Index on Censorship via Exact Editions

"Index on Censorship is an award-winning magazine, devoted to protecting and promoting free expression. International in outlook, outspoken in comment, Index on Censorship reports on free expression violations around the world, publishes banned writing and shines a light on vital free expression issues through original, challenging and intelligent commentary and analysis, publishing some of the world's finest writers" - via Exact Editions

Onyx introduces Boox 60 e-reader

Boox 60, a new e-reader, made by the startup company Onyx International, based in Guangdong, China, has been introduced. According to Onyx International, the Boox 60 uses the same 6-inch electrophoretic touchscreen display (made by E-Ink Corporation) like most of the other e-books, including Kindle, of Amazon. The retail price of the Boox 60 is $349

Lake Superior State University 2010 Banished Words List

Word "czars" at Lake Superior State University "unfriended" 15 words and phrases and declared them "shovel-ready" for inclusion on the university's 35th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness. "The list this year is a 'teachable moment' conducted free of 'tweets,'" said a Word Banishment spokesman who was "chillaxin'" for the holidays. "'In these economic times', purging our language of 'toxic assets' is a 'stimulus' effort that's 'too big to fail.'" Former LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and friends created "word banishment" in 1975 at a New Year's Eve party and released the first list on New Year's Day. Since then, LSSU has received tens of thousands of nominations for the list, which includes words and phrases from marketing, media, education, technology and more

Librarian of Congress selects 25 motion pictures that will be preserved as cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures for generations to come

Films selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress 2009:

1) Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
2) The Exiles (1961)
3) Heroes All (1920)
4) Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972)
5) The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
6) Jezebel (1938)
7) The Jungle (1967)
8) The Lead Shoes (1949)
9) Little Nemo (1911)
10) Mabel’s Blunder (1914)
11) The Mark of Zorro (1940)
12) Mrs. Miniver (1942)
13) The Muppet Movie (1979)
14) Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
15) Pillow Talk (1959)
16) Precious Images (1986)
17) Quasi at the Quackadero (1975)
18) The Red Book (1994)
19) The Revenge of Pancho Villa (1930-36)
20) Scratch and Crow (1995)
21) Stark Love (1927)
22) The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
23) A Study in Reds (1932)
24) Thriller (1983)
25) Under Western Stars (1938)

Bestsellers in Books for 2009 from Amazon.com

Bestsellers in Books for 2009 from Amazon.com - "You can choose the year, month, or week for a category located within the Bestsellers Archive by clicking the dropdown for the date range you would like to see. The following store-level categories are available: Books, Kindle Books, MP3 Songs, Movies & TV, Music, Video, Video Games, and Video On Demand. Please note that while bestsellers ranked within the Bestsellers Archive are historically accurate, the results show current pricing and availability"

Podcast: New files from 1979 (UK National Archives)

"An introduction to newly released files from 1979, covering subjects such as the winter of discontent, cuts to the civil service, trade union strikes, and the new Thatcher administration, providing a fascinating insight into government 30 years ago. Other subjects include the Iranian revolution and the British military withdrawal from Malta. Presented by Mark Dunton, and introduced by Frances McDarby" - UK National Archives

The TV Book Club on Channel 4 (UK)

The 10-part series of The TV Book Club is sponsored by opticians chain Specsavers and produced by Cactus TV, the team behind the Richard & Judy Book Club. It begins on digital channel More4 on Sunday 17th January, with repeats on daytime Channel 4. Chosen titles are:

17th January: The Little Stranger Sarah Waters (Little, Brown)
24th January: Blacklands Belinda Bauer (Transworld)
31st January Sacred Hearts Sarah Dunant (Little, Brown)
7th February Juliet, Naked Nick Hornby (Penguin)
14th February Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese (Random House)
21st February The Rapture Liz Jensen (Bloomsbury)
28th February Brixton Beach Roma Tearne (HarperCollins)
7th March The Way Home George Pelecanos (Orion)
14th March Wedlock Wendy Moore (Orion)
21st March The Silver Linings Play Book Matthew Quick (Macmillan)

Serials Solutions releases new and improved 360 Search

"Serials Solutions has announced the launch of the new and improved 360 Search federated search service. The new service combines the best features of the Serials Solutions 360 Search and WebFeat platforms with new and improved capabilities that give users the power to control their search and librarians the power to deliver the best results"

7th International Conference on Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management & Organisational Learning

7th International Conference on Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management & Organisational Learning - 11-12 November 2010 - Hong Kong, China

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) selected five books as finalists for the 2010 Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, which honors the best nonfiction books written for young adults between November 1, 2008 and October 31, 2009. This is the first time the awards have been announced. YALSA will name the 2010 winner at the Youth Media Awards on January 18, during the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting in Boston. The 2010 finalists are:

* Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone, published by Candlewick
* Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman, published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
* Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice by Phillip Hoose, published by Melanie Kroupa Books/ Farrar Straus Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan children's Publishing Group
* The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous and Stupendous Life of the Showman P. T. Barnum by Candace Fleming, published by Schwartz & Wade Books/Random House
* Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland by Sally M. Walker, published by Carolrhoda/Lerner

Webinar: Finding and Keeping Library Jobs

The Finding and Keeping Library Jobs webinar is intended for librarians and library paraprofessionals who are seeking employment, planning for future employment or looking for professional development opportunities to assist in maintaining current employment. No jobs and employment research experience is expected or required - January 18, 2010

Authors discuss importance of nation's school libraries (USA)

Authors Kathleen Benner Duble ("The Sacrifice," "Quest) and Karen Cecil Smith ("An Old Salem Christmas, 1840") discuss their support for out nation's schools in a video interview from this year's American Association of School Librarians' (AASL) 14th National Conference

The Complete National Geographic on 160-GB Hard Drive

"Explore 120 years of amazing discoveries, fascinating maps, and the world's best photography with The Complete National Geographic. This definitive collection of every issue of National Geographic magazine, digitally reproduced in stunning high resolution, brings you the world and all that is in it. Use the advanced interface to explore a topic, search for photographs, browse the globe, or wander on your own expedition. Access all of the maps, photos, and magazine issues found on the DVD collection in one external hard drive. Browse and search the entire collection without needing to swap out DVDs. Lightweight and travel-friendly, the hard drive is just 3" x 5" and requires only a USB connection. We've left plenty of hard disk space to accommodate future upgrades. We've also allocated approximately 100GB of hard disk space for your own personal use"

SweetSearch

"Most search engines search billions of Web sites and return tens of millions of results; some are from reliable Web sites, some are not. SweetSearch searches only 35,000 Web sites that have been evaluated and approved by a staff of Internet research experts at Dulcinea Media, and its librarian and teacher consultants. SweetSearch excludes results from the unreliable sites that rank high in other search engines, and waste your time. It lets students choose the most relevant result from a list of credible results, rather than having them waste time on unreliable sites"

Curtain up: 40 years of Scottish theatre

Curtain up: 40 years of Scottish theatre - an exhibition celebrating Scottish theatre since the early 1970s. Runs to 3 May 2010, National Library of Scotland. 'Curtain up' marks the achievements of Scottish theatre over the past 40 years. Using theatre archives, props and playwrights' and actors' papers, the exhibition highlights Scotland's rich and vibrant theatrical tradition

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Immunology and Immunogenetics Insights

Journal of Cell Death

Ophthalmology and Eye Diseases

Proteomics Insights

Ángulo Recto : Revista de Estudios sobre la Ciudad como Espacio Plural

Oakland's closure of libraries called terrible (USA)

"Oakland's readers began suffering literary withdrawal symptoms Monday as the city's library faced an extended closure due to budget cuts. Library patrons scowled, sighed and stomped at the entrance to the main library, where a sign solemnly informed them the library and its 15 branches will be closed through Saturday. "This makes you wonder, what is a city for?" asked artist David Tallitsch as he greeted the locked library downtown. "The library is a major part of what we do as a community. It's a repository of knowledge. Now it's a room that's closed." Oakland's library - the largest municipal library system in the East Bay, with 2.3 million volumes - closed Christmas Eve and, like most other city offices, will not reopen until 2010. It's the longest library closure in recent memory, leaving the library's 335,000 card-holders without free access to books, DVDs, Internet access or, in many cases, a warm place to spend an afternoon. For the library's 415 employees, the closure means a pay cut as well as the sad sight of unopened books and dark computer screens" - SFGate

eBookNewser - a blog from Mediabistro

Mediabistro.com has launched eBookNewser, a blog covering eBooks, digital reading devices, publishing technology, smartphone reading applications, digital self-publishing, and the rapidly evolving future of digital publishing

Research Information Management (OCLC)

Research Information Management - "We are exploring new prospects for adding value to the scholarly communication process, helping scholars get the most out of new technologies that can enhance the quality of their work, and helping academic institutions with the assessment of their research output. The objective of our efforts in this area is to reach a collective understanding of the responsibilities of, and opportunities for, libraries in a changed research environment" - OCLC

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #100

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #100. "Somehow LISTen made it to its 100th episode. This week's episode recaps the zeitgeist while putting forward some radical ideas to improve the life of the profession in 2010. Recommendations of other podcasts to consume alongside LISTen are also given. It must be noted that the person previously referred to as the head of business and finance with respect to the podcast's production has discontinued their association in regards to that role". Previous Podcasts can be found here

Cambridge Centre for Material Texts (UK)

"This is the pilot website of the Cambridge Centre for Material Texts, an initiative aimed at pushing forward critical, theoretical, editorial and bibliographical work in an area which is galvanizing humanities scholarship. Addressing a huge range of textual phenomena and traversing disciplinary boundaries that are rarely breached by day-to-day teaching and research, the Centre will foster the development of new perspectives, practices and technologies, which will transform our understanding of the way that texts of many kinds have been embodied and circulated."

"Historic map coming to Minnesota"

"One of the world's rarest maps - a massive print from 1602 showing the world with China as its center - will soon be on permanent display at the University of Minnesota. The James Ford Bell Trust announced this week that it has acquired the "Impossible Black Tulip," the first map in Chinese to show the Americas, from a London books and maps dealer for $1 million. Only six copies of the map remain and several are in poor condition" - MPR

London Review of Books - 7 January 2010

London Review of Books - Volume 32, Number 1, 7 January 2010 is now available

Top 10 Social Networking in Libraries Trends for 2010

Top 10 Social Networking in Libraries Trends for 2010 by AnnaLaura Brown of Social Networking in Libraries

10 Predictions for the Future of the Textbook

10 Predictions for the Future of the Textbook from Online Schools

International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society 2010

International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society - 15-17 January 2010 - Berlin, Germany

Identity Archives Project

Identity Archives Project - a keyword-searchable database of logos and brand identity designs from around the world

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Jones. ""Jones" is one of the commonest surnames. From their descriptions, can you identify these ten people who all have "Jones" as their surname? Most of them are or were real people, but a few are fictional characters" Answers here.

1. African-American musician, composer, bandleader, and music executive who composed music for the films "The Pawnbroker" and "The Wiz" and, from 1979 to 1987, produced Michael Jackson's chartbuster albums.
2. A fictional US academic archaeologist played by Harrison Ford in three movies.
3. Jamaican-born singer who was a top fashion model before she made the albums "Warm Leatherette" and "Nightclubbing".
4. The hero of a 1749 novel by Henry Fielding. He was "Born to be hanged" in the opinion of his adoptive family.
5. Welsh singer described as "Sweat personified" and "the man who made the Chippendales possible".
6. English architect and stage designer (1573-1652) who introduced the Palladian style into England and laid out Covent Garden and Lincoln's Inn Fields.
7. American writer who has been a prominent voice in the black movement since the mid-1950s and changed his name to Amiri Baraka in 1965.
8. Leader of the City Slickers, the best-known comedy band of the forties and fifties.
9. American modern jazz drummer who came to prominence through his partnership with John Coltrane. His elder brothers, Thad and Hank, were also jazz performers.
10. British psychoanalyst, a follower and colleague of Sigmund Freud, who was instrumental in introducing the study of psychoanalysis into England and the United States and is considered an authoritative biographer of Freud.

Digital Book World - January 2010

"Digital Book World is the first-ever conference to address the radically changing commercial publishing environment from near-term challenges to long-term opportunities. Leading publishers of consumer books and their trading partners will leave the event armed with ideas and insights to drive new revenues and adapt their business models to the new digital landscape. It' the only conference of its kind by book publishers, specifically for book publishers. Other conferences focus on new technologies as they relate to content creation, but only Digital Book World speaks directly to book publishers - addressing their immediate needs and future goals to not only survive, but thrive in the changing world of book publishing" - January 26-27, New York, USA

Scholarly and Research Communication - new Open Access journal

"Scholarly and Research Communication is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, Open Access online journal that publishes original contributions to the understanding of production, dissemination, and usage of knowledge. It emphasizes the dynamics of representation and changing organizational elements, including technologically mediated workflows, ownership, and legal structures. Contributions are welcomed in all media and span formal research and analysis; technical reports and demonstration; commentary, and review. The journal provides scholarly assessment and editorial evaluation and fine tuning without charge. Authors must provide publishable copy or purchase needed editorial services from the journal. The first issue of Scholarly and Research Communication is scheduled for January 2010"

Archives across UK awarded grants to catalogue priceless collections

Eleven unique archival collections, including works from the first Director of The National Portrait Gallery, a Glaswegian carpet firm, and Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson have been awarded grants by the National Cataloguing Grants Programme for Archives, 2009. Administered by The National Archives, the scheme will distribute over GBP300,000 in the first national round of the programme. The grants provide essential funding for cataloguing without which archive collections would be inaccessible to the public. Awarded to archives across the UK, each individual grant is estimated to last for between six and eighteen months enabling the projects to explore and describe each collection in full

GoPubMed

GoPubMed - "Standard internet search engines do little more than trawl documents for key words and by and large there is no intelligence involved. A Dresden-based spin-off of the EU-funded Sealife project is helping search engines understand what they are actually looking for, which is a huge benefit to companies and researchers in terms of helping them to organize their vast knowledge resources..."

ECDL 2010

"The European Conference on Digital Libraries (ECDL) is the leading European scientific forum on digital libraries and associated technical, practical, and social issues, bringing together researchers, developers, content providers and users in the field. ECDL 2010, the 14th conference in this series, will be organised by the University of Glasgow" - September 6-10, 2010 - Glasgow, Scotland

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Bharatiya Vaigyanik evam Audyogik Anusandhan Patrika

Biochemistry Research International

International Journal of Ecology

International Journal of Inorganic Chemistry

International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

International Journal of Optics

Notulae Scientia Biologicae

Organic Chemistry International

Physics Research International

Zeitschrift für Nachwuchswissenschaftler

Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism

Advances in Civil Engineering

Cardiology Research and Practice

Nano Biomedicine and Engineering

Stem Cells International

Veterinary Medicine International

Advances in Artificial Neural Systems

Advances in Pharmacological Sciences

Journal of Thermodynamics

West Indian Medical Journal

Early Oregonians Database now available

"As a legacy to the sesquicentennial of Oregon's statehood, the Oregon State Archives presents the Early Oregonians Database. The information that can be found in the database is from census, death, probate, and other records to help researchers find relevant information and documents about people who lived in Oregon prior to statehood. Archives staff and volunteers began collecting information for this project from the 1850 and 1860 federal censuses for Oregon, in 2004. Volunteers and student interns reviewed the extracted information and combined entries that appeared on both censuses. As later census information became available online, staff searched for individuals who met the Early Oregonian criteria and added additional information and individuals. Various records from the Oregon State Archives such as probate records, death certificates and marriage records were also searched to identify individuals who appeared to meet the criteria. Additional information in the profiles was derived from numerous sources including secondary sources and publications. Family tree data from various websites is also noted"

IFLA Information Technology Section Newsletter - December 2009

IFLA Information Technology Section Newsletter - December 2009 is now available online

Leave and Professional Development Benefits, SPEC Kit 315

The Association of Research Libraries has published Leave and Professional Development Benefits, SPEC Kit 315, which investigates two broad categories of benefit plans currently offered to professional library staff at ARL member libraries: leave time and support for professional development activities. Topics include benefits eligibility; holiday and intersession leave; plan designs and accrual rates for paid time off (PTO), vacation, and sick leave; and professional development leaves such as dedicated research time and sabbaticals. Other professional development topics include financial support and relief from duties for conference attendance; funding for professional association memberships; and financial and other support for college credit course work, internships, and certifications

Current Cites - December 2009

Current Cites (edited by Roy Tennant) - December 2009 is now available

"Ethiopia Reads" founder to keynote American Library Association President's Program

"Yohannes Gebregeorgis, founder and executive director of Ethiopia Reads, will serve as keynote speaker for the American Library Association's President's Program January 17 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The program will take place as more than 11,000 of the nation's library leaders convene in Boston for the ALA Midwinter Meeting held January 15-19. Ethiopia Reads focuses on his organization's literacy work. The organization encourages a love of reading by establishing children's and youth libraries in Ethiopia, free distribution of books to children and multilingual publishing. The organization's founder, Gebregeorgis, was selected as one of CNN's Top 10 Heroes in 2008 for his work in establishing children's libraries in Ethiopia"

Wellcome Library opens new copy services area (UK)

The Wellcome Library has launched its newly refurbished Copy Services area. Gone are the photocopiers and in their place are two self-service book scanners which enable you to save your scans as well as print them. The new scanners complement the scanner already available in the Library's Rare Materials Reading Room

The First National Get Into Reading Conference and Readers' Day (UK)

The First National Get Into Reading Conference and Readers' Day: 'New Beginnings' - 8-9 January, 2009 - Liverpool, UK

New e-commerce solution helps University and non-profit publishers sell e-books

"The University of Chicago Press and BiblioVault, the digital repository operated by the Chicago Distribution Center, have unveiled a powerful new shopping cart solution that enables participating presses to sell e-books directly on their own websites. The new cart overcomes the formidable technical challenges that have generally led non-profit and university press publishers to cede e-book sales to large retailers"

Fedora 3.3 released

Fedora 3.3 has been released

National Library of Scotland magazine - Winter 2009

Discover NLS is the National Library of Scotland's free quarterly full-colour magazine. Issue 14, winter 2009 includes:

* Our new exhibition puts theatre in the spotlight
* First at the North Pole: Cook or Peary?
* A look at the Jacobite manuscript 'The Lyon in Mourning'

U.S. President approves $470 million budget for National Archives

"The National Archives and Records Administration has received a Fiscal Year 2010 budget of $469,870,000 under the Consolidated Appropriations Act signed by President Barack Obama on Wednesday, December 16. The overall appropriation of $469,870,000 is an increase of 2.31 percent over last year’s funding of $459,277,000

New Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (USA)

"The members of the Michigan Library Consortium (MLC) and Indiana's INCOLSA, Inc. have approved a merger, creating the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS), which will have a combined membership of over 1300 institutions of all types and sizes"

The Ann Arbor District Library 2008-2009 Video Annual Report (USA)

The Ann Arbor District Library 2008-2009 Video Annual Report is now available online

An E-Book Buyer's Guide to Privacy - from EFF

Electronic Frontier Foundation states: "As we count down to end of 2009, the emerging star of this year's holiday shopping season is shaping up to be the electronic book reader (or e-reader). From Amazon's Kindle to Barnes and Noble's forthcoming Nook, e-readers are starting to transform how we buy and read books in the same way mp3s changed how we buy and listen to music. Unfortunately, e-reader technology also presents significant new threats to reader privacy. E-readers possess the ability to report back substantial information about their users' reading habits and locations to the corporations that sell them. And yet none of the major e-reader manufacturers have explained to consumers in clear unequivocal language what data is being collected about them and why. As a first step towards addressing these problems, EFF has created a first draft of our Buyer's Guide to E-Book Privacy. We've examined the privacy policies for the major e-readers on the market to determine what information they reserve the right to collect and share"

SPARC enews/December 2009

SPARC enews/December 2009 is now available from SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition

ALTAFF and Office for Intellectual Freedom offer February webinars for library trustees

The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) and the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (ALTAFF) will present three webinars in February for library trustees on the topic of controversial materials in library collections. The webinars, entitled "Controversial Materials in the Library: Supporting Intellectual Freedom in Your Community," are intended to help trustees understand the basics of intellectual freedom in libraries. They will cover information on collection development policies, procedures for handling challenges to library materials and tips on responding to controversies that may arise. Angela Maycock, OIF assistant director, will lead the webinar series

Booklist announces prestigious 2009 Top of the List selections

Booklist magazine, the review journal of the American Library Association, has announced its 20th annual Top of the List winners. The eight winning titles were chosen from the annual Editors' Choice selections as the best books and media of 2009:

* Adult Fiction: "Too Much Happiness," by Alice Munro (Knopf)
* Adult Nonfiction: "Cheever," by Blake Bailey (Knopf )
* Youth Fiction: "The Storm in the Barn," by Matt Phelan, illustrated by the author (Candlewick)
* Youth Nonfiction: "You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?!" by Jonah Winter, illustrated by André Carrilho (Random/Schwartz & Wade)
* Youth Picture Book: "It's a Secret!" by John Burningham, illustrated by the author (Candlewick)
* Reference Source: "Grzimek’s Animal Life"(Gale:)
* Video & DVD: "Louisa May Alcott: The Woman behind Little Women" (Nancy Porter Productions, DVD)
* Audio: "Marcelo in the Real World," by Francisco Stork, read by Lincoln Hoppe (Listening Library, CD)

E-News for ARL Directors, December 22, 2009

E-News for ARL Directors, December 22, 2009 is now available online

NISO's January Webinar: From ILS to Repository and Back: Data Interoperability

NISO's January Webinar: From ILS to Repository and Back: Data Interoperability - January 13, 2010 - 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Blyth Academy, Sony Canada and Pearson Canada make digital textbooks a reality

"Embracing the benefits of electronic reading, students at Blyth Academy are beginning the transition from using traditional printed textbooks to digital textbooks read on the Sony® Reader Digital Book. Blyth Academy is the first high school in the world to announce that each student will be supplied with an e-Reader in place of printed textbooks"

JISC's annual review 2008/2009 published (UK)

JISC's annual review is now available and shows 12 months of achievement across innovation, education and research. Among the highlights of the year are:

* over 6.5 million items previously in archives being transformed into online content
* findings from the e-books national observatory project published
* JISC's annual conference reaching over 700 people
* the launch of the Researcher of Tomorrow study
* culmination of the JISC's Libraries of the Future campaign
* consultation on the the JISC 2010 - 2012 strategy

The review sees JISC Chair, Professor Sir Tim O'Shea comment on his first six months in the role. It also carries videos with JISC Deputy Chair, Professor David Baker and JISC Executive Secretary, Dr Malcolm Read OBE who talk about their reflections of the past year and look towards the next 12 months

Libraries get broadband stimulus grants (USA)

"Libraries in six states are among the beneficiaries of the first round of awards from the $7.2-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act broadband grant and loan programs" - American Libraries

Gale announces Stephen Abram as new vice president of strategic partnerships and markets

"Gale, part of Cengage Learning, has announced that Stephen Abram is joining the company as vice president of strategic partnerships and markets. Abram begins his role in January 2010 and will report directly to Patrick C. Sommers, president, Gale"

2009 I Love My Librarian Award ceremony

The 2009 I Love My Librarian Awards recognized 10 librarians who are making a difference in their communities in a December 3 ceremony. The award is sponsored by Carnegie Corporation of New York and the New York Times

The winners speak: 2009 I Love My Librarian Awards

What should users expect in a great library? The 10 winners of the 2009 I Love My Librarian award share their perspectives on what users deserve, and how they've worked to achieve it

IADIS International Conference e-Society 2010

IADIS International Conference e-Society 2010 - 18-21 March 2010 - Porto, Portugal - "The IADIS e-Society 2010 conference aims to address the main issues of concern within the Information Society. This conference covers both the technical as well as the non-technical aspects of the Information Society. Broad areas of interest are eSociety and Digital Divide, eBusiness / eCommerce, eLearning, New Media and E-Society, Digital Services in ESociety, eGovernment /eGovernance, eHealth, Information Systems, and Information Management"

OverDrive releases Android audiobook app

OverDrive has announced the beta release of an audiobook app that enables Android phone and device owners to wirelessly download digital audiobooks. OverDrive's audiobook app for Android is compatible with MP3 audiobooks from more than 10,000 libraries and major online retailers, including BarnesAndNoble.com, BooksOnBoard.com, and Borders.com

InSITE - December 21, 2009

InSITE: A Current Awareness Service of Cornell Law Library - Vol. 15, No. 9, December 21, 2009 is now available. Contents:

# Introduction to the United States Tax Court
# Legal History: The Year Books
# POW/MIA Databases & Documents

TFPL Connect Conference 2010

TFPL Connect Conference 2010 - 24-25 March 2010 - Berkshire, UK - "This is the first conference of the highly successful TFPL Connect network - a network for people in all organisations who are passionate about the positive impact of knowledge and information. The venue is the Berystede Hotel in Ascot where delegates will be able to work debate and extend their business networks in comfortable and stylish surroundings. The theme is 'Connecting for the future' and the underlying focus is on the contribution of knowledge and information management to the success of organisations in the emerging 'new' economy"

New C&RL preprint now available

Article Title: Library on the Go: A Focus Group Study of the Mobile Web and the Academic Library
Authors: Jamie Seeholzer, Joseph A. Salem
Accepted: December 21, 2009
Anticipated Publication Date: November 2010

European Library Newsletter - November/December 2009

European Library Newsletter - November/December 2009 is now available online

Islamic Heritage Project at Harvard University

"Through the Islamic Heritage Project, Harvard University has cataloged, conserved, and digitized hundreds of Islamic manuscripts, maps, and published texts from Harvard's renowned library and museum collections. These rare - and frequently unique - materials are now freely available to Internet users worldwide. IHP is made possible with the generous support of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal"

2010 ASA Conference programme available

2010 Association of Subscription Agents and Intermediaries Conference - 22-23 February 2010 - London, UK. Final programme now available

Peace Corps Digital Library (USA)

The Peace Corps Digital Library provides a searchable collection of electronic Peace Corps materials from 1961-present, including:

* Photos and stories contributed by Volunteers and RPCVs, using an online submission form
* Digitized newsletters, speeches, annual reports and other key agency historical materials
* Contributions of photos and historical documents from country posts
* Brochures, posters, audio and video clips, and marketing materials from each decade of Peace Corps history

International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2010 finalists

The finalists for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2010 have been announced:

* Muhammad Al Mansi Qindeel (Egypt) for A Cloudy Day on the West Side
* Mansoura Ez Eldin (Egypt) for Beyond Paradise
* Rabee Jabir (Lebanon) for America
* Abdo Khal (Saudi Arabia) for She Throws Sparks
* Rabai' Madhoun (Palestine) for The Lady from Tel Aviv
* Jamal Naji (Jordan) for When the Wolves Grow Old

The panel of judges were experts from Kuwait, Egypt, Tunisia, France and Oman in the field of Arabic literature. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi on March 2, 2010, the first day of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

International Summer School 2010 at Stuttgart Media University

International Summer School 2010 - 3-12 May 2010 - Stuttgart Media University, Germany:

Workshop 1: "Music in Digital Libraries and Archives"
Workshop 2: "Media Literacy for the Information Professional"
Workshop 3: "Introduction to Multimedia Systems"
Workshop 4: "Intercultural Encounters"
Workshop 5: "Management und Technik Digitaler Bibliotheken"
Workshop 6: "Strategic Management for Electronic Publishing"

Emerald signs partnership agreement with Knovel

Emerald Group Publishing Limited has announced an agreement with Knovel, an online resource that helps engineers find reliable technical information faster. In total, 11 titles from Emerald's Transport portfolio will be accessible through Knovel's online database

TL Infobits - November/December 2009

The November/December 2009 issue of TL InfoBits, the information and instructional technology newsletter from the Information Technology Services at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is now available online

Sciyo - free access to books, journals, and videos

"Sciyo provides opportunities for researchers to share ideas across the spectrum of humanity:

* Free access to superior academic literature in Science and Technology
* Free content published under the open access label - to view, print, download and share
* Maximum visibility, usage and impact of your work
* No copyright transfer to the publisher
* Highly effective author support system
* Sciyo.community - a place to connect and share knowledge

Rehabilitation Reference Center Update - first issue

Rehabilitation Reference Center Update - Volume 1 Number 1 2009 is now available from EBSCO

Biblio Tech Review - December 2009

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

* Tech Logic announces CircIT 2010 Self-Checkout Software
* Axiell Announces New Supply Agreement with Bibliotheca
* SirsiDynix Announces Virtual Environment Support for Horizon
* EBSCO Publishing First Aggregator to Implement Ringgold Identifier
And lots more

January talks at The National Archives (UK)

"From the Special Operations Executive to the Welsh in Patagonia, come and find out about the records we hold and the fascinating stories behind them, in our series of free talks in January.

* Listen as The National Archives goes to the movies, tracing the history of cinema in Britain through the collections of The National Archives.
* Find out about the enumerator who sued the Home Secretary for 10d in 1851, and the suffragette boycott of the 1911 census in Counting the people: behind the scenes in the census
* Discover how DNA testing has opened up a whole new range of possibilities for family historians and learn about its history in DNA in family history research
* Explore the wealth of material we hold on the West's confrontation with the Soviet Union and its allies in From the atom bomb to the fall of the Berlin Wall: the Cold War at The National Archives

There's also added help for family historians, with talks demonstrating how to trace agricultural labourers and how to use newspapers to find out about your ancestors' pasts"

Want to write for the Library Connect Newsletter?

"In 2010, the second Library Connect Newsletter issue (8:2; April 2010) will focus on the theme "International AND Interdisciplinary." Do you have something compelling to say on that topic? Is your library or university or research institution supporting international/interdisciplinary teams or customers and struggling with concomitant issues? If so, what best practices or tips can you share, to help other info pros succeed in similar situations?"

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 4/4

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice - Vol 4, No 4 (2009) is now available. RSS Feed

CARL E-Lert # 356

CARL E-Lert # 356, December 18, 2009, is now available from Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Some of this week's items: US government looks to expand scientific open access policy; Bill St. Arnaud Steps Down as Chief Research Officer of CANARIE; France to Digitize Its Own Literary Works; Copyright Owners Fight Plan to Release E-Books for the Blind

Ten curiosities from The Wellcome Library (UK)

"The staff at the Wellcome Library in London have scoured the shelves for the weirdest and most wonderful objects in their collection, the ones that made even them scratch their heads when they first set eyes on them. Can you do better and guess what these oddities are?"

Dubai Children's Book Fair postponed

"The first Dubai International Children's Book Fair, set for February 3-10, 2010, has been postponed indefinitely, according to a brief statement issued by the organizer, the Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation. No official reason was given for the cancellation, although financial problems there are believed to have played a role. It was also unclear how many publishers had signed up to attend the event" - Publishers Weekly

Digital Magazines: Bonnier Mag+ Prototype

"This conceptual video is a corporate collaborative research project initiated by Bonnier R&D into the experience of reading magazines on handheld digital devices. It illustrates one possible vision for digital magazines in the near future, presented by our design partners at BERG"

Podcast: From cotton spinning to coffins: specifications for patents of invention

Patents of invention cover a vast range of ideas, from the industrial and agricultural revolutions, to transport, domestic life and health. Many are bizarre, and some are even horrific, but they all have a fascinating story to tell. The specifications are the written descriptions of how the invention will work, with drawings where appropriate. This talk focuses particularly on the drawings, while explaining the process of enrolling the specifications themselves and exploring a remarkable range of inventiveness - UK National Archives

Columbia University Libraries joins HathiTrust

The Columbia University Libraries has become the newest member of HathiTrust, a shared repository for the digitized content from academic and research libraries. The Libraries plans to contribute public domain volumes digitized through its partnerships with Google, Microsoft and the Internet Archive

Royal Society of New Zealand and Taylor & Francis co-publishing partnership, 2010

"Taylor & Francis and the Royal Society of New Zealand have to announced a co-publishing partnership for the Society's eight journals starting in 2010. The Royal Society of New Zealand journals include over three hundred volume years of top science content covering New Zealand research specialities such as the geosciences, botany, agriculture, horticulture, zoology and multidisciplinary science, with particular emphasis in the territories of New Zealand, Antarctica, the Antipodes and the Pacific Rim. The Royal Society of New Zealand's flagship social science journal Kōtuitui balances these debates by providing a home for a wide range of social science discussions with the additional intention of displaying the links between the social and physical sciences. Taylor & Francis's Melbourne office will provide local production and editorial liaison while the company's international marketing networks will ensure the journals are given tactical, tailor-made marketing to ensure their authors receive the greatest possible exposure for the unique content that the collection contains. The journals will move to Taylor & Francis's InformaWorld platform, where they will benefit from HTML versions of articles, forward citation linking and advanced publication of articles online through iFirst. ScholarOne Manuscripts online submission and review will also be established, making peer review more efficient and maximizing outreach to international authors. Back issues of the journals will be digitized and made available to subscribers online"

BMJ Group Institutional Newsletter - November 2009

The November 2009 issue of the BMJ Group Institutional Newsletter is now available

ipl2: information you can trust

ipl2 is the result of a merger of the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians' Internet Index (LII)

2010 Midwinter ArtsGuide

"The ACRL Arts section has released their ArtsGuide for the 2010 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston. This selective guide to cultural attractions and events will help you maximize your time outside of the convention center. The Boston guide, related Google map, and past guides are available on the Arts Section Website"

Stephen Abram to leave SirsiDynix

SirsiDynix today announced that Stephen Abram, who has been vice president of innovation since 2004, will leave the company December 31 but will 'continue to be a resource for the SirsiDynix Institute and for SirsiDynix User Groups, among other programs in the future.' In a phone interview yesterday, Abram told American Libraries that he was leaving SirsiDynix to take a position at Gale Cengage Learning as vice president for strategic partnerships and markets - AL Inside Scoop

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Nobel Prizes. "The US President, Barack Obama, recently received the Nobel Peace Prize. Can you answer these questions about the Nobel Prizes and the man who is commemorated by them? " Answers here.

1. In which country are most of the Nobel Prizes awarded?
2. Name the English dramatist who wrote such plays as "The Birthday Party", "The Dumb Waiter" and "The Caretaker" and won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature.
3. Alfred Nobel invented dynamite - true or false?
4. The Russian author famous for the novel "Doctor Zhivago" was awarded the 1958 Nobel Prize for Literature but was forced to reject it. What was his name?
5. Which international organisation has won the Nobel Peace Prize three times?
6. The author of "Malone Dies" and "Endgame"" was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature. What was his name?
7. Which former US president won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002?
8. Which French couple won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 for research on radiation phenomena?
9. Alfred Nobel originally funded prizes in five subjects. Name all five of them.
10. Which wooden material was invented by Alfred Nobel's father, Immanuel?

EDINA Newsline December 2009

EDINA Newsline December 2009 is now available

Cites & Insights 10:1 (January 2010)

Cites & Insights 10:1 (January 2010) is now available for downloading

Improvements to National Archives website (UK)

The National Archives (UK) has improved its website and added a new "Records" section

FreePint Newsletter 292

FreePint Newsletter 292 - 17 December, 2009 now available

JISC reviews its Intute service (UK)

"JISC regularly reviews the services that it funds, to ensure they deliver value for money, quality products and to test their sustainability for the future. A services portfolio review takes place annually and in May 2009 the future funding of JISC services, including Intute, was considered in order to identify the funding priorities for the academic year 2010/11. As a result it has now been decided that funding to the Intute service will cease in its current form from 1 August 2010"

Gale announces new iPhone application

"Gale, part of Cengage Learning, has announced the launch of the AccessMyLibrary (AML) mobile application for the iPhone - making access to library research just a click away on a mobile phone. AccessMyLibrary is a major portal from the Internet to libraries, allowing Web searchers to find what they need by connecting them to their local library. This service helps people find quality information while raising awareness about the rich resources available in their libraries. Gale's new application helps iPhone users find their local library and then access the vast array of information that the library has purchased on their behalf, using a Web-product to connect information seekers to trustworthy library information, as well as quick, authoritative answers"

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Drug Invention Today

University of Toronto Journal of Undergraduate Life Sciences

International Journal of Computer Science & Information Technology

International Journal of Network Security & Its Applications

Reproductive Biology Insights

Case Reports in Dermatology

Case Reports in Neurology

Case Reports in Oncology

Nano-Micro Letters

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog update

The November 18, 2009 edition of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog from Charles W. Bailey, Jr. is now available

Macmillan announces eBook strategy

Per John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan: "Our goal is to give the consumer what they want, when they want it, at a fair price. In 2010 we will publish our bestsellers in several ways. Some bestsellers will be enhanced with additional content and priced to reflect their increased value to the consumer. These will be published at the same time as the hardcover and will be available for three months as special editions. We will publish other bestsellers, without enhancements, several months after the hardcover release. We will adjust the number of special edition bestsellers we publish based on the market response. Working with our authors, we will continue to experiment with new models going forward."

Bepress announces new journal on public policy and the internet

"The Policy Studies Organization (PSO), the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), and Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress) have announced the launch of a new peer-reviewed journal, Policy & Internet. The first multi-disciplinary academic journal to investigate the policy implications of the Internet, Policy & Internet is extensive in scope, spanning multiple policy sectors and geographical regions. The journal is edited by Helen Z. Margetts of the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University"

NC State University chooses Summon™ service to eliminate information silos, improve results

"The Summon™ web-scale discovery service is being adopted as the standard by more and more libraries around the world as it closes its first calendar year of boosting academic research. The latest addition is at North Carolina State University, where nearly 40,000 students and faculty will be able to search the breadth of the libraries' collections - both physical and digital - from a single search box. Other recent adoptions include University of Texas (San Antonio), University of Missouri (Kansas City), University of Manitoba, National College of Ireland, University of London, University of Adelaide, VTT Research Institute in Finland and dozens of others around the world. The Summon™ service is from Serials Solutions, a business unit of ProQuest"

Computers in Libraries 2010 advance program available

The advance program for Computers in Libraries 2010 is now available online and below:

"Random Reads" Facebook Application

"The Random House Group has created the first Facebook application to allow users to read and share free extracts from books. The Random Reads app allows users to add RHG book jacket covers from authors as diverse as Irvine Welsh, Sebastian Faulks, Danny Wallace and Lisa Jewell to their profiles, walls and homepages. Clicking on the book jacket launches the app which contains an extract of the book, information about the author and related books, and options to email to a friend or buy the book. The extracts are searchable, and text size can be changed to suit the reader"

France to digitize cultural treasures

France will spend nearly $1.16 billion Cdn to digitize its national treasures, President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters in Paris on Monday. The money is part of a $54-billion stimulus package the president announced to boost France's economic growth and competitiveness. The plan to scan French literary works, audiovisual archives and historical documents by computer underscores the Sarkozy government's push to maintain control of its cultural heritage in the face of online giant Google's global drive to digitize the world's literary works. "We are going to launch a big public-private partnership" to digitize national holdings such as archives and museum pieces "while still staying in charge of our heritage," the French president said. "There is no question of letting this heritage go."

Contra Costa County Library wins innovation grant (USA)

"The Contra Costa County Library has been awarded a $60,000 Bay Area Library and Information Systems (BALIS) Innovation grant to create a mobile platform that will push new and existing library content and services - literally - into the hands of cell phone users. The 'Snap & Go' project will allow Contra Costa County residents with mobile phones and a library card to access library materials, enhanced content, and manage their accounts without having to visit a library building or gain access to a computer"

Augmented reality for LibraryThing Local

"LibraryThing programmer Mike has put together a LibraryThing "overlay" for the mobile phone app Layar. It draws on LibraryThing Local to show you the closest bookstores and libraries. Layar turns your mobile device into an "augmented reality" window on the world. In our case, the app. shows you dots for local bookstores and libraries, so you can head in the right direction, as well as information about it"

Library 2.0 Gang 12/09: Social Software in Libraries

"Social Software in Libraries has been a hot topic for many a month. Like most of the technologies that we discuss on the Library 2.0 Gang, Social Software covers a broad range of individual components, and can mean differing things to different people. Our guest for this show is Meredith Farkas, Author of the book 'Social Software in Libraries'"

ALPSP Seminar: Know your rights. Opportunities and Pitfalls in Content Licensing

ALPSP Seminar: Know your rights. Opportunities and Pitfalls in Content Licensing "will cover key aspects of secondary rights for small to medium sized publishers who are looking to exploit fully the content they publish, whether their own books and journals or those published under licence. It will be relevant to those publishing for academic, research and professional markets, books and journals" - 27 January 2010 - London, UK

Spoken Ink (UK)

"Spoken Ink is the only site on the internet devoted to short stories on audio. We offer you world class actors reading the likes of Roald Dahl, Angela Carter, Julian Barnes, Margaret Atwood and a host of new and unknown talent. We believe the internet is a magical place. Suddenly, at your fingertips, is a library the size of Poland and countless librarians who will introduce you to many marvellous authors, ideas and stories that you have only ever dreamed of. We are worshippers of the short story. The short story is sleek and fast like a puma, as charming as your Great Aunt Mildred and, at times, sexier than Eva Green. The short story is destined to be the great literary art form of the 21st Century. 30 minutes in the company of the right story may change your week, even your habits. So, if you are writer, a listener, a publisher or anyone, then plug in your earphones, put down your briefcase, take out the ironing board, climb into bed and listen to the great short story with us"

Broadband in libraries (UK)

"Greater access to high speed broadband for the public in libraries across England is now possible thanks to an agreement brokered by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. MLA is working with JISC and JANET(UK), who respectively fund and operate the JANET education and research network, to give public libraries access to a wider range of high quality online learning resources and the option of a faster internet service. To give some idea of the potential improvement, JANET connection speeds are 1 gigabit per second (1Gbit/s) – up to ten times more than existing typical bandwidths at central libraries in England, which in turn can be ten times more than home connections"

Designing Libraries Newsletter Issue 19: December 2009

Designing Libraries Newsletter Issue 19: December 2009 is now available via Aberystwyth University, Wales

Ex Libris announces library partners for Primo Central

"Ex Libris Group has welcomed the first academic institutions to collaborate with the Company as partners for the Primo Central index of scholarly materials. More than 250 leading academic and research institutions in 28 countries already benefit from the Primo® discovery and delivery solution, installed locally or managed by Ex Libris as a service. Primo Central, a new component in the Primo search environment, is a centralized index comprising data harvested from primary and secondary publishers and aggregators. By incorporating the Primo Central index, a library offers one search interface and a single, relevance-ranked result list, regardless of the origin of the information - be it local, institutional collections or global collections of electronic journals, e-books, and other scholarly materials. Ex Libris provides Primo Central as a service in a cloud environment"

Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship - Fall 2009

Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship - Number 59, Fall 2009 - is now available

New journals from Inderscience Publishers

International Journal of Biomechatronics and Biomedical Robotics

International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics

International Journal of Innovation in Education

International Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Optimisation

International Journal of Structural Engineering

Cornell University Library partners with the Internet Archive

"In an effort to make its materials globally accessible, Cornell University Library is sharing tens of thousands of digitized books with the Internet Archive. 'We have been carefully preserving and storing materials for years, and now we're diversifying the channels for them to be studied and used,' said Oya Reiger, associate university librarian for information technologies. 'We have the ability to take books to the places where readers are.' The new collaboration repurposes nearly 80,000 books that the Library has already digitized in-house or through its partnership with Microsoft and Kirtas Technologies. All the books are in the public domain, printed before 1923 mainly in the United States. They cover a host of subject areas, including American history, English literature, astronomy, food and wine, general engineering, the history of science, home economics, hospitality and travel, labor relations, Native American materials, ornithology, veterinary medicine and women's studies"

The OECD Factbook 2010 to be part of Credo Reference

"Credo Reference has signed an agreement with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to integrate the OECD Factbook 2010 into the Credo collection. This is the first OECD title to be made available on Credo"

The African American Library at the Gregory School, Texas, USA

"The African American Library at the Gregory School will become the premier facility and depository for research and programs about the history of African Americans in Houston and the surrounding region. Its mission is to build, preserve and make accessible to historians, researchers and the public an incomparable collection of multi-type resources including but not limited to reference books, rare books, archived materials, exhibits, artifacts, oral histories, and programs that tell the story and celebrate the history of African Americans in Houston, the surrounding region and African American Diaspora. An organic space, the African American Library at the Gregory School will provide visitors with the opportunity to actively experience some aspects of history through interactive exhibits, programs, lectures, demonstration, skits and stories. People will leave the Gregory School having increased knowledge, deeper understanding and a whetted appetite for learning more about the history and culture of African Americans"

Copac adds Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow catalogue (UK)

"The library of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow holds a significant collection of books, journals and pamphlets that span several centuries, from historical to modern items. As the only royal medical college for physicians, surgeons and dentists in the United Kingdom, a wide range of subjects is covered, including anatomy, surgery, medicine, botany, dentistry, and the diseases of the eye. The library has also built up, over many years, a good collection of resources relating to Glasgow and the West of Scotland. The catalogue has been added as part of the Copac Challenge Fund"

Shortcovers becomes Kobo

"Shortcovers has changed its name to Kobo. In addition to the new look and feel of Kobo, a number of features are available:

* Browse by categories like Fiction, Romance, Biography and over 100 more
* Regularly updated Top 50 eBooks list
* Easy to use carousel with lists such as NYT Bestsellers, Top Free Books and New Releases
* Recommended reading lists and improved search for discovery your next great read

Coming soon:

* Over 1.8 million free eBooks from the Internet Archive!
* New apps for smartphones, and the desktop (PC & MAC)
* New supported devices…
* More books from publishers around the world and the ability to buy in your local currency

Flat World Knowledge partners with Bookshare

"Flat World Knowledge became the first dedicated college textbook publisher to supply its digital textbooks to Bookshare, the world's largest online accessible library for people with print disabilities. Approximately one to two percent of the U.S. population has print disabilities that qualify for Bookshare. This agreement will benefit more than 75,000 Bookshare members who are blind or who have low vision, a physical disability or a severe learning disability that affects reading. In addition, the open content license will allow other users to benefit from accessible content: students who are English language learners, those who have mild or undiagnosed disabilities and those who benefit from multi-modal reading with a combination of simultaneous highlighted text and computer-generated speech"

United Nations Demographic Manuals On-line

"This site is the first product of the project on e-capacity in applied demography which is being implemented by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. It presents a series of 23 manuals and guides of demographic methods and techniques issued by the United Nations over a long period of time. These manuals and guides fall into six clusters which can be accessed through the hyperlinks. For each cluster the opening page contains a short introduction and a hyperlinked list of manuals. The pages for particular manuals include a short introduction, reproduction of the cover page, chapter-level table of contents hyperlinked to respective files in the portable document format and links to thematically related manuals"

Hidden mural unveiled as centrepiece at historic Liverpool library (UK)

"A beautiful century-old mural, hidden from view for more than 50 years at a historic Liverpool library, has been revealed as the centrepiece of a £1m restoration project. The artwork known as the Lunette, a neo-classical depiction of knowledge being handed down by the gods of culture, had darkened with age and become completely obscured. It now takes pride of place once more at the Grade II-listed Toxteth library, which will reopen today following a year-long renovation project. The 28ft long, 8ft high mural by local artists W Alison Martin and Clinton Balmer was originally unveiled in 1903 after being exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery. The library was originally opened in 1902 by Andrew Carnegie, who described Liverpool as the pioneer city of free libraries. The last time the building had such an extensive renovation was in 1956. A £1.3m grant from the Big Lottery Fund has helped fund the current modernisation and renovation project. Edwardian features such as the original sash windows and radiators were revamped and new study areas, meeting rooms, exhibition space, a refreshment area and performance space were created"

Teen Librarian Monthly: December 2009

Teen Librarian Monthly: December 2009 is now available for download

Wiley-Blackwell launches new online medical reference tool - Essential Evidence

"International STMS publisher Wiley-Blackwell has announced the launch of Essential Evidence, a new product added to its online, evidence-based content resource Essential Evidence Plus. Synthesized from the most timely and late-breaking clinical evidence derived from the world's most respected medical authorities, this topic-oriented clinical resource tool will help clinicians to more effectively make diagnoses, chart treatment plans, and determine prognoses. Essential Evidence is available exclusively with a subscription to Essential Evidence Plus, and is accessible through the web or via handheld computer (Pocket PC or Palm® OS). The product features approximately 700 structured medical topics at launch with approximately 100 more in development. All topics are highly integrated and hyperlinked to content and tools including Cochrane Reviews, literature summaries (Daily POEMs), decision support tools, evidencebased guidelines, and interactive diagnostic test calculators"

New davidrumsey.com website redesign

"For the first time since its launch in 1999, the www.davidrumsey.com website has been completely redesigned and updated. With better navigation and structure, users will find it easier to explore the site's many viewers and collection database with over 21,000 maps online. A new Blog has been added to the site, and includes entries for Recent Additions, News, Featured Maps, Related Sites, and Videos. Over 200 historic maps from the collection can be viewed in a new browser-based version of Google Earth, and users can enter the Second Life version of the map collection directly from a dedicated Second Life portal page on the site. And the collection ticker at the bottom of the home page shows the entire online map library in random order over about 10 hours. As always, all maps can be downloaded for free directly from the site at full resolution. And a new service from Pictopia allows purchase of reproductions of any map in the collection directly from the new LUNA viewing software"

WorldCat Basic API

The WorldCat Basic API is available to any person for non-commercial use up to 1,000 queries a day:

* Search WorldCat with OpenSearch and get RSS or Atom responses.
* Find books, video, music and more in the WorldCat database
* Get Titles, Authors, ISBNs and OCLC numbers
* Get records in standard bibliographic citation formats (APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, and Turabian)
* Get links back to WorldCat.org for more information including geographically-sorted Library information

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography version 77

Version 77 of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography is now available from Digital Scholarship. "The Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography (SEPB) presents selected English-language articles, books, and other printed and electronic sources that are useful in understanding scholarly electronic publishing efforts on the Internet. Most sources have been published between 1990 and the present; however, a limited number of key sources published prior to 1990 are also included. Where possible, links are provided to works that are freely available on the Internet, including e-prints in disciplinary archives and institutional repositories. Note that e-prints and published articles may not be identical. In cases where the publisher frequently changes journal URLs with providing public notification or URL redirection, included URLs are to the publisher's domain, not to individual articles. SEPB versions are cumulative"

The Complete Guide to Google Wave

"The first comprehensive user guide to Google Wave, written by Gina Trapani with Adam Pash. Google Wave is a new web-based collaboration tool that's notoriously difficult to understand. This guide will help. Here you'll learn the ins and outs of how to use Google Wave to get things done with your group. This entire book is available to read for free online, with an electronic and upcoming print version available for purchase"

Handel's Messiah and My Ladye Nevells Booke launched at British Library

On 14 December, digital versions of Handel's Messiah and My Ladye Nevells Booke - a unique 16th-century volume of keyboard music by William Byrd, were launched online by the British Library. Turning the Pages uses three-dimensional animation which allows the viewer to mimic the action of turning each page on a computer screen. This technology enables viewers to magnify parts of the score, listen to audio clips of the music being viewed and discover more about the music and the composer

Deep Web Research 2010

Deep Web Research 2010 - "Marcus P. Zillman is a an internet search expert whose extensive knowledge of how to leverage the "invisible" or "deep" web is exemplified in this guide. The Deep Web covers somewhere in the vicinity of 1 trillion pages of information located through the world wide web in various files and formats. Current search engines are able to locate around 200 billion pages. Marcus identifies sources to mitigate the odds on behalf of serious searchers"

Credo Reference adds IGI Global Publisher Collection

Credo Reference has signed an agreement to launch an IGI Global Publisher Collection. Many of the most popular and highly acclaimed IGI Global information technology and computer science titles will be available soon through the innovative Credo Reference platform. Planned titles for the collection include such resources as:

* Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, second edition
* Handbook of Research on E-Learning Methodologies for Language Acquisition
* Cyber-Security and Global Information Assurance: Threat Analysis and Response Solutions
* Handbook of Research on Digital Libraries: Design, Development and Impact
* Encyclopedia of Mobile Computing and Commerce

ABC-CLIO eZine December 2009

The December 2009 issue of the ABC-CLIO eZine is now available online

Symyx announces collaborative partnership with Royal Society of Chemistry

"Symyx Technologies, Inc. and the Royal Society of Chemistry have announced the launch of a collaborative partnership designed to enhance the usability and accessibility of public scientific databases. The first joint project links related chemical structures between two information sources, ChemSpider (from RSC) and DiscoveryGate (from Symyx), enabling scientists to quickly retrieve more complete and comprehensive information. ChemSpider is a free-access chemistry search engine that aggregates and indexes chemical structures and their associated information into a single searchable repository. DiscoveryGate provides online access to chemical sourcing, organic synthesis and reaction planning, metabolism, toxicity and pharmacological information, integrating information based on the occurrence of common chemical structures. Interlinking the two products will enable scientists to browse chemical information on ChemSpider while simultaneously searching synthetic reactions, bioavailability information and up-to-date compound availability information from over 860 suppliers on DiscoveryGate"

Research Library Issues no. 267 December 2009

The Association of Research Libraries has released issue 267 of Research Library Issues

Iowa City Public Library launches redesigned catalog for smart phones (USA)

The Iowa City Public Library has announced the launch of a redesigned mobile version of the Library's catalog. An optional text display has been available for mobile users from the catalog's main page, but AirCat now provides an updated interface for the newest mobile devices and smart phones, providing a richer experience for using the catalog. "It brings more of the experience and functionality people are used to on their computer into the palm of their hands," said Todd Brown, Iowa City Public Library Electronic Resources Librarian

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #99

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #99. "This week's episode is a bit odd. The eastern engineer has taken to the microphone in place of the head writer to open and close the episode. A year in review chat with the owner of LISNews, Blake Carver, is presented". Previous Podcasts can be found here

Saskatoon Public Library moves to new card system (Canada)

"The Saskatchewan Information & Library Services Consortium (SILS) purchased a technologically advanced integrated library system that will connect all public libraries throughout the province. Zenon Zuzak, director of libraries with Saskatoon Public Library, says it was time the library system moved on or at least made an upgrade. The Saskatoon Public Library's previous card system is "very old, so it's at a point where there are no more software enhancements and the maintenance on it was running out," said Zuzak. "Saskatchewan public libraries have been discussing for quite some time about bringing in a system that requires one card to take out materials from any public library in the province.""

The Daily Express Online Archive launches (UK)

"The Daily Express Online Archive is a colossal project two years in the making, comprising 1.7 million newspaper pages from every edition ever produced. Just like its earliest self, the current day Daily Express is at the forefront of modern technology. In putting these pages online, it is unlocking the door to the past. To read those old editions is to discover history in the making: the great events of the 20th century including the abdication crisis, the assassination of John F Kennedy, the first man on the moon and the death of Princess Diana, all feature, written by people who were there at the time for people who were there at the time"

The LIRG Research Award 2010 (UK)

"Library and Information Research Group of CILIP has announced the call for the 2010 LIRG Research Award. The deadline for submissions is Friday 26 February 2010. The purpose of the Award is to encourage research and innovation in library and information science. Particular attention will be paid to proposals intended to improve the accessibility, retrievability and usefulness of information. The maximum value of the Award is GBP2000. The Award may be used to defray research expenses (e.g. travel, postage costs) to fund attendance at high level meetings or to fund a study tour. However, a clear overall aim for the research must be stated. Visits for general professional development will not be considered. The proposed research must be funded solely by the Award"

ALT response the Research Excellence Framework Consultation (UK)

"The Association for Learning Technology (ALT) has published its response to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)' proposals for the new Research Excellence Framework (REF), urging HEFCE to adopt clear guidelines to ensure that interdisciplinary fields such as learning technology are properly judged in the REF. In its response to the HEFCE consultation, ALT warns that many of its members - as with many others in interdisciplinary areas - are located in departments, units and centres that are not themselves responsible for compiling submissions. For this reason it is important that the REF does not systematically militate against individuals working on learning technologies being entered into the REF in appropriate units of assessment"

SAGE Research Methods Online to be developed by RDW Group's iFactory

"SAGE has announced that its new online research tool SAGE Research Methods Online (SRMO) will be developed by RDW Group's iFactory, a web design and online publishing platform provider. SRMO is designed to support researchers and students with their selection and understanding of research methods in the social and behavioral sciences. More than 100,000 pages of SAGE's leading book and reference material on research methods will be available through SRMO, enhanced with editorially selected material from SAGE journals. In total, more than 500 books will be available, including the complete Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences (QASS) 'Little Green Books' series"

Bangalore University to digitise rare books (India)

"Bangalore University library will soon digitise all rare publications available. A decision was taken at a meeting of the BU library committee held under the chairmanship of Vice-Chancellor N Prabhu Dev on Friday. All rare books, publications, theses and dissertations of the varsity would be digitalised. A scanning centre will be established in collaboration with Digital Library of India under the 'Million books digitalisation project' of Carnegie Mellon University of United States"

ERIC - Non-Journal Source List

"ERIC indexes grey literature and books from hundreds of organizations producing education-related material. Organizations providing non-journal content to ERIC include research foundations, federal and state agencies, policy organizations, university affiliates, and commercial publishers. Browse the list of content contributors to glimpse the depth and variety of sources helping build the ERIC Collection, and select the link to visit an organization's Web site"

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Case Reports in Gastroenterology

Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences

Lucrari Stiintifice : Zootehnie si Biotehnologii

Banking and Finance Review

Fractal : Revista de Psicologia

Revista ingeniería de construcción

Vitae

The German Digital Library / Die Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek

"Rummaging through archives, visiting museums, or learning about the latest research results – you can do it all from the comfort of your home. The German Digital Library, whose creation the German Cabinet approved on December 2, will make it possible. The stocks and collections of more than 30,000 archives, libraries, museums, and many other institutions will be digitally recorded in the German Digital Library and made available online. In order to tap into these resources, developers plan to use the latest search and presentation technologies, making virtual museum visits just as possible as 3D images of scientific models. The German Digital Library - in German, Die Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek or DDB, for short - will give the general public, not just specialists, access to culture and science. The new portal will make scientific information and cultural documents accessible to everyone from home through a mere mouse click. The new portal is to be launched in 2011"

EQT to buy Springer Science and Business Media

"EQT, the private equity arm of Sweden's Wallenberg family, is expected to announce the €2.3bn ($3.4bn) takeover of Springer Science and Business Media, a German business-to-business publisher. The deal ends a tortuous sales process by Springer's two UK-based private equity owners, Cinven and Candover, which will receive only about €100m for their equity. It is the latest sign that Europe's private equity industry is slowly recovering from the credit crisis, which has triggered an almost total freeze on deals for more than a year. Springer has been struggling under about €2.2bn of net debt and its banks have agreed to refinance the company." - FT

HathiTrust Digital Library - Update On November Activities

HathiTrust Digital Library - Update On November Activities:

Physics-Online.Ru

"Turpion Ltd in cooperation with Institute of Physics Publishing and editorial offices of the Russian Academy of Sciences presents an online community Physics-Online.Ru to attract a wide circle of scientists, scholars, students and post graduates to discussions of modern physics' problems. We invite all interested visitors to register on our web site in order to become the members of this online community. Members of the community can submit their subjects for the discussion, download their materials on the web site, exchange comments, participate in news' section update, have open access to the most cited articles of Physics-Uspekhi, Quantum Electronics, and some other journals"

First Monday - December 2009

First Monday - Volume 14, Number 12, 7 December 2009 now available

Edinburgh University Press Developing Countries Initiative

"Edinburgh University Press journals are available free of charge, in electronic format, to countries classified as 'low income' in the World Bank Country Classification 2007. You do not need to sign up for this service as our website detects the country you are connecting from and grants free online access automatically via EUP Journals Online. The EUP Developing Countries Initiative supplements additional schemes for free online access or discounted print subscriptions to developing countries"

SLA Europe Information Professional Award 2010

"Established in 1994 the SLA Europe Information Professional Award recognises outstanding achievement in the information profession amongst those living and working in Europe. This is your chance to gain recognition for a professional colleague or yourself. The winner receives an expenses-paid trip to the annual SLA Conference. Nominators of the successful candidate receive a magnum of champagne. The deadline for applications is 28th February 2010

CARL E-Lert # 355

CARL E-Lert # 355, December 11, 2009, is now available from Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Some of this week's items: Obama administration seeking OA for federally-funded research; University of Ottawa among North American leaders as it launches open access program; NEPTUNE Canada Ocean Observatory Goes Live; Web Giants Unite to Oppose UK Copyright Proposal