Texas Universities Join to Create a Digital Library for Scholars and the Public, from the Chronicle Four Texas university systems and Rice University will collaborate on a digital repository whose goal is to offer online resources, such as teaching aids, dissertations, and practical information, although not books. The repository will be called the Texas Digital Library, but it will not resemble the California Digital Library — not initially, at least… Read More
LISWiki
Thanks to Rebecca for sending an email around about this: the brand-spanking new LISWiki. From the About page: LISWiki was established to give the library community a chance to explore the usefulness of Wikis. It is not intended to replace or detract from the Wikipedia Library and information science articles (or those in the printed LIS encyclopedias for that matter), but exist as a niche encyclopedia covering library-related issues. I’ve.. Read More
Index to chat reference services
Yesterday, Lili (my one and only PhD advisee), posted a question to Dig_Ref: where can she find the most recent stats on dig ref services? She got a great response, kicked off by a reply from Buff Hirko, where she said that at ALA, the RUSA MARS Virtual Reference Committee accepted a project to create an online index of all chat services in the US & eventually the world. This.. Read More
Ask a Librarian in Open WorldCat
Thanks, Dave, for pointing this out: OCLC launches ‘Ask a Librarian’ pilot in Open WorldCat OCLC has implemented a pilot project within the Open WorldCat program that allows Web searchers to submit questions to librarians through online reference services of OCLC member libraries. … Once a searcher enters a postal code or other geographic identifier and receives Open WorldCat results listing nearby libraries that hold the item they’re looking for,.. Read More
ALA: RUSA Behavioral Guidelines
From “the so-new-it-still-sparkles LITA blog” (thanks Jason!): Reference Interactions in the Digital Age: Revising the RUSA Behavioral Guidelines The members of the panel seemed to agree that the goals and objectives for remote reference are no different from those for face-to-face reference. The same behaviors are desired, but new skills may need to be learned to accomplish the same results — reference interviews in which the librarians satisfy their clients’.. Read More
Public Libraries & the Internet
The Information Use Management & Policy Institute at Florida State University recently released the latest in a series of studies on public libraries in the US & network access. They’ve done these studies approximately every 2 years since 1994. This one was funded by the Gates Foundation & the ALA. Major findings: 99.6% of public library outlets in the United States are connected to the Internet. 98.9% of public library.. Read More
Dig Ref Events at ALA2005
From a post yesterday from Blythe Bennett to the Dig_Ref listserv: Subject: [DIG_REF] final edition of ALA2005 digref events Final version is posted with all edits I was sent. I also included some blogs, but there are bound to be others. Have a good time everyone, hope to see you there. Those of you who can’t go, maybe checking the blogs would be a next-best-thing. http://vrd.org/DigRef@ALA.pdf and http://vrd.org/DigRefevents.doc
Association of American Publishers vs. Google
Publishers’ Group Asks Google to Stop Scanning Copyrighted Works for 6 Months, from the Chronicle The Association of American Publishers has asked Google to stop scanning copyrighted books published by the association’s members for at least six months while the company answers questions about whether its plan to scan millions of volumes in five major research libraries complies with copyright law. “We’ve simply asked for a six-month moratorium to facilitate.. Read More
LITA Blog
Thanks to Gary Price for calling my attention to this: last Wednesday the Library & Information Technology Association soft-launched a blog. Apparently they’re planning to blog ALA Annual. And here’s a link to the LITA Blog itself.
Database indexing & journal copyright agreements, Part 2
When I posted about this the other day, I hadn’t received a reply from Wilson yet. I have now, & here’s the crux of their reply: Library Literature & Information Science (like the other H.W. Wilson databases) indexes the contents of its journal list cover-to-cover. In practical terms, that means that any article of a least half-a-page in length will be indexed. The issue of who retains copyright to the.. Read More