LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

The textbook dilemma...apart from the escalating costs of these extraordinarily heavy and hefty tools for college students, Chegg, a company that rents textbooks out also claims that "Textbooks largely contribute to the 40% of paper products found in landfills which convert into hazardous methane as they degrade." They are working with Ecolibris and Plant a Tree USA to help the environment.

Lydia Cacho Ribeiro Mexican freelance journalist and head of a centre that helps abused women in Cancun is the Laureate of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

--Kathleen de la Peña McCook

We have a new story topic here at LISNews I wanted to make folks aware of, both authors and gentle readers alike!

Strangely enough, even though the site is Librarian and Information Science News, there wasn't actually a topic dedicated to the information science portion of things. So after filling out the requisite forms (I e-mailed Blake.) and filing them with the LISNews Administrative Office (Blake) and paying the processing fee ($20, Romanian), a new topic heading was born!

So when you start seeing stories here about the actual science behind information, you'll know why it's here and, well, where it goes too!

Crossposted this one on LISWire: OhioLINK is pleased to announce the release of a finding aid creation application, repository, and full-text search engine at http://ead.ohiolink.edu. The EAD Finding Aid Creation Tool and OhioLINK Repository (EAD FACTORy) will help archivists ensure broad-based access to archival collections and local history collections by providing a solution for institutions wishing to create and deliver finding aids according to the Encoded Archival Description standard. Finding aids are descriptive tools that come in a variety of formats and levels of detail that describe the contents of archival or manuscript collections. EAD is an international standard for encoding archival finding aids, making them standardized in structure as well as more predictably searchable in collaborative electronic repository environments.

The OhioLINK Finding Aid Repository will allow researchers to search finding aids across institutions to locate archival materials and primary sources across the state. Finding aids may be browsed as well, and an advanced search function is also available. The Finding Aid Creation Tool and Repository are available for use by any institution in Ohio and do not require membership in OhioLINK. The brand new Repository is now ready and waiting for submissions.

The One Big Library Unconference: The One Big Library Unconference is a one-day gathering of librarians, technologists and other interested people, talking about the present and future of libraries. It's organized and sponsored by York University Libraries and the YUL Emerging Technologies Interest Group. Friday 27 June 2008, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

It's YOURS! http://www.yourbigwig.com/ BIGWIG stands for the Blogs, Interactive Groupware Wikis Interest Group, but since its founding in 2005 BIGWIG has been the "Social Software" IG of LITA. Unlike most Interest Groups, BIGWIG is active throughout the year. BIGWIG is responsible for maintaining the LITABlog, and LITA Wiki. Additionally, BIGWIG has taken on several projects since the inception including conference blogging and podcasting, and podcasts of interviews with candidates for LITA offices.

BIGWIG also puts on the Social Software Showcase, an online unconference occuring around and during the time of ALA Annual. The Showcase is made up of a wiki where each year we ask our presenters on cutting edge technology and social software to post their presentations. Regardless of where you are in the world, you will have the opportunity to discuss the presentations on the wiki. We have also be have a face to face roundtable discussion with some of our presenters at ALA Annual.

I started a new site, LISWire - The Librarian's News Wire (http://liswire.com), and I'm doing my best to spread the word. You can probably guess what the site is all about from the name. There's also 2 mailing lists, and a bunch of RSS feeds. Robin K. Blum (you might know her as Birdie) and I are running the show and are looking for press releases and other news items of interest to librarians to get things going. You can sign up for an account and submit things you'd like to announce to the library world. I'll be cross posting most announcements to LISNews for a little while until we see how much traffic we get at LISWire.

It's just out of beta, so there might still be some bugs floating around. Let me know if you spot something that needs fixing! I'd love any and all feedback you can provide.

WHAT: Private ALA edition of Esotouric's "Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles: In A Lonely Place" bus tour, departing from Anaheim Convention Center
WHEN: Tuesday July 1, noon-7pm
COST: $125/person including fixed price luncheon at Musso & Frank Grill
GOODIES: City Lights Books is giving Esotouric 10 copies of their acclaimed anthology "Another City: Writing From Los Angeles" to raffle off among the 50 tour passengers.
MORE INFO: visit http://www.esotouric.com or call 323-223-2767

In July Esotouric, the eclectic bus adventure company whose tours reveal L.A.'s secret history, presents a special ALA edition of a tour dedicated to the city's greatest detective novelist, Raymond Chandler, and his personal relationship to the mean streets of Hollywood and Downtown LA, where he lived, worked and set his stories.

Want to be a member (of the Facebook PBS fan page)? Get with the program!

If you are a teacher, or know one, PBS wants to alert you to the launch of the PBS Teachers page on Facebook . There they’ll include updated information and resources specially designed with educators in mind, including links to lesson plans, teachers’ guides, video resources, professional development information, schedules and much more.

Diane K. Kovacs writes: I've re-created these updated surveys on SurveyMonkey after receiving back many useful suggestions for making it more useful. I am revising other subject reference surveys as well and will post when they are ready.

As always, I will post the data I've gathered on core subject reference topics back to the lists I posted the surveys to for everyone to share as well as posting the data to http://www.kovacs.com/misc.html. Data from previous years is available on that page now - scroll down past the current survey links.
Direct links to the Surveys:
Library Vocabulary Survey -
Ready Reference Core Tools Survey (Multi-Subject) -
Collection Development Core Tools Survey -