New & Noteworthy

Citation

(2013), "New & Noteworthy", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 30 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2013.23930caa.002

New & Noteworthy

Article Type: New & Noteworthy From: Library Hi Tech News, Volume 30, Issue 3:

DOI 10.1108/LHTN-03-2013-0016

Over January 22-24, 2013, 100 distinguished thought leaders from around the world journeyed to Austin, Texas to engage in a substantive dialog on the future of education. They represented higher education, K-12, museums, libraries, funding agencies, and industry, in their diversity comprising a gathering unlike any other, and bringing a range of viewpoints that encouraged the exploration of, as the organizers hoped, “learning, writ large”.

Dr Larry Johnson, CEO of the New Media Consortium (NMC), and Dr Lev Gonick, VP and CIO at Case Western Reserve University as well as Board Chair Emeritus of the NMC, worked together as Summit Co-chairs to plan this very special event, designed to tap into energy and expertise from all over the world. Those in attendance collectively represented every sector of formal and informal education. David Sibbet, CEO of the Grove and widely acknowledged as the world’s leading visual facilitator, led the group with imaginative manifestations of the ideas as they flowed in real time. Jeff Conklin’s notion of “wicked problems” was used to describe what the group was hoping to articulate: issues that are extremely difficult and even seemingly impossible to solve because of the complex or ever-changing environments in which they arise.

As the NMC explored the nearly two dozen potential candidates for “wicked problem” status identified by the summit participants, Conklin’s framework helped reveal overlaps, patterns, and interdependencies between many of the challenges, and ultimately helped determine what surfaced as this set of five essential challenges for education:

1. 1.

   Rethink what it means to teach, and reinvent everything about teaching. All of our notions about teaching were developed for eras in which the oral tradition was the main way that knowledge was transmitted from one generation to the next. Libraries existed, but only the very lucky few had access to the kinds of resources that virtually all of us take for granted today. When most any practical question can be answered in microseconds via the network, and in most cases, with a variety of perspectives and viewpoints also included – what is the role of the venerated teacher? What are the defining attributes of the teachers we need to help the next generations build on (or fix) the work we did? What can and should be the key competencies of a teacher? We know we need education overall to be more experiential and more hands-on. We need to be emphasizing good choices, and ethical decisions. Learning must be global, and more based in the realities of the world as it is. It should be more authentic. What we do not know is how to prepare people to be successful with these very different kinds of skills, and that makes this a wicked problem.

2. 2.

   Reimagine online learning. The demand for online learning is challenging us to rethink what learning via the network can and should deliver – whether the provider represents one of the world’s leading universities, a for-profit provider of skills or business training, or a school system trying to meet the needs of increasingly disengaged learners. Simply delivering content is no longer enough. Students expect learning that matters; learning connected in timely ways to the real world; learning that engages their interests; and learning experiences that see them as entire persons, not just consumers of content. Online learning owes its heritage to distance learning, but in today’s world, online learning is something even residential students want and expect. How to make online learning realize its full potential is a wicked problem because we are not even sure of the questions we need to ask so we can begin to understand what to refine, and what to improve. More experimentation, more data about every dimension of online learning, and new fresh ideas are needed to even begin to define the directions in which development should be taking place.

3. 3.

   Allow failure to be as powerful a learning mode as success. Learning is all about risk, but learning institutions are anything but risk tolerant. There are good reasons for that, except when it comes to learning. We deceive students when we do not make it clear that not all knowledge is absolute. Truth is the result of generations of exploration, of refinement, of pushing the boundaries of our experience. Truth builds on failure as much as success, but failure is anathema to today’s learning institutions. We must instill in students the drive to learn, and to help them see the vital role of failure in discovery. We need to expect our halls of learning to question their own processes and strategies, and their own success. We measure things, but spend little time on understanding what we should be measuring. We know great innovation always comes from the refinement of an initial idea, but we teach in and administer schools as if there are absolute certainties that we must never question. How can we ensure that the next series of great discoveries will be made? That is a challenge whose dimensions and starting places are elusive enough to be considered a truly wicked problem.

4. 4.

   Make innovation part of the learning ethic. Innovation springs from the freedom to connect ideas in new ways. Our schools and universities generally allow us to connect ideas only in prescribed ways – sometimes these lead to new insights, but more likely they lead to rote learning. Why is it that when one asks a first grade class which of them can draw, all of them eagerly raise their hands, but ask the same question of a high school class, and only one or two admit to having artistic skills? What convinced those who decided they could not draw? Why do we not encourage everyone to draw, even if they do so in their own ways? Great artists break the rules – and new ground – all the time. That is how they become great artists. We need schools and universities to be places where innovation happens routinely. Instead we share stories of how the great innovators left school to allow themselves the freedom to pursue their dreams. Turning this around is not equivalent to pruning the branches of the education tree – it is akin to grafting a new root system to it, and we have yet to develop the techniques for wholesale reinvention at that level. We must innovate to even begin to understand where to start, and that recursiveness makes this challenge wicked indeed.

5. 5.

   Preserve the digital expressions of our culture and knowledge. As the world and society shift from capturing and disseminating new knowledge, art, and understanding on fabric and paper, as we have for millennia, to digital formats that are still very much evolving, we are at risk of losing generations of scholarly, cultural, and creative contributions. Already, most of the early digital art and digital publications are lost because the formats they were encoded in are no longer in use. It is a paradox that as we have become far more efficient and productive, due to the digital tools at our disposal, the very product of our work has become something far more ephemeral than we ever imagined. The reality is that most digital materials produced over the last 30 years – and likely decades more into the future – are very likely to be lost. We truly have no idea where to begin to address this wicked challenge, but if we do not, much of the work of humankind is likely to suffer the fate of the irreplaceable papyri that were lost at the Library of Alexandria.

At the first NMC Horizon Project Summit in 2012, thought leaders and education experts specifically focused on the drivers of change in education technology – and reached consensus on ten megatrends that will underlie our decision making for years to come – essentially a list of constants amongst the change. This year, the emphasis arced toward understanding equally well the essential challenges we face, and to begin to articulate them.

Taken together, the five challenges outlined above represent a foundational shift in how we think about teaching, learning, and the work of knowledge creation. They overlap in part, but are presented here as discrete concepts in an effort to begin to define them – itself a wicked challenge, and like all wicked challenges, there is no one right answer. As the NMC continues to work with its growing global community of expert advisors – now more than 750 – from understanding the essential trends influencing our decisions to articulating challenges worthy of global attention, to taking action in concert with others around the globe, this list will guide our efforts, even as it continues to evolve.

Freely available online:

The “Ideas that Matter” videos: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVwavmSEaasG4n2mpX-btZMrSPUnxaAZB

David Sibbet’s visual record: www.nmc.org/news/photos-2013-horizon-project-summit Ten megatrends: www.nmc.org/pdf/2012-Horizon-Project-Retreat-Communique.pdf

Download the 2013 Communiqué PDF: www.nmc.org/pdf/2013-Horizon-Project-Summit-Communique.pdf

Chicago Public Library Foundation and BiblioCommons announce integrated web services collaboration

The Chicago Public Library Foundation and BiblioCommons have announced a three-year partnership to accelerate innovation in the Chicago Public Library’s online experience. The partnership will expand on the BiblioCore catalog which is currently live at New York Public Library, Boston Public Library, Seattle Public Library, and many other large libraries but will also include a re-developed web site and will feature integrated cross-marketing of collections, events, and services and enhanced community engagement throughout the integrated Chicago Public Library catalog and web site.

According to Library Commissioner Brian Bannon:

Chicago Public Library has been at the forefront of library technology and best practices in library experiences. For our Library to continue to be successful into the 21st century will require the best web solution and staying nimble to keep pace with user expectations and emerging capabilities. The Library is grateful to the Chicago Public Library Foundation and its generous donors for bringing these innovations to all Chicagoans.

Examples of the integrated experience will include enhanced online community engagement around the One Book, One Chicago initiative, the opportunity for teens to share content developed in the YouMedia Lab, and deep integration and online engagement around other popular public programs, library services, and library collections.

The BiblioCommons multi-tenant software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution reduces the need for costly technological infrastructure and in-house staff technical expertise, and allows public libraries to focus on curating their collections and connecting with the community rather than developing and maintaining software and technical infrastructure. With an investment from the Chicago Public Library Foundation, Chicago Public Library staff and BiblioCommons will improve on current services and develop new products that can then be shared with other public libraries to ensure scalability, ongoing innovation, and sustainability into the future.

According to Beth Jefferson, Co-Founder of BiblioCommons:

Our partnership with the Chicago Public Library Foundation will be the first of its kind to fully integrate all aspects of the patron’s online library interactions and ensure that the Chicago Public Library continues to thrive as a community hub and center of learning and exploration for the community of Chicago – both in person and online. We couldn’t be more excited to work with such an innovative library.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP represented the Chicago Public Library Foundation as pro bono legal counsel in connection with this transaction. The new Chicago Public Library web site and integrated catalog are scheduled to launch in 2013.

More about BiblioCommons: www.bibliocommons.com/about/about-us

VuFind 1.4 final major release

The final major release in the VuFind 1.x line is now available. VuFind 1.4 includes several significant enhancements: support for hierarchical collections of records, allowing better integration of archival materials and digital repositories; built-in support for running without an integrated library system, making VuFind more convenient for non-library uses and offering smarter behavior during temporary ILS outages; the ability to provide custom recommendations to the user when no search results are found; an improved and expanded mobile interface; new index fields allowing VuFind to be used as an article index; optional Clickatell support for text messaging; and several new interface translations: Basque, Catalan, Czech and Russian. Additionally, several bug fixes and minor improvements have been incorporated.

A new preview version of VuFind 2.0 is also available. 2.0 beta features all of the same functionality as 2.0 alpha, but it has been upgraded to use the newly released Zend Framework 2.0. Additionally, the installation process and configuration options have been made more powerful and flexible, and online documentation has been significantly expanded.

2.0 beta is still not intended for production, and some architectural details will change prior to the full 2.0 release in 2013.

VuFind 1.4 and the preview Version 2.0 can be downloaded at: http://vufind.org

Perseus Digital Library develops prototype using the eXtensible catalog

The Perseus Digital Library has developed a prototype for its FRBR Catalog of Ancient Greek and Latin Primary Sources using the eXtensible catalog (XC) software. Although not precisely targeted to the Perseus Digital Library’s needs, which include supporting MODs and CTS metadata, the XC’s modular structure, FRBR based data model, and well designed Metadata Services Toolkit provided a flexible platform for experimenting. The Persues development team built a transformation service to convert CTS Text Inventory metadata for the works in the Perseus Digital Library to XC format, and used the MARC to MODS XSLT transformation provided by the Library of Congress to enable them to load the MODs data using the XC’s MARC transformation service. The team also made some modifications to the Drupal interface display code to produce a hierarchical browser that aggregates the catalog records on CTS Urn identifiers for the authors, works, editions and translations.

For more details on this effort, see: http://sites.tufts.edu/perseusupdates/beta-features/catalog-of-ancient-greek-and-latin-primary-sources/

The European Library: now open to research libraries throughout Europe

The European Library is pleased to invite research and university libraries from across Europe to join its community of library professionals. Joining The European Library offers libraries a chance to make their collections more accessible to an international audience than ever before.

The European Library is a not-for-profit organisation managed by the national and research libraries of Europe, and steered by three influential library organisations: The Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL), and Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche – Association of European Research Libraries (LIBER).

The European Library already makes 200 million records from some 60 national and research library partners available to researchers and the broader public. A highly efficient aggregation service ensures that all material submitted by the European Library’s network is freely searchable via its web site, cultural heritage portal Europeana, and APIs.

The European Library also connects members of its network with their peers across the digital library sector, via inspiring conferences and enthusiastic working groups. Through these venues members discuss issues that matter to our profession. These include library marketing and communications techniques, and technical subjects such as data enrichment, full-text indexing and Linked Open Data.

To learn more about participating in The European Library, visit: www.theeuropeanlibrary.org

Sustainability of digitized special collections: ARL and Ithaka S+R release findings

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and Ithaka S+R have released Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries, a report on findings from an ARL-Ithaka S+R survey of ARL libraries on the range of activities and expenses that libraries undertake to support their digitized special collections:

Hundreds of special collections have been digitized by ARL libraries in the past two decades and the majority of our members view digitization of rare and unique materials as critical to their future – said ARL Executive Director Elliott Shore.

This survey offers a close look at the practices, attitudes, costs, and revenues associated with post-digitization activity.

The research reveals that understanding the continuing costs for sustaining digital collections is a challenge across libraries. Responsibility is frequently dispersed among departments, and staff time and other costs are rarely allocated expressly to these activities or accounted for project-by-project. Almost universally, libraries are funding this activity out of their base budgets, suggesting that they will continue to need to shift funds from other things in order to support this as a priority.

While libraries are supporting these collections within their operations, the study’s findings also reflect concern over sustainability, with librarians citing lack of funding and staff capacity as major challenges to sufficient investment in their digital collections.

“Librarians can now take advantage of technology that allows them to make their rare and unique collections available to the world,” noted Deanna Marcum, Ithaka S+R Managing Director. “Funding sources to sustain these collections and the range of activities involved in preserving and maintaining them, however, is clearly still a question that needs community attention”.

The three-part survey, designed with input from the ARL community, was sent to all ARL member libraries in the USA and Canada and completed by 89 library directors, a response rate of 70 percent. In addition to the institutional perspective provided by library directors, library staff responded to other sections to offer insight into activities and costs for all of their institution’s digitized collections, and questions about individual projects.

The report’s lead author, Nancy Maron, Ithaka S+R program director for sustainability and scholarly communications, also presented the study findings in a webcast on March 7, 2013. The webcast featured experts from the ARL special collections community, including Lisa Carter, Anne Kenney, and Ann Thornton. View the webcast on ARL’s YouTube channel.

The ARL is a nonprofit organization of 125 research libraries in the US and Canada. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. Ithaka S+R (www.sr.ithaka.org) is a research and consulting group whose work serves as a catalyst for the transformation of scholarship and teaching online. Ithaka S+R is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization that also includes JSTOR and Portico.

Read/download the report: www.arl.org/bm∼doc/digitizing-special-collections-report-21feb13.pdf

Directory of open access journals reaches new milestones

The directory of open access journals (DOAJ) has recently completed the transition to a new environment and launched a new platform with integrated functionality for sharing, exporting and enhanced search/browse functionality: at the article level, search results can be filtered by language and publication year and by license and publication fee; at the journal level, you can filter by subject, by country, by license and by publication fees. These facets will be developed further in the months to come.

DOAJ has also reached two important milestones:

1. 1.

   For the first time since launch in 2003, more than 50 percent of the journals are providing metadata at article level. The DOAJ team will continue to work with the 2000+ publishers to increase this figure.

2. 2.

   More than one million articles are now searchable in DOAJ which means more than one million article-level metadata entries are available for harvesting! The DOAJ team expects this figure to increase significantly in the months to come.

The DOAJ team continues to work with key stakeholders to agree on and implement new, tighter criteria for the inclusion of journals in the DOAJ: critieria that will address issues of quality and openness, as well as other kinds of information about the journals.

More information: www.doaj.org/

NISO launches new initiative to develop standard for open access metadata and indicators

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) voting members have approved a new project to develop standardized bibliographic metadata and visual indicators to describe the accessibility of journal articles as well as potentially describe how “open” the item is. Many offerings are available from publishers under the banner of open access (OA), increased access, public access, or other descriptions; the terms offered vary between publishers and, in some cases, based on the funding organization of the author. Adding to the potential confusion, a number of publishers also offer hybrid options in which some articles are “open” while the rest of the journal’s content are available only by subscription or license. No standardized bibliographic metadata currently provides information on whether a specific article is freely readable and what re-use rights might be available to readers. Visual indicators or icons indicating the openness of an article are inconsistent in both design and use across publishers or even across journals from the same publisher.

“The NISO OA metadata and indicator project would complement other related efforts currently underway,” states Nettie Lagace, NISO’s Associate Director for Programs:

Such projects include CrossMark, CrossRef’s update identification service; How Open Is It?, a guide developed by PLoS, SPARC, and OASPA; Vocabularies for OA (V40A), a JISC/UKOLN project; ONIX-PL, a specification for communicating licensing terms developed by EDItEUR; the linked content coalition; and NISO’s open discovery initiative. Coordination and communication with these projects will be an important aspect of the NISO working group’s efforts.

“The benefits of having standardized OA metadata and indicators should have a positive impact on many participants in the scholarly communications chain,” explains Todd Carpenter, NISO’s Executive Director:

Funders who have implemented OA mandates would have a mechanism to determine if a specific article or researcher is compliant with their policies. Publishers of hybrid journals would benefit by having a simple mechanism for signaling the OA status of the articles published under that model. Authors could more easily determine whether their selected distribution option is being respected and be able to document their compliance with funder requirements. Readers could more easily ascertain from search results if they can read an article for free or fee-and more easily adhere to the terms that publishers have established. Aggregators and discovery service providers would have an improved mechanism of programmatically collecting and surfacing OA articles that are available in the community.

The project launched by NISO will focus initially on metadata elements that describe the readership rights associated with an OA article. Specifically, the NISO Working Group will determine the optimal mechanisms to describe and transmit the right, if any, an arbitrary user has to access a specific article from any internet connection point. Recommendations will include a means for distribution and aggregation of this metadata in machine-readable form. The group will also consider the feasibility of incorporating information on re-use rights and the feasibility of reaching agreement on transmission of that data.

Individuals interested in participating in this working group should contact Nettie Lagace (nlagace@niso.org). An interest group list for this project will be available for those who would like to receive updates on the Working Group’s progress and provide feedback to the group on its work. To subscribe, send an e-mail to: oa-indicators-info-subscribe@list.niso.org.

More information about NISO is available on its web site: www.niso.org

RLUK and OCLC pilot new solution for electronic resource metadata management

OCLC has announced it is working with several members of Research Libraries UK (RLUK), to pilot a new service which brings improvements to the way libraries manage electronic resources and to users’ access of these valuable collections.

Powered by the WorldCat knowledge base, OCLC WorldShare Metadata Collection Manager delivers WorldCat MARC records for electronic materials automatically to libraries and ensures the metadata and access URLs for these collections are continually updated, significantly streamlining the processes of managing eResources.

A number of libraries in North America have already worked with OCLC to test WorldShare Metadata Collection Manager. The UK pilot will last six months, and will help hone the new service, ensuring it accommodates any regional nuances before general release.

“I anticipate that WorldShare Metadata Collection Manager will enable us to achieve better control over our e-book collection,” explains Stuart Hunt, Data Services & Digital Production Manager, The University of Warwick. “We acquire e-books from many different suppliers. Being able to consolidate the metadata from WorldCat, via Collection Manager, will help us work more effectively”.

Talking about their motivations for joining the pilot, James Clark, Metadata Coordinator at King’s College London, states:

We were keen to participate because Collection Manager looked like a very efficient way to manage our eBook collections. The ability to get all of our eBook records into our catalogue via automated daily updates could make a significant saving in staff time. We also hope that Collection Manager will make it easier for us to avoid acquiring unnecessary duplicates of eBooks, which is increasingly difficult given the growing number of eBook suppliers and the uptake of patron driven acquisition.

The full list of RLUK OCLC WorldShare Metadata Collection Manager pilot institutions are:

King’s College London; The University of Manchester; The University of Warwick; University of Cambridge; University of Leeds; University of Oxford; and Wellcome Trust.

“This has been an excellent opportunity for RLUK libraries to deploy and test this new service from OCLC,” said Mike Mertens, Deputy Director of RLUK:

Being able to have the ability to shape WorldShare Metadata Collection Manager, that is, contextualise it for the UK academic library sector demonstrates the commitment that OCLC has to the notion of building community and also underlines the authoritative and exemplary knowledge and expertise possessed by staff working in RLUK libraries.

David Whitehair, Senior Product Manager, Metadata Management, OCLC, adds:

We are delighted to have the chance to work with these institutions before a full UK release. We have pretty much passed the tipping-point in academic libraries – electronic collections now outweigh print. These changes bring new challenges. Library staff often have to support multiple workflows, manually tracking data of varying frequencies and quality from different sources. WorldShare Metadata Collection Manager is informed by the needs of our members, and will simplify the whole process of metadata management in the growing area of eResources.

Research Libraries UK is a consortium of 33 of the largest research organizations in the UK and Ireland, including the three UK national libraries. Founded more than 25 years ago, RLUK has directly and indirectly sponsored some of the major free online UK resources in support of research, including Copac, the de facto UK Union Catalogue. RLUK’s mission is to work with their members and partners, nationally and internationally, to shape and to realise the vision of the modern research library.

More information at: www.oclc.org/en-US/news/releases/2013/20139.html

NISO publishes maintenance revisions of Dublin Core and SUSHI Standards

The NISO has announced the publication of maintenance revisions of two widely used standards: The Dublin Core metadata element set (ANSI/NISO Z39.85-2012) and The standardized usage statistics harvesting initiative (SUSHI) Protocol (ANSI/NISO Z39.93-2013). Both standards were revised to make very minor updates. The Dublin Core standard defines 15 metadata elements for resource description in a cross-disciplinary information environment and is used as the basis for most metadata standards in use today. The SUSHI protocol defines an automated request and response model for the harvesting of electronic resource usage data and is required for conformance with the COUNTER code of practice.

“The DCMI Usage Board approved a change to the usage comment for the ‘subject’ element to eliminate some ambiguity with the ‘coverage’ element,” explains Thomas Baker, Chief Information Officer for the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, the maintenance agency for the Dublin Core standard. “The new version of the ANSI/NISO standard corresponds to Version 1.1 of the specification on the DCMI web site”.

“The SUSHI Standing Committee initiated this revision of the standard to make two minor updates,” states Oliver Pesch, Chief Strategist for EBSCO Information Services and Co-chair of the SUSHI Standing Committee. “An additional error code was added and the appendix about security considerations was updated to reflect technology changes and experience gained since the initial implementation of the SUSHI protocol”.

“Standards do not drop into a black hole once they are published,” states Todd Carpenter, NISO Executive Director:

They must be supported and regularly reviewed to ensure they are kept up-to-date. Both the Dublin Core and the SUSHI standard receive ongoing oversight from their respective Maintenance Agency and Standing Committee. The maintenance revisions just published are examples of how the standards are revised to address even minor issues found during implementation.

Both standards are available for free download from the NISO web site:

Dublin Core at: www.niso.org/standards/z39-85-2012

SUSHI at: www.niso.org/standards/z39-93-2013

Additional information on the use of the Dublin Core standard is available from the DCMI web site at: www.dublincore.org

SUSHI FAQs, schemas, and implementation information are available at: www.niso.org/workrooms/sushi

Innovative integrates SkyRiver operation; company ends legal action against OCLC

Innovative Interfaces has announced that all operations of sister company SkyRiver Technology Solutions, Inc. will be integrated into Innovative and that the SkyRiver cataloging service will become part of Innovative’s product suite. In addition, Innovative has decided to withdraw the claims of the antitrust suit filed in 2010 and currently pending in federal court in Ohio.

“With the best interests of the library community in mind, we decided to view a relationship with OCLC as a potential collaboration partner, unclouded by legal issues,” said Kim Massana, Innovative’s Chief Executive Officer:

We are looking forward to competing with OCLC in the market for library technology services, including in the areas of cataloging and library service platforms. At the same time, we are excited to refocus our efforts to engage with OCLC management and our common accounts to help libraries meet the unprecedented information and technology challenges in today’s environment.

Massana continued:

All of us at Innovative believe that competition in technology services benefits libraries and drives innovation. We have a great product in SkyRiver and anticipate that by putting the whole weight of Innovative behind the development and implementation of the system, we will become an even stronger player in the market for library cataloging services going forward.

Innovative’s core offering, the Sierra Services Platform, has seen an extraordinary level of adoption across the international library and information community over the last year with more than 320 library systems having so far committed to Sierra, representing over 1,000 libraries worldwide. Sierra represents a new approach to library technology that provides the extensive functionality required for today’s libraries, while also bringing open architecture to library staff, allowing them to create their own solutions and adapt rapidly to the changing role of their libraries and institutions.

Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO, issued the following statement on the withdrawal of the lawsuit filed in 2010 by Innovative Interfaces and SkyRiver Technology Solutions:

We applaud the decision of the new owners of Innovative Interfaces and SkyRiver Technology Solutions and CEO Kim Massana to withdraw the claims against OCLC. We look forward to possible future engagement with Innovative where it benefits libraries. We work with many library service providers to provide greater value at reduced costs to libraries around the world.

Inclusion, reciprocity, trust and the highest standard of ethical conduct have guided the OCLC cooperative in the past and will guide us in the future. As always, OCLC’s public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing the rate of rise of library costs remain paramount.

Innovative Interfaces: www.iii.com/

SkyRiver Technology Solutions: http://theskyriver.com/

Boopsie for Libraries demonstrates new offerings at ALA Midwinter Meeting

Boopsie for Libraries, the leading mobile solution for universities and libraries worldwide, demonstrated two new offerings at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting (ALAMW 2013) in Seattle, Washington, January 25-29, 2013. In January, Boopsie for Libraries announced the availability of the Boopsie mobile app on the Blackboard Mobile™ Central Platform. Blackboard users will be able to access the extensive library services provided by the Boopsie mobile app from within the Blackboard Mobile Central application, increasing the visibility of library resources and services while retaining Blackboard as the primary portal to all campus information.

“Students, faculty and staff are already accustomed to accessing critical university information through their Blackboard Mobile Central app,” said Greg Carpenter, Boopsie CEO:

Now, with just one click in their campus app they also will be able to get to the custom-built library branded application with locations and hours, ability to search the library catalog and databases, access to downloadable eBooks and more. Then with just a click back, they return to their app.

“Our partner and developer programs drive tremendous value for clients by enabling access to pre-built extensions that help them fully utilize campus resources, access essential information, and boost student engagement,” said Ted Hopper, Vice President of Business Development at Blackboard:

This unique, vibrant community of developers allows institutions to customize their Blackboard Mobile Central platform and gives them great flexibility in how they improve and shape on demand access to everything happening on campus.

Also at ALAMW 2013, Boopsie for Libraries and 3M™ Library Systems announced the integration of the 3M™ Cloud Library e-book lending service into the Boopsie mobile application. The integration will allow patrons of libraries subscribing to both services to access the more than 250,000 titles from over 300 publishers in the Cloud Library with one click from the Boopsie home screen on any mobile device.

In announcing this major development in library service Greg Carpenter, Boopsie CEO, said:

The demand for mobile services and access to e-books is rapidly becoming a dominant theme in library service, driving the need for a positive user experience that enables simple discovery and downloading of e-books easily onto multiple mobile devices. The integration of the 3M Cloud Library into the Boopsie for Libraries native mobile application will allow library patrons to have access to the books they want anytime and anywhere from any supported device.

The Cloud Library’s e-books are compatible with PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Nooks, and Android devices. Using their personal devices and the Boopsie provided branded library app, patrons can browse, check out and read e-books seamlessly in concert with the Cloud Library app.

“3M created the Cloud Library with library patron services integration in mind to ensure a seamless experience for libraries and their patrons,” said Matt Tempelis, Global Business Manager for the 3M Cloud Library. “Integration with Boopsie for Libraries reaffirms our commitment to delivering the best possible experience for our customers”.

In use in more than 2,500 libraries and universities, Boopsie is changing the way libraries look at their mobile presence, taking a more strategic approach to delivering content beyond the library catalog to users when and where they need information. The Boopsie application is customized for each individual library to provide the sophisticated functionality of today’s complex library onto a handheld device.

For more information on Boopsie’s solutions for libraries: www.boopsie.com/libraries

For more information about 3M Library Systems: www.3M.com/library

E-book reading jumps in 2012; print book reading declines: new research from Pew

The population of e-book readers is growing. According to a report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project released in December 2012, in the past year the number of those who read e-books increased from 16 percent of all Americans ages 16 and older to 23 percent. At the same time, the number of those who read printed books in the previous 12 months fell from 72 percent of the population ages 16 and older to 67 percent.

Overall, the number of book readers in late 2012 was 75 percent of the population ages 16 and older, a small and statistically insignificant decline from 78 percent in late 2011.

The move toward e-book reading coincides with an increase in ownership of electronic book reading devices. In all, the number of owners of either a tablet computer or e-book reading device such as a Kindle or Nook grew from 18 percent in late 2011 to 33 percent in late 2012. As of November 2012, some 25 percent of Americans ages 16 and older own tablet computers such as iPads or Kindle Fires, up from 10 percent who owned tablets in late 2011. And in late 2012 19 percent of Americans ages 16 and older own e-book reading devices such as Kindles and Nooks, compared with 10 percent who owned such devices at the same time last year.

Read or download the full report: http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/12/27/e-book-reading-jumps-print-book-reading-declines/

OCLC Research and ALISE present 2013 Library and Information Science research grants

OCLC Research and the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) have awarded research grants to Lynne Bowker of the University of Ottawa, Kyung-Sun Kim of the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and Sei-Ching Joanna Sin of Nanyang Technological University and Sanghee Oh of Florida State University. The awards were presented January 24 at the ALISE 2013 Annual Conference Awards Reception in Seattle, Washington.

Lynne Bowker, PhD, of the School of Information Studies at the University of Ottawa, will consult with Spanish-speaking newcomers to Ottawa who are users of the Ottawa Public Library (OPL) in the project, “Can machine translation facilitate outreach to newcomers? A pilot study investigating the needs of Spanish-speaking users of the Ottawa Public Library.” The results of this study will help to determine if machine translation can be used as a partial solution for finding a cost-effective means of translation that would allow OPL to offer a wider range of translated texts to the under-served newcomer community.

Kyung-Sun Kim, PhD of the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and Sei-Ching Joanna Sin, PhD, of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University, will use a combination of surveys and focus group methods to collect data from over 600 undergraduate students in the USA and Singapore in the project, “social media as information sources: use and evaluation of information from social media.” The focus of this study is to investigate what types of social media are used as information sources and how they are used and evaluated. Based on this research, suggestions will be made to improve information literacy education and social media interfaces, which will support the effective use and evaluation of social media as information sources.

Sanghee Oh, PhD, of the School of Library and Information Studies at Florida State University, will investigate the health information needs and sources people most likely seek and share in social Q&A by analyzing the content of health questions and answers. Findings from the project, “understanding health information behaviors in social Q&A: text mining of health questions and answers in Yahoo! Answers,” will help health information professionals better understand the health information behaviors of their patients or customers and improve their services or systems.

OCLC/ALISE Library and Information Science Research Grants support research that advances librarianship and information science, promotes independent research to help librarians integrate new technologies into areas of traditional competence, and contributes to a better understanding of the library environment. Full-time academic faculty (or the equivalent) in schools of library and information science worldwide are eligible to apply for grants of up to $15,000. Proposals are evaluated by a panel selected by OCLC and ALISE. Supported projects are expected to be conducted within approximately one year from the date of the award and, as a condition of the grant, researchers must furnish a final project report at the end of the grant period.

More information about the OCLC/ALISE Library and Information Science Research Grant Program can be found at: www.oclc.org/research/grants.html

A list of previous grant recipients is at: www.oclc.org/research/grants/awarded.html

ASIS&T changes its name, enhances its global mission

Dick Hill, ASIS&T’s Executive Director, has announced that with nearly 90 percent of all ballots cast voting in favor of a name change, the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) has become the Association for Information Science and Technology.

While the ASIS&T acronym stays the same, the name change recognizes the growing influence of ASIS&T in the international arena. The opportunities and challenges with respect to the science and technology of information are increasingly international in focus and scope. ASIS&T supports members around the globe in addressing these opportunities and challenges.

When 2012 ASIS&T President Diane H. Sonnenwald, in collaboration with 2011 President Linda C. Smith, 2013 President Andrew Dillon, and 2014 President Harry Bruce, called for a membership vote on the name change issue, she said:

The word American in our name often makes it difficult for individuals outside the United States to receive recognition for belonging to and participating in ASIS&T. It also fails to recognize the important contributions members outside the United States make to our association and to our discipline.

In addition, Sonnenwald noted that increasing international participation in ASIS&T will provide additional opportunities for all members to learn from and share expertise and knowledge with colleagues who have different expertise and knowledge.

Currently 18 percent of ASIS&T members reside outside the USA in 52 different countries. At the recent 75th Anniversary ASIS&T Annual Meeting, attendees came from 25 countries, with 22 percent coming from countries other than the USA. In addition, ASIS&T runs successful international conferences, notably the annual European Information Architecture Summit, and will hold its 2013 Annual Meeting in Montreal, Canada.

The new name reflects the commitment of our members to international cooperation and global efforts to increase the influence of information science in education, research and applications to ensure the best access, management and use of information in an increasingly interconnected world.

Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T): www.asis.org/