Featured Link

Featured Link: World Book Trade (e-books, awards, videos)

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Using free and open educational resources to support women and girls in STEM

Creative Commons and the OpenCourseWare Consortium have announced the formation of a task force to determine how open educational resources can support the success of girls and women in science, technology, engineering and math in support of the Equal Futures Partnership, announced on September 24 by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Apply for a share of the £6 million Grants for the Arts libraries fund

Arts Council England has opened applications to its £6 million Grants for the Arts libraries fund. Library authorities have to do the applying, & can get £1,000 to £100,000

curio: Imaging rare, unusual, and intriguing objects at the Brown University Library

Curios are valued for their oddness or rarity, and are generally locked away for safekeeping. Digitizing Brown University Library's unique collections affords Digital Production Services staff contact with curious artifacts on a daily basis, which can present technical challenges for digitization or description. Items featured here are singled out for their unique properties and for the methods used to digitize them

BriefMine

BriefMine is a database of legal briefs and opinions powered by natural-language search that offers a technologically advanced platform for conducting in-depth legal research

Saturday, September 29, 2012

ALA committee volunteer form available

The ALA committee volunteer form is now available. Get involved in your association & profession by volunteering to serve on an ALA or Council committee. Applications accepted through November 2, 2012

Italian public library records added to WorldCat

OCLC has added the records of a group of more than 100 public libraries in the province of Trento, Italy, to WorldCat. This addition significantly increases the number of Italian language records in the world's largest database of items held in libraries. With their records in WorldCat, these Italian libraries' collections are more visible and accessible to people around the world interested in Italian literature, history and culture

26th Annual National Archives Preservation Conference (USA)

26th Annual National Archives Preservation Conference - October 19, 2012 - Washington, DC, USA

Current Cites - September 2012

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

Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives News - September-October 2012

The September-October 2012 edition of Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives News is now available

The London School of Economics has bought the Women’s Library

The London School of Economics and Political Science will be the new custodian of the prestigious Women's Library collections from 2013. On Thursday 27 September London Met's Board of Governors approved the nomination of the Selection Committee after its due consideration and consultation with key stakeholder groups. The expert staff from The Women's Library and the collections will transfer to LSE's Lionel Robbins building in Central London where it will be open to the public from 2013

Friday, September 28, 2012

Printing in the University of Chicago Library

If you are new to the University of Chicago you might have questions about printing, copying, and scanning on campus. The University's Unified Printing system is available at all campus libraries, residence halls, and the Cathey Learning Center. At each of these locations, you can print, copy, scan, and fax. For a quick introduction to printing on campus, view this two-minute video. In it, you will learn how to add value to your printing account, send documents to a selected printer, and release documents from the printer

University of Aberdeen New Library (Scotland) / Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects

On September 24th 2012, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain marked the official opening of the University of Aberdeen New Library in Scotland. The building, won in an architectural competition in 2005 by schmidt hammer lassen architects, is replacing the University's former library from 1965 - the Queen Mother Library

MINES for Libraries® webcast recording now available

The Association of Research Libraries has released a free recording of the MINES for Libraries® Webcast, held on September 18, 2012. The webcast provides potential and current participants with vital information about the MINES for Libraries® service, an online, transaction-based survey that collects data on the reasons people use electronic resources and on the demographics of users

Apply for ACRL e-Learning Scholarships by October 12

ACRL has announced e-Learning scholarships to help librarians, library staff and library school students stretch their professional development dollars. Twelve e-Learning scholarships will be awarded – seven covering the registration cost of a Webcast and five covering the cost of an online course

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - September 28, 2012

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Fairy Tales. "Tony Augarde, who compiles these brainteasers, has published an ebook called Grim Fairy Tales. This inspired him to write this quiz about fairy tales and the people associated with them." Answers here.

1. In Hans Christian Andersen's story "The Ugly Duckling", what did the ugly young bird grow into?
2. In the story "The Princess and the Pea", how did the prince's mother test that the princess was genuine?
3. Which American comic actor played the title role in the 1952 film "Hans Christian Andersen"?
4. In "The Sleeping Beauty", how long did the princess sleep before she was released by the kiss of a young prince?
5. A statue of Hans Andersen's Little Mermaid is at the harbour entrance of which city?
6. Which fairy tale includes the words "Grandmother, what big eyes you have!"
7. Which fairy tale is about a man who married Alice Fitzwarren and becomes Mayor of London three times?
8. In "Jack and the Beanstalk", what did Jack give in exchange for the beans which grew into a beanstalk?
9. The original Brothers Grimm version of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" gives no names for the dwarfs. Can you give six of the seven names they had in Disney's film version?
10. Which composer turned the story of "Hansel and Gretel" into an opera in 1893?

Thursday, September 27, 2012

New Middlesex records to search on findmypast.co.uk

findmypast.co.uk has just published 175,000 new baptism and burial records for Middlesex

ARL Statistics 2011-12

2011-2012 ARL Statistics submissions are due as soon as your fiscal year ends and no later than October 15, 2012

Strategic Skills for Success: An ARL-ACRL Institute on Scholarly Communication Workshop, 2013

The Institute on Scholarly Communication, a coordinated effort by the Association of Research Libraries and the Association of College and Research Libraries, is hosting a workshop, "Increasing the Effectiveness of Your Scholarly Communication Program: Strategic Skills for Success," April 9-10, 2013, in Indianapolis, Indiana. In the tradition of other ISC events, this workshop will emphasize active learning and hands-on work by participants, both individually and in groups. Throughout the workshop, participants will have structured opportunities to reflect on how to apply what they are learning to strategic planning within their own institution, to share information and test ideas with other workshop participants, and to begin developing skills to influence campus colleagues

2013 Electronic Resources and Libraries conference (USA)

2013 Electronic Resources and Libraries conference - March 17-20 - Texas, USA

Springer will publish book series with British Society for Immunology

Springer and the British Society for Immunology have entered into an agreement to publish six books per year, to be included in Springer's long-running book series, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. The edited volumes and monographs by renowned scientists will present the latest scientific advances in immunology research

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

SPARC and the World Bank announce speakers for Open Access Week 2012

SPARC (The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and the World Bank have announced the speakers for their co-sponsored kickoff event for Open Access Week 2012. The event will take place Monday, October 22, 4pm - 5:30pm, at the World Bank in Washington, DC.

Music blog at the British Library

From The British Library: The music collections of the British Library are amongst the finest in the world, encompassing materials in all formats (e.g. manuscript, printed editions, recordings, literature) from all periods. This blog is written by our team of music curators, led by Richard Chesser. Here we report the latest news about our music collections and related services: for example, what new material we are acquiring, projects we are involved in, and what related events and associated activities are taking place. Comments and feedback are welcome

SPARC enews/September 2012

SPARC enews/September 2012 a bimonthly newsletter features the latest SPARC activities, an industry roundup, upcoming workshops and events, as well as articles related to developments in scholarly communication

Monday, September 24, 2012

Banned Books Week 2012 (USA)

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community - librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types - in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. September 30 to October 6, 2012

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #213

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #213. "This week's episode is hurriedly uploaded as Time Warner Cable suffered a regional outage immediately after we concluded recording. Contingency plans began executing until access came back up. Infrastructure along Lake Erie's south shore should not provide as much excitement as it does when it fails.". Previous Podcasts/Programs can be found here

Poetry Aloud 2012 (Ireland)

Poetry Aloud is the annual poetry speaking competition organised by the National Library of Ireland and Poetry Ireland. It is open to all post-primary school students on the island of Ireland. The deadline for competition entries is Wednesday 26 September

InSITE: A Current Awareness Service of Cornell Law Library - Vol. 18, No. 2, September 24, 2012

InSITE: A Current Awareness Service of Cornell Law Library - Vol. 18, No. 2, September 24, 2012 is now available. Contents:


* Cornell University Law Library Trial Pamphlets Collection: Contemporary Accounts of Trials from the 1600s to the 1800s
* Global Censorship Chokepoints
* National Registry of Exonerations

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog - September 2012

The September 23, 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

Above the Fold - September 24, 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 - September 24, 2012 - Vol. 5, No. 35 now available

Sunday, September 23, 2012

The National Archives set to receive London 2012 digital Olympic records (UK)

The UK National Archives has reached a landmark agreement with the British Olympic Association, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the International Olympic Committee to ensure access to the records of London 2012. With the support of the BOA, the records will be housed at The National Archives, ensuring their long-term preservation and future public accessibility

TWIL #82: Rebecca Millar (Community Builder)

Bringing stories like "the Zuytdorp" alive, building communities by sparking the imagination and curation. These topics and more in this week's episode of TWIL: your weekly dose of library innovation

Third tranche of colonial administration records to be released (UK)

The UK 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. This is in accordance with the published timeline on the FCO website.

The third tranche will be made available in the reading rooms at The National Archives from Friday 28 September 2012. This release will contain records from Bahamas, Ceylon, Cyprus, Jamaica and Malta.

On Friday 28 September 2012, a guide to the third tranche of files will be published on The National Archives' website. This will provide more information on how to search the records

Podcast: Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn: clothing, courtship and consequences

This talk draws on a range of documents in the collection of The National Archives to explore the clothing choices of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. It considers the types of clothing that they wore, the gifts of clothing that Henry gave to Anne and the clothing that they wore at key points in their relationship and how this provides us with insights into court culture. This draws on research published in Dress at the court of King Henry VIII (2007) and Rich apparel: Clothing and the law in Henry VIII’s England (2009).

Dr Maria Hayward is professor of early modern history at the University of Southampton. Her areas of interest include material culture at the Tudor and Stuart courts with a particular focus on clothing and furnishings. She is currently working on a comparative study of the clothing of Charles I and Charles II.

SAGE to begin publishing Canadian Pharmacists Journal

SAGE has announced that it has reached an agreement with the Canadian Pharmacists Association to publish its flagship journal, the Canadian Pharmacists Journal, beginning in 2013. Established in 1868, CPJ is the oldest continuously published periodical in Canada

SAGE to publish Forum Italicum from May 2013

SAGE and the Center for Italian Studies at Stony Brook University today announced a new agreement to publish Forum Italicum from May 2013. Forum Italicum, a peer-reviewed journal, was founded in 1967 by M.Ricciardelli as a forum for discussion on Italian literature, culture and language. Edited by Mario Mignone and published three times a year from 2013, Forum Italicum focuses on providing a balanced and wide ranging perspective on Italian culture by accepting both scholarly writings and other contributions of general Italian interest, to ensure a fresh, critical outlook on subjects pertaining to the heritage of Italy

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Biennial Survey of Depository Libraries (USA)

The Superintendent of Documents, under the direction of the Public Printer, is responsible for administering the Biennial Survey of Depository Libraries, required by 44 U.S.C. § 1909. The Biennial Survey provides GPO with important information concerning the conditions of both individual depository libraries and the depository library program as a whole. This data is used to administer the program and to assist in the assessments of the conditions and services of depository libraries

Authors join Speak Up For Libraries Conference to champion public library services (UK)

Authors Philip Ardagh and Bali Rai will be joining the line up at the Speak Up For Libraries conference in London on Saturday 10 November 2012 to champion public library services and library staff

ACRL awarded second IMLS grant to build profession’s capacity to demonstrate value

The Association of College and Research Libraries has been awarded a National Leadership Demonstration Grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the project "Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Success." The grant funding of $249,330 will support ACRL, in partnership with the Association for Institutional Research and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and build on their IMLS 2011 Collaborative Planning Grant which convened two invitational summits. With this grant, a professional development program to strengthen the competencies of librarians in campus leadership and data-informed advocacy will be designed, implemented and evaluated

Friday, September 21, 2012

Brighton and Hove mobile library saved (UK)

After strong opposition and lengthy debate Brighton and Hove mobile library service has been spared the axe - for the moment. Brighton and Hove City Council proposed to replace the vehicle with a door-to-door "books on wheels" delivery service. The local authority's administration claimed it had exhausted all options to find about £75,000 a year to keep the service running for another decade. However, opposition councillors disputed this and asked for the vehicle, which is used by more than 800 people, to remain until March instead of being scrapped in December - The Argus

British Museum: Life and death Pompeii and Herculaneum

More than 250 archaeological remains from the lives of people in the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum will feature in a new exhibition at the British Museum next year. The two cities on Italy's southern coast were buried following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79. The exhibition will include casts of some of the volcano's victims. The British Museum said it will explore "real" Roman people, not the emperors and gladiators portrayed in films. The event will be the first about Pompeii and Herculaneum in London for 40 years and will bring together recently discovered objects and finds from earlier excavations, many of which have never been seen outside Italy.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

FreePint Newsletter 359

FreePint Newsletter 359 - 20 September 2012 now available

The Churchill Archive now available online (UK)

Over 800,000 documents and photographs from the Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College, Cambridge are now available in a new online archive. The Churchill Archive includes thousands of private letters, speeches, telegrams, manuscripts, government transcripts and other key historical documents online for the first time ever

New oral histories from the workers of the Bathgate Truck & Tractor Factory 1961-1986 on Scran (Scotland)

A collection of new audio clips are now available on Scran as part of Bathgate Once More, a project to record and preserve the history of the BMC/Leyland Truck and Tractor Factory which came to West Lothian in 1961 and closed in 1986. In this new material, former workers remember the plant coming to the area, the jobs that they did, the social life at the plant, trades union activity and the closure of the plant. Each clip comes with a transcription

Cancer support offered by Glasgow libraries (Scotland)

Macmillan Cancer Support and Glasgow Life are collaborating in order to offer cancer support and information at libraries across the city. The new project, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the UK, wants to ensure that people with cancer are able to get support from their local community. A Macmillan Service Delivery Manager will lead a team of volunteers at 25 libraries around Glasgow. The project has already started, with centres available in Easterhouse, Springburn, Pollok, Dennistoun and the Mitchell Library. The remaining centres will launch in the next year and Cancer Support Scotland, who are also contributing to the project, will provide counsellors and complementary therapies

The Scientific American Supplement & Builders Archive Collection now available online

Readers can now explore floor plans of unique houses in addition to historic advancements in science, technology and medicine. The Scientific American Supplement & Builders Archive Collection is now available to institutional customers at www.nature.com/scientificamerican/archive. This collection brings together more than 56,880 articles in over 2,500 issues and features content from both the Scientific American Supplement and Scientific American Builders publications. Content included is unique to this collection and not available in the existing four Scientific American archive collections

National Archives shares Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in New York September 21-24 (USA)

To mark the sesquicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, two original versions of President Abraham Lincoln's momentous Proclamation will be displayed together for the first time. This historic showing at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York on September 21-24 is part of the New York State Museum's traveling exhibition "The First Step to Freedom: Abraham Lincoln's Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation"

Georgia Archives will stay open (USA)

Georgia Archives will stay open (USA)Nearly 100 supporters of the Georgia Archives got an unexpected surprise Wednesday morning at the state capitol, when Gov. Nathan Deal announced the Morrow-based archives would not close to the public as previously announced. Deal made the announcement while he issued his annual Georgia Archives Month proclamation. During a photo opportunity with the archivists, they handed the governor a petition with more than 10,000 signatures in support of the archives, as well as thousands of letters and e-mails from people urging the state the keep the facility open to the public. That prompted Deal to say the archives would not close to the public, but he did not elaborate on how that fate would be avoided

Congress.gov unveiled (USA)

The Library of Congress, in collaboration with the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and the Government Printing Office, has unveiled Congress.gov, a new public beta site for accessing free, fact-based legislative information. Congress.gov features platform mobility, comprehensive information retrieval and user-friendly presentation. Congress.gov, at beta.congress.gov, eventually will replace the public THOMAS system and the congressional Legislative Information System.

Bodleian Libraries launches chair design competition

The Bodleian Libraries are launching this week a chair design competition that invites a designer/manufacturer team to create a new reading room chair for the institution's Weston Library. The competition is officially launched at 100% Design, the UK's leading contemporary design event. A curated space will reflect the library's 400 year design heritage and reiterate its furniture commissioning history alongside imagery of Wilkinson Eyre's vision for this cultural and intellectual landmark. The installation will include a replica of the original Bodleian chair - the 'Curators’ Chair' commissioned in 1756 - alongside pieces designed by Gilbert Scott in 1936

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Nominations are open for the CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Awards 2013

Nominations are now being taken for the 2013 CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Awards. The Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Medals are Britain's oldest and most prestigious children's book prizes. Both awards are organised by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), and the judges are children's librarians. Members of CILIP, either individually or through local branches or special interest groups are invited to nominate titles. Each CILIP member, branch or group can nominate two titles for each medal

Public Knowledge Project announces the 1.0 (Beta) release of Open Monograph Press

The Public Knowledge Project has announced the 1.0 (Beta) release of Open Monograph Press. OMP is an open source software platform for managing the editorial workflow required to see monographs, edited volumes, and scholarly editions through internal and external review, editing, cataloguing, production, and publication. OMP will operate, as well, as a press website with catalog, distribution, and sales capacities

The third Future of the Academic Library Symposium: E-Texts, Big Data, and Access

The third Future of the Academic LibrarySymposium: E-Texts, Big Data, and Access - September 20, 2012 - Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

85 more Open Access and subscription Journals added to JournalTOCs

Roddy MacLeod has added 85 more Open Access journals to JournalTOCs, where you can find the latest Tables of Contents from over 19,700 scholarly journals, including over 4,200 Open Access journals

Credo Reference Content Update - September 17, 2012

Content Update - September 17, 2012 from Credo Reference is now available

Monday, September 17, 2012

16th Annual Grampian Information Conference (Scotland)

The 16th Annual Grampian Information Conference – Working Smarter, Adding Value -
University of Aberdeen Library - 8 November 2012

Information Research - September 2012

Information Research - Volume 17 No 3 - September 2012 is now available from Publisher/Editor in Chief, Professor Tom Wilson

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #212

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #212. "This week's episode is jointly numbered with Ubuntu Ohio -- Burning Circle and speaks to a situation that arose over the last week in North Africa.". Previous Podcasts/Programs can be found here

The Newberry's 125th Anniversary (USA)

The Newberry's 125th anniversary (or, as it's fondly referred to around the library's halls, quasquicentennial) has inspired a number of commemorative Newberry 125 events that will be open to the public

D-Lib Magazine - September/October 2012

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

New ACRL Liaison appointments

The ACRL Liaisons Coordinating Committee announces the following liaison appointments:

Educause Learning Initiative (ELI): Sarah McDaniel, Coordinator of Library and Information Literacy Instruction Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries (Term: 2012-15)
American Anthropological Association (AAA): Juliann Couture, Librarian to the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University (Term: 2012-15)
American Sociological Association (ASA): Amanda Swygart-Hobaugh; Librarian for Sociology, Anthropology, and Gerontology; Georgia State University (Term: 2012-15)
Council of Independent Colleges (CIC): Lisbeth Chabot, College Librarian, Ithica College (Term: 2012-15)

Elliott Shore named ARL Executive Director

The Association of Research Libraries Board of Directors has appointed Elliott Shore as Executive Director of the Association, effective January 1, 2013. Dr. Shore is currently Chief Information Officer, Constance A. Jones Director of Libraries, and Professor of History at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania

Sunday, September 16, 2012

2012 Scottish Learning Festival

2012 Scottish Learning Festival - September 19-20

New OCLC WorldShare Metadata functionality offers improved efficiencies for libraries managing electronic resources

New OCLC WorldShare Metadata collection management functionality offers more efficient ways for libraries to manage electronic resources and improve user access to those valuable collections

EBSCO releases 2013 Serials Price Projection Report

Each year, EBSCO releases its Serials Price Projections. This report, based on surveys of a wide range of publishers and reviews of historical serials pricing data, provides serials price projections that will assist information professionals as they make budgeting decisions for the upcoming renewal season. 2013 Price Projections:
EBSCO anticipates the overall effective publisher price increases for academic and academic/medical libraries for 2013 (before currency impact) to be in the range of 5 to 7 percent

Hachette to raise E-Book prices to OverDrive library customers average of 220%

Starting October 1, Hachette will be raising the prices it charges OverDrive library customers for e-books by an average of 220%, according to an email from OverDrive to its customers - Digital Book World

Saturday, September 15, 2012

TWIL #81: Library Students from around the world

We meet three library students from the Czech Republic and the University of Washington and talk about communicating library services and promoting yourself well. But we also look into teaching innovation and changing stereotypes. All this and more in your weekly dose of library innovation

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice - Vol 7, No 3 (2012)

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice - Vol 7, No 3 (2012) is now available. RSS Feed

HathiTrust Digital Library - Update on August 2012 Activities

HathiTrust Digital Library - Update on August 2012 Activities

Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research embraces open access

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research has announced the membership agreement with BioMed Central and SpringerOpen. Publication costs for research articles published by researchers funded by NWO for articles published no later than 2008, who chose to publish via BioMed Central will now automatically be covered (up to the maximum as defined by the NWO Incentive Fund Open Access Publications)

IMLS awards $250,000 to the Digital Public Library of America for Digital Hubs Pilot Program

The Institute of Museum and Library Services has announced a $250,000 grant to support the development of the Digital Public Library of America. The National Leadership Grant for Libraries in the Advancing Digital Resources category will help fund the launch of the DPLA's Digital Hubs Pilot Program, a project that will take the first steps to bring together existing U.S. digital library infrastructure into a sustainable national digital library system

CLA Election 2012 (Canada)

The CLA Election 2012 Online Voting Booth is now open. Members are requested to vote for their candidates to join CLA Executive Council for the term 2013-2014. Two positions are being contested: Vice-President/President-Elect and Councillor-at-Large. The polls open on Thurdsday, September 13 and close at midnight on Friday, October, 12 2012 (EDT)

Library of Congress main reading room open house on Columbus Day

Twice each year, the Library of Congress opens its Main Reading Room for a special public open house. The fall open house will take place on the federal Columbus Day holiday, October 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and photography will be allowed. The Main Reading Room is located on the first floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St., S.E., Washington, D.C. Reference librarians will be available to demonstrate the Library's online resources and discuss access to the Library's vast onsite collections, including services and collections for use in family history research. No other reference services will be available and all other Library of Congress reading rooms and buildings will be closed

2013 ACRL Board of Directors Candidates

ACRL has announced the slate of candidates for the association's Board of Directors for the 2013 ALA/ ACRL elections.

Vice-President/President-Elect:
Maggie Farrell, Dean of Libraries, University of Wyoming
Karen Williams, Associate University Librarian for Academic Programs, University of Minnesota Libraries

Director-at-Large:
Ann Watson, Dean of the Library, Shepherd University
Susan B. Whyte, Library Director, Linfield College

Director-at-Large:
Bradford Lee Eden, Dean of Library Services, Valparaiso University
Julia Gelfand, Applied Sciences and Engineering Librarian, University of California – Irvine

ACRL Councilor:
Tom Abbott, Dean of Libraries and Distance Learning, University of Maine at Augusta
Douglas Lehman, Library Director, Wittenberg University

A full list of candidates for ACRL and section offices will be available in the January 2013 issue of C&RL News

Friday, September 14, 2012

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - September 14, 2012

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Animal Offspring. "What is the most common name for the offspring or babies of these animals? For instance, if the animal was "dog", the answer would be puppy or pup" Answers here.

1. Cat.
2. Sheep.
3. Bear.
4. Pig.
5. Deer.
6. Eagle.
7. Swan.
8. Elephant.
9. Eel.
10. Hare.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

The National Archives and the V&A launch resource on Victorian Britain

An unique e-learning resource The Victorians, which combines documents from The National Archives with objects from the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) to teach primary school pupils about the Victorian era, has been launched today

The UFO Files: new edition published today

A new edition of The UFO Files, exploring Ministry of Defence files at The National Archives, has been published by Bloomsbury today. This fully revised edition includes a new chapter on the latest files to be made public, about unidentified flying objects and other unexplained phenomena, as part of the Ministry of Defence's ongoing release programme. Author Dr David Clarke, a senior lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, was instrumental in using the Freedom of Information Act to request that thousands of previously-secret files be opened. To date, more than 50,000 pages of official documentation on UFOs have been released to The National Archives

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Los Angeles to consider multi-use library cards for illegal immigrants

Los Angeles officials are considering a plan to turn the library card into a form of identification that the city's large illegal immigrant population could use to open bank accounts and access an array of city services. The City Council unanimously voted recently to consider the proposal, which would have Los Angeles join the growing number of cities across the nation that offer various forms of identification to undocumented workers and others who cannot get driver's licenses because of their immigration status - latimes.com

Europeana opens up its dataset of over 20 million cultural objects for free re-use

Opportunities for apps developers, designers and other digital innovators will be boosted today as the digital portal Europeana opens up its dataset of over 20 million cultural objects for free re-use. The massive dataset is the descriptive information about Europe's digitised treasures. For the first time, the metadata is released under the Creative Commons CC0 Public Domain Dedication, meaning that anyone can use the data for any purpose - creative, educational, commercial - with no restrictions

ACRL 2013 Scholarships

ACRL is offering 70 scholarships in five categories worth more than $40,000 for the upcoming ACRL 2013 conference to be held April 10-13, 2013, in Indianapolis. Applications for scholarships in all categories are due November 9, 2012

New book: The Busy Librarian’s Guide to Information Literacy in Science and Engineering

ACRL has announced the publication of The Busy Librarian's Guide to Information Literacy in Science and Engineering, edited by Katherine O'Clair and Jeanne Davidson

VOTE411.org (USA)

VOTE411.org (USA)Launched by the League of Women Voters Education Fund in October of 2006, VOTE411.org is a "one-stop-shop" for election related information. It provides nonpartisan information to the public with both general and state-specific information on the following aspects of the election process:

Absentee ballot information
Ballot measure information (where applicable)
Early voting options (where applicable)
Election dates
Factual data on candidates in various federal, state and local races
General information on such topics as how to watch debates with a critical eye
ID requirements
Polling place locations
Registration deadlines
Voter qualifications
Voter registration forms
Voting machines

Alexander Street Press releases Black Studies in Video

Black Studies in Video will weave together seminal documentaries, powerful interviews, and previously unavailable archival footage surveying the black experience. At completion, the collection will contain five hundred hours of film covering African American history, politics, art and culture, family structure, gender relationships, and social and economic issues

Squatters reopen Friern Barnet library after council closes service (UK)

From The Guardian: A few dog-eared copies of novels by Joanna Trollope and Wilbur Smith sit on the otherwise bare shelves of Friern Barnet library alongside banners urging "peace", "occupy" and "revolution". The library closed down by Barnet council in April is under new management. Eight squatters entered the north London library last week through an open window. Since a law change on 1 September made it a criminal offence to squat residential properties, they have turned to commercial properties to find a bed for the night. The occupation has the blessing of many residents who are delighted to see the locked doors of the library flung open once again. It's the first time that squatters have morphed into "community librarians" by occupying and reopening a public lending resource in this way. Book loans will be manually recorded and stamped

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

PLA offering its last free Turning the Page 2.0 advocacy course (USA)

Librarians and library supporters have one more opportunity to participate in the Public Library Association-sponsored online public library advocacy course, Turning the Page 2.0. The final free session from PLA begins the week of September 24 and runs through the week of October 29

BookPsychic is now live in the Portland Public Library in Portland, Maine

BookPsychic is now live in the Portland Public Library in Portland, Maine. BookPsychic is a book recommendation system for individual libraries

The British Library events: September to November 2012

The British Library promises Bollywood, hypnosis and the Beats with its vibrant autumn programme of public events and exhibitions

Bett 2013 (UK)

Bett 2013 takes place on 30 January to 2 February 2013 at ExCeL London, bringing together more than 700 exhibitors and around 30,000 visitors. As the global meeting place for visitors who are passionate about the transformational power of learning technology, the show provides easy access to learning resources and services that will enhance learning within the school library. It provides a platform for ensuring that school libraries remain at the forefront of what are the latest and most cost effective options available

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #211

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #211. "This week's episode brings a public health update jointly from the United States Department of Agriculture as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An essay is presented as well as a news miscellany". Previous Podcasts/Programs can be found here

CILIP in London Event: The TUC Collections: Celebrating 90 Years of Contribution to Research

CILIP in London Event: The TUC Collections: Celebrating 90 Years of Contribution to Research - 8 October 2012 - London, UK - "Chris Coates, Librarian of the TUC Collections at London Metropolitan University, will talk about the history of the Collections, the variety of their content, and their contribution to research into both historical and current aspects of workplace life and politics"

A future for special libraries - panel discussiona and networking event Edinburgh

On Wednesday 3rd October, SLA Europe is hosting a panel discussion at the National Library of Scotland where three key information professionals will discuss and debate the future for special libraries with reference to their own sector

RFID in Libraries Conference 2012 (UK)

RFID in Libraries Conference 2012 - 15 November 2012 - London, UK - "This year's CILIP RFID in Libraries Conference examines the changes that have taken place since 2011 and focuses closely at the issues surrounding migration to the new data standard. At a time when many existing RFID users of the technology are asking "should I convert?", this conference will shares the experiences and rationale of some of those who have already made that decision"

Gale to preserve two more collections with Portico

Portico has announced the addition of two Gale Digital Collections - Nineteenth Century Collections Online and National Geographic Magazine Archive, 1888-1994 to Portico's D-Collections Service. Portico has already preserved more than 1,380,000 objects and 83,000,000 files from 14 Gale Collections previously committed to the archive

Monday, September 10, 2012

Cites & Insights 12:9 (October 2012)

Cites & Insights 12:9 (October 2012) is now available for downloading. Edited and published by Walt Crawford

ChemistryOpen - August 2012

ChemistyOpen's Issue 4 is now available via Wiley Online Library and the journal's homepage

Bodleian confirms rare Frankenstein find

Staff at Oxford's Bodleian Library have confirmed the discovery of a rare first edition of romantic novelist Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The book lay untouched for 50 years in a private library. The presentation copy of the 1818 novel was given to the poet Lord Byron and contains the inscription on the front flyleaf in black ink: "To Lord Byron, from the author." Frankenstein was published in a small edition of 500 copies and the publisher gave the author six copies for her own personal use. The recently discovered copy was found in the library of the late Lord Jay by his grandson Sammy as he prepared papers for the Oxford University library's archives

TWIL #80: Cees Snoek (Video Retrieval)

Video retrieval, search, speech recognition. "Deep inour hearts we are all librarians". Some of this and more on this week's episode of TWIL: your weekly dose of library innovation

UK Government invests £10 million to help universities move to open access

A £10 million Government investment announced by Universities and Science Minister David Willetts will help universities with the transition to open access to publicly-funded research findings. The investment will enable a number of research-intensive UK institutions to kick-start the process of developing policies and setting up funds to meet the costs of article processing charges. This is in line with the recommendations of the Finch report on open access, published in June

Pubget

Pubget is the search engine for life science PDFs. Pubget makes scientific research easier by simplifying the process of finding, managing and analyzing scientific papers. The core solution at www.pubget.com provides article-level tools making content discovery, access and copyright management much easier for the user. Pubget's corporate services offer relevant banner and contextual advertisement for marketers and search services for libraries and R&D departments, including repository and text mining platforms

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Julia Donaldson appeal over library cuts (UK)

Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson has urged the new Culture Secretary to "show some leadership" and prevent cuts to libraries. The writer, who was named Children's Laureate last year, told Maria Miller that cutting library budgets was "a false economy". She will embark on a tour on Monday taking in 35 libraries across England, Wales and Scotland over six weeks to publicise her campaign. In an open later to Ms Miller, who replaced Jeremy Hunt in the recent reshuffle, Ms Donaldson said: "I'm also hoping that the tour will draw attention to the erosion of the library service which is happening in so many local authorities, and to the current government's utter refusal to intervene or to provide any leadership."

Saturday, September 08, 2012

News from the Archive 0004: Petabytes, Recap, and Ramadan (Internet Archive)

News from the Archive 0004: Petabytes, Recap, and Ramadan - No. 4, 5 September 2012 - "Did you wonder where the Internet Archive stores millions of books, movies, recordings, and 150 billion web pages? Not in some conceptual cloud, but on our custom-designed Petabox servers, that's where. This week, we're installing another petabyte of storage; that's a thousand terabytes or a million gigabytes. Each Petabox is comprised of ten racks; each rack holds thirty-eight three-terabyte hard drives, two of which are used for the operating systems with the remainder used for data...."

Rare collection under threat as Delhi library faces closure (India)

One of India's oldest libraries - established by 19th Century colonial officers who donated British and Indian first editions - is facing closure after government funding was withdrawn

Actress Samantha Siddall joins library fight

Actress Samantha Siddall joins library fightAn actress has joined calls to save a library threatened with closure. Samantha Siddall, who is best known for playing Mandy Maguire in Channel Four's Shameless, is backing the campaign to save West End library in Denton, where she lives. The branch is one of at least five which looks set to shut as Tameside council tries to shave £1m from its libraries budget. Samantha, 30, who regularly visits the library with 22-month-old son Billy, said: "The Dane Bank community doesn't get a lot at the moment and the library is one of the few things that we do have. "The children's services are very limited - we've never had a Sure Start centre. I'm fortunate, I car share with my partner, but there are other people who don't have access to a car and to travel into Hyde or Ashton by bus is expensive." Earlier this summer the council put three options out to public consultation, but all would see the closure of the five smaller neighbourhood libraries in West End, Haughton Green, Hurst, Mottram and Newton. Hundreds have joined campaign groups to save them. The council's preference is to keep the six main town libraries in Ashton, Stalybridge, Hyde, Denton, Droylsden and Dukinfield

British Library welcomes Government response on Non-Print Legal Deposit regulations

The British Library welcomes the Government's commitment to proceed with introducing the Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-print works) Regulations in April 2013. The statement by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (5 September 2012) follows a public consultation which closed in May 2012

Webcast Invitation: Connecting the Dots between Open Access and Open Educational Resources September 27, 2012

Webcast Invitation: Connecting the Dots between Open Access and Open Educational Resources - Another free SPARC online event - September 27, 2012, 12:00 - 1:00PM EST

Maney to publish The Linacre Quarterly

Maney Publishing has announced a new partnership with the Catholic Medical Association to publish The Linacre Quarterly starting in 2013

NISO Webinar: Discovery and Delivery: Innovations and Challenges

NISO Webinar: Discovery and Delivery: Innovations and Challenges - September 26, 2012, 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Crossroads: The monthly newsletter from WebJunction - September 2012

Crossroads: the newsletter of WebJuntion.org - September 2012 issue is now available

Friday, September 07, 2012

Podcast: From wheelchair polo to winning professionals: the history of the Paralympics

Today, the Paralympics is a showcase of professional, top-level athletic achievement. Like the able-bodied Olympics, disabled athletes train for years in order to represent their country in a range of sports. But how did this sporting competition come about? Through documents and images, this talk charts the history of the Paralympic Games and tells the story of how a few disabled veterans in wheelchairs playing polo in a hospital gym in Aylesbury gave rise to the exciting highly competitive sports competition that exists today. Dr Julie Anderson is a historian at the University of Kent in Canterbury who specialises in the history of disability. She has published a number of articles and books on the history of disabled people in Britain. Her book War, Disability and Rehabilitation in Britain: Soul of a Nation (Manchester University Press, 2011) explores the role of sport in the lives of disabled veterans in the Second World War

2012 BERA/SAGE Practitioner Research Awards winners

The winners of the 2012 BERA/SAGE Practitioner Research Awards were announced at the annual British Educational Research Association conference in London on the 6th September. For the sixth year running the BERA/SAGE awards recognized practitioners who have demonstrated excellence in the application of research in practice, in a research-based practice in the under 18 setting and research-based practice in the over 18 setting

2012 SLA School Librarian of the Year Award

Three school librarians have been selected as the Honour List finalists for the 2012 SLA School Librarian of the Year Award:

Rosalind Buckland – Librarian, Ripley St Thomas CE Academy, Lancaster
Adam Lancaster – Librarian/Associate Assistant Headteacher, Monk's Walk School, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire
Gill Trueman – Library and Information Manager, Peasedown St John Primary School, near Bath

OCLC's WebJunction receives grant to support ongoing operations for five years

OCLC has received a $4.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support five years of ongoing operations of WebJunction, the learning place for libraries

The September 2012 batch of Early Reviewer books is now available at LibraryThing

The September 2012 batch of Early Reviewer books is now available at LibraryThing. There are 2011 copies of 77 books available this month

Search new Surrey parish records on findmypast.co.uk

findmypast.co.uk has published 5,774 new parish records for Surrey

Fall ACRL E-Learning

ACRL is offering a wide variety of online learning opportunities in fall 2012 to meet the demands of your schedule and budget. Full details and registration information are available on the ACRL website. Registration for all online courses and webcasts qualifies for the ACRL Frequent Learner Program. Register for three ACRL e-Learning events and receive one free registration

Thursday, September 06, 2012

European Journal of Archaeology is Maney Publishing's Journal of the Month in September 2012

Maney Publishing's Journal of the Month in September is the 'European Journal of Archaeology'. Maney has made 3 years' worth of content completely free to download

2013 price list and journal changes from Bloomsbury Journals (formerly Berg Journals)

From 1 January 2013, Berg journals will be published under Bloomsbury Publishing. Bloomsbury bought Berg Publishers back in 2008. The 2013 journal prices are now available for all journals, including 2 new titles

Maney Publishing 2013 price list

The Maney Publishing 2013 price list is now available online

Public Libraries of New Zealand - A Strategic Framework 2012 - 2017

Downloadable versions of the framework document and summaries are now available

Teacher librarians crucial in info age (Australia)

Teacher librarians can evaluate online information and, more importantly, they know how teach others to do it for themselves

Grant Awards announcement: Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services Program

The Institute of Museum and Library Services has announced 22 awards totaling $925,687 matched with $625,932 of non-federal funds for Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services Program Grants. IMLS received 36 applications requesting $1,686,001 in funds

New anthropology databases now available via EBSCOhost

EBSCO Publishing has added three new anthropology databases to the EBSCOhost® platform. Formerly available via First Search from OCLC, the three databases: Anthropological Index™, Anthropological Literature™ and Anthropology Plus™, cover the fields of anthropology, archaeology and related interdisciplinary research

Web Index

Designed and produced by the World Wide Web Foundation, the Web Index is the world’s first multi-dimensional measure of the Web's growth, utility and impact on people and nations. It covers 61 developed and developing countries, incorporating indicators that assess the political, economic and social impact of the Web, as well as indicators of Web connectivity and infrastructure

Oxford University Press makes scholarly editions available online through innovative new platform

Oxford University Press made its prestigious and world-renowned collection of scholarly editions available online for the first time today through Oxford Scholarly Editions Online. Launching with 171 editions of works written by authors principally active between 1485 and 1660, OSEO contains the original texts of approximately 12,000 works, including 200 plays, some 7000 poems, and more than 5000 letters. It will provide trustworthy and reliable critical editions of original works by some of the most important writers in the humanities, such as William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, as well as works from lesser-known writers such as Shackerley Marmion. In doing so it will open up research possibilities to students and academics by providing them with the ability to search and compare works of English Literature, Philosophy, History, and Religion

News on DigitalCommons@ILR from Cornell University Library

A digital repository that provides free access to some of the most important documents in the world of work has hit a major milestone: 5 million downloads, from users all over the world. DigitalCommons@ILR features the work of the faculty and researchers at Cornell's ILR School, as well as non-Cornell content - and its use is soaring

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

FreePint Newsletter 358

FreePint Newsletter 358 - 6 September 2012 now available

University of Toronto libraries third-best in American rankings

The University of Toronto's massive library system has received high grades for the third year in a row. The Association of Research Libraries, based in Washington, D.C., has ranked the University of Toronto libraries as third-best in its annual Library Investment Index, behind Ivy League schools Harvard University and Yale University. The index measures how much a university invests in its library by looking at the number of volumes it has, how many it's added over the last year and how much it spends on salaries, among other things. The latest rankings are for data collected from 2010-11

John Berger's archive is displayed for the first time with John Berger: Art and Property Now

In 2009, John Berger donated sixty years' worth of his papers, accumulated in his stables in the French Alps, to the British Library. Bringing together unseen highlights from that archive with artworks connected to his life as a storyteller, artist and critic, Art and Property Now (Inigo Rooms, 6 September – 10 November 2012) explores Berger's act of generosity and solidarity, and demonstrates just how characteristic it is of the man

Gale Receives inaugural 'Heart of a Champion' Award from the Michigan Library Association

Gale has announced it is the 2012 recipient of the inaugural Michigan Library Association Heart of a Champion Award

Europeana and OCLC agree on approach for member libraries to contribute metadata to the Europeana.eu portal

OCLC and Europeana, the provider of Europe's digital library, have worked together on an approach that will enable OCLC member institutions to contribute metadata derived from OCLC's WorldCat database to the Europeana.eu portal in a manner that is consistent with OCLC's WorldCat Rights and Responsibilities for the OCLC Cooperative

Seminar: Accessing heritage research collections through digitisation: models and use

This year the Consortium of European Research Libraries will be holding their national seminar on Accessing heritage research collections through digitisation: models and use at the British Library on 30 October 2012. The programme includes contributions on licencing models, working with commercial partners, Google Books in Spain and the JISC Historic Books platform. Attendance is free but delegates need to register

SPEC Kit 329: Managing Born-Digital Special Collections and Archival Materials (August 2012)

This SPEC Kit explores the tools, workflow, and policies special collections and archives staff use to process, manage, and provide access to born-digital materials they collect. It also looks at which staff process and manage born-digital materials and how they acquire the skills they need for these activities, and how libraries have responded to the challenges that managing born-digital materials present

OLAC Newsletter - September 2012

The OLAC Newsletter is a quarterly publication of the Online Audiovisual Catalogers. September 2012 issue now available

EveryLibrary (USA)

EveryLibrary helps public, school, and college libraries win bonding, tax, and advisory referendum, ensuring stable funding and access to libraries for generations to come

C&RL News – September 2012

C&RL News – September 2012 is now freely available online from The Association of College and Research Libraries

People of Medieval Scotland: 1093-1314

People of Medieval Scotland is a database of all known people of Scotland between 1093 and 1314 mentioned in over 8600 contemporary documents. The People of Medieval Scotland is an outcome of two projects, The Paradox of Medieval Scotland (2007-2010) and The Breaking of Britain (2010-2013), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

58 more Open Access and subscription Journals added to JournalTOCs

Roddy MacLeod has added 58 more Open Access journals to JournalTOCs, where you can find the latest Tables of Contents from over 19,600 scholarly journals, including over 4,100 Open Access journals

Kensal Rise campaigners near fundraising target (UK)

The Friends of Kensal Rise Library need to raise only another £10,000 before Friday 7 September to help secure their bid to turn the building into a community-run library. So far, the group has raised £59,909 out of a total of £70,000 that would see them able to back their proposals to lease the library from its owner, All Souls College, Oxford

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

London: A History in Maps promises to reveal the capital's inside story

London: A History in Maps promises to reveal the capital's inside storyLondon: A History in Maps, published today, examines how the capital has transformed itself from a small, walled town, into one of the world's most dynamic cities over the last 2000 years. Telling the story through a fantastic series of maps, many from the British Library's collections and seen here for the first time, it charts the development of the capital from the first known image on a coin in 297 AD, right up to the present day and the lasting legacy the Olympic games will have on the cultural and geographical make-up of the city

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #210

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #210. "This week's episode brings a brief news miscellany". Previous Podcasts/Programs can be found here

48th Annual Big Book Sale - San Francisco Public Library

48th Annual Big Book Sale - San Francisco Public LibraryHeld at Fort Mason Center's Festival Pavilion, the sale features over 500,000 books, DVDs, CDs, books on tape, vinyl and other forms of media, 10,000 boxes of materials, 50+ categories and over 400 volunteers. Everything is $3 or less, kids books are $1 or less every day and ALL books are $1 on Sunday. The Big Book Sale is free and open to the public and all proceeds from the Big Book Sale benefit the San Francisco Public Library's literacy programs for children, teens and adults

Report: Digital Content for the First World War (UK)

The First World War is one of the most widely covered topics in further and higher education and schools, but according to a new JISC report, little is known about what aspects of the War are being taught, the key research questions or indeed the digital content available to support education and research in this area. The new survey report by the JISC-led Strategic Content Alliance, Digital Content for the First World War, based on a study undertaken by King's College London, addresses these questions for the benefit of people managing digital resources in universities, libraries and museums. The report argues that the Centenary of the War in 2014 offers digital content creators the opportunity to reappraise received notions of the experience and legacy of the conflict across disciplines

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog - August 31, 2012

The August 31, 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

Monday, September 03, 2012

Add Voter Registration to your website (USA)

Anyone with a website or blog can now easily help register voters for the fall election in the United States. Visitors to your site will be able to easily fill out and print the appropriate voter registration form for their state, or register online if their state allows. Library websites would be ideal for this purpose

First Monday - September 2012

First Monday - Volume 17, Number 9, 3 September 2012 now available. First Monday is a Great Cities Initiative of the University of Illinois at Chicago University Library, USA

Sunday, September 02, 2012

Wellcome Library Item of the Month, August 2012: British rabies posters from the 1970s

For many in this country, the end of August traditionally marks the end of the summer holidays, as children return to school and parents return to the workplace. During the late 1970s and 1980s, as many Brits returned from holidays increasingly spent on the continent and entered through customs controls, there were brought with a jolt back out of their holiday reveries by posters, starkly warning against the threat of a potentially fatal disease

Kept-Up Academic Librarian blog is closing

Steven Bell writes: After nearly 8 years, 5,000 posts and 500,000 page views, this is the last post at Kept-Up Academic Librarian. It has been a good run but the need for this blog is diminished and even though the time it takes to compose it each day is not great, it is time I could use for other activities. Now with so many others sharing higher education news on social networks, along with other sources such as University Business' daily update, Academic Impressions and daily news items in the Chronicle and IHE, it's clear there is less need - and that is supported by the stagnant usage data

Ancestry.com free census weekend

Ancestry.com is offering its entire U.S. census collection for free through September 3, 2012

Zadie Smith defends local libraries (UK)

Zadie Smith has described local libraries as "absolutely essential" as campaigners in the UK battle to protect the hundreds of branches which are under threat of closure. Speaking on Radio 5 Live on 30 August, Smith said that she owed her "whole life to books and libraries". The novelist, who joined campaigners fighting to save Kensal Rise library in Brent, said that "like a lot of kids in this country, if you don't have middle-class, educated parents you need to find ways to get books. A lot of people don't have books on their shelves. The library was the place I went to find out what there was to know. It was absolutely essential." Figures from the Public Library News website, which monitors library closures in the UK, show that 245 libraries (209 buildings and 36 mobiles) are currently either under threat, have been closed or left council control over the last year, out of the UK's 4,000-plus public libraries. These range from 13 branch closures in Leeds and five in Bolton to the transfer of 12 branches to volunteers in Warwickshire

Vancouver Public Library launches Talk for SUCCESS: An ESL English Corner for Newcomers to Canada

The Vancouver Public Library has launched an English drop-in program as part of its multicultural services platform in conjunction with community partners S.U.C.C.E.S.S. and L2 Accent Reduction Centre

September is Library Card Sign-up Month (USA)

Library Card Sign-up Month is a time to remind parents and children that a library card is the most important school supply of all

Saturday, September 01, 2012

Manchester University Press 2013 journal price list

Manchester University Press 2013 journal price list is now available

ALCTS seeking 2013 Innovation Awards nominations

Nominations are being accepted for the 2013 Association for Library Collections & Technical Services awards for innovation and collaboration. ALCTS presents two awards to honor individuals and groups whose work represents the finest achievements and leadership in collaboration and innovation. If you are interested in nominating a candidate for either of the awards, contact the chair of that award jury. The deadline for nominations and supporting materials is December 3

Francine Fialkoff leaves Library Jouirnal

After 35 years at LJ, and over 15 years at its helm (as editor and editor in chief), Francine Fialkoff will officially part ways with LJ as of September 1

Current Cites - August 2012

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