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Winners of The EMC Heritage Trust Project Grants Announced
Contributed by: On March 18, EMC Corporation announced that seven organizations will receive EMC Heritage Trust Project awards totaling $100,000. EMC received 325 applications from 34 countries since announcing the inaugural awards program last May. (see http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september07/09inbrief.html#PRESS) The EMC Information Heritage Initiative was formalized in 2007 to help preserve and protect humanity's information heritage and make important historical documents and cultural artifacts readily accessible via the Internet for research and education purposes. In conjunction with this initiative, the EMC Heritage Trust Project was created to recognize and support any public or private local organization, institution or individual projects around the world that are designed to protect and improve access to invaluable information. The EMC Heritage Trust Project's distinguished judging committee reviewed the 325 applications and narrowed them down to 48 finalists. Award recipients were chosen based on the potential size of the audience that would benefit from access to this information; the at-risk status of the information and why it is so urgent to digitize the information; and how beneficial EMC's grant would be for the overall success of the project. This year's seven winners include: The Music Library of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra – The EMC grant will pay for the hardware and software required for the preservation and cataloging of one of the oldest and significant music collections in Russia, making it widely available globally via the Web. Flimmer Film AS – The EMC grant will allow the Norwegian organization to translate and share over the Web "My Days," an oral history project in which senior citizens share short, personal narratives from their everyday lives. Center for the Study of Peace and Reconciliation (CsPR) – The EMC grant will allow the CsPR at Hitotsubashi University's Graduate School of Social Sciences in Japan to digitize its research materials on peace and reconciliation and the related issues of conflict, violence, memory and representation, including audio and video interview tapes, films, research cards and manuscripts. Chiang Mai University Library – The EMC grant will help Chiang Mai University Library in Thailand to digitize traditional temple manuscripts dating back to the 16th century, many on palm-leaf material, tree bark paper and mulberry paper, as well as 350 microfilms from the 1980s containing the collections of 100 Buddhist temples. Villa Ocampo – The EMC grant will restore, protect and digitize Victoria Ocampo's extensive library collection in Argentina, which includes more than 12,000 books and 1,000 periodicals, as well as letters, photographs and other personal papers. Victoria Ocampo was a well-known 20th century Latin American cultural figure who founded and published Sur, the most important literary magazine of its time in Latin America. U'mista Cultural Society – The EMC grant will be used for staff and expenses necessary to digitize, document and archive the largest and oldest collection of Kwakwaka'wakw culture in Europe, held by the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. The Kwakwaka'wakw (also Kwakiutl) is an indigenous nation of 5,500 people who live in British Columbia on Vancouver Island. The Edgar Allan Poe Museum – The EMC grant will fund staffing, equipment and post-digitization, acid-free storage of materials, to preserve the Richmond, Virginia, museum's collections of Poe artifacts, manuscripts, family ephemera and memorabilia. "Although Poe always identified himself as a Virginian, his life and works truly belong to the world," says Katarina Spears, Executive Director at The Edgar Allan Poe Museum. "The EMC Heritage Trust Project has given the Poe Museum the opportunity to make this extremely rare and valuable historic collection available for research and enjoyment on a global scale while preserving it for the generations to come. We are thrilled by this opportunity." The EMC Heritage Trust Project will begin accepting nominations for next year's awards on July 1, 2008. Winners will be announced in May 2009. Program details are available at <http://www.EMC.com/heritage_trust>. VIF Project Completes Framework for Identification of Versions in Digital Repositories
Contributed by:
A serious growing pain for digital repositories is the issue of how to identify versions of works deposited in them. Draft versions, working papers, different formats, supporting material and so on are all accepted by repositories, but are not often very well described as such or linked together appropriately. The VIF (Version Identification Framework) project has been developing a framework of recommendations and solutions for information professionals, repository software developers and academics to improve the situation. The project was informed by a survey (mostly UK based respondents) which established the requirements of the Framework. It found that version identification is a genuine problem, without a popularly endorsed solution. The project identified what information an end user might need to know about an object in order to understand its version status, which VIF calls 'essential versioning information'. This was a list of five:
With some or all of this information to hand, a researcher should be able to understand what version they have in front of them. The primary recommendation of the VIF project is that this information is made transparent to the end users of repositories, no matter how they access the material. This is because it is common for people to access repository material directly via search engines and not see the repository's metadata. To ensure version information is still available to the end user, VIF suggests embedding such information into objects themselves, using coversheets, ID tags, watermarks or the filename as well as storing detailed version information in the repository itself. Main Recommendations In order to make version status clear to all repository users, three major stakeholders have a role to play. The project recommends that: Software Developers:
Repository managers and staff:
Content Creators:
Future Recommendations from the Framework have already been examined by some repository service providers, and changes to the Eprints repository software that allow for more detailed version description will appear in their next release, Eprints 3.1. Changes have also been made to the OpenDOAR repository polices tool to include statements on version storage and preservation. The framework was completed in April 2008 and is now available online at <http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/vif>. Feedback is invited to the <vif@lse.ac.uk> address and the project team will update the Framework to keep up with developments during 2008. Version identification will become more complex as more and more objects are available in digital repositories. However, VIF's recommendations should enable repository end users to trust they have the right version of the objects they find much more reliably than they are currently able to. VIF Project Team
Jenny Brace, Project Manager, LSE NISO Forum Sparked Debate on Discovery Tools
Contributed by: Both the program and location for "Next Generation Discovery: New Tools, Aging Standards" earned appreciation from attendees at the National Information Standards Organization's (NISO) March 27-28 forum at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill, NC. Speakers focused on the fact that new sources of scholarly information have engendered the need for effective search-driven and network-driven discovery tools, and looked at the role of standards in the development of those tools. "Very timely topics" was a commonly heard praise of the packed agenda that began with Richard Akerman's keynote entitled, "Building SkyNet for Science: Discovering New Frontiers Using Embedded Knowledge." Akerman is Technology Architect at the National Research Council, Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (NRC CISTI), Canada's National Science Library and Publisher. "The digital environment is primarily mediated by machines," he told attendees, but the machines don't speak the same language as their creators. This led him to discuss the important challenge of finding standard ways of representing and communicating requests, and developing standards for embedding and exchanging knowledge about digital objects. At the same time, however, Akerman emphasized that in the early stages a diversity of approaches might be needed to discover the best way forward. Speakers and panels highlighted specific approaches to problem solving through case studies. They included top experts from the university library community, as well as researchers and vendors offering customer-use information. Among the presentations were the following:
EBSCO and Ex Libris provided major sponsorship for the event. AGREGA - Spanish Education Community Federation of Repositories of Learning Objects
Contributed by: The Agrega project objective is to create a federation of learning repositories which is aimed to be used by 19 educational authorities in Spain. Each single educational authority will have its own repository loaded with curricular learning objects created according to standards, and each single repository will be able to integrate and interoperate with other learning systems locally and worldwide. Agrega is expected to be public launched after July 2008. The project aims are to:
At the beginning clear principles were set in order to create a sustainable learning federation as:
The Agrega project has a clear focus on integration and interoperability between Agrega learning repositories and the rest of the world. Moreover, it is open to collaborative evolution based on a generic GNU-GPL licensing. It is the first step towards providing a nation-wide access to content generated by the education community in a consistent and interoperable way. Curricular content for Agrega is being developed under Creative Commons licensing schemes, can be experimented directly from a web site, offline or by an LMS, and all the contents and application will be localised in Spanish, Euskera, Catalan, Valencian, Gallego and English. With Agrega, teachers and students will be able to:
With Agrega, teachers and education community will be able to:
Further information The information website is currently located at <http://www.proyectoagrega.es>. At the time of publication of this article, that site is password protected. Please contact Manuel Canabal for more information: <[email protected]>. Acknowledgement Agrega project partners are: Red.es1 (public entrepreneurial entity attached to the Ministry of Industry), the Ministry of Industry,2 the Ministry of Education3 and the Spanish Autonomous Communities of Spain. Related links 1. Red.es - Public Entrepreneurial Entity, <http://www.red.es>. 2. Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade <http://www.mityc.es>. 3. Spanish Ministry of Education <http://www.mepsyd.es/>. NISO Digital Resources Forum Posed Tough Questions to Community
Contributed by: As the information community has reconsidered its approach to content in a digital age, a great deal of focus has remained on the more traditional journal. At the same time, creators, libraries, and users today are dealing with a dramatically different landscape in their work with content ranging from e-books to audio and beyond. At NISO's recent forum, "Digital Resources: Working with Formats Beyond Serials," which was held in San Francisco May 5-6, speakers looked at the many issues surrounding these digital resources, identifying ongoing problems and speaking to possible solutions in development, as well as areas of ongoing change to focus on ahead. Key questions included: What best practices exist when creating digital content, and how – and what – metadata might be applied for optimum discovery and delivery? How can our systems and libraries organize these resources, integrate them in existing tools, and provide access while considering issues of intellectual property rights, purchasing models, and other key business concerns? In an environment of "anywhere, anytime" demands, how can publishers, content providers, and libraries ensure that these resources are accessible and flexible enough to meet growing needs? Peter Brantley, Executive Director of the Digital Library Federation (DLF), offered the opening keynote, "Extending the Self: An Exploration of New Conceptions and Expectations for Content, Interaction, and Ubiquity." In his discussion, Brantley shared with attendees the ramifications of new expectations for engaging with content on demand and on location – wherever that location might be – and how these expectations are shaping the creation of digital content and services. Ted Koppel, AGent Verso (ILS) Product manager, Auto-Graphics, Inc., then challenged the audience to look more closely at how we define e-books, stressing the importance of common definitions so that we can move forward to new approaches and services around the diverse and broad range of e-books – from publisher-created to mass digitized and locally produced e-books. Bill Kasdorf, Vice President, Apex Content Solutions, reviewed the various XML models used for book content today, pointing out that the multitude of models, including component models used within other models, is a reflection of the range of e-book types, and are often applied for a specific purpose of how the book content will ultimately be used. Garth Conboy, President, eBook Technologies, Inc. introduced the International Digital Publishing Forum's (IDPF's) EPUB standard. EPUB, which is quickly being adopted by publishers, offers a single platform for creating digital book content that can be then expressed and delivered in multiple formats. EPUB incorporates three standards: Open Publishing Structure (OPS), Open Packing Format (OPF), and OEBPS [Open] Container Format. Kevin Cohn, Director of Client Services, Atypon Systems, Inc. addressed "Multi-product Platforms in Scholarly Publishing." Noting that the lines between journals, books, and other content types are blurring, Cohn focused on the fact that multi-product platforms provide publishers with the ability to deliver all of their content types through a single application that provides common services to publisher administrators, librarians, and researchers. Paul Jessop, Chief Technology Officer, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), presented "On Keeping Your Head: A Music Industry Close-Up." Jessop shared how identifiers in the music industry revolve around creation types, including identification of releases of resources, and pointed to a need to design in extensibility in the development of identifiers. Christine Stamison, Senior Customer Relations Manager, Swets, explored Swets' strategy to reduce the complexity that surrounds e-books by enabling customers to manage both e-books and journals via a single platform. Bill McCoy, General Manager, ePublishing Business, Adobe Systems, Inc., shared information about Adobe Digital Editions, a new internet application expressly designed for reading and managing digital publications, allowing users to create "bookshelves" for content, and includes features such as mark-up tools and increased navigation and multimedia support. Justyn Baker, Executive Director of Licensing/Digital Formats, Naxos of America, Inc., discussed "Pricing and Licensing of eMusic," highlighting the many issues surrounding the licensing of digital music for use in education. Andy Weissberg, General Manager, Identifier Services, R.R. Bowker, considered "The Identification of Digital Book Content," noting the pressing need for clarity on the use of standards for the identification and description of digital content, including a recommended approach of assigning ISBNs for all instances of a digital book and even portions of a book (such as chapters), noting "If it is tradable, it should have a separate ISBN." He further introduced the upcoming International Standard Text Code (ISTC), which is intended to link manifestations of a product. Allen McKiel, Dean of Library & Media Services, Western Oregon University, talked about "Academic Libraries: Beyond Paper." McKeil said that, while the operational demands of print remain, particularly with respect to reliance on the printed book, they obfuscate the view of libraries beyond print. By presenting costs and usage associated with electronic and print resources; reviewing faculty preferences from ebrary's recent survey; and examining the prerequisites to a complete transition to electronic distribution, this session examined the roles of publishers, vendors, and libraries after print. Jennifer Sutton, who is an independent consultant, looked at the "DAISY/NISO Standard: Future Uses & Directions." The DAISY standard, known officially as the ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2005, Specifications for the Digital Talking Book, has been undergoing requirements gathering from a range of stakeholders to help shape and guide the future of the standard for providing a rich reading experience to people with print disabilities. Swets provided major sponsorship for the event. NISO's upcoming events include a May 31 session at Book Expo America with BISG on "Bridging the Gap Between Publishers and Libraries: Standards to Help Manage Licenses and Use" and a June 4 forum "Metadata in a Digital Age: New Models of Creation, Discovery, and Use," before the NASIG conference in Phoenix, AZ. In the NewsExcerpts from Recent Press Releases and AnnouncementsNew information studies dean specializes in digital information managementMay 14, 2008 - "Professor Seamus Ross, professor of humanities informatics and digital curation at the University of Glasgow, has been appointed the new dean of the Faculty of Information Studies [at the University of Toronto] for a seven-year term effective January 1, 2009. He succeeds the current dean, Professor Brian Cantwell Smith." "Ross is founding director of the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute, which offers programs of study at the undergraduate level in arts and media informatics and the post-graduate level in information management and preservation and computer forensics. It also conducts innovative research into the use of information and communication technology within the humanities, archives, libraries and museums, and promotes collaborative IT-based research within the arts and humanities. Since 2004, he has also been an associate director of the UK's Digital Curation Centre." "The incoming dean earned his BA from Vassar College, his MA from the University of Pennsylvania and his DPhil from the University of Oxford. Before joining the University of Glasgow, Ross served for seven years as head of information technology at the British Academy....Ross comes to University of Toronto with considerable experience in teaching as well as leadership in program and curriculum development and research." For more information, please see the full press release at <http://www.news.utoronto.ca/campus-news/new-information-studies-dean-specializes California Digital Library Announces New Release of the eXtensible Text Framework (XTF)May 12, 2008 - "The California Digital Library (CDL) is pleased to announce a new release of its search and display technology, the eXtensible Text Framework (XTF) version 2.1, <http://www.cdlib.org/inside/projects/xtf/>." "XTF is an open source, highly flexible software application that supports the search, browse and display of heterogeneous digital content. XTF offers efficient and practical methods for creating customized end-user interfaces for distinct digital content collections." "A complete list of changes <http://xtf.wiki.sourceforge.net/changeLog_2.1> is available on the XTF Project page on SourceForge <http://sourceforge.net/projects/xtf/>, where the distribution (including documentation) can also be downloaded." For more information, please contact Lisa Schiff <Lisa.Schiff@ucop.edu>. Harvard Law faculty votes for 'open access' to scholarly articlesMay 7, 2008 - "In a move that will disseminate faculty research and scholarship as broadly as possible, the Harvard Law School faculty unanimously voted last week to make each faculty member's scholarly articles available online for free, making HLS the first law school to commit to open access...." "...Under the new policy, HLS will make articles authored by faculty members available in an online repository, whose contents would be searchable and available to other services such as Google Scholar. Authors can also legally distribute the articles on their own websites, and educators here and elsewhere can freely provide the articles to students, so long as the materials are not used for profit...." "...The vote came after an open access proposal was made by a university-wide committee aimed at encouraging wider dissemination of scholarly work. Earlier this semester, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to adopt a policy similar to the Law School's new initiative." For more information, please see the full press release at <http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2008/05/07_openaccess.php>. Teaching Web Site Highlights Gifts of Ancient MesopotamiaMay 5, 2008 - "Twelve-year-old students across the country are digging into the secrets of ancient Mesopotamia through a teaching Web site that lets them direct virtual archeological expeditions and curate museum exhibits with the excavated artifacts. The Web site, Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History, examines gifts left to the modern world of the region that includes Iraq. It was developed by the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute Museum in partnership with Chicago Public School teachers, the University of Chicago's Chicago Web Docent, and the eCUIP Digital Library Project and was funded by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services." "The topics covered in Life in Mesopotamia drive home one of the Web site's central themes: that ancient Mesopotamians and their myriad gifts still affect almost every aspect of our daily lives 5,000 years later. Among those gifts are:
For more information about the web site, please see the full press release at <http://www.imls.gov/news/2008/050508.shtm>. Liz Bishoff Joins BCR as Director of Digital and Preservation ServicesMay 5, 2008 - "BCR is pleased to announce that Liz Bishoff will be joining BCR as Director of Digital and Preservation Services, effective May 27. By creating this new division and bringing Bishoff on board, BCR builds on the recent merger of the well known Collaborative Digitization Program (now known as BCR's CDP) into BCR, and solidifies their reputation as a nationally recognized leader in collaboration and digitization." "Bishoff is a highly regarded veteran of the digitization and preservation world. She served as the first Executive Director of the CDP (then known as the Colorado Digitization Project), and was a driving force behind designing an innovative collaborative model involving libraries and cultural heritage institutions in digitization efforts. Under her direction, CDP's working groups developed a number of nationally recognized standards including the CDP Dublin Core Best Practices and Western States Digital Imaging Best Practices. CDP was the recipient of a number of IMLS (Institute for Museum and Library Services) grants for major cutting edge projects such as Teaching with Colorado's Heritage, Colorado's Historic Newspaper Collection, Western Trails, and a grant that resulted in the development of the current Heritage West database." "In addition to her work with CDP, Bishoff spent 11 years with OCLC, including a four-year stint as Vice President of Members Services and later as Vice President of the Digital Collection and Preservation Services Division. Most recently, Bishoff served as Special Assistant to the Dean and Head of the Office of Sponsored Programs at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Bishoff is the author of numerous articles focusing on collaboration in the digital environment, digital preservation and metadata standards and has been a longtime champion of collaborative digitization." For more information, please see the full press release at <http://www.bcr.org/about/newsreleases/2008/bishoff.html>. Camila Alire elected 2009-2010 ALA presidentMay 2, 2008 - "Camila Alire, dean emerita at the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo., has been elected president of the American Library Association (ALA) for the 2009-2010 term...." "As ALA president, Alire will be the chief elected officer for the oldest and largest library organization in the world. Established in 1876, the ALA is the "voice of America's libraries" and has more than 65,000 members. Its mission is to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all." For more information, please see the full press release at <http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2008/april2008/alapresidentresults08.cfm>. Radice Receives Forbes Medal for Distinguished Contribution to ConservationApril 24, 2008 - "Anne-Imelda M. Radice, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), received the Forbes Medal for Distinguished Contribution to the Field of Conservation from the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) at its annual meeting April 22, 2008, in Denver, CO. Since its inception in 1994, the 4-inch, bronze Forbes Medal has been awarded to only six other non-conservators for their distinguished contributions to the field of conservation." "Radice was honored for her career-long dedication to the understanding, appreciation, and support of the conservation and preservation of our cultural heritage. Most recently, Radice created and is providing leadership for the IMLS initiative, Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action, which includes a National Conservation Summit, four forums on conservation which are taking place across the country, the distribution of 2,000 Conservation Bookshelves, and collaborative planning grants which will advance every state's collective conservation goals. The initiative also includes a resource-laden Web site and a conservation video that collecting institutions can use to raise awareness and funds. Radice's outstanding commitment to conservation and preservation is reflected in this national initiative that is raising public awareness and inspiring action." For more information, please see the full press release at <http://www.imls.gov/news/2008/042408.shtm>. SPARC Europe and the Directory of Open Access Journals Announce the Launch of the SPARC Europe Seal for Open Access JournalsApril 23, 2008 - "SPARC Europe (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), a leading organization of European research libraries, and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Lund University Libraries today announced the launch of the SPARC Europe Seal for Open Access journals. Growing numbers of peer-reviewed research journals are opening-up their content online, removing access barriers and allowing all interested readers the opportunity of reading the papers online, with over 3300 such journals listed in the DOAJ, hosted by Lund University Libraries in Sweden." "However, the maximum benefit from this wonderful resource is not being realised as confusion surrounds the use and reuse of material published in such journals. Increasingly, researchers wish to mine large segments of the literature to discover new, unimagined connections and relationships. Librarians wish to host material locally for preservation purposes. Greater clarity will bring benefits to authors, users, and journals." "In order for open access journals to be even more useful and thus receive more exposure and provide more value to the research community it is very important that open access journals offer standardized, easily retrievable information about what kinds of reuse are allowed. Therefore, we are advising that all journals provide clear and unambiguous statements regarding the copyright statement of the papers they publish. To qualify for the SPARC Europe Seal a journal must use the Creative Commons By (CC-BY) license which is the most user-friendly license and corresponds to the ethos of the Budapest Open Access Initiative." "The second strand of the Seal is that journals should provide metadata for all their articles to the DOAJ, who will then make the metadata OAI-compliant. This will increase the visibility of the papers and allow OAI-harvesters to include details of the journal articles in their services." For more information, please see the full press release <http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=loadTempl&templ=080423>. NPG biomedical journals available in INASP partner countries in Africa, Asia and Latin AmericaApril 22, 2008 - "Nature Publishing Group (NPG) and INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications) today announce that they will provide free access to more than 65 NPG journals for a number of developing world countries. " "NPG will make its biomedical collection of journals available to over 20 INASP partner countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America through INASP's Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERI). The high impact journals in this collection include NPG's flagship journal Nature, the Nature Clinical Practice series, the Nature research journals and Nature Reviews journals in the life sciences and medicine, and more than 40 journals published by NPG on behalf of societies. " "Through PERI, INASP cooperates with publishers in the developed world to facilitate access to their publications within developing and emerging countries. INASP takes a holistic approach to enhancing worldwide access to information and PERI is complemented by programmes at all stages of the communication cycle including library development, and working with local editors and researchers." For more information, please see <http://www.nature.com/press_releases/inasp.pdf>. Plan Projects for Accountability with Shaping Outcomes CourseApril 21, 2008 - "Museum and library professionals are encouraged to participate in Shaping Outcomes, a low-cost online course on outcomes-based planning and evaluation (OBPE). The instructor-mediated course, which will help participants improve program designs and evaluations, was developed in 2007 through a cooperative agreement between the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI)." "Participants in Shaping Outcomes work at their own pace through five interactive modules over approximately four weeks. The best time to take the course is prior to applying for IMLS grants because it helps applicants refine project purposes and evaluation plans...." "...For educators and librarians, 'continuing education' units may be available. To learn more or to register for the course, please explore the Web site <http://www.shapingoutcomes.org>, or contact the project manager by email at <outcomes@iupui.edu>". For more information, please see the full press release at <http://www.imls.gov/news/2008/042108.shtm>. CrossRef Announces CrossCheck Plagiarism Detection ServiceApril 15, 2008 - "CrossRef announces an agreement with iParadigms, LLC to launch the CrossCheck service to aid in verifying the originality of scholarly content. Following on the success of CrossRef's recent pilot of CrossCheck, the service is scheduled to go live in June." "CrossRef is partnering with iParadigms, LLC to offer its members – leading scholarly and professional publishers – the opportunity to verify the originality of works submitted for publication using the iThenticate service to check against a vast database of proprietary as well as open web content. Until now, there was no automated way to check submissions against previous publications because the published literature had not been indexed and 'text fingerprinted' for this purpose. The CrossCheck database will include the full-text journals of leading academic publishers, and is expected to grow very rapidly over the coming months as CrossRef member publishers sign up for the service." "CrossCheck will be available to all CrossRef members who opt to contribute their content to the database. To use the service publishers will need to integrate the checking tool into their editorial processes and develop suitable policies and guidelines. CrossRef is working with iParadigms, member publishers, and editorial system software producers on appropriate technical information and guidelines for CrossCheck." For more information, please see the full press release at <http://www.crossref.org/01company/pr/press041508.html>. Libraries play a key role in learning and developmentApril 14, 2008 - "Libraries of all kinds continue to be engines of learning, literacy, and economic development in communities nationwide. Americans are acting on their conviction that school library media centers are a key element in delivering the kind of education the next generation needs in order to succeed in a global society and public libraries are redoubling their efforts to serve linguistically isolated communities." "These are among the findings detailed in the 2008 State of America's Libraries report, released each year as part of National Library Week, observed this year from April 13-19...." "...The full text of the 2008 State of America's Libraries is available at <http://www.ala.org/2008state>." For more information, please see the full press release at <http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2008/april2008/2008statereport.cfm>. Chronopolis Project Launched Under Library of Congress Partnership to Preserve At-Risk Digital InformationSDSC, UCSDL, NCAR and UMIACS Focus on Cross-Domain Sharing for Vital Collections April 14, 2008 - "The Chronopolis Digital Preservation Demonstration Project, one of the Library of Congress' latest efforts to collect and preserve at-risk digital information, has been officially launched as a multi-member partnership to meet the archival needs of a wide range of cultural and social domains. " "Chronopolis is a digital preservation data grid framework being developed by the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego, the UC San Diego Libraries (UCSDL), and their partners at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Colorado and the University of Maryland's Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS)." "A key goal of the Chronopolis project is to provide cross-domain collection sharing for long-term preservation. Using existing high-speed educational and research networks and mass-scale storage infrastructure investments, the partnership is designed to leverage the data storage capabilities at SDSC, NCAR, and UMIACS to provide a preservation data grid that emphasizes heterogeneous and highly redundant data storage systems." For more information, please see <http://www.ucsd.edu/portal/site/Libraries/menuitem.346352c02aac0c82b9ba4310d34b01ca/ The University Of Miami Libraries Announces 2008 Digital Library FellowsApril 3, 2008 - "The University of Miami Libraries announced today the award of 2008 Digital Library Fellowships to faculty members Dr. Patricia Saunders and Dr. Barbara Whitlock. Over the course of twelve months, the fellows will work with a team of library colleagues to enhance the UM digital library by creating electronic collections that support the research, teaching, and learning mission of the university. The Libraries has also announced a third grant to Dr. Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr., to advance the creation of an online portal on education and community well-being." "The Digital Library Fellowship Program supports library/faculty partnerships in developing new digital resources that advance research, teaching, and learning. Two or three fellowships are awarded each cycle with a stipend of up to $15,000. Fellowships are open to all full-time, tenure-track Coral Gables faculty. Previous fellows include Dr. Lillian Manzor, for the Cuban/Latino Theater Archive; Dr. Robin Bachin, Travel, Tourism and Urban Growth in Greater Miami; Dr. Joseph Fitzgerald; and Dr. Michael Carlebach's project on The Origins of Photojournalism in America. These projects and others can be found at <http://merrick.library.miami.edu/digitalprojects/collaboration.html>." "As a dynamic and integral part of the academic scholarly enterprise, the University of Miami Libraries are central to the University's mission to educate and nurture students, to create knowledge, and to provide service to our community and beyond. The Libraries seek to provide high quality information services, instruction, and resources to our primary clientele: the students, faculty, researchers, and staff of the University of Miami." For more information, please see <http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/1,1770,2593-1;61693-3,00.html>. IMLS Will Sponsor Second Conservation Forum for Collecting InstitutionsApril 2, 2008 - "It is clear that Americans are increasingly using the Internet to connect to museum and library resources. A recent IMLS study reports that in 2006, 310 million of the 1.2 billion adult visits to museums were made online and 560 million of the 1.3 billion adult visits to libraries were made online. Yet the Health Heritage Index found that 60% of collecting institutions do not include digital preservation in their mission.*" "Digitizing special library and museum collections has many advantages – better collection management, less wear and tear on objects, and greater public access – to name a few. But the challenges are also formidable, and include cost, prioritization, and, of course, preserving digital collections. Where to begin? To answer some of these questions, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is sponsoring the forum, 'Collaboration in the Digital Age.'" "The forum is open and free of charge to staff and board members of museums, libraries, and archives, as well as to conservation professionals, representatives of government, funders, and the media. Advance online registration is required. Program and logistical information and online registration are available at <http://www.imls.gov/collections/tour>....There will be no on-site registration. Online registration is required by May 23, 2008." For more information, please see <http://www.imls.gov/news/2008/040208.shtm>. Triangle Research Libraries Network Launches "Search TRLN"March 25, 2008 - "The Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) has launched Search TRLN, a single-interface discovery tool that searches across the collections of the four member institutions: Duke University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University, and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Using the 'faceted searching' and browsing capabilities of Endeca software, and building on the strengths of TRLN's existing cooperative collecting and interlibrary delivery services, Search TRLN provides a single search and request environment for faculty and students on each campus." "While TRLN pioneered the nation's first consortial online catalog as early as the 1980s, Search TRLN adds next-generation search capabilities to the consortium's combined collection of 16 million volumes. Endeca's approach to information retrieval mimics the human discovery process by integrating the two most common means of finding information online – searching and browsing – allowing people to adapt and refine their search based on their own determinations of relevancy. Users can browse their results along facets such as subject, format, location, and availability, and can sort them by publication date, title, author, call number, and popularity." For more information, please see <http://www.trln.org/press/032508.pdf>. Nominations Open for Nature Awards for Mentoring in Science - GermanyMarch 25, 2008 - "Nature is pleased to announce that nominations are now open for its 2008 Nature Awards for Mentoring in Science. Nature invites nominations of outstanding scientific mentors in Germany. This year two prizes of £10,000 will be awarded – one for mid-career and one for lifetime achievement. Nominations open today (25 March) and close on 4 July 2008. The Awards will be announced at a ceremony in Berlin in October 2008." "The annual Nature Awards for Mentoring in Science, launched in 2005 to recognise outstanding scientific mentorship, focus on a specific country or countries each year. The 2008 awards focus on Germany. In previous years the Nature Awards have highlighted mentors in Australia, South Africa and the UK." "Nominees may work in any discipline within the natural sciences, and should be resident in Germany. They may nominate themselves or be nominated by colleagues and ex-colleagues. Nominations for a candidate must include independent testimonials by at least five researchers mentored by their nominee, not all over the same period. Full details and nomination forms are available on the 2008 Award page on the Nature website: <http://www.nature.com/nature/mentoringawards/germany/>." For more information, please see <http://www.nature.com/press_releases/natureawards.pdf>. Senate Confirms President's Nominees to National Museum and Library Services BoardMarch 20, 2008 - "The U.S. Senate confirmed four presidential nominees to serve as members of the National Museum and Library Services Board March 13, 2008. The board advises the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), an independent federal agency that is the primary source of federal support for the nation's museums and libraries." "[New board members include:] "The National Museum and Library Services Board (NMLSB) is a twenty-four member advisory body that includes the IMLS director and deputy directors for libraries and museums and 20 presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed members of the general public who have demonstrated expertise in, or commitment to, library or museum services. Informed by its collective experience and knowledge, the NMLSB advises the IMLS director on general policy and practices, and on selections for the National Medal for Museum and Library Service." For more information, please see the full press release at <http://www.imls.gov/news/2008/032008.shtm>. Copyright 2008 © Corporation for National Research InitiativesTop |
Contents doi:10.1045/may2008-inbrief |
