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Home  News from the Field
NEWS FROM THE FIELD
C&RL News, September 2007
Vol. 68, No. 7
by David Free
AAAS ends participation in JSTOR
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) will discontinue its relationship with JSTOR, effective December 31, 2007. This decision means that AAAS publications, including Science, will no longer contribute new content to JSTOR. Current JSTOR customers will continue to have access to all currently available Science content, which includes the Science collection from 1880 to 2002. However, as of December 31, 2007, JSTOR will no longer include access to Science content in any offerings to new subscribers.
AAAS stated that the decision was based on a desire to “assume the full responsibility for maintaining a complete electronic archive” of Science. The association created Science Classic, a digital archive of more than 115 years of Science content, to provide access to the full run of the publication to association members and site license users. While expressing disappointment with the decision, JSTOR will continue to provide access to the existing archive of AAAS material to current subscribers in perpetuity.
Visit www.sciencemag.org/marketing/jstor_partnership.dtl for more information on the decision by AAAS and www.jstor.org/about/aaas_announce.html for the complete response from JSTOR.
Indiana University and ChaCha partner to create academic search service
Indiana University (IU) and search engine company ChaCha have entered into a strategic alliance for research, development, and services for the next generation of Internet search tools and practices. This new partnership will incorporate the collective knowledge and experience of the university’s library and information technology staff into ChaCha’s new search engine architecture.
By combining machine-based searches with input from human guides, ChaCha is able to offer users the ability to receive instant results, just like a traditional search engine, but the guides help the user focus on relevant information and eliminate unwanted material. IU librarians, information technology staff. and others will serve as guides, available to help the IU community conduct searches through a live instant message chat interface, identify exactly what information the user is seeking, refine the search for the user, and then display only the most relevant results.
“ChaCha will offer a new platform to integrate librarians’ expertise into the search and learning process,” said Patricia Steele, Ruth Lilly interim dean of university libraries. “We have a long history of providing trustworthy and reliable information to people who seek it from us. This platform will now help us push our expertise outside the walls of the library to where people are working.”
For more information on the partnership, visit www.newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/6103.html.
Ohio students and faculty gain access to theological collections
Ohio students, faculty, and staff now have access to one of the top ten largest theological collections in the United States from the Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus (TCGC). This access is possible because TCGC members—Methodist Theological School in Ohio, Pontifical College Josephinum, and Trinity Lutheran Seminary—have recently joined OhioLINK, an academic library consortium that delivers the information needed to support Ohio higher education. These additions bring the total number of OhioLINK members to 87, including 16 public/research universities, 23 community/technical colleges, 47 private colleges, and the State Library of Ohio.
“Having access to these specialized collections will be a benefit to students and faculty of many disciplines here at Ohio State, including art, history, literature, music, religious studies and sociology,” said Joe Branin, director of the Ohio State University Libraries.
The Methodist Theological School in Ohio, Pontifical College Josephinum and Trinity Lutheran Seminary joined
OhioLINK as part of the Ohio Private Academic Libraries (OPAL) consortium. Funding for OPAL membership was provided to the Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus in part by Federal Library Services and Technology Act Funds, awarded to the State Library of Ohio by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.
SOLINET releases results of scenario planning discussion
The Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET) has released a 12-page report detailing results of recent discussions regarding the future of libraries. The report comes after a series of 12 discussion groups SOLINET facilitated with its members throughout the Southeast. The discussions focused on three scenarios, developed by the Board of Directors, which depict libraries three-to-five years into the future. Participants debated what was likely, unlikely, and missing in each of the scenarios.
According to the report, the library environment for the next three-to-five years is focused on: new service models for libraries, changing role of collections, staff transformation, re-purposing buildings, more assessment, and keeping up with and being in control of technology.
SOLINET encourages other libraries to use the scenarios to lead discussions within the library, their communities, or as part of a local strategic planning effort. The report is available online at www.solinet.net/emplibfile/ScenarioPlanningReport.pdf and the scenarios used for debate are at www.solinet.net/emplibfile/ACF1C65.pdf.
RefWorks develops offline capabilities
RefWorks has announced the development of an offline version of its flagship management, writing, and collaboration tools service. In order to use the program, RefWorks users were previously required to have an Internet connection. With the upcoming release of Write-N-Cite 3.0, RefWorks users will now be able to use the program to write papers and generate bibliographies when they are not connected to the Internet.
In addition to the offline capabilities, Write-N-Cite 3.0 will provide the user with the ability to use a single document for generating bibliographies, further simplifying the process of creating papers and increasing the speed of bibliography generation. Beta testing will begin fall 2007.
New ACRL title
In early September 2007, ACRL published “Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester.” This new book provides a view into the groundbreaking application of ethnographic tools and techniques to the understanding of undergraduate students and their use of information.
The publication describes findings of the work at the University of Rochester River Campus Libraries and provides insight into how academic librarians might use these techniques on their own campuses. Editors Nancy Fried Foster, lead anthropologist at the River Campus Libraries, and Associate Dean for Public Services and Collection Development Susan Gibbons have gathered a set of chapters written by their colleagues covering different aspects of the work done in this project.
The book is available in both a soft-cover print edition from the ALA Online Store (www.alastore.ala.org/acrl) and in open access downloadable format through the publications section of the ACRL Web site (www.acrl.org).
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Bundled Registration for the 2008 ALA Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference
ALA is offering a special bundled price on the Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference if you register for both during September. You can save 20 percent ($75) over the cost of two “advance” registrations purchased separately.
The time is limited for this special offer. If you plan to attend both the Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference in 2008, this is a great opportunity to save. Two great ALA events, one low, low price.
Register September 1–30 at www.ala.org/midwinter (click on “Registration”). |
SPARC announces Mind Mashup video contest
SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) is sponsoring the first annual SPARC Discovery Awards, a contest to promote the open exchange of information. Mind Mashup, the theme of the 2007 contest, calls on entrants to illustrate in a short video the importance of sharing ideas and information of all kinds. Mashup is an expression referring to a song, video, Web site or software application that combines content from more than one source.
Contestants are asked to submit videos of two minutes or less that imaginatively show the benefits of bringing down barriers to the open exchange of information. Submissions will be judged by a panel that includes José-Marie Griffiths, professor and dean of the School of Information and Library Science at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, SPARC Executive Director Heather Joseph, award-winning documentary filmmaker Peter Wintonick, and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.
Submissions must be received by December 2, 2007, with winners announced in January 2008. The first prize winner will receive $1,000 and a “Sparky Award.” Two runners up will each receive $500. Winning entries will be publicly screened at the ALA Midwinter Meeting January 2008 in Philadelphia and will be prominently featured in SPARC’s international advocacy and campus education activities.
For more details, visit the contest Web site at www.sparkyawards.org.
Gaming, Learning and Libraries Symposium 2007
ALA TechSource, in collaboration with ACRL, held the first annual Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium at the Chicago Marriott O’Hare hotel from July 22–24, 2007. Gaming and literacy experts James Paul Gee and Henry Jenkins keynoted the event by exploring how libraries fit into the intersection of gaming and the digital learning landscape, while guest speakers Eli Neiburger (author of the 2007 ALA Editions title “Gamers . . . in the Library?! The Why, What, and How of VideogameTournaments for All Ages”) and Syracuse University Game Lab Director Scott Nicholson kicked off the discussions about what libraries are doing to support gaming. Gregory Trefry, a game designer from GameLab, explored libraries and the concept of “big games,” while social computing expert and gamer Liz Lawley provided context and a broad view for the topics discussed.
ACRL sponsored eight concurrent sessions at the symposium geared specifically towards academic librarians, with topics ranging from gaming and information literacy to hosting gaming events at your library. Further information about the symposium, including selected slides, handouts, audio, and video of presentations, is available online at gaming.techsource.ala.org.
Popular Culture Association 2008 call for papers
The Popular Culture Association will hold its annual joint meeting with the American Culture Association, March 19–22, 2008, at the San Francisco Marriott. Scholars from numerous disciplines will meet to share their popular culture research and interests. The association is soliciting papers dealing with any aspect of popular culture as it pertains to libraries, archives, museums, or research. In the past this has included descriptions of research collections, studies of popular images of libraries or librarians, analyses of Web resources (such as Wikipedia and YouTube), and reports on developments in technical services for collecting popular culture materials. Papers from graduate students are welcome.
Prospective presenters should send a one-page abstract (with full contact information) by November 1, 2007, to: Allen Ellis, professor of library services, W. Frank Steely Library, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY 41099-6101, phone: (859) 572-5527, fax: (859) 572-5390, e-mail: ellisa@nku.edu.
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I can't live without
Can you name one Web resource that you can’t live without? Is there a blog out there that blows your mind? Or a wiki that wows you every time? Maybe you use a database or Web site that seems to answer your questions before you even ask. If there’s a Web resource that speaks to you, chances are it will speak to others in the profession. C&RL News wants to hear from you about these tools and how they help you succeed in your work. Whether it provides inspiration or information, we encourage you to share your thoughts about your favorite resource so that we can share them with our readers.
Submissions should be brief, providing a snapshot of the resource and why you can’t live without it in about 100 words. Please make sure to include access information. Send your submissions by e-mail to David Free, C&RL News editor, dfree@ala.org. |
WebFeat Express now supports Athens authentication
WebFeat now provides automated support for Athens Authentication in its WebFeat Express product. WebFeat’s implementation of Athens enables single sign-on for all resources, regardless of whether the native resource supports Athens authentication. Libraries may use Athens for remote user authentication and transparently mix a variety of authentication methods, including IP recognition, Shibboleth, username/password, and hybrids, in tandem to authenticate commercial databases.
Athens is a standard for secure access management to Web-based services for the UK education and health sectors. Customers include health, research, academia, and others in the public and private sectors. Bournemouth University is WebFeat’s first UK customer to implement the new Athens authentication feature.
Instruction Section announces publication
The ACRL Instruction Section’s Research and Scholarship Committee is pleased to announce “A Selected List of Pedagogical Journals in Fields Outside of LIS,” an online publication collaboratively authored by 2006–07 committee members Nancy Dewald, Wendy Holliday, Merinda McLure (chair), Karen Munro (intern), Barbara Petersohn, and Rob Withers.
This updated and expanded list aims to provide academic librarians and LIS students with periodical sources for current awareness of disciplinary and higher education pedagogy, and with suggested venues for publication outside of the LIS literature.
The list includes journals that have a focus on higher education and pedagogy and are peer-reviewed and published in English in the United States. Suggested journal titles are drawn from the arts and humanities, the sciences, mathematics, the social sciences, and higher education.
View the publication online at www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/iscommittees/webpages/research/pedagogicaljournals.htm.
Cornell University Library joins Google Book Search Library Project
Cornell University Library is partnering with Google to digitize up to 500,000 works and make them available online using Google Book Search.
Interim University Librarian Anne R. Kenney stated, “As a major research library, Cornell University Library is pleased to join its peer institutions in this partnership with Google. The outcome of this relationship is a significant reduction in the time and effort associated with providing scholarly full-text resources online.”
Cornell is the 27th institution to join the Google Book Search Library Project, which digitizes books from major libraries and makes it possible for Internet users to search their collections online.
Over the next six years, Cornell will provide Google with public domain and copyrighted holdings from its collections. Cornell University Library will work with Google to choose materials that complement the contributions of the project’s other partners.
In addition to making the materials available through its online search service, Google will provide Cornell with a digital copy of all the materials scanned, which will eventually be incorporated into the university’s own digital library.
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