How Google Book Search Affects Academe

Podcast: How Google Book Search Affects Academe
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/?id=3828&utm_source=at&utm
_medium=en

Nothing new to us in this article from the TIMES, but I like the way it is written!

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article6154172.ece

Shh, this is a digital library

Once upon a time a love of books and reading was considered a key requirement for an aspiring librarian. Today, with the advent of digitalisation and moves towards the virtual library, such an interest is no longer enough. Librarians must master sophisticated IT and information management skills as well as the traditional techniques.

Bookishness has gone - along with the old stereotype of stern shushes from a bluestocking in a tweed skirt and spectacles with her hair in a tightly twisted bun.

Even Oxford University's venerable Bodleian Library is moving into the 21st century with plans to allow more online access to materials and electronic document delivery. And a significant proportion of Oxford's 19th-century out-of-copyright holdings, including Jane Austen's Emma and the first edition of Charles Darwin's On The Origin Of Species, have been digitalised to allow online access.

So what does it take to be a librarian in the digital age? Well, you can start work in a library with GCSEs, A levels or a first degree in information sciences. However, a postgraduate qualification - an MA or MSc - is necessary in certain sectors where there is a bar to promotion for anyone without a professional qualification. This is the case in schools, colleges and universities, and government and local authorities.

Every year some 2,000 students study for a masters level qualification in library and information studies in the UK. These students, who may have a first degree in virtually any subject, spend a year before their postgraduate course as a trainee in a library or information service. Oxford University, for example, has a graduate library training scheme offering up to 20 placements a year.

Trainees can choose from as many as 90 UK postgraduate librarianship or information science degrees, although only 58 of these are recognised by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (Cilip). This body accredits trainees' professional experience and training for them to attain chartered professional status.

Cilip-recognised courses are run in 18 institutions and have a variety of names reflecting different emphases in content. For example there is health infomatics for those wishing to work in the healthcare sector or legal information management for those aiming to join law firms.

Among the postgraduate course market leaders are University College London and Sheffield, Loughborough and City universities. Aberystwyth University has the most librarian students in the UK - some 800, most of them studying by distance learning.

What kind of qualities does a librarian need? Vanda Broughton, MA programme director for library and information studies at University College London, cites an interest in information, curiosity and, for those going into the technical areas of IT or cataloguing, an interest in detail and a methodical approach.

For librarians dealing with readers, people skills are important in helping users to find information, use databases and negotiate online resources.

Traditional librarianship skills of managing information, compiling collections, selecting and organising material and making it available to readers are still important but they are exercised in an increasingly digital context.

Bibliographic databases have replaced print-based services. Scholarly journals are now delivered electronically. E-text books are increasingly prevalent and rare texts such as the Gutenberg Bible and the Beowulf manuscript have been digitalised to allow public access.

Dr Gayner Eyre, head of Aberystwyth University's department of information studies, says: “We used to deal in tangibles, now we deal in virtuals. Librarians are becoming IT specialists. We now teach about the importance of social networking, skills in Web 2.0 and 3.0, electronic preservation and migrating information to new formats.

“We teach people how to organise information virtually and electronically and about the manipulation of data in a web environment. This is creating a new breed of librarians as online facilitators.”

Technological change is now so fast that it is hard to predict what the next development will be but Broughton insists: “The professional who is trained in the principles of managing information will not be fazed by this change. The medium is not the message - you respond as the medium changes.

“Do not go into library work if you do not like IT. If you really prefer books, think about the book trade or publishing, not librarianship.”

www.cilip.org.uk

Future of academic libraries

Exploring the future of academic libraries: A definitional approach

From the Journal of academic librarianship, May 2009, Pages 252-259

Abstract
The central argument of the article is that while the building, the collection and the staff were inseparably linked, in a digital environment these facets of the library are diverging. This divergence clouds the process of envisioning a future for the library, but, if properly defined, it is a source of clarity, which sheds light on strategic opportunities.

Google book deal - scholarly concerns

SCHOLARS ARE WARY OF DEAL ON GOOGLE'S BOOK SEARCH:
Some scholars say the proposed settlement of litigation over
Google's Book Search may make their jobs harder.
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i36/36a01201.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en


user name: rulibrary
password: ru2007

e-textbooks

HOW A STUDENT-FRIENDLY KINDLE COULD CHANGE THE TEXTBOOK
MARKET: The expected introduction of Amazon's wide-format
Kindle could revolutionize the delivery of textbooks, or the
new product could get as lukewarm a reception as previous
e-book readers.
http://chronicle.com/free/2009/05/17550n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medi
um=en

University Press Hears Libraries' Pleas and Freezes Journal Prices

From the Chronicle of HE
10/04/2009

Responding to the squeeze placed on library budgets by the economic slump, one university press has decided to freeze its 2010 journal subscription rates at 2009 levels.

[user name: rulibrary password: ru2007]
http://chronicle.com/daily/2009/04/15570n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_med
ium=en

Atlas of Early Printing

"This site depicts the spread of printing through Europe in the fifty
years following the European refinement of the tools and process to make
impressions from movable type cast in metal." View a map of Europe by year
(1450-1500) to see locations of the spread of printing, universities,
paper mills, fairs, and trade routes. Also includes material about
15th-century printing and an animated model of a printing press. From the
University of Iowa Libraries.
URL: http://atlas.lib.uiowa.edu/

ARCHIVING WRITERS' WORK IN THE AGE OF E-MAIL

user name: rulibrary
password:ru2007
(PLEASE KEEP THESE CONFIDENTIAL)
ARCHIVING WRITERS' WORK IN THE AGE OF E-MAIL: As more
authors
work in digital media, literary archivists are having to learn how
to preserve and display much more than paper. Think floppy disks,
laptops, and Facebook content, for starters. One advantage:
Scholars can learn more about authors' creative process than ever
before.
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i31/31a00102.htm?utm_source=at&utm_
medium=en

HUMANITIES JOURNALS CONFRONT IDENTITY CRISIS

HUMANITIES JOURNALS CONFRONT IDENTITY CRISIS: Humanities
journal editors say they face a host of challenges from
technology and the changing habits of readers and
contributors.
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i29/29a00102.htm?utm_source=at&utm_
medium=en

user name = rulibrary
passwrod = ru2007

Project Information Literacy

Project Information Literacy
Website for "a national study about early adults and their
information-seeking behaviors, competencies, and the challenges they face
when conducting research in the digital age. ... [It] investigates how
early adults on different college campuses conduct research for course
work and how they conduct 'everyday research' for use in their daily
lives." Features a February 2009 progress report, articles, video clips,
and related material. From the University of Washington's (UW) Information
School (iSchool).
URL: http://www.projectinfolit.org/
LII Item: http://lii.org/cs/lii/view/item/27963

MyCopy print-on-demand books from Springer

MyCopy allows a library’s registered patrons to order soft cover copies, for their personal use, of those Springer eBooks that the library has previously purchased. Initially, 16 selected libraries and research institutions in the USA and Canada take part in the pilot project with more test partners set to join in early 2009.

The MyCopy Pilot is progressing splendidly in the US and Canada. Currently, there are 16 Development Partners enrolled in the program, and 13 additional Development Partners will join the Pilot in January 2009, spanning academic, government, and corporate institutions. MyCopy now boasts close to 11,500 eBooks that can be ordered Print-On-Demand. The market response has been very positive, as can be seen from the testimonial below. Provided that the great success of the Pilot continues, MyCopy will most likely be launched in the US in the 2nd quarter of 2009.

“This project represents a very innovative way in which to look at both publisher and library services for electronic content in the future, and MyCopy is a great value-add to our site license for these eBooks.” ~Wendy Allen Shelburne, Assistant professor, Acquisitions (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)

See Frequently Asked Questions about MyCopy, for more information.

Renting Keys to Walled Gardens

http://acrlog.org/2008/12/14/renting-keys-to-walled-gardens/
The Pew Internet and American Life Project has just issued its third annual forecast of “The Future of the Internet.” It’s well worth a read. Among predictions:
–The mobile phone (or its descendant) will be the primary access point to the Internet by 2020.–Social networking won’t increase tolerance. It might even polarize people into less tolerant camps.–The original architecture of the Internet will not be replaced, but will be enhanced by research.–Attempts to control access to content will continue to be challenged in an ongoing battle between intellectual property owners and users.

Faculty Involvement Makes All The Difference

http://acrlog.org/2009/02/24/faculty-involvement-makes-all-the-difference/

From the ACRLog(blog for research and academic librarians)


"In a previous post I expressed my vision for the future of information literacy - and in that vision it’s not the librarians teaching students the skills needed to be wise consumers of information - it’s the faculty. That’s why this Wired Campus post caught my attention. It’s about two faculty members who wrote a research guide for students, and who integrate some elements of information literacy (evaluating content) into their courses."......

Google & the Future of Books

Interesting article in the New York Review of Books

"How can we navigate through the information landscape that is only beginning to come into view? The question is more urgent than ever following the recent settlement between Google and the authors and publishers who were suing it for alleged breach of copyright. For the last four years, Google has been digitizing millions of books, including many covered by copyright, from the collections of major research libraries, and making the texts searchable online. The authors and publishers objected that digitizing constituted a violation of their copyrights. After lengthy negotiations, the plaintiffs and Google agreed on a settlement, which will have a profound effect on the way books reach readers for the foreseeable future. What will that future be?".........

Open-access publishing brings cost savings

"Research institutions could make surprisingly big savings if their researchers paid to publish their articles with an open-access model rather than using the traditional subscription model. And the savings could be even bigger if they simply self-archived their work in an institutional repository.These conclusions come from a new study into scholarly publishing in the UK led by John Houghton from the Centre of Strategic Economic Studies at Melbourne’s Victoria University, Australia and Charles Oppenheim at Loughborough University, UK. In addition to looking at the costs and savings of different models, the study also examined the additional cost-benefits that might arise from enhanced access to research findings...."

Read more

Last UK research council mandates open access

The Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has decided to mandate open-access publication of the research that it funds. However, it says that academics should be able to choose whether they use the so-called green option (ie, self-archiving in an on-line repository) or to use the gold option (ie, pay-to-publish in an open access journal).
This decision, which was made at the EPSRC council's December meeting, follows a consultation by Research Councils UK, in collaboration with the Research Information Network and the Department of Trade and Industry.
ESPRC was the only one of the seven Research Councils UK, which hadn't already adopted an open-access mandate; the others having announced theirs back in 2006. ESPRC will publish further details of its policy later in the spring.
(from Research Information)

Confucius Institute display

For those who missed this recent display - this is what it looked like. The guy in the pic is the new Professor of Mandarin in the Institute at the School of Languages, Prof Ma Yue.

Chinese Leader Gives 200,000 E-Books to U. of Cambridge

Chinese Leader Gives 200,000 E-Books to U. of Cambridge
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/?id=3629&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Fee-Based Journals Get Better Results

Fee-Based Journals Get Better Results, Study in Fee-Based
Journal Reports
http://chronicle.com/news/article/?id=6026&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

The Hollywood Librarian

The Media Education Foundation has acquired the rights to The Hollywood
Librarian: A Look at Librarians through Film, and is bringing out the film
on DVD.
They are now taking orders from both US and international customers
through their web site at
http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=actionkey=138
The Hollywood LibrarianA Look at Librarians Through FilmAn Overdue Productions FilmThey have more cardholders than VISA, more customers than Amazon, and more outlets than McDonald's. Meet America's librarians. The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians Through Film is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject of librarians. A vivid blend of factual documentary, feature film and storytelling, it reveals the history and realities of librarianship in an entertaining and appealing context of American movies. Interviews with actual librarians, intercut with film clips of cinematic librarians, examine such issues as literature, books and reading, censorship, library funding, citizenship and democracy. For the first time, we see and understand the real lives and real work of American librarians who for decades have been a cultural force hiding in plain sight.This film's subject is librarians: who they are, what they do, why they do it, and the impact of their work in people's lives. The underlying meaning is how we express our own humanity, how we listen to ourselves and one another in the realm of the written and read word -- a uniquely human privilege.Audiences will be surprised and delighted by the fascinating librarians in this entertaining and enlightening film, and will emerge with a greater appreciation for the range of literature and materials available to them thanks to our nation's librarians.

Web 2.0 use by librarians

(Interesting article which include questionnaires which we could perhaps use at RUL???)
Web 2.0 use by librarians / Noa Aharony
Library & Information Science Research Volume 31, Issue 1, January 2009, Pages 29-37
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2008.06.004
Abstract
The current research explores whether librarians, whose main work focuses on information, are familiar with new technological changes and innovations, and whether they make use of different Web 2.0 applications. The research examines whether personality characteristics (resistance to change, cognitive appraisal, empowerment and extroversion or introversion), as well as computer expertise, motivation, importance and capacity towards studying and integrating different applications of Web 2.0 in future, influence librarians' use of Web 2.0. Different questionnaires were distributed to 168 randomly Israeli librarians throughout the country. The research revealed that personality characteristics as well as computer expertise, motivation, importance and capacity towards studying and integrating different applications of Web 2.0 in the future, influence librarians' use of Web 2.0. These findings have theoretical as well as practical implications.

In Search of a Better Search Engine By Steve Kolowich

As college sites grow to millions of documents and balloon in complexity, officials turn to Google and other vendors for help

Read the article from the Chronicle of Higher Education

http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i24/24a01501.htm?utm_source=at&utm_me

E-books: the digital future

AT PUBLISHERS' CONFERENCE, THE DIGITAL FUTURE IS (ALMOST)
NOW:
Scholarly publishers who met in Washington last week learned
that interest in electronic monographs has surged and that
they should prepare to have their books read on smartphones.
http://chronicle.com/daily/2009/02/11057n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_med
ium=en (user name: rulibrary password: ru2007)

"The people who gathered here last week for the Association of American Publishers’ Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division's annual conference did not waste a lot of time worrying whether print is going the way of the dodo. As Matthew Nauman, director of publisher relations at Blackwell’s, put it, “A book sale is a book sale, and we don’t care what the format is.”"...

More RUL Subject Guides

2 more guides have been completed and added to the growing list: Pharm and Journ (developed by Thandiwe and Caroline respectively)

Do have a look and give us some feedback/comments/suggestions/criticisms???

http://oldwww.ru.ac.za/library/electronic_resources/dept/

New FirstSearch Database documentation available (booklet code: PRM2857)

The latest edition of OCLC FirstSearch Service Databases is now available, in online and printed formats. This 20-page booklet contains all the essential information you need to make full use of the 78 available FirstSearch databases.

The online version of the booklet can be accessed at the FirstSearch Documentation page at: http://www.oclc.org/us/en/support/documentation/firstsearch/default.htm

Scroll down to the Databases section, and click on the area of information that best meets your needs.

The online documentation is updated continuously whereas the printed booklet is updated in January and June every year.

New from the Internet Archive

The Internet Archive is a non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library, with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. No longer in copyright, and submitted by the University of California Library:

British South Africa; a history of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, from its conquest 1795 to the settlement of Albany by the British emigration of 1819-- ; with notices of some of the British settlers of 1820 (1897) / Colin Turing Campbell. London; Cape Town: John Haddon & Co.: Juta, 1897

Read the book in searchable flip format You can read the book online in other formats or download. Or read the original in Cory Library!

Cory Library is adding links to these resources, as we discover them.

Read more texts at the Open Text Archive.

Interesting website: The Art of African Exploration

The Art of African Exploration


Especially for the armchair explorer, the Smithsonian Institution Libraries has selected materials for this web exhibition from its Russell E. Train Africana Collection. Documenting European explorations of Africa from the late 18th through the 19th century, some of the artifacts pre-date photography. At that time, it was important for expeditions to include an artist, who could record what was seen. For example, Samuel Daniell was the artist for a British expedition into the Cape interior in 1801. The web site includes printed plates from a book based on his field drawings of the African rhinoceros, in contrast with examples that look quite different, drawn by Dutch naturalists who had never been to Africa. In the 19th century, David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley became celebrities for their African adventures, and a section of the web site includes items produced for armchair explorers of that era - a souvenir teacup, lantern slides, book jackets, and photographic cartes de visite (photographs mounted card stock that were popular in the 1860s) - with images of Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley.

Digital Research Tools wiki (DiRT)

Digital Research Tools
Great site!


As more and more scholars grow interested in the world of digital research, this tremendously useful wiki will be one that they will tell their colleagues about. Created by Lisa Spiro, the director of the Digital Media Center at Rice University, this collaborative wiki collects information about tools and resources that can help scholars conduct research more efficiently or creatively. Visitors can browse through topical headings that include "Authoring", "Blogging", and "Data Mining", among others. Within each heading, visitors can read short descriptions about each resource. Under the "Types of Tools" section visitors can search for specific tools that can help them collect data, edit images, make a dynamic map, and so on. Additionally, visitors can sign up to join the wiki here and also learn more
about Spiro and her other projects.

Is e-publishing affecting science?

Is e-publishing affecting science?
"As the world of publishing continues its relentless march towards the electronic medium, researchers in various fields are trying to understand what this means for science – specifically, how this is affecting citation patterns and reader behavior......."

From Research Trends (a Scopus publication) January 2009

Research Trends is a bi-monthly newsletter providing objective, up-to-the-minute insights into scientific trends based on bibliometric analysis.

Head of British Library Warns of 'a Black Hole' in the Digital Record

Head of British Library Warns of 'a Black Hole'

in the Digital Record

http://chronicle.com/http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/?id=3583&utm_source=at&utm
_medium=en

Exciting development in physics publishing

PHYSICISTS SET PLAN IN MOTION TO CHANGE PUBLISHING SYSTEM: One signature at a time, national research agencies and university libraries have pledged to support a new system of publishing in high-energy physics that would replace expensive subscriptions to journals with membership in a nonprofit group.

In what some are calling a peaceful revolution, researchers have mounted a takeover of high-energy-physics publishing. One signature at a time, national research agencies and university libraries have pledged to support a radical new system that would replace expensive subscriptions to leading journals with membership in a nonprofit group. The new organization would then dole out money to journal publishers, while pushing them to distribute all articles free online and to keep their prices in check.

read more on the Chronicle of HE webpage:
(user name: rulibrary password: ru2007)
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i21/21a00104.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

University Presses report fall in sales

BOOK DROP: UNIVERSITY PRESSES REPORT FALL IN SALES: Net
sales
for books published by university presses fell more than 9
percent in the last half of 2008, compared with the same
period in 2007, a survey found.
http://chronicle.com/daily/2009/01/9765n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medi
um=en

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING' SITE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION DEBUTS

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING' SITE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION DEBUTS: A new
Web site, its founder hopes, will change how students and
professors learn and teach. Skeptics are not so sure.
http://chronicle.com/free/2009/01/10124n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medi
um=en

Providing Academic Support Services from a Learning Commons

Connecting 24/5 to Millennials: Providing Academic Support Services from a Learning Commons (from The Journal of Academic Librarianship)

Abstract:

This study investigates user preferences for reference and technical support, services, and facilities featured in an academic library and Learning Commons through a 23-item questionnaire distributed to building entrants during one 24-hour period on March 14, 2006. Results revealed a strong preference for face-to-face assistance (including roving), suggested enhancements, and documented user demographics.

At first, funny videos. Now a Reference Tool

Using YouTube as a research resource. New trend and interesting statistics.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/business/media/18ping.html?_r=1&_r

Article about Library 2.0 in an African library

Title:
Development of a Library 2.0 Service Model for an African Library
Author(s):
Heila Pienaar, Ina Smith
Journal:
Library Hi Tech News
Year:2008 Volume:25 Issue:5 Page:7 - 10
Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a Library 2.0 service model for an African library. Design/methodology/approach – The paper focuses on the academic library at the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa. Findings – The UP is well on its way to becoming a Library 2/0 library. Originality/value – This case study may pave the way for other academic libraries to integrate Library 2.0 within their service offering to the benefit of all.

Article URL:
www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/07419050810901933

Free Access to 37 LIS journals formerly published by Haworth Press!

All former Haworth Press journals, including 37 Library & Information Science journals, can now be accessed freely until 27 January 2009, via the Informaworld platform. This is because of a recent acquisition of Haworth Press by Taylor & Francis.

To facilitate the sharing of articles of interest, I have created a Shared Folder called "Haworth Press Articles" on RefShare, at the url below:

http://www.refworks.com/refshare?site=037931147244400000/RWWS1A1306351/Haworth_Press_Articles

Please feel free to add articles of interest to this folder.

Anne