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Featured Link: World Book Trade (e-books, awards, videos)

Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Journal of eScience Librarianship

The Journal of eScience Librarianship is an open access, peer-reviewed journal published quarterly that advances the theory and practice of librarianship with a special focus on services related to data-driven research in the physical, biological, and medical sciences. The first issue of the Journal of eScience Librarianship will be available Fall 2011

University of Illinois at Chicago Library plans internet portal to 14 Chicago institutions

The University of Illinois at Chicago Library is leading a project to plan a portal to the historical collections of 14 museums, universities and libraries that make up the Chicago Collections Consortium. The portal will offer a one-click search of the special collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago History Museum, the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Public Library, Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, Loyola University Chicago, the Newberry Library, Northeastern Illinois University, Northwestern University, Roosevelt University, the University of Chicago and UIC. Users will find detailed lists of each archive's contents and digitized materials that may be viewed online. The planning is funded with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees on behalf of the library

Dove Medical Press publishes first video abstract

Dove Medical Press has announced the launch of video abstracts in their 100+ open access peer reviewed medical and scientific journals. The first of these was published last week by authors Jean B Nachega, Michael J Mugavero, Michele Zeier, et al for their paper "Treatment simplification in HIV-infected adults as a strategy to prevent toxicity, improve adherence, quality of life and decrease healthcare costs" in the journal Patient Preference and Adherence. The video abstracts are presented by the author, are of 1-4 minutes duration and give an overview of their paper, so readers can get an idea of the content and motivation behind the paper

New book: ALA Guide to Medical & Health Sciences Reference

New book: ALA Guide to Medical & Health Sciences ReferenceThis resource provides an annotated list of print and electronic biomedical and health-related reference sources, including Internet resources and digital image collections. Readers will find relevant research, clinical, and consumer health information resources. The emphasis is on resources within the United States, with a few representative examples from other countries

Library opened at former Southsea Woolworths store praised (UK)

Library opened at former Southsea Woolworths store praised (UK)Leading literary figures have praised the opening of a new £1.5m library in Portsmouth. International bestselling author Kate Mosse officially opened the new facility, built in an old Woolworths store, in Southsea. The library also has a cafe - complete with a pick-and-mix box based on the old store favourite, internet facilities and customer service centre. The site replaces a smaller library elsewhere in the city. A council spokesman said the decision to take on the building was made before the Liberal Democrat-controlled authority announced £15m of cuts from its budget for the current financial year

Integrating E-Books and E-Readers into Your Library (ALA TechSource Workshop)

Integrating E-Books and E-Readers into Your Library (ALA TechSource Workshop) with Sue Polanka.

* August 4, 2011, 2:30pm – 4:00pm EST. Session 1: Purchasing eBooks for Libraries
* August 11, 2011, 2:30pm – 4:00pm EST. Session 2: Lending E-Book Readers in Libraries

SPIE Digital Library cuts prices for second time

SPIE, among the first publishers to respond in 2009 to economic challenges besetting the research library community by reducing subscription prices, is further reducing the prices of its SPIE Digital Library. SPIE is reducing current prices by 5% for 2012, Director of Publications Eric Pepper announced. SPIE implemented a 10% rollback in pricing for institutional subscriptions to the SPIE Digital Library in 2010 to help libraries contain costs, and sustained this by freezing prices in 2011

RSC Publishing 2012 pricing announcement

RSC Publishing has announced its 2012 pricing

Teen Librarian Monthly - July 2011

Teen Librarian Monthly - July 2011 is now available

RLUK News - July 2011

RLUK News: The newsletter from Research Libraries UK - No 2 - July 2011

First Monday - August 2011

First Monday - Volume 16, Number 8, 1 August 2011 now available. First Monday is a Great Cities Initiative of the University of Illinois at Chicago University Library, USA

Current Cites - July 2011

Current Cites (edited by Roy Tennant) - July 2011 is now available

Friday, July 29, 2011

Oral History Society Training: An Introduction to Oral History for Family Historians (UK)

This course is open to anyone with an interest in using oral history as a tool for family history and research. It is not necessary to complete the BL/OHS Introduction to Oral History training day before you attend, but you may find it useful to do so later to develop your interview technique and knowledge of recording equipment, copyright and other topics relevant to conducting your own interviews - 3 August 2011 - The British Library, UK

The National Archives launches new library catalogue (UK)

The UK National Archives has replaced its library catalogue of published works with a new open-source system called Koha

New prototype: WorldCat Identities Network

The WorldCat Identities Network gives users the opportunity to visually explore the interconnectivity and relationships between WorldCat Identities. The WorldCat Identities Network uses the WorldCat Identities Web Service and the WorldCat Search API to create an interactive Related Identity Network Map for each Identity in the WorldCat Identities database. The Identity Maps can be used to explore the interconnectivity between WorldCat Identities

Industry reports from IBISWorld being loaded into EBSCO Discovery Service

Industry reports from IBISWorld will be searchable via EBSCO Publishing's EBSCO Discovery Service™. The agreement between EBSCO and IBISWorld will allow metadata for industry research reports to be added to the Base Index of EDS

The Illustrated Law Journal

The Illustrated Law Journal is a project begun at the UDC-DCSL to use web technology and Free Culture licenses to generate meaningful visual illustrations of laws and legal concepts to help jurists and interested laypeople understand the laws that affect them. We will aim to create an online and print resource, and publish under a Free or permissive license that will allow the materials to be disseminated widely

Digital wardrobe shows UK's changing lifestyles

Digital wardrobe shows UK's changing lifestylesThe UK's changing fashions from tracksuits to knitted bikinis are to be collected in a huge online wardrobe for the benefit of vintage enthusiasts, school pupils, social historians and academic researchers. Celebrated mail-order company Kay & Co Ltd was for more than 100 years a staple of shopping in the UK, providing contemporary fashions, household items and luxuries at affordable prices to the general public. Now over 1500 images from the catalogues are to be digitised online by the University of Worcester with funding from JISC - and the public are invited to contribute images and stories of their own concerning their favourite outfits which will give future historians an insight into today's attitudes to the fashions on display

Springer acquires Asia Europe Journal

The Asia-Europe Foundation has sold the Asia Europe Journal and transferred the copyright to its long-time partner Springer. With this step, ASEF will no longer be associated with the journal. Relaunched with new editors-in-chief and refocusing on its core topics, the journal will further promote discussion on the challenges and opportunities of a common future of Asia and Europe

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - July 29, 2011

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Keyboards. "This week's brainteaser is about punctuation: those dots, dashes and symbols which help to clarify written or printed material." Answers here.

1. Are the white keys at the front or the back of a modern keyboard?
2. Is a concertina usually bigger or smaller than an accordion?
3. The Moog synthesizer was developed by a man called Moog - true or false?
4. How is the air normally pumped in a harmonium?
5. What kind of piano did Harold Rhodes develop with Leo Fender?
6. What is a portative organ?
7. Add the correct keyboard instrument to this title of a composition by Bartók premiered in 1937: "Music for Strings, Percussion and..."
8. How are the strings of a harpsichord sounded?
9. The hydraulis was an early form of which keyboard instrument?
10. What are the keys of a carillon usually made of?

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Wellcome Arabic Manuscripts Online

The Arabic manuscripts collection of the Wellcome Library (London) comprises around 1000 manuscript books and fragments relating to the history of medicine. For the first time this website enables a substantial proportion of this collection to be consulted online via high-quality digital images of entire manuscripts and associated rich metadata. This has been made possible by a pioneering partnership between the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Wellcome Library, and King's College London, with funding from the JISC Islamic studies programme

New book: Going Digital: Developing ICT in the Primary School Library

Going Digital: Developing ICT in the Primary School Library by Sarah Pavey - "ICT is a vital element in any effective primary school library and this new Guideline takes an in-depth look at its various roles - from support for curriculum delivery to its use in library management and for reader development and promotion of the library itself. Sarah also covers important aspects such as using ICT for professional development, an aspect sometimes forgotten in the primary school library, and also Health and Safety issues"

OCLC Research Library Partners invited to orientation webinars on 11 and 16 August 2011

Both new and old OCLC Research Library Partners are encouraged to attend one of these webinars to find out how to get the most out of their OCLC Research Library Partnership affiliation. In each of these webinars, we'll discuss the variety of communications vehicles Partners can use to receive information about the OCLC Research Library Partnership, as well as ways to access outputs that showcase the progress of our work, such as reports, webinars and presentations. We'll also discuss how to take advantage of the many benefits of Partnership, the types of opportunities availble to engage in, the different ways to contribute to the Partnership, and more

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

SAGE Open

International Journal of English Linguistics

LAHOR : C(asopis za Hrvatski kao Materinski, Drugi i Strani Jezik

Sociology Mind

World Journal of Mechanics

World Journal of Nano Science and Engineering

Atmospheric and Climate Sciences

Journal of Jazz studies

Journal of Sensor Technology

Solid Earth

Solid Earth Discussions

Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science

Applied Physics

Earth System Dynamics

Earth System Dynamics Discussions

Hans Journal of Nanotechnology

Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science

Material Sciences

Open Journal of Urology

Soft Nanoscience Letters

Advances in Education

Advances in Psychology

Finance

Sustainable Development

Chest Disease Reports

Acta Technica Napocensis : Civil Engineering & Architecture

Indo Global Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Journal of Bangladesh Society of Physiologist

History of Geo- and Space Sciences

Mechanical Sciences

Modern Management

Modern Marketing

Modern Physics

Pure Mathematics

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

New con­tent on Euro­peana: Now, brush your teeth!

New con­tent on Euro­peana: Now, brush your teeth!New con­tent on Euro­peana includes these charm­ing advi­sory illus­tra­tions which warn peo­ple to get plenty of fresh air, brush their teeth and eat health­ily to help ward off tuber­cu­lo­sis. These post­cards are from the Východočeské muzeum v Par­du­bicích in the Czech Repub­lic. They are the work of Czech painter Marie Fis­cherová Kvě­chová, who now has many works on Euro­peana

Tales from the Terminal Room - July 2011

Tales from the Terminal Room - July 2011, Issue No. 97 is now available. Tales from the Terminal Room is an electronic newsletter that includes reviews and comparisons of information sources; useful tools for managing information; technical and access problems on the Net; and news of RBA's training courses and publications. Editor: Karen Blakeman. Published by RBA Information Services

Book Grocer: 27 July - 2 August 2011 (UK)

Book Grocer: 27 July - 2 August 2011 - The week ahead in literary London from the Londonist blog. #books #London

Oxford University wants help decoding Egyptian papyri

Oxford University wants help decoding Egyptian papyriOxford University is asking for help deciphering ancient Greek texts written on fragments of papyrus found in Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of images have gone on display on a website which encourages armchair archaeologists to help catalogue and translate them. Researchers hope the collective effort will give them a unique insight into life in Egypt nearly 2,000 years ago. Project specialist Paul Ellis said: "Online images are a window into ancient lives." The collection is made up of papyri recovered in the early 20th Century from the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, the so-called "City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish". At the time the city was under Greek rule. Later the Romans settled the area. The papyri contain literature, letters and even a story about how Jesus Christ cast out demons

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Library User Experience, SPEC Kit 322, Published by ARL

The Association of Research Libraries has published Library User Experience, SPEC Kit 322, which explores recent and planned user experience activities at ARL member libraries and the impact these efforts have on helping the libraries transform to meet evolving user needs. The survey elicited examples of successful user experience activities to serve as benchmarks for libraries looking to create or expand efforts in this area. It also explored whether libraries have created positions or entire departments focused on user engagement and the user experience

SPARC 2012 Open Access meeting (USA)

SPARC (The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) has announced it will host its first North American meeting on Open Access in 2012. The first of its kind, the event will expand on the successful biennial SPARC Digital Repositories meeting. March 11-13 at the Kansas City Intercontinental Hotel

Man Booker Prize 2011 longlist announced

The longlist for the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction - the 'Man Booker Dozen' - is announced today, Tuesday 26 July. The 13 books on the list include: one former Man Booker Prize winner; two previously shortlisted writers and one longlisted author; four first time novelists and three Canadian writers. The list also includes three new publishers to the prize - Oneworld, Sandstone Press and Seren Books. The titles were chosen by a panel of five judges chaired by author and former Director-General of MI5, Dame Stella Rimington. A total of 138 books, seven of which were called in by the judges, were considered for the 'Man Booker Dozen' longlist. They are:

* Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending (Jonathan Cape - Random House)
* Sebastian Barry On Canaan's Side (Faber)
* Carol Birch Jamrach's Menagerie (Canongate Books)
* Patrick deWitt The Sisters Brothers (Granta)
* Esi Edugyan Half Blood Blues (Serpent's Tail - Profile)
* Yvvette Edwards A Cupboard Full of Coats (Oneworld)
* Alan Hollinghurst The Stranger's Child (Picador - Pan Macmillan)
* Stephen Kelman Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)
* Patrick McGuinness The Last Hundred Days (Seren Books)
* A.D. Miller Snowdrops (Atlantic)
* Alison Pick Far to Go (Headline Review)
* Jane Rogers The Testament of Jessie Lamb (Sandstone Press)
* D.J. Taylor Derby Day (Chatto & Windus - Random House)

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest 2011 results

The winner of the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest is Sue Fondrie, an associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh who works groan-inducing wordplay into her teaching and administrative duties whenever possible. Out of school, she introduces two members of the next generation to the mysteries of Star Trek, Star Wars, and - of course - the art of the bad pun. Prof. Fondrie is the 29th grand prize winner of the contest that that began at San Jose State University in 1982. The contest challenges entrants to compose bad opening sentences to imaginary novels takes its name from the Victorian novelist Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who began his "Paul Clifford" with "It was a dark and stormy night." At 26 words, Prof. Fondrie's submission is the shortest grand prize winner in Contest history, proving that bad writing need not be prolix, or even very wordy

CILIP Executive Briefing: Dewey Decimal Classification: Strength in numbers: Going local, global, and mobile with Dewey

CILIP have once again teamed up with OCLC to present this brand new Executive Briefing on Dewey Decimal Classification. This event will provide expert opinion on how institutions can exploit the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and other knowledge organisation systems (KOS) to improve access and reduce costs through cooperation and standardisation - 15 September 2011 - London, UK

Edinburgh University Press 2012 journals catalogue

The Edinburgh University Press 2012 journals catalogue is now available to download

California Digital Library: New on OAC and Calisphere: Local History Digital Resources

California Digital Library has announced the online publication of approximately 2,000 diverse materials documenting local people, places, and events throughout California in the Online Archive of California (OAC) and Calisphere. The images were produced during the 2010-2011 Local History Digital Resources Project (LHDRP), a training and digitization program for libraries with local history materials. Over the past year, ten libraries each selected, scanned, and catalogued approximately 200 items for inclusion in OAC, Calisphere, and local websites. They are now broadly available to the UC community and the general public

Iran leader warns of 'poisonous' books

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, is urging censors to be vigilant against "harmful" and "poisonous" books. In an address to librarians and publishers this week, Khamenei warned: "Not all books are necessarily good. Some books are harmful," his official Web site said. Khamenei did not single out titles for banning, but works ranging from Plato's Symposium to the writings of James Joyce, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Kurt Vonnegut have been blocked by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance - UPI

New York Public Library - Summer Reading: Read Down Your Fines

From July 25 to September 9, 2011, participants in NYPL's Read Down Your Fines program can erase all their library fines just by logging their books and reading time on SummerReading.org

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Synergies Roumanie

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente

Em Tempo de Histórias

Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio

Sosioprostir : Interdisciplinary Collection of Scientific Works on Sociology and Social Work

ARL selects 2011-2013 Diversity Scholars

The Association of Research Libraries Committee on Diversity and Leadership has selected 13 masters of library and information science students to participate in the 2011-2013 Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce as ARL Diversity Scholars:

* Regina Carter, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
* Amber D'Ambrosio, University at Albany, SUNY
* Carlos Duarte, University of Texas at Austin
* Jennifer Garrett, University of British Columbia
* Jennifer Gibson, San Jose State University
* Don Jason, Kent State University
* Nabil Kashyap, University of Michigan
* Arthur Liu, Simmons College
* Yumi Ohira, Emporia State University
* Brandon Taylor, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
* Megan Threats, Syracuse University
* Sarah Velasquez, Emporia State University
* Kimberly Yang, University of Maryland, College Park

Monday, July 25, 2011

The Code4Lib Journal - Issue 14

The Code4Lib Journal - Issue 14 is now available. The Code4Lib Journal exists to foster community and share information among those interested in the intersection of libraries, technology, and the future

The National Archives brings web archiving to local authorities (UK)

The UK National Archives is working with local authorities to pilot a web archiving model which will ensure important online information is preserved for future generations. Currently, The National Archives works in partnership with the Internet Memory Foundation (IMF) to archive central government websites but its remit does not extend to cover all the local government or community websites. The pilot will run in seven local authority archives - covering more than 20 local authorities - where staff will be trained in how to develop a curated web archive for their area and will be provided with free support from The National Archives and the IMF for the duration of the pilot

Over 290,000 new parish records launched by findmypast.co.uk

Findmypast.co.uk has released over 290,000 new parish records going back the the sixteenth century covering Warwickshire, Sheffield, Suffolk and Rugby. The records provide essential plugs to gaps in the records and may prove vital in enabling you to trace your ancestors

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Ariadne - Issue 67 - July 2011

Ariadne - Issue 67, July 2011 is now available. Ariadne is targeted principally at information science professionals in academia, and also to interested lay people both in and beyond the Higher Education community. Its main geographic focus is the UK, but it is widely read in the US and worldwide. Subscribe to the RSS Feed

The Science Fiction Gateway

Containing works by the classic SF pulp writers of the Golden Age right through to modern award-winning authors, the SF Gateway is the largest library of digital Science Fiction and Fantasy ever assembled. With news, opinions, community features and forums, and links to the ultimate SF authority, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, the site should quickly become the natural home on the net for anyone with an interest in classic SFF

Wellcome Library: Digitising our early European printed books

As part of the Wellcome Digital Library pilot project, we're joining forces with ProQuest to digitise over fifteen thousand volumes from our rare book collection. They will be made available through ProQuest's new Early European Books (EEB) database - a sister project to the long-established and successful Early English Books Online. As its name suggests, EEB will trace the history of printing in continental Europe from its origins up to 1700. A number of other libraries have already contributed to the project, including the Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze. We'll be contributing our entire collection of pre-1700 non-English printed books - including many rare or obscure texts on subjects ranging from alchemy to zoology, as well as some of the most spectacularly illustrated books of the period

OpenGrey

OpenGrey is a multidisciplinary European database, covering science, technology, biomedical science, economics, social science and humanities. The records are in English. They include bibliographical data, the SIGLE classification codes with their wording, and possibly an English abstract (starting in 1997). Each record has either an English title and/or English keywords. Document types include technical or research reports, doctoral dissertations, conference papers, official publications, and other types of grey literature. The user is informed of the availability of the document and the conditions of access for paper documents from each supply centre

SOLO - a new version of the Bodleian Libraries' catalogue now live

On 22 July the Bodleian Libraries launched a new version of SOLO. This integrates the former OLIS (WebOPAC and telnet versions) and can be searched by anybody anywhere in the world. Registered readers need to use only one interface both to locate collections and to order them, but can then also renew loans and holds, check their patron record, etc. Also, once signed on to SOLO, Oxford members who are working off-campus will have seamless access to subscription e-resources without having to sign on again

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

American Journal of Blood Research

Universal Journal of Environmental Research and Technology

Journal of Fundamental Sciences

Revista de Investigación en Logopedia

Applied Mathematics

Journal of Cancer Therapy

Journal of Modern Physics

Smart Grid and Renewable Energy

International Journal of Geosciences

Istanbul University Econometrics and Statistics e-Journal

Nineteenth century soldiers: getting the most from online resources (UK)

Nineteenth century soldiers: getting the most from online resources (UK)This talk aims to explain the intricacies of soldiers' service records online, in record series WO 97, and how using the records of the First World War is something which should be considered when researching nineteenth-century soldiers. William Spencer is The UK National Archives' principal military specialist, and has worked for The UK National Archives for the past 17 years. He is the author of a number of books including 'Army Records: A guide for family historians'

Summer Reading Challenge: Juggling Words in Scotland

This excellent video shows how libraries in Scotland, teamed up with Tesco Bank, are "juggling words" with more than 38,000 children across Scotland

Library of Alexandria Collection now available on Espresso Book Machine® Network

The Library of Alexandria and On Demand Books, the company behind the Espresso Book Machine® (EBM), have announced that 19,000 titles from the collection of the Library are now available on the worldwide network of EBMs, and a further 150,000 Arabic titles, also from the Library, will be available soon

Saturday, July 23, 2011

EBSCO Publishing delivers eBooks and audiobooks on EBSCOhost alongside databases and other digital content

EBSCO Publishing's extensive collection of more than 300,000 eBook and audiobook titles (formerly from NetLibrary®) are now integrated on EBSCOhost®. EBSCOhost now provides content from the most in-demand publishers available via new acquisition models including expanded ownership plans to serve the unique needs of libraries and their patrons. EBSCO is also paving the way for new models such as short-term leases, subscription models and expanded Patron Driven Acquisition which will be introduced within the next few months

Mo Hayder wins the CWA Dagger in the Library, 2011

Mo Hayder wins the CWA Dagger in the Library, 2011Mo Hayder was named as winner of the 2011 CWA Dagger in the Library, at the CWA Awards Ceremony during the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate. The judges praised her "Twisting, hard-hitting crime novels with a haunting emotional pull on the reader", adding "Damaged detective Jack Caffery and police diver Flea Marley are one of the best pairings in current crime writing with each story leaving fans clamouring for more."

Nixon library releases new set of recordings (USA)

The Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in California has released a new set of recordings that include memos that reveal President Richard Nixon was obsessed with his enemies long before Watergate. In one memo released Thursday that Nixon dictated to chief of staff Bob Haldeman in early 1970, the president says, "The more I think of it, setting up a special group for the purpose not of cheering but solely of attacking and defending is of the highest priority." In another memo Nixon complains about the new White House press room, saying "we have gone overboard in terms of the elaborate individual cubicles and other areas that have been set up." The library also released more than 500,000 pages of presidential records and several online exhibits - STLtoday.com

CARL E-Lert # 432 (Canada)

CARL E-Lert # 432, July 22 2011 from Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Some of this week's items: Frustrated judge pushes Google digital book deal Microsoft Wants to Make It Easy for Academics to Analyze ‘Big Data’ Amazon announces textbook rentals for the Kindle platform Libraries Abandon Expensive 'Big Deal' Subscription Packages to Multiple Journals Recording industry honours Peterborough MP for work on copyright legislation

Friday, July 22, 2011

ARL Profiles: Research Libraries 2010 final report and complete analysis now available online

The Association of Research Libraries has captured the essence of the research library in contextual and innovative ways with the publication of ARL Profiles: Research Libraries 2010, a report that includes a thorough content analysis of narrative descriptions of research libraries at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. The profile analysis has engaged qualitative methods to describe research libraries that complement the annual quantitative ARL Statistics®

Nine libraries to be axed across Dorset (UK)

Nine libraries across Dorset are to be axed. County Councillors agreed by just one vote - 21 to 20 - to press ahead with plans to keep 25 libraries open but hand over nine to the community to run. Libraries in Chickerell, Underhill on Portland, Puddletown, Wool, Burton Bradstock and Charmouth all face closure unless they are taken over by community groups - Dorset Echo

Injunction granted to postpone library cuts in Somerset (UK)

A judge has granted an injunction put forward by campaigners to postpone library closures in Somerset. This is pending a full judicial review in September which will be brought about jointly with campaigners in Gloucestershire. Somerset County Council wants to withdraw funding for 11 libraries while Gloucestershire's wants to close 10. Public Interest Lawyers represented a number of campaigners who were behind the legal challenge in Somerset. The interim injunction which was upheld by Lord Justice Beatson at the Birmingham Civil Justice Centre means the county council will have to postpone its planned cuts to library funding until the outcome of a judicial review - BBC

New from Bodleian Library Publishing: Ground-breaking edition of Blake’s 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'

New from Bodleian Library Publishing: Ground-breaking edition of Blake’s 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'A major new edition of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell has just been published, reproducing one of the earliest and most important of the nine known copies, and presenting important new evidence on Blake's production technique for what he called his illuminated books. In the Introduction, scholar and printmaker Michael Phillips explains how through experimental printings, he replicated Blake's graphic techniques for illuminated printing, proving that Blake used mirror writing to draw his text and designs directly onto the copper plate, and that the technique was an extremely laborious and difficult process. This directly challenges recent scholarship on when the Marriage was completed and first published

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - July 22, 2011

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Birds in Literature. "Birds are a common subject in books, poems and plays. Can you identify the birds referred to in these clues?" Answers here.

1. Which poem by Edgar Allan Poe is about a man who is visited by a bird that tells him he will see his lost lover "Nevermore"?
2. Complete this title of a 1930 thriller by Dashiell Hammett which was filmed in 1941 starring Humphrey Bogart: "The Maltese..."
3. In a nonsense rhyme by Edward Lear, which bird went to sea with the Pussy-Cat in a beautiful pea-green boat?
4. Which English poet wrote "Ode to a Nightingale" in 1819?
5. Which author of children's stories wrote "Swallows and Amazons" and "Pigeon Post"?
6. Name the play written by Anton Chekhov about the unrequited love of Trepliov, a young writer, for Nina, an actress who favours the more successful writer, Trigorin.
7. Complete the title of this 1984 novel by Julian Barnes (in which the narrator is named Geoffrey Braithwaite) by adding a kind of bird: "Flaubert's..."
8. Who wrote a poem "To a Skylark" with the first lines: "Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert"?
9. In Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," which bird is shot by the mariner?
10. Complete the title of this 1941 book by Paul Gallico by adding a kind of bird: "The Snow..."

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Miniature Wargames launches digital edition vie Exact Editions

Miniature Wargames has announced the launch of a digital edition in partnership with Exact Editions. The release coincides with the title's purchase by Atlantic Publishing. The digital edition is available to view and purchase. Annual subscriptions are available for £29.50 and quarterly subscriptions for £8.00

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Agora Psycho - Pragmatica

Creative Education

Journal of Legal Analysis

Modern Economy

iBusiness

International Journal of Criminal Investigation

Journal of Social Studies Education Research

Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Jurídicas

Veterinary Science Development

Green and Sustainable Chemistry

International Journal of Computer Science & Technology

International Journal of Organic Chemistry

Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering

World Journal of Condensed Matter Physics

American Journal of Molecular Biology

American Journal of Operations Research

Health

Journal of Cosmetics, Dermatological Sciences and Applications

Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Open Journal of Stomatology

Clinical Medicine Insights : Women's Health

Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics

Books, Borders & Bikes (Scotland)

Books, Borders & Bikes is an international festival of Literature & Thought to be held at Traquair House in the Scottish Borders between 20-21 August 2011. The festival explores cultural themes - of freedom, empire, assimilation and memory - using the actual landscape of Traquair grounds, bringing to life these themes in interactive talks, walks, rides and examinations of the countryside and its living history. Visitors can read, listen to, and meet writers and artists in action, on location. This year, there will be a particular focus on the Arab Spring, including writers from Libya, Palestine and Afghanistan as well as Pakistan, India, Zimbabwe and beyond

Enhancements and additions to Gale LegalForms make it easier for library patrons to 'take the law into their own hands'

Gale has announced new updates to Gale LegalForms, its online legal resource designed to help public library patrons, law students and practicing lawyers create accurate and reliable legal documents. All LegalForms products now include the Law Digest module, which contains law summaries for each state as well as a detailed, yet easy-to-understand, legal question and answer (Q&A) section. Enhancements have also been made to the user interface, making the resource easier to navigate

FreePint Newsletter 331

FreePint Newsletter 331 - 21 July 2011 now available

Call for articles: Internet Reference Services Quarterly

The editor of Internet Reference Services Quarterly seeks manuscripts for Volume 16 and 17. The journal covers all aspects of reference services provided via the Internet

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

New website for The British Library (UK)

The new website for The British Library is now available. The British Library Twitter feed is below:



Book Grocer: 20-26 July 2011 (UK)

Book Grocer: 20-26 July 2011 - The week ahead in literary London from the Londonist blog. #books #London

ASTM International partners with Scope for enhancing the findability of its Digital Library content

Scope eKnowledge Center has been selected by ASTM International for its subject matter expert (SME)-curated knowledge mining and indexing services

C-SPAN documentary on The Library of Congress

This program looked behind-the-scenes at the Library of Congress, allowing viewers to learn the history of the institution as they tour the Library's iconic Jefferson Building and see some of the treasures found in its collections of rare books, photos, and maps. It also featured a look at some of the presidential papers housed there, ranging from George Washington through Calvin Coolidge. Viewers learned how the library uses technology to preserve its holdings and expand public access to them. It also showed how technology is helping to uncover new information about some of the items in its collections. Shown on C-SPAN July 18, 2011

Tulsa library to celebrate Jewish-American songwriters (USA)

A good deal of what we now call "The Great American Songbook" would probably not exist if it hadn't been for Jewish families immigrating to this country around the turn of the 20th century. Tulsa's Central Library will spend the next four weeks celebrating the work of some of America's finest songwriters with the exhibit "A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs," opening Wednesday at the library, Fourth Street and Denver Avenue. The exhibit - curated by David Lehman and developed by Nextbook Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Jewish literature, culture and ideas, and the American Library Association Public Programs Office - focuses on the period from 1910 to 1965

JISC has released E-Journal Archiving for UK HE Libraries - White Paper (Final)

The aim of E-Journal Archiving for UK HE Libraries is to help universities and libraries implement policies and procedures in relation to e-journal archiving which can help support the move towards e-only provision of scholarly journals across the HE sector. The white paper is also contributing to complementary work JISC and other funders are commissioning on moving towards e-only provision of Journals

NISO Webinar: Tangible Assets - Management of Physical Library Resources

NISO Webinar: Tangible Assets - Management of Physical Library Resources. August 10, 2011 - 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Cites & Insights 11:7 (August 2011)

Cites & Insights 11:7 (August 2011) is now available for downloading. Edited and published by Walt Crawford

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

ROAD 2.0: digital collection from Duke University Libraries (USA)

More than 27,000 images of billboards and other outdoor advertisements have been digitized and made available online by Duke University Libraries. The new digital collection, ROAD 2.0, brings together a vast collection of historical advertising images from the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Marketing & Advertising History, part of Duke's Special Collections Library. The images, most of them taken between the 1930s and 1980s, include not only billboards but also wall paintings, electric "spectaculars" (such as the neon signs New York's Times Square), bus shelters, taxi displays, and behind-the-scenes shots of outdoor ads under construction and sign painters at work

Brill 2012 journal prices now available

Brill's 2012 journal prices are now available (including imprints Global Oriental, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP)

LITA: call for technology programs for ALA2012

The LITA Program Planning Committee is now accepting proposals for the 2012 Annual American Library Association Conference, Anaheim, CA, June 21-26, 2012. We're looking for full day pre-conferences, and half day and two hour conference presentations on use of, new ideas for, and technology trends in libraries. Think about the technology success or failure you're recently had, or the topic you think we haven't had covered and put together a proposal

Open data challenge: what treasures can you find? (UK)

Libraries, museums and archives have recently taken to experimenting with open data with a vengeance and now the JISC Discovery programme with the DevCSI project are running an international competition to see what people can unearth in this data. The challenge is to develop an application which allows people to discover the treasures hidden in one of ten datasets - from the shipwrecks lurking off UK shores, to the metadata behind Jane Austen's will online. The rich data sets on offer are:

* library data from the British Library, Cambridge and Lincoln
* archives data from the National Archives and the Archives hub
* English Heritage places data
* circulation data from UK university libraries
* museum data from the Tyne and Wear Museums collections
* search data from the OpenURL router service
* the musicnet codex

Kindle Textbook Rental from Amazon.com

Amazon.com has announced the launch of Kindle Textbook Rental. Now students can save up to 80% off textbook list prices by renting from the Kindle Store. Tens of thousands of textbooks are available for the 2011 school year from leading textbook publishers such as John Wiley & Sons, Elsevier and Taylor & Francis #kindle

University of Michigan Press launches Facebook serials

The University of Michigan Press is hoping to entice Facebook members into purchasing two new releases this summer by posting installments from each novel on the press' Facebook page over the next eight weeks. Beginning July 18, and extending through the Labor Day weekend, the press will post one chapter each from A Spell on the Water by Marjorie Kowalski (May) and Faithful Unto Death by Becky Thacker (June)

ARL Annual Salary Survey 2011-2012

ARL Annual Salary Survey 2011-2012 is now available online from the Association of Research Libraries

LIS Research Coalition launches Library and Information Science Practitioner Researcher Excellence Award (UK)

The Library and Information Science Research Coalition has announced a Library and Information Science (LIS) Practitioner Researcher Excellence Award for LIS professionals based in the UK and Republic of Ireland. The award will be presented in July 2012 to either (a) an individual librarian or information scientist, or (b) a team that has made a substantial contribution to LIS research since 2009. The award winner will receive £500 and a plaque

Digital Preservation: What's Now, What's Next? - Conference (USA)

Digital Preservation: What's Now, What's Next? will cover a variety of topics including digital preservation of email and e-books, as well as preservation of audio and video. Presented by speakers well known to the digital community, two concurrent sessions will run throughout the day. Among the scheduled sessions are:

* Email: the Problem that Dare not Speak its Name presented by Christopher J. Prom
* Fundamentals of Digitizing Audio and Video presented by George Blood and Cassandra Gallegos
* Protect Future Access Now: Preserving E-Books and Other Digitized Content presented by Amy Kirchhoff

August 12, 2011 - Texas, USA

Wiley-VCH and ChemPubSoc Europe to launch open access chemistry journal

Wiley-VCH, part of the scientific and technical publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and ChemPubSoc Europe, an association of 16 chemical societies, have announced the launch of ChemistryOpen, the first open access chemical society journal. The societies are joining a new open access publishing program announced by John Wiley & Sons in February

Future Science journals added to JournalTOCs

Roddy MacLeod has added six Future Science journals added to JournalTOCs:

Bioanalysis

Biofuels

Carbon Management

Clinical Investigation

Future Medicinal Chemistry

Therapeutic Delivery

QQML2012: 4th International Conference on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries

QQML2012: 4th International Conference on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries - 22 to 25 May 2012 - Limerick, Ireland

Monday, July 18, 2011

Cambridge Journals - free online access until August 30

Cambridge Journals is celebrating recent achievements by making all its online journals content from 2009 and 2010 free for six weeks. Cambridge has enjoyed accelerating success in recent years with increasing numbers of journals published, improved impact factors and multiple enhancements made to Cambridge Journals Online. Usage has significantly increased with the digitisation of new and archive content, and more people are now able to access Cambridge Journals than ever before. Currently over 1.3 million articles are downloaded from CJO every month. To celebrate these successes, and to reach out to new customers, Cambridge Journals has announced that it is making all online content published during 2009 and 2010 free between 15 July and 30 August 2011

OCLC releases new membership research report: Seeking Synchronicity: Revelations and Recommendations for Virtual Reference

A ground-breaking membership report from OCLC Research suggests that by transforming virtual reference service encounters into relationship-building opportunities, librarians can better leverage the positive feelings people have for libraries. This is critically important in a crowded online space where the biggest players often don't have the unique experience and specific strengths offered by librarians. The report - Seeking Synchronicity: Revelations and Recommendations for Virtual Reference - demonstrates that today's students, scholars and citizens are not just looking to libraries for answers to specific questions - they want partners and guides in a lifelong information-seeking journey

Science Online London 2011 (UK)

nature.com and Digital Science are presenting the fourth annual Science Online London - an event dedicated to exploring the ways in which the Web has transformed scientific research and communication. The conference will take place September 2-3 at the British Library, UK

Wiley-Blackwell partners with TESOL to publish TESOL Quarterly and TESOL Journal

Wiley-Blackwell has announced a new partnership beginning in 2012 with the TESOL International Association to publish its two journals, TESOL Quarterly and TESOL Journal, both of which are currently self-published

Saturday, July 16, 2011

The Marine Biological Laboratory announces creation of the Center for Library and Informatics (USA)

The Marine Biological Laboratory has announced the creation of the Center for Library and Informatics, a new research initiative that addresses the challenges of data management, promotes data-driven discovery, and develops innovative visualization and analysis tools. The effort brings together the expertise of a host of MBL computer scientists, librarians, information scientists, and life scientists. The MBL has appointed Nathan Wilson as the Center's director. Holly Miller, director of the MBLWHOI Library, will serve as the associate director of the Center

Libraries are essential, Duluth library backers say (USA)

Duluth public library organizations are borrowing a word heard often during the Minnesota government shutdown as part of their latest campaign: essential. Members of the Duluth Library Board, the Friends of the Duluth Public Library and the Duluth Library Foundation want you to know that the word "essential" applies to libraries. To that end, they've kicked off a campaign this week to promote the importance of the library to the Duluth community and to seek increased funding so the three libraries can go back to offering full hours

Fitzgerald Collection of Regional Americana donated to Library of Congress

American regional writing gained increasing popularity in the years following the Great Depression and beyond. The period 1938 to 1980 was an especially fruitful one for this type of documentation of the nation's people, history and culture, as well as America's natural treasures - its mountains, plains, lakes, seaports, forts, trails, folkways and customs. The Fitzgerald Collection, donated by Carol and Jean Fitzgerald, comprises books, original correspondence, documentation and copies of research materials related to the series devoted to Americana as highlighted in "Series Americana: Post Depression-Era Regional Literature, 1938-1980: A Descriptive Bibliography." This important contribution to 20th-century American publishing history is by Carol Fitzgerald and was published in 2010 by Oak Knoll Press and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress

New look and features for PubMed Central

PubMed Central has a new look and features, including:

* A revamped homepage, which offers better navigation through the site as well as direct access to resources such as the Users' Guide and NIH Public Access information
* Redesigned Advanced Search and Limits pages
* An updated search results format
* Direct access to images in PMC articles
* A new organization and updated appearance for PMC's informational pages, including drop-down menus for navigation links

Celebrating the Census conference (UK)

Celebrating the Census conference is for genealogists, local historians, demographers, social historians - or anyone at all who wants to know more about the census. 1 October 2011, Kew, UK

Grampian Children's Book Award 2011 winners (UK)

The Grampian Children's Book Award recently held its 7th award ceremony in the Arts Lecture Theatre at Aberdeen University. Cathy MacPhail (for Grass) and Charlie Higson (for The Enemy) were announced as joint winners by the pupils who had taken part. Over 500 pupils from schools in the area attended the award ceremony, hosted by local author Caroline Clough

New title in PubMed Central

Healthcare Informatics Research from Korean Society of Medical Informatics

Friday, July 15, 2011

Podcast: The battle of Towton - a 550-year retrospective (UK)

Podcast: The battle of Towton - a 550-year retrospective (UK)This talk introduces the biggest battle of the Wars of the Roses, described as 'The largest, longest, bloodiest and most murderous battle ever fought in Britain'. It was the decisive clash in a snowstorm at Towton in Yorkshire on 29 March 1461. A new English dynasty came to the throne with Edward IV's victory, but more Englishmen may have died at Towton than on the first day of the battle of the Somme. The talk outlines the events of that day, looking at some of The National Archives' sources for the battle and examines the participants' motivations. Dr. James Ross is a medieval records specialist at the UK National Archives. He has a particular interest in the politics of the Wars of the Roses, and the nobility and gentry during the period

University of Florida Libraries join the HathiTrust Digital Library and expand digital access to orphan works

The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries joined the HathiTrust Digital Library, a partnership of major research institutions and libraries working to ensure that the cultural record is preserved and accessible long into the future. There are more than fifty partners in the HathiTrust, and membership is open to institutions worldwide. Currently, the HathiTrust has 8.9 million digitized volumes

D-Lib Magazine - July/August 2011

D-Lib Magazine - July/August 2011 is now available. D-Lib Magazine is produced by Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI)

SPARC enews/July 2011

SPARC enews/July 2011: a bimonthly newsletter features the latest SPARC activities, an industry roundup, upcoming workshops and events, as well as articles related to developments in scholarly communication

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - July 15, 2011

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Punctuation. "This week's brainteaser is about punctuation: those dots, dashes and symbols which help to clarify written or printed material." Answers here.

1. What is the name for the punctuation mark after "oak" and "elm" in this sentence: "The forest abounds with oak, elm, and beech trees"?
2. What is the British phrase for the punctuation mark which is called a period in American English?
3. What is an interrobang?
4. What does a semicolon look like?
5. When a full stop is used as part of email and website addresses, how is it pronounced?
6. What name is given to the accent over the last letter of the Italian word pietà?
7. Which punctuation mark is used with a noun or pronoun to indicate possession or in a contraction to show where letters have been left out.
8. What name is given to a set of three dots (...) in text?
9. A cedilla is a mark which is put underneath which letter to show that the letter has the sound of s?
10. In the German language, what is the name for the sign formed of two dots printed above a vowel?

New version of Web of Knowledge arrives July 17

As of July 17th, when you access the Web of Knowledge platform from your bookmarks, alerts, RSS feeds, or library homepage you will be accessing the newest version of the platform. This includes links to Web of Science, Biosis, Medline, and all other Web of Knowledge databases

The Jack Sheaffer Photograph Digital Collection (Arizona, USA)

The Jack Sheaffer Photograph Digital Collection (Arizona, USA)The Jack Sheaffer Photograph Digital Collection contains over 10,000 images that document the photographic history of southern Arizona during a time of explosive growth in the area, from 1955 - 1975. Jack Sheaffer photographed both major and minor events that made up the history of southern Arizona during the last half of the twentieth century. His subjects included in this collection, ran the gamut from politics and sports, to annual civic events like the Tucson Rodeo, and from celebrity visits and tragic accidents, to local beauty pageants

Credo Reference, OCLC announce new agreement to bring WorldCat content to Credo General Reference service

OCLC and Credo Reference have announced that they have signed an agreement to integrate the WorldCat Search API into the Credo General Reference service. With this new agreement, OCLC member libraries that subscribe to the Credo General Reference service will be able to retrieve a list of books from WorldCat related to the topic of their Credo Reference search

CARL E-Lert # 431 (Canada)

CARL E-Lert # 431, July 15 2011 from Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Some of this week's items: L'innovation dans les provinces canadiennes / Dream big: some modest reforms for Canada's media landscape / A Call to Take Back the Internet from Corporations / Census decision a slow-motion train wreck / To Rebound, RIM Courts the Carriers

Kelpies Prize 2011 shortlist (Scotland)

Edinburgh-based publisher Floris Books has announced the shortlist for the Kelpies Prize 2011. The annual prize is for previously unpublished works of fiction, set in contemporary Scotland and suitable for children aged 8 to 12. The 2011 shortlist (in alphabetical order) is:

* How to Make a Golem (and Terrify People) by Alette J. Willis
* The Really Weird Removals Company by Daniela Sacerdoti
* The Resurrection Spell by Roy Gill

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Bodleian acquires Jane Austen manuscript (UK)

The Bodleian Libraries have acquired at auction the autograph draft manuscript of Jane Austen's unfinished novel The Watsons. The last major Austen manuscript to have been in private hands, The Watsons is the most significant Austen item to have come to the market in over twenty years. The acquisition which cost in excess of £1 million was made possible with a substantial grant (£894,700) from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF). Other generous funders are the Friends of the National Libraries, the Friends of the Bodleian, Jane Austen's House Museum (Jane Austen Memorial Trust) as well as other supporters

SAGE acquires six journals from A B Academic

SAGE has announced the acquisition of six journals from A B Academic:

* Medical Law International
* Nutrition and Health
* Gifted Education International
* Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics
* International Review of Victimology
* International Journal of Discrimination and the Law

University of Notre Dame joins HathiTrust

The University of Notre Dame has become the newest member of HathiTrust, a partnership of major academic and research libraries collaborating in compiling a massive digital library. Notre Dame's Hesburgh Libraries is a sustaining member and will work toward digitizing its unique collections

Video: Catalog Card Concerto

Have you ever wondered what happened to all those old library catalog cards when libraries went digital? At the Cleveland Institute of Art, students in Professor Richard Fiorelli's foundation design class got creative and transformed boxes of catalog cards into an orchestra of noisemakers. Freshman Christopher Ramos '14 recorded the sounds, manipulated them, and created this sound piece. Then, using photos by librarian Cristine Rom and photographer Rob Muller, junior Michaela Lynch '12 (T.I.M.E.-Digital Arts) produced this video featuring CIA's Gund Library. "I used the outdated analog slide projectors as an aesthetic starting point and went from there," said Michaela, "adding stop motion, still motion, and all sorts of mayhem." The video premiered to a packed auditorium as the featured musical interlude at CIA's 2011 commencement celebration

Internet Librarian 2011 advance program available (USA)

The advance program for Internet Librarian 2011 is now available. The conference takes place October 17 to 19 in Monterey, California, USA. Twitter tag: #il2011

British Library announces £9m campaign to acquire the St Cuthbert Gospel – the earliest intact European book

British Library announces £9m campaign to acquire the St Cuthbert Gospel – the earliest intact European bookThe British Library has announced an ambitious fundraising campaign to acquire the St Cuthbert Gospel for the nation. Created in the 7th century and intimately associated with one of Britain's foremost saints, the Gospel is the earliest surviving intact European book and one of the world's most significant books. A manuscript copy of the Gospel of St John, the St Cuthbert Gospel was produced in the North of England in the late 7th century and was buried alongside St Cuthbert on Lindisfarne, apparently in 698, and later found in the saint's coffin at Durham Cathedral in 1104. It has a beautifully-worked original red leather binding in excellent condition, and is the only surviving high-status manuscript from this crucial period in British history to retain its original appearance, both inside and out

Rich new military records launched by findmypast.co.uk

findmypast.co.uk has announced the launch of four sets of nineteenth and twentieth century military records. The records provide useful detail including attestation and leaving dates, achievements made in service and soldiers' physical appearence. And, certainly in the case of the 1861 records, the records can fill in gaps left by the census. The releases are the 1861 Worldwide Army Index, Royal Fusiliers Collection 1863-1905, Paddington Rifles 1860-1912 and Surrey Recuitment Registers 1908-1933

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

Advances in Pure Mathematics

Open Journal of Pediatrics

World Journal of AIDS

European Psychomotricity Journal

Mediaciones Sociales

Noise and Health

Information and Communication Technology in Educational Sciences

Arts Council to 'speak up for libraries' (UK)

The Arts Council has given the first indication of how it intends to approach its forthcoming responsibility for libraries by publishing a review of its strategic goals. ACE will take on libraries and museums when the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council winds down this autumn. The review, conducted by one-time Labour education secretary Estelle Morris, discusses the goals identified in the Arts Council's recent strategic document "Achieving Great Art for Everyone" and looks to develop them so that the role played by libraries and museums are included - The Bookseller

Kent County Council wins 2011 CILIP Libraries Change Lives Award (UK)

"Making the Difference", an innovative project devised by Kent County Council's library service which welcomes adults with learning disabilities into libraries, and helps them to lead more active lives in their communities has won CILIP's prestigious Libraries Change Lives Award, one of the leading accolades in the library and information world

Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives News - July 2011 (UK)

The July 2011 edition of Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives News is now available

2011 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award shortlist

The shortlist for the 2011 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award has been announced. The award will be presented at the culmination of the Cork International Short Story Festival on Sunday September 18, 2011:

* Gold Boy, Emerald Girl by Yiyun Li (Beijing-born, American Resident)
* Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod (Canadian debutante)
* Saints and Sinners by Edna O'Brien (Irish)
* Death is Not an Option by Suzanne Rivecca (American Debutante)
* The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín (Irish)
* Marry or Burn by Valerie Trueblood (American)

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Cambridge University Press opens up digital platform to rivals (UK)

Cambridge University Press has launched a digital content platform for libraries which it says will become "one of the largest and most significant repositories of digital academic material in the world." From October 2011, University Publishing Online will provide institutions with e-books and "related database products" from publishers across the world. It is based on Cambridge Books Online, which offers access to front and backlist PDF titles. So far the publishers signed up to University Publishing Online are Liverpool University Press, Boydell & Brewer, the Mathematical Association of America and Foundation Books, based in India. CUP said it would reveal further partners in coming weeks - The Bookseller

SAGE begins publishing Administrative Science Quarterly

SAGE has been chosen by the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University to publish its journal, the Administrative Science Quarterly, beginning this month

More databases and collections from around the world added to WorldCat Local

OCLC has signed agreements with leading publishers and other content providers from around the world to add more databases and collections to WorldCat Local, the OCLC discovery service that offers users integrated access to more than 800 million items in libraries worldwide. Libraries using WorldCat Local can offer users access to 1,400 databases and collections, and more than 500 million articles

The Guardian first book award submissions 2011 (UK)

Publishers have submitted 136 titles for the Guardian first book award 2011

Alexander Street Press adds 22,500 recordings from EMI to Classical Music Library

Electronic publisher Alexander Street Press has announced the addition of nearly 22,500 recordings from EMI and EMI sub-labels Virgin Classics and Angel Records to its Classical Music Library

Book Grocer: 13-19 July (UK)

Book Grocer: 13-19 July 2011 - The week ahead in literary London from the Londonist blog. #books #London

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

NoViolet Bulawayo wins 12th Caine Prize for African Writing

NoViolet Bulawayo wins 12th Caine Prize for African WritingZimbabwe's NoViolet Bulawayo has won the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing, described as Africa's leading literary award, for her short story entitled 'Hitting Budapest', from The Boston Review, Vol 35, no. 6, November/December 2010. The Chair of Judges, award-winning author Hisham Matar, announced NoViolet Bulawayo as the winner of the £10,000 prize at a dinner held 11 July)at the Bodleian Library in Oxford

SAGE Reference releases second installment of Green Society: Toward a Sustainable Future

Last year, SAGE Reference launched Green Society: Toward a Sustainable Future. Now it has released the second installment of the series, six new titles, all of which are now available in print as well as on the SAGE Reference Online platform:

* Green Culture: An A-to-Z Guide – details the on-going paradigm shift in culture and lifestyles toward promoting a sustainable environment.

* Green Education: An A-to-Z Guide – explores the environmental movement at all levels in the field of education, as well as building sustainable campuses.

* Green Ethics and Philosophy: An A-to-Z Guide – covers the moral relationship between humans and their natural environment.

* Green Health: An A-to-Z Guide – examines how personal health and the healthcare industry affect resource conservation, pollution, and the environment.

* Green Issues and Debates – lays out the multitude of threats to sustainable life on earth and the many controversies surrounding potential solutions.

* Green Technology: An A-to-Z Guide – looks at the changing developments in technology as it relates to the environment, as well as the creation of new, clean technology that utilizes renewable resources.

Australian Poetry Library

The Australian Poetry Library aims to promote a greater appreciation and understanding of Australian poetry by providing access to a wide range of poetic texts as well as to critical and contextual material relating to them, including interviews, photographs and audio/visual recordings. The website currently contains over 42,000 poems, representing the work of more than 170 Australian poets. All the poems are fully searchable, and may be accessed and read freely on the World Wide Web. Readers wishing to download and print poems may do so for a small fee, part of which is returned to the poets via CAL, the Copyright Agency Limited. Teachers, students and readers of Australian poetry can also create personalised anthologies, which can be purchased and downloaded. Print on demand versions will be availabe from Sydney University Press in the near future

InSITE - July 11, 2011

InSITE: A Current Awareness Service of Cornell Law Library - Vol. 16, No. 19, July 11, 2011 is now available. Contents:

# Gender Law Library
# Montana Indian Law
# SOMO: Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations

Google eBooks to offer Story HD, its own e-reading device

Google eBooks is partnering with Korean electronics manufacturer iriver to release the Story HD, an e-book reading device integrated with the Google eBooks platform. The Story HD is an e-ink device with wi-fi connectivity and beginning July 17 it will be priced at $140 and sold exclusively through Target stores

Publisher Penguin waddles into social media experiment with Peer Index

A little social media experiment is underway at the publishers Hamish Hamilton/Penguin UK: the publisher has tied up with the social media site Peer Index to try out a new way of promoting its books. In what the publisher is calling an industry first, Penguin is launching a campaign to tap "influencers" on Peer Index to read and spread the word about a new book - Hari Kunzru's Gods Without Men

Dorset libraries campaign group 'considers legal action' (UK)

Campaigners against plans to close nine of Dorset's libraries say they might take legal action against the council. Dorset campaign group Adlib argues that the under-threat libraries could become cheaper to run instead of being closed. In a similar campaign in Gloucestershire, a judge ruled that its council could not close any libraries while a judicial review takes place. Dorset County Council is to consider the future of its libraries at a full council meeting on 21 July

Online Northwest 2012 (USA)

Online Northwest - February 10, 2012 - Corvallis, Oregon, USA. Online Northwest is a conference focusing on the use of technology within libraries. It was created by the Oregon University System Library Council to help librarians around Oregon learn how to use early online searching tools. As information technology and librarians have increased in sophistication over the years, so has the conference. Proposal submissions for the 2012 Online Northwest conference are now open. Proposals will be accepted until October 21, 2011

Monday, July 11, 2011

Banned Books Week 2011 (USA)

Banned Books Week, September 24 to October 1, 2011, is the only national (USA) celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than a thousand books have been challenged since 1982. The challenges have occurred in every state and in hundreds of communities. People challenge books that they say are too sexual or too violent. They object to profanity and slang, and they protest against offensive portrayals of racial or religious groups - or positive portrayals of homosexuals. Their targets range from books that explore contemporary issues and controversies to classic and beloved works of American literature. According to the American Library Association, there were 348 challenges reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2010, and many more go unreported

National Maritime Museum Caird Library records loaded to Copac (UK)

The holdings of the National Maritime Museum Caird Library have been added to Copac. The National Maritime Museum is the largest maritime museum in the world. It houses important holdings on the history of Britain at sea, totalling nearly 2.5 million items, including maritime art, cartography, ship models, scientific and navigational instruments, and manuscripts, and the world's largest maritime reference library

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program - Episode #161

LISTen: An LISNews.org Program -- Episode #161. "This week's episode goes madly off in all directions". Previous Podcasts/Programs can be found here

Discovery (UK)

Discovery (UK)In 2010, the JISC and RLUK Resource Discovery Taskforce worked with stakeholders from the libraries, archives and museums to set out a Vision for making the most of our resources by effectively positioning their metadata for discovery and reuse within the global information ecosystem. Our aim is that Discovery will help to mobilise and energise the community, engaging stakeholders to create a critical mass of open and reusable data, and explore what open data makes possible through real-world exemplars and case studies

Library-press collaboration presentation slides (USA)

The ALCTS Scholarly Communications Interest Group hosted the panel discussion, Library-Press Collaboration: How do they work together to advance scholarly communication?, on June 25 during the ALA Annual Conference. Raym Crow (SPARC) was the moderator and the panelists were James Mullins (Purdue University), Kizer Walker (Cornell University), and John Wilkin (University of Michigan and HathiTrust). The panelists' presentation slides and the audio recordings of this event are now available

Sunday, July 10, 2011

The Summer Reading Challenge launched in Scotland by the new Children's Laureate

The Summer Reading Challenge in Scotland was launched at the McDonald Road Library, Edinburgh by Julia Donaldson MBE, the newly appointed UK Children's Laureate. The Reading Agency's Summer Reading Challenge, run with libraries, is the UK's most successful reading promotion for 4-11 year olds and is being supported for the first time by Tesco Bank as part of their investment in literary programmes for children in Scotland. Children from nearby Leith Walk Primary School were invited along to see that their local library had been transformed into a Big Top, in keeping with this year's Circus Stars theme. They were welcomed by a ringmaster, jugglers and clowns before being treated to an exclusive performance by Donaldson, best-selling author of The Gruffalo, Cave Baby and Tyrannosaurus Drip, amongst others

The Children's Bookshow 2011 (UK)

The Children's Bookshow is an organisation that arranges an annual tour of children's authors and illustrators. The tour takes place in the autumn and coincides with Children's Book Week

Inside Penguin - a live webchat on 14 July

At Penguin, we often get asked about how publishing works and who exactly does what, so with this in mind we've decided to set up a series of live webchats with people working in different roles around the company. The aim is to give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how the publishing industry really works, from the initial idea for a book, through its production to the bookshop and beyond.

To start things off, the copywriters are going to be here to reveal the secrets of their trade on Thursday 14 July between 1 and 2pm. They work within Penguin's marketing departments, writing blurbs, book titles and subtitles, advertising and a whole lot more. It's quite a distinctive role in publishing, and one that's going to change more and more in the digital age

Podcast: Overseas births, marriages and deaths: records in The National Archives (UK)

Podcast: Overseas births, marriages and deaths: records in The National Archives (UK)There is no single place to find all the birth, marriage and death records of the British overseas. However, The National Archives holds a substantial number of them, in a variety of record collections. This talk looks at civilian and military registers kept by the British authorities, and by churches, consulates and other bodies abroad. Please note that this talk does not include events at sea, which are the subject of a separate talk. Speaker Keith Mitchell joined The National Archives ten years ago and specialises in overseas birth, marriage and death records

Exhibition: 'Lux in Arcana' - the Vatican Secret Archives unveiled

A forthcoming exhibition in Rome, entitled 'Lux in Arcana' - the Vatican Secret Archives unveiled has been announced. The show will open in Rome's Capitoline Museums in February 2012. Speaking at a press conference, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone Tarcisio said: "the inherent richness of this exhibition is amplified by the fact that it is being organised outside the Vatican, on the Capitol Hill which symbolically represents the 'heart' of Rome and its relationship with the papal city down the centuries. The challenge was to make the resources of the Vatican Secret Archives, with all their academic knowledge and experience, converge with those of the capital city, the Capitoline Museums and the office of the superintendent for archives and museums of the local authorities of Rome"

Exhibition: Fame, Fortune, and Theft: The Shakespeare First Folio

Exhibition: Fame, Fortune, and Theft: The Shakespeare First FolioFrom the 1620s through the twenty-first century, the Shakespeare First Folio influenced the industries of conservation, editing, and book-collecting, eventually becoming a cause for idolatry in itself. This exhibition explores the complex history of the First Folio, from its humble beginnings in the seventeenth century to stories of theft and recovery of an idolized book, recounting how it came to mean so much across cultures and continents - Folger Shakespeare Library until September 3, 2011

New blog: The National Library of Ireland

The new blog from The National Library of Ireland is now available

Saturday, July 09, 2011

The Telegraph Ways With Words Festival at Dartington Hall (UK)

The 2011 Telegraph Ways With Words festival of words and ideas is a vibrant and joyful 10-day event, a chance for those who read books to meet those who write them. The setting is glorious, the atmosphere is invigorating. People come together in spectacular surroundings to share the pleasure and power of language and ideas. The warmth and energy of this lively gathering make it a memorable occasion - 8 - 18 July 2011
Tag: @Ways_With_Words

New journals from Inderscience Publishers

International Journal of Hydrology Science and Technology

International Journal of Satellite Communications Policy and Management

International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation

International Journal of Management Development

New title in PubMed Central

Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry

Virtual conference: Ebooks: The New Normal

Ebooks: The New Normal, a one-day virtual conference, will bring together public, academic and school librarians (K-12), vendors, publishers, and industry experts to address how libraries are leveraging the ebook opportunity to improve service and reach more users than ever before. The event offers something for everyone, from building an ebook strategy and collection to mastering the transition and even how to market ebooks to patrons - October 12, 2011

Computers in Libraries 2012 (USA)

Creating Innovative Libraries is what librarians, systems and information professionals, and teams of other partners and experts do with computers, the internet and cutting edge technology. At Computers in Libraries 2012, the focus is on practices and techniques, technology, and the "secret sauce" or "extra" that creates innovative libraries. The conference program is filled with ideas, leading edge practices, tips and techniques for creating innovative libraries, engaging communities, as well as designing and delivering strategic services that are of primary importance to our communities. The emphasis is on thinking outside of the box, learning from other industries, finding strategic partners, and creating value for our user communities with new tools, techniques and skills that build innovative and priority services - March 21-23, 2011 - Washington, DC, USA

New journal: The Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication

A joint publishing partnership between the libraries at Pacific University (OR) and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (CA) has announced a new open access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to library-led scholarly communication initiatives, online publishing and digital projects. The Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication will provide a focused forum for library practitioners to share ideas, strategies, research and pragmatic explorations of library-led initiatives related to such areas as institutional repository and digital collection management, library publishing/hosting services and authors’ rights advocacy efforts. As technology, scholarly communication, the economics of publishing, and the roles of libraries all continue to evolve, the work shared in JLSC will inform practices that strengthen librarianship. The first issue is planned for early 2012, with rolling publication of quarterly issues thereafter. All content will be open access upon publication and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license

Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, and Pet Shop Boys back Kensal Rise Library (UK)

Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, and Pet Shop Boys back Kensal Rise Library (UK)Stars of the music world including Nick Cave (left), Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, and Goldfrapp are backing a campaign to save a local London library. The musicians have thrown their weight behind the drive to save Kensal Rise Library, which has been threatened with closure due to budget cuts, and they are auctioning off memorabilia online to help raise funds. Cave is selling the handwritten lyrics to his 1995 collaboration with Kylie Minogue, Where The Wild Roses Grow, while Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Goldfrapp and Sinead O'Connor are auctioning signed CDs

Directory of Open Access Journals - recently added titles

International Journal on Internet and Distributed Computing Systems

TESL Canada Journal

continent.

ZEF Working Papers Series

Vestnik of Tomsk State University of Architecture and Building

C&RL News – July/August 2011

C&RL News – July/August 2011 is now freely available online from The Association of College and Research Libraries