African Prospects via Exact Editions

"African Prospects, published digitally each month, provides trenchant comment, analysis and opinion on Africa and global affairs. In short, it encourages informed debate on matters affecting Africa and seeks to bring a better understanding of a very complex continent to a wider readership through the internet. Edited by Desmond Davies, an experienced journalist and commentator on African affairs, African Prospects has a team of top writers, educating and informing readers from a unique perspective. Politics, business and economy, art and culture are covered extensively. The publication is required reading on Africa in the 21st century"

Credo Reference adds four encyclopedias from Springer

Credo Reference recently signed an agreement to integrate four Springer Science+Business Media encyclopedias into the Credo General Reference collection:

* The Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology - delineating the cultural practices relevant to health in the world's cultures, providing an overview of important topics in medical anthropology

* The Encyclopedia of Public Choice - detailing the intersection of economics and political science

* Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender - exploring issues involving conceptions of gender, gender differences, gender roles, relationships between the genders and sexuality

* The Encyclopedia of Women's Health - covering current health issues and health-care realities that today’s women face

BioMed Central content added to AuthorMapper

"BioMed Central, the world's largest open access publisher, with over 200 peer-reviewed journals, has now added data for its 60,000+ published articles to AuthorMapper.com. The inclusion of BioMed Central's articles makes it possible to demonstrate the spread of open access publishing both geographically and across disciplines. In addition to the previous functionality to filter by Open Access articles, you can also filter by specific publisher when conducting a search"

DLF Fall Forum 2009

DLF Fall Forum 2009 - November 11-12, 2009 - Long Beach, California, USA

CIBER opens global library survey

"The CIBER research group at University College London has designed an international survey based on input from nearly 200 librarians worldwide. The survey examines the challenges, trends, and best practices for all type of libraries during tough economic times. The questionnaire is now available through October 18, 2009. Survey respondents will be entered into a drawing for an iPhone or iPod of the winner's choice. Baker & Taylor's YBP Library Services and ebrary are co-sponsoring the survey's results which will be announced at the Charleston Conference, November 4-7 in Charleston, SC, USA"

EDINA Newsline September 2009

EDINA Newsline September 2009 is now available

Internet Resources Newsletter - Issue 176 - October 2009

Internet Resources Newsletter - Issue 176 - October 2009 - edited by Roddy MacLeod, Heriot-Watt University, is now available

24hrBook Project

"In collaboration with if:book, The Society of Young Publishers and CompletelyNovel.com, Spread the Word has commissioned The 24 Hour Book, a groundbreaking project to challenge a group of writers to write a new story about London in just 24 hours"

Canadian Library Support Staff Day Proclamation

John Teskey, CLA/ACB President writes: "All great libraries depend on their support staff, working both behind the scenes and at the forefront to help libraries grow and serve their users. In our changing environment we need to ensure that we celebrate the skill of our support staff. Support staff are critical to any library’s success. October is Canadian Library Month, and Friday, October 16, 2009 will be recognized as Canadian Library Support Staff Day. The purpose of the day is to show deep appreciation and recognition for the work of Library Technicians, Library Assistants, Library Clerks and all other support staff members who perform daily miracles in our Canadian public, private, government, academic and corporate libraries. On behalf of the Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne des bibliothèque I proclaim October 16, 2009 as Canadian Library Support Staff Day"

Win GBP500 in Welsh libraries competition

"Could you write a poem, create a work of art or perform a play that would inspire people to visit their library? This is your opportunity to show off your creative skills and imagination in our first ever Welsh libraries competition"

Disney Digital Books

Disney Digital Books will offer electronic replicas of hundreds of books for $79.95 a year

2009 Banned Books Read Out

Each of the top 10 most challenged books were represented at the 2009 Banned Books Read Out, which kicked off Banned Books Week September 26 at Chicago's Bughouse Square (across the street from the Newberry Library.) This video features ALA President Camila Alire, authors Cecily von Ziegesar (Gossip Girl) and Lauren Myracle (ttyl), and a reading from Chicago Public Library's Teen Volume Reader's Theatre troupe:

Holocaust Collection - Footnote.com

Holocaust Collection - search over one million Holocaust-related records - including millions of names and 26,000 photos from the National Archives and US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Library and Information Research - No 104

Library and Information Research - Vol 33, No 104 (2009) now available

ABC-CLIO eZine September 2009

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

School Libraries Petition (UK)

We, the undersigned, call on Her Majesty's Government to accept in principle that it will make school libraries, run by properly qualified staff, statutory and to prepare the necessary legislation in consultation with the appropriate professional associations and trade unions" - Deadline to sign up is 11 December 2009

Stony Brook University - Library Connections - Fall 2009

Stony Brook University - Library Connections - Fall 2009 now available:

The eBook Store from Sony Publisher Portal

"The eBook Store from Sony continuously strives to expand its content selection. Through the Publisher Portal, both publishers and independent authors are invited to make their content available at our store via the Publisher Information Form or self-publishing sites Smashwords and Author Solutions"

Carnegie-Whitney Awards up to $5,000

The American Library Association Publishing Committee provides a grant of up to $5,000 for the preparation of print or electronic reading lists, indexes or other guides to library resources that promote reading or the use of library resources at any type of library. Funded projects have ranged from popular, general-reader proposals such as "ReadMOre," a reading list for Missouri's state-wide reading program, to more specialized, scholarly proposals such as "Librarianship and Information Science in the Islamic World, 1966-1999: An Annotated Bibliography." Applications must be received by Nov. 6, 2009. Recipients will be notified by the end of February 2010

Library access now an open book (UK)

"Readers can now borrow books from more than 4,000 public libraries regardless of where they live, it was announced today. The Society of Chief Librarians said members of the public simply need to show their existing library card or proof of address to join or use a library they are visiting. The scheme applies to public libraries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland is not part of the UK Society of Chief Librarians, although some Scottish authorities are considering joining the scheme. According to the society, customers will be able to borrow books from any library and, in some cases, use other services such as DVD rental and online resources. This could help people while on holiday or those who work in a different place from where they live, for example" - Guardian

InSITE - September 28, 2009

InSITE: A Current Awareness Service of Cornell Law Library - Vol. 15, No. 3, September 28, 2009 is now available

Ian Rankin opens Edinburgh University library upgrade

Bestselling crime writer Ian Rankin has opened a redevelopment of Edinburgh University's main library:

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #88

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #88. "This week's episode brings a discussion of the digital divide. The discussion is meant to start discussion about the issue while pointing out links to further non-LIS discourse in the matter. Some thoughts are thrown out at ways to bridge the digital divide that might involve materials reformatting". Previous Podcasts can be found here

Darwin's Flowers: Unlocking Natural Selection now online

The Sterling Morton Library's current exhibit, Darwin's Flowers: Unlocking Natural Selection, can now be viewed online

Poetry competition celebrates 800th Anniversary (UK)

"A variety of thoughtful, inventive and moving poems have won a poetry competition that celebrates Cambridge University’s 800th Anniversary. The Haddon Library of Archaeology and Anthropology invited members of the public to write poems that included the numbers 800, 1209, and 2009, significant dates in the University's 800 year history. The numbers could have been used in any way the poet wanted, as dates, amounts of money or even postcodes. Winning poem 'His eightieth' was written by Roger Elkin, a recognised English poet who has won over 100 prizes in competitions across the world"

Libraries of the Future according to Daniel Greenstein

"The university library of the future will be sparsely staffed, highly decentralized, and have a physical plant consisting of little more than special collections and study areas. That's what Daniel Greenstein, vice provost for academic planning and programs at the University of California System, told a room full of university librarians Wednesday at Baruch College of City University of New York, where the higher education technology group Ithaka held a meeting to discuss "sustainable scholarship." "We're already starting to see a move on the part of university libraries... to outsource virtually all the services [they have] developed and maintained over the years," Greenstein said. Now, with universities everywhere still ailing from last year's economic meltdown, administrators are more likely than ever to explore the dramatic restructuring of library operations" - Inside Higher Ed

Kelpies Prize 2009 winner

Floris Books has announced that winner of the Kelpies Prize 2009 is Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest by Janis Mackay. The announcement was made at a packed award ceremony at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Floris Books relaunched the Kelpies Prize in 2004. It is awarded annually to encourage and reward new Scottish writing for children. Photograph of Janis Mackay winning the Kelpies Prize 2009. Janis received a cheque for GBP2000 on the night. Her book will be published in the Kelpies imprint on 22 October 2009

Beatle's essay found 50 years on (UK)

"An essay written by Sir Paul McCartney as a 10-year-old has been found after lying undiscovered in Liverpool's Central Library for more than 50 years. Years before the Beatles received their MBEs, he beat hundreds of other school children to win a prize for his 1953 essay marking the Queen's coronation. In neat handwriting, he refers to "the lovely young Queen Elizabeth". In 2013, the library will display the essay - found in a scrapbook - to mark the 60th anniversary of the coronation" - BBC

Amazon.ca First Novel Award Winner announced

"Amazon.ca has announced that Joan Thomas is the winner of the 33rd annual Amazon.ca First Novel Award for Reading by Lightning. Head judge Aritha van Herk called the book "a fabulous novel, full of grace and delicious discovery, haunted by the flavour of memory and the prairies in World War II. The Amazon.ca First Novel Award recognizes the outstanding achievement of a Canadian first-time novelist. Since 1976, the award has launched the careers of some of Canada's most beloved novelists, including Michael Ondaatje, Joan Barfoot, Joy Kogawa, W.P. Kinsella, Nino Ricci, Rohinton Mistry, Anne Michaels, André Alexis, Michael Redhill, Mary Lawson, Colin McAdam, and Joseph Boyden"

Cybook Opus from Bookeen

"The Cybook Opus is the newest ebook reading device from Bookeen. This pocket sized reader can be held in one hand and fits perfectly in any purse, briefcase or pocket. It is the lightest on the market - only 5.3 ounces. Over 1,000 books can be stored in its large 1 GB of internal storage memory. The Cybook Opus boasts an impressive 200dpi ePaper screen which provides a paper-like high contrast appearance and ultra-low power consumption on the revolutionary EInk ® Technology. With its accelerometer, screen position can switch from portrait to landscape mode automatically"

UK School Librarian of the Year Award 2009 - announcement of Honour List

The SLA has announced the Honour List for the 2009 School Librarian of the Year Award. The four Honour List librarians are Lucy Bakewell from Hill West Primary School in Sutton Coldfield, Barbara Band from The Emmbrook School in Wokingham, Joy Wassell Timms from the Parrs Wood High School in Didsbury and Lynne Varley from Sponne School Technology College in Towcester. The four have been chosen for their outstanding work in their school library from a pool of excellent candidates. The winner will be announced at a ceremony to be held at London Zoo on the 5th October

International Symposium "Academic Online Resources: Assessment and Usage"

International Symposium "Academic Online Resources: Assessment and Usage" - 26-27 November 2009 - Lille, France

2010 Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award Winner

The winner of the 2010 Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award is Sy Montgomery

Bulletin of the Comediantes via Project Muse

Bulletin of the Comediantes, which publishes notes and articles on early modern Spanish and colonial Latin American drama, is now available via Project Muse

Journals OnLine (JOL) Projects

"The Journals Online (JOL) project provides advice to journals wishing to publish online, including resource guides and links to suitable technologies and hosting organisations. The JOL project focuses on a system developed for groups of journals to publish on community websites. This enables a cost-effective and secure forum for online journals, which gives them greatest online visibility and discovery. This project is the result of a partnership between INASP, the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) and CrossRef. PKP, based in Canada, developed the Open Journals System (OJS) technology which is used by the JOLs to support the development of websites hosting a number of journals. CrossRef maintain a multi-publisher linking network which vastly improves both visibility and accessibility of journal articles"

Salinas Public Library celebrates 100th birthday

Salinas Public Library, California, USA, is celebrating its 100th birthday today. The building at Main and San Luis streets, where the Bank of America now sits, was one of about 1,400 nationwide funded by steel baron and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie

The Art of Fundraising and Grant Writing Online Conference

The Art of Fundraising and Grant Writing Online Conference takes place November 19, 2009 and includes interactive, live online events featuring library and writing professionals sharing their fundraising and grant writing expertise

The Spectator as an iPhone App

"The Spectator now has a branded App in the iTunes App Store. This App gives users access to the complete magazine on the iPhone. The App is launched at the highly competitive price of 99c (59p, or €0.79). This buys a 7 day subscription to the magazine, and provides access to over 200 back issues. When the sub expires the purchaser has the option to renew for 7 days, or 30 days"

Reading Association of Ireland 2009 Book Awards winners

The winners of the Reading Association of Ireland 2009 Book Awards have been announced:

Winner: The Poison Throne Book 1, The Moorehawk Trilogy by Celine Kiernan
Special Merit Award: Conor Kostick for Move

Journal of Angiogenesis Research publishes first articles

"The first articles published in Journal of Angiogenesis Research cover a wide range of angiogenesis related topics, reflecting the journal's aim of providing a pivotal platform for researchers in this area. Dr Meadows and colleagues examine the role of Akt signalling factors in early embryonic heart development, while Professor Mross and colleagues assess the cancer drug vandetanib on tumor vasculature in colorectal and liver cancer patients, and Professor Ribatti provides an overview on the role of William Harvey in the circulation of blood"

Free Living Library Organizers Conference in London, UK

"The Living Library Organization has announced the first UK Living Library Organizers Conference hosted by the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Living Library Organization. The purpose of the early December London event, is to provide an opportunity for organizers to network and share their experiences. While also inviting potential new partners to join the free one-day session."

Queen's Library supports online access to course readings (Canada)

"A new web site developed by Queen's Library, following consultation with faculty, students, and administrators, aims to improve access to course readings for Queen's students: Creating Course Reading Lists. The Creating Course Reading Lists site provides new recommendations for faculty to keep in mind when preparing course readings for Winter 2010 and beyond. It is designed to assist faculty in leveraging the opportunities created by the increasing availability of electronic information resources, in combination with current and emerging online learning environments. The site includes guidelines and advice relating to online access and fair dealing, as well as the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act"

University Press of Florida to offer free online textbooks

The University Press of Florida has teamed up with a digital book provider to offer free online textbooks and reduced price print copie­s. The plan is to eventually provide free online textbooks for every general education class taught at any of Florida's 11 state universities, said Meredith Babb, director of the press

6th Library Journal Design Institute

The 6th Library Journal Design Institute will be at the Dallas Public Library this year on December 10, 2009 from 9 to 6pm. Limited to 100 attendees who are considering a new building project or renovation, and are in the fundraising or pre-bond stage, or in the early building process

Library of Congress: Testing the Cloud

"The Library of Congress has a mission that is very similar to several Federal agencies...they are preserving huge amounts of records. And like Federal agencies, they are looking at new technologies to meet that mission. One way they're doing that is through a pilot project with DuraSpace, that will store some records in the cloud. Bill LeFurgy is the Digital initiative project coordinator at the Library of Congress, and he tells how the pilot project will work"

Current Cites - September 2009

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

The British Library launches ICA Talks

"The British Library has launched the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) Talks from the 1980s online. Featuring unpublished recordings of talks and debates with top cultural, artistic and political figures of the day, this latest addition to the JISC-funded Archival Sound Recordings website offers a chance to explore in detail cultural directions in the UK of the late 20th century"

Tupac Shakur 's writing go to the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Atlanta University Center

The Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation and Afeni Shakur-Davis, mother of platinum recording artist, actor and poet, Tupac Shakur, will partner with the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center to make available for scholarly research Shakur's manuscript writings and other papers. Born in East Harlem, New York, Shakur honed his acting and performing skills at the city's 127th Street Repertory Ensemble and the Baltimore School of the Arts in Maryland. He first came to prominence in the early 1990s as a featured rapper for the vocal group Digital Underground and went on to become one of the most significant cultural icons of the hip hop generation. Prior to his untimely death at the age of 25, Shakur had released five record albums and appeared in four motion pictures to great success. Ten albums, numerous compilations and four feature films were all released posthumously, including Tupac, Resurrection, which received an Academy Award nomination for 'Best Documentary (Feature).'

Read.gov announced

"The Library of Congress has launched a new multimedia website offering resources from throughout the Library designed to encourage the reading of books and to interest users in learning about the authors and illustrators who create them. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress is offering this site, Read.gov, as part of its mission to promote books, reading, literacy and libraries"

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Dr. Johnson. This year is the 300th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Johnson, often known as Dr. Johnson. Test your knowledge of the man with this brainteaser. Even if you think you don't know much about him, give the brainteaser a try, as we provide multiple choices for several questions. Answers here.

1. Whose biography of Samuel Johnson, published in 1791, remains by common consent the greatest biography in the language?
2. Was Johnson the son of a bookseller, a butcher or a parson?
3. Which writer did Johnson describe as "a poet who holds up to his readers a faithful mirror of manners and of life"?
4. What is the missing word in this quotation from Johnson: "When a man is tired of..., he is tired of life"? Is it eating, talking or London?
5. In 1759, Johnson wrote "Rasselas" in a week to pay for the funeral of which relative: his father, mother or daughter?
6. In his "Dictionary of the English Language", which word did Johnson define as "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people"?
7. Is Johnson buried in St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey or Lichfield Cathedral?
8. Is Johnson's "The Vanity of Human Wishes" an essay or a poem?
9. In his "Dictionary of the English Language", which word was defined by Johnson as "Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery"?
10. What was the title of the only play that Johnson wrote, produced by Garrick in 1749?

The Staffordshire Hoard (UK)

"The Staffordshire Hoard is an unparalleled treasure find dating from Anglo-Saxon times. Both the quality and quantity of this unique treasure are remarkable. The story of how it came to be left in the Staffordshire soil is likely to be more remarkable still. The Hoard was first discovered in July 2009. The find is likely to spark decades of debate among archaeologists, historians and enthusiasts"

Birmingham Book Festival (UK)

The Birmingham Book Festival was founded in 1999 and is a not for profit Company Limited Under Guarantee. As well as running an annual literature festival it also runs an extensive 'writers in schools' programme (Write On! - Adventures in Writing) and undertakes year round events and activities. The Festival is managed by Midland Creative Projects Limited and is part funded by Arts Council England and Birmingham City Council. 6-29 September 2009

1950s and 1960s British Fiction : Yearbook of English studies' call for papers

The Yearbook of English Studies is collecting 100 word proposals for a special edition of 1950s and 1960s British Fiction. The final papers should be edited to MHRA guidelines and be under 8,000 words and are likely to be required towards the end of 2010. Proposals should be sent by November 1 2009

BioMed Search

The goal of BioMed Search is to organize figures, images or schema found in biomedical articles. Over 1 Million images have been indexed and more is on its way. BioMed Search indexes image captions along with the citations to these images

LIFE magazine now available on Google Books

Visitors to Google Books are now able to search and browse even more magazines. It has partnered with Life Inc. to digitize LIFE Magazine's entire run as a weekly: over 1,860 issues, covering the years from 1936 to 1972

EnablingOpenScholarship

"EnablingOpenScholarship (EOS) is an organisation for universities and research institutions worldwide. The organisation is both an information service and a forum for raising and discussing issues around the mission of modern universities and research institutions, particularly with regard to the creation, dissemination and preservation of research findings. The aim of (EOS) is to further the opening up of scholarship and research that we are now seeing through the growing open access, open education, open science and open innovation movements"

Winners of JISC e-content Programme

The winners of JISC e-content Programme have been announced. The call was divided into two strands, the first to allow institutions to develop their skills and strategies for digitising and delivering their digitised content, and the second to maximise the use and benefits of existing digitised content. Projects are starting from autumn 2009 onwards and all will be finished by February 2011

Who is the nation's favourite literary hero? (UK)

"Mills & Boon has launched a survey alongside the Cheltenham Literature Festival to uncover the identity of the nation's favourite literary hero. Voters can chose from ten leading men, from Emily Bronte's Heathcliff to Henry DeTamble of Niffenegger's Time Traveler's Wife. The two Mr Darcys -- one the creation of Jane Austen, the other the love interest of Bridget Jones -- also feature in among the selection. The winner will be announced at the Mills & Boon's Literary Heroes event, which will be held at this year's Times Cheltenham Literature Festival. The audience will be served pink champagne while a panel of women, including authors Stella Duffy, Katie Fforde, discuss their favourite leading men and what makes an unforgettable literary hero"

Tony Harrison wins inaugural PEN/Pinter prize

Poet and playwright Tony Harrison has won the inaugural PEN/Pinter prize for his "unmistakable and passionate voice". The prize is to be awarded annually to the writer who best exemplifies Pinter's own quest to "define the real truth of our lives and our societies". Harrison, who filed poems from the frontline in Bosnia for the Guardian in 1995, was selected by a panel of judges including Pinter's widow, the author Antonia Fraser, playwright Tom Stoppard and National Theatre director Nicholas Hytner. "When Tony's name came up it pretty much stopped the discussion," said Stoppard. "I think we all felt immediately that he was exactly the writer for the PEN/Pinter prize, and PEN/Pinter was exactly the prize for Tony. Harold would raise a glass to that." - Guardian

2009 Booktrust Early Years Awards winners

The winners of the 2009 Booktrust Early Years Awards were announced at a ceremony at BAFTA, Piccadilly, London on 23 September.

Baby Book Award
Chick by Ed Vere (Puffin)

Pre-School Award
Oliver Who Travelled Far and Wide by Mara Bergman, illus. Nick Maland (Hodder Children's Books)

Best Emerging Illustrator
Box of Tricks by Katie Cleminson (Jonathan Cape)

Frank O'Connor Award winner is Simon Van Booy

"British author Simon Van Booy has won the world's richest short story prize, the Frank O'Connor award, for a collection which focuses on the different faces of love. Van Booy's Love Begins in Winter beat five other short story collections, including the US author Wells Tower's Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned and Zimbabwean Petina Gappah's An Elegy for Easterly, to win the €35,000 (£30,000) prize. Some big literary names, including Kazuo Ishiguro, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ali Smith and James Lasdun, had failed to make even the shortlist for this year's award."

Scholarship@Western (Ontario)

"Scholarship@Western collects, disseminates, archives, and preserves a variety of materials created or sponsored by the University of Western Ontario. It aims to advance scholarship and disseminate knowledge by providing open access to the academic and professional achievements at Western. Please note that articles available from Scholarship@Western may not be the final published version"

First Annual Elizabeth Dafoe Memorial Lecture (Manitoba)

First Annual Elizabeth Dafoe Memorial Lecture: From City Street to Library: Blind Readers in Victorian Britain by Dr. Vanessa Warne, Department of English Film and Theatre, University of Manitoba. "In the opening decades of the nineteenth century, the facts of blindness changed. People who could not see acquired both the ability and opportunity to read. This illustrated public talk explores three facets of the nineteenth-century history of blindness and of reading: the advent of raised print books for the blind, the public exhibition of finger reading by blind people on city streets, and the founding of libraries for blind users. Examining ideas, images and anecdotes related to blind people's entry into literacy and focused on the ways in which books, bodies and public spaces interact, it will consider ways in which the spread of blind literacy prompted not only a re-evaluation of the meaning of blindness but also a radical reconsideration of what it means to read." Dr. Warne will share some of the results of her research on the many changes that occured in the 19th century as the blind were enabled to read. - 1 October, 2009 - University of Manitoba

Nature Communications - a multidisciplinary, online-only journal with an open-access option

"In April 2010 Nature Publishing Group will add a new title to its established suite of journals, increasing author choice as science communication and its business models continue to evolve. Nature Communications will publish high-quality peer-reviewed research across the biological, chemical and physical sciences, and will be the first online-only Nature-branded journal"

DBpedia

DBpedia is a community effort to extract structured information from Wikipedia and to make this information available on the Web. DBpedia allows you to ask sophisticated queries against Wikipedia, and to link other data sets on the Web to Wikipedia data.

Research chief steps down over fake data

"The head of research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) will quit the post after an investigation concluded that data in publications from his group had been faked. Chemist Peter Chen will leave his position as vice-president of research and corporate relations - the job's remit includes quality assurance in research - at the end of September. He says he was not personally involved in handling the data, but acknowledges his responsibility as head of the research group. Chen will, however, remain a full professor of physical-organic chemistry at ETH Zurich" - Nature

44th Annual ARSC Conference 2010

The 44th annual Association for Recorded Sound Collections Conference will be held at the Chateau Bourbon in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 19-22, 2010

Library Journal Librarian of the Year nomination guidelines

The Library Journal editors are seeking nominations for the 22nd annual Library Journal Librarian of the Year Award to honor a professional librarian for outstanding achievement and accomplishments reflecting the loftiest service goals of the library profession. These include:

* free access to information for all
* the encouragement of reading and the creation of inducements to greater use of books and other library materials and information sources
* the enhancement and expansion of library service to all areas and constituencies in the community
* the strengthening of the library role and position in the community whether that community is a city or town, college or university, school, company, or corporation.

The postmark deadline for nominations is Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Dow Jones to close Far Eastern Economic Review

"Dow Jones & Co. will end publication of the Far Eastern Economic Review in December as part of a move to focus on its core publications"

New book: The UFO Files - from UK National Archives

"The UFO Files, published by The National Archives, is a collection of the most impressive reports from the Ministry of Defence's secret files on real-life UFO sightings. These reports are brought together for the first time, covering sightings from the early 1900s right up to the present day. The book includes sightings from civilians, as well as from military personnel and intelligence agencies. It looks at investigations conducted by British Intelligence and the CIA in response to UFO sightings, and their views on UFO threats to national security. Official reports, dramatic witness statements and personal interviews, many conducted by the author himself, are combined with rarely seen photographs and drawings."

Crawley Library wins award (UK)

Crawley Library wins award in the Design and Sustainability Awards organised by West Sussex County Council (UK). The new Library opened in December 2008 and is a landmark in building design, and the most sustainable in West Sussex

Europa website updated

"Europa is the portal site of the European Union. It provides up-to-date coverage of European Union affairs and essential information on European integration. Users can also consult all legislation currently in force or under discussion, access the websites of each of the EU institutions and find out about the policies administered by the European Union under the powers devolved to it by the Treaties"

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 4/3

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice - Vol 4, No 3 (2009) is now available. RSS Feed

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Award

Frances Lincoln Limited and Seven Stories have announced the second Diverse Voices Award in memory of Frances Lincoln (1945 to 2001), to encourage and promote diversity in children's fiction. The purpose of The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Award is to:

* Take positive steps to increase the representation of people writing from or about different cultural perspectives, whose work is published in Britain today.
* Promote new writing for children, especially by or about people whose culture and voice are currently under-represented.
* Recognise that as children's books shape our earliest perceptions of the world and its cultures, promoting writing that represents diversity will contribute to social and cultural tolerance.
* Support the process of writing rather than, as with the majority of prizes, promoting the publication.

eBook Devices in Libraries Google Group

The eBook Devices in Libraries Google Group was started on September 21, 2009 by Lori Bell, the Director of Innovation at the Alliance Library System, and Tom Peters, the CEO of TAP Information Services, to facilitate discussions and the sharing of ideas about what libraries and library-related organizations are planning and doing regarding eBook services designed primarily for use on portable electronic reading devices. RSS Feed

Podcast: Internment

"On the declaration of war on 3 September 1939, some 70,000 Germans and Austrians resident in the UK became classed as enemy aliens. This talk looks at official papers relating to the tribunals, the policy of internment, individual internees, and the camps in which they were interned" - UK National Archives

National Library of Wales unveils new reading room

The National Library of Wales has unveiled its newly refurbished reading room, which first opened in 1916. The facelift cost the library in Aberystwyth more than £750,000, and now includes a place for people to meet and discuss their work

Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month: "The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society." - September 15 to October 15

2009 Booktrust Teenage Prize shortlist announced

The shortlist for the 2009 Booktrust Teenage Prize has been announced:

Auslander by Paul Dowswell
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray
The Ant Colony by Jenny Valentine
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

Emerald and EFMD launch Research Link

"Emerald Group Publishing Limited has announced a recent partnership with the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). EFMD and Emerald share a common goal of promoting excellence in management development and, together, they are launching Research Link, a high quality management learning and development tool specifically for EFMD members. Prof. Eric Cornuel, CEO & Director-general of EFMD, comments: "Emerald and EFMD have been close strategic partners for the past five years. This new initiative is of great value to EFMD and the international network as it delivers the latest and best ideas from the world's top companies and business schools via articles, case studies and thought-leader insight." Research Link features articles and case studies aimed at the busy manager, an interactive forum for discussion and debate, and access to information from the world's top companies and business schools."

Jean Valentine and Harryette Mullen receive major poetry awards

"Jean Valentine has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets. The $100,000 prize recognizes outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry.

Harryette Mullen has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Academy Fellowship. The Fellowship is awarded to a poet for distinguished poetic achievement and provides a stipend of $25,000. The Academy's Board of Chancellors, a body of sixteen eminent poets, selects the Wallace Stevens Award and Academy Fellowship recipients"

Canadian Census Collection - 1851-1916

"The Canadian Census Collection represents the first time ever that the 1851/2, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1906, 1911 and 1916 censuses will be fully searchable online and fully indexed in one place. Now people across Canada and around the world can research their Canadian roots faster and easier than ever before"

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #87

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #87. "The news stories this week are not that major. This happens when the national debate on health care reform sucks the oxygen out of the arena. The podcast brings a headlines service this week of things you might have missed. Later this week there is planned to be a special episode in the aftermath of Software Freedom Day". Previous Podcasts can be found here

LibCamp Monterey

LibCamp Monterey - "Join facilitators Amy Buckland and Jenica Rogers at the Monterey Public Library for an interactive discussion about people, technology, and libraries. Bring your war stories and your questions and be prepared to share as this is definitely NOT a "sage on the stage" event. (PowerPoints are forbidden!) This unstructured conversation may range from web development to info commons to everything in between, in all types of libraries" - October 24, 2009 - 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Library of Congress unveils 2010 calendars

"Eight calendars featuring the wide-ranging collections of the Library of Congress have been released for 2010. Produced by the Library of Congress in cooperation with Pomegranate Communications, Universe Publishing or Cavallini & Co., the calendars draw on the Library's collections to illuminate and illustrate different facets of travel, literature, history and film. Three spiral-bound travel calendars with a different image for each month highlight the Library's collection of vintage world-wide travel posters or postcards. A 365-day padded tear-off desk calendar features quips from a variety of William Shakespeare’s plays. Two engagement calendars spotlight the accomplishments of women and African Americans (the latter is also available as a wall calendar). A wall calendar features posters of 12 iconic films."

Springer 2010 journal subscription prices

Springer 2010 journal subscription prices are now available

Manitoba Libraries Conference 2010

The Manitoba Association of Library Technicians (MALT), the Manitoba Library Association (MLA), and Public Library Services Branch (PLSB) have announced the Manitoba Libraries Conference 2010: The Power of Many - The Power of Partnerships. May 17 to 19, 2010 at the Delta Hotel in Winnipeg

Web 2.0 – the truth behind the hype

Slides and screenshots from Web 2.0 – the truth behind the hype, presented by Phil Duffy and Karen Blakeman at Hamonds LLP, London, on September 18, 2009

CLSIG - Web 2.0: the truth behind the hype

View more presentations from Karen BLakeman.

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Journal of Aboriginal Health

Rocky Mountain Communication Review

Co-herencia : Revista de Humanidades

Provincial China

D is for Digitize

"Everything about the Google Book Search project is larger than life, from Google's audacious plan to digitize every book ever published to the gigantic class action settlement now awaiting court approval. The groundbreaking proposed settlement in the Google Book Search case is so complex that controversy has outpaced conversation and questions have outnumbered answers. D Is For Digitize will give this complex lawsuit the sustained attention it deserves. An interdisciplinary lineup of academics and practitioners will examine the settlement through the lenses of copyright, civil procedure, antitrust, information policy, literary culture, and the publishing industry. The conference is timed to coincide with the rescheduled fairness hearing in the Google Book Search case, which will be held on Wednesday, October 7 in New York City, just five blocks from the Law School"

ICKM 2009: The 6th International Conference on Knowledge Management

ICKM 2009: The 6th International Conference on Knowledge Management jointly held with KSS 2009: The 10th International Symposium on Knowledge and Systems Sciences - December 3-4, 2009 - Hong Kong, China. RSS Feed

2010 ASA Conference

2010 Association of Subscription Agents and Intermediaries Conference - 22-23 February 2010 - London, UK

Compact for open-access publishing equity

The compact for open-access publishing equity is a commitment that a university makes to the timely establishment of durable mechanisms for underwriting reasonable publication charges for open-access journals

Eurostat yearbook 2009

"567 pages long and with more than 500 tables, graphs and maps, Europe in figures – Eurostat yearbook 2009 offers a comprehensive survey of the EU and includes a chapter devoted to creativity and innovation. Most data cover the period 1997–2007 for the EU, with some indicators for other countries"

Informit

"Informit is the premier source of online Australasian scholarly research. Informit offers a wide range of databases and full content publications that deliver the majority of Australasian scholarly research to the education, research and business sectors. Informit is the brand that encompasses RMIT Publishing's online products: Informit Media, Informit Indexes, Informit Plus Text and Informit e-Library"

NTIS Technical Reports Newsletter - September 2009

NTIS Technical Reports Newsletter - Volume 2, Number 3, September 15 2009 is now available from the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA, USA

Canada: A Literary Tour

"Canada: A Literary Tour offers a glimpse into the contours and context of our national literary achievement. The poetry and prose that define Canadian literature are often inspired by the land, the streets and even the buildings in which an author lives and writes. In turn, the author's literary creation gives new meaning to these places, from the tales of early explorers to fictionalized landmarks to the vibrant urban settings of Canadian literature. This virtual exhibition takes you on a literary tour of Canada by highlighting inspirational and imagined sites that depict a resonant topography of words and ideas. Featuring original manuscript material and never-before-seen photographs from the Library and Archives Canada collection, the website tells the story of our cities and landscapes through the voices of prominent authors who have shaped Canada's literary culture" - Library and Archives Canada

The O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Online Conference - Fall 2009 - An Emphasis on Ebooks

"Since the last Tools of Change for Publishing Conference in February 2009, digital issues have continued to challenge our industry and create opportunities for those bold enough to innovate. Join us on October 8 for this half-day online conference to explore the state of the art of electronic publishing. This single track and interactive event will dive deep into three areas of innovation and opportunity.

* Ebook Pricing: Is $9.99 the new price for ebooks? How can publishers add value and increase margins with ebooks?
* What Do Readers Want? How are readers responding to ebooks and the plethora of new devices? What do they think of our efforts to date?
* The Future of Electronic Reading: Ebooks, Ereaders, and Beyond: This presentation will cover the current state of the art in eBooks and eReaders - discussing the technologies currently at play and those coming in the near future."

PMC Canada: Making Canadian health research accessible to all

Canadians will soon have access to the latest health research findings with the launch of PubMed Central Canada (PMC Canada). Building on the successful PubMed Central archive developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, PMC Canada will help accelerate the creation of knowledge and facilitate its use by providing a freely accessible, Canada-based archive of peer-reviewed health science literature. The first phase of PMC Canada will be launched during Open Access Week - October 19-23, 2009. It will include a manuscript submission system to enable CIHR researchers to deposit articles that are accepted for publication by peer-reviewed journals

Hidden files reveal true suffering of early suffragettes (UK)

Files uncovered at The UK National Archives shed new light on the hardships some women endured in their fight for the vote 100 years ago. The two Home Office files date from late 1909 but only came to light during a recent cataloguing project. They relate to the arrest of nine suffragettes, and their subsequent imprisonment in Winson Green Prison, Birmingham

Groundbreaking ceremony for Bodleian storage facility

"A groundbreaking ceremony has been held to mark the start of construction work on a new book storage facility for the Bodleian Library on the outskirts of Swindon, Wiltshire. Oxford University has acquired a 15-acre (6.1-hectare) site at South Marston for the high-density facility, which is expected to house eight million volumes of the library's low-demand items. The work forms part of a wider modernisation scheme at the New Bodleian Library in Oxford, which will undergo a refurbishment when the new facility is complete to provide a special collections library and exhibition galleries. Dr Sarah Thomas, librarian and director at the Bodleian Library, said: "With a modern storage facility for its extensive collections under construction, the Bodleian is now entering an exciting phase of development of services. "The book storage facility will be the catalyst for improved management of its collections and the transformation of the New Bodleian into a special collections library and public galleries." The New Bodleian will also be renamed as the Weston Library following the four-year refurbishment scheme after the university received a £25m donation from the Garfield Weston Foundation in March 2008

The Bookseller Retail Awards winners 2009

The winners of the The Bookseller Retail Awards 2009 have been announced:

The Bookseller's Bookselling Company of the Year
W H Smith

Outstanding Contribution to Bookselling
Amanda Ross

High Street Retailer of the Year
Waterstone's

Direct to Consumer Bookselling Company of the Year
The Book Depository

Bertrams Independent Bookseller of the Year
Simply Books

Walker Books Children's Independent of the Year
Jarrolds Children's Book Department

Wiley Manager of the Year
Ian Critchley, Waterstone's Liverpool One

Usborne Children's Bookseller of the Year
Borders

Martina Cole General Retailer of the Year
W H Smith

Nielsen Marketing Campaign of the Year
Borders Where's Wally? On Google Earth

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: General Knowledge. Answers here.

1. How many are there in a "baker's dozen"?
2. Hallowe'en occurs on the last day of which month?
3. What is the Earth's only natural satellite?
4. Which poet is the object of celebratory suppers held annually worldwide on his birthday (25 January)?
5. Did saunas originate in Norway, Sweden or Finland?
6. In which Russian city is the famous Mariinsky Theatre?
7. Which newspaper magnate attempted to have the film "Citizen Kane" suppressed, believing the central character of Kane to be an unflattering caricature of himself?
8. What kind of salad, created in the 1890s, originally consisted only of apples, celery and mayonnaise, although chopped walnuts later became an integral part of the dish? It is usually served on top of a bed of lettuce.
9. Which composer's last twelve symphonies are called the "Salomon" Symphonies, and include the "Surprise", the "Drum Roll" and the "London"?
10. In the novel "Trilby" by George du Maurier, who trained Trilby's singing voice by hypnosis?

Major gift promotes early childhood literacy in Indianapolis (USA)

"The Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation has announced a $1 million gift from The Herbert Simon Family Foundation to expand the Library’s 'Ready to Read' early childhood literacy initiative. 'Ready to Read' prepares children under age five for a successful start in school through a series of specialized programs and services. Activities funded by this major gift will help preschoolers develop the basic skills for learning to read"

The Wise Guide - September 2009 (Library of Congress)

The Wise Guide - monthly portal to the many resources available from the U.S. Library of Congress - September 2009 now available

2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award candidates

168 candidates from 61 countries are nominated for the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The winner will be announced on March 24 2010. The award, of five million Swedish crowns, is the world's largest for children's and youth literature, and the second-largest literature prize in the world

Intute launches themed research sites for historians (UK)

Intute has recently launched five quick guides for historians wanting to make the most of the Web for research. Each of the guides is introduced by an academic expert in their field and features links to the best websites for new researchers and those seeking primary sources

The Athenaeum opens at Goucher College (USA)

The Goucher College Athenaeum, which opened September 15, 2009, is a high-tech library, a public forum, classrooms, a café, an art gallery, a radio station, a center for community service, places to meet and converse, and many other spaces—all in one

Google signs print-on-demand deal for two million public domain titles

"Google and On Demand Books, the maker of the Espresso Book Machine, have signed a deal to provide print-on-demand access to more than two million public-domain titles (published before 1923) in the Google digital files. The deal also presages potential PoD access to millions more in-copyright 'orphan works' should the Google Book Search settlement be approved"

Simon & Schuster's new website for school and public librarians

"Simon & Schuster has launched a new website packed with resources to help public and school librarians better serve their patrons and students"

American English-Dialect Recordings: The Center for Applied Linguistics Collection

"The Library of Congress' American Folklife Center debuts a new presentation, "American English-Dialect Recordings: The Center for Applied Linguistics Collection," as part of the Library's American Memory collections website today. The collection can be found at memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/linguistics/. The Center for Applied Linguistics Collection comprises 59 audio recordings (118 hours) documenting North American English dialects. The recordings include speech samples, linguistic interviews, oral histories, conversations and excerpts from public speeches drawn from various archives and from the private collections of some 50 linguists, dialectologists and folklorists. They were submitted to the Center for Applied Linguistics as part of a project titled "A Survey and Collection of American English Dialect Recordings," which was funded by the Center for Applied Linguistics and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Made from 1941 to 1984, with the bulk being recorded between 1968 and 1982, the collection includes recordings from 43 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and parts of Canada."

The National Archives' Education Services (UK)

"The National Archives' Education Services. We bring history to life through our award-winning programme of taught sessions and online resources"

100 Ways to Use Twitter In Your Library

100 Ways to Use Twitter In Your Library - "Twitter is a free social networking and communication tool that lets you send short messages of up to 140 characters to your group of friends via the Twitter website, SMS, other Twitter clients, email, or IM. An increasing number of libraries and librarians are now using Twitter to engage readers, spread information, and banish the conception of dark, silent buildings staffed by stuffy introverts. So if you want to see how Twitter can be a dynamic way to connect with patrons, students and other library professionals, then the list below should definitely get you started. Here are 100 tips that can help you effectively use Twitter in your libraries" - From Accelerated Bachelor Degree

FreePint Newsletter 286

FreePint Newsletter 286 - 17 September, 2009 now available

Communicating knowledge: how and why UK researchers publish and disseminate their findings

"A new report, Communicating knowledge: how and why UK researchers publish and disseminate their findings, published by the Research Information Network (RIN) and JISC shows how researchers are concerned by what they perceive as mixed messages about the channels they should use to communicate their research findings. The report highlights the need for more consistent and effective guidance from funders and higher educational institutions. If they wish to encourage researchers to disseminate their work through a variety of channels as well as in high-status journals, they must give stronger and more positive messages about how those channels will be valued when it comes to assessing researchers' performance they must give stronger and more positive messages about how those channels will be valued when it comes to assessing researchers' performance"

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog update

The September 16, 2009 edition of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog from Charles W. Bailey, Jr. is now available

2009 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award shortlist

The shortlist for the 2009 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award has been announced:

* Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism by George A. Akerlof & Robert J. Shiller
* Good Value: Reflections on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World by Stephen Green
* Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century by Nandan Nilekani
* In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic by David Wessel
* Lords of Finance: 1929, The Great Depression, and the Bankers who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed
* The Match King: Ivar Kreuger and the Financial Scandal of the Century by Frank Partnoy

Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2008–2009

Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2008–2009 assesses public access to computers, the Internet, and Internet-related services in U.S. public libraries, and the impact of library funding changes on connectivity, technology deployment, and sustainability. The study builds on the longest-running and largest study of Internet connectivity in public libraries begun in 1994 by John Carlo Bertot and Charles R. McClure. The report provides information that can help library directors and library IT staff benchmark and advocate for technology resources in communities across the nation. The data are also of importance for policymakers at local, state, and federal levels, manufacturers of information and communication technologies, and the communities served by public libraries.

Library Connect - August 2009

Library Connect Volume 7, No 3, August 2009 is now available from Elsevier

London Parish Records since 1538 now online

"Now you can research family records going right back to the reign of Henry VIII. Our amazing new London Parish Records collection gives you a unique opportunity to see records going back further than 1837 - which is when formal birth, marriage and death certificates were introduced. Anglican churches have kept records of all baptisms, marriages and deaths in the parishes since 1538. Although some of the earliest records haven't survived, those from the 17th century onwards are in remarkably good order. You'll find the baptism records really helpful in your research, because they date back to before it became law to record a birth. So even without a birth certificate, if you discover when a child was baptised you can find out the parents names and where they lived. With these names you can start tracing their parents and the generations before them. By following the paper trail back over the centuries, you might be amazed to discover whole new London branches of your family tree.
http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/lma/default.aspx

Digital libraries bridge the Atlantic

The hand-written annotations Charles Darwin made on 700 of the books in his personal library were painstakingly transcribed in the 1980s. Now, thanks to high-resolution digital imagery and an international partnership between the University of Cambridge, the Darwin Digital Library of Evolution at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Natural History Museum in London and the Biodiversity Heritage Library (a collective of ten major natural history museum libraries, botanical libraries, and research institutions in the US and UK), Darwin's marginalia will be digitally married to the texts they illuminate, allowing scholars to learn his thoughts on a wide range of topics. The project is supported by the JISC/NEH Transatlantic Digitization Collaboration grant programme offered by the NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) and JISC

9th Annual Augustana Information Literacy in Academic Libraries Workshop

9th Annual Augustana Information Literacy in Academic Libraries Workshop - December 3 2009 - University of Alberta, Canada

St. Francis College Literary Prize winner

"From nearly 40 submissions down to one, the jury for the first ever St. Francis College Literary Prize has selected Aleksandar Hemon for his book, Love and Obstacles (Riverhead Books) as the winner of the $50,000 award, one of the richest Literary Prizes in the United States. Hemon, raised in Sarajevo and now residing in Chicago wrote his first work in English in 1995. He was awarded the prize at the Gala Opening Night Party of the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 12. Hemon was selected over the other short list authors: Chris Abani, Song For Night (Akashic Books); Jim Krusoe, Girl Factory (Tin House Books) and Arthur Phillips, The Song Is You (Random House)"

Wiley-Blackwell 2010 journals price list

The Wiley-Blackwell 2010 journals price list is now available

The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize shortlist

The Center for Fiction has announced the five finalists for the $10,000 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. The 2009 finalists are:

"American Rust" by Philipp Meyer from Spiegel & Grau
"The Cradle" by Patrick Somerville from Little, Brown and Co.
"Tinkers" by Paul Harding from Bellevue Literary Press
"The Vagrants" by Yiyun Lin from Random House
"Woodsburner" by John Pipkin from Doubleday/Nan A. Talese

D-Lib Magazine - September/October 2009

D-Lib Magazine - September/October 2009 is now available

2009 Toronto Book Awards finalists

The 5 finalists for the 2009 Toronto Book Awards have been announced:

Austin Clarke - More
Anthony De Sa - Barnacle Love
Maggie Helwig - Girls Fall Down
Mark Osbaldeston - Unbuilt Toronto
Charles Wilkins - In the Land of Long Fingernails

Google Public Sector

"Most people reach government and other public sector websites by using Google and other search engines. Google Public Sector is a guide to the tools and best practices that can help you reach, communicate and engage with your community. Most of these tools are free, so they can also help you do more with less"

JISC Podcast: e-Books provide 'safety valve' for librarians

For a year, 26 e-course texts across four subject areas (Medicine, Business, Engineering and Media Studies) were made available to 127 UK universities who took part in a National e-books observatory project funded by JISC and carried out by JISC Collections. The largest study of its kind, it has seen the behaviours of over 50,000 participants and observed to see how they use a selection of academic electronic textbooks. In this podcast Rebecca O'Brien is joined by Caren Milloy, the project's manager at JISC Collections, and her co-author of the National e-books Observatory Project report, Ian Rowlands from CIBER who carried out the study

Cell Death & Disease coming January 2010 from NPG

"Nature Publishing Group (NPG) and the Associazione Differenziamento e Morte Cellulare (ADMC) have announced a new open access journal, Cell Death & Disease. Launching in January 2010, Cell Death & Disease will explore the area of cell death from a translational medicine perspective"

50 Benefits of Ebooks is published in a revised and expanded edition (September 2009)

50 Benefits of Ebooks: A Thinking Person's Guide to the Digital Reading Revolution by Michael Pastore. Afterword by Michael S. Hart, Founder, Project Gutenberg. Revised and Expanded Edition: September 2009

OverDrive releases digital audiobook application for Windows Mobile

OverDrive has announced the release of the first in a series of free digital book applications for mobile devices. OverDrive Media Console for Windows Mobile enables users with Windows Mobile phones to wirelessly download audiobooks, music, and video to their devices and play the titles with the same navigation features of OverDrive's desktop software

The British Library Preservation Advisory Centre

"The British Library Preservation Advisory Centre is the new name for the National Preservation Office (NPO). The change of name follows the NPO's recent integration with the British Library Collection Care department and heralds the start of a new period of development for preservation services. The Preservation Advisory Centre will build on the NPO's achievements of the past 25 years, and the successes of the recently opened BL Centre for Conservation, providing a focus for preservation and increasing opportunities for libraries and archives of all types and sizes to equip themselves with the skills and knowledge to meet the challenges of caring for collections in the 21st century"

Prince William opens GBP78m Darwin Centre (UK)

The new GBP78m Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum has been opened by Prince William. The centre, in central London, features an eight-storey "cocoon", housing 17 million insect specimens and three million plant specimens. Visitors will also be able to see scientists at work in new laboratories as well as visit the Attenborough Studio, named after the TV naturalist - BBC

See also the Darwin Centre website

Google Fast Flip

"Google Fast Flip is a web application that lets users discover and share news articles. It combines qualities of print and the Web, with the ability to "flip" through pages online as quickly as flipping through a magazine. It also enables users to follow friends and topics, discover new content and create their own custom magazines around searches"

Symposium: Public Libraries 2020

"This Symposium for Ontario's public library community will feature dynamic speakers looking towards 2020 and identifying important trends. It will be held in Toronto on September 24, 2009. The Symposium is a project of the $15 million dollar investment in public libraries from the Ontario Ministry of Culture through Southern Ontario Library Service and Ontario Library Service - North"

InSITE - September 14, 2009

InSITE: A Current Awareness Service of Cornell Law Library - Vol. 15, No. 2, September 14, 2009 is now available

Humanities Content in the Digital Age: A Look at Publication Processes, Web Marketing, and the Importance of Global Outreach

NFAIS Humanities Roundtable VIII: Humanities Content in the Digital Age: A Look at Publication Processes, Web Marketing, and the Importance of Global Outreach - October 19, 2009 - New York, NY

Cites & Insights 9:11 (October 2009)

Cites & Insights 9:11 (October 2009) is now available for downloading

Mobile Delivery of Content: Challenges and Opportunities

Mobile Delivery of Content: Challenges and Opportunities - "This meeting will provide an overview of the current acceptance of mobile devices as an Internet access tool, along with case studies of information providers who are currently offering mobile-ready content. It will look at the challenges that must be met in content preparation and adapting to diverse technology infrastructures, and will discuss some of the new business practices and policies that are emerging as publishers and librarians experiment with providing mobile delivery of content. In closing, we will take a look at how this new delivery channel will evolve over the next five years" - October 30, 2009 - Philadelphia, PA, USA

Thomson Reuters introduces Century of Social Sciences

"Thomson Reuters has announced the launch of Century of Social Sciences, a set of backfiles covering groundbreaking research in the social sciences back to 1900. Century of Social Sciences expands the coverage of Web of Science, available on the ISI Web of Knowledge platform. Culled from over 300 prestigious journals, information dating back to 1900 is now available to researchers, faculty, authors, and students allowing them to track research trends, authors, and articles over the entire century, and to identify seminal studies that form the basis for today's research."

NISO webinar - Bibliographic Control Alphabet Soup: AACR to RDA and Evolution of MARC

"Librarians, ILS vendors, and commercial cataloging service providers - as well as a wide variety of related service providers - all know that the proverbial, heavily acronym-spice bibliographic control alphabet soup involves the intelligent and well informed use of many ingredients. Chief in these are constantly evolving standards, combined with more than a sprinkling of creativity and insight. Three expert metadata chefs will analyze and discuss specific alphabetic ingredients already in use or soon to be implemented in the bib control kitchen." - October 14, 2009

UK publisher Marion Boyars driven out of business

"One of the UK's most adventurous independent publishers, Marion Boyars, is being forced out of business after more than 40 years by the adverse climate of today's book trade. The publisher of authors including Ken Kesey, Georges Bataille, Nobel prize winner Kenzaburo Oe, Ivan Illich and Shel Silverstein, Marion Boyars said that it had sold licences in 38 literary titles to Penguin Classics, and that it would be winding down its operations once it has completed its autumn programme" - Guardian

The Top Ten Things Library Administrators Should Know About Technology - from Roy Tennant

Roy Tennant writes: "It's not insulting to say that those who run libraries tend not to know all that much about technology. A very different set of skills are needed to run an organization, and those skills do not often come packaged along with technical knowledge and experience. But administrators need to know some specific things about technology in order to do their jobs well, so here is my list"

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #86

LISTen: The LISNews.org Podcast - Episode #86. "This week we've got news briefs and talk about the joys of public agency finance. Do you know what a carry-over balance is? Do you know why it matters whether or not your agency has one? Free Library of Philadelphia seems to be a textbook case come to life. We briefly touch upon why in this episode". Previous Podcasts can be found here

Webinar: Building the Digital Branch for the 21st Century

"When was the last time your website was redesigned - three years ago? Last century? Join presenter David Lee King for Building the Digital Branch: Guidelines to Transform Your Website for the 21st Century, a webinar brought to you in special collaboration with WebJunction-Kansas and ALA TechSource. David explores and expands on the process his web team used at Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library to transform their outdated website into a 21st century digital branch. David covers the differences between a website and a digital branch, and describes the redesign process - everything from the introductory planning stages of overhauling their website to the process of actually "doing stuff" at the new digital branch. Finally, planning for the future is discussed" - September 15, 2009

Google Book Search Bibliography version 5

Google Book Search Bibliography version 5 "presents selected English-language articles and other works that are useful in understanding Google Book Search. It primarily focuses on the evolution of Google Book Search and the legal, library, and social issues associated with it. 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" - From Charles W. Bailey, Jr.

Copyright, New Media Law & E-Commerce News - September 2009

Copyright, New Media Law & E-Commerce News - September 2009 is now available for download from Lesley Ellen Harris

MLA London Training Programme 2009-2010

MLA London's new training brochure is now available to download. The training events are:

* Small scale - to ensure that you leave with new skills and knowledge
* Affordable – we try to price courses competitively so that organisations of all sizes can attend
* Accessible – we aim to deliver events aimed at all levels within the sector
* Open to all organisations and practitioners throughout the museum, library, and archive sector

MLA London is: Museums, Libraries and Archives London

LILAC 2010 call for papers

The call for papers for LILAC 2010 to be held 29 to 31 March in Limerick, Ireland is now open. The themes of next year's conference are:

* Measuring Impact
* Developing the IL practitioner
* IL and research
* Making connections: cross-sectoral initiatives
* Innovative practice

Competition for community wi-fi (UK)

"Librarians, youth-workers, and local vicars are being encouraged to apply to a fund which will provide free net access in selected UK communities. The fund is run by Freerunner, a company that installs wi-fi hotspots. The firm has said it will install 50 access points in communities across the UK, "no matter where they are". Earlier this year, the government made a pledge to ensure that every home in the UK can access 2 Megabits per second (Mbps) broadband by 2012. A study commissioned by the BBC earlier this year suggested that some three million homes currently have speeds of 2Mbps or below. The government's Digital Britain report has proposed that every citizen, with a fixed-line phone, will pay 50p per month to pay for the roll out of faster, next generation networks" - BBC

McGraw-Hill Connect

"McGraw-Hill Connect offers a number of powerful tools and features to make managing assignments easier, so you can spend more time teaching. With Connect, students can engage with their coursework anytime and anywhere, making the learning process more accessible and efficient"

New library gargoyles shown off - Bodleian Library

The newest gargoyles to grace Oxford's historic buildings have been unveiled by author Philip Pullman. Schoolchildren competed to design the nine carvings at the Bodleian Library after the originals crumbled away. Oxford-based Mr Pullman, known for the His Dark Materials trilogy, cut the ribbon at the ceremony at 1000 BST. As there was no historical record of the original designs, they have been replaced by images including those of fictional characters. Some of the characters include Aslan, the lion from The Chronicles of Narnia, and Tweedledum and Tweedledee, from Through The Looking Glass. Hundreds of children entered the competition, launched two years ago as part of the Millennium Myths and Monsters festival, celebrating 1,000 years of Oxfordshire" - BBC

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with free trials to Alexander Street Press titles

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 through October 15 (September 15 is the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, while Mexico declared independence September 16, Chile on September 18, and Belize on September 21), Alexander Street Press is offering these sneak peek free trials to three of its products:

Caribbean Literature
Latin American Women Writers
Latino Literature

Here are the codes to use with all three files:
Username: eviews
Password: hispanicheritage

Library of Congress Digital Preservation Newsletter - September 2009

The September 2009 issue of the Library of Congress Digital Preservation Newsletter is now available

Brooklyn Book Festival 2009

"The Brooklyn Book Festival is a huge, free public event presenting an array of literary stars and emerging authors who represent the exciting world of literature today. One of America's premier literary and literacy events, this hip, smart, diverse gathering attracts thousands of book lovers of all ages. The festival is organized around themed readings and devoted to timely and lively panel discussions. The inclusion of top national and international authors and new partners has expanded the festival's reach while continuing to celebrate and enhance Brooklyns contemporary and historic literary reputation" - September 13 2009 - New York, USA

Koha Express - for any library on a budget

"LibLime's Koha Express is perfect for any library on a budget. This subscription-based turnkey solution offers the award-winning Koha ILS at a fraction of the cost of a commercially-supported solution. It lets your library stay within budget without sacrificing features"

Library + Information Gazette 11-24 September 2009

Library + Information Gazette, the fortnightly magazine for the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, is now available online to everyone. Latest issue: 11 September - 24 September 2009

All Free Library of Philadelphia Branch, Regional and Central Libraries Closed Effective Close of Business October 2, 2009

Siobhan Reardon, President and Director, Free Library of Philadelphia writes: "We deeply regret to inform you that without the necessary budgetary legislation by the State Legislature in Harrisburg, the City of Philadelphia will not have the funds to operate our neighborhood branch libraries, regional libraries, or the Parkway Central Library after October 2, 2009"

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Interactive Educational Multimedia

Journal of King Abduaziz University : Engineering Sciences

Revista Colombiana de Psicología

Journal of New Frontiers in Spatial Concepts

Biblio Tech Review - August/September 2009

The August/September issue of Biblio Tech Review is now available. This issue includes:

* ASCC (Automation System Colorado Consortium) Selects Koha and LibLime
* Open Book Alliance Formed to Counter Google Book Settlement
* Libraries in Clackamas County (LINCC) Implements SirsiDynix Symphony
* eiNetwork Consortia Opts for AquaBrowser Library Software

Canadian Book Review Annual Online

CBRAonline provides users with access to more than 40,000 authoritative reviews of Canadian scholarly, reference, trade, children's, and young-adult books as well as 1,800 new books reviewed annually. Written by academics, librarians, and other professionals, CBRAonline reviews are a reliable resource librarians and educators can use in collection development. But equally important, CBRAonline's easy search capabilities will save users time with quick and efficient searches". Free trial available from September 14, 2009

WorldWideScience.org

"WorldWideScience.org is a global science gateway connecting you to national and international scientific databases and portals. WorldWideScience.org accelerates scientific discovery and progress by providing one-stop searching of global science sources. The WorldWideScience Alliance, a multilateral partnership, consists of participating member countries and provides the governance structure for WorldWideScience.org. Subsequent versions of WorldWideScience.org will make additional science information resources from many nations accessible via this portal. Read about the WorldWideScience.org Architecture: What is under the Hood. WorldWideScience.org was developed and is maintained by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), an element of the Office of Science within the U.S. Department of Energy"

William Blake's World: "A New Heaven Is Begun"

"In the Morgan's first exhibition devoted to Blake in two decades, former director Charles Ryskamp and curators Anna Lou Ashby and Cara Denison have assembled many of Blake's most spectacular watercolors, prints, and illuminated books of poetry to dramatically underscore his genius and enduring influence. William Blake's World: "A New Heaven Is Begun" - the subtitle a quote from Blake referring to the significance of his date of birth - is on view from September 11, 2009, to January 3, 2010. The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, New York"

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Musical Instruments. Answers here.

1. Nowadays, which musical instrument usually comes in the shape of the grand or the upright?
2. A hi-hat is a regular component of which set of instruments?
3. What kind of instrument is the Indian tabla?
4. Name three of the four main instrument families which usually make up a symphony orchestra.
5. A nose flute is a flute blown through the nose instead of the mouth. Is this true or false?
6. Which musical instrument was invented in 1933 by a man trying to find new applications for his synchronous motor (previously used to power electric clocks)?
7. Which instrument is also known as the "English horn"?
8. What shape is the body of a balalaika?
9. "French harp" is another name for which instrument?
10. Which woodwind instrument has a tube more than 16 ft (4.9 m) long, doubled back upon itself four times?

The School Librarian - Autumn 2009

The School Librarian - Volume 57, Number 3, Autumn 2009 is now available

The Open Dinosaur Project

"The Open Dinosaur Project was founded to involve scientists and the public alike in developing a comprehensive database of dinosaur limb bone measurements, to investigate questions of dinosaur function and evolution. We have three major goals:1) do good science; 2) do this science in the most open way possible; and 3) allow anyone who is interested to participate. And by anyone, we mean anyone! We do not care about your education, geographic location, age, or previous background with paleontology. The only requirement for joining us is that you share the goals of our project and are willing to help out in the efforts"

New Books on Literature 19 (NBOL-19)

New Books on Literature 19 (NBOL-19) is a new Open Access journal of reviews of new scholarly books on 19th-century literature. The first issue was published September 1. The journal aims to publish reviews within 90 days of a new book's release. The reviews are commissioned from faculty and graduate students. The journal is funded by Dartmouth College's English Department and Humanities Division

Influenza (Flu) - Evidence-based Medical Information from EBSCO Publishing

"Due to Pandemic H1N1 Influenza and concerns about the 2009/2010 flu season, the EBSCO Publishing Medical and Nursing editors of DynaMed™, Nursing Reference Center™ (NRC) and Patient Education Reference Center™ (PERC) have made key influenza information from these resources freely available to health care providers worldwide. The editorial teams will monitor the research and update these resources continuously throughout the upcoming flu season."