The Distant Librarian

Open Sourcing the Wellcome Library

I've had this open in one of my tabs for weeks, and just haven't made the time to play with it further, but it's definitely worth checking out - so go do it!

The Wellcome Library ("We are one of the world's major resources for the study of medical history. We also offer a growing collection of material relating to contemporary medicine and biomedical science in society.") has made a wonderful tool, their 'digital asset player' and interactive timeline,  available as Open Source.

What does it feel like to interact with a digital version of a book? How can we replicate the experience of working with physical collections – on the web? What features will enhance a researcher’s experience of using digital collections? What if we could build tools with Wellcome Library in mind, but make any software we develop available to other libraries under an open source licence?

We asked these big questions, along with innumerable others, during the development of the Wellcome Library’s ‘digital asset player’ and interactive timeline.

Check out this timeline example:

 

Adobe backs down: We Didn’t Mean to Use DRM to Break Your eBook Readers

A quick follow up from yesterday's post, again from The Digital Reader, in which Adobe smartly reverses course and will not cause many loser devices to stop working with their DRM after all. Of course, DRM still sucks.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Adobe to Require New Epub DRM in July, Expects to Abandon Existing Users

Ooh, this doesn't sound good. The Digital Reader is reporting that come July, 2014, Adobe will be requiring vendors and hardware to support an updated version of their DRM (Digital Rights Management) solution. So what, you ask?

"This means that any app or device which still uses the older Adobe DRM will be cut off. Luckily for many users, that penalty probably will not affect readers who use Kobo or Google reading apps or devices; to the best of my knowledge neither uses the Adobe DRM internally. And of course Kindle and Apple customers won’t even notice, thanks to those companies’ wise decision to use their own DRM.

But everyone else just got screwed."

I wonder what this means for library platforms such as ebrary and Overdrive?

1001 Canadians - Pleasure Reading Survey

"The National Reading Campaign recently commissioned a study by Environics Research Group to gather benchmark data about the pleasure reading habits of Canadians. Based on a nationally representative sample of 1,001 Canadians, the survey results revealed a population of passionate readers still very engaged with traditional reading platforms, and a group of Canadians not reading for pleasure in any medium."

I was really surprised they didn't separate ebook and pbook use, but I guess for the purpose of this survey they only cared about "reading". I also didn't see any information on the site comparing the results of this survey to anything in the past...

You can read the news release here.

26% of book collections are now digital...

...at least according to the results of Wiley's 2013 Librarian Survey. They've created a couple of nice infographics to go along with their data, so go have a look.

Free ebook: The Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning program at the University of Alberta

The Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning program at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada) is pleased to announce the publication of a new free ebook: Becoming and Being: Reflections on Teacher-Librarianship, edited by Jennifer Branch-Mueller, Kandise Salerno, and Joanne de Groot.

Each chapter was written by 25 graduating (or soon to graduate) TLDL students as part of the final course in their MEd in Teacher-Librarianship. The book includes chapters on becoming a qualified teacher-librarian, space and place and the role of the teacher-librarian, teacher-librarians as instructional partners, the role of teacher-librarians as technology leaders and literacy leaders, school library collections, and the leadership role of the teacher-librarian.

There's also a companion website.

ERIC Restores Online Access to Full Text from 2005-2013

Well here's some good news!

ERIC Restores Online Access to Full Text from 2005-2013

 

Posted with Blogsy

2012 - my year in reading

In 2011 for the first time I started tracking the books I was reading, and in January of 2012 I posted about what and how I'd read during 2011. Here's my post for what and how I read in 2012.

In 2011 I tracked my reads in a basic text file in Evernote. That ended up being really short-sighted for metrics and such, so I started using Goodreads in 2012, and you can see my account there if you want to follow me or dive in more deeply to my reads. I'd hoped it would allow me to show more pretty graphs of my reads than it does, but in order to really match last year's categories I still have to do a little manual work.

2012 by the numbers

• Total number of books read: 43
• Average number of books read per month: 3.6
• Total number of pages: 13,707 
• Average number of pages per month: 1,142

I entered my 2011 reads in Goodreads as well so I could start to compare year over year, but things don't match up exactly because I didn't want to enter each separate volume of the two graphic novels I plowed through (Ex Machina and Y: The Last Man), but generally in 2012 I read more books, and more of them were ebooks. Didn't do the pages per month on a graph.

2013 is off to a pretty slow start as I was plowing through A Dance with Dragons. Best recommendation from 2012: the Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey.

Elsevier acquires Knovel

1.    What is the scope of the deal?
Elsevier has purchased Knovel in its entirety.  
2.    Were there multiple bidders?
Yes, there were several.
3.    Why did Knovel investors decide to sell to Elsevier?
Knovel was not looking to sell and was aggressively investing in its business. We were approached by several potential acquirers because of the market’s growth potential and Knovel’s leading position. This presented an attractive opportunity to partner and grow the business much faster and more aggressively than we would on our own. Knovel investors and management believe that the partnership with Elsevier would benefit our customers, investors and employees to the greatest extent vs. other potential partners.

Read the full FAQ.

Netspeed 2012 program announced

The program (pdf) for Netspeed 2012, to be held in Edmonton, AB, Oct 18-19, has just been released.

Information about this year's conference seems to be a little scattered, with the official page linking to an official blog, and no link (except in the email I got) to the registration site, which is currently the only place you can get the PDF program. :-/

Looks like ebooks is the unofficial theme this year...

Some thoughts on the Access Copyright - AUCC Model Licence

I honestly don't have anything new to add to this situation, but I wanted to throw together a few links for you to follow (legally even!) if you want to try and figure out what's going through the heads of the administrators at Canadian Universities that are planning to sign on with the Access Copyright - AUCC Model Licence. I can sure think of better places for a University to spend a large amount of money!

First, Michael Geist, as always, offers a clear and well-reasoned post: Why Universities Should Not Sign the Access Copyright - AUCC Model Licence.

Second, earlier today The Faculty Association of the University of Calgary (TUCFA) posted a link to a fascinating PDF in which CAUT, the Canadian Association of University Teachers, responds point by point to the University of Calgary's response to CAUT's concerns with the AUCC/Access Copyright model licence. 

Finally, earlier this month Ariel Katz, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, took a detailed look at how the recent decision in the Georgia State University copyright case is relevant here in Canada. He concludes that, "... American universities are much more willing to assert and defend their rights, while many Canadian ones, short-sighted, extremely risk-averse, and ill-advised, still cling to their habit of being dependent on Access Copyright."

Ouch, and spot on, IMHO!

Oh, and I notice Dr. Katz is also keeping a running list of members in the Canadian Hall of F/Sh/ame.

New Book: Screencasting for Libraries

Greg Notess, one of the first to see the possibilities of screencasting in libraries, has just announced that his new book, Screencasting for Libraries, part of the excellent ALA Tech Set series, has now been published. I had a chance to review this title a couple of months ago and found it an excellent guide for those getting started, and it also includes some good tools and suggestions for the seasoned screencaster. 

There's a companion website that provides a couple of useful tools, but I found the section where Greg covers chapter 5, Implementation, fascinating. In chapter 5 Greg walks you through 12 different projects, using several different approaches and tools. In the companion website, you can actually see the end result of each of those projects - a wonderful (and obvious, for this subject) was to complete the learning loop.

Go check it out!

Game Changers - new ebook from Educause

Educause has just released a new ebook called Game Changers: Education and Information Technologies, which you can download for free. I just ran a quick search through the 388-page PDF version and see that libraries are mentioned in a significant way about a half-dozen times, so you might find it worth your while to take a peek at least. Follow the link above to get to the table of contents as well; it's far too long to repost here! Here's the blurb from the site:

How can we reach more learners, more effectively, and with greater impact?

Education changes lives and societies, but can we sustain the current model? New models and new technologies allow us to rethink many of the premises of education—location and time, credits and credentials, knowledge creation and sharing.

Game Changers: Education and Information Technologies is a collection of chapters and case studies contributed by college and university presidents, provosts, faculty, and other stakeholders. Institutions are finding new ways of achieving higher education’s mission without being crippled by constraints or overpowered by greater expectations.

Find out who is changing the game and what we can learn from their different approaches in Game Changers.

11 tools for creating digital magazines

Can't remember how I came across this one, but over at NetMagazine you'll find a great post sharing 10 tools you can use to create professional-looking digital magazines, and most without any significant cost at all! Each entry lists the pros and cons of each tool, and links to a working example you can check out. The 11th tool in my title refers to the author's own startup, woop.ie, which is only a link at the end of the article.

 

After 244 years, Britannica announces it will discontinue its print version

As reported in the New York Times, "Encyclopaedia Britannica will focus primarily on its online encyclopedias and educational curriculum for schools. The last print version is the 32-volume 2010 edition, which weighs 129 pounds and includes new entries on global warming and the Human Genome Project."

It'll be interesting how this will change basic intro to research courses when "check an encyclopedia to get started" isn't actually an option...