New & Noteworthy

Citation

Hanson, H. and Stewart-Marshall, Z. (2014), "New & Noteworthy", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 31 No. 9. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-09-2014-0083

New & Noteworthy

Article Type: New & Noteworthy From: Library Hi Tech News, Volume 31, Issue 9

Library edition of the new media consortium horizon report is released

The New Media Consortium (NMC) in collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) Chur, the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB), Hannover and ETH-Bibliothek Zurich released the NMC Horizon Report > 2014 Library Edition at a special session of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions World Library and Information Congress 80th General Conference and Assembly. This is the first edition of the NMC Horizon Report that delves into the realm of academic and research libraries in a global context.

The report describes findings from the NMC Horizon Project, an ongoing research project designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on teaching, learning and creative inquiry. Six key trends, six significant challenges and six emerging technologies are identified across three adoption horizons over the next one to five years, giving library leaders and staff a valuable guide for strategic technology planning. The format of the report was designed to provide these leaders with more in-depth insight into how the trends and challenges are accelerating and impeding the adoption of technology, along with their implications for policy, leadership and practice.

Key trends: The report identifies “Increasing Focus on Research Data Management for Publications” and “Prioritization of Mobile Content and Delivery” as fast trends driving changes in academic and research libraries over the next one to two years. The “Evolving Nature of the Scholarly Record” and “Increasing Accessibility of Research Content” are mid-range trends expected to accelerate technology use in the next three to five years; and “Continual Progress in Technology, Standards, and Infrastructure” and the “Rise of New Forms of Multidisciplinary Research” are long-range trends that will be impacting libraries for five years and beyond. “The trends identified by the expert panel indicate that libraries are doing a better job at making their content and research accessible, whether through mobile apps, enriched catalogs, linking data, and user-friendly Web sites or by creating more spaces and opportunities for discovery”, notes Rudolf Mumenthaler, Professor for Library Science at HTW Chur and co-principal investigator for the report.

Significant challenges: A number of challenges are acknowledged for presenting barriers to the mainstream use of technology in academic and research libraries. “Embedding Academic and Research Libraries in the Curriculum” and “Rethinking the Roles and Skills of Librarians” are perceived as solvable challenges – those which we both understand and know how to solve. “Capturing and Archiving the Digital Outputs of Research as Collection Material” and “Competition from Alternative Avenues of Discovery” are considered difficult challenges, which are defined as well understood but with solutions that are elusive. Described as wicked challenges are “Embracing the Need for Radical Change” and “Maintaining Ongoing Integration, Interoperability, and Collaborative Projects”, which are complex to define, much less address.

Important developments in technology: Additionally, the report identifies “Electronic Publishing” and “Mobile Apps” as technologies expected to enter mainstream use in the first horizon of one year or less. “Bibliometrics and Citation Technologies” along with “Open Content” are seen in the second horizon of two to three years; “The Internet of Things” as well as “Semantic Web and Linked Data” are seen emerging in the third horizon of four to five years.

The subject matter in this report was identified through a qualitative research process designed and conducted by the NMC that engages an international body of experts in libraries, education, technology, research, business and other fields around a set of research questions designed to surface significant trends and challenges and to identify emerging technologies with a strong likelihood of adoption in academic and research libraries. The report details the areas in which these experts were in strong agreement.

The NMC Horizon Report > 2014 Library Edition is available online, free of charge and is released under a Creative Commons license to facilitate its widespread use, easy duplication and broad distribution.

Report (pdf format): http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2014-nmc-horizon-report-library-EN.pdf

Younger Americans and public libraries: new research report from pew

Younger Americans – those aged 16-29 years – especially fascinate researchers and organizations because of their advanced technology habits, their racial and ethnic diversity, their looser relationships to institutions such as political parties and organized religion and the ways in which their social attitudes differ from their elders.

A new report, Younger Americans and Public Libraries, pulls together several years of research into the role of libraries in the lives of Americans and their communities with a special focus on Millennials, a key stakeholder group affecting the future of communities, libraries, book publishers and media makers of all kinds, as well as the tone of the broader culture.

Following are some of the noteworthy insights from this research.

There are actually three different “generations” of younger Americans with distinct book reading habits, library usage patterns and attitudes about libraries. One “generation” is composed of high schoolers (aged 16-17 years); another is college-aged (aged 18-24 years), though many do not attend college; and a third generation is those aged 25-29 years.

Millennials’ lives are full of technology, but they are more likely than their elders to say that important information is not available on the Internet. Some 98 per cent of those under 30 use the Internet, and 90 per cent of those Internet users say they use social networking sites. Over three-quarters (77 per cent) of younger Americans have a smartphone, and many also have a tablet (38 per cent) or e-reader (24 per cent). Despite their embrace of technology, 62 per cent of Americans under age of 30 agree there is “a lot of useful, important information that is not available on the Internet”, compared with 53 per cent of older Americans who believe that. At the same time, 79 per cent of Millennials believe that people without Internet access are at a real disadvantage.

Millennials are quite similar to their elders when it comes to the amount of book reading they do, but young adults are more likely to have read a book in the past 12 months. Some 43 per cent report reading a book – in any format – on a daily basis, a rate similar to older adults. Overall, 88 per cent of Americans under 30 read a book in the past year, compared with 79 per cent of those aged 30 and older. Young adults have caught up to those in their 30s and 40s in e-reading, with 37 per cent of adults aged 18-29 years reporting that they have read an e-book in the past year.

The community and general media-use activities of younger adults are different from older adults. Those under 30 are more likely to attend sporting events or concerts than older adults. They are also more likely to listen to music, the radio or a podcast in some format on a daily or near-daily basis, and socialize with friends or family daily. Older adults, in turn, are more likely to visit museums or galleries, watch television or movies or read the news on a daily basis.

As a group, Millennials are as likely as older adults to have used a library in the past 12 months, and more likely to have used a library Web site. Among those aged 16-29 years, 50 per cent reported having used a library or bookmobile in the course of the past year in a September 2013 survey. Some 47 per cent of those aged 30 years and older had done so. Some 36 per cent of younger Americans used a library Web site in that time frame, compared with 28 per cent of those aged 30 years and older. Despite their relatively high use of libraries, younger Americans are among the least likely to say that libraries are important. Some 19 per cent of those under age of 30 say their library’s closing would have a major impact on them and their family, compared with 32 per cent of older adults, and 51 per cent of younger Americans say it would have a major impact on their community, compared with 67 per cent of those aged 30 years and older.

As with the general population, most younger Americans know where their local library is, but many say they are unfamiliar with all the services it may offer: 36 per cent of Millennials say they know little or nothing about the local library’s services, compared with 29 per cent of those aged 30 years and older. At the same time, most younger Americans feel they can easily navigate their local library, and the vast majority would describe libraries as warm, welcoming places, though younger patrons are less likely to rate libraries’ physical conditions highly.

While previous reports from Pew Research have focused on younger Americans’ e-reading habits and library usage, this report will explore in their attitudes toward public libraries in greater detail, as well as the extent to which they value libraries’ roles in their communities. To better understand the context of younger Americans’ engagement with libraries, this report will also explore their broader attitudes about technology and the role of libraries in the digital age.

Read/download the full report: http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2014/09/PI_YoungerAmericansandLibraries_091014.pdf

Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to OCLC continues support for the Health Happens in Libraries program

In July 2013, OCLC received an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant to increase libraries’ ability to respond to customer health information needs, launching the “Health Happens in Libraries” program. In September 2014, IMLS announced it was supporting an expansion of that effort with a $199,050 grant to OCLC. OCLC and its partner, ZeroDivide, will develop additional resources for individual libraries to highlight ways they can lead or support health initiatives.

A recent IMLS study showed that an estimated 37 per cent of library computer users – 28 million people – use library computers and seek assistance from librarians for health and wellness issues, including learning about medical conditions, finding health care providers, and assessing health insurance options, said IMLS Director Susan H. Hildreth. This grant will enable OCLC to explore some new directions for their work, which has already helped so many people make more informed decisions about their healthcare.

As a part of “Health Happens in Libraries”, OCLC provided a variety of Affordable Care Act-related resources and training for library staff through WebJunction, the flagship public library program, and created a Web site that served as a base for a community of best practice for interested librarians. An evaluation of the project found that the activities increased library staff awareness, bolstered confidence in librarians’ ability to respond to customers’ questions, increased levels of preparedness and enhanced libraries’ existing community partnerships. With the new funding, OCLC will magnify the role of public libraries as key contributors to community health efforts, especially to reach individuals who have limited access to reliable health information.

The project also will help library staff form community partnerships to increase health-related access and services. Specifically, OCLC will create guides, or “health competency pathways”, to help library staff advance health topic areas within their local communities; provide targeted support for individual public libraries to help them build relationships with local health-related organizations; promote engagement models by sharing print and multi-media case studies; and create communications tools including an infographic, audio and video interviews and a communications guide to share relevant health information with public libraries nationwide.

Health happens in libraries program: http://webjunction.org/explore-topics/ehealth.html

IMLS awards grants for 51 library projects

In September 2014, the IMLS announced grants for 51 library projects, totaling $9,291,441, that will advance library and archives practice by addressing challenges in the field and by testing and evaluating innovations. The projects were selected from 212 applications through the IMLS National Leadership Grants for Libraries (NLG) and Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries programs, requesting more than $14.6 million and matched with $7,154,135 in non-federal funds. This announcement includes three grants through the Laura Bush 21st Century Library Program, which total $647,821.

NLG support projects that address challenges faced by the library and archive fields. Grantees generate results such as new tools, research findings, models, services, practices or alliances that can be widely used, adapted, scaled or replicated to extend the benefits of federal investment.

Grantee projects address a variety of topics of importance for libraries and archives, and include:

A grant of $489,115 to the University of Michigan for copyright determinations work for the Copyright Review Management System. In addition to developing a toolkit for use by libraries worldwide, the project will work with HathiTrust and its partners to sustain the copyright determination process.

A grant of $249,263 to Arizona State University to help public libraries support entrepreneurs and economic development. Through the Alexandria Co-Working Network the grantee will provide public programming about technical and software skills and training for library staff about programming and partnerships.

A grant of $250,000 to the Educopia Institute, the MetaArchive Cooperative and their university partners to address a national need for preserving and making available supplemental research data and complex digital objects that accompany Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) submissions. Their project will create guidance briefs, a curation workbench and a workshop series to train ETD stakeholders.

A grant of $499,967 to the New York City Department of Education to build a digital gateway for students and teachers for science, technology, education and mathematics (STEM) resources and instructional content and programs about environmental science.

A grant of $500,000 to Portland State University and the Multnomah County Library to study library practices, programs and services for adults with low literacy skills.

Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries are small grants that support the deployment, testing and evaluation of promising and groundbreaking new tools, products, services or organizational practices of libraries and archives. The grants awarded include:

A grant of $24,983 to Cañada College and its public library and county education partners for workshops, online tutorials and one-on-one support to help early childhood education students increase their understanding of STEM (science, technology, education and mathematics).

A grant of $25,000 to Michigan State University to create a Web interface prototype to promote understanding of Ojibwe and Cherokee language manuscripts and key linguistic features of those languages.

A grant of $23,544 to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Digital Project Unit and its YMCA partner to provide hands-on archival training to at-risk youth in a project to catalog and digitally preserve historic community materials, including from local African American neighborhoods.

For a complete list of the recipients, see: http://www.imls.gov/news/2014_ols_nlg_and_sparks_annoucement.aspx

For more information about IMLS grant programs: http://www.imls.gov/applicants/available_grants.aspx

IMLS Web site: http://www.imls.gov/

Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure accessibility project seeks co-developers, advisors to build special system for libraries

Jim Tobias, Inclusive Technologies, recently issued an invitation to libraries and librarians to participate in the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) accessibility project. In simple terms, GPII is a cloud-based accessibility system that lets users create personal profiles of how they want computers to look and work; those preferences can then be implemented on any computer the person encounters.

Over the next 4 years GPII is building a special system for libraries called the Library GPII system, or LGS. As Tobias’s message explains:

LGS will allow your patrons to access your tools and resources through their favorite interface, without any additional setup or investment on your part.

We’d like your help in making sure that LGS meets the needs of library staff and patrons. We need expert feedback and advice from the library community, especially those who understand accessibility and work every day to implement it in their organizations.

There are two ways your library can participate:

Co-developer: As co-developers, you’ll have access to up-to-date LGS hardware and software, and an early look at new features and tools. You’ll participate in design reviews and Webinars to help plan a new generation of accessible technology. You’ll demonstrate LGS to patrons with disabilities and others, and collect feedback we’ll use to improve the design.

Some co-developers will participate in pilot testing of LGS; those libraries will receive up to 5 computers (tablets in later years), an on-site training event you can open to the public, and support for any additional staff time and resources. You’ll be a part of GPII’s global network of accessibility and technology leaders.

Advisor: We want as many libraries as possible to participate in our design reviews and dialogue. Advisors will be able to demonstrate LGS features on their own computers, and will have access to GPII-rich media for meetings and presentations. You’ll be exchanging information on library technology and accessibility trends with a global community. We’re open to having Advisors become Co-developers at different phases of the LGS project.

For more information about this invitation, write to: mailto:Libraries@raisingthefloor.org

For more background information, visit: http://gpii.net

Clearinghouse for the Open Research of the USA to work with US department of energy to advance access to research

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced in August that it will be collaborating with the Clearinghouse for the Open Research of the USA (CHORUS) as a component of its model for providing public access to peer-reviewed articles that report on DOE-funded research. CHORUS is a collaborative service developed by the not-for-profit organization CHOR, Inc. to provide easy public access to scholarly works.

“Powered by the robust infrastructure of the international scholarly publishing community, CHORUS offers the tools and services needed to efficiently and effectively support the implementation of DOE’S public access plan,” said Howard Ratner, executive director of CHOR, Inc. “We look forward to working with DOE to enable free public access to the wealth of peer-reviewed articles resulting from DOE-funded research.”

CHORUS is an information bridge, linking the public to freely accessible journal articles that report on federally funded research directly on publisher platforms, where the articles can be read and preserved in their scholarly context. CHORUS provides five core functions for the public, funding agencies and research enterprise: identification, discovery, access, preservation and compliance. Its open technology platform leverages publishers’ existing infrastructure, avoids duplication of effort, minimizes cost to the government, taxpayer and grantee institutions and ensures the continued availability of the research literature.

Since the launch of its pilot program in Fall 2013, CHORUS has quickly garnered the support of the scholarly communications community, gaining endorsements from more than 100 publishers and organizations in less than six months. It was fully launched into production on July 31, 2014.

The collaboration between DOE and CHORUS is built on a long history of engagement between the scholarly communication community and DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information. In 2011, publishers worked with DOE to link research reports to scholarly publications hosted on publisher platforms. DOE also played a central role in the 2013 launch of an innovative public – private collaboration – FundRef – that identifies the funding sources for all research publications. Using the CrossRef system, the FundRef service provides essential data for operating CHORUS and any public access service. (http://www.crossref.org/fundref/)

Many of the scholarly publishers participating in the CHORUS pilot program worked with DOE over the last year in the development of its new public access portal – the DOE Public Access Gateway for Energy & Science, or “DOE PAGES”, project. DOE PAGES uses CHORUS to complement this content stream by providing access to scholarly publications that report on DOE-funded research on the publisher’s platform, where they can be read in context and preserved for the long-term integrity of the scholarly record.

“The DOE is pleased to collaborate with CHORUS on our implementation of public access to scholarly publications resulting from DOE-funded research”, said Jeffrey Salmon, deputy director for resource management in DOE’s Office of Science. “By engaging the broad participation of publishers through CHORUS and our existing infrastructure for gathering research papers, our goal is to provide the public access to the best available version of a journal article.”

“We had numerous working sessions with DOE and its stakeholders leading up to this announcement”, Ratner added, “and we welcome continued discussions with other agencies to see how CHORUS can serve their needs. CHORUS seeks to provide services that take into account the interests of all stakeholders, and we will continue to develop a system that does so”.

For more information about CHORUS, see the FAQs: http://chorusaccess.org/faq/

CHORUS home page: http://chorusaccess.org/

Open Research and Contributor ID and PlumX™ services integrate to maximize information available about scholarly activities

Researchers can now easily connect with their scholarly activities and contribution while also tracking the metrics from their work by using the combination of Open Research and Contributor ID (ORCID) and PlumX™, from Plum™ Analytics, an EBSCO company. The integration of the two services allows all of the metrics from the public work associated with a particular ORCID identifier to be collected when the identifier is added to a PlumX profile.

ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-driven effort to create and maintain a registry of unique and persistent researcher identifiers. ORCID works with the community to embed these identifiers in research workflows and systems to connect researchers with their scholarly activities and contributions. It allows researchers to distinguish their research activities from those of others with similar names by creating a unique ORCID record.

Similarly, researchers can create PlumX profiles to track information on how their research output is being utilized, interacted with and talked about around the world. The impact dashboard delivers a more complete picture of research and answers questions about research impact by gathering “altmetrics” or “alternative metrics” which are metrics around artifacts such as articles, clinical trials, blog posts, grants, books, theses/dissertations, Web pages and more. The altmetrics are then categorized into usage, captures, mentions, social media and citations.

Plum Analytics President Andrea Michalek says the integration of ORCID and PlumX profiles makes it simple to track the work of researchers at a particular institution. “PlumX uses the ORCID application programming interface (API) to retrieve the list of the researcher’s public works that have already been established in ORCID and then the information is used to create a PlumX profile. This allows researchers and institutions to access the metrics associated with those works through PlumX.”

Executive Director of ORCID Laure Haak says working with PlumX will provide more information to researchers. “ORCID addresses a problem shared by individuals and organizations across the research community: reliably connecting a researcher with their research, by embedding persistent identifiers into key research workflows. PlumX consumes ORCID-tagged data and provides a presentation layer that researchers can use to see who is using and talking about their research.”

In the future, Plum Analytics will be working with ORCID to create PlumX profiles for every ORCID profile, so when an institution becomes a PlumX customer, its researcher profiles that exist in ORCID will already be established. Plum Analytics is the only company synthesizing metrics data for custom analysis for each organization and for publishers and presenting the metrics in a variety of ways including data visualizations, dashboards and widgets.

For more information about PlumX and plum analytics, visit: http://www.plumanalytics.com

ORCID: http://orcid.org

Libhub initiative: increasing visibility of library resources across the Web

As a founding sponsor, Zepheira’s introduction of the Libhub Initiative creates an industry-wide focus on the collective visibility of libraries and their resources on the Web. Libraries and memory organizations have rich content and resources that the Web can not see or use. The Libhub Initiative aims to find common ground for libraries, providers and partners to publish and use data with non-proprietary, Web standards. Libraries can then communicate in a way Web applications understand and Web users can see through the use of enabling technology like Linked Data and shared vocabularies such as schema.org and BIBFRAME. The Libhub Initiative uniquely prioritizes the linking of these newly exposed library resources to each other and to other resources across the Web, a critical requirement of increased Web visibility.

Vailey Oehlke, Director of Libraries for Multnomah County Library, president-elect of the Public Library Association, and an early Libhub Initiative supporter stated, “Libraries have long been the greatest free source of information in this country. However, as people increasingly turn to Google and others for their information needs, we see that role diminishing. In part that is because our data is largely dark to the Internet, held in proprietary catalog systems that create barriers to discovery. The Libhub Initiative offers the possibility of making library holdings discoverable directly through search engines. That’s an important step forward for libraries, and for our patrons’ ability to readily find quality, curated information.”

In 2012, the US Library of Congress selected Zepheira to architect BIBFRAME, a new, Web-friendly linked data format for library information, which will replace MARC, the 40-year old, technically limiting data format. Upon completion of the foundational BIBFRAME work, Zepheira moved to establish the Libhub Initiative leading the investment, providing systems infrastructure and building initial transformation tools and other resources to begin the process of creating Web-ready library data from legacy systems.

“We have only just begun and long term success will require active engagement from both libraries and partners. Based on the Libhub Initiative’s common industry goal of increased visibility, we look forward to active collaboration with and support from library services providers,” said Eric Miller, President of Zepheira. “Collaborative community participation will give this Initiative the greatest likelihood of meaningful impact. The Web really showcases that we are stronger together than we are apart.”

At the Libhub Initiative Web site, individuals and libraries can show their support of the Initiatives’ goal of visibility of our cultural institutions. Organizations and providers can also learn more about how they can get involved as a partner or sponsor through the Libhub.org site.

Libhub initiative Web site: http://www.libhub.org/

Zepheira: http://zepheira.com/

Lehigh university, University of Chicago launch first implementations of Kuali Open Library Environment

In August, Lehigh University launched the Kuali Open Library Environment (OLE), becoming the first university in the nation to implement the open source, community-based library management system. Soon thereafter, The University of Chicago Library announced the launch of its implementation of Kuali OLE, together with a new Catalog based on VuFind.

Kuali OLE software was created through a partnership of the Mellon Foundation and ten of the nation’s leading university libraries who brought their respective library professionals together to build a “best practices” integrated library system, designed by higher education librarians for higher education libraries.

An open source, community-based library management system, Kuali OLE was created by a partnership of some of the nation’s leading university libraries, including Lehigh University, Indiana University, the University of Chicago, The Bloomsbury Colleges – University of London, Duke University, North Carolina State University, University of Florida Partnership, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania and Villanova University.

Kuali OLE replaces Lehigh’s current library management system with a next generation open source, open architecture system. The system will provide all the traditional library services expected as well as provide libraries with new enhanced ways to manage electronic resources from electronic books to digital born resources to streaming videos to cloud services – all at a fraction of the cost of purchasing these systems from proprietary software vendors.

“One of our major objectives in joining the OLE project was to get Lehigh’s professional library staff working with our partners in taking an active role in designing software which improves the overall efficiencies and effectiveness of the libraries, something incredibly complicated considering the exponential growth in e-resources and the migration of print to distributed electronic-based media”, said Bruce Taggart, Vice Provost, Library & Technology Services at Lehigh, and a Kuali board member. “In the past several years we’ve looked to replace our library system on a couple of occasions and we found no proprietary vendor software which met our needs. Designing and building the system from scratch with our partner institutions has made Lehigh rethink the entire workflow and operations of our libraries.”

University of Chicago Library staff members have played an integral role in the development of Kuali OLE since the design phase in 2008 and continue to do so by developing specifications, participating in software development, undertaking migration planning, providing subject specialist expertise and testing new development. They hold several key leadership positions on the Kuali OLE team, and dozens more are participating in working groups supporting development activities.

“We are especially pleased that by implementing Kuali OLE and VuFind we will be providing both a business system and a patron access module that are open source—planned, designed, governed and owned by the library community,” said James Mouw, Associate University Librarian for Collections Services at University of Chicago and Treasurer of the Kuali OLE Board. “Community ownership of key library systems affords us the ability to manage, develop, and enhance our infrastructure as new technologies emerge and the needs of our scholarly community evolve.”

Kuali OLE: https://www.kuali.org/ole

ByWater solutions partner libraries bring features to Koha 3.14

ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and provider of Koha support, has upgraded their partner library systems to Koha 3.14. Koha 3.14 introduced 13 completely new features, 161 enhancements to existing features and 471 fixes. Sixteen of ByWater’s Koha partner libraries sponsored developments in this release.

Among the contributions and the libraries sponsoring them:

a new course reserves module sponsored by Brooklyn Law School Library;

the ability to create lists of patrons sponsored by MassCat;

the ability to choose if the system forgives fines on returned lost items sponsored by Corpus Christi Public Libraries;

the ability to overlay item records during batch imports for preprocessed item records sponsored by Los Gatos Public Library;

a new tool to allow for batch renewals by barcode sponsored by the Northeast Kansas Library System; and

direct integration with OverDrive to show search results and real-time availability in the public catalog sponsored by Roseville Public Library, Wiggin Memorial Library, Lopez Island Library, Los Gatos Public Library, Arcadia Public Library, Chinook Library Network, Texas Library Consortium and Waterford Township Public Library

In addition to the partner sponsored developments, Koha 3.14 includes:

A new default theme, “Bootstrap”, for the public catalog interface. The Bootstrap theme provides a responsive design that works well both for desktop Web browsers and mobile devices.

A new offline circulation module that is entirely browser-based.

A revamp of the serials predication system which allows for significantly more flexibility in managing patterns.

The ability to search for items to check out by keyword rather than barcode.

The ability to define rules (called MARC modification templates) for batch-modifying MARC records during import.

Numerous acquisitions workflow improvements, including the ability to move orders from one vendor to another, search acquisitions history, merge duplicate invoices and get warnings if a new order would over-commit a fund.

Cataloging improvements including the ability to import authority record via Z39.50, the ability to merge authority records, and the ability to save and continue editing bib records.

Support for schema.org microdata in the online public access catalog (OPAC) to increase the visibility of the library catalog to search engines.

Koha is the first open source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha’s feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships and more. Koha’s OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies – XHTML, cascading style sheets (CSS) and Javascript – making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open source General Public License.

With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, support options and development of the enterprise class open source library system, Koha. Offering a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them. ByWater Solutions pledges to share 100 per cent of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS.

For more information about ByWater solutions, visit: http://www.bywatersolutions.com

For more information about koha, visit: http://koha-community.org

Sirsi/Dynix partners with VISA on library/PrePaid debit cards

SirsiDynix has announced the launch of the “I Love My Library” card, a fully functional library card that doubles as a Visa prepaid debit card. Designed to benefit both libraries and their patrons, the card was created by SirsiDynix in partnership with Visa and Card Limited. Illinois’ Lansing Public Library and Mississippi’s Lamar County Library System launched the card on August 15, with Maryland’s Frederick County Public Libraries most recently launching the card on September 5, 2014.

“We’re thrilled about the potential of the Library Visa Card,” said Eric Keith, SirsiDynix VP of Marketing and Strategic Alliances. “Libraries play crucial roles in the education of their communities and the I Love My Library card presents an ideal opportunity for libraries to promote financial literacy in a meaningful way. Without access to credit or debit cards, a considerable segment of our population is unable to fully participate in our economy. We’ve worked hard to make these cards low cost, low fee, and safe for any library patron to use. We’re excited to offer a solution that financially benefits both libraries and their users.”

The I Love My Library card is designed to foster financial responsibility from library to patron, parent to child and business to business. The card acts as a library card until a cardholder decides to activate it as an FDIC-insured, fully functional VISA prepaid debit card. A one-time activation fee, monthly fee and other fees for things like cash withdrawal and PIN purchases do apply. Libraries receive funds for every card registered and used.

Frederick county public libraries prepaid debit card FAQ:

http://www.fcpl.org/library-services/i-love-my-library-visa-prepaid-cards

I Love My Library Debit Card Website: http://www.ilovemylibrarycard.com/

Ingram and ProQuest expand ebook collaboration

Ingram Content Group Inc., and ProQuest LLC announced in September 2014 an expanded e-book collaboration. Earlier in the year, the companies teamed to make titles from Ebook Library (EBL) available through Ingram’s OASIS® content platform. Ingram has now added ebrary’s vast range of titles, integrating all ProQuest e-book titles within the platform, simplifying acquisition for the companies’ shared customers. In addition to adding titles to the OASIS platform for firm orders, EBL has also been integrated with Ingram’s e-book approval plans and Demand-Driven Acquisition services.

Libraries using Ingram’s OASIS platform can now search and purchase both EBL and ebrary e-book content through OASIS. Users can view and select from 600,000+ EBL and ebrary e-book titles from more than 1,000 publishers that serve the unique research needs of students, scholars, professionals and other information seekers, alongside existing e-books and print books on the platform, with no changes to existing preferred workflows. Billing is consolidated, offering libraries integrated acquisition services and invoicing for all ProQuest e-book content.

Ingram recently announced that it will be integrating its OASIS® platform with its ipage® search and order content management tool in the fourth quarter of 2014, and will transition customers to the integrated platform in phases through mid-2015. All the features and benefits of OASIS will be integrated with Ingram’s comprehensive ipage platform, giving libraries enhanced tools to efficiently manage content. EBL and ebrary content will continue to be supported in the combined OASIS platform.

More information on the OASIS platform: http://www.ingramcontent.com/pages/oasis.aspx

OpenStax college receives $9.5 million, will add ten new free online textbooks

Rice University-based publisher OpenStax College announced in August it has received $9.5 million in philanthropic grants from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF), Rice alumni John and Ann Doerr and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to add ten titles to its catalog of free, high-quality textbooks for the nation’s most-attended college courses by 2017.

OpenStax College uses philanthropic gifts to produce high-quality, peer-reviewed textbooks that are free online and low-cost in print. Its first seven books have already saved students more than $13 million. The books have been downloaded more than 650,000 times and have been adopted for use in nearly 900 courses at community colleges, four-year colleges, universities and high schools. OpenStax College has four titles in production for next year and plans to expand its library to 21 titles by 2017. The additional funding will allow the non-profit publisher to develop textbooks for additional high-enrollment courses, including several science and mathematics courses.

“Our books are opening access to higher education for students who couldn’t otherwise afford it,” said Rice Professor Richard Baraniuk, founder and director of OpenStax College. “We’ve already saved students millions of dollars, and thanks to the generosity of our philanthropic partners, we hope to save students more than $500 million by 2020.”

The new gifts mark the latest chapter from three longtime supporters of Rice’s open educational resources (OER) efforts. “Rice takes pride in being a leader in using technology in new ways to broaden access to education”, Rice University President David Leebron said. “We’re very grateful to the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, John and Ann Doerr, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for enabling OpenStax College to provide a library of more than 20 free high-quality titles to college and university students and faculty around the world.”

LJAF’s $6 million grant brings its total contribution to OpenStax to more than $18 million. The $3 million grant from Rice engineering school alumni John and Ann Doerr continues more than a decade of their support for Rice’s educational efforts. The Hewlett Foundation’s $500,000 contribution – its 14th OER grant to Rice in 12 years – brings its total support for Rice OER to nearly $11 million.

OpenStax’s other philanthropic supporters include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the 20 Million Minds Foundation, the Maxfield Foundation, the Calvin K. Kazanjian Foundation and the Leon Lowenstein Foundation.

Earlier in August, OpenStax announced its first project for K-12 education, a $9 million effort to develop free, digital textbooks capable of delivering personalized lessons to high school students.

For more information, visit: http://openstaxcollege.org

Presentations and videos from the 2014 ETD symposium available

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations’ 17th International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD 2014) took place from July 23 to July 25, 2014 at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. ETD 2014 explored topics such as data mining, eTheses and research data, researcher identifiers, metrics and evaluation of eTheses services. Keynote speakers included: Keith Schurer, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Leicester and Peter Murray-Rust, University of Cambridge.

Copies of most presentations and videos of the plenary sessions are freely available for viewing. The digital record of the conference was sponsored by the British Library.

ETD 2014 Presentations: http://www2.le.ac.uk/library/etd2014/programme

New OCLC research report in demystifying born digital reports series

A recent report from OCLC Research, Agreement Elements for Outsourcing Transfer of Born Digital Content, suggests the elements that should be considered when constructing an outsourcing agreement for transferring born digital content from a physical medium, while encouraging adherence to both archival principles and technical requirements.

This includes:

data protection, ownership, security and privacy issues;

technical safeguards;

processing approach (disk imaging or file copying and any additional manipulation of files);

exception handling; and

requirements for documentation.

If these aspects are considered and agreed upon in advance by the client and the service provider, the project will proceed as smoothly as possible.

Written by Ricky Erway, Ben Goldman and Matthew McKinley, this report will be of interest to those seeking help from an outside entity (whether a commercial service provider or another cultural heritage organization) with transferring content from physical media.

Agreement Elements for Outsourcing Transfer of Born Digital Content is the latest publication in the OCLC Research series of born-digital reports that aims to provide research libraries and archives with a basic roadmap for launching a born-digital management program that can be scaled up over time.

Other reports in the series include:

You’ve Got to Walk Before You Can Run: First Steps for Managing Born-Digital Content Received on Physical Media, which simplifies the processes of inventorying born-digital materials and copying them from old media to a form that can be managed into the future.

Walk This Way: Detailed Steps for Transferring Born-Digital Content from Media You Can Read In-house, which provides more thorough guidance and tips on approaches, tools and other resources.

Swatting the Long Tail of Digital Media: A Call for Collaboration, which addresses transferring content from media that cannot be read in-house.

Download the report (pdf format): http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2012/2012-06r.html%23agreement

Demystifying born digital report series: http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2012/2012-06r.html

Georgia state releases Library Instruction Recorder plug-in as open source

As part of its commitment to the free culture movement, Georgia State University Library announced the initial release of the Library Instruction Recorder (LIR). LIR is a free, open source WordPress plug-in that allows librarians and library staff to record and provide statistical reports on library instruction sessions. It is specifically designed to be simple, easy-to-use and intuitive.

Features:

Accessible only from the WordPress Dashboard, allowing it to be used on either internally or externally facing WordPress instances.

Displays classes by: upcoming, incomplete, previous and my classes.

Customizable fields for department, class location, class type and audience.

Customizable flags (i.e. “Do any students have disabilities or special requirements?”, “Is this a First Year Experience class?”).

Ability to duplicate classes for multiple sessions.

Statistical reports can be narrowed by date range or primary librarian. Reports are downloadable as .csv files.

Email reminder to enter the number of students who attended the class.

LIR is available for download from the WordPress Plug-in Directory, and the source code is available on BitBucket.

LIR on WordPress plugin directory:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/library-instruction-recorder/

Source code: https://bitbucket.org/gsulibwebmaster/library-instruction-recorder