The Distant Librarian

New Journal Portal "Open J-Gate" Launches

Another story picked up from LISNews; the announcement of "the world's biggest Open Access English Language Journals Portal - Open J-Gate.  From the website, "Open J-Gate is the contribution of Informatics (India) Ltd to promote OAI. Open
J-Gate provides seamless access to millions of journal articles available
online. Open J-Gate is also a database of journal literature, indexed from 3000+
open access journals, with links to full text at Publisher sites." 

Initially I wasn't very impressed because the browse feature doesn't work in Firefox, but it does in IE, and the search feature works in both browsers.  I had thought the search feature was only going to search journal titles, but it's actually searching the full text of all the articles in the database, so this is an excellent resource for distance students, especially those studying at institutions that don't have large collections of online resources.  Looks like it supports some boolean searching.  Citations have clickable keywords within, and all components of the citation are in fact clickable (journal name and author).  Neat resource - check it out!


Technorati Tags: openaccess

What's wrong with this picture?

I was doing some collection development this AM and noticed something a little odd on the cover of the following book:  Integrating Print and Digital Resources in Library Collections.  It's actually two things wrong with the same part of the picture.  First correct comment wins, um, well hey, how about a copy of the book!  I have a review copy here at my desk...

Online Degree Study - Call for Participation

LISNews reports that Kathryn Kennedy at the University of Florida is seeking participants for a survey on "perceptions and prejudices of online degrees in the hiring process in academic libraries.  The papers that we have seen in publication about this subject have been broad, covering employment in academic libraries but also in public libraries and school media centers. In our study, we are narrowing the focus to include only academic libraries. We are surveying ARL Libraries and MLS/MLIS degree programs, and our survey solicits input from the following people:
1. Current Library Science students;
2. Recent graduates who found jobs;
3. Recent graduates searching for jobs; and
4. Employers and people who have participated on hiring committees for professional librarian positions.

If you're one of the above, please take the survey.

ALA Annual Meeting - Distance Learning Section meeting dates and times

Jack Fritts writes to the OffCamp listserve:

We are sticking to the same format as previously (with the new time limits 
factored in), so at Annual:

DLS Program                                     Saturday, 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
DLS All-Committees Meeting                      Sunday, 8:00 a.m. - Noon
DLS Executive Committee                         Sunday, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
DLS Discussion Group and Annual Meeting         Monday, 8:00 a.m. - Noon

Locations TBA

Co-browsing tools to try

These have been taking up space in a couple Firefox tabs all week, and I have yet to get around to trying them.  First up, theory.isthereason points to Vyew.com, a free, browser-based web meeting application.  They tout "Unique real-time photo charing, One-click screen & file sharing, Whiteboarding for all participants, No downloads, and Unlimited use."  On their registration page they admit they're still searching for a business model, but "if you sign up now, we will provide the registered user's features to you for free for at least two (2) years."  Registered users can meet with up to 20 participants, have 10 Megs of remote storage for meetings, Email invitations, User rights management, and Auto file conversion to something called VyewSlide.  This sounds like it might be a possible way to offer remote instruction to up to 20 students - definitely have to give it a try.

Second on my list is a Skype plugin called Unyte that was mentioned by Digital Inspiration.  Quoting from from the Unyte website, "WebDialogs Unyte™ is an easy-to-use, secure sharing plug-in that allows Skype users to seamlessly escalate a call or chat to a real-time collaboration. With Unyte, you can share documents, applications or even your entire desktop with anyone, anywhere, anytime."  Sounds like another winner.  Will probably start bugging some of you next week to try these out with me :-)



Technorati Tags: co-browsing

Webcast - Just-in-Time Tutorials using ViewletBuilder

The Partnership is a relatively new network of provincial and territorial library associations across Canada. One of the services they offer is a series of online webinars called The Education Institute, and one of the upcoming sessions will be of interest to distance librarians - Karen Hunt from the University of Winnipeg will be presenting a session on Tuesday, March 7 at 1PM Eastern called Just-in-Time Tutorials using ViewletBuilder.  There is a cost to register, but I know Karen and if you're looking for information about Qarbon ViewletBuilder this'll easily be worth the cost of admission.  Information about the session:

Create point-of-need tutorials quickly with ViewletBuilder and post them to your Web site. In a matter of minutes you can respond to questions and problems being asked through virtual and face-to-face reference services, from how to recall a book, requesting an interlibrary loan to limiting a search to scholarly articles published in the last 3 years! Viewlets show screens, typing and mouse movements with accompanying text and/or audio. Make the most of ViewletBuilder for on-line instruction, reusing, repurposing and sharing viewlet content. Find out how easy it is to build tutorials for a consortium and edit them to reflect local information.

Key Topics You Will Explore

• What is a Web based tutorial and when are they useful additions to your Web site?
• What are some tips and tricks to designing a good on-line tutorial?
• After you create a viewlet, how do you post it on-line?
• What topics make good viewlets?
• How quick can you build a tutorial with ViewletBuilder software?
• How could viewlets be shared and repurposed in a consortium

Technorati Tags: screencasting

Free Full Text

The Librarian in Black posted about an interesting resource called Free Full Text, which has a tagline of "A supplement to every library catalogue on the planet!"  Basically this is a non-searchable directory of "over 7,000 scholarly periodicals which allow some or all of their online content to be viewed by anyone..."  Here at the U of C, whenever an online publication is discovered that appears stable, an entry is added to the catalogue, which is were we suggest students (and staff) check to see if we have access to a title.  I can't see adding this site to my list of possible places to check for online access, but hey maybe a good summer project for someone to plow through to make sure we have all the appropriate links in our catalogue already!


Technorati Tags: fulltext

Olympic update - Curling rocks!

OK, time for a brief bout of edumacation from my adopted home (Canada).  Jonathan Coulton has released a song about Curling - it's quite catchy and I think you'll like it.  But you need to know more about curling to truly appreciate it.  First, you should rent Men with Brooms.  Or maybe first, cause it's just a click away, you could visit the CBC Olympics page about Curling.  Oh I know, you don't care about curling, but the movie's quite good (one of the highest-grossing Canadian films ever, I believe), and once you listen to Jonathan's song you're definately going to want to hear more, which fortunately you can!  I personally recommend A Laptop Like You and Ikea.  And Skullcrusher Mountain.  And for the true geek, Mandelbrot Set ;-)  Relevance to distance education: None.


Technorati Tags: curling, Coulton

TechSmith Astoria Project (beta)

TechSmith, makers of screencasting software Camtasia Studio, is looking for beta testers for a new product that appears to be geared towards remote usability testing, but I signed up for the beta 'cause I want to see how easy it is to use with remote library database users - might be a useful tool for co-browsing.  Might not; if I'm allowed to report back, I'll let you know.

HarperCollins online

Two months ago I posted about how HarperCollins was going to go it alone, scanning their own titles and making them available to search engines, but keeping the content themselves instead of having Google or Yahoo scan the books.  The first title in this experiment seems to have hit the web - The aptly titled, Go it alone! The Secret to building a successful business on your own, by Bruce Judson is now available online in its entirety, supported by ads running down the side of each page and a link to Amazon.com.  Some suspect that this is a flawed experiment, noting that with only a single book, the buzz that it's going to generate is likely to skew the results, though favorably, so I guess that's good for us distance folk.  The title is indeed reachable/searchable through Google and Yahoo, which pleases me.  I did find something odd in Google though - the third hit in this search appears to go to a scanned PDF of the title on the HarperCollins servers, but the link is dead.  Google's cache has it here though.  I wonder if the HTML on the author's site is just the first step?

I'm it

This is my first time being tagged with one of these memes. Whenever they go around I always wonder if I'll ever be tagged, but secretly dread the possibility, as to participate would lay bare my currently rather uneventful existence for all to see.  But hey, let's just go ahead anyway and see if you can figure out where my life ends, and where my kids' begin :-)   These are all in no particular order.

Four jobs I’ve had:
1) Purser on a fast passenger boat in Alaska
2) Laborer in a corrugated paper factory (you know, it's not called cardboard!)
3) Floor worker in the Zippo windproof lighter factory.
4) Tenant supervisor in a day home (aka halfway house) for men reintegrating into society after their stay at the State Hospital

Four movies I can (and do) watch over and over:
1) Raiders of the Lost Ark
2) Baby Einstein - World Animals
3) The Princess Bride
4) The Incredibles

Four places I’ve lived: (I can only pick 4?)
1) Missoula, MT
2) Bradford, PA
3) Hollywood, FL
4) Newport News, VA

Four TV shows I love:
1) Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
2) Scrubs
3) Boston Legal
4) Lost

Four places I’ve vacationed:
1) Florida Keys
2) Tunisia
3) Switzerland
4) Penticton, BC

Four of my favorite dishes:
1) Mom's Spaghetti Valhalla
2) Wife's Tomato Risotto
3) Breakfast
4) Any food that doesn't happen to have a messy 3-year old sitting across from it

Four sites I visit daily:
1) Google.ca
2) library.ucalgary.ca
3) Pretty much everything that's visited regularly is done so through my aggregator
4)

Four places I would rather be right now:
1) Somewhere where the short-term forecast didn't have snow and minus temperatures in it
2) Home with a good book
3) Hanging with friends
4) Any tropical beach

Four books (or series) I love:
1) Lonesome Dove
2) Most in the Carl Hiaasen series
3) So far, everything I've read by Terry Pratchett
4) Smila's Sense of Snow, except the last 50 pages or so.

Four video games I can (and do or did) play over and over:
1) PacMan
2) Halo
3) Online poker
4) Rescue Heroes save the world

Four bloggers I am tagging:
Sherri
D'Arcy
Helen
Amit

Meredith rolls another wiki - Computers in Libraries 2006

Meredith Farkas, who first appeared on many radar screens last year after starting up the first Unofficial ALA Conference Wiki, has produced another conference-related wiki, this time for Computers in Libraries, 2006, held in the DC area March 22-24.  She's investing just a little less of her soul in this one, opting for a PBWiki instead of a full-blown intall on her server.  If you have any tips or knowledge about CIL, please contribute!  (Note that you need to use a specific password to edit this one - "To edit the wiki you will need to enter the password cil2006.")


Technorati Tags: CIL2006

Librarian named as Director of Online Information Resources for Ask Jeeves

Gary Price, of SearchEngineWatch, ResourceShelf, and DocuTicker, has been named Director of Online Information Resources for Ask Jeeves!  You can read about his new duties, which include outreach to the library and education communities and product development.  Should be interesting to see what library-related/friendly stuff comes from Jeeves in the near future.  Good luck, Gary!

The Search

I've been home sick much of this week, and the only good thing to come of it is that I finally had enough time to finish John Battelle's book The Search, which is about web searching in general, but mostly about Google.  I quite enjoyed it; lots of interesting background on the evolution of search engines and AdWords.  Favourite librarian quote comes near the end on pg. 252: "In short, the search engine of the future isn't really a search engine as we know it.  It's more like an intelligent agent - or as Larry Page told me, a reference librarian with complete mastery of the entire corpus of human knowledge."

Thoughts on textbook use in distance education

Rebecca has a good post with lots of links and thoughts about whether textbooks are the best way to go in higher education.