LISNews: The Not-So-Much Dystopian Future Since 1999

http://www.missourireview.com/tmr-blog/2012/02/book-plate-maven/

This weeks posting is about bookplates , blogs, and the future of books as we know them.

January 23, 2012
Contact:
Diane Heer, Director, Kimball Library
603.362.5234. X223
director@kimballlibrary.com

Southern NH Library Cooperative Announces Launch Of Shared Lending Service

The recently formed Southern NH Library Cooperative (SNHLC) is a collaboration of three area libraries that have worked together over the last year to establish a shared lending service that will give their patrons access to more resources than ever before. SNHLC member libraries include the Plaistow Public Library, Sandown Public Library and the Kimball Library in Atkinson. On January 30, SNHLC will launch a shared lending service for card holders of the member libraries that will give those patrons convenient online access to the combined catalog of resources from the three member libraries.

According to Carol Stafford, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Sandown Public Library, “While the shared resource concept has been used by libraries world-wide for some time, it has not been a widely adopted concept in NH. So the concept is fairly unique to libraries in our area and we are pleased to see the Southern NH Library Cooperative bringing this exciting new service to library patrons from all three towns.”

The way the shared lending service works is simple. If you are a card holder from any of the three member libraries, you can sign-up online and have access to the shared lending service. Current library card holders simply need to visit their member town library website, click on the Library Catalog section, and follow the steps for online registration to set-up their user account. New patrons will need to come into their member town library to apply for a library card before registering.

“We approached this project as a joint collaboration that will not only be a very cost-effective approach but will also give our patrons an incredible resource,” notes Alan Phair, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Kimball Library in Atkinson. “This really is a system that is about convenience for patrons who can use their personal user account at any time 24 hours per day from their home computer or anywhere they have internet access. The real value is for library patrons who get added access from 40,000 resource materials to 130,000.”

Once registered, the online system puts users just a click away from access to the combined catalog of all three libraries as easily as they would search for items from their town library. Patrons will have their own user account that they can customize and which allows the ease of online access to customized searches either from their own town library or the shared catalog, they can place materials on hold and designate at which library they prefer to pick-up their materials. The system will also send users an email notification when a resource is available as well as a reminder email of renewal notices. The shared lending system also allows users the flexibility to customize their experience through optional sharing and social network features that they may choose to use. Some of the capabilities include saving reading history, browsing virtual bookshelf, writing and sharing reviews, as well as sharing through Facebook and other social media.

“We really think patrons are going to love and appreciate the ease and access that the shared lending service offers to them. Our town libraries remain an important resource for the community and as Trustees we want to keep our libraries current and moving forward in providing patrons with the resources and services that fit their needs,” says Jennifer Kiarsis, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Plaistow Public Library.

Staff at each library are happy to answer questions regarding the new shared lending service. For more information about the Southern NH Library Cooperative, contact any of the member libraries:

• Kimball Library in Atkinson at 603.362.5234 www.kimballlibrary.com
• Plaistow Public Library at 603.382.6011 www.plaistowlibrary.com
• Sandown Public Library at 603.887.3428 www.sandownlibrary.us

2/16/2012

CONTACT:

Nathan Curulla

(888) 900-8944

sales@bywatersolutions.com

Huntington Public Library joins VOKAL and Goes Live on Koha with ByWater Solutions

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and the US’s forefront provider of Koha (www.koha-community.org) support, is happy to welcome Huntington Public Library to Vermont Organization of Koha Automated Libraries (VOKAL). Huntington Public Library is now live on the Koha integrated library system through VOKAL.

VOKAL now has 30 libraries using the system and expects to grow to about 40 over the next 2 years. The system contains 604,000+ items and 44,000+ patrons. Circulation in January, before the addition of Huntington Public Library, exceeded 159,000. VOKAL is the largest public library system in Vermont.



Richard Pritsky, Assistant Director at Carpenter-Carse Library in Hinesburg, VT and member of the VOKAL implementation team states simply that “VOKAL + ByWater = Wonderful Koha Synergy!”

Nicole C. Engard, Vice President of Education at ByWater Solutions, welcomes the Huntington Public Library to the Koha community and VOKAL, “Having helped train VOKAL libraries these past few years has been an awesome experience. The libraries in this consortium contribute so much to the Koha community at large and love learning to use their Koha system. I am happy to welcome yet another library to this amazing group!”

About the Vermont Organization of Koha Automated Libraries (VOKAL):

The Vermont Organization of Koha Automated Libraries (VOKAL), is a project of the Green Mountain Library Consortium dedicated to creating a shared catalog and Integrated Library System.

In 2007, the Stowe Free Library, the Carpenter-Carse Library (Hinesburg), and the Kimball Public Library (Randolph) joined with Sheila Kearns of the Vermont Department of Libraries to explore options for an ILS system to replace Follett. They decided on Koha, and in May of 2008, this team became VOKAL. For more information about VOKAL, please visit: https://sites.google.com/site/vokalvtpublic/home

About Koha:

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 impressive 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, CSS and Javascript–making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://koha-community.org

About ByWater Solutions:

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% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: http://www.bywatersolutions.com

DUBLIN, Ohio, February 14, 2012—The Website for Small Libraries project, which began as an OCLC Innovation Lab experiment in 2011, is now available as a beta service for any library wishing to set up its own website.

By participating in the project, libraries will be able to quickly and easily set up a website that provides basic functionality for making small collection information available on the Web, setting up users, checking materials in and out, placing holds, and providing library contact, location, service and event information.

“The goal of the Website for Small Libraries project was easily stated, but not so easily realized,” said Mike Teets, OCLC Vice President, Innovation. “We wanted small libraries with collections of 20,000 items or less to be able to have a simple, inexpensive yet functional presence on the Web.”

Four South Dakota libraries, as well as the South Dakota State Library, were part of the project’s pilot. “Many of our libraries have a staff of just one or two, and small budgets,” said Dan Siebersma, South Dakota State Librarian. “A product that makes it easy for these libraries to have a website with a minimum amount of effort and at a low cost is very desirable. The inventory feature that would allow people to access a library’s collection from the comfort of their home is the icing on the cake.”

In order to make the site as easy to use as possible, the site relies on simple editing of predefined templates to populate the Web presence. It can take just a few minutes to have a library site up and available to patrons on the Web as well as on mobile and tablet devices. The service uses a set of wizards to import collection and user information in a wide variety of formats. It uses statistical algorithms and WorldCat to determine structure and field contents to ease the import processes. Complexity is kept to a minimum by focusing on the minimum fields necessary to make collections accessible.

Tip House, Chief Architect, Global Infrastructure for OCLC, and one of the lead programmers on the project, explained the basic features: “Libraries can provide and promote basic information about their locations, content, events and services using a set of easily updated templates and widgets. Users can create an account, search for materials, place and delete holds, and see their history. It is, essentially, a very basic inventory model for libraries.”

Mr. Teets stressed that this is not a full-featured library management service, but an option for those small libraries that have not been able to take advantage of traditional library systems due to size, cost or technological restrictions.

“If a library already has an ILS, this will not replicate that kind of system. It’s not meant to,” said Mr. Teets. “Our research suggested that as many as half of the libraries with one or two employees had, essentially, no Web presence. This project hopes to positively impact those libraries and their users.”

“WebJunction has worked with small and rural libraries since its inception,” said Jennifer Peterson, WebJunction Community Manager. “Many of these libraries don’t have the time, money or technical background to implement a full-scale, online management service. This project will enable them to reach their users on the Web in an entirely new way. And because the sites are optimized to run well on mobile devices, they’ll be able to connect to users for whom the mobile Internet is now the main way of getting online.”

“We hope this is a useful, affordable option for small libraries that want to establish a Web-based connection to their communities,” said Mr. Teets.

Libraries interested in signing up can do so at http://beta.worldcat.org/lib/. Participation in the project costs $500 per year and comes with a 90-day trial period. Libraries are free to import and export their collection and patron data as they try the service, as well as through the product life.

State library organizations, consortia and other library groups interested in group rates should contact their OCLC Library Services consultant.

~ Agreement with Oriprobe Information Services Inc. Brings Valuable Research Literature from Asia to EBSCO Discovery Service™ Users ~

IPSWICH, Mass.& WINDSOR, Ontario — February 14, 2012 — A new partnership between EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) and Oriprobe Information Services Inc. will allow content from China/Asia On Demand (CAOD) to be accessible within EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS). The agreement allows for metadata from this valuable collection of research literature from Asia to be added to the Base Index of EDS. The EDS Base Index represents content from approximately 20,000 providers (and growing) in addition to metadata from another 70,000 book publishers, representing far more content providers and publishers than any other discovery service.

China/Asia On Demand features a vast collection of reliable, authoritative information spanning arts and humanities, STM (Science, Technology, Medicine) research, social and business information. The collection includes over 10,000 journals and more than 40 million research articles. The addition of this content to the EDS Base Index will benefit EDS users looking for unique research literature from China, Japan and Korea.

China/Asia On Demand is part of a growing list of publishers and other content partners that are taking part in EDS to bring more visibility to their content. Partners include the world’s largest scholarly journal & book publishers including Elsevier, Wiley Blackwell, Springer Science & Business Media, Taylor & Francis Informa, Sage Publications, and thousands of others. Partners also include content providers, such as LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters (Web of Science), JSTOR, ARTstor, Credo Reference, World Book, ABC-CLIO, and many others.

EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution’s information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box—searching made even more powerful because of the quality of metadata and depth and breadth of coverage.

EBSCO Discovery Service is quickly becoming the discovery selection for many libraries (www.ebscohost.com/discovery/eds-news), and an obvious partner for content providers. Because the service builds on the foundation provided by the EBSCOhost® platform, libraries gain a full user experience for discovering their collections/OPAC—which is not typical in the discovery space. Further still, in the many universities and other libraries where EBSCOhost is the most-used platform for premium research, users are not asked to change their pathways or habits for searching. There’s simply more to discover on the familiar EBSCOhost platform, and the same can be said for library administrators who can leverage their previous work with EBSCOadmin™.

About Oriprobe Information Services
Oriprobe Information Services, Inc., headquartered in Ontario, Canada, is a leading supplier of information solutions and China/Asia electronic resources. Oriprobe offers copyright permission acquiring and granting, content licensing, translation, and information retrieval services from China as well as other parts of Asia. Oriprobes electronic collections include journals, dissertations/theses, conference proceedings, patents, standards, newspapers, companies and products, institutions, policies and laws. For more information, visit the Oriprobe Information Services web site at www.oriprobe.com, or contact info@oriprobe.com.

About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the producer of EBSCOhost®, the world’s premier for-fee online research service, including full-text databases, subject indexes, point-of-care medical reference, historical digital archives, and eBooks. The company provides more than 350 databases and nearly 300,000 eBooks. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals and magazines from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.). EBSCO is also the provider of EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS), which provides each institution with a fast, single search box for its entire collection, offering deeper indexing and more full-text searching of journals and magazines than any other discovery service (www.ebscohost.com/discovery). For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com. EBSCO Publishing is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.

###
For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Public Relations Director
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Duluth, GA —February 13, 2012

Equinox Software is proud to announce the successful Evergreen implementation of a telephony notification system powered by Asterisk. The Davidson County Public Library System, part of the North Carolina Cardinal consortium, piloted an early version of the system which is also now being used at King County Library System. This system allows patrons to receive automated calls alerting them that items on hold are ready for pick-up. It also allows the library to send out reminders to patrons that their items are due and need to be renewed or returned.

Libraries running Evergreen will see potential for this system as a more cost effective alternative to other notification systems. According to Lebbeous Fogle-Weekley, one of the Equinox Software Developers assisting with the project, "Evergreen's telephony notification system can use digital telephony (like a VoIP service) or, in some cases, existing phone hardware, like a PBX, and either of these approaches can potentially reduce costs and add control compared with using a third-party solution."

About Equinox Software, Inc.

Founded by the original Evergreen designers and developers, Equinox Software is a leader in open source solutions for libraries. Their goal is to engage and support a rapidly growing open source community while assisting libraries in moving away from expensive proprietary vendors and products.

For more information on Equinox Software, please visit http://www.esilibrary.com.

About Evergreen

Evergreen is a robust, open-source integrated library system best known for its unique ability to meet the needs of very large, high-transaction, multi-site consortia. However, it has also proven equally successful scaled down for even the smallest libraries. Evergreen now supports over 1,000 libraries of every type-public, academic, special, and school media centers across 4 countries, 31 U.S. states, and 8 Canadian provinces. The Georgia PINES, King County Public Library System, SCLENDS, and NC Cardinal consortiums are all currently running Evergreen.
For more information about Evergreen, including a list of all known Evergreen installations, see http://evergreen-ils.org.

Press contact: Corinne Hall, corinne@esilibrary.com, 770-709-5571

February 14, 2012, Medford, NJ—Information Today, Inc. (ITI) announced the publication of Web of Deceit: Misinformation and Manipulation in the Age of Social Media, edited by business researcher and author Anne P. Mintz.

In 2002, prior to the emergence of internet social networks, Mintz’s critically acclaimed book, Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet, alerted a generation of internet users to the dangers of relying on information found on websites. With the publication of Web of Deceit, Mintz returns with a new team of researchers, journalists, and subject experts to show how intentional misinformation is spread today utilizing an array of social media tools, sites, and networks.

Epitomized by such popular resources as Facebook, Myspace, eBay, Twitter, and Craigslist, the worldwide social media phenomenon provides manipulative individuals and organizations with the means to spread misinformation and propaganda on an unprecedented scale, according to Mintz. “Bending the truth or telling outright lies is not new,” she said. “It’s just the messenger who has changed, and this messenger spreads the word lightning fast and to far-flung places.”

In Web of Deceit, Mintz and eight expert contributors explore many of the social media channels and techniques used by unscrupulous people and organizations to take advantage of the unwary. Chapters illuminate the how, what, and why of identity theft, hate sites, ecommerce fraud, information warfare, political propaganda, charity scams, and more. Special features include a guide to evaluating the information integrity of websites and an annotated glossary of terms.

“Anne Mintz has once again assembled some savvy writers who have a lot to teach us about being safe on the web,” said Ari L. Goldman of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. “The dangers of social media command our attention now more than ever, and this book is a must-read for anyone who socializes, shops, or interacts online. In other words, all of us!” Readers can access more content on the book's website at www.webofdeceit.net.

ABOUT THE EDITOR
Anne P. Mintz spent several decades as the director of information centers in media and investment banking before becoming a freelance business researcher, writer, and editor. Her current endeavors include working on behalf of publishers to present their content online in searchable formats. She is the editor of Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet (CyberAge Books, 2002) and numerous articles on the quality of online information. She holds a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts and an MLS from Rutgers University.

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS
Contributors to Web of Deceit include Amber Benham (“Evaluating Websites”), Eli Edwards(“Demonizing the ‘Other’”), Ben Fractenberg (“Ebuyer Beware”), Laura Gordon-Murnane (“The Intentional Misleading of the American Public”), Cynthia Hetherington (“They Know Where You Live”), Deborah A. Liptak (“Information Warfare and Cybersecurity”; “The Technologies of Deceit”), Meg Smith (“Social Media and Intentional Misinformation”), Craig Thompson (“Charity Scams”), and Anne P. Mintz (“If It’s on the Internet, It Must Be True”).

Web of Deceit: Misinformation and Manipulation in the Age of Social Media (224 pp/softbound/ $29.95/ISBN 978-0-910965-91-0) is a CyberAge book published by Information Today, Inc. (ITI). It is available wherever books and ebooks are sold through Independent Publishers Group (IPG), www.ipgbook.com. For more information or to order call (800) 300-9868 [outside U.S. call (609) 654-6266]; fax (609) 654-4309; email custserv@infotoday.com; or visit the ITI website at www.infotoday.com.

2/10/2012
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
sales@bywatersolutions.com

ByWater Solutions Welcomes Kyle Hall as Development Support Specialist

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and the US’s forefront provider of Koha (www.koha-community.org) support, is excited to welcome Kyle Hall as Development Support Specialist. Kyle will be assisting in the support of the 400 plus libraries being supported by ByWater nationwide, as well as working closely with the Koha community to manage bugs and enhancement requests.

Kyle received his B.S. in Computer Science and M.S. in Information Technology from Edinboro University of PA. He has been fulfilling the IT needs of librarians for over a decade at the Crawford County Federated Library System, where his department secured sponsorship for the integration of Zebra into Koha. He has been a Koha developer ever since. His work not only includes enhancing Koha itself, but also authorship of the Koha Offline Circulation tool and the maintenance of the Koha Virtual Appliance. He is also the author of Libki, an Open Source library kiosk management system.

Kyle commented on his recent decision to join the ByWater Solutions team: “I’m very excited to be working with Bywater Solutions to make Koha the best ILS in the world!”

Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater Solutions stated: “We are happy to welcome Kyle to ByWater Solutions! His years of experience in libraries and with open source software make him the perfect fit for our team of Koha experts. Welcome aboard Kyle!”

About ByWater Solutions:

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% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: http://www.bywatersolutions.com

~ More Full Text for the Most Prominent Journals Indexed in MEDLINE® ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — February 7, 2012 — EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) continues to expand access to leading content for biomedical research with the release of MEDLINE Complete® . MEDLINE Complete is the largest full-text companion to the MEDLINE index ever assembled and provides full text for more than 1,850 journals. This wide-ranging file contains full text for many of the most used journals in the MEDLINE index — available in MEDLINE Complete with no embargo.

MEDLINE Complete provides authoritative journal coverage of the following disciplines: medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences as well as many other areas. With coverage dating back to 1857 and full-text back to 1865, MEDLINE Complete is the definitive research tool for medical literature.

Users of MEDLINE Complete can access the resource anytime and anywhere using EBSCO’s mobile technology. All databases available through EBSCOhost®, are available through one or more mobile applications that are supported by most mobile devices.

MEDLINE Complete is part of a growing collection of multidisciplinary medical resources offered by EBSCO including resources such as: DynaMed ™, Biomedical Reference Collection: Basic Edition™, The Scientific & Medical ART Imagebase and Cochrane Collection Plus.

About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the world’s premier database aggregator, offering a suite of more than 350 full-text and secondary research databases. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals, magazines, books, monographs, reports and various other publication types from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all medical professionals (doctors, nurses, medical librarians, social workers, hospital administrators, etc.). The company’s product lines include proprietary databases such as CINAHL®, DynaMed™, Nursing Reference Center™, Patient Education Reference Center™, Rehabilitation Reference Center™, Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine Source™ and SocINDEX™ as well as dozens of leading licensed databases such as MEDLINE®, PsycARTICLES® and PsycINFO®. Databases are powered by EBSCOhost®, the most-used for-fee electronic resource in libraries around the world. For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com.

###
For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Public Relations Director
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com

DUBLIN, Ohio, February 3, 2012—OCLC WorldShare Management Services was recognized as “Outstanding Service of the Year” during the TechColumbus Innovation Awards ceremony at the Greater Columbus Convention Center on February 2. WorldShare Management Services was selected in a category of organizations with more than 250 employees, and from entries in a variety of disciplines and industries. More than 1,100 people attended the premier technology event in central Ohio.

“We at OCLC are honored to receive this prestigious recognition from the professional IT community,” said Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO. “OCLC and our members are proud to be leading innovation for libraries. This recognition underscores not only the technological achievements of OCLC staff, but speaks to WorldShare’s growing adoption by the international library community.”

OCLC WorldShare Management Services introduces a cloud-based library management system that helps to unify and simplify library workflows. WorldShare Management Services enable libraries to share infrastructure costs and resources, as well as collaborate in ways that free them from the restrictions of local hardware and software. And libraries using WorldShare Management Services find that they are able to reduce the time needed for traditional tasks and free staff time for higher-priority services.

OCLC WorldShare Management Services were released for general availability July 1, 2011. There are currently more than 35 libraries using OCLC WorldShare Management Services, and more than 180 libraries worldwide have committed to the new service.

“This recognition is a tribute to the libraries and library staff members who have worked closely with OCLC staff to develop and produce a service that is changing the way libraries work,” said Andrew Pace, OCLC Executive Director of Networked Library Services, who accepted the award on behalf of the OCLC cooperative. “This award is really for libraries.”

OCLC WorldShare Management Services were formerly known as Webscale Management Services. The name was changed in December 2011 following launch of the new OCLC WorldShare Platform, and a rebranding of the services.

Speakers at the TechColumbus Innovation Awards event included Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman, Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee, and Les Wexner, Limited Brands Founder, Chairman and CEO.

The TechColumbus Innovation Awards celebrate the spirit of innovation by recognizing outstanding technology achievements in Central Ohio. This prestigious evening showcases the region’s advancements and promising future in technology. For more information, visit www.techcolumbusinnovationawards.org.

Editorial Introduction
Carol Bean
The winter months bring us festivities like Mardi Gras. Here at the Code4Lib Journal, we present you with a veritable feast to indulge in as our mid-winter festival offering. Consume slowly, to fully appreciate the myriad flavors and enjoy the richness of the fare.

Creating a Seamless Cross-Platform Online Experience for Mobile Users
Katherine Lynch
In creating a mobile-optimized website for Drexel University Libraries, we have strived to preserve the seamless transition between platforms that our desktop users experience. We employ separate technology and coding solutions to make Drupal, WordPress, and HTML sections mobile optimized, while continuously improving the mobile user experience in terms of design, usability, and site performance. This paper details how, through extensive research, design, and development, we found the best solution for creating a steady mobile experience for our users.

HTML5 Microdata and Schema.org
Jason Ronallo
On June 2, 2011, Bing, Google, and Yahoo! announced the joint effort Schema.org. When the big search engines talk, Web site authors listen. This article is an introduction to Microdata and Schema.org. The first section describes what HTML5, Microdata and Schema.org are, and the problems they have been designed to solve. With this foundation in place section 2 provides a practical tutorial of how to use Microdata and Schema.org using a real life example from the cultural heritage sector. Along the way some tools for implementers will also be introduced. Issues with applying these technologies to cultural heritage materials will crop up along with opportunities to improve the situation.

Using VuFind, XAMPP, and Flash Drives to Build an Offline Library Catalog for Use in a Liberal Arts in Prison Program
Julia Bauder
When Grinnell College expanded its Liberal Arts in Prison Program to include the First Year of College Program in the Newton Correctional Facility, the Grinnell College Libraries needed to find a way to support the research needs of inmates who had no access to the Internet. The library used VuFind running on XAMPP installed on flash drives to provide access to the Libraries’ catalog. Once the student identified a book, it would be delivered from the Libraries to students on request. This article describes the process of getting VuFind operating in an environment with no Internet access and limited control of the computing environment.

Improving the presentation of library data using FRBR and Linked data
Anne-Lena Westrum, Asgeir Rekkavik, Kim Tallerås
When a library end-user searches the online catalogue for works by a particular author, he will typically get a long list that contains different translations and editions of all the books by that author, sorted by title or date of issue. As an attempt to make some order in this chaos, the Pode project has applied a method of automated FRBRizing based on the information contained in MARC records. The project has also experimented with RDF representation to demonstrate how an author’s complete production can be presented as a short and lucid list of unique works, which can easily be browsed by their different expressions and manifestations. Furthermore, by linking instances in the dataset to matching or corresponding instances in external sets, the presentation has been enriched with additional information about authors and works.

Presenting results as dynamically generated co-authorship subgraphs in semantic digital library collections
James Powell, Tamara M. McMahon, Ketan Mane, Laniece Miller, Linn Collins
Semantic web representations of data are by definition graphs, and these graphs can be explored using concepts from graph theory. This paper demonstrates how semantically mapped bibliographic metadata, combined with a lightweight software architecture and Web-based graph visualization tools, can be used to generate dynamic authorship graphs in response to typical user queries, as an alternative to more common text-based results presentations. It also shows how centrality measures and path analysis techniques from social network analysis can be used to enhance the visualization of query results. The resulting graphs require modestly more cognitive engagement from the user but offer insights not available from text.

On Dentographs, A New Method of Visualizing Library Collections
William Denton
A dentograph is a visualization of a library’s collection built on the idea that a classification scheme is a mathematical function mapping one set of things (books or the universe of knowledge) onto another (a set of numbers and letters). Dentographs can visualize aspects of just one collection or can be used to compare two or more collections. This article describes how to build them, with examples and code using Ruby and R, and discusses some problems and future directions.

Using XSLT’s SQL Extension with Encyclopedia Virginia
Matthew Gibson
This paper explores how to integrate data across a hybrid relational database and XML-based management system. It examines specifically how XSLT’s SQL extension can be used to communicate information between SQL tables and TEI-conformant XML documents to make data-centric content more manageable and flexible and thereby leverage the strengths of both systems. In what follows, one will learn about some of the methods, benefits, and shortcomings of XSLT’s SQL extension in the context of Encyclopedia Virginia, an open access publication of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities that utilizes a suite of digital humanities and digital library XML vocabularies such as TEI and METS.

Ref2RIS: Importing Word-Processed Bibliographies into Bibliographic Management Software
Deborah Fitchett
Many who would benefit the most from timesaving bibliographic managers hesitate to adopt the technology due to the difficulties in importing legacy bibliographies developed over years. Existing shortcuts rely on manual reformatting or on re-searching online databases for the records – often almost as laborious as retyping the references. Ref2RIS was developed to automate the task of converting a bibliography in specific citation styles from common word processing document formats into the widely used RIS format. It uses the Unix stream editor sed and the conversion options of Apple’s textutil. It can be invoked as a series of simple shell commands on any Linux terminal, or more simply as a drag-and-drop Applescript application on MacOS 10.4 or higher.

Purposeful Development: Being Ready When Your Project Moves From ‘Hobby’ to Mission Critical
Terry Reese
Throughout the library community examples can be found of development projects evolving into mission critical components within an organization’s workflow. How these projects make that move is unique and varied, but little discussion has been had about how these projects impact their developers and the project community. What responsibilities does a developer have to ensure the long-term viability of their project? Does simply freeing the code meet those long-term responsibilities, or is there an implied commitment to provide long-term “care and feeding” to project communities built up over time? Code4Lib represents a group of developers consistently looking to build the next big thing, I’d like to step back and look at some of my own experiences related to the long-term impacts that come with developing successful projects and communities, and try to provide library developers food for thought as they consider their own ongoing responsibilities to their projects and user communities.

2/2/2012

CONTACT:

Nathan Curulla

(888) 900-8944

sales@bywatersolutions.com

Six Libraries Partner to Bring DOM Biblio Indexing to Koha

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company announced today that six of their library partners are joining forces to bring DOM Biblio Indexing to Koha.

The libraries collaborating on this effort include:

• Arcadia Public Library of Arcadia, CA
• Brooklyn Law School of Brooklyn, NY
• Goddard College of Plainfield, VT
• Marlboro College of Marlboro, VT
• Ripon College of Ripon, WI
• The Vermont Organization of Koha Automated Libraries (VOKAL) of VT

ByWater Solutions will be partnering with Equinox Software, of Duluth, GA on this development, making it a cross company, multi partner collaborative effort.



The DOM Biblio Indexing development will greatly improve authority searching in Koha by allowing for fully coordinated subject heading searches. The development will also provide the option to search for an exact title, including subtitle and title parts, as well as indexing the full title with and without initial stop words to allow for more accurate title sorting.

The DOM Biblio Indexing development also provides the framework for additional features in Koha that otherwise would not be possible to develop such as broader, narrower and related authorities searches and OCLC number record matching. It will also open the door for differentiating Subject heading thesauri, relator term indexing and enhanced item availability limiting.

Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater stated:

“I’m very excited to see so many of our partners joining forces to make this development a reality.  One of the great things about open source software is that different libraries can work together and pool their resources to come up with a solution that will meet all of their needs, while at the same time adding to the functionality of Koha for all of its users.”

About Koha:

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 impressive 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, CSS and Javascript–making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit www.koha-community.org

About ByWater Solutions:

With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, top ranked support options and development of enterprise class open-source library systems. 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% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: www.bywatersolutions.com

http://brill.nl/brill-typeface

Display any language from any period - Freely available for non-commercial use

Brill has taken the initiative of designing a typeface. Named “the Brill”, the new typeface presents complete coverage of the Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts with the full range of diacritics and linguistics characters used to display any language from any period correctly. There are over 5,100 characters in all. This indispensable tool for scholars has become freely available for non-commercial use. “The Brill” will be especially welcomed by humanities scholars quoting from texts in any language, ancient or modern. John Hudson of Tiro Typeworks, well-known for his multilingual fonts, is the Brill’s designer.

"Technically, the Brill fonts have to be able to legibly display any combination of the supported characters that might be encountered in text and to be able to do so in typographically sophisticated ways. The idea is that users will be able to throw pretty much any text at these fonts and get back a legible and aesthetically pleasing display."
- John Hudson, designer, Tiro Typeworks

If you would like to receive more information about this project, please contact Dominique de Roo, marketing manager, via roo@brill.nl

At the opening of the Digital Book World Conference in New York City in January, the British Library, together with technology partner, BiblioLabs, LLC, was awarded the prestigious Publishing Innovation Award (PIA) for their British Library 19th Century Historical Collection iPad App. The App, released in August last year to rave reviews from both critics and consumers, offers seamless, cloud-based access to more than 45,000 historical works from the British Library, spanning 21 thematic collections.

The Publishing Innovation Awards were established to honor outstanding digital products that enrich and delight readers. The British Library 19th Century Historical Collection App was named the 2012 Winner in the Reference/Academic category.
Accepting the award, Simon Bell, Head of Strategic Partnership and Licensing at the British Library said “The British Library is delighted to be working with the outstanding team of technologists at BiblioLabs to unlock the potential of devices like the iPad. We are thrilled to have been able to offer these exquisite, high-resolution, full-color facsimiles of 19th Century books in a manner that comes close to the experience of leafing through the original item. This is a great example of how the British Library is using digital technology to make the riches of our historical collections accessible and compelling to a wider audience than was ever previously possible.”

BiblioLabs, LLC (www.bibliolabs.com) is the fast growing software-media company that built the cloud-based technology platform to manage the selection, enhancement, and distribution of the featured British Library collection. BiblioLabs, LLC has become a global leader in the creation of interactive Apps featuring historical books and artifacts from the world’s leading libraries and cultural institutions.

The Company only recently moved into digital book distribution. It began in 2007 as a print-on-demand (POD) publisher offering historical reproductions. Prior to founding BiblioLabs, LLC the same group started BookSurge, LLC the world’s first truly global POD (one book at a time) retail infrastructure, which was sold to Amazon.com in 2005 and was integrated to become Amazon’s global print-on-demand solution as well as the Amazon self-publishing service CreateSpace.

“The exciting thing for us is that this is the first App we created and we did it with a very small team, in a very short time,” says BiblioLabs founder and Chief Business Officer Mitchell Davis. “It met with phenomenal success as a consumer product when it launched and it has continued to grow” (today it has over 350,000 users in over 150 countries and growing).

“To also have our innovative approach to content distribution recognized by the industry is really an honor and a signal to the great things you will see from us.” Davis added “The British Library is an ideal partner. They care deeply about their materials, and the public they serve. They are continuously looking for ways to innovate and increase the impact of their services. Working with them is a true partnership.”

Building on the things they learned this past year, BiblioLabs, LLC will roll out a larger App in April 2012 - BiblioBoard. “Tens of millions of historical artifacts are available and our mission is to curate the interesting, quirky, important, weird, or forgotten, then integrate creative modern context and make engaging thematic content products. BiblioBoard is the unified interface where curators will meet readers and this will happen across tens of thousands of books, articles and images within hundreds of curated niche Apps.” Curious bibliophiles can sign up for pre-release, preview access at BiblioBoard.com.
At launch BiblioBoard will contain more than forty niche Apps including a number of micro-collections from the British Library. “Our team is hugely excited that as we are winning this award we are already moving to the next generation product.” Davis says.

Come with us this spring as we explore Turkey and meet the Turks!

While our tour includes elements of special interest to library professionals and bibliophiles, anyone with an interest in history, the arts, and archeology is welcome to join this introduction to Turkey’s illustrious past and contemporary attractions.

We begin in Istanbul, the only city to straddle both Europe and Asia. Let us open the doors to mosque collections dating from the 15th century and to the extraordinary German Archeological Institute archives. We’ll travel to the Aegean region and visit the acropolis of Pergamon (whose library treasures were Marc Anthony’s wedding gift to Cleopatra). Pondering the glory that was Rome, we can contemplate the magnificent Library of Celsus in Ephesus, the grandest city of the eastern Roman Empire.

Springtime in Asia Minor presents us with a riot of native blooms, and anyone with botanical enthusiasms will enjoy the journey as we trace the Meander River eastwards to Konya, center of the mystical Whirling Dervish sect. Here, as in so many Turkish provincial cities, there are private museums and libraries open to public. Crossing the high Central Anatolian Plateau, we proceed to Cappadocia,whose eerie, wind-sculpted, volcanic valleys are dotted with hundreds of early churches.

Traditional agrarian rhythms persist in central Turkey, and we’ll learn about one of the region’s earliest social entrepreneurs who worked to increase literacy and bring the printed word (via donkeys laden with books!) to remote villages.

Through all of this we’ll include the famous highlights that have drawn visitors to Turkey for centuries- Haghia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, Topkapi Palace, the fanciful waterfront mansions of the Bosphorus….

The Pergamon Asklepion where Galen practiced medicine… Ephesus’s famous colonnaded street and theatre where St. Paul addressed the populace …. the flower-strewn site and sculpture museum of Aphrodisias, sacred to the pagan Goddess of Love. Rumi’s brilliant turquoise-tiled shrine, and the lunar landscape of Cappadocia.

Land Program in Turkey: $2,425.00 per person, double occupancy.

The tour begins and finishes in Istanbul, 17 April – 26 April 2012.

Separate extensions for Istanbul or other regions of Turkey can be made on a customized basis.

Airfare to/from Turkey is NOT included, but we are happy to advise you about economical flights or help you make the most of your frequent flyer miles.

For the complete, day-by-day itinerary of this tour or other programs, please email either-Equinox Travel info@Equinox.com.tr or Holly Chase Holly@HollyChase.com

~ Content Coverage and Subject Indexes Key Factors in Decision ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — February 2, 2011 —Bielefeld University has chosen EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) from EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) citing superior content coverage as one of the main factors in its decision. Bielefeld selected EDS after an intense and detailed review of the service, determining that EBSCO Discovery Service provided the best content coverage plus the option to integrate high quality subject indexes.

University Library Bielefeld is one of the most prestigious libraries worldwide with a strong focus on the quality and development of services provided to its users. The university had been looking to replace its Journal Articles Database, known and used Germany-wide under the name of JADE, which the library created and developed in the mid 1990s.

Mr. Dirk Pieper, Media Department Head, says the university library was very pleased with the content in EBSCO Discovery Service and it was one of the major factors when choosing EDS as its discovery solution. “Our decision to choose EDS was primarily due to the superior content coverage provided in the Base Index. EDS convinced us with its high quality A&I data and will replace our own journal articles database, JADE, which can be seen as a first kind of discovery development started by our library itself in the mid 90s.”

Libraries subscribing to subject indexes on EBSCOhost can leverage EBSCO's "platform blending" technology to infuse results from these high-end indexes into the EDS result list, heightening the overall value and experience for end users. For Pieper this unique attribute of EDS was a major factor in the decision to implement EDS. “We were very pleased with the integration of EBSCO database subject indexes and the option to blend in high quality subject indexes. In addition EBSCO’s web services help us to accomplish integrating the strong EDS index into our own library catalog using a very comfortable interface (API).”

EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution’s information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box — searching made even more powerful because of the quality of metadata and depth and breadth of coverage.

The Base Index for EBSCO Discovery Service forms the foundation upon which each EDS subscribing library builds out its custom collection. Beginning with the Base Index, each institution extends the reach of EDS by adding appropriate resources including its catalog, institutional repositories, EBSCOhost and other databases, and additional content sources to which it subscribes. It is this combination that allows a single, comprehensive, custom solution for discovering the value of any library’s collection.

The EDS Base Index is comprised of metadata from the world’s foremost information providers. At present, the EDS Base Index represents content from approximately 20,000 providers in addition to metadata from another 70,000 book publishers. Although constantly growing, today the EDS Base Index provides metadata for nearly 64,000 magazines & journals, approximately 825,000 CDs & DVDs, nearly six million books, more than 320 million newspaper articles, more than 400,000 conference proceedings and hundreds of thousands of additional information sources from various source-types.

About University Library Bielefeld
University Library Bielefeld stands in the library community worldwide for innovative, user-friendly information services that were developed and tested in Bielefeld and later adopted by library unions and single libraries joining their user groups. University Library Bielefeld was the first library to run an OPAC in Germany in 1979. University Library of Bielefeld is the host and organizer of the Bielefeld Conference, a bi-annual conference, set up 1992 to especially create a discussion forum focused on library innovation (10th International Bielefeld Conference: 24 - 26 April 2012), and is known for technological innovation in search engines and communication systems, of which the open access platform BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine) is only one example.

About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the producer of EBSCOhost®, the world’s premier for-fee online research service, including full-text databases, subject indexes, point-of-care medical reference, historical digital archives, and eBooks. The company provides more than 350 databases and nearly 300,000 eBooks. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals and magazines from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.). EBSCO is also the provider of EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS), which provides each institution with a fast, single search box for its entire collection, offering deeper indexing and more full-text searching of journals and magazines than any other discovery service (www.ebscohost.com/discovery). For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com. EBSCO Publishing is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.

###
For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Public Relations Director
EBSCO Publishing
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com

January 31, 2012
For Immediate Release

Dallas, TX — Amigos Library Services, a leading library membership organization based in Dallas, and the Missouri Library Network Corporation (MLNC), a similar St. Louis-based library membership organization, today announced that they have entered into a working agreement to explore merging operations. If the organizations merge, Amigos will be the largest library consortium west of the Mississippi River, comprised of approximately 1,000 libraries and cultural heritage institutions in 22 states.

Following lengthy exploratory discussions, members of the Boards of Directors of Amigos and MLNC have both unanimously approved a working agreement as the definitive guideline for further activities leading to merger. Member votes on the merger are scheduled for mid-April and early May. Pending member approval, the merger will be completed July 1, 2012.

Both networks bring unique services of interest to a larger member base and both have strong continuing education programs to share. Current MLNC and Amigos members will benefit from increased ability to leverage library resources for purchasing thousands of library products and services from leading providers.

“I am excited because a merger will enhance services to the collective membership,” said Bonnie Juergens, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amigos. “It will expand resource-sharing opportunities for both member communities and strengthen our ability to provide current and new services into the future.”

Tracy Rochow Byerly, Executive Director of MLNC, commented “I couldn’t be more pleased about this announcement! The prime motivation of the MLNC Board has been to meet the needs of MLNC’s members and fulfill our mission. The Board conducted a thorough analysis of options and concluded that this merger will help MLNC achieve that goal.”

About Missouri Library Network Corporation
The mission of MLNC is to organize and deliver to its member libraries and other contracting entities electronic services and content, and provide training in the management and use of information. Founded in 1981 to serve the needs of Missouri libraries, MLNC has grown to serve the needs of over 300 members in the Midwest region. Known for excellent customer service, flexibility and solutions that save members time and money, MLNC has shown itself to be an agile organization in a changing world. Members utilize the many continuing education opportunities; turn to MLNC for help in implementing change; and have supported the organization’s move into association management services.

About Amigos Library Services
For more than 35 years, Amigos Library Services has helped members obtain affordable services and share library resources and knowledge. With over 600 members, Amigos is one of the largest consortia of libraries and cultural heritage institutions in the United States. Membership in Amigos helps libraries gain access to the latest innovations and services in the library community; pursue opportunities for continuing professional education; leverage buying power; and preserve the region’s rich cultural heritage. This collaboration strengthens each member’s ability to serve and lead its community in the creative and effective use of information resources.

For information about the Amigos/MLNC merger exploration, contact Dr. Anne Prestamo, Chair of Amigos (anne.prestamo@okstate.edu); Dr. Sharon Bostick, President of MLNC (bosticks@umkc.edu); Bonnie Juergens, President and CEO of Amigos (Juergens@amigos.org), or Tracy Rochow Byerly, Executive Director of MLNC (tracy@mlnc.org).

1/26/2012
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
sales@bywatersolutions.com

ByWater Solutions Names Nicole C. Engard VP of Education

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and the US's forefront provider of Koha (www.koha-community.org) support, is happy to announce the promotion of Nicole C. Engard to Vice President of Education.

Nicole started with ByWater Solutions in September of 2009 and in that time she has educated hundreds of librarians on the use of their new Koha ILS installations. In her new role, Nicole will continue to manage education efforts for the company with a new focus on teaching librarians the nature of open source and how they can participate in community efforts. She will also continue in her role as Documentation Manager for the official Koha ILS project and help with supporting those using Koha in their libraries.

"I have been extremely impressed with all of the high quality work that Nicole has done while with ByWater Solutions." states Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater Solutions. "We are more than pleased to reward Nicole with this promotion."

Nicole comments on her new role, "Working at ByWater Solutions these past couple of years has been an amazing experience. I love getting to meet and train librarians around the world and I am excited to get started with my new responsibilities and new training initiatives."

About ByWater Solutions:
With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, top ranked support options and development of enterprise class open-source library systems. 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% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: http://bywatersolutions.com

About Koha:
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 impressive 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, CSS and Javascript--making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://koha-community.org/