The Distant Librarian

Canada Library Mail Rate update

Yes, I've been on vacation for the past two weeks - was actually completely offline for at least a week, which is the longest I've gone for 5 years - whew!  It really wasn't so bad  :-)

Here's some document delivery-related news from the Canadian Library Association - there's been some worry that we were going to lose our library book  rate in the near future, but now there's this:

On Friday, July 22, 2005 Minister of National Revenue John McCallum announced the Library Mail Rate would be extended past its scheduled March 31, 2006 expiry. This followed extensive media coverage on Canada Post’s decision to end the Rate. Canada Post had assured CLA that it would not act unilaterally to end the Program but there had been no guarantees of continuity.

CLA President Barbara Clubb is pleased with the Minister’s announcement but noted there are no details on what the Rate will be, how it will be set, nor how the Program will be funded. A series of postings are available on the CLA Web site:

• http://www.cla.ca/issues/lmr_update_july_22_2005_2.htm
• http://www.cla.ca/issues/lmr_update_july_22_2005.htm
• http://www.cla.ca/issues/lbr_update_july_20_2005.htm

Between July 19 and 22, CLA Executive Director Don Butcher did 18 interviews on the Book Rate and its impact on library users with local, regional and national media from coast-to-coast, including CBC Radio, the Globe and Mail, and the Canwest group of newspapers.

CLA and ASTED are continuing to work with Canada Post on the development of an online shipping tool for the Book Rate.

Narrowcasting 101: Using Blogs, Podcasts, and Videoblogs in Higher Education

No specific mention of libraries here, but interesting topics nonethless, and some that will likely impact distance education.

           Link: EDUCAUSE | EDUCAUSE Live! July 21, 2005.

A key element of the new Web is narrowcasting, which includes Weblogs, podcasts, and video blogs. Practices surrounding narrowcasting that use RSS feeds and aggregators to distribute increasingly rich amateur content are creeping onto our campuses. This session will explore several facets of narrowcasting and the new Web. What is narrowcasting? Where did it come from, and where is it going? How might narrowcasting fit into a campus e-portfolio or course management system? What are the implications of having increasingly media-rich (and resource-intensive) content on campus? How can we filter and focus all of this new content? Join us to explore the vibrant and rapidly evolving world of Weblogs, podcasts, and video blogging and their potential impact on teaching and learning.

Libraries that are IMing?

Sarah and Aaron would like your help identifying Libraries that are IMing.

There are two wiki lists of libraries offering virtual reference.

• LibSuccess's list of libraries using IM reference & Jybe


• LIS Wiki's list of libraries providing virtual reference services (including IM, web-based chat, Jybe, etc.)

Aaron at Walking Paper and I are trying to solicit more entries from libraries not on the lists who are offering IM reference services.  Please check out LibSuccess's list (our working master list) and if your library isn't listed and needs to be, or your library is on the list, but your software isn't listed, send Aaron an IM or e-mail, or leave a comment on his blog post.

[via LibrarianInBlack]

Free Public Domain and Copyrighted e-Books Online

Sam Vaknin offers a really nice roundup of places to find free eBooks online.  We've all seen some of these repositories, but a good number of them were new to me, and may be to you as well.  Check it out!

Link: FreePint Newsletter 186 - eBooks and Knowledge Management.

Library clips :: Document Delivery with Furl :: July :: 2005

Library Clips presents an interesting idea to use Furl to track document delivery requests.  In the end the idea is discarded, but I like the thought process. Link: Library clips :: Document Delivery with Furl :: July :: 2005.

Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning

The earlybird registration deadline for the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in Madison is fast approaching.  As per usual there's not much related directly to library support of distance education, but this is reported to be just an excellent conference for all things related to distance education.  Some more details:

21st Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning
August 3-5, 2005
Madison, Wisconsin

REGISTER BEFORE July 16 to receive the advance fee of $390!
After that date, the fee increases to $440!
For conference information and online registration, go to:

*** http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/ ****

Plan to join more than 1,000 colleagues from education and training at this year's event. Choose from more than 150 sessions, workshops, seminars, keynotes, course design showcases, and forums.

KEYNOTES: Diana Laurillard / Michael Schrage / John Bransford

Microsoft Live Meeting

Learning Circuits has a fairly extensive review of Microsoft Live Meeting, which appears to be another possible virtual reference solution.  Seemed to be a somewhat mixed review, and as usual, library use of this product looks like it'd take a little tweaking to squeeze it into our exact purpose, but if you're a Microsoft shop it might be worth a look.  Microsoft does offer a 14-day free trial of the product.

Integration of Breeze and Captivate Enables Easy Creation, Distribution, and Presentation of E-Learning Simulations for Virtual Classrooms

I was really excited when I first saw this on OLDaily, but it seems the big news is for those who have both Captivate and the full blown version of Breeze; my campus just has a mini-version it seems, so none of this new functionality is supported.  Regardless, there's an update to Captivate out there with the following features:

Macromedia Breeze Integration         

• Track score data via Breeze and access detailed reports
• Search Captivate Flash (SWF) and project (CP) files
• Control playback of Captivate content in Breeze Meeting

Product Enhancements         

• Increased stability for copy & paste actions
• Improved text entry box behavior
• Improved audio functionality

Link: Macromedia Extends Leadership in Interactive E-Learning.