Saturday, March 31, 2012
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
Friday, March 30, 2012
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
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.
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.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
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 2012London 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
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