Universities Launch Collective Digital Library, 78 Terabytes Large
Twenty three universities have agreed to share and combine their digitized content, including millions of scanned books and documents, in one gigantic, 78-terabyte library that launched Monday.
Called the HathiTrust, the depository contains digital content from 11 University of California libraries and a 12-university consortium that forms the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, which includes the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago.
+ Major Library Partners Launch HathiTrust Shared Digital Repository
Source: Wired Blog Network
See also: An Elephant Backs Up Google's Library (Bits Blog/NYT)
Librarians and IT staff might share more similarities than they would like to admit. Scott Carlson and Warren Arbogast, Tech Therapy's hosts, talk about the rift between the two groups.
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education (Tech Therapy)
In the past year or so, there has been considerable discussion here in libraryland about ebook readers. Still, the actual personal ownership of them is still reasonably low. So we don't have a lot of actual user feedback on how people like the devices, what they find useful, and what users really experience when reading on one. I thought I'd make an attempt to remedy that as much as one person on one blog can.
In short: I Love my Kindle. I love it the way I haven't truly loved a piece of technology since my first iPod, and for many of the same reasons. It allows me to carry the media that I love with me everywhere I go, in a form that makes it easier to organize and consume.
The iPod comparison is often made-- the press often refers to the Kindle as "the iPod for books". While in many was this is an apt comparison, in my experience there is definitely a point where the similarities stop.
The iPod succeeded in part because of the Compact Disc, and the ease with which CD's can be digitized. When combined with the emergence of the MP3 codec for digitizing music, it suddenly became possible to transfer your previous music purchases into this new format. This is not the case with books. There is no easy way of digitizing your book collection, and moving it onto a portable device. This is not a small problem, and it has hurt the uptake of ebook readers. Still, I think that the benefits of the Kindle outweigh this drawback.
So what's to love? There are a number of things, but primarily it's the screen. The e-ink screen is visable in any light, unlike the more traditional LCD screen. In bright sunlight, the screen is magnificent, crisp and clear, and very closely replicates the resolution of the traditional ink-on-paper. It took just a few hours for me to completely forget I was reading on a screen at all.
The wireless connectivity is what separates the Kindle from other readers like the Sony's device. The Kindle comes with an EVDO modem that connects to the cell phone network to access the Internet. The access is included in the cost of the Kindle…yes, you heard me correctly, you do not pay any monthly fees for wireless access. There is an experimental web browser, but it is very limited. The real key to the wireless access is that it gives you full access to the Amazon Kindle bookstore. Within minutes, you can be reading any of the 175,000 books available there. You click "buy", the book is purchased, and it shows up magically on your Kindle in less than 5 minutes. That is an amazing experience, and it opens the door to some seriously reckless book purchases.
The Kindle also has the ability to bookmark, take notes, search text, look up words, and access Wikipedia articles. All of those features are useful in their own way, and add value to the reading experience on a Kindle in ways that the physical book can't.
What are the other advantages of having an electronic reading device like the Kindle? The biggest advantage that I see right now is the almost obsecene number of free books being made available online. After all, you don't just have to buy from Amazon. The Kindle will read text files, html, and Mobipocket files, or Amazon will convert Word or PDF files for you for free.
For the sci-fi or fantasy reader, a Kindle will pay for itself in just a few months if you do nothing but grab all of the free ebooks from Baen and Tor, two leading publishers who have fully embraced the idea that giving away books means more sales. These two publishers have given away many, many dozens of books, and there are hundreds more from individual authors around the web. Cory Doctorow, for instance, gives away free electronic copies of all of his work on his website. When you combine these sources with the public domain books in Project Gutenberg and ManyBooks (Jules Verne, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jane Austen and H.P. Lovecraft, to name a few), you have more books than you could read in a lifetime.
In the 6 months that I've owned a Kindle, I have actually started to prefer it to reading physical books. I now check to see if a book I want is available for the Kindle before I'll think about buying it in paper, and in some cases I have purchased both the paper and the Kindle version (for example, I bought Anathem by Neal Stephenson in both formats...paper for my "Neal Stephenson First Edition" collection, and Kindle to actually read).
The Kindle has changed the way I look at, consume and enjoy reading. What more could you ask for? This is the future of reading, and whether the Kindle comes out the winner for the hearts and minds of the world's readers or not, it is a brave and significant first step.
During the past few months, I've explored various in carnations of the student-centered learning and technology commons. I'm pleased to see this trend in academic libraries gaining more and more ground. We visited the IU South Bend Commons last time, an example of a smaller university library thinking big and applying the same concepts and strategies for student space and making it work. On a wind swept, rainy day last April, I toured the inviting Information Commons at Loyola University, where community, collaboration and connectivity guided the student- centered space. And this summer while in Georgia, we visited the Georgia Tech Library Learning Commons that features spaces and technologies to enable all types of student, faculty and staff interaction.
There's one more stop - and sadly, I haven't visited this outstanding example of student space in person but via the photos shared on Flickr. So I emailed Stacey Greenwell, Head of the Information Commons (The Hub) at the University of Kentucky to find out more about the incredible spaces and help desk I'd seen on Flickr. She obliged with this detailed interview:
MS: What was the genesis of the Hub?
SG: In fall 2005, University of Kentucky Libraries Dean Carol Pitts Diedrichs assembled a group of interested parties from across campus to discuss the possibility of an information commons. The timing was right, with an increased focus on undergraduate education on campus and the desire to improve student success and increase the overall retention rate. While the William T Young Library is a very impressive building that opened in 1997, the basement was largely underutilized except for two large computer labs and the audio visual services desk. The key players in this potential information commons collaboration (IT and the Teaching and Academic Support Center, along with Libraries) were intrigued with the opportunity to redesign the basement of the library to create a high-energy, student-focused atmosphere that could serve as a one-stop shop for undergraduate information needs.
The group wrote a whitepaper further exploring the topic, and by December 2005, the group had secured instructional infrastructure improvement funding to begin the project. I was extremely interested in the project from the beginning, and at this point I became directly involved by serving as a member of the working group to plan the information commons. The group included library staff, IT staff, an IT librarian (myself), as well as an architect and an interior designer. We spent an entire year planning the project—researching the concept, conducting site visits, and soliciting opinions from students and others on campus. I was appointed on an interim basis to become the director (and ultimately accepted the permanent position earlier this year). We opened the UK Information Commons—the Hub—in March 2007.
MS: What were some of the key features you wanted to include and how did you come to those decisions?
SG: While we sought student input throughout the planning process, we were already aware of several features we knew we needed in the Hub. Since the Young Library opened in 1997, staff had been frequently asked about the lack of a Mac lab in the building, as well as the need for in-depth help with computer accounts, laptops, and software. Early in our planning process, we all agreed that IT offerings needed to be expanded in the Hub. IT already had an excellent Windows lab in the basement which included over 200 computers equipped with nearly every software application that students would need. IT created a Mac lab in an adjacent lab space, and the 24" iMacs in the new lab were extremely popular with students from day one. IT also supported staffing the Hub's central help desk with an IT customer service center staff member.
When the Hub opened in March 2007, IT staffed the central help desk 20 hours per week. The staff member could create accounts, reset passwords, answer general queries about software/campus systems, and assist with laptop problems, among other things. We kept careful statistics on what type of IT help was needed and when, and after our first year, we were able to show that IT support needed to be expanded. I'm delighted that we opened the fall 2008 semester with IT staffing Sun-Thu 1-10 pm and Fridays 1-5 pm. This effectively doubles the number of hours IT help is available in the Hub. In general, I feel that emphasizing the partnership aspect of the project was critical in getting the support and buy-in we needed to make the Hub the success it has become. A good portion of what was needed for the Hub had to be provided by IT, so it was essential that they become a key stakeholder in the project from the earliest planning stages. In addition to the Mac lab and the help desk staffing, we also needed a wireless internet upgrade and an upgrade which would allow cell phones to work in the basement. (Yes, that's right—at the Hub we actually installed infrastructure to make it easier for students to use cell phones. We actually encourage cell phone use. Truly the Hub is a No Shushing Zone.)
The key features of the Hub involve more than just technology, too.
MS: I'm looking at the photos you've shared - the shots of the library help desk are great - and I've used them in my talk "The Hyperlinked Library" for some time.
We wanted to create a library help desk in the center of the space, using a very non-traditional style of service desk to hopefully make students more comfortable approaching us. We also knew we had to get away from heavy, wooden, difficult-to-move furniture. It is beautiful furniture that truly makes our upstairs reading rooms grand, but it is not very conducive to collaborative, energetic, all-night study sessions. We also wanted to bring food into the library—while one of the nicest restaurants on campus is housed in the Young Library, patrons must go outside to visit the restaurant. This isn't feasible for late-night study sessions (or in bad weather!) so that's how Grub @ the Hub was born.
MS: What do you think is the next step for student-centered library space on college campuses? Where do we go from "The Hub?"
I keep coming back to this, but conversation and collaboration are essential for continued success. What do students and faculty need from library spaces--we have to keep asking questions and keep the conversation going with our clientele. We also have to continue building partnerships with other essential student services on campus, particularly IT. We're going to have to address students' increasing use of mobile devices and cloud-based applications, and with IT develop ways to meet these changing needs and provide support. One of the things we've just started looking at is virtualizing our labs-- basically students could come to our space with a mobile device and get temporary access on their device to the software they need. It is truly an exciting time to continue expanding the information commons!
Barbara Quint asked me to write a feature article on trends in reference work a while ago. It was published this week and it's on the main page at Searcher's website. I suggested 13-14 scenarios for what can happen in reference work for the future.
Here's the link to the Setpember 2008 issue:
Evolution to Revolution to Chaos?
Reference in Transition
Anyway, hope you like it.
Stephen
In August 2008 CLIR, the Council on Library and Information Resources, released No Brief Candle: Reconceiving Research Libraries for the 21st Century.
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub142/pub142.pdf (81 page PDF)
Abstract:
"This new title from CLIR, No Brief Candle: Reconceiving the Research Library
for the 21st Century, is composed of a series of provocative essays, the
proceedings of a lively and informed symposium earlier this year in
Washington, and a set of recommendations extrapolated from both. While
several of the subject headings are familiar—scholarly communication,
peer review, preservation of data, and e-science—the conclusions and
recommendations are not. The consensus derived from these efforts was
unambiguous in calling for more aggressive intervention to better structure
and manage the challenges we face.
This report demands change. Common themes include collaboration
between librarians, faculty, and information technology experts to articulate
strategies and tactical approaches to a rapidly changing environment. This
represents a broad research agenda that cannot be executed by a single
profession. We are asked collectively to rethink current hiring practices,
to provide for new career paths and opportunities for professional
development, and to consider redefining libraries as multi-institutional
entities. The latter entails a mandate to eliminate redundancy by calibrating
resources, staff, and infrastructure functions to the collective enterprise of
the federated institutions. This transcends the traditional concept of a library
(and by extension a university or college) while preserving the programmatic
strengths and mission of the individual schools, and in fact should enhance
intellectual productivity in a far more cost-effective fashion.
As the title of this report suggests, this is not a passing phase in higher
education. It is a transformational period that requires innovation and risk. I
sincerely hope this publication will engender further discussion, new ideas,
and collaborative efforts that respect our traditions while recognizing the
urgency for invigorated leadership and new direction."
The publication is a collection of papers from a meeting convened by CLIR of librarians, publishers, faculty members, and information technology specialists on February 27, 2008 .
Another one worth reading.
Stephen
Facesaerch is a new search engine that uses Google's image search to primarily display face images. So don't blame the bad results on Facesaerch - it's Google Image's weirdnesses. Access to the search results is done through a sliding bar at the bottom of the screen which scrolls you through all the different results. You can also access them through a little wheely thing that is harder to use. You can add a widget to your website with images from any search you choose. What I like about this is the face-specific search. At the reference desk I used to get lots of questions about photos of such-and-such celebrity or historical figure. A general search was OK, but usually required a lot more wading to get what I wanted. Yet another specialized search engine to add to your toolkit!
One final note: this is one of these cool technologies that has a pretty good chance of A) having come from (at some level) some type of government security research and B) affecting how internet filtering software works. Anything that can parse out a human body part is bound to be effective in "anti-naked-body" technologies.
P.S. Yes, Facesaerch is the right spelling.
found via Phil Bradley's weblog
20 Best Websites To Download Free EBooks on HongKiat.com. I found a few new-to-me sites on this list. Linking to sites like this from your library's website, from your eBooks pages, can help your users out a lot. A lot of times, especially with specialized computer books, your users can't find what they want in our collections. Knowing about and better yet linking to these collections can help users, which is what it's all about - right?
Many public library users come to the library wanting to learn a new language. Many of them expect to find textbooks and workbooks akin to what they learned with back in middle school. Most are unaware of the wonderful resources we have now like Ingles Sin Barreras (the intensely popular multimedia English learning set) or the many audio and video resources available to learn dozens of other languages. Most are also unaware of online language learning tools.
A free online resource to be aware of is the new language-learning social networking site Livemocha. Livemocha lets you choose a language to learn, progress through learning materials, practice speaking and writing with native speakers or others learning the language, and then give back by helping out other users trying to learn your own native language. Oh yes, and it's FREE. F-R-E-E. Nice! To learn more, check out their site walk-through. Two other similar services are iTalki and My Happy Planet, though neither one seems to have the user base or resources that Livemocha does.
A for-pay online resource that is available to libraries on a subscription basis is Mango Languages. Users create an account and get access to different levels of lessons. Lessons are presented in self-paced slideshow format: words and phrases being presented in text and audio simultaneously. You practice with yourself and can go over as many lessons as many times as you want. Individuals can also pay for a subscription for themselves if the library does not pay for it.
The Darien Library's new website and SOPAC 2.0 have been live for just over a week, during which time we staffers have had a chance to reflect on our wonderful new online presence. John Blyberg offers a thorough explanation of the technical details at his blog. The impact of SOPAC on the larger library world has been under exploration by much of the biblioblogosphere. Behind the scenes, it's been just as exciting.
The transition to a new website can be a major undertaking for any library. Even if your previous website is terrible, staff are used to it. Like a family trying to sell their house, librarians and webmasters don't see their own clutter, poor layouts or lousy artwork. However, like a new house, a new site is an opportunity to start fresh, to pick new paint and claim a new room to set up just the way you like.
All images created by John Blyberg for the new DarienLibrary.org
Our staff of active bloggers were undaunted by the prospect of a CMS-based site that would involve of lot of user and staff participation. Having lived through Moveable Type 3.0, we welcomed Drupal 6 like a box of popsicles in mid-July. Our blogs , however, remained old school (yes, blogging is old enough to have an old school iteration) and were separate from the site. The home page linked to the blogs regularly, but postings updated only the blogs, not the website.
The change to a CMS and SOPAC 2.0 has had a tremendous impact on our library, particularly on the area of the site devoted to children, which has blossomed in just two weeks. I spoke with our Head of Children's Services, Gretchen Hams, about the new site, writing on the web for children and virtual worlds.
KJS: You and your department have done such a wonderful job of creating content on the site. How is the web different for kids?
GH: Kids use the site in a very different way. Kids are searchers. They aren't going to look and browse. They want to search for their answers. There's a lot of research out there with kids using eye-tracking software: they don't read a page like adults do. They start in the middle and then they jump around and look for what's relevant to them. We tried to keep our categories and options as simple and as connected to their needs as possible. In the Kids section, we only have four categories. In the First Five section, there are more because it's really for the parents.
KJS: How does that work out in your interactions with children at the desk?
GH: I never use the staff interface to search when I'm working with children. On the new site, I can use keywords and string together words and I get much better results on the site than I do on the back end. We can use more nuance in our search on the site, we can even use parts of the call number- ER for Easy Reader, for example. When working with our patrons I can constantly teach informally with that experience. I'm not doing something only I can do, where I'm the expert and they can't get to the same information I can. I'm modeling how to do it, which is a big part of childhood development- modeling behaviors.
KJS: How about the staff's relationship with the web? Has that changed?
GH: When the blogs were a separate function of the old site, they were disconnected from our online presence. Blogging was doled out as a staff responsibility to one or two people. When we first started working in the staging site, I encouraged everyone to participate, which took some adjusting to for most of the department. There are a couple of staff members who discovered with the new website that they had a great voice and lots of really interesting things to share. Part of what makes any library staff strong is having varied experiences and bringing a wide range of voices to the table and sharing that range is a way to reach out to the community. Many of the staff are feeling invigorated with this new aspect of their jobs, especially part time staffers. I'm really happy to encourage it because it's so wonderful. This is just like when you are learning to play the piano and you have to practice. The more you do it, the better it gets. In the two weeks since we've been live, they're posting more and more and their posts are getting better and better.
KJS: I've been surprised by the difference between blogs and a Drupal-driven site. Even though it seems like they'd be similar for the staff--log in, write something, click publish--it's very different.
GH: Yes, we can respond immediately to things that are happening in our community. With any challenge we're facing--even a parent who can't find a certain type of book or something ordinary like that–we can respond immediately to help that person. Since we're posting online, we're helping those who aren't stopping to ask us about books they can't find or for homework help. The bonus of being able to respond immediately has a flip side: children's librarians are ALWAYS BUSY. This creates another obligation for us, but if we think about it in the right way- as another service point- it moves up the priority list.
KJS: What's at the top of your priority list now?
GH: I feel like we still have work to do--part of having this electronic conversation needs more work, particularly in the First Five section. That age is much more dynamic than we can do even with the site as it is. We need to add podcasts and videos of us doing rhymes and songs and stories. What's special about this site is that it will be US doing it. It's frustrating because we aren't there yet, but it's wonderful because we will be doing that. The reason it's so essential is that we have these tools is that for really small children, early literacy development is not just reading books to them. All of the motor skills and development are part of that and those don't just happen when the library is open. Parents can put books on hold after 9 pm, but what about that mom who has a fussy baby who's trying to get to sleep at 1am and she's trying to remember lullabies? She can go on the library's website and get them… we'll be able to provide 24 hour library service for this really bit part of our population. Children, especially small children don't have Monday- Friday 9-5 schedules.
KJS: So, what's next?
GH: One of the most popular websites kids use is Club Penguin. Kids will sit right next to each other and hang out on Club Penguin. They'll be communicating in both the physical and virtual space. Sites like Club Penguin and Webkinz are what kids expect to see online. They're fun but they're not made with a lot of mediocre clip art; they look good. We'd love to use this site to be able to create something similar where kids and families can communicate through the physical and virtual space under the umbrella of the library's mission and vision. So we're working towards message boards and forums for Darien families to communicate with each other. Why not have it come through the library website?
As part of the JISC funded Digitisation Programme a new system is being developed called EThOS which will enable researchers and higher education institutions to access and share theses online. In this podcast with Rebecca O'Brien from JISC, Kevin O'Leary, project manager of EThOS, shares how valuable this new system will be when it is fully launched later in the year.
Listen to the podcast
JISC EMBEDDED OBJECT
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Here's a great site to add to your "somebody has a weird question" resources list: List Universe. The site is self-described as "a site full of top 10 lists covering all manner of subjects." They publish lots of lists the site authors write themselves, but also lists that users have sent in. You'll find everything from the Top Ten Bizarre Beauty Products, to Top 10 Catastrophic Shipwrecks, to 15 Fascinating Facts About The Ancient Olympics (hmm, that's more than 10). They often pull lists about current events and hot topics, which makes it a useful place to find some good random facts for those dreaded hot topic essays.
LibraryThing now has over one million user-uploaded cover images. And they made those cover images (available in three sizes) available to any library, or anybody else, who wants to use them. There are limits (1,000 image retrievals per user per day) and you can't make them available in bulk to others. You can read the fine print yourself, but this is wonderful. LibraryThing fully admits in their post about the covers that Amazon's collection of covers is better, but LibraryThing's collection doesn't require a link-back to a for-profit entity. I can hear library staff around the world sighing in happiness. w00t.
A big thanks to The Krafty Librarian for pointing this sweet deal out: PBwiki's Back to School Challenge
provides librarians and educators with a free premium PBwiki account for one year ($250 value). Here's a link to the premium account features (if you're curious). The Challenge is noted as starting in mid-August, which is in a couple of days, but you can sign up now to be alerted when it's up.
In any case, if you think you could use PBwiki at you library for a part of your web presence (like a recommended books wiki, or a book club wiki, or a summer reading wiki) then take them up on their offer now and figure out how to use it later :)
And remember - a wiki is just a fancy way to say "a web presence that non-webbies can edit easily." Although inviting public participation would be lovely, ou don't have to do that. You could have it be a wiki that only library staff edit, thereby making it a simple extension of your web presence on which you can do stuff quickly and easily. Who wouldn't like that?
Jessamyn West points to some information from the BLT Blog about MBooks, a project from the University of Michigan dedicated in part to making Google Books accessible for anyone with visual impairments. There is an extra service available to UM students only (provision of full text material that is still in copyright). In the comments section of West's post, Jennifer Sutton pointed to thsi article from the Braile Monitor which is also relevant: "First Step in Adding Accessibility to Google Books: Was It Enough?" Very, very interesting - and something I would personally love to see done consistently by Google in a way that works for its users with various disabilities. Individual institutions are filling in the gaps currently, but it would be great to see this tackled on a larger scale.
EBSCO 2.0, the new interface and feature-rich interface to EBSCO products, launched last week. Having seen some demos myself, I must admit to being very impressed. It's easier to use than the old interface, doesn't look so "1995," and has some of the features users have been asking for for a long time. The Krafty Librarian has a review and the EBSCO site has some useful FAQs if you're looking for a tour or some basic information.
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