Cambridge goes online Cambridge Archive Editions (CAE), in partnership with East View Information Services, has digitized its collection of British archival documents from the 18th to the 20th century, including original print volumes and accompanying maps, and made them available as online editions via the East View ebook platform. Twenty-five years’ worth of accumulated CAE … Continue reading Digitizing History
Where to begin The patron base for your LHRC will help determine types of materials and subject matter to acquire. Another factor is how much space you have to house the materials. And, of course, your budget is an important consideration. What can your library afford? You may have to build slowly, but that’s okay. You … Continue reading What To Collect?
Because algorithms don’t inspire readers, libraries transform. Because solving for X doesn’t always give us the “why,” libraries transform. Welcome to ALA’s new, multi-year public awareness campaign, “Libraries Transform.” Its ultimate goal is to increase funding support for libraries and advance information policy issues in alignment with ALA’s advocacy goals. The “Libraries Transform” campaign demonstrates … Continue reading Libraries Transform
One current trend in library technology aims to improve the engagement of patrons with libraries or to provide tools to help users work more effectively. In many respects, the technologies on display reinforced the theme of the “Library Systems Report 2015,” operationalizing the innovations brewing in recent years, including the increased adoption of Semantic Web technologies … Continue reading A Look at Tech
In the wake of this news, attorney Roberta Kaplan keynoted the Opening General Session. Kaplan successfully argued United States v. Windsor, the 2013 case that ruled part of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. She referred to Windsor as the “big kick in the butt” that moved the Supreme Court forward on a series of … Continue reading Pride and Diversity at Annual 2015
Counterclockwise from top right: Keith Lu, bookmobile driver and library tech, waves a rainbow flag from the SFPL bookmobile; collections management assistant Alan Wong (center) and collections librarian Erin Dubois (right) strike a pose while waiting for the parade to begin; adult services librarian and bookmobile librarian Connie Porciuncula wears a pink wig in front … Continue reading Bookend: Librarians Show Their Pride
Pat Barch, literacy coordinator for the library, says, “Our American Dream project is really very important to us, because the library has been providing citizenship classes for about five years now.” In recognition of the library’s five-year-long commitment to citizenship education, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services invited the library to host its third naturalization … Continue reading Becoming New Americans
LGBT librarians and the LGBT community are not responsible for making excellent library services happen. It is the responsibility of all of us who hold strong the values of librarianship: access, equity, intellectual freedom, and diversity. LGBT patrons and their allies want their privacy protected from prying eyes (which libraries already do well); the ability … Continue reading Serving Everyone
The poor and deteriorating state of library ebook lending in 2011 catalyzed this initiative. Waiting for publishers to take different actions would have likely worsened the conditions for libraries. A proactive policy stance must become the library community’s mainstream way of thinking and operating. This is true for ebooks and large publishers, but also more … Continue reading A Policy Revolution for Digital Content
OA journals—categorized as “gold OA” to distinguish them from content placed in an institutional or subject repository (“green OA”)—make all of their peer-reviewed articles freely available online, in the final version and layout, as soon as they are published. DOAJ is the key directory for OA journals, with increasingly robust standards as to what can … Continue reading Idealism and Opportunism
Search Axis with Boopsie Boopsie, a mobile platform-as-a-service provider for more than 4,000 libraries worldwide, has joined forces with digital content, print book, and entertainment product distributor Baker & Taylor to simplify searching for and finding a library’s e-content. The Boopsie mobile app is now integrated with Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360 digital media library. … Continue reading Apps for That
