How Dickens invented Christmas (UK)

"Curator Hilary Davidson details how many of the 'traditions' associated with Christmas were first made popular by the works of Charles Dickens. Many people are familiar with 'a Christmas Carol', published in 1845, but did you know that the traditions and celebrations associated with the festival had special personal meanings for the author, which he promoted throughout his life? Discover the ways Dickens' vision of snow, puddings, cheer and goodwill influenced the invention of the Victorian Christmas, and how they still affect us today. - December 12, 2009 - Museum of London

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #97

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #97. "This week's episode recognizes that a holiday weekend just passed in the United States so a miscellany of notable news items is presented". Previous Podcasts can be found here

Virginia Beach Public Library Newsletter - November/December 2009 (USA)

The Virginia Beach Public Library Newsletter - November/December 2009 is now available

Phone box has new life as library (UK)

A traditional red phone box has been recycled into one of the country's smallest lending libraries - stocking 100 books. Villagers from Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset can use the library around the clock, selecting books, DVDs and CDs. Users simply stock it with a book they have read, swapping it for one they have not. "It's really taken off. The books are constantly changing," said parish councillor Bob Dolby. He added: "It is completely full at the moment with books. Anyone is free to come and take a book and leave one that you have already read. "This facility has turned a piece of street furniture into a community service in constant use." A resident dreamed up the idea when the village lost its phone box and mobile library in quick succession. Westbury-sub-Mendip Parish Council bought the phone box from BT in a national scheme for a token £1 - BBC

But Still They Blog: The Liblog Landscape 2007-2009

"But Still They Blog: The Liblog Landscape 2007-2009, by Walt Crawford, is now available - at a special early-bird price through the end of the ALA 2010 Midwinter Meeting (January 19, 2010 or thereabouts). This 319-page trade paperback provides a sweeping look at liblogs (blogs created by library people but, generally, not blogs that are official library publications), with trends, facts, figures, graphs, and profiles for each of 521 liblogs"

Trailblazing (Royal Society)

"Trailblazing is an interactive timeline for everybody with an interest in science. Compiled by scientists, science communicators and historians - and co-ordinated by Professor Michael Thompson FRS - it celebrates three and a half centuries of scientific endeavour and has been launched to commemorate the Royal Society's 350th anniversary in 2010. Trailblazing is a user-friendly, 'explore-at-your-own-pace', virtual journey through science. It showcases sixty fascinating and inspiring articles selected from an archive of more than 60,000 published by the Royal Society between 1665 and 2010"

British Admiralty Charts of Canadian Waters

"Library and Archives Canada has completed a major project to catalogue and scan its collection of original navigation charts published in London by the Hydrographic Office of the British Admiralty. The 3,400 documents, which cover a 150-year period ending in the mid-20th century, represent the largest historical description of Canada's three major oceans and the inland waters of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. Many of the charts were prepared from surveys undertaken by the elite of the British navy: Admiral Henry Bayfield, Captain James Cook, Lieutenant George Vancouver, Sir John Franklin and Admiral William Parry. The charts provided mariners with a detailed description of coastal waters, plotted the contours of the ocean floor and located important navigational aids, such as lighthouses, hilltops and rocky outcrops. They played a key role in the development of maritime resources and helped to open Canadian markets to mercantile shipping"

Darwin Manuscripts Project

The Darwin Manuscripts Project is uploading Darwin's original drafts - 10,000 pages worth - into an online archive. The collection includes 34 of the original 36 draft leaves of the book, according to editor David Kohn. "I've sat in the Cambridge University Library since 1974, touching these documents, but this is the first time that anyone can do this online in this quantity and with this quality," Kohn said. The project leaders intend to digitize more manuscripts down the road, and also reconstruct Darwin's library. The Darwin Manuscripts Project is funded by two grants from the National Science Foundation, and a new grant from JISC/NEH Transatlantic Digitization Collaboration program will fund the work to digitally reconstruct Darwin's working library as it stood at the time of his death in 1882

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Journal of Physical Mathematics

Nonpartisan Education Review

Análise Social

Ciência & Tecnologia dos Materiais

Etnográfica

Jornal Português de Gastrenterologia

Relações Internacionais

JAMA & Archives Backfiles Collection

"The American Medical Association has digitized the entire archive of JAMA & Archives journals. The JAMA & Archives Backfiles are a singularly rich, full-text digital resource that includes every issue of JAMA and the specialty Archives Journals dating back to the first issue of JAMA published in July 1883. Fully integrated into the JAMA & Archives web sites, the Backfiles deliver more than 1.7 million pages-every article, every image-into the digital age. Each article has been carefully scanned and digitally optimized, allowing readers to explore the Backfiles using sophisticated searches and a host of additional online research tools"

Royal Naval logs of exploration voyages now online

"You can search and download 164 volumes of logbooks of the Royal Navy's voyages of scientific discovery, from series reference ADM 55. These volumes are the logs (navigational records) and journals (narrative accounts) of naval officers of ships engaged in exploration and surveying, which were used by the Hydrographic Office to produce charts and other data. Most of the logs were kept by naval captains, masters, lieutenants and masters' mates, although there are a few logs which were kept by boatswains or assistant surgeons. Amongst this collection of Royal Naval logs, there are a several logs which were kept by merchant ships. The records were made between 1757 and 1861, with one exception; the logs of the 'Morning' (ADM 55/163 and ADM 55/164), which were made in 1904. The main areas covered in the logs are the Pacific, the Arctic, the Antarctic, Australia, the Americas and the west coast of Africa, although China, St Helena and other places are also included. Many famous officers kept logs held in this collection, including James Cook, William Bligh and Matthew Flinders"

E-government Librarianship Scholarship Program (USA)

"The Center for Library & Information Innovation in the iSchool at the University of Maryland College Park, in partnership with the Government Information Online initiative and the University of Illinois Chicago, received a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for 20 master's of library science (MLS) e-government and digital government degree scholarships. This unique program is for students interested in careers in librarianship and other information sciences as specialists in digital government information and e-government services. The program will prepare graduates to take advantage of the evolving range of e-government and digital government information services. The program is online, and will begin in fall 2010. Applications are currently being accepted. Full scholarships (20 total) are available to highly qualified applicants to the program. Applications are due by February 1, 2010"

Savvy Citizens (UK)

"BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, has created this Savvy Citizens microsite to help people get the most from information and information technology. Every day we deal with lots of different types of information, and if you don't know how to use it to your advantage you might miss out on services and applications that could make life easier and more enjoyable. This could mean getting access to government services, finding employment opportunities, saving money, and keeping in touch with family and friends"

Manitoba Book Awards call for submissions (Canada)

Entries are now being accepted for the Manitoba Book Awards. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, December 9, 2009. Established in 1988, the Manitoba Book Awards celebrate Manitoba writers, publishers and books. There are 12 diverse awards categories this year. Each award will be judged by a jury of 3 people, 2 of whom will be from out of province. Short-lists will be released in the Spring. The winners will be announced at the Manitoba Book Awards gala, organized by the Manitoba Writers' Guild, on Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. at the centre culturel franco-manitobain (CCFM), 340, boulevard Provencher

Jorum Update - November 2009

Jorum Update - November 2009 is now available

Innovations in Reference Management (UK)

Innovations in Reference Management - an event to showcase and discuss innovative ideas and developments in the use of Reference/Bibliographic Management software - 14 January 2010 - Milton Keynes, UK

2009 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award winner

"Duncan Hamilton has received the greatest honour in sports writing for an incredible second time, after his biography of cricketer Harold Larwood was announced as the winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2009"

SAALG winter conference (UK)

South Asia Archive & Library Group winter conference will be held on February 19, 2010 at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry, Freemasons' Hall, London, UK. The conference will include a tour of the Freemasons' Hall, a talk on Freemasonry in India by Archivist and Record Manager, Susan Snell, and an opportunity to view and discuss artefacts, photographs, and correspondence in their permanent collection with their museum curator and librarian

Congleton Chronicle via Exact Editions

"The Cheshire-based Congleton Chronicle is one of the handful of independent newspapers left in England. It was launched in 1893 by Robert Head; the first edition of the 'Congleton Chronicle and Mid Cheshire Journal', appeared on Saturday, 14 October, 1893, price three-halfpence. Since then, the paper has only had three other editors: Robert's son Lionel, the late John Condliffe, then his son Jeremy, the current editor and MD. John led a management buy-out in 1988. The paper currently distributes 16,000 copies across south Cheshire and north Staffordshire, printing its flagship Congleton title as well as Biddulph and Sandbach editions. The paper is often described as a 'proper local newspaper', crammed full of local news, its standing in the community reflected by its four pages of letters every week" - via Exact Editions

African Banker via Exact Editions

"African Banker, launched in May 2007, is a quarterly magazine dedicated to banking and finance in Africa. It covers news from the banking, finance, insurance, currency, direct and indirect financial investment sectors, as well as the stock markets and capital markets. It taps into the growing demand for information about Africa's banking and financial world, a sector which is consolidating rapidly and reshaping the future of the economy of the continent. In the trial issue Khadija Sharife explains how Africa is subtly being bled dry; Stephen Wiliams talks to Razia Khan, Standard Chartered Bank's chief economist for sub-Saharan Africa, on the global economic crisis; Omar Ben Yedder speaks to the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Donald Kaberuka; and Moin Siddiqi looks at Africa and the Credit Crunch, with a special look at Nigeria - via Exact Editions

British School at Rome Library & Archive new website

"In July 2007, the Getty Foundation awarded a second generous grant to the British School at Rome Archive (BSR) to support the arrangement and description of part of the John Bryan Ward-Perkins photographic collection. As a result of this 2-year project, a website of the British School at Rome digital collections was created to present not only the photographic material (Photographs) but also other types of resources which follow into different categories: Maps, Prints, Documents, Postcards, Drawings, Paintings and Manuscripts. The majority of the digital images displayed on this website are represented by the photographs catalogued during the second Getty Foundation funded project"

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Encyclopedic?. Is your knowledge encyclopedic? It could be, if you learnt from the Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia, which supplies the answers to all these questions. Answers here.

1. Which English screen actor made her film debut in "Heavenly Creatures" and also appeared in "Titanic" and "Hideous Kinky"?
2. Which French artist painted his last remarkable studies of water lilies at his house in Giverny before he died in 1926?
3. Who wrote the play "Uncle Vanya"?
4. Is the "flying fox" a kind of bird, bat or fox?
5. In medicine, does a vasodilator widen or narrow the blood vessels?
6. Dhaka, formerly Dacca, is the capital of which country?
7. What was the first name of the US actor Orson Welles: George, Herbert or William?
8. Who wrote the music for the operetta "La Rondine" (1917)?
9. The Yanamamo or Yanomamo people live in which continent?
10. What was the "Jarvik 7" given to Barney Clark in 1982?

Research 3.0: driving the knowledge economy (UK)

"Digital technologies are rapidly changing the type of research we can tackle and the way researchers work. How will research be in future? As the key provider of the digital infrastructure for UK higher education and research, JISC is seeking answers to this question during the Research 3.0 campaign"

BioMedSearch

"BioMedSearch is an enhanced version of the NIH PubMed search that combines MedLine/PubMed data with data from other sources to make the most comprehensive biomedical literature search available. BioMedSearch also provides advanced account features that allow saved searches, alerts, saving documents to portfolios, commenting on documents and portfolios, and sharing documents with other registered users. Registering for BioMedSearch is free"

Library + Information Gazette - 20 November 2009 - 10 December 2009

Library + Information Gazette, the fortnightly magazine for the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, is now available online to everyone. Latest issue: 20 November 2009 - 10 December 2009

The Big Read (USA)

"The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The Big Read brings together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment"

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

European Journal of Histochemistry

International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education

Peace and Conflict Review

Acta Universitatis Palackianae Olomucensis : Gymnica

PVRI Review

Saudi Journal of Anaesthesia

Journal of Indian Academy of Oral Medicine and Radiology

Tělesná Kultura

Journal of Urban and Environmental Engineering

Qom University of Medical Sciences Journal

Comunicar

Journal of Pediatric Sciences

Connected Histories: Sources for Building British History, 1500-1900

"Connected Histories will create a federated search facility for a wide range of distributed electronic resources relating to early modern and nineteenth-century British History. Through a combination of web crawling and the application of Natural Language Processing methodology the project will create a non-intrusive, distanced tagging of the data within those distributed sources to facilitate more sophisticated and structured searching"

BETT Awards 2010

"The BETT Awards is an annual scheme that highlights exemplar digital products intended for the education marketplace. The BETT Awards is produced by Emap Connect, the organisers of the largest educational technology show in the world - BETT. The BETT Awards is made possible by working in association with Becta, the Government's lead agency for ICT in education, and BESA, the trade association representing the educational supply industry" - January 13, London, UK

The British Library improves electronic access with new DRM platform from FileOpen Systems

"Responding to customer demand, the British Library, supplying over 1.6m articles every year to researchers all over the world, has added FileOpen to its choice of delivery options via its Document Supply Service. FileOpen's DRM technology will improve accessibility and extend the reach of the British Library's vast resources"

Jamaica joins the Campaign for the World's Libraries

"The Library and Information Association of Jamaica recently became the newest member of the Campaign for the World’s Libraries. The Campaign for the World's Libraries was developed by the America Library Association's Campaign for America's Libraries and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to showcase the unique and vital roles played by public, school, academic and special libraries worldwide. It is based on The Campaign for America's Libraries and utilizes the @ your library® brand"

Bibliographie du Québec, 1821-1967

"Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) has announced the publication of the new online version of the Bibliographie du Québec, 1821-1967. This is a retrospective national bibliography whose scope includes print monographs published or printed in Québec between 1821 and 1967, that is, prior to the effective date of the regulation on legal deposit (Règlement sur le dépôt légal) in 1968. With this tool, BAnQ aims to constitute a complete inventory of publications issued prior to 1968 within Québec's boundaries"

Ghost Voices Magazine via Exact Editions

"Ghost Voices Magazine is the country's leading publication on the subject of ghosts and haunting phenomena. Brought to you by a dedicated team comprising of both believers and sceptics, Ghost Voices Magazine aims to give the reader a no-nonsense look at all things haunted. Featuring a variety of articles from folklore tales and interviews with paranormal experts through to the scientific investigation of ghostly activity, Ghost Voices Magazine appeals to all who have an interest in the paranormal. The trial issue features a look at Phantom Sounds in Folklore, Brian Haughton discusses myths and legends behind this phenomena; Leigh Banks tells us of the ghostly sightings of a woman on the holiday Isle of Ibiza; Norie Miles chats to one of Britain's youngest psychic mediums, Ross Bartlett; and ghost hunter Gill Stubbs discusses the locations were ghostly activity may occur. Regular features include Letters to a Ghost Hunter, The Parapsychologist's Chronicle, Events (up and coming), Book Reviews and much more - via Exact Editions

CARL E-Lert # 353

CARL E-Lert # 353, November 27 2009, is now available from Canadian Association of Research Libraries

Costa Book Awards 2009 Shortlists announced

The Costa Book Awards 2009 Shortlists have been announced:

Costa First Novel Award

* The Finest Type of English Womanhood by Rachel Heath
* John the Revelator by Peter Murphy
* Beauty by Raphael Selbourne
* The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw

Costa Novel Award

* Family Album by Penelope Lively
* Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
* The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson
* Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Costa Biography Award

* The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius by Graham Farmelo
* The Music Room by William Fiennes
* Coda by Simon Gray
* Dancing to the Precipice by Caroline Moorehead

Costa Poetry Award

* Angels Over Elsinore by Clive James
* One Eye'd Leigh by Katharine Kilalea
* Darwin: A Life in Poems by Ruth Padel
* A Scattering by Christopher Reid

Costa Children's Award

* Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd
* Troubadour by Mary Hoffman
* The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
* Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera

Ariadne - Issue 61, October 2009

Ariadne - Issue 61, October 2009 is now available. Ariadne is targeted principally at information science professionals in academia, and also to interested lay people both in and beyond the Higher Education community. Its main geographic focus is the UK, but it is widely read in the US and worldwide. Subscribe to the RSS Feed

YALSA launches first Wednesdays program

"The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association, hosts informal online chats for YALSA members on the first Wednesday of each month from 8 to 9 p.m. Eastern in ALA Connect. Starting with the December 2 chat, YALSA encourages members to use this as an opportunity to host a monthly face-to-face event for socializing, networking or professional development"

Archives for the 21st Century (UK)

Archives for the 21st Century - "Our history is preserved and protected in a nationwide network of archival services. These treasure chests of information hold our national, local and family histories. If there is to be a record of the present for future generations, however, the importance of capturing digital material to form the historical record must be acknowledged and the challenges of preserving digital information grasped"

JISC Digital Media programming 2009-2010

JISC Digital Media has just published its training timetable for the period January to April 2010. Subscribe to the training RSS Feed

Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle receives special recognition by CARL (Canada)

At a dinner gathering of library directors and guests, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) bestowed upon Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle special recognition for his significant contributions to the preservation and sharing of knowledge through the Internet Archive, in general, and to the open access digitization of Canadian print collections, more specifically. In his remarks, Mr. Kahle emphasized the great things research libraries can achieve when they bring together their collective energy and resources

2010 Winter Institute on Statistical Literacy for Librarians

2010 Winter Institute on Statistical Literacy for Librarians - February 17-19 2010 - Edmonton, Canada. "Librarians are facing more statistical information than ever before because of the electronic dissemination of statistics over the Internet. Concomitant with this are greater demands for statistics from user communities. Greater availability to statistics online, however, has not made this information necessarily easier to find or to retrieve. This Institute provides training in the strategies and tools for finding statistics and providing them in formats directly useful to users"

ConferenceThing at ALA Midwinter

ConferenceThing is a free, mini-conference organized by LibraryThing to coincide with ALA Midwinter in Boston on January 15, 2010

The Certificate in Journals Publishing

The Certificate in Journals Publishing - provided by the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies in cooperation with ALPSP - is a two-module postgraduate programme open to holders of a good honours degree. The Certificate consists of taught lectures and group work, which take place one afternoon per week in Oxford, UK for 11 weeks, starting on February 11 2010, followed by a period of independent study to be completed in the delegate's own time

Springer launches SpringerMaterials at London Online Information 2009

"Springer Science+Business Media has announced the launch of SpringerMaterials - The Landolt-Börnstein Database. It is the world's largest content platform of selected and critically assessed data in all areas of physical sciences and engineering. The breadth and depth of information is exhaustive: 91,000 online documents, 165,000 substances and materials systems, 3,000 properties and more than one million literature references. SpringerMaterials is the most comprehensive and timely resource of data in physics, chemistry, materials science and engineering on the market"

InSITE - November 23, 2009

InSITE: A Current Awareness Service of Cornell Law Library - Vol. 15, No. 7, November 23, 2009 is now available

Library associations release guide on Google Book Search Amended Settlement Agreement

"The American Library Association (ALA), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) announce the release of A Guide for the Perplexed Part III: The Amended Settlement Agreement. The guide describes the major changes in the amended settlement agreement (ASA), submitted to the Court by Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers on November 13, 2009, with emphasis on those changes relevant to libraries. While many of the amendments will have little direct impact on libraries, the ASA significantly reduces the scope of the settlement because it excludes most books published outside of the United States. In addition, the ASA provides the Book Rights Registry the authority to increase the number of free public access terminals in public libraries that had initially been set at one per library building, among other changes. Looking ahead, the Court has accepted the parties’ recommended schedule and set January 28, 2010, as the deadline for class members to opt out of the ASA or to file objections, and February 4, 2010, as the deadline for the Department of Justice to file its comments. The Court will hold the fairness hearing on February 18, 2010"

The Code4Lib Journal - Issue 8

The Code4Lib Journal - Issue 8 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

TechJournalContents

"TechJournalContents is a brand new service which lets you to search across the current issues of more than 4,500 scholarly technology journals from multiple publishers, in order to find the latest research articles. Access to the full text of search results in TechJournalContents will depend on whether the Library subscribes to the journals in question or whether they are freely available through Open Access"

The Robert Louis Stevenson Website

"The RLS Website is the most comprehensive site dedicated to Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), providing resources for academics, school children, and people interested in learning about RLS. This site is particularly significant because it holds images not seen by the general public before. The site celebrates Stevenson's life and works, encouraging users to discover the many faces of RLS. He is not just a children's author, but also a poet, a playwright, a Gothicist, an essayist, a historian, an anthropologist, a Victorian, a Modernist and a Postmodernist, amongst other things. By detailing his diverse writing career, the RLS Website aims to bring Stevenson out of the margins of literary study"

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #96

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #96. "This week's podcast brings an essay on another aspect of the digital divide. The issue is not one that is neat, clean, or lacking in facets for consideration.". Previous Podcasts can be found here

Motionbox

"Motionbox makes it easy for individuals and families to upload, edit, store, and share their personal video memories, including those that have been captured in High Definition. In addition to free membership options, Motionbox a subscription-based Premium service featuring HD playback and sharing, unlimited storage, and download capabilities, and a Professional video hosting solution for small businesses and organizations. Motionbox is soon to be a featured Channel on the Roku digital video player. You'll be able to hook the player up to your television and enjoy instant access to all the videos you've uploaded to Motionbox. All you need is a TV, a high-speed Internet connection (wired or wireless), and a finger to click the remote! As a special sneak preview, we're giving away a few brand new Roku players to people (USA only) who become Motionbox members this month"

Classification at a Crossroads - presentations available

The International UDC Seminar 2009 "Classification at a Crossroads: multiple directions to usability" took place on 29-30 October in the National Library of the Netherlands in The Hague. Conference recordings (mp3), slides and photographs are now available

OCLC Research to host TAI CHI Omeka webinar (USA)

OCLC Research is to host the TAI CHI Omeka Webinar on 8 December at 1 p.m. EST. Omeka is a free and open source collections-based, Web-based platform for scholars, librarians, archivists, museum professionals, educators and cultural enthusiasts. Webinar participation is free and open to all but advanced registration is required

Stimulus grant to enhance arXiv e-preprints for scientists

Soon, Cornell's e-print arXiv of scientific papers will evolve from a simple database to a place where "authors, articles, databases and readers talk to each other" to help users identify a work's main concepts, see research reports in context and easily find related work

OCLC releases new CONTENTdm version

"With the new release, the CONTENTdm Project Client now supports auto updates, enabling users to get updates as quickly as they are available. It automatically checks for software updates in the background, so work is not interrupted. If updates are available, they are downloaded but not installed until the organization is ready"

David S. Ferriero sworn in as 10th Archivist of the United States

David S. Ferriero, the former Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries and a leader in the field of research librarianship, was sworn in as the tenth Archivist of the United States at a small ceremony at the National Archives at College Park. Mr. Ferriero will move to Washington and assume his duties full-time in the very near future. At his swearing-in ceremony, Mr. Ferriero said, "I'm very excited about being here. I am looking forward to jumping in with both feet to work with the staff at the National Archives on the important issues that we face in a world increasingly dependent upon information and technology."

Reminder: Innovating e-Learning online conference 2009

Innovating e-Learning online conference 2009 takes place 24-27 November 2009. Themes for Innovating e-Learning 2009 reflect the challenges facing further and higher education in the 21st century and explore the increased options offered by technology for meeting those challenges. Follow the conference on Twitter using #jiscel09

Web Continuity ensures end to broken links (UK)

"Broken links will soon be a thing of the past for UK government websites, as The National Archives launches its unique Web Continuity project. The first of its kind anywhere in the world, the project has already enabled millions of people using government websites to find information which would previously have been lost through broken web links. The service is now leading to more than six million redirected hits a month. Six government departments have already installed the software, but the Web Continuity project is due to be formally launched at the House of Lords on 2 December 2009"

Podcast: The Metropolitan Police: its creation and records of service (UK)

"London's Metropolitan Police service was formed in 1829. This talk provides an overview of how crime was dealt with before this date, and how to trace the records of our Metropolitan Police ancestors at The UK National Archives"

SSRN's iPhone App, iSSRN, is now available

"iSSRN, our free iPhone App, was released recently. It provides instant access to the latest Social Science and Humanities research in the SSRN eLibrary from scholars around the world. iSSRN is available from Apple's iTunes store.
iSSRN allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to search over 250,000 papers and read the full text of the papers directly on their device. Note: This is an updated version of the previous iSSRN App and this version, not the previous one, will be updated in the future." - SSRN Blog

Education Libraries - Winter 2009

Education Libraries: From the History to the Future of Librarianship - Volume 32, No. 2, Winter 2009 is now available from the Education Division of the Special Libraries Association

SwetsWise places eBooks procurement portal into Beta Testing

"Swets has announced that its newly developed eBooks procurement portal has entered into Beta Testing. The portal integrates a comprehensive eBook catalog and procurement options into existing SwetsWise services, most notably SwetsWise Subscriptions. These features will provide customers with a single source for purchasing eBooks and a means to select the desired access route to their acquired content, be it by publishers directly or through an aggregator"

Sharing European Memories

"Sharing European Memories aimes to create a transnational network of organizations engaged in starting a prosess of raising youngsters' awareness towards the historical memory of older generations which experienced the 20th Century conflicts and wars in Europe. Through the realisation of performing arts, the project will facour the sharing of memories and reflection on the big divisions experienced by the Eurpean peoples in the past, in order to learn from history and build a European citizenship based on common historical memory. The project will last for 20 months involving 6 main participants from IT, UK, NO, ES, PL and 3 associated partners from DE, CZ, MT, all combining both cultural and educvational domains."

Andrew Motion to chair the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2010

Sir Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate, has been announced as Chair of the judges for the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. Andrew Motion is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, University of London and co-founder of the online Poetry Archive. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1999 for a ten year term. He has received numerous awards for his writing. His group study The Lamberts won the Somerset Maugham Award and his authorised life of Philip Larkin won the Whitbread Prize for Biography. Andrew Motion was knighted for his services to literature in 2009

Ordnance Survey maps free for use online by any organisation (UK)

From The Guardian: "The Free Our Data campaign has scored a major victory, with the announcement by the government that it intends to make Ordnance Survey maps free for use online by any organisation - including commercial ones - at resolutions more detailed than commercial 1:25,000 Landranger maps from April next year. The announcement of the opening of a consultation on the plan by Gordon Brown at Downing Street on Tuesday, as part of a seminar on making public data public - set in the wider context of public service reform, under the 'Smarter Government' umbrella - indicates that the ideas underpinning the campaign have now been taken on board at the highest levels of government"

Biblio Tech Review - November 2009

The November issue of Biblio Tech Review is now available. This issue includes:

* EBSCO Launches Mobile Phone Version of EBSCOhost
* VTLS EMEA Office Announces New Customers
* TLC Announces LS2 PAC and Google Analytics Integration
* Kinokuniya Company to Implement Ringgold Identifier

Croydon lends digital library books (UK)

London Borough of Croydon's library service has begun a scheme to enable residents with disabilities to borrow digital books. People can use their library cards to register and then download books as text or audio files, which can be read on screen or downloaded and listened to on an MP3 player. Once the loan period is up the books automatically stop working. The project started with a GBP9,000 National Lottery grant won by the Croydon Disability Forum, in conjunction with the local library service, Croydon College, Croydon Voluntary Association for the Blind and EasyPC computer services. It also received time from officers of the council and the college

JISC Inform 26

JISC Inform 26 is now available from the Joint Information Systems Committee

The Footnote Interactive Native American Collection

The latest collection on Footnote.com is the Native American Collection. Working together with the National Archives and Allen County Library, Footnote.com has created a unique collection that will help people discover new details about Native American history. The Footnote Interactive Native American Collection features original historical documents including:

* Ratified Indian Treaties - dating back to 1722
* Indian Census Rolls - featuring personal information including age, place of residence and degree of Indian blood
* The Guion Miller Roll - perhaps the most important Cherokee genealogical research
* Dawes Packets - containing original applications for tribal enrollments
* And other documents relating to the Five Civilized Tribes

HathiTrust offers full-text search of millions of digitized books and journals

"A year after its launch by 25 leading U.S. research libraries, HathiTrust Digital Library announces a service that will transform how researchers use the more than 1.6 billion pages (4.6 million volumes) in its collections. The breakthrough allows for full-text searching capabilities across the entire library. Researchers can now search public domain and in-copyright works by keyword or phrase. Based on open source Solr/Lucene technology, the service expands on an experimental search of public domain volumes introduced in November 2008. Full-text search will continue to be supported across the repository as it grows at a rate of hundreds of thousands of volumes every month"

Library Journal Best Books 2009

Library Journal Best Books 2009 has been announced

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

International journal of Computer Networks & Communications

International Journal of Wireless & Mobile Networks

Journal of King Abdulaziz University : Arts and Humanities

Journal of King Abdulaziz University : Marine Sciences

Journal of King Abdulaziz University : Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture Sciences

Journal of King Abdulaziz University : Science

BioScriba

Comunicação & Sociedade

Gastroenterology Insights

International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security

International Journal of Economic Sciences and Applied Research

Nephrology Reviews

Mineralogia

CARL E-Lert # 352

CARL E-Lert # 352, November 20 2009, is now available from Canadian Association of Research Libraries

2010 Library Design Showcase call for submissions

American Libraries is now accepting submissions for its annual Library Design Showcase, to be published in the April 2010 issue. This is a showcase of new and newly renovated or expanded libraries of all types. Roughly 30 of the best construction projects of the year will be highlighed in this major AL feature. To be considered, send the completed submission form, along with color photos, 35mm slides, or high-resolution digital images, to: American Libraries, Attn: Architecture Showcase, American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. The deadline is February 1, 2010, and to be eligible, projects must have been completed after October 1, 2008

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Emancipation. The featured title in the latest issue of Credo Reference Content Update is the "Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World" - a fascinating survey of attempts to end slavery. All the answers to the following questions can be found there. Answers here.

1. Name the sixteenth president of the United States, whose Emancipation Proclamation officially freed slaves in the Confederate states in 1863.
2. The abolition of slavery in the United States and the emancipation of nearly 4 million enslaved people was the most significant outcome of which war?
3. Name the man who gave his life in 1859 trying to end slavery in the United States with a failed attempt to capture an arsenal in Virginia and distribute weapons to the slaves.
4. The Society of Friends played a significant role in the history of abolitionism. By what name are they usually known?
5. The writer of "Les Misérables" denounced slavery. What was his name?
6. When talking of slavery, what was the "Underground Railroad"?
7. Which antislavery novel published in 1852 sold more than 10,000 copies in the first week of publication?
8. In a celebrated case of 1841, the U. S. Supreme Court determined that a group of Africans had been illegally abducted and could not be held as slaves. The Africans had revolted on a Spanish slave ship called...what?
9. Who led the only successful slave rebellion in history in the French colony of Saint-Domingue on the island of Hispaniola between 1791 and 1804, and helped to establish Haiti?
10. Booker T. Washington was a pioneer in promoting education for emancipated slaves. What was his middle name?

Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading® Programs

"Ontario Library Association offers 8 reading programs that encourage people of all ages in their love of reading. All Ontarians are invited to participate via their local public or school library. More than 250,000 readers across Ontario participate each year. The culmination of the program is a two-day awards event attended by more than 6,500 guests and all of the nominated authors called the 'Festival of Trees™'"

EBSCO's continuous pandemic H1N1 coverage

"Early in September, as public concern about Pandemic H1N1 and the upcoming flu season began to grow, the medical and nursing editors from EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) responded by offering the latest evidence-based, flu-related information for free. As the pandemic expands, we continue to offer free flu information resources, located at www.ebscohost.com/flu. We are pleased to provide public support via continuously updated, evidence-based clinical information from DynaMed and Nursing Reference Center, EBSCO's clinical and nursing point-of-care databases, along with patient education information in 17 languages from Patient Education Reference Center"

Nicola I. Campbell and Kim LaFave win TD Canadian Children's Literature Award

Author Nicola I. Campbell and illustrator Kim LaFave have won the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award for the book Shin-chi's Canoe. The book, published by Groundwood Books, chronicles the experiences of a girl and her younger brother at a residential school. Campbell and LaFave will split the $25,000 prize

The Memento Project

"The Memento project proposes new ideas related to Web Archiving, focusing on the integration of archived resources in regular Web navigation." Memento is a collaboration between:

* The Prototyping Team of the Research Library of the Los Alamos National Laboratory: Luydmilla Balakireva, Robert Sanderson, Harihar Shankar, Herbert Van de Sompel.
* The Computer Science Department of Old Dominion University: Scott Ainsworth, Michael Nelson.

Collection Development in the Digital Age (UK)

Collection Development in the Digital Age - 7-9 December 2009 - University of Brighton, Moulsecoomb Site, UK - "This 3 day course aims to examine and develop a critical understanding of the policies and processes involved in developing and managing collections in an increasingly digitised world"

HighWire updates look and feel

"The new HighWire web site offers three areas for our main constituents: For Researchers, For Librarians, and For Publishers. In the librarians section, information is better organized and easier to read than ever before

NTIS Technical Reports Newsletter - November 2009

NTIS Technical Reports Newsletter - Volume 2, Number 5, November 15 2009 is now available from the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA, USA

2010 Evergreen International Conference

"The 2101 Evergreen International Conference will be held April 21-23, 2010 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A hackfest for developers will be held all day April 21, 2010. Now in its second year, the Evergreen Conference brings together the community of open-source users to discuss, develop and grow the Evergreen ILS. Conference programs will be applicable to technology staff, administrators, and frontline staff. This year's conference is co-hosted by the Grand Rapids Public Library and Equinox Software Inc."

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Computation

Journal of Phytology

Pakistaniaat : A Journal of Pakistan Studies

Recent Research in Science and Technology

Revista de Economía del Caribe

Revista de Derecho

Proceedings of the 155th ARL Membership Meeting

The Proceedings of the 155th ARL Membership Meeting, October 14–15, 2009, Washington, DC, USA, are now available online

BioMed Central partners with Quertle

BioMed Central, open access publisher with over 200 peer-reviewed journals, has teamed up with Quertle LLC to add over 60,000 published articles into the latest version of their its biomedical search tool

2010 Green Book Festival issues call for entries

"The 2010 Green Book Festival has issued the call for entries to its annual competition honoring books that contribute to greater understanding, respect and positive action on the changing worldwide environment. The 2010 Green Book Festival will consider published, self-published and independent publisher works in the following categories: non-fiction, fiction, children's books, teenage, how-to, audio/spoken word, comics/graphic novels, poetry, science fiction/horror, biography/autobiography, gardening, cookbooks, animals, photography/art, e-books, wild card (anything goes!), scientific, white paper, legal, business, mystery and spiritual. Entries can be in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese or Italian. Our grand prize for the 2010 Green Book Festival Author of the Year is $1500 and transportation to our April 30-May 2, 2010 outdoor festival in Los Angeles as part of the LA Garden Show OR an equivalent amount donated in your name to the environmental charity of your choice"

DataONE (Observation Network for Earth) Project at UNM receives $20 million award (USA)

"The DataONE office, based within both the Office of the Vice President of Research and University Libraries at the University of New Mexico, has been awarded $20 million by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support its scientific research activities for the next five years. The project is under the direction of William Michener, professor and director of e-science initiatives at University Libraries. Researchers at UNM have partnered with dozens of other universities and agencies to create DataONE, a global data access and preservation network for earth and environmental scientists that will support breakthroughs in environmental research. DataONE is designed to provide universal access to data about life on Earth and the environment that sustains it. The underlying technologies will provide open, persistent, robust, and secure access to well-described and easily discovered Earth observational data."

DailyLit News: November 2009

DailyLit News: November 2009 is now available online

2010 LITA/Library Hi Tech award nominations sought

Nominations are being accepted for the 2010 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award, which is given each year to an individual or institution for outstanding achievement in communication for continuing education in library and information technology. Sponsored by the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and Library Hi Tech, the award includes a citation of merit and a $1,000 stipend provided by Emerald Press, publishers of Library Hi Tech. The deadline for nominations is Dec. 1, 2009

Video from AASL National Conference 2009

At the American Association of School Librarians National Conference in Charlotte, N.C. November 5-8, 2009, AASL President Cassandra Barnett and Conference Co-Chair Anne Marie Pipkin discuss the conference and the next one in Minneapolis in 2011, while ALA President Camila Alire talks about the importance of school libraries and the upcoming Frontline Advocacy toolkit and how school librarians will be able to use it to advocate for their libraries

Digital Arts and Culture 2009 (USA)

"Digital Arts and Culture 2009 is the 8th in an international series of conferences begun in 1998. DAC is recognized as an interdisciplinary event of high intellectual caliber. This iteration of DAC will dwell on the specificities of embodiment and cultural, social and physical location with respect to digital technologies and networked communications. DAC09 is structured around themes, each theme being composed of panels. DAC09 will be held in the Arts Plaza of the University of California Irvine, December 12-15, 2009

Neil Gaiman wins 2009 Booktrust Teenage Prize

"Neil Gaiman, commonly known as the 'rock star' of the literary world, is revealed as the winner of the Booktrust Teenage Prize 2009. His book The Graveyard Book saw off competition from five other authors including Patrick Ness who was nominated for a second year. The Graveyard Book tells the story of Nobody 'Bod' Owens, a child abandoned in a graveyard after the vicious murder of his parents and sister by The Man Jack. Raised and educated by the ghosts that live there, Bod encounters terrible and unexpected menaces in the horror of the pit of the Sleer and the city of Ghouls. It is in the land of the living that the real danger lies as The Man Jack is determined to find Bod and finish him off"

Waterstone's Marketplace (UK)

"Waterstone's Marketplace offers an extensive range of used, out-of-print, and hard-to-find books, music, and movies. In partnership with Alibris, Waterstone's offers access to tens of millions of items stocked by independent sellers from 45 countries around the world. Our partnership with Alibris means that you'll notice the Alibris name at various points during your Waterstone's Marketplace experience, including on your credit card statement ("Alibris Waterstone's") if you make a purchase here. You will also need to create a log-in for your Waterstone's Marketplace account that is different from your log-in for Waterstones.com"

Newcastle Libraries Blog (UK)

Newcastle Libraries Blog has been announced. It will host podcasts, news, events, staff blogs and more

Animating Archives: Making New Media Matter (USA)

"The Malcolm S. Forbes for Research in Culture and Media Studies and the Cogut Center for the Humanities are collaborating to bring together three dozen leading scholars and practitioners in the field of new media to share their thoughts and projects under one roof. The result is a ground-breaking conference entitled Animating Archives: Making New Media Matter. The conference runs from December 3-5, 2009 at the Cogut Center's home, historic Pembroke Hall on the campus of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA"

FreePint Newsletter 290

FreePint Newsletter 290 - 19 November, 2009 now available

2009 National Book Awards winners

The winners of the 2009 National Book Awards have been announced

Trove (Australia)

"Trove is a new discovery experience focused on Australia and Australians. It supplements what search engines provide with reliable information from Australia's memory institutions. If you are researching in the fields of the social sciences, literature, local or family history, or need inspiration for your school assignment, then this is the tool for you"

Danah Boyd interview

After her keynote address at the American Association of School Libraries National Conference, American Libraries caught up with Danah Boyd, the "high priestess" of networked social media, to discuss the role that school librarians should be playing in their students' social networking activities, how to cut through the red tape that may be preventing them from filling this role, and how Wikipedia can and should be used to teach students about information:

2009 Governor General's Literary Award winners (Canada)

Recipients of the 2009 Governor General's Literary Awards were named at a ceremony in Montreal. Each winner receives $25,000 and publishers of the winning books receive $3,000.

Governor General's Literary Award winners:
English-language books

* Fiction: The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger
* Non-fiction: A Place Within: Rediscovering India by M.G. Vassanji
* Poetry: The Fly in Autumn by David Zieroth
* Drama: Where the Blood Mixes by Kevin Loring
* Children's literature, text: Greener Grass: The Famine Years by Caroline Pignat
* Children's literature, illustration: Jirina Marton for Bella’s Tree (text by Janet Russell)
* Translation, French to English: Susan Ouriou for Pieces of Me by Charlotte Gingras

French-language Books

* Fiction: Le discours sur la tombe de l’idiot by Julie Mazzieri
* Non-fiction: Pointe Maligne: l’infiniment oubliée by Nicole V. Champeau
* Poetry: Thérèse pour joie et orchestre by Hélène Monette
* Drama: Le bruit des os qui craquent by Suzanne Lebeau
* Children's literature, text: Harvey by Hervé Bouchard
* Children's literature, illustration: Janice Nadeau for Harvey (text by Hervé Bouchard)
* Translation: English to French: Paule Noyart for Le miel d’Harar by Camilla Gibb

2009 Man Asian literary prize goes to Su Tong

The story of a playboy Communist party official who castrates himself after he is banished to live on a river barge has won celebrated Chinese author Su Tong the Man Asian literary prize. Su, by far the best known of the five shortlisted authors, is the second Chinese writer to win the three-year-old prize, which is worth $10,000 (GBP6,000). Judges, including the authors Colm Tóibín and Pankaj Mishra, said in a joint statement that his winning title, The Boat to Redemption, was "a picaresque novel of immense charm" - Guardian

The Shakespeare Quartos Archive

"The Shakespeare Quartos Archive is a digital collection of pre-1642 editions of William Shakespeare's plays. A cross-Atlantic collaboration has also produced an interactive interface for the detailed study of these geographically distant quartos, with full functionality for all thirty-two quarto copies of Hamlet held by participating institutions"

D-Lib Magazine - January/February 2010

D-Lib Magazine - January/February 2010 is now available

CARL E-Lert # 351

CARL E-Lert # 351, November 13 2009, is now available from Canadian Association of Research Libraries

bepress expands its publishing program with the addition of 14 journals

Berkeley Electronic Press has announced the addition of 14 titles to its journal list:

Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance for the Asia-Pacific Risk and Insurance Association

California Journal of Politics and Policy

Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis for the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis and the University of Washington

Journal of College and Character for NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

Journal des Economistes et des Ètudes Humaines with the Institut Européen des Ètudes Humaines, an affiliate of the Institute for Economics Studies - Europe

Journal of Globalization and Development with the Initiative for Policy Dialogue

Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, previously the NASPA Journal, for NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

Journal of Time Series Econometrics

Law & Development Review

NASPA Journal about Women in Higher Education for NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education

Review of Network Economics previously published by Concept Economics

Statistical Communications in Infectious Diseases

Statistics, Politics and Policy

World Medical & Health Policy for the Policy Studies Organization

The Perils of Print Culture (Ireland)

The Perils of Print Culture - a conference to be held at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, 10-12 September 2010. "Over the past twenty years the study of print culture has become prominent in the disciplines of history, literary studies and languages. The study of print culture has many advantages, but there is a growing sense among advanced practitioners that scholars need to fine-tune or calibrate their understanding of this burgeoning field of enquiry. Papers presented at this conference will encourage scholars to think more systematically about the conceptual, methodological and technological problems associated with the study of print culture. They will encompass a wide range of chronological periods, geographical locations and genres of print"

Copac adds University of Bradford's Special Collections (UK)

Copac has loaded records for the University of Bradford's Special Collections. This is in addition to the records already on Copac for Bradford's Russian and Eastern European Studies (REES) holdings. Named collections include the Mitrinović Library, the J B Priestley and Jaquetta Hawkins Collections, and the Commonweal Collection. Subject strengths include peace studies; Latin American history and politics; archaeology; history of Bradford and Yorkshire; religion; and the history of science, technology, and medicine. These collections have been added as part of the Challenge Fund.

PressReader

"PressReader, from NewspaperDirect Inc., enables you to download your favorite publication on your PC, laptop, Tablet PC or mobile device or e-Reader, allowing you to read publications when you are without an Internet connection"

Glencoe Massacre orders displayed (Scotland)

A 300-year-old document which led to one of the most infamous episodes in Scottish history is to go on display. The signed order for the Massacre of Glencoe will form the centrepiece of an exhibition to mark the end of the Year of Homecoming. It will be among nine cultural treasures which will be displayed in the National Library of Scotland from this week. Thirty eight members of the MacDonald clan were killed in the massacre. They were slaughtered in February 1692 after the document ordered members of the Campbell clan to attack their hosts and "putt all to the sword under seventy" - BBC

Teen Librarian Monthly: November 2009

Teen Librarian Monthly: November 2009 is now available for download

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #95

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #95. "This week's episode contains an essay talking about the seemingly innocuous matter of Selectable Output Control and how it fits into a bigger puzzle relative to the Digital Divide". Previous Podcasts can be found here

Technology Watch Report Launch – File Formats for Preservation

Technology Watch Report Launch – File Formats for Preservation. 1 December 2009 - London, UK. This event is open to Digital Preservation Coalition members and others by invitation

Copyright Watch

Copyright Watch collects and monitors copyright laws from all over the world. Copyright Watch was begun by an international group of copyright experts, drawn from the Access to Knowledge community

Google publishes Stanford dissertations online

"Stanford doctoral students will now be able to post their dissertations on Google as the university replaces the traditional bound volumes of acid-free paper with e-files of scholarly work. Beginning last week, students who used to lug three or four copies of their capstone university work to Stanford's registrar's office could file their dissertations by simply uploading them from their computer. "It doesn't make sense anymore that the final medium for scholarship should still be paper," said university Registrar Tom Black, one of the administrators behind the change. The switch, which began last Monday, will affect the more than 600 doctoral dissertations filed each year at Stanford. Plans already are being made to extend the electronic effort to thousands of master's theses and honors papers" - SFGate

International Journal of Library and Information Science

"The International Journal of Library and Information Science (IJLIS) is a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal published that will be published monthly by Academic Journals. IJLIS is dedicated to increasing the depth of the subject across disciplines with the ultimate aim of expanding knowledge of the subject"

Questionnaire - Consistency (or lack of) in Library Jargon in Libraries

"This short questionnaire attempts to measure the consistency (or lack of) in library signage and terminology in libraries in Canada and the United States. This questionnaire is voluntary. You may withdraw from participating in this questionnaire at any time. By completing this questionnaire you are giving your consent to have your responses used in an accompanying study. We have no means of determining your name, email address, institution, or IP address. All data will be kept anonymous. Data will be used for research, the results of which may be published. If you have any questions regarding your rights as a research subject, please contact":

Ms. Angela Cartmell
cartmell@mail.csi.cuny.edu
718-982-3867

iriver Story portable e-book reader released

"iriver Story is a portable e-book reader that utilizes the E-ink film display technology. It is designed to provide the same experience as reading on printed paper. You can read your favorite books and various contents as much as you like"

European university press association to be formed

Forty academic presses, including 12 from the UK are to create a Europe-wide University Press Association, following a meeting at the Frankfurt Book Fair. A total of 12 countries were represented - The Bookseller

Archive Awareness Campaign 2009 - Take Flight (UK)

"The Archive Awareness Campaign has launched its Take Flight campaign to celebrate local links with man made flights and the movement of people. Throughout the autumn and winter, archives across the country have teamed up with local groups and communities to highlight their rich and diverse heritage in air travel, migration and human endeavour"

LexisNexis releases iPhone App

"LexisNexis has released its first iPhone App. It is called 'Get Cases and Shepardize,' and allows users to get cases from Lexis.com and Shepardize them to make sure what they have found is still good law. Users must have a current account with Lexis.com and a valid password to use the application"

NCSU Mobile Site puts the "Library of the Future" in students' pockets

"Students at North Carolina State University will no longer have to crank up their laptops while browsing the stacks if they have copied a wrong catalog number. Or tromp down nine flights of steps to check how long the line is at the library café. The NC State Libraries has continued its pioneering work in 21st century digital libraries by launching NCSU Libraries Mobile (m.lib.ncsu.edu), providing students and faculty with the most complete of library services for mobile devices currently available"

ALA IFRT Intellectual Freedom Awards

"The Intellectual Freedom Round Table is seeking nominees for three awards. Each award celebrates the achievements of librarians, writers, and citizens in their defense of our basic right to read and express ideas"

Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA) 2010

Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA) 2010 - 24-28 May 2010 - Zadar, Croatia

Barbara A. Macikas named PLA executive director (USA)

"Barbara A. Macikas has been named executive director of the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association. Macikas, who was chosen from a nationwide pool of candidates, will assume her responsibilities at PLA on November 23, 2009. Macikas brings extensive association management experience to the position. She served as executive director of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) and the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), divisions of the ALA, from May 2007 to May 2009. In that position, she worked with the boards of directors of two divisions, managed two budgets, directed all day-to-day operations, and facilitated the work of volunteers in both divisions. She also managed a grant-funded project and served on several internal task forces. She left this position in May 2009 to focus on association management projects and consulting."

Podcast: Railway disasters: an introduction (UK)

This talk looks at some of the most famous railway accidents and disasters of the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular, the disaster at Quintinshill in 1915, in which 226 people died. The UK National Archives holds a wide range of documents which record details of accidents and collisions but the talk also considers other useful sources such as railway staff magazines

Petition to save the State Library of Massachusetts

"At a press conference on Thursday, October 29, the Governor's Office announced that Governor Patrick is considering closing the State Library of Massachusetts as a cost-saving measure. This closure will have a monumental impact on the cultural heritage of the Commonwealth. Open to the public since 1826, the State Library has developed comprehensive collections in the areas of government documents, law, Massachusetts history, and public and current affairs. From the Bradford manuscript "Of Plimoth Plantation" to the ever-expanding digital repository, the State Library has collected items of crucial importance to the record of Massachusetts' historical wealth. Please sign this petition to ensure that Massachusetts' heritage continues to remain freely accessible to all members of the public."

JISC publishes funding roadmap for 2009/2010 (UK)

UK education is to benefit from over GBP7 million in grants and funding opportunities, as JISC launches its investment plan for the academic year 2009/2010. Over the next nine months JISC will be investing in a range of projects across universities and colleges to support innovation in research, teaching and learning to aid the management of institutions. Projects will range from 12 months to three years in duration

Special Issues Vol. 19 No. 3 (2009)

Special Issues: Bulletin of the Canadian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services, Volume 19 No 3 (2009), is now available

HathiTrust Digital Library - Update On October Activities

HathiTrust Digital Library - Update On October Activities:

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Journal of Global Infectious Diseases

Italian Journal of Engineering Geology and Environment

Psicología desde el Caribe

Lisa Jardine wins Cundill History Prize

"British historian Lisa Jardine has won the Cundill History Prize for her book Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland's Glory, which tells the story of a Britain occupied by a foreign power. She was presented with the $75,000 US prize, established last year by Montreal-born investment manager F. Peter Cundill, at McGill University in Montreal. Jardine's book is about the so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688, when a group of parliamentarians led by Dutch stadtholder William II of Orange-Nassau overthrew King James II"

Google Public Policy Blog: Modifications to the Google Books Settlement

Google Public Policy Blog: Modifications to the Google Books Settlement - "Last year, we joined with a broad class of authors and publishers to announce a settlement agreement that would make millions of out-of-print books available to students and readers in every part of the U.S., while forging new opportunities for rightsholders to sell access to their books. Tonight we submitted an amended version of the Google Books settlement agreement to the court. We've traveled all over the world together with the authors and publishers to talk with people about our agreement, and over the last two months, we've read the many letters and briefs written to the court. We've also had discussions with the Department of Justice about the settlement. The changes we've made in our amended agreement address many of the concerns we've heard (particularly in limiting its international scope), while at the same time preserving the core benefits of the original agreement: opening access to millions of books while providing rightsholders with ways to sell and control their work online...."

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: The Internet. Some people calculate that, this year, the internet is 40 years old - because the ARPANET was created in 1969, and was the first generation of the internet. Check your knowledge of the internet with this brainteaser. Answers here.

1. Which internet search engine was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin?
2. Many people access the internet on a PC. What does "PC" stand for?
3. In connection with emails, what is the meaning of "phish"?
4. Skype is a trade name for a piece of software that allows what to be made over the internet?
5. When talking about the internet, what does "W3" stand for?
6. Which word for inappropriate or unwanted messages sent by email apparently derives from a sketch in "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
7. Which online video sharing company was founded in 2005 and purchased by Google for $1.65 billion the following year?
8. Wikipedia is a collaborative encyclopedia on the internet. What does the word "wiki" mean in Hawaiian?
9. When talking about online forums, what does 'lurk" mean?
10. In connection with email, what does "SMTP" stand for?

JSTOR Arts & Sciences VIII Collection

With a minimum of 140 titles by its completion in 2011, JSTOR Arts & Sciences VIII Collection will broaden JSTOR's coverage of core humanities disciplines, including history, language & literature, art & art history, and education. Titles in philosophy, classical studies, and music will also be included

Digital Library passes half-million milestone (UK)

The British Library has added the 500,000th item to its long-term Digital Library System. The milestone item was a digitised copy of a newspaper originally published in 1864 and scanned as part of the Library's 19th Century British Library Newspapers project, which recently made more than 2 million pages of historic newspapers available online

Teen Tech Week 2010 (USA)

"Teen Tech Week 2010 is March 7-13. Teen Tech Week is a national initiative aimed at teens, librarians, educators, parents, and other concerned adults meant to encourage teens to take advantage of libraries' nonprint resources. The 2010 theme - Learn Create Share @ your library - fosters teen creativity and positions the library as a physical and virtual place for safe exploration of the many types of technology available at libraries, including DVDs, music, gaming, video production, online homework help, social networking, tech workshops, audiobooks and more"

Small Publishers Fair 2009 (UK)

Small Publishers Fair 2009 - November 13-14 2009 - London, UK "The international fair celebrating books by contemporary artists, poets, writers, composers, book designers, and their publishers; together with a programme of readings and talks. With more than 50 publishers taking part there will be thousands of books and other editions to browse and buy! This year we have publishers from Australia, Japan, Canada, Korea, and many from Europe. Admission is free to the Fair and readings / events."

Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship

A new citizenship guide for potential immigrants to Canada, Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship, flatly declares that new Canadians cannot engage in "barbaric" cultural practices such as genital mutilation and "honour killings." The new guide, released Thursday by Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, says in a section called "Equality of Women and Men" that such practices are illegal and severely punishable under Canada's criminal laws

2009 National Outdoor Book Awards winners

The winners of the 2009 National Outdoor Book Awards have been announced. "The National Outdoor Book Awards is the outdoor world's largest and most prestigious book award program. It is a non-profit, educational program, sponsored by the National Outdoor Book Awards Foundation, Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education, and Idaho State University"

* History-Biography: Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America by Douglas Brinkley (Harper).
* Nature and the Environment: Our Living Earth by Yann Arthus-Bertrand (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
* Design & Artistic Merit: Lars Jonsson's Birds illustrated by Lars Jonsson (Princeton University Press)
* Outdoor Literature: Halfway to Heaven by Mark Obmascik (Free Press)
* Natural History Literature: Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys by Rob Dunn (Smithsonian Books)
* Instructional: Girl on the Rocks: A Woman's Guide to Climbing with Strength, Grace and Courage by Katie Brown, photographs by Ben Moon (Globe Pequot Press/Falcon Guides)
* Outdoor Adventure: Guide to the Green and Yampa Rivers in Dinosaur National Monument by Duwain Whitis and Barbara Vinson (RiverMaps)
* Nature: Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America by Roger Tory Peterson (Houghton Mifflin)
* Children's: Whistling Wings by Laura Goering, illustrated by Laura Jacques (Sylvan Dell Publishing)

2009 Semantic Web Challenge winners

Elsevier announced the winners of the 2009 Semantic Web Challenge, which took place at the International Semantic Web Conference held in Washington, D.C., from October 25-29, 2009. A jury consisting of eleven leading experts from both academia and industry awarded the four best applications with cash prizes of 2750 Euro in total, sponsored by Elsevier

Ms Understood: Women's Liberation in 1970's Britain - Women's Library

Ms Understood: Women's Liberation in 1970's Britain celebrates the 40th anniversary of the country's first national Women's Liberation Conference at Ruskin College, Oxford. During this event, over five hundred women came together and lay the foundation for the movement's key demands:

* Equal pay for equal work
* Equal educational and job opportunities
* Free contraception and abortion on demand
* Free 24 hour nurseries under community control

The exhibition explores the prelude, birth, rallies, media, fashion, politics, disagreements and victories of this crucial phase for improving women's rights. Ends 31 March 2010

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Journal of Computer Science and Control Systems

Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Australasian Medical Journal

Bioscience Horizons

Genome Biology and Evolution

Pediatric Reports

Recorde: Revista de História do Esporte

Zona Próxima

Journal of Pharmacy Research

Sniff test to preserve old books

The key to preserving the old, degrading paper of treasured, ageing books is contained in the smell of their pages, say scientists. Researchers report in the journal Analytical Chemistry that a new "sniff test" can measure degradation of old books and historical documents. The test picks up and identifies the chemicals that the pages release as they degrade. This could help libraries and museums preserve a range of precious books. The test is based on detecting the levels of volatile organic compounds. These are released by paper as it ages and produce the familiar "old book smell". The research tem, led by Matija Strlic from University College London's Centre for Sustainable Heritage, describes that smell as "a combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness". "This unmistakable smell is as much part of the book as its contents," they wrote in the journal article - BBC

First World War RAF service records now online (UK)

The UK National Archives has made 99,000 RAF officers' service records available online for the first time. These records are easily searchable by first name, last name and date of birth, and were previously only accessible to visitors at the Kew site. You can view and download records via the DocumentsOnline service. These records and many others can be viewed on The National Archives' website on a pay-per-download basis for the fee of GBP3.50

2010 NFAIS Annual Conference (USA)

2010 NFAIS Annual Conference: Redefining the Value of Information: Exploring the New Equation - February 28-March 2, 2010 - Philadelphia, PA, USA

2009 Prime Minister's Literary Awards winners (Australia)

The 2009 Prime Minister's Literary Award winners were named by Peter Garrett, Australia's Minister for the Arts. Nam Le won the fiction prize for his short story collection, The Boat, which the judging panel praised for "the daring scope and excellence of its execution, the generous breadth of its emotional and social traverse and the excitement generated by every story." The nonfiction award was shared by two books, House of Exile: The Life and Times of Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kroeger-Mann by Evelyn Juers and Drawing the Global Colour Line by Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds. The nonfiction judges lauded both books for "great intellectual authority and international research."

NextSpace: The OCLC Newsletter - No. 13

NextSpace: The OCLC Newsletter - No. 13, September 2009, is now available

Library 2.0 Gang 11/09: The Cataloguing Services Landscape

"Until fairly recently it has been all quiet on the shared cataloguing front. Cataloguing departments taking records from the Library of Congress, other National libraries, or one of many other libraries that share their Z39.50 connections. Many libraries also being members of an organisation to share the cataloguing load, such as OCLC, or Talis Base in the UK. About a year ago dust started to stir on the surface of this stable landscape, when OCLC caused a curfuffle with their move to redefine their record reuse policy. Then in January, open source library system vendor announced ‡Biblios.net, a free cataloguing service in which you can share with other libraries. In the last few weeks we have had SkyRiver arrive on the scene. Not much visible on their site yet, but according to press releases they hope to deliver quality at a lower costs - so things are a changing. Unfortunately nobody was available from OCLC, ‡Biblios, or SkyRiver, to help talk through what these moves might mean. Nevertheless Gang members Marshall Breeding and Frances Haugen were on hand to explore the ramifications of these moves and what a more competitive landscape might mean for the players in this market"