poet and novelist before he made albums entitled "Songs from a Room" and "Death of a Ladies' Man"?
8. Which American singer-songwriter made albums called "Tuesday Night Music Club" and "The Globe Sessions" and performed the title track to the James Bond movie "Tomorrow Never Dies"?
9. Which female singer-songwriter reached the American Top Five with "Chuck E's in Love" (1979)?
10. Which singer-songwriter married singer-songwriter Carly Simon in 1972?

The Wrecking of Canada's Library and Archives - Myron Groover

Myron Groover writes: "The ongoing cuts and changes to service delivery at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) continue to be a source of consternation for Canada's archival community and to the users of Canada's documentary heritage. It's quite easy to get carried away on a tide of outrage around these issues, though, and so I present here a brief summary of the proposed changes themselves so readers can have an idea what's going on..."

Search new Kent parish records on findmypast.co.uk

Search more than 7,500 new parish records for North West Kent on findmypast.co.uk

ReadersFirst

ReadersFirst: a movement to improve e-book access and services for public library users

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Cites & Insights 12:5 (June 2012)

Cites & Insights 12:5 (June 2012) is now available for downloading. Edited and published by Walt Crawford

Social Sciences Directory

Social Sciences Directory is a new web-based open-access publishing platform, aimed at the global academic research and higher education market

CRL acquires Central American Archives

The first portion of CRL's purchase of the complete set of the Archivo General de Centroamérica (Central American Archives) has been received and processed. These archives encompass six million pages of original primary source documents (many of which are unique copies) spanning more than three centuries, from 1519 to 1898. They document Spanish rule in the New World from the founding of the city of Antigua, in Guatemala. The collection documents all aspects of commerce, politics, and development throughout El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Yucatan and Chiapas regions of Mexico. Central American Archives is a rich resource for Latin American, Central American, and Spanish studies

JSTOR Current Scholarship Program announces 2013 catalog and pricing

JSTOR has announced the 2013 catalog and price list for the Current Scholarship Program are now available online. A total of 230 titles - 24 of them new to the program - will be available for the 2013 subscription year

Librarian of Congress appoints Natasha Trethewey Poet Laureate (USA)

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has announced the appointment of Natasha Trethewey as the Library's Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2012-2013. Trethewey, the 19th Poet Laureate, will take up her duties in the fall, opening the Library's annual literary season with a reading of her work on Thursday, September 13 in the Coolidge Auditorium. Her term will coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Library's Poetry and Literature Center and the 1937 establishment of the Consultant-in-Poetry position, which was changed by a federal law in 1986 to Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry

Free access to Women Writing in Africa from Alexander Street Press

Alexander Street Press is providing free access to "Women Writing in Africa" only for institutions in Africa

IMLS awards $50,000 to the Public Library Association to prototype a summer reading app

The Institute of Museum and Library Services has announced a planning grant of $50,000 to the Public Library Association, a division of the American Library Association. This National Leadership Grant will aid in the development of a "summer reading app" for mobile devices by the summer of 2013

The HeinOnline Newsletter - May 2012

The HeinOnline Newsletter - May 2012 - Issue #5 is now available online

2012 LITA National Forum Registration

Registration is now open for the 2012 LITA National Forum, October, 2012

2012 Spectrum Scholarship winners announced

This year, the American Library Association's Office for Diversity is awarding a new round of 50 Spectrum Scholarships. The Spectrum Scholarship Program provides scholarships to American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students pursuing graduate degrees in library and information studies. Its mission is to improve service at the local level through the development of a representative workforce that reflects the communities served by all libraries. Since 1997, the ALA has awarded more than 800 Spectrum Scholarships

New website for SPARC Europe

SPARC Europe has a new website with an updated look and new features

Crossroads - June 2012

Crossroads: the newsletter of WebJuntion.org - June 2012 issue is now available

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

FreePint Newsletter 352

FreePint Newsletter 352 - 7 June 2012 now available

116 more Open Access and subscription Journals added to JournalTOCs

Roddy MacLeod has added 116 more Open Access journals to JournalTOCs, where you can find the latest Tables of Contents from over 19,200 scholarly journals, including over 3,900 Open Access journals

Video: Interview with OCLC Research Wikipedian in Residence Max Klein

In this eight-minute video, Senior Program Officer Roy Tennant talks with OCLC Research Wikipedian in Residence Max Klein about his plans to help connect researchers with library collections and services using Wikipedia

Ex Libris releases Primo 4.0

Ex Libris® Group has announced the release of version 4 of the Primo® discovery and delivery solution

June 2012 batch of Early Reviewer books is up at LibraryThing

The June 2012 batch of Early Reviewer books is now available at LibraryThing. There are 2341 copies of 93 books available this month

Welsh memories of Queen’s coronation

The coronation of Queen Elzabeth II in 1953 was one of the key events that inaugurated the age of mass television in Britain. It was the first large royal event to be televised. For many in Wales and elsewhere it was their first experience of seeing television at all. The coronation therefore played an important and formative role in defining the way television recorded national events

2012 Year Book Australia

Year Book Australia provides a comprehensive and detailed statistical overview of Australia's environment, society, industry and economy. As well as providing a statistical picture of contemporary Australia the 2012 Year Book includes feature articles that recognise and celebrate the National Year of Reading, the Australian Year of the Farmer and the International Year of Co-operatives

CLA Announces the 2012 scholarship winners (Canada)

The Canadian Library Association has announced the awarding of the CLA Dafoe and H.W. Wilson Scholarships. These scholarships are awarded annually to a student entering an ALA-accredited degree program in library and information studies. Grant Hurley of Vancouver, BC is being awarded the CLA Dafoe Scholarship ($5000). Leila Meshgini of Toronto, ON is being awarded the H.W. Wilson Scholarship ($2000). Criteria for the scholarships include academic achievement, leadership potential and a demonstrated interest in the profession

2012 ARL/DLF/DuraSpace E-Science Institute

DuraSpace has announced the 2012 Association of Research Libraries/Digital Library Federation (ARL/DLF)/DuraSpace E-Science Institute scheduled for the 2012–2013 academic year. This Institute will be offered to academic and research library audiences seeking opportunities to boost institutional support of e-research and the management and preservation of our scientific and scholarly record

Connect, Collaborate, and Communicate: A report from ACRL

ACRL has released a new white paper, "Connect, Collaborate, and Communicate: A Report from the Value of Academic Libraries Summits," which reports on two invitational summits supported by a National Leadership Collaborative Planning Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Gale and Library Journal Name San Diego County Library as the 2012 Library of the Year

Gale, part of Cengage Learning, and Library Journal magazine have announced that San Diego County Library is the 2012 Library of the Year

NYOpenGovernment.com (USA)

NYOpenGovernment.com is an effort by the Attorney General's office to promote your right to know and to monitor governmental decision-making. NYOpenGovernment.com is the only statewide resource that allows you to easily access statewide government information, which until now has been scattered or difficult to retrieve

SPARC Open Access Newsletter, issue #164

SPARC Open Access Newsletter, issue #164 - June 2 2012 is now available from Peter Suber

C&RL News – June 2012

C&RL News – June 2012 is now freely available online from The Association of College and Research Libraries

Monday, June 04, 2012

New British Library exhibition explores Islam, Trade and Politics on a journey across the country

Islam, Trade and Politics Across the Indian Ocean, a new photographic exhibition produced by the British Library and funded by the British Academy for the Association of South-East Asian Studies and British Institute at Ankara was opened 30 May and goes on a year-long journey across the country

Accessing Linda Hall Library materials through CRL

Earlier this year, CRL and the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology formed a strategic partnership to preserve and develop historical research collections in the fields of science, technology, and engineering. Beginning July 1, CRL libraries will have access to the combined CRL and Linda Hall science, technology, and engineering print serials. These current and back issues of over 50,000 journal titles acquired and maintained by CRL and Linda Hall will be made available electronically through on-demand digitization and traditional document delivery through the RapidILL service

38th IASSIST annual conference (USA)

The 38th IASSIST annual conference will be in Washington, D.C., USA, June 4-8, 2012, hosted by the National Opinion Research Centre. The theme is Data Science for a Connected World: Unlocking and Harnessing the Power of Information

Now over 5,000,000 pages at The British Newspaper Archive (UK)

The British Newspaper Archive website has just reached another milestone, as page number 5,000,000 was recently added

Ovid's Resource of the Month - June 2012 - APA PsycINFO™ and APA PsycTESTS®

Each month, Ovid provides you with the opportunity to "test drive" a sampling of our content, tools and services - free of charge - through our Resource of the Month program. A different combination of resources is offered around the first business day of each month, so be sure to check back regularly to see what new resources are available

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #200

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #200. "This week's episode provides a news miscellany and reminds us that the largest democracy by headcount is India". Previous Podcasts/Programs can be found here

Art and Architecture in Video from Alexander Street Press

Art and Architecture in Video, an online streaming film collection, delivers over 500 hours of documentaries and interviews illustrating the theory and practice of a variety of art forms and providing the context necessary for critical analysis. Ideal for both undergraduate and graduate courses, the works within this collection offer a dynamic tool to enhance understanding of visual media

Knox County Black History Archives (USA)

Knox County, Ohio has been home to Black residents from the earliest days of settlement of the region by non-indigenous persons. As a consequence of their small numbers, the history of Black folks of the area was largely over-looked, if not outright ignored, by the mainstream press, academicians, and local historians. Although living and working closely with their White neighbors, the Black community, forced by custom and convention and inspired by other "colored" people living in communities both large and small, built parallel, albeit segregated, institutions to meet their social, economic, and spiritual needs. The establishment of these archives was intended to open a window into the fascinating world of African American life and experience in rural Ohio as well as advance the reclamation of the proud histories of the invisible people who occupied "the community within." These Archives are made possible, in part, by funding from the Ohio Humanities Council in addition to continuing support from Kenyon College and the Rural Life Center. Use of the items in these archives are limited to non-commercial uses, and contingent upon the proper acknowledgment of the Rural Life Center at Kenyon College

Sunday, June 03, 2012

Academic and Scholar Search Engines and Sources - An Annotated Link Compilation by Marcus P. Zillman

This new guide focuses on the latest and most significant academic and scholar search engines and sources. With the constant addition of new and pertinent information released online from every sector, it is very easy to experience information overload. A real asset in responding to the challenges of so much data is to apply techniques to identify and locate significant, reliable academic and scholarly information that resides in both the visible and invisible web. The following selected academic and scholar search engines and sources offer a wide range of actionable information retrieval and extraction sources to help you accomplish your research goals - May 31, 2012

The Geothermal Resources Council launches the GRC Online Library (USA)

Our database contains approximately 33,000 records on all aspects of geothermal energy, including exploration, reservoir engineering, power plant design and operation, direct use, geothermal heat pumps, regulatory issues, energy policy, energy markets, news briefs, and more. We provide article-level citations to: all GRC Transactions (1977 to present), all GRC Special Reports, numerous feature articles and news briefs from the GRC Bulletin (1973 to present), corporate and academic technical reports, journals, and books

TWIL #74: Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian for Research & Instructional Services at Temple University's Paley Library

TWIL #74: Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian for Research & Instructional Services at Temple University's Paley Library - Making yourself visible as a librarian. The cost of textbooks and creating passionate users

EBSCO Publishing brings Associated Press Images Collection to library customers

EBSCO Publishing will make millions of images from the Associated Press available to library customers. EBSCO has been named the sole library distributor of the AP Images, the commercial photo unit of AP. It is one of the world's largest collections of historical and contemporary imagery including more than twelve million photographs dating back more than 100 years

John Hayes MP announces new accessibility tools (UK)

John Hayes MP, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning launched two new JISC TechDis tools this week as part of our work to improve access to education for all abilities. The tools TechDis Voices and TechDis Toolbox will improve text to speech and provide a one-stop toolbox of resources, aimed primarily at helping people with disabilities or other difficulties to improve their work and learning

DeepDyve

DeepDyve provides simple and affordable access to millions of articles across thousands of peer-reviewed journals. Content from the world's leading publishers including Reed Elsevier, Springer, Wiley-Blackwell, and more

Information Today - June 2012 issues

The June 2012 issues of Computers in Libraries, Information Today, and Searcher, are now available

British Design 1948–2012 (UK)

British Design 1948–2012 (UK)In 1948 London hosted the first Olympic Games after the Second World War. The 'Austerity Games' (as they became known) took place at a time of economic crisis in a city devastated by bombing, but they provided a platform for reconciliation and reconstruction. In 2012 Britain welcomes the Olympics once more, and while the spirit remains, the context in which they are taking place has entirely changed. British Design 1948–2012 traces those changes by exploring buildings, objects, images and ideas produced by designers and artists born, trained or based in Britain.

The displays examine the shifting nature of British design over 60 years: three galleries respectively explore the tension between tradition and modernity; the subversive impulse in British culture; and Britain’s leadership in design innovation and creativity. The exhibition reveals how British designers have responded to economic, political and cultural forces that have fundamentally shaped how we live today. They have created some of the most inventive and striking objects, technologies and buildings of the modern world

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog - May 30, 2012 update

The May 30, 2012 edition of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog from Charles W. Bailey, Jr. is now available. It provides information about new works related to scholarly electronic publishing, such as books, e-prints, journal articles, magazine articles, technical reports, and white papers

Current Cites - May 2012

Current Cites (edited by Roy Tennant) - May 2012 is now available

Facet Publishing release three new titles (UK)

Facet Publishing has announced the release of The New Professional's Toolkit, Information 2.0, and Successful Enquiry Answering Every Time, 6th edition

Long-sealed Watergate documents may be released (USA)

The U.S. Department of Justice says at least some materials sealed as part of the court case against seven men involved in the 1972 Watergate burglary should be released

Friday, June 01, 2012

The Publishers Association releases report detailing the potential effect of making journals free after a six month embargo

'The potential effect of making journals free after a six month embargo', a report commissioned by The Publishers Association and the Association of Learned, Professional and Society Publishers, found that an across-the-board mandate might have a material effect on libraries' subscriptions; and that the impact on publishers' revenues would be considerable. Higher Education Institutions' libraries may be impacted by the collapse or scaling down of academic publishing houses. The world's most distinguished research institutions would, the report suggests, be impacted the most, since published outputs are essential for the work carried out by their researchers. The reports' results indicate that STM publishers could expect to retain full subscriptions from 56% of libraries, compared with 35% for AHSS publishers

Royal Household Staff Records 1660-1924 now online (UK)

In celebration of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee, family history website findmypast.co.uk, in association with the Royal Archives, has launched the Royal Household Staff Lists, a detailed collection made available online for the first time

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - June 1, 2012

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Animals in Films. "We recently had a brainteaser about animals in books. Now here's a quiz about animals in films" Answers here.

1. Which 1942 animated feature film told the story of a young fawn whose friends included Thumper and Flower?
2. In "The Wizard of Oz", Dorothy said to her dog "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more!" What was the name of her dog?
3. Leo the lion roars at the beginning of each movie made by which film company?
4. Which cartoon animal was featured in Walt Disney's first sound cartoon, "Steamboat Willie"?
5. What was the title of the 1995 film adapted from Dick King-Smith's novel "The Sheep-Pig", about a pig who discovers it can herd sheep?
6. "Ring of Bright Water" was a 1969 film based on Gavin Maxwell's life with which kind of animals?
7. Which 1993 movie featured an orca whale calf called Keiko?
8. "National Velvet" was a 1945 film starring Elizabeth Taylor in which Velvet, a butcher's daughter, wins what in a raffle?
9. What kind of fish was Nemo in the 2003 film called "Finding Nemo"?
10. What was the name of the Siamese cat that appeared in the 1958 film "Bell, Book and Candle"?