Bioscience Reports to convert to full open-access

The Biochemical Society has announced that its peer-reviewed journal, Bioscience Reports will be accepting submissions for Open Access from 2nd April with the first full open access issue available from August 2012. All papers published from the August issue will be freely available online and subscriptions will no longer be charged from January 2013

Nature Publishing Group to co-publish new OA journal Light: Science & Applications

Light: Science & Applications publishes high quality optics and photonics research from around the world. The Journal covers fundamental research as well as the important issues in engineering and applied sciences that are related to optics and photonics. Light: Science & Applications is an open access fully peer-reviewed publication.

Wikidata

Wikidata aims to create a free knowledge base about the world that can be read and edited by humans and machines alike. It will provide data in all the languages of the Wikimedia projects, and allow for the central access to data in a similar vein as Wikimedia Commons does for multimedia files. Wikidata is proposed as a new Wikimedia hosted and maintained project

Peru Nobel laureate donates library to hometown

Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa will donate more than 30,000 books from his personal library to his hometown of Arequipa, where he was celebrating his 76th birthday. "A first installment of the books, properly classified" will be donated next year, the writer said during a ceremony in his honor. The books are planned to be delivered to Arequipa's Cultural Center, which administers the house where Vargas Llosa was born and will convert it into a museum in 2013. The author of "The Dream of Celt" said he decided to donate his library after "feeling very dedicated" to Arequipa for the love its people had shown him. Vargas Llosa said his more than 30,000 books are spread between residences in Lima, Madrid and Paris

Earth Hour - 30 March 2012

Hundreds of millions of people, businesses and governments around the world unite each year to support the largest environmental event in history - Earth Hour. More than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2011 alone, sending a powerful message for action on climate change. It also ushered in a new era with members going Beyond the Hour to commit to lasting action for the planet. Without a doubt, it's shown how great things can be achieved when people come together for a common cause

Podcast: Business Archives: new initiatives and developments (UK)

This podcast looks at the background to company archives and the recent development of national strategies to promote business archives more widely. The talk focuses on individual projects under way to improve storage and access to the records of companies, such as Marks & Spencer and Clarks Shoes and gives an update on the current architecture, building and construction survey. Alex Ritchie is the Business Archives Advice Manager at The National Archives. He has had a long involvement with business history and archives at both The National Archives and the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. He is best known as the author of The Shipbuilding Industry: a Guide to Historical Records (1992) and has been a major contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

CRL and Linda Hall Library form global resources partnership

CRL and the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, and Technology have entered into a strategic partnership to preserve and develop historical research collections in the fields of science, technology and engineering. The partnership will build upon the rich holdings of print serials in those fields assembled by the two institutions during the past six decades. Together, these two collections constitute a premier library of global science. CRL and Linda Hall will now combine human, technical, and financial resources to further develop these collections, actively promote their visibility and use, and preserve them for future generations of scholars and researchers

Chemistry: A Reference Guide to Selected Resources (Library of Congress)

New from Science Reference Services at the Library of Congress: Chemistry: A Reference Guide to Selected Resources, compiled by Denise P. Dempsey

The British Library releases a collection of historic recordings by major travel writers of the 20th century

The British Library has released a new 2CD set of recordings, The Spoken Word: Travel Writers. The latest in the highly-acclaimed series, 'The Spoken Word', this set brings together a selection of previously unreleased historic BBC broadcasts of major travel writers discussing their lives and their art, together with two rare live recordings made by the British Library. None of these recordings have been published before

Toronto library strike ends as workers approve deal (Canada)

Toronto's library workers have voted to end their 11-day strike. Under the new four-year collective agreement, full-time and part-time workers will be protected from layoffs after they earn 11 years of seniority. All 2,300 workers will get a raise, though their wages will not keep up with the current rate of inflation

SPIE to add earliest articles to SPIE Digital Library

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, this year will add conference proceedings and journal articles under its imprint that are currently available only in print to its SPIE Digital Library. The addition will extend the digital collection to the beginning of the society's publishing program. Approximately 40,000 technical papers dating from 1962 through 1989 will be added to the existing content at no additional charge to subscribers

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Journal of Reliability and Statistical Studies

Oñati Socio-Legal Series

International Journal on Advanced Science, Engineering and Information Technology

Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology and Food Sciences

British Library receives Keith Waterhouse archive and offers first glimpse with Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands

The British Library has acquired the archive of Billy Liar author Keith Waterhouse, CBE, who died in 2009. The award-winning journalist turned novelist, playwright and screenwriter left a large collection of manuscripts which has been donated to the British Library by his family. The first chance to glimpse an item from the archive will be during the Library's next major exhibition Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands (11 May - 25 September)

Wellcome Library: Thalidomide 50 Years On

The archive of the Thalidomide Society and the papers of Professor Richard Smithells have been catalogued and are now available to researchers at the Wellcome Library. Thalidomide was developed by the pharmaceutical company Grüenthal in Germany in 1957, and was used as a painkiller and tranquillizer. It was also effective in treating morning sickness during pregnancy, and many scientists believed that this drug would not harm the developing baby. However this was found not to be the case, and over 10,000 children in 46 countries were born with deformities such as phocomelia

New website for the archives sector launched (UK)

The UK National Archive's new Archives sector website has launched, providing guidance and information for everyone who works with or within archives. The website brings together strategic and practical resources for archives across the country to develop their collections and services and improve the experience of their users. It provides a place for archives to share learning and to promote their best practice. We consulted with our users and carried out extensive testing to create the website, which will continue to evolve as new initiatives such as the Archives Accreditation standard roll out

New standard from BSI helps protect the UK's cultural collections and address carbon emissions

Specification for managing environmental conditions for cultural collections - has been developed by BSI in collaboration with The National Archives, with additional sponsorship from Collections Trust; CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales, a division of the Welsh Government; and The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). PAS 198 breaks new ground by providing a framework for risk based decision making. Its aim is to support collecting organizations in specifying beneficial environmental conditions for the particular objects in their care. Collecting organizations will take into account the sensitivity of the objects in their collections and make their own judgements about the conditions that will help prevent rapid deterioration or irreversible damage. The risk-based framework of the PAS reflects an increasing acceptance of a new approach to setting environmental conditions which allows for a more responsible use of energy. It also reflects research findings that a move is needed away from a prescriptive to an evidence-led approach to environmental management

Connexion client 2.40 is released

Connexion client version 2.40 includes the following enhancements: Classify, MARC Update, RDA workforms, GLIMIR and more. Version 2.40 is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows and supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, but does not support Windows 2000. Version 2.40 uses .NET Framework 4 Extended which is supplied with the Connexion client 2.40 software. You will be required to upgrade to version 2.40 by October 1, 2012. An upgrade warning message will begin appearing when you start version 2.10, 2.20, or 2.30 beginning in early August 2012

Eighth Annual Genealogy Fair (USA)

Eighth Annual Genealogy Fair - Branching Out: Exploring Your Family Tree - April 18 & 19, 2012 - Washington, DC, USA.

* This two-day program showcases the Federal records located at the National Archives as resources for family history research.

* The fair provides information and guidance for experienced genealogy professionals and novices alike. The fair is free and open to the public

EBSCO Discovery Service™ expands German content with WTI - Frankfurt agreement

EBSCO Publishing continues to expand its access to German content in EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) thanks to a recent agreement with WTI-Frankfurt eG. The agreement allows content from WTI's TEMA (Technology and Management) database to be available in the Base Index of EDS

CILIP in London Event: Unlocking the Universe: bibliographic forensics applied to important scientific papers

CILIP in London Event: Unlocking the Universe: bibliographic forensics applied to important scientific papers - 12 April 2012 - London, UK

Salt Lake City Public Library has implemented a new catalog based on BiblioCommons

The Salt Lake City Library, Utah, USA, has announced that a new online catalog will be available April 1 to make finding library materials easier, faster, more intuitive, and a lot more fun

Current Cites - March 2012

Current Cites (edited by Roy Tennant) - March 2012 is now available

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - March 30, 2012

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Con Tricks. "Here are clues to ten words which all start with con-. For instance, "The director of an orchestra, choir, opera or ballet" could lead to "conductor". Can you identify all ten words?" Answers here.

1. A performance given by one or more singers or instrumentalists or both.
2. The interchange through speech of information, ideas, etc.; spoken communication.
3. Somebody who is kept in prison as a punishment for a crime.
4. To express pleasure to someone at their success, good fortune, happiness, etc.
5. To give one’s permission for something; to agree to something.
6. Hollowed or rounded inwards like the inside of a bowl.
7. An entertainer who is able to twist their body into spectacularly unnatural positions.
8. A large destructive fire.
9. An index of words used in a single book or all the works of an author.
10. The state of being related by blood or descended from a common ancestor.

The Alan Lomax Sound Archive now online: features 17,000 recordings

A huge treasure trove of songs and interviews recorded by the legendary folklorist Alan Lomax from the 1940s into the 1990s have been digitized and made available online for free listening. The Association for Cultural Equity, a nonprofit organization founded by Lomax in the 1980s, has posted some 17,000 recordings

Cityread London (UK)

Cityread London is about more than just reading. Aiming to get more Londoners into libraries and enjoying great novels, we've picked a Dickens favourite as our first title, urging Londoners to reacquaint themselves with Oliver Twist through the book and a whole series of events and activities. With all 33 London boroughs involved there's bound to be something happening near you, from film screenings to theatre-based workshops and even an online book group which you can be part of without leaving the comfort of your own home. Cityread London is supported and funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. We are proud to be working in partnership with Penguin Classics as part of Dickens 2012

London LibTeachMeet 2012 - Supporting Diverse Learners

LibTeachMeets are gatherings where librarians share teaching ideas through 2 or 5 minute presentations. We share and discuss ideas over drinks and cakes in between the sessions. It is also a great opportunity to meet new people and share experiences and get advice - 14 May 2012 - London, UK

Unpublished letters written by Ernest Hemingway made available for the first time by JFK Library

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has announced that fifteen letters written by Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway to his close friend Gianfranco Ivancich have been made available to scholars. Hemingway met Ivancich and his sister, Adriana, who became the author's muse, while visiting Venice in 1949. The letters provide a glimpse into Hemingway's life in Cuba and his travels around the world

Further content and functionality added to the Cambridge Digital Library (UK)

Further content and functionality has been added to the Cambridge Digital Library. We have added more items to the Islamic Manuscripts and Newton collections - including several videos explaining Newton's work and ideas - and have initiated two new collections: the Cairo Genizah collection and Treasures of the Library. Both these collections will grow considerably over the the next few months. The initial Genizah collection includes a selection of seventy-two manuscripts, intended to show the wide range of material in this fascinating collection. Among the Treasures we've added to the Digital Library are the Codex Bezae, Life of St Edward the Confessor, Nuremberg Chronicle, and Montaigne's copy of Titi Lucretii Cari De rerum natura libri sex. The last three works are featured in the current Library exhibition, Shelf Lives. Now you can view these treasures in great detail, from cover to cover

38 more Open Access and subscription Journals added to JournalTOCs

Roddy MacLeod has added 38 more Open Access journals to JournalTOCs, where you can find the latest Tables of Contents from over 18,500 scholarly journals, including over 3,700 Open Access journals

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Series V : Economic Sciences

International Journal of ePortfolio

Journal of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Journal of Clinical and Analytical Medicine

Journal of Experimental and Integrative Medicine

Future Studies Research Journal : Trends and Strategies

Revista Geográfica de América Central

European Journal of Remote Sensing

Research Journal of Pure Algebra

Journal of Anthropology

Journal of Blood Transfusion

Moringa : Artes do Espetáculo

Textpraxis : Digitales Journal für Philologie

International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Research

Plant Science Feed

Algae

The Scientific World Journal

European Journal of Economic and Political Studies

Book Grocer: 28 March to 3 April, 2012

Book Grocer: 28 March to 3 April, 2012 - The week ahead in literary London from the Londonist blog. #books #London

Index on Censorship celebrates 40 years with 40 days of free access

SAGE celebrates Index on Censorship's 40th anniversary with free access to the magazine's historic archive for 40 days, from 26 March until 4 May. After that date, the archive from 1972-2010 will remain free for the rest of the year

InSITE: A Current Awareness Service of Cornell Law Library - Vol. 17, No. 12, March 26, 2012

InSITE: A Current Awareness Service of Cornell Law Library - Vol. 17, No. 12, March 26, 2012 is now available. Contents:

# Citizen Media Law Project
# CourtWeb: Online Federal Court Opinions Information System
# WomanStats Project

ABC releases landmark archival film footage under Creative Commons (Australia)

This year, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is turning 80 years old. To celebrate, the ABC has launched a new website called "80 Days That Changed Our Lives", giving 80 pieces of audio visual content from the ABC archives a new lease on life. This content includes news reports and interviews recording key moments in Australian history

Springer launches new platform for the corporate sector: Springer for R&D

Springer Science+Business Media has launched a new corporate platform, Springer for R&D, which provides access to over 5.6 million research documents, all optimized for specific corporate markets. Springer for R&D aims to become the primary resource destination for all new corporate and medical customers. All articles in Springer for R&D are taken from Springer's online platform SpringerLink, which will remain in its existing form serving the academic community

Discover more than 300,000 naturalisation records (UK)

It is now easier than ever to search naturalisation records at The National Archives, following the successful completion of a cataloguing project. Staff at Kew have added more than 300,000 individual item level descriptions to the HO 334 record series, which contains duplicate naturalisation certificates issued between 1870 and 1980. Where duplicate certificates were not kept, between 1969 and 1980, descriptions have been added to the indexes in HO 409 instead. By working from the original records, the project has unearthed several hundred certificates not previously indexed, mainly for military service personnel who obtained British citizenship without applying directly to the Home Office

Librarians, authors join forces at read-in (Canada)

Local 4948's striking library workers held a reading event outside the Toronto Reference Library, with help from local authors

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog - March 26, 2012 update

The March 26, 2012 edition of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog from Charles W. Bailey, Jr. is now available. It provides information about new works related to scholarly electronic publishing, such as books, e-prints, journal articles, magazine articles, technical reports, and white papers

Tenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities (Canada)

Tenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities - Montréal, Canada 14 to 16 June 2012. The Conference will address a range of critically important themes in the various fields that make up the humanities today. Plenary speakers will include some of the world's leading thinkers in the humanities, as well as numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations by teachers and researchers. The 2012 conference will address the Special Theme - Looking Forward: Humanities for the Future

Trends in Developing and Managing E-Resources in Libraries conference (India)

Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) is organizing two day National Conference on "Trends in Developing and Managing E-Resources in Libraries", scheduled to be held "during 3rd week of May 20012. The following themes have been identified:

* Types of e-resources and its utilities;
* Mandatory requirement v/s subscription of e-resources,;
* Policies, selection and budgeting of e-resources;
* Latest trends in collection development of e-resources;
* Competitive skills and techniques of professionals in organizing e-resources;
* Tools and techniques in organizing e-resources;
* Organization of e-resources using Open Source Software (OSS);
* Need for management of e-resources;
* Challenges, methods and impacts of e-resources;
* Strategic planning and management of e-resources;
* Provision to access virtual e-resources;
* Effective usage of e-resources;
* Optimum usage of e-resources;
* Access patterns of e-resources using remote web portals; and
* Selecting patterns of e-resources for academic/research pursuits

1.3 million Westminster parish records published at findmypast.co.uk

findmypast.co.uk writes: Today we have published more than 1.3 million parish records for Westminster on findmypast.co.uk The records cover the vast period 1538-1945, making them a historical goldmine for those with London ancestors. We have made these records available online for the first time. More than 50 Westminster churches are included in the records published today, including St Anne, Soho, St Clement Danes, St George Hanover Square, St James Westminster, St Margaret Westminster, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St Mary-le-Strand and St Paul Covent Garden

Elsevier to publish Czech Society of Cardiology flagship journal Cor et Vasa

Elsevier and the Czech Society of Cardiology and Czech Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, have announced the re-launch of journal Cor et Vasa. Cor et Vasa is the official journal of the Czech Society of Cardiology, which was the first to publish breakthrough guidelines for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction recommending primary angioplasty as first choice therapy. It is open to all novel research in the field of cardiology and is recognized as a distinct international research forum gaining significant interest and contributions from all Central and Easter European countries

UK's largest music and drama lending library saved by campaigners

New homes found for Yorkshire Music and Drama Service's 500,000 scores and 90,000 scripts after appeals from thousands of choirs, orchestras and drama groups

Shortlist of companies bidding to run Croydon libraries revealed (UK)

The five shortlisted bidders to run library services in Croydon have been revealed. Along with Wandsworth Council, the local authority has been working to find a partner to take control of its libraries. The five shortlisted companies are understood to be LSSI, Civica, Essex County Council, Greenwich Leisure Trust and John Laing. LSSI (Library Systems and Services) are an American company set up in 1981 who run 17 public libraries in the US. It has stated it wants to move into the UK market and has said it is committed to working with local councils

M&S Company Archive (UK)

To celebrate the 100th birthday of Marks & Spencer in 1984, the Company took the opportunity to look back with pride at its long history. We decided to collect together the many historical items from all over the Company and create the M&S Company Archive. Since then, the archive team has worked to collect, catalogue and make available for use, all kinds of records of Marks & Spencer's past. Today the archive contains more than 70,000 items from the last 128 years, and we welcome new additions to our collection

Exeter Cathedral: How do you move 70,000 archives? (UK)

Exeter Cathedral is getting ready to open a new centre to keep all its archives in one place. But how do you move thousands of documents, some of which date back to 1050? "We've got 70,000 books, documents and records, although it's more than that figure when you put the archives together," Canon librarian Ann Barwood said. "They were in different locations - above the refectory, the library, one collection up at the university and then the other collection in the west wing of the palace." The cathedral has invested £1.5m in refurbishing the West Wing of the Bishop's Palace to store its archives and run workshops, but Ms Barwood said the money was "neither here nor there" when it came to preserving the cathedral's history. "It was important that we could preserve them fully and properly, otherwise they may as well have gone into the skip."

Wiley-VCH and ACES to launch organic chemistry journal rooted in Asia

Wiley-VCH, part of the scientific and technical publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and the Asian Chemical Editorial Society (ACES) have announced the launch of the Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry, the second pan-Asia society chemistry journal after Chemistry - An Asian Journal, launched by ACES and Wiley-VCH in 2006

Internet Librarian International 2012 (UK) - call for speakers

Internet Librarian International 2012 will take place at Olympia in London 30-31 October (with pre-event workshops scheduled for 29 October). We invite participation from a wide range of professionals - new and established - from all over the world to share their experiences of developing and delivering innovative information services. We seek dynamic speakers from all types of libraries - public, academic, government, national or commercial - as well as those working outside a ‘traditional’ library setting. The deadline for submissions is 12 April 2012

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Interscientific Health Care

Strategic Leadership Review

Colonial administration records to be released to The National Archives (UK)

The National Archives is working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to transfer and begin releasing colonial administration records, referred to as the 'migrated archives' between April 2012 and November 2013, in accordance with FCO's published timeline on the FCO website. The first batch will be made available in the reading rooms at The National Archives from Wednesday 18 April 2012. This release will contain records from Aden, Anguilla, Bahamas, Basutoland. Bechuanaland, British Indian Ocean Territories, Brunei, Cyprus, Kenya, Malaya, Sarawak and Seychelles. On Wednesday 18 April 2012, a guide to the first batch of files will be published on The National Archives website and will provide more information on how to search the records

Britain's original information revolution

We may think we are in the middle of a communications revolution: Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Hulu, iTunes. Did any of those mean anything five years ago? But all of them are, in their ways, secondary phenomena. Some of them are image-based, post-literate, but none would work without the foundations of a much deeper communications revolution which swept across Europe 400 years ago. The 17th century is when the Europeans started to write: letters, diaries, journals, notebooks, account books, commonplace books, business correspondence, pamphlets, posters, chapbooks, newspapers. It was the first communications revolution, which both spawned and reflected the most revolutionary century we have ever had - Adam Nicolson

Portland State University's Digital Repository (USA)

Portland State University's Digital Repository is designed to make the work of the University's scholars widely available and ensures that these resources are preserved and organized for the future. It provides a centralized, easily navigable platform for accessing the scholarship of faculty and researchers, including working papers, reports, conference presentations, journal articles, dissertations and theses, and other scholarly materials

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #191

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #191. "This week's episode brings a conference report from Blake Carver followed by a bit of a news miscellany". Previous Podcasts/Programs can be found here

Teen Librarian Monthly: The EDGE Edition

The March EDGE Edition of Teen Librarian Monthly is now available! Featuring articles by:
Sara Grant, Savita Kalhan, Paula Rawsthorne, Dave Cousins, Bryony Pearce, Miriam Halahmy, Katie Dale & Keren David

Radio 4 unveils Shakespeare series (UK)

British Museum Director Neil MacGregor has announced full details of a special 20-part Radio 4 series dedicated to William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's Restless World will explore the bard's life, work and the period he lived in by examining a number of objects from the era. "This series gives us a chance to understand what life was like in the turbulent world of William Shakespeare," Mr MacGregor said. The series starts on 16 April

Internet Archive's 35mm stock footage collection

Internet Archive's 35mm stock footage collection consists of material especially shot for stock footage purposes as well as feature film outtakes and unused material that were conserved for future use in other productions. Rights to this collection are held by Internet Archive. You may download and reuse material under the Creative Commons Attribution License. If you require higher-quality material or a written license agreement, please contact Getty Images for licensing information

Paintings of the Americas

Published to celebrate the highly acclaimed 2010 opening of the Art of the Americas Wing at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Paintings of the Americas, the MFA's first freely accessible web-based catalogue, is a new way to experience one of the world's finest collections of American paintings. Recent scholarship, innovative design, and up-to-date digital publishing technology bring the Museum's spectacular American painting collection to readers as never before - and it's completely free

JSTOR Update - March 23, 2012

JSTOR Update - March 23, 2012. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that enables discovery, access, and preservation of scholarly content

Podcast: 'There is no aspect of government activity on which the State Papers may not throw light': the papers of the secretaries of state 1509-1782

The state papers are the correspondence and papers of the ministers of the Crown during the early modern period. For the first time individuals and personalities emerge from obscurity and we are able to go behind the scenes of government and explore motives, policy-making, and ideas. The state papers are the backbone of early modern records transforming the historians' approach to this lively period. The talk begins with an overview of the state papers, followed by their use over time, and how the State Papers Office was run. The podcast ends with a summary of finding aids available, including what is accessible on State Papers Online. Dr Adrian Ailes is a principal records specialist in early modern records and is particularly interested in local history, the gentry, heraldry and seals. Dr Katy Mair is an early modern records specialist whose research interests include the Jacobites, the history of reading, and the religious culture of women. Her doctorate examined the correspondence of the 16th century gentlewoman Lady Anne Bacon, and focused particularly on her unpublished letters to her sons, Anthony and Francis Bacon

Online Famine archive translated from French (Ireland)

An online archive of stories on the Great Irish Famine from an unusual source has been unveiled at the University of Limerick. Launched by Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, the archive translates historic annals from the French language and pays tribute to the French-Canadian Sisters of Charity, or Grey Nuns, who cared for Famine emigrants in Montreal in 1847. The annals are said to contain extensive and highly evocative eyewitness accounts of the suffering of Famine migrants. The archives tell the tale of the harrowing experiences of priests and nuns who went to their aid and sought to provide homes for stricken widows and orphans. The main story in the archive is that of the Grey Nuns, which was published in French in 1898 and has been translated into English for the virtual archive

National Library Week 2012 (USA)

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries across the United States each April. This year's is April 8-14, 2012

Roanoke County Public Library celebrates Japan (USA)

Celebrate Japan! is a partner project with Roanoke County and Roanoke City public libraries to celebrate the Taubman Museum of Art's latest exhibition entitled Friendship Dolls: America and Japan in the 1920s. Between now and the end of May, both library systems will offer a number of Japanese-themed programs for children, teens and adults

Over 1,900 oil paintings from the National Library of Wales join the Your Paintings website

The Public Catalogue Foundation, in partnership with the BBC, has announced that all oil paintings from The National Library of Wales have been added to the Your Paintings website for the nation to enjoy. Your Paintings is a project to create a complete online catalogue of every oil painting in the national collection, whether on display or in store

New digitized reels: border entry records, 1908-1918 and 1925-1935 (Canada)

Library and Archives Canada has announced that you can now access 121,302 new images of immigration records on our website. Before 1908, people were able to move freely across the border from the United States into Canada. Beginning in that year, entry ports were established along the border. From 1908 to 1918, and from 1925 to 1935, border entry records were compiled in a list format to record the names of immigrants. By providing these images online, LAC is now offering all immigration records containing nominal information for immigrants from 1865 to 1935 in its custody. Discover these valuable resources with the Microform Digitization research tool, which allows you to browse, page by page, the border entry records

John Wiley & Sons has acquired Structurae

John Wiley & Sons has announced that it acquired Structurae, a leading online structural and civil engineering database

Wolters Kluwer Health releases first medical journal iPad® App in Pathology

Wolters Kluwer Health has announced the release of an iPad® app for the medical journal, Pathology. The app provides health care professionals with full mobile accessibility to the latest research into all aspects of pathology. Pathology is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, part of Wolters Kluwer Health on behalf of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia

Podcast: Digitised newspapers as sources for family history (UK)

This talk aims to give listeners a demonstration of the recently launched British Newspapers Archive. This database has over 200 UK newspapers, published from 1700-1950, and over 3 million pages - growing daily. Newspapers are frequently the only place where information about local people and events are published, so they are an important resource for the family historian. The talk gives practical examples from these newspapers. It also briefly describes some non-UK older digitised newspaper databases. Ed King has worked for the British Library since 1975. He is currently head of Newspaper Collections at the library. Since 2004, he has been involved with projects to digitise older newspapers in the library's collections. He has been working with many colleagues to realise the British Newspaper Archive, launched late in 2011.

Yale library symposium explores preserving history in the wake of disaster

Titled "Responding to 3-11: Preserving History in the Wake of Disaster," the forum will take place March 27 in the International Room at Sterling Memorial Library. Presented by the Yale Library's Standing Committee on Professional Awareness, and with the support of the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale, the forum will explore the conservation of archives impacted by the disasters, as well as efforts to protect archives from future disasters

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Fragments : Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Ancient and Medieval Pasts

China Foundry

Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies

Clinical Medicine Insights : Oncology

Clinical Medicine Insights : Pathology

Clinical Medicine Insights : Pediatrics

Clinical Medicine Insights : Reproductive Health

Clinical Medicine Insights : Therapeutics

Computers in Libraries 2012 presentations

Many presentations from Computers in Libraries 2012 are now available online

The International Book Project

The International Book Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization the promotes literacy, education and global friendships by sending over 150,000 books annually to schools, libraries, churches, community organizations and Peace Corps Volunteers throughout the developing world and in the United States

Private collector gives huge trove of road maps to Stanford (USA)

The Robert C. Berlo Road and Street Map Collection includes road maps, Forest Service maps, topographic maps, regional maps and city maps. Some were published by oil companies, others by real estate firms, and others by automobile associations, from the mid-1920s on

Ticer International Summer School 2012 - Netherlands

Ticer has announced that the 15th edition of its Summer School on Digital Libraries will be held from August 21 to 24, 2012 in Tilburg, The Netherlands. This year's Ticer Summer School consists of four modules. In addition, an exclusive Library Directors' Course will be organized

OCLC opens new data center in Sydney, Australia

OCLC is now operating a new data center in Sydney, Australia, to support OCLC WorldShare Management Services for members in Australia and New Zealand. The Sydney center becomes the fourth data center in OCLC's global network. OCLC opened a data center in the United Kingdom in December and maintains its two primary operations data centers in the United States

ProQuest will publish the Statistical Abstract (USA)

ProQuest will rescue one of researchers' most valued reference tools when it takes on publication of the Statistical Abstract of the United States beginning with the 2013 edition. The move ensures continuation of this premier guide to an extraordinary array of statistics, which has been published since 1878. The U.S. Census Bureau, responsible for publishing the work, announced in March 2011 that it would cease production of the Statistical Abstract after the 2012 edition, prompting widespread concern among librarians, journalists, and researchers about the disappearance of this essential research tool

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #190

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #190. "This week's episode looks at a blog post by David Rothman entitled "OverDrive gets loan of up to $1M from Ohio county with budget-challenged libraries".". Previous Podcasts/Programs can be found here

Friends of Tooting Library to be established (UK)

A Friends of Tooting Library group is about to be established, with plans to roll the idea out across the borough if it is a success. Wandsworth Council has agreed for a Friends of Tooting Library pilot group to be created, to work alongside exsisting staff. A council spokesman assured residents that there are no plans to replace professional librarians with the volunteers. Surrey has been trying to do this in a bid to save cash, sparking a huge backlash from residents, which has culminated in a judicial review this week

Clifford Lynch named 2012 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award winner

Clifford Lynch has been named the winner of the 2012 LITA/Library Hi Tech award for Outstanding Communication in Library and Information Technology, cosponsored by Emerald Group Publishing Limited. The award recognizes outstanding persons or institutions for their long-term contributions in the area of Library and Information Science technology and its application. It consists of $1,000 and a certificate of merit

Wiley-Blackwell Library Newsletter - Issue 8, Fall 2011

Wiley-Blackwell Library Newsletter - Issue 8, Fall 2011 is now available online

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - March 23, 2012

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: 2002. "It was only ten years ago, but can you remember things that happened in 2002? All these questions relate to the year 2002" Answers here.

1. In 2002, whom did musician Paul McCartney marry?
2. New notes and coins were issued on 1 January 2002 in several European countries for what currency?
3. What was the first name of David and Victoria Beckham's second child, born on 1 Sept 2002: Brooklyn, Romeo or Cruz?
4. Which humorous British weekly paper closed in 1992, was relaunched in 1996 by the Egyptian entrepreneur Mohamed al-Fayed, but folded in 2002?
5. In 2002, which American film producer and writer produced the film "Bowling for Columbine" and the book "Stupid White Men, and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation"?
6. In 2002, which American actor died after appearing in such films as "On the Waterfront", "The Pawnbroker" and "In the Heat of the Night"?
7. Bass player John Entwistle died in 2002. Which group was he famous for playing in?
8. in 2002, who was re-elected as President of France following a second round run-off with the extreme right-wing candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen?
9. The 39th president of the US was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002 for his efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts. What was his name?
10. Which country on a small island in south-east Asia gained independence from Indonesia in 2002?

Announcing the digital edition of Washington, D.C.'s Evening Star, 1852-1922 (USA)

This spring Readex will begin releasing a complete 70-year span of The Evening Star - one of the most influential newspapers in U.S. history. For more than a century, historians have regarded The Evening Star as the newspaper of record for the nation's capital. Today, curators from leading newspaper repositories cite this long-running afternoon daily as one of their most heavily researched papers

FreePint Newsletter 347

FreePint Newsletter 346 - 22 March 2012 now available

Writer Peter Carey to be awarded Bodley Medal (UK)

The Bodleian Libraries have announced the latest recipient of the Bodley Medal. The renowned Australian writer, Peter Carey will receive libraries' highest honour following his delivery of the Bodley Lecture (which is to be held for the first time at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival on 1 April). The award will be presented by Dr Sarah Thomas, Bodley's Librarian following the event where Peter Carey will discuss his last novel, The Chemistry of Tears, with Peter Kemp, the Sunday Times Chief Fiction Reviewer. Peter Carey is one of the greatest contemporary writers having received the Booker Prize twice, once for Oscar and Lucinda in 1988 and again for True History of the Kelly Gang in 2001. His other honours include the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Born in Australia he now lives in New York City, where he is the director of the Hunter College program in creative writing

Library Publishing Services: Strategies for Success: Final Research Report, from SPARC

Library Publishing Services: Strategies for Success - Final Research Report - Version 2.0, March 2012. This project was made possible by a Level II Collaborative Planning grant in the National Leadership Grant category from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Above the Fold - March 7, 2012

Above the Fold is a Web-based newsletter published by OCLC Research. It has been developed to serve a broad international readership from libraries, archives and museums - March 7, 2012 - Vol. 5, No. 10 now available

Book Grocer: 21-27 March 2012

Book Grocer: 21-27 March, 2012 - The week ahead in literary London from the Londonist blog. #books #London

The new CourseSmart eTextbook Reader

CourseSmart, a provider of etextbooks and digital course materials, has announced the launch of the New CourseSmart eTextbook Reader, an enhanced reading platform providing a greater overall user experience, new tools and viewing options. The New CourseSmart Reader is available now and can be used with any browser that supports Adobe Flash Player. The New CourseSmart Reader has faster page loading times, streamlined navigation, and multi-level zooming capabilities. In addition to a new look and feel, users will have access to new tools and functionality to enhance the learning experience

Register for free access to BBC Northern Ireland's news footage (UK only)

The BUFVC has announced the pre-launch of Chronicle: BBC Northern Ireland's television news from the 60s and 70s, for exclusive use by UK higher and further education institutions. The audio-visual archives of the BBC contain a wealth of material gathered since it was founded in the 1920's but it remains largely inaccessible. 'Chronicle' has made part of that archive available to UK higher and further education by digitising hours of content from the BBC Northern Ireland’s vaults. The digitised material will allow users to explore events over a 7 year time period (1969-1976) of Northern Ireland's history, delivering a rich and contextual experience from a political, historical and cultural perspective

CIPE Italian University Consortium to add 11 million records to WorldCat

OCLC and the CIPE consortium, which comprises 11 university libraries in northern and central Italy, have signed an agreement to load CIPE library records into WorldCat to increase visibility of these Italian collections, and enrich the world's largest resource for discovery of library materials

Salt Lake City Library program aims to help homeless connect with services (USA)

The Salt Lake City Library has developed a plan to better help Utah's homeless. The plan consists of hiring three on-site social workers to help the homeless better understand resources available to them

ACRL Podcast: 2012 Vice-Presidential candidates

In this podcast, C&RL News editor-in-chief David Free talks with Trevor A. Dawes and Debbie Malone, 2012 candidates for ACRL vice-president/ president-elect about their potential plans for the association

World Poetry Day

Every year on 21 March UNESCO celebrates the World Poetry Day. A decision to proclaim 21 March as World Poetry Day was adopted during the UNESCO's 30th session held in Paris in 1999

Einstein Archives Online

Starting this week, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is bringing online an extensive archive of papers and letters belonging to the great humanist and scientist. The collection currently features 2,000 documents and will eventually surpass 80,000. And it all gives a rounded view of Einstein's life and work. The documents shed light on his personal relationship with his mother, wife and many mistresses; his views on the Arab-Israeli conflict; and his work on physics itself

Tales from the Terminal Room - February 2012, Issue No. 100

Tales from the Terminal Room - February 2012, Issue No. 100 is now available. Tales from the Terminal Room is an electronic newsletter that includes reviews and comparisons of information sources; useful tools for managing information; technical and access problems on the Net; and news of RBA's training courses and publications. Editor: Karen Blakeman. Published by RBA Information Services

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

On the W@terfront

Open Access Medical Statistics

Chiropractic and Manual Therapies

Medical Heritage Library

The Medical Heritage Library is a digital curation collaborative among some of the world's leading medical libraries. The collection resides at the Internet Archive. The Medical Heritage Library is a content centered digital community supporting research, education, and dialog that enables the history of medicine to contribute to a deeper understanding of human health and society. MHL serves as the point of access to a valuable body of quality curated digital materials and to the broader digital and nondigitalholdings of its members. Through active community building and coordinated content selection, the MHL facilitates much needed discourse around the contemporary practice of medicine and human health

Explore libraries, pubs and historic sites of Ireland with ASCLA in 2012

The trip will run October 4-12, 2012 and will include hotels and transportation to Dublin, Kilkenny, Cork, Cobh and Killarney; four dinners; tours of the National Library and the Killarney Library, Trinity College and the Book of Kells, Powerscourt Gardens, Kilkenny and Blarney Castles and the Ring of Kerry. Participants will also tour Waterford Crystal, visit the heritage center in Cobh to learn more about important Irish historical events such as the mass migration of Irish to America and throw back a pint at a pub established in 1703. Participants are responsible for their own airfare

National Library Workers Day 2012 (USA)

Since 2003, National Library Workers Day has been celebrated on the Tuesday of National Library Week. The day recognizes the contributions of all library workers, including librarians, support staff and others who make library services possible. This year National Library Workers Day is April 10

Vaizey resign, say library campaigners (UK)

Library campaigners and Unison have called for Ed Vaizey to step down from his position as minister for culture, communications and creative industries after failing to take a strong stance over the issue of library closures

Classical Music in Video from Alexander Street Press

Classical Music in Video will contain 1,000 hours of classical music performances and masterclasses captured on video - approximately 1,500 performances in all. The collection will contain performances of all forms of classical music, including major orchestral performances by leading orchestras, plus chamber music, oratorio, and solo performances, along with masterclasses and interviews with master teachers from around the world. This release contains 435 video titles totaling 219 hours

UK mag the Spectator announces a 190-year online archive, and refreshes its iOS app

UK magazine The Spectator has made a number of new announcements relating to its digital offering, including a new iOS app and a pretty extensive online archive which is due to launch in the spring

Banipal available via Exact Editions

Banipal is an ever-open window on contemporary Arab literature. Since 1998, its three issues a year have presented fiction, poetry and interviews by established and emerging Arab authors and poets in English translation, most for the first time. Each issue also contains book reviews and features Guest Literature from a non-Arab country. Banipal is renowned for its dedication to bringing the works of Arab authors onto the global arena through English translation and is still the only publication of its kind. With the digital edition we're offering readers all over the world the chance to read the magazine on their computers, ipads or iphones, wherever they are

1,596 new maps and images added to the David Rumsey Map Collection

1,596 new maps and images have been added to the David Rumsey Map Collection, bringing the online collection to 30,599 maps and images. Included in this addition is Bowles' 1733 Geography Epitomiz'd, an early example of information visualization; Abraham Bradley's 1805 Post Road Map of the United States; Aaron Arrowsmith's General Atlas of 1817; a group of U.S. Mexican War broadsides and maps; Mitchell's 1855 Universal Atlas; a group of 214 individual maps, charts, broadsides, ephemera, and manuscript maps, several of which are listed separately below; Sonnenschein and Allen's 1880 3D Royal Relief Atlas; Erwin Raisz' 1944 Atlas of Global Geography and 1964 Atlas of Florida; and Richard Harrison's important 1944 Fortune Atlas for World Strategy

JISC Historic Books

JISC Collections has purchased a range of historic book archives for perpetual access by member institutions. Currently, these archives must be separately accessed, searched and browsed on a range of platforms, and are subject to an annual access fee. JISC Historic Books contains the full text or page images of over 350,000 books published in Britain from 1475 to 1900. The service draws together content from two of the best-known and long established early book collections

CRL posts ILL video tutorial

CRL recently released a short video on how to borrow from CRL for interlibrary loan librarians. During this six-minute tutorial, Kevin Wilks, Head of Access Services, also discusses digital collections, terms of access, searching CRL's online catalog, and member programs such as Demand Purchase

Talks continue to avert Toronto Public Library shutdown (Canada)

The Toronto Public Library and its workers' union are allowing themselves until at least noon on Sunday to reach a settlement. A 12:01 a.m. Sunday strike or lockout deadline has come and gone and the parties are still at the table. The deadline was initially extended until 6 a.m., and then noon

The War of 1812 at Library and Archives Canada

The 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 is a unique opportunity for all Canadians to take pride in our traditions, and our shared history. The Government of Canada recognizes the War of 1812 as a defining moment in the history of our nation and has big plans to commemorate this event of national and international significance. This commemoration is just one of the many events that are bringing Canadians together and will continue to link us in the years to come. Library and Archives Canada holds a unique and vast collection of records about the Canadian men and women who were involved in the War of 1812. Muster rolls, paylists, claims, certificates of service, medal registers, maps, paintings, and published sources are featured in LAC holdings that document this key event. To commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812, LAC is unveiling a series of projects about this important chapter in Canadian history

Podcast: Our ancestors and the fear of the Victorian workhouse (UK)

In 1834 the British government introduced the Poor Law Amendment Act (the introduction of the 'Workhouse System'). This was one of the most important pieces of 19th century social legislation and it touched the lives of millions of ordinary men, women and children. It was designed as both a national system of welfare for the poor, while at the same time providing a mechanism to deter all but the most impoverished. This talk concentrates on key aspects of the poor law as well as the sources which:
a) track individual paupers within the system, and
b) illustrate the conditions in which paupers lived.

Dr Paul Carter is the Principal Records Specialist for Domestic Records within the Advice and Records Knowledge Department here at The National Archives. He is also currently a research fellow at the University of Nottingham looking at 19th century poverty. He has provided numerous talks and written extensively for local, family and academic history audiences interested in poverty during the Victorian period. This talk was sponsored by the Friends of The National Archives

Journal of Nutritional Science launched

Journal of Nutritional Science is an international, peer-reviewed, online only, open access journal that welcomes high-quality research articles in all aspects of nutrition. The underlying aim of all work should be, as far as possible, to develop nutritional concepts. JNS encompasses the full spectrum of nutritional science including public health nutrition, epidemiology, dietary surveys, nutritional requirements, metabolic studies, body composition, energetics, appetite, obesity, ageing, endocrinology, immunology, neuroscience, microbiology, genetics and molecular and cell biology

National Library of ireland seeks WWI memorabilia

The National Library of Ireland is holding an 'Antiques Roadshow'-type event looking for World War One memorabilia to form part of a European living history project. Around 200,000 Irish men fought in the first World War and many of their stories are long forgotten, however the National Library of Ireland hopes to find and record as many of them as it can. It is part of attempts by the European Digital Library to build the first-ever online archive of World War One personal memorabilia. As part of its contribution the National Library is looking for all sorts of memorabilia that people may have stored in their homes dating back to World War One. It wants anything of a personal nature and is especially interested in letters, photographs, pocket books, diaries, bibles, medals and uniforms. The National Library will be accepting relevant memorabilia on Wednesday 21 March from 10am to 7pm

Issue 3 of OCLC Research Quarterly Highlights now available

This periodic bulletin gathers items from the previous quarter of work in OCLC Research, the OCLC Innovation Lab, and the OCLC Research Library Partnership. Issue 3 covers the period October–December 2011. Highlights include:

* Lorcan Dempsey on the three roles of OCLC Research
* Senior Research Scientist Ed O'Neill on the FAST schema, authority file, and related services
* 3 other featured prototypes
* 7 publications released during the quarter
* A recap of OCLC Research News, Events, Webcasts, and Presentations
* The six themes of our Shared Work Agenda, with a featured activity from each

San Juan Island Library, Union County Public Library among latest to join OCLC WorldShare Management Services community

Public libraries in the U.S. are working with the OCLC cooperative to help make OCLC WorldShare Management Services the 21st-century solution for library management. San Juan Island Library, Friday Harbor, Washington, and Union County Public Library, North Carolina, have recently selected OCLC WorldShare Management Services as their Web-based cooperative library management solution

SCOLMA 50th Anniversary Conference 2012 (UK)

SCOLMA, the UK Library and Archives Group on Africa, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a two-day conference - Dis/connects: African Studies in the Digital Age - 25–26 June, Rothermere American Institute, Oxford, UK

LIANZA Conference 2012

LIANZA Conference 2012 - 23-26 September 2012 - Palmerston North, New Zealand. Ipukarea - Celebrate, Sustain, Transform is the theme of the 2012 LIANZA conference. Ipukarea refers to the ancestral homeland, a significant land or water feature which relates to identity and source of livelihood. It is a place that represents our history, a place to which we have an emotional attachment, and a place where we go to be rejuvenated

Information Research - March 2012

Information Research - Volume 17 No 1 - March 2012 is now available from Publisher/Editor in Chief, Professor Tom Wilson

EBSCO Publishing and NoveList introduce LibraryAware and the LibraryAware Community Award

EBSCO Publishing and the creators of the readers' advisory service, NoveList® introduce LibraryAware™, a product that will revolutionize the way libraries promote their programs and services. LibraryAware will be available during 2012. In addition, NoveList is also celebrating communities that are "LibraryAware" with the LibraryAware Community Award, co-sponsored by industry trade magazine, Library Journal

Charles Dickens' Gad's Hill Place in Kent will open to the general public for the first time this summer

The last home of Charles Dickens, Gad's Hill Place in Kent, a private property that his passionate fans besieged in his lifetime and ever since, will open to the general public for the first time this summer. Gad's Hill was the house near Rochester that Dickens first saw and coveted when he was a child, bought for £1,700 in 1856 when he was the world's most famous novelist, and where he died on a sofa in the dining room on 9 June 1870. The month-long public opening is a trial run for an ambitious plan to transform the house into a permanent museum. The house has been a school since the 1920s, and news of the opening, with original contents returning for the first time since they were scattered at auction after Dickens's death, is expected to attract fans from all over the world. Since 1870 it has only been open for occasional groups and special events

Scale of library cut-backs revealed (UK)

More than 2,000 library staff have lost their jobs in the last year as local authorities have cut services, while shorter opening hours have reduced public access to libraries by 3,000 hours a week, a report has found

Call for proposals: London Seminar in Digital Text and Scholarship 2012-13

The London Seminar in Digital Text and Scholarship, held monthly at Senate House, Bloomsbury, focuses on the ways in which the digital medium remakes the relationship of readers, writers, scholars, technical practitioners and designers to the manuscript and printed book. Its discussions are intended to inform public debate and policy as well as to stimulate research and provide a broad forum in which to present its results. Although the forum is primarily for those working in textual and literary studies, history of the book, digital humanities and related fields, its mandate is to address and involve an audience of non-specialists. Wherever possible the issues it raises are meant to engage all those who are interested in a digital future for the book and the book in a digital future. Proposals for seminars are invited for the 2012-13 academic year, from October through April

D-Lib Magazine - March/April 2012 now available

D-Lib Magazine - March/April 2012 is now available. D-Lib Magazine is produced by Corporation for National Research Initiatives

New title from Bodleian Library Publishing: Titanic Calling

Drawing on the unique Titanic collection in the Marconi Archives, held in the Bodleian Library, a new book tells the compelling story of the well-known tragedy from an original angle. With complete transcripts of the distress messages, Titanic Calling vividly brings to life the voices of the individuals in this drama, retelling the legendary story as it was first heard. The narrative begins with warnings of ice, including several which reported large icebergs unusually far south and alarmingly close to the Titanic's course, just hours before the fatal collision:

In Lat 42.6 and Long 49.43 W met with extensive field ice and sighted seven bergs of considerable sizes on both sides of track – SS Pisa

The story follows Jack Phillips, the senior wireless operator on board RMS Titanic, as he begins sending the 'CQD' Marconi distress signal late on the night of April 14th:

CQD Position 41.46 N 50.14 W require assistance struck iceberg – RMS Titanic

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - March 16, 2012

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: general Knowledge. "Here's another of our general knowledge brainteasers - to test the breadth and depth of what you know" Answers here.

1. How many days does February have in a leap year?
2. Which famous city landmark in Paris was erected in the Champs-de-Mars for the Paris Exhibition of 1889?
3. In Roman numerals, what number is represented by the letter V?
4. Which member of the girl group Destiny's Child had the surname "Knowles"?
5. Which author wrote "Adam Bede", "The Mill on the Floss" and "Silas Marner"?
6. The title "dauphin" was formerly used for what relation of the king of France?
7. Which Spanish painter was one of the most notorious surrealists and developed a repertoire of striking, dreamlike, hallucinatory images - distorted human figures, limp pocket watches, and burning giraffes?
8. Is a dory a kind of antelope, butterfly or fish?
9. In which year did the USA enter World War I?
10. Is Beethoven's 6th Symphony known as the Choral, the Pastoral, or the Unfinished?

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice - Vol 7, No 1 (2012)

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice - Vol 7, No 1 (2012) is now available. RSS Feed

Above the Fold - February 29, 2012

Above the Fold is a Web-based newsletter published by OCLC Research. It has been developed to serve a broad international readership from libraries, archives and museums - February 29, 2012 - Vol. 5, No. 9 now available

35 more Open Access and subscription Journals added to JournalTOCs

Roddy MacLeod has added 35 more Open Access journals to JournalTOCs, where you can find the latest Tables of Contents from over 18,400 scholarly journals, including over 3,700 Open Access journals

Gale announces Gale Gateways

Gale, part of Cengage Learning has announced Gale Gateways, an innovative program for public libraries. Designed to represent the unique way in which a community interacts with its public library, Gale Gateways bring together thematic products and services to provide an organized approach to help patrons find and use information. Unlike anything else on the market, Gale Gateways will help libraries demonstrate their value and worth to their community

Book Grocer: 14-20 March 2012

Book Grocer: 14-20 March, 2012 - The week ahead in literary London from the Londonist blog. #books #London

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Fluids and Barriers of the CNS

Territórios & Fronteiras

Didasc@lia : Didáctica y Educación

Akademeia

Library Journal's Movers & Shakers 2012

For 11 years now, LJ's Movers & Shakers has been spotlighting librarians and others in the library field who are doing extraordinary work to serve their users and to move libraries of all types and library services forward. They hail from all corners of the library world. They've been nominated by their colleagues, friends, bosses, and just plain admirers. We know there are many more Movers out there, making libraries better and taking them into the future. This year's group of 53 brings the Movers cohort to over 550. We're proud to recognize their achievements - and to encourage you to be inspired by their vision and optimism and turn their ideas into fodder for your own innovative work

G. Sayeed Choudhury named 2012 OCLC/LITA Kilgour Award recipient

The Library & Information Technology Association, a division of the American Library Association, has announced G. Sayeed Choudhury as the 2012 winner of the Frederick G. Kilgour Award for Research in Library and Information Technology. The award, which is jointly sponsored by OCLC, is given for research relevant to the development of information technologies, especially work that shows promise of having a positive and substantive impact on any aspect(s) of the publication, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information, or the processes by which information and data is manipulated and managed. The awardee receives $2,000, a citation and travel expenses to attend the award ceremony on June 24 at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California

New edition of The Algernon Charles Swinburne Project

In March, 2012 a major new edition of The Algernon Charles Swinburne Project was published online. The new edition includes a fresh architecture and design and a great deal of new content, including:

* All six volumes of the collected Poems (London: Chatto and Windus, 1904).
* Swinburne's one finished novel, Love's Cross-Currents (London: Chatto and Windus, 1905).
* Facsimile page images for all the above texts.
* A new section of the project, Swinburne's Study, features a collection of digital encounters with the edited and encoded text corpus of the Swinburne Project: visualizations, image and text analysis tools, and creative works.
* An Introduction to Swinburne's life and work.
* An updated Chronology.
* A significantly expanded version of Terry Meyers' “Supplementary Material” to his Uncollected Letters of Algernon Charles Swinburne, 3 vols. (London: Pickering and Chatto, 2005). The revised material includes an illustrated essay on the controversy surrounding Swinburne's funeral

Princeton Theological Seminary is developing the Theological Commons

Princeton Theological Seminary is developing the Theological Commons in partnership with the Internet Archive, a nonprofit dedicated to building and maintaining a free and openly accessible online digital library. Princeton Theological Seminary shares in the vision and mission of building a digital library freely accessible to scholars, pastors, and other readers around the globe. The Theological Commons is a digital initiative of the Princeton Theological Seminary Library. Begun in 2011, its purpose is to improve access to the digital and non-digital material held in the Library and, in particular, to bring Princeton Seminary's digital collections together in a single more convenient framework, making searching and viewing of those collections easier and quicker

Search new Royal Artillery records (UK)

Search for your ancestors in two new sets of Royal Artillery records on findmypast.co.uk: Royal Artillery Military Medals 1916-1993 and Royal Artillery Honours & Awards 1939-1946

ERIC updates peer-reviewed designation on journal records

ERIC searchers will now find it easier to identify the peer-reviewed status of more materials in ERIC, thanks to the addition of this field for journal articles indexed from 1966 to 2003 (the status was already available on ERIC records added from 2004 forward). ERIC is updating the backfile of article records on a journal by journal basis. Enhanced records will appear daily on the ERIC Web site at www.eric.ed.gov, and vendors will receive the changes on a monthly basis. It is expected that the updates to more than 680,000 journal records will be completed within the next six months

Digital Humanities Congress 2012 – Call for papers (UK)

The Digital Humanities Congress, 6-8 September 2012, is a new conference which will be held in Sheffield every two years. Its purpose is to promote the sharing of knowledge, ideas and techniques within the digital humanities. Digital humanities is understood by Sheffield to mean the use of technology within arts, heritage and humanities research as both a method of inquiry and a means of dissemination. Proposals on all aspects of digital humanities are welcome, and the deadline is 30 April 2012

First Monday - March 2012

First Monday - Volume 17, Number 3, 5 March 2012 now available. First Monday is a Great Cities Initiative of the University of Illinois at Chicago University Library, USA

Library campaigning alliance lobbies Westminster government (UK)

A new campaigning alliance Speak up for Libraries will today (13 March) send the government a strong message that support for libraries is long overdue, as people from across the country meet for a rally and lobby in central London. Speak up for Libraries is calling on the government to give libraries its backing, warning that the service faces a bleak future due to drastic cuts, underfunding, and the lack of a clear vision for the future. The group is calling on Ed Vaizey MP, Minister with responsibility for libraries, who is giving evidence to the Select Committee today, to recognise the crisis hitting the service and to take urgent action. More than 100 libraries across the country have either closed, are now run by volunteers, or have been turned into social enterprises since April 2011. A survey by UNISON reveals that those that remain open are being pared to the bone by cuts to book budgets, opening hours, mobile and outreach services as well as to jobs. The rally in Methodist Central Hall will hear from speakers including authors Kate Mosse and Philip Ardagh, Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary and Ruth Bond, chair of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) as well as Dan Jarvis MP. Visitors will also have a chance to visit a pop up library staffed by fully trained librarians

Thomson Reuters launches Academic Reputation Survey for 2012

The Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters has announced the launch of its 2012 Academic Reputation Survey, for a current evaluation of higher education institutions globally. This is the third consecutive year the reputation survey has been conducted. The survey, which is sent to over 200,000 academics and researchers around the world, engages professional scholars to obtain a more accurate assessment of the institutional landscape. Survey respondents are asked which institutions they consider the best in terms of research, teaching and other factors, such as geographical region. These assessments are combined with other key variables to create a comprehensive profile for each institution

DEMOGRAPHICSNOW: Business & People

DEMOGRAPHICSNOW: Business & People is a comprehensive business and residential reference and research tool. Users can produce comprehensive business and residential lists as well as detailed demographic reports - they can even utilize a unique mapping tool that "visualizes" trends. With these powerful assets, DEMOGRAPHICSNOW allows libraries to replace multiple product subscriptions with one affordable resource your users will return to time and again for many of their business information needs

Join Libraries Thriving for its second Online Seminar

Credo Reference and Libraries Thriving will be hosting two free online seminars this week as part of the Spring 2012 Credo Reference Online Seminar Series: Tech Tools and their Place in the 21st Century Library

André Studios 1930-1941: Fashion Drawings & Sketches (USA)

After two years of planning, the Picture Collection of the New York Public Library and the Special Collections & FIT Archives of the Fashion Institute of Technology Library have recently started a digital archive of fashion drawings and sketches by André Fashion Studios. The collection, André Studios 1930-1941: Fashion Drawings & Sketches in the Collections of the Fashion Institute of Technology and the New York Public Library, includes more than 5,000 original drawings

Boston's French Cultural Center expands access to digital library (USA)

Boston's French Cultural Center has expanded access to its electronic library to Francophiles nationwide making it the first French language e-Library in the country. The Marlborough Street center had previously allowed only New England residents to access their e-Library of 550 eBooks and eAudiobooks, but the center has removed the geographic restriction to registering for a library subscription

Historic Iowa Children's Diaries

This collection seeks to connect Iowa's youth with state history by showing them how young settlers 150 years ago recorded their lives through diary writing. Led by the staff of the Old Capitol Museum on the University of Iowa Pentacrest, it contains a sampling of diary entries from the 1860s through the 1900s, some with searchable transcriptions

Call fo Papers: Journal of Library Innovation

The Editors of Journal of Library Innovation are accepting submissions of research articles and articles about innovative practices in libraries on an ongoing basis. Information about the focus and scope of JOLI, along with the previous issues, can be found at the journal's website

41st Annual Conference of the International School Librarianship (Qatar)

41st Annual Conference of the International School Librarianship incorporating the 16th International Forum on School Librarianship will be held this year in Doha, Qatar on November 11-15, 2012

The Library in the City: Changing Demands and a Challenging Future (Pew)

Pew: Big-city public libraries have rarely been as popular as they are today and rarely as besieged. The hard economic times of recent years have generated increased demand for the free and varied services libraries provide, even as revenue-challenged local governments have cut back on contributions to library budgets. All of this comes at a time when libraries are being asked to perform a new and changing range of functions. "The Library in the City: Changing Demands and a Challenging Future" looks at how Philadelphia is faring and the challenges facing urban libraries across America. It examines The Free Library of Philadelphia's operations and compares them to those of 14 other library systems

Google begins to scale back its scanning of books from university libraries

Chronicle: Google has been quietly slowing down its book-scanning work with partner libraries, according to librarians involved with the vast Google Books digitization project. But what that means for the company's long-term investment in the work remains unclear. Google was not willing to say much about its plans. "We've digitized more than 20 million books to date and continue to scan books with our library partners," a Google spokeswoman told The Chronicle in an e-mailed statement

Museums and the Web 2012 (USA)

Museums and the Web is an annual conference exploring the social, cultural, design, technological, economic, and organizational issues of culture, science and heritage on-line. Taking an international perspective, MW reviews and analyzes the issues and impacts of networked cultural, natural and scientific heritage – wherever the network may reach - April 11-14, 2012 - San Diego, CA, USA

Gloucestershire added to the Manorial Documents Register (UK)

The Manorial Documents Register for Gloucestershire has now been revised and is available online for the first time. The index is searchable by county, parish or manor name. The completion of the project now allows researchers to find details of the manorial documents which survive for Gloucestershire in one place regardless of where those records are kept. These records still have legal relevance today, safeguarding rights and defining privileges, and give a wonderful insight into the day to day life of ordinary people in the Middle Ages

Calls to help Dorset libraries at risk of closure rejected (UK)

Councillors have turned down pleas to provide additional resources to help communities take over lib-raries threatened with closure. So far supporters of seven out of nine Libraries faced with the loss of core funding from Dorset County Council later this year have submitted business plans to take on the running of the facilities themselves. Members of the council's cabinet approved the latest proposals to allow them to move forward with the handover of control but turned down a specific request for additional resources to start up the new community libraries.

Fresh hope for campaign to save Kensal Rise Library (UK)

The Oxford University college which donated a library to the community closed by Brent Council has said it would be happy to let residents run it. Kensal Rise Library, in Bathurst Gardens, was a gift by All Souls College, and was opened by American author Mark Twain, 111 years ago. However, Brent Council closed the Victorian reading room in October last year. But this week a spokesman from the college wrote to the Friends of Kensal Rise Library and said: "All Souls College has contacted the council via its solicitor to inform them that the college would be happy to consider the library being kept open as proposed in the business plan prepared by the Friends of Kensal Rise Library." The ball is now in Brent Council’s court

EBSCO Publishing extends partnership with Accessible Archives Inc.

EBSCO Publishing has expanded its partnership with Accessible Archives, Inc. to include American County Histories to 1900: New England and The Civil War: Parts V and IV in EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS). The agreement allows metadata from these two resources to be added to the Base Index of EDS

New Economy Resources by Marcus P. Zillman

New Economy Resources represents the latest world wide web guide for discovering new knowledge and understanding a range of reliable resources to leverage with regards to researching the New Economy. The world is rapidly changing as transparency, big data and access to data from large and diverse public databases becomes a reality. These resources are constantly updated by Subject Tracer(TM) Information Bots

Latest release of Oliver and Liberty from Softlink receives over 1,200 enhancements

Softlink has announced the latest release of the Oliver system for schools and Liberty for Special, Academic and Public libraries. Based on user feedback, Version 5 Build 4 is one of the largest updates ever made to a Softlink product, incorporating over 1200 enhancements designed to increase administrative efficiency and improve the content management experience

81 Scholarly journal publishers oppose Federal Research Public Access Act (USA)

81 U.S. scholarly journal publishing organizations have expressed their strong opposition to the third introduction of the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA, H.R. 4004 and S.2096). The Association of American Publishers' Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division (AAP/PSP) and the DC Principles Coalition sent letters on behalf of a diverse cross-section of American non-profit, scholarly society and commercial organizations, to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Chair, and Sen. Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Publishers' letter to the Senate and Rep. Darrell Issa, Chair, and Rep. Elijah Cummings, Ranking Member, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Publishers' letter to the House

Brooklyn Public Library launches fundraising drive (USA)

The Brooklyn Public Library has kicked off a fundraising drive to raise $500,000 for new books, DVDs and eBooks at its 60 sites. The fourth annual spring “Support Our Shelves” initiative encourages residents to support their local libraries through donations and advocacy. The campaign started March 1 and will continue through June 30. Donations can be made directly at local libraries, online at https://bpl.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/donate or by calling 718-230-2738. The library is also accepting donations at select locations through ABC Kiosks, which allow customers to make small donations in the amounts of $1, $5, $10 and $20

GPO Access shuts down on March 16

FDsys is now GPO's official system of record for online Government information. Later this spring, GPO Access will become an archive only, with no new content added

Librarians' views on five years of ebooks

To celebrate its first five years in ebook production, Springer has consulted with a number of stakeholders to produce the report STM eBooks: Librarian Perspectives on the First 5 years. The report outlines the challenges and opportunities that ebooks present to key stakeholders

HathiTrust Digital Library - Update on February 2012 Activities

HathiTrust Digital Library - Update on February 2012 Activities

ACRL Podcast: Value of Academic Libraries - Nancy Marlin

In this podcast, C&RL News editor-in-chief David Free talks to Nancy Marlin, provost at San Diego State University, about ways libraries can use existing data to enhance student succes

Maney Publishing strengthens 2012 journal collections

Maney Publishing has announced that seven new journals have been added to its portfolio for 2012. Maney has built new partnerships for 2012 including the European Association of Archaeologists, the European Medical Writers Association, The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, and The Chinese Historians in the United States

Earliest Charles Dickens film uncovered

The oldest surviving film featuring a Charles Dickens character has been discovered, in the year of the 200th anniversary of the author's birth. The Death of Poor Joe, which dates back to March 1901, was discovered by British Film Institute (BFI) curator Bryony Dixon, in February. Until now the earliest known Dickens film was Scrooge or Marley's Ghost, released in November 1901

IMLS Five-Year Strategic Plan 2012- 2016

The complete IMLS Five-Year Strategic Plan 2012-2016 encourages strategic thought and action. The complete plan provides details on the strategic planning process, as well as details about goal- and objective-related performance metrics and benchmarks used to measure progress

INFORMS journals now in full-text HTML

INFORMS journals "Interfaces" and "Organization Science" are the first two INFORMS journals to publish in full-text HTML. This new format allows for faster and easier viewing and improved accessibility on portable and handheld devices. Your patrons now have more flexibility when reading INFORMS new 2012 journal articles

The Online Newsstand Project (USA)

The goal of the Online Newsstand Project is to increase usage of libraries' electronic resources by library patrons, and to do so by making access to them easier and more enjoyable. The founder of the project is Steve Butzel, a website and database developer whose real job is serving as the assistant director at the Portsmouth Public Library in Portsmouth, NH

Author T.C. Boyle's papers acquired by Harry Ransom Center (USA)

The Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, has acquired the archive of novelist and short-story writer Tom Coraghessan "T.C." Boyle, author of such acclaimed works as "The Tortilla Curtain" (1995) and "World's End" (1987). Spanning more than 30 years from the 1970s through the present, the archive covers the breadth of Boyle's prolific career

SAMP preserves D’avat

SAMP (South Asia Microform Project) has completed microfilming of six years of the New Delhi newspaper title D'avat, from late 1965 through 1971. This Urdu newspaper covers the early years of Indira Gandhi's first term as Prime Minister, as well as the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971

The Listening Project (UK)

The Listening Project is inviting people across the UK to share an intimate conversation. Some of these conversations will be broadcast by the BBC and curated and archived by the British Library building a unique picture of our lives today and preserving it for future generations

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - March 9, 2012

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: The Letter D. "Some time ago, we had brainteasers about the letters A, B and C. Now here's a quiz where the answers are all words or phrases that start with the letter D." Answers here.

1. What is the surname of the American film actor who starred in "Good Will Hunting", "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Bourne Identity"?
2. What is the surname of the author (1812-1870) of "Oliver Twist", "Nicholas Nickleby" and "The Old Curiosity Shop"?
3. "Disco" is a shortened form of which word?
4. Which country is bounded to the north by the Skagerrak, east by the Kattegat strait, south by Germany, and west by the North Sea?
5. Which disease can be caused by reduced production of the hormone insulin, or a reduced response of the liver, muscle, and fat cells to insulin?
6. What surname was used by the singer/songwriter who was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941?
7. Which 1963 film had the sub-title "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb"?
8. What is the English name for the island off the northeast coast of French Guiana which was a penal colony notorious for its terrible conditions? Alfred Dreyfus was imprisoned here.
9. Which satirical romance by Miguel de Cervantes is about a gentleman who sets out on his wanderings accompanied by his servant, Sancho Panza?
10. What is the name of the former capital of Tanzania, which was also the capital of German East Africa and of Tanganyika?