New & Noteworthy

Citation

(2006), "New & Noteworthy", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 23 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2006.23923eab.001

New & Noteworthy

Article Type: New & Noteworthy From: Library Hi Tech News, Volume 23, Issue 5

MicrosoftReleases Academic Search in Beta

Microsoft Corp. has announced the beta release of its Windows Live™ Academic Search service in seven countries. The new search service is designed to help students, researchers and university faculty conduct research across a spectrum of academic journals. The program is a cooperative effort between Windows Live Search, industry association CrossRef and more than ten leading publishers. The initial beta release will target the subjects of computer science, electrical engineering and physics, and the company is working with multiple organizations to bring new subjects online in the near future. Windows Live Academic Search will offer peer-reviewed content from leading scholarly societies such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and leading publishers Elsevier and John Wiley & Sons Inc. Windows Live Academic Search can be found at: http://academic.live.com and will provide English-language results in select global markets.

The Windows Live Academic Search beta is designed to enable consumers to search through thousands of academic journals, serving as a powerful research aid. Key innovations in the user interface and sorting functionality have been designed to help consumers find information faster and truly give them an advantage in their research efforts. Key user features include these:

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  A preview pane, which allows customers to see the abstract of a result quickly by simply hovering their mouse over the result.

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  The ability to group and sort results by author, journal, conference and date rather than just looking at a flat list of search results.

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  Citation support in two major bibliographic formats, which enables customers to quickly compile citations.

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  Author "live links" that will automatically connect to the search results of articles associated with a particular author by simply clicking on the hyperlink of the author's name.

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  A detail slider, which allows consumers to control the amount of information they see in the search results.

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  Direct links to publishers' published version, which allows customers to seamlessly access the full text of the article if they are on the network of the institution that subscribes to the full text.

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  Support for macros, which allow customers to more finely tune their search results, and RSS so that consumers can be alerted when new information on a topic or author that they care about becomes available, which can be added to a customer's Live.com page, will be coming in the following weeks.

Other organizations working with Microsoft on the Windows Live Academic Search tool include the IEEE, the ACM, Taylor & Francis Group, the American Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, the Institute of Physics, Ex Libris Group, TDNet, Blackwell Publishing, Elsevier, Nature Publishing Group, the British Library, OCLC Online Computer Library Center and John Wiley & Sons Inc.

The beta service will be available today with English versions in the USA, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Australia. Additional markets and content will be added throughout the beta period.

Academic Search web site: http://academic.live.com/

The Changing Nature of the Catalog: ReportAvailable from LC

The Library of Congress has issued a report The Changing Nature of the Catalog and Its Integration with Other Discovery Tools, that challenges assumptions about the traditional library catalog and proposes new directions for the research library catalog in the digital era. Commissioned by the Library and prepared by Associate University Librarian Karen Calhoun of Cornell University, the report assesses the impact of Internet on the traditional online public access catalog and concludes that library patrons want easy-to-use catalogs that are accessible on the web.

The report grew out of the Library of Congress Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium, held in November 2000. The conference also led to new curricula for schools of library science, continuing education courses for mid-career librarians wishing to update their skills for the digital world, publications on research in automated cataloging, and the development of the Cataloger's Learning Workshop, a web-based clearinghouse of information for catalogers and library educators. Most of these projects were collaborations between the Library of Congress; the Program for Cooperative Cataloging and the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), a division of the American Library Association.

The report proposes that libraries define the communities they aim to serve; choose a strategic option for their catalogs; allow users to access full electronic content from the catalog; reduce the costs of producing catalogs; enrich the catalog for users by including book reviews, images of book jackets and related information; and offer troubleshooting services and rush delivery of library materials. The report also presents a concrete planning process to help libraries make good decisions, market their services, introduce change in their organizations and obtain funding.

The Changing Nature of the Catalog and Its Integration with Other Discovery Tools is available free of charge at www.loc.gov/catdir/calhoun-report-final.pdf

RLGRLG to Combine with OCLC

Two of the world's largest membership-based information organizations have agreed to come together. The combined organization will offer an integrated product and service line, and will give libraries, archives and museums new leverage in developing services, standards and software that will help them support research and disseminate knowledge online.

The RLG Board of Directors and OCLC Board of Trustees have recommended that the two service and research organizations be combined effective July 1, 2006. If approved by RLG member institutions, RLG's online products and services will be integrated with OCLC products and services, and RLG's program initiatives will be brought forward as a new division of OCLC Programs and Research.

A combined organization would provide an opportunity to leverage program strengths, services and innovative research initiatives, and to deliver more value to a greater number of libraries, museums, archives and other research organizations around the globe.

RLG is a nonprofit organization of over 150 research libraries, archives, museums and other cultural memory institutions that designs and delivers innovative information discovery services, organizes collaborative programs, and takes an active role in creating and promoting relevant standards and practices. OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit, membership, library service and research organization whose public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing library costs dominate its plans and activities. OCLC provides computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing, eContent, preservation services and research to 54,000 libraries in 109 countries.

RLG's program initiatives would be continued as RLG-Programs, a new division of OCLC Programs and Research that would provide programs to support architecture, standards development and best practices, to name a few.

James Michalko, who currently leads RLG, would serve as vice president of RLG-Programs Development, working under the leadership of Lorcan Dempsey, vice president of Research and OCLC chief strategist. RLG-Programs would remain a membership-based organization. Its agenda would be shaped by the needs of its members and guided by a dedicated Program Council.

RLG's online products and services would be integrated with OCLC service offerings as appropriate. The potential for increased services and consolidation of costs would result in overall savings. For example, RLIN, the RLG Union Catalog, would be integrated into WorldCat, delivering economies of scale and reach that would benefit members of both RLG and OCLC. Both organizations are committed to providing seamless, high-quality services and service levels. Any change in RLG service offerings will be announced well in advance.

Approval of the agreement requires the assent of two-thirds of voting RLG member institutions. Voting will conclude in early June. RLG-Programs would maintain an office in Mountain View, California. Staffing decisions will be made in the weeks leading up to the proposed transition.

RLG FAQ on merger: www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID=20944

OCLC Online Computer Library Center: www.oclc.org

NewsFrom Endeavor

Endeavor's Vision of the Hybrid Library

Endeavor Information Systems (www.endinfosys.com) chose its 11th Annual Users Group Meeting, EndUser 2006, as the platform for presenting the company's vision for the future of library software, the Hybrid Library System. Endeavor president and CEO Roland Dietz introduced the vision for the Hybrid Library System as part of his keynote address, during the conferences General Session. "By amassing feedback and insights from our customers, conducting independent market research, and tapping into the cumulative industry knowledge of our product development and management teams, we arrived at this forward-looking vision for the Hybrid Library System", said Dietz.

The Hybrid Library System leverages existing elements of Endeavor's established suite of products that manage both physical and electronic resources at different types of libraries. It builds on Endeavor's foundation layer of technology, which includes

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  Voyager – the company's flagship integrated library management system.

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  Meridian – a centralized, electronic resource management system.

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  Curator – a comprehensive system for searching, creating and managing digital resources.

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  Journals Onsite – an enterprise-level system enabling libraries to locally store, search and browse electronic journals

It is also based on the company's recently announced Discovery suite of utility products that enable users to easily retrieve, view and access the most relevant information from library resources. However, the Hybrid Library System introduces newer technology elements that will provide richer functionality to library staff and patrons. Highlights of the vision include:

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  A consistent user interface across all of Endeavor's repositories. Development is already underway on a Voyager public interface, which will serve as the prototype for the company's other foundation and Discovery products. Enhancements in navigation and screen displays will also be realized.

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  Enhanced distributed search capabilities. Complementing its federated search product, Discovery: Resolver, Endeavor is focused on expanding its capabilities in providing distributed search to its customers. By leveraging the same search engine(s) across multiple repositories, users can take advantage of sophisticated features, such as sorting and clustering, as well as more advanced spell-check and internal dictionaries.

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  Advances in data exchange/workflow. Endeavor will deliver more interactivity between all the company's content repositories, with the goal of making this analysis seamless to the end user. This will improve the ability for customers to move data back and forth between different Endeavor repositories, and will also allow library staff to manage the repositories more efficiently. The company also plans to expand its ability to deliver automatic data feeds that will provide additional support for acquisitions librarians.

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  Encapsulating Endeavor products and repositories in web services. With the goal of expanding the reach of Endeavor technology, the company is planning to develop a host of expanded web services. These services will increase the level of interaction between Endeavor's products and interfaces with external applications and services, including third party software.

Endeavor and Talis form strategic partnership

Talis Information Limited, a leading provider of library management solutions for the UK and Ireland, announced today that Endeavor Information Systems is the first company to join its new partnership programme, Talis Connexions.

Talis Connexions is a flexible framework that facilitates collaboration between like-minded organisations providing library management solutions to academic, research, corporate and government institutions. Members are encouraged to share knowledge and technical assets, support open standards and develop complementary product strategies. Building on the strengths of the existing solutions portfolio of participating companies, Talis Connexions offers a unique opportunity to leverage the benefits that open standards provide.

Both Talis and Endeavor are dedicated to supporting access, interoperability and standards-based integration where appropriate, for the benefit of the wider communities served. Talis Connexions also provides the foundation for managing specific technology initiatives, such as interfacing Talis Alto, the company's integrated library management system, with Endeavor Meridian, as well as fostering interconnectivity between Endeavor's integrated library system, Voyager, and Talis reading list solution, Talis List.

Talis is an established provider of library and information management software to public and academic libraries and has a long history as a technology innovator, a pioneer for open standards, and as a partner for its customers. Working closely with world standards bodies such as World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, and NISO, ongoing research activities include Web Services, Services Oriented Architectures, RDF based metadata and RSS. Talis has recently announced a new Talis Library Platform which is an open, extensible, Web 2.0 based software platform which will be the foundation upon which next generation applications will be developed. The Talis Platform incorporates semantic content management, a global collections directory, with a Service Oriented Architecture that enables low cost institutional integration. Through the Talis Developer Network, Talis welcomes developers to join its development community and build the next generation of applications and services on a shared platform.

Endeavor web site: www.endinfosys.com

Talis web site: www.talis.com

Talis unveils new technology platform

Talis has a rich heritage in providing union catalogues for shared cataloguing, resource discovery and resource sharing since its formation in 1969. In 2005 they funded a review of resource discovery and resource sharing in the UK and announced that they would not seek to renew their contract to provide UnityWeb in conjunction with The Combined Regions. Instead they are pursuing a more visionary, inclusive, and longer term strategy to create a next generation software platform that will deliver many new benefits to all libraries, their users and the wider public over the next decade.

The use of modern, scalable and reusable software components, allows significant reduction of costs for customers whilst also providing a platform for others to build applications, such as regional and national catalogues, services directories, and more. This "next generation" approach changes the economics and landscape for shared catalogues and applications such as resource discovery and interlending. As a direct result they will be offering their service, Talis Source, in two forms. It will be free to use for those making data contributions to the platform, with free discovery for any library wishing to locate items. A £500 per annum charge is applicable for those using the interlending features of Talis Source. The Talis Library platform enables management of a large scale directory of collection descriptions, to harvest many forms of metadata from libraries, and then to efficiently aggregate, search, and enrich such data. Web Service interfaces are provided through development partners to enable others to improve their existing applications and to build new and innovative solutions.

More information on Talis Source: www.talis.com/products/talis_source/

Ex LibrisNew Products and Solutions from Ex Libris

Ex Libris and Primo

Information is becoming available on Ex Libris' new user discovery tool – Primo, due out in the last quarter of 2006. Primo is an enterprise-level solution for the discovery of institutional resources and the delivery of materials and services for different types of collections including electronic, digital, and print materials. Primo helps libraries move toward next generation, user-centric library solutions. By preprocessing, normalizing and enriching library-selected content, it makes the discovery and delivery of many data sources possible.

Primo will include:

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  Single-point discovery of materials held in multiple catalogs, repositories, and remote resources. Because’users searching for information do not care how the library stores or delivers content, Primo provides discovery and delivery from many data sources through one user interface. Primo accesses a variety of back-end applications transparently to the users.

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  An end-to-end discovery-to-delivery service that optimizes the delivery mechanism, for example, by linking directly to electronic full text if available or by indicating the availability of a print copy.

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  Sophisticated navigation of search results. Primo offers faceted browsing, ranking, sorting, filtering, "Did you mean?" and other tools to focus and broaden search results.

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  Social computing features, which enable users to interact with the system by contributing and sharing items such as reviews and tags.

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  A publishing platform that normalizes and enriches data harvested from various applications. This enrichment includes grouping similar items (FRBR – Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records), organizing data into categories (such as date ranges), enabling full-text searches of content, and processing of results to support advanced functionality.

More about Primo: www.exlibrisgroup.com/newsletter/?cat=71parent=19

Ex Libris and Shibboleth

Library and information management software vendor Ex Libris has announced that the Patron Directory Services (PDS) module was successfully 'Shibbolized' by a number of MetaLib 1 customers in Finland, the USA, and the UK. "Shibbolizing" PDS – adjusting the service to enable access via Shibboleth – provides a seamless single sign-on (SSO) environment for MetaLib users.

Ex Libris has been involved in the Internet2/MACE (Middleware Architecture Committee for Education) Shibboleth project from its inception. The company's first integration project, which began in 2001, explored the feasibility of context-sensitive linking within the Shibboleth framework. The result of this effort established the Ex Libris SFX 1 link resolver as a Shibboleth target. The knowledge and experience gained since this initial trial provided a good foundation for the company's recent PDS/Shibboleth integration work with MetaLib at the National Library of Finland (FinELib), the University of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI) in the US, and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK.

Each of the MetaLib customers mentioned above implemented Shibboleth to meet the unique requirements of its institution. The general implementation of PDS/Shibboleth for MetaLib user authentication at FinELib and USMAI is similar whereas the integration at the University of Newcastle differs slightly. At Newcastle, a user with a Shibboleth session is automatically logged in to MetaLib – SSO is fully configured – while users who do not have a Shibboleth session access MetaLib as guests. At FinELib and USMAI, users access MetaLib as guests with Shibboleth authentication invoked only after a subsequent login request by the user.

Shibboleth is an Internet2/MACE (Middleware Architecture Committee for Education) initiative to develop an open, standards-based solution to meet the need for organizations to exchange information about their users in a secure and privacy-preserving manner. Shibboleth provides a framework for establishing a single sign-on environment where all applications are able to communicate with a central service, under the control of the institution, in order to gain authentication details. Through the Shibboleth architecture, each application can query the users' authentication and authorize them to use the specific functionality, or in MetaLib's case, search the specific resources which their permissions allow.

More about Shibboleth: http://shibboleth.internet2.edu

Ex Libris Group web site: www.exlibrisgroup.com

SirsiDynix and FASTPartner on Search Solution

SirsiDynix and Fast Search and Transfer (FAST) have announced an OEM partnership to enhance the search capabilities of SirsiDynix Rooms. Rooms will be integrated with FAST InStream, an OEM-specific enterprise search solution developed specifically to meet the complex application-based search requirements of independent software vendors (ISVs).

Rooms is a sophisticated web solution that enables library users to discover and gather high-quality information according to subject area and then present that content in virtual spaces of "rooms". FAST InStream, FAST's enterprise search solution specifically designed for embedded delivery, is designed to increase the value of enterprise applications and boost return on investment (ROI) for the partner's customers by leveraging the power of FAST Enterprise Search Platform technology. Supporting both structured and unstructured data, FAST InStream provides unique value across all types of software applications, and will be an asset for patrons seeking highly-relevant data fast.

SirsiDynix web site: www.sirsidynix.com

FAST web site: www.fastsearch.com

ALS & OPALTo Open an Alliance of Libraries 2.0 on Second Life

Alliance Library System and Online Programming for All Libraries (OPAL), and other interested libraries have announced that selected OPAL programs will soon be offered in the online virtual reality game Second Life. Book discussions, training sessions, and other programs will be offered to current virtual residents. The goal of the project is to promote the real library and online library services to adults who might not otherwise use the library.

What is Second Life? Second Life is a 3D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by nearly 200,000 people from around the globe. There are shopping malls, events, homes, lands of different types, and best of all, participants can contribute content, buildings, and other digital creations.

"We are excited to be offering new outreach programs, events, and services to people who might not otherwise come to the library," stated Kitty Pope, executive director of the Alliance Library System. "Second Life has almost 200,000 residents and is rapidly growing in popularity. This will allow us to see what works and what does not work in this area. Second Life has malls, residential neighborhoods, online communities – why not a library?"

Alliance Library System and OPAL are teaming up to utilize the programs currently offered online to librarians and library users to extend the programs to the Second Life virtual reality game. Although there are a couple of libraries currently on Second Life, none currently offers programs or services. Alliance and OPAL will start with programs and eventually hope to offer library services.

Second Life also now has a Teen Second Life. If adult programs are successful, the group will work to offer library services in Teen Second Life. Librarians who would like to become involved and receive updates on this collaborative project can join a google group set up for the new service at http://groups.google.com/group/alliancesecondlife. Interested librarians may also contact Lori Bell (lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com) for an invitation to join the group.

"We invite any librarian interested in working on this exciting project to join us," remarked Kitty Pope. "After we offer some programs, if they are successful, we will want to expand to offer additional programs and services."

Alliance will begin Second Life programming in June 2006. Alliance Library System is a regional library system located in East Peoria, Illinois with 260 library members of all types. Alliance offers continuing education, consulting, resource sharing, and delivery service to members.

Alliance Library System: www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/

OPAL: www.opal-online.org/

Blog for the project (coordinated by Greg Schwartz): http://secondlifelibrary.blogspot.com

New MediaExploring the Impact of New Media Worldwide

Public/Private Intersections in New Media, a new online learning tool, explores "the key concepts in new media and to address a host of new media issues including the collapse of distinctions between media forms and the societal effects of new technologies such as blogs, chat rooms, TiVo, and Facebook." The website offers an introductory video, a key concepts slides, and essays from the participants.

In April 2006, a new discussion blog will be added to the Public/Private Intersections in New Media web site. The blog is intended to spark discussion nationwide about the impact of new media on society and the collapse of the public and private sectors. Librarians, faculty, students, and new media users are encouraged to participate in these discussions. Dr Chris Tomer and Amanda Folk of the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh created the blog in conjunction with the School's National Library Week Celebration.

This online learning tool was born from a panel discussion with the same name – Public/Private Intersections in New Media. In October 2005, Northeastern University libraries and the Departments of Journalism and Communications hosted a panel discussion concerning the impact of new media on both public and private sectors. Participants included Northeastern faculty members Dan Kennedy, Craig Robertson, and David Marshall, as well as international new media expert Axels Bruns, from the University of Queensland in New Zealand.

Public/Private Intersections in New Media: www.lib.neu.edu/newmedia

Mid-Illinois Talking Book CenterReleases Playaway Project Report

The Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center, Alliance Library System, and TAP Information Services announce the availability of a report on a field test of the Playaway self-playing digital audio book conducted from December 2005-March 2006.

During the project period, 140 devices were circulated to patrons from the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center. The experiences and feedback gleaned during this small field test indicate that libraries of all types should consider a self-contained digital audio book device such as the Playaway as one way to introduce the pleasure and convenience of digital audio books to broad middle group of their service populations – users who are neither technophobic nor technologically proficient. Many users with computers are excited about the availability of downloadable digital audio books. Playaway gives readers without a computer or an MP3 player the opportunity to experience digital audio books and libraries a way to offer digital audio books without worrying about platforms and players.

Full text of the report: www.mitbc.org/Playaway/Playawayfinal.htm

More information on Playaway devices and content: www.playawaydigital.com/index_flash.aspx

METS Navigator

The Indiana University Digital Library Program has announced the release of METS Navigator 1.0 Beta, a METS-based system for displaying and navigating sets of page images or other multi-part digital objects. The Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS), is an XML standard, maintained by the Library of Congress, for managing and describing digital library objects.

Using the information in the METS elements, METS Navigator builds a hierarchical menu that allows users to navigate to specific sections of a document, such as title page, specific chapters, illustrations, etc. METS Navigator also allows simple navigation to the next, previous, first, and last page image or component part of a digital object. METS Navigator is built using Java and open source web technologies, including the Apache Struts Web Application Framework, the Castor Java and XML Data Binding libraries, and Ant, and runs under a web application server such as Apache Tomcat.

A METS profile for documents that can be used with METS Navigator is in development, and will be released for comment shortly. More information, documentation, and downloads are available at: http://metsnavigator.sourceforge.net/

National LibrariesAgree on a Common Archiving Standard for Electronic Journals

To help ensure long-term access to electronic journals, the Library of Congress and the British Library have agreed to support the migration of electronic content to the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) DTD standard, where practicable. The libraries hope that their advocacy of migration to this standard will help ensure long-term access to electronic journal content. In the world of e-journals, many publishers and authors are already using or plan to use this standard. The advantage of using this standard is that it defines the way in which electronic journals should be structured and creates a uniform, well-defined and easily accessible information resource.

Access in perpetuity to information sources is a key mission of major libraries. This long-term access is necessary for both print and electronic materials. In the print world, cataloging standards are well established. However, for digital materials, these standards are still evolving. By converging on a particular standard, in this case the NLM DTD (http://dtd.nlm.nih.gov/), content distributors are helping to ensure long-term preservation and access to their materials.

The Library of Congress is leading a nationwide program to collect and preserve at-risk digital content of cultural and historical importance to the nation. The program, formally called the National Digital Information Infra- structure and Preservation Program (www.digitalpreservation.gov), is building a "digital preservation network" of partners committed to collecting and preserving specific areas of content for future generations. Laura E. Campbell, associate librarian for Strategic Initiatives, is leading this program.

Full press release: www.loc.gov/today/pr/2006/06-097.html

NISOLaunches RFID Committee

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has formed a Technical Committee to create guidelines that lay out best practices for the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) in library applications – RFID for Library Applications Working Group. Chaired by Dr Vinod Chachra, CEO of VTLS Inc., the diverse group is composed of RFID hardware manufacturers, solution providers (software and integration), library RFID users, book jobbers and processors, and related organizations. The NISO Committee's work is limited to RFID tags used in libraries, that is, tags operating at 13.56MHz.

This best practices document will form a part of a larger input document on US requirements for the ISO TC 46 working group developing a standard data model for encoding information on the tag. The group will also coordinate with American Library Association/Book Industry Study Group working group around the interaction of technology and privacy issues. The committee evolved from an exploratory group formed at the October 2005 RFID Technologies Institute, which was jointly sponsored by NISO and the Center for Digital Knowledge at the University of North Texas-Denton.

RFID Working Group's web site: www.niso.org/committees/RFID/RFID_comm.html

Internet2 Campus Expectations Task ForceFinal Report

The Campus Expectations Task Force (CETF) was convened in February 2005 under the auspices of the Advisory Councils of Internet2, led by the Applications Strategy Council and the Network Planning and Policy Advisory Council. The task force was asked to articulate a current set of expectations for what it means to be an Internet2 member campus, in light of the Internet2 community's goal to promote and enable advanced applications to further research and education.

Under the leadership of Bill Decker, Senior Associate Vice President for Research, University of Iowa, CETF members created a set of recommendations that illustrate how Internet2 member campuses can most effectively pursue the collaborative work that will enable higher education to remain on the leading edge in today's international research and education environments. By agreeing to strive for compliance in three areas – innovation, shared infrastructure, and community – member campuses demonstrate their mutual commitment to community and realize their goals. To assist campuses in making a self-determination to measure their success in meeting these commitments, CETF proposes a system for self-assessment and promulgating best practices based on the identified areas of commitment.

Campus Expectations Task Force web site: www.internet2.edu/cetf/

CETF Final Report: www.internet2.edu/files/CETF-FinalReport.pdf

Use and Users of Digital ResourcesNew Report from CSHE

The Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) has announced the availability of new report on users of digital resources entitled Use and Users of Digital Resources: A Focus on Undergraduate Education in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

The purpose of the research was to: map the universe of digital resources available to a subset of undergraduate educators in the humanities and social sciences; and to investigate how and if available digital resources are actually being used in undergraduate teaching environments. The researchers employed multiple methods, including surveys and focus groups. Their definition of digital resources is intentionally broad and includes rich media objects (e.g. maps, video, images, etc.) as well as text.

Contents:

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  "Executive summary".

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  "Introduction and rationale for the project".

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  "Understanding the humanities/social science digital resource landscape and where users fit into it".

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  "How are digital resources being used among diverse communities?"

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  "Faculty discussion groups and faculty survey".

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  "Transaction log analysis and website surveys".

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  "Why study users?"

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  "Interviews with digital resource providers".

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  "Site owners and user researchers meeting".

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  "Conclusions".

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  "Bibliography".

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  "Appendices."

Report: http://cshe.berkeley.edu/research/digitalresourcestudy/report/

Cato Institute ReportOn the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Why won't iTunes play on Rio MP3 players? Why are viewers forced to sit through previews on some DVDs when they could have fast-forwarded through them on video? Why is it impossible to cut and paste text on Adobe eBook? In a just released study for the Cato Institute, Tim Lee, a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute, answers these questions and more. The problem at the root of all of these annoyances, writes Lee in Circumventing Competition: The Perverse Consequences of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, is Congressional interference in the market for digital rights management technologies.

The courts have historically done a good job of protecting copyright without stifling innovation. For example, in 1984 the Supreme Court rejected Hollywood's argument that the VCR should be outlawed as a piracy device. But the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) changed all that. It tied the courts' hands by outlawing all devices that tamper with copy protection technologies. Congress intended to shore up the rights of copyright holders, but Lee shows how the primary beneficiaries of the DMCA have been technology companies such as Apple, Real Networks, and TiVo. They have used the DMCA to exclude competitors from building products compatible with their own.

According to Lee, the greatest victims of the DMCA's restrictions are likely to be hobbyists and small startups that lack the clout to negotiate with incumbent technology companies for permission to build compatible products. That, he warns, will make it difficult for innovative new companies to compete effectively with entrenched incumbents. The solution: Congress should undo the damage it did with the DMCA and leave the courts to deal with the issue. Judges are better able to apply the principles of intellectual property in a rapidly changing technological environment, he concludes.

Link to the report (pdf): http://cato.org/pubs/pas/pa564.pdf

TechEssence.Info

A new web site and collaborative blog on technology for library decision-makers is now available. TechEsssence provides library managers with summary information about library technologies, suggested criteria for decision-making, and links to resources for more information on essential library technologies. The tag line on the main page of the blog says it all: "You're busy. You don't have time for a lot of jargon, techie posturing, or attitudes. You've come to the right place. We don't put you down, we don't talk down to you, we just give it to you straight. Come here for accurate, understandable explanations of important information technologies for libraries. Go elsewhere for the hype."

Established by Roy Tennant, this collaborative blog provides centralized access to some of the best writers in the field: Andrew Pace, Dorothea Salo, Eric Lease Morgan, Jenn Riley, Jerry Kuntz, Marshall Breeding, Meredith Farkas and Thomas Dowling.

An RSS feed for the blog is available.

Web site and blog: http://techessence.info

Shifting BoundariesPapers of the 2006 Taiga Forum

Advances in information technology are driving significant changes in today's academic libraries and creating stress on traditional models of organization and management. In response to these technological advances and to user demand, libraries have begun to offer new services such as institutional repositories, digital collections, web portals, and delivery of information to the desktop and to portable electronic devices. A purpose of these activities has been to promote and market services more effectively to users and donors and to invigorate the nature of partnerships between faculty and librarians. However, these solutions themselves present challenges that were unheard of even a few years ago. And, in spite of these external pressures and provision of new services, the infrastructure of most libraries has remained constant. Staff training and recruitment, while more important than ever before, oftentimes continue to support a model that is not viable in today's environment.

These developments have demanded that academic libraries re-examine the delivery of service and their perceptions of the continuing value of the library. The Taiga Forum brings AULs and Assistant Directors in technical services, public services, collection development, and information technology into this re-examination as active participants, to develop cross-functional vision that makes internal organizational structures more flexible, agile, and effective.

Presentations from the 2006 Taiga Forum held on March 27-28, 2006 are now available at: www.taigaforum.org/program.html