Library patrons can now order their personal soft cover books via MyCopy.
Following the successful completion of the MyCopy pilot project, Springer has extended this eBook service to all academic libraries in the USA and Canada that have purchased Springer eBook Collections.

All registered library patrons can now order a soft cover copy of a Springer eBook for their personal use by simply clicking on a button on springerlink.com.

More than 11,000 books included at $24.95 each

The MyCopy offer is currently valid for more than 11,000 electronic Springer books published since 2005. The new soft cover format is branded as a MyCopy book with a color cover and black and white book content.

All books will be sold at the same price, US$ 24.95. This price includes shipping and handling within the USA and Canada.

Update: the University of Alberta is offering this service as well

MyCopy service from Springer is a post from: EngLib

I see three immediate advantages in my situation (small physical library, small budget, no shelf space for fiction):

• no shelf space used
• possibility of download-on-demand for fiction or non-fiction titles. No guessing work on the library’s part as to what fiction to buy. User’s needs are met quickly.
• can serve advantageously the students who are visually impaired.

and a bonus one:

• cool “toy” –> nice PR opportunity

Now, are the younger generations (millenials) into e-readers? I’ve tested the waters with my local Student Governement. I think they were intrigued but not completely sold. I’ll keep working on it and prepare a good proposal for their support. Maybe when e-textbooks are used more here.

Meanwhile, if Sony wants to do another project with a smaller university campus with a polytechnic vision, I’m available for a meeting…

UPDATE Since I’ve written this post, Brigham Young University Library has decided to shelve their Kindle pilot for the time being, waiting for clear, written approval from Amazon. See the Mormon Times and LISNews for more details.

Ebooks readers is a post from: EngLib

So, they use it to connect with friends, but couldn’t care less about businesses, brands or organizations trying to reach out to them that way. Which could means that very few students would follow a library’s Twitter profile, or if we extrapolate to other platforms, a library’s Facebook Page for example. Discouraging when students are the main clienteles I want to reach using those tools.

Rates of usage are very low:

Of the 250 Florida college students surveyed, 99 percent use social networking sites. However, only 15 percent have an account with Twitter and 34 percent have never even heard of the site. Some 58 percent of the students who have Twitter accounts never use the service or rarely log-on.

Is this only in Florida? Is this only for the lowerclassmen? If I look right now at the followers of my library’s Twitter profile, I see faculty, staff, other librarians and library organizations, an alumn and community members. No one that I could really call a true-blue student. I’m working on more promotion right now so maybe that will change a bit. I need to research what has worked elsewhere (because there are plenty of libraries on Twitter.)

I still think Twitter is a great way to push news and content to users but maybe those users need to be more educated on Twitter.

And by the way, my library’s profile is @usfplib

College students don’t use Twitter is a post from: EngLib

My system has a WorldCat Local beta installation (and several Ebsco products). Users who have tried the beta have really liked the fact that you can search both books and articles with the same search. Easy access to the full text is a definite plus.

OCLC and EBSCO partner for full text is a post from: EngLib

The new site will offer new features and enhancements, including:

• New graphical user interface: state-of-the art functionality streamlines access to content and reader
• New taxonomy book view: the website is now book-centric with faster title-by-title access to our premiere engineering collection
• Improved Advanced Search: faster search and access to more accurate content that saves time and delivers exact results
• McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Engineering embedded on all search pages: search and generate results from the world-renowned McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Engineering, which contains more than 18,000 entries containing synonyms, acronyms, abbreviations, and a pronunciation guide are included for each term.

Unfortunately, no FAQ or advance views are available before March 9th.

Big changes for McGraw-Hill Digital Engineering Library is a post from: EngLib

Hey, does it matter where the students get it if they do use scholarly, quality sources? At least, they not Googling everything? Well, there’s the thorny, ginormous issue of copyright. I cannot condone students downloading illegaly but now, I cannot ignore it either.

Going underground for scholarly content is a post from: EngLib

(Thanks John Dupuis for the heads-up)

Best Sci-Tech Books of 2008 is a post from: EngLib

Peer-to-Patent involves 1) review and discussion of posted patent applications, 2) research to locate prior art references 3) uploading prior art references relevant to the claims, 4) annotating and evaluating submitted prior art, and 5) top ten references, along with commentary, forwarded to the USPTO. The goal of this pilot is to prove that organized public participation can improve the quality of issued patents.

The Project has already been renewed for a year, until June 2009. Hopefully, it will be extended again because this is a great way to involve the general public in the scientific process and the scientific discourse.

(Thanks to Nicole Engard for the link)

Peer to Patent Project is a post from: EngLib

WorldWideScience.org “is a global science gateway connecting you to national and international scientific databases and portals”.

More content is always good news (bis).

More content into WorldWideScience.org is a post from: EngLib

More content is always good news.

DoT added to Science.gov is a post from: EngLib

Currently, AuthorMapper.com searches over three million journal articles to deliver a variety of useful information. The current searchable content is from all Springer journals, and metadata from other STM publishers will be included in the near future. The tool can provide a variety of analyses, such as keyword tag clouds and “Top 5″ bar charts for various important metrics, and includes an interactive world map of the results. AuthorMapper.com’s advanced search function also allows complex queries using keyword, discipline, institution, journal and author. The results can identify new and historic scientific trends through timeline graphs and bar charts of top statistics, allowing for identification of trends in the literature, discovery of wider scientific relationships, and locating other experts in a field of study.

AuthorMapper by Springer is a post from: EngLib

Working in a public university, I don’t have such qualms although I sometimes do wonder if some titles will elicit a reaction (so far, none). I’m more concerned about the fit with our disciplines and research interests. I try to make sure I represent various point of views (still looking for solid titles on intelligent design though. Any suggestions?). I have the limitation of being careful not to duplicate titles found elswhere in my library system even though they could answer a need locally (it’s fair enough although sometimes it disappoint patrons – they don’t want to wait for the intralibrary loan to come in.)

But I do know that it may not be the case for private college and university libraries, especially the church-based.

The dirty little secret of self-censorship is a post from: EngLib

Important actions that research libraries should undertake include the following:
• Build a range of new kinds of partnerships and alliances, both within institutions and between institutions.
• Base service-development strategies on substantive assessment of local needs rather than blindly replicating work done at another institution.
• Engage with key local policy issues and stakeholders to encourage institutional engagement with national and international policy issues.
• Develop outreach and marketing strategies that assist “early adopters” of repositories to connect with the developing repository-related service system.
• Define a scope of responsibility to guide the development of repository services for varied forms of content.

It is part of my Library’s strategic plan to produce a repository prototype. It’s a bit of a daunting task but I believe the benefits are real.

ARL Digital Repositories Task Force releases its final report is a post from: EngLib

• the economy
• the environment (or green living)
• a publishing revolution (or self-publishing)
• the rise in aggressive e-book marketing
• a rise in books written for electronic reading
• and the decline of the newspaper industry

Elgan also mentions the Kindle/iPhone effect, where, finally, some readers are really catching on.

Revolution of the e-books is a post from: EngLib

• Choice
• Science
• Nature
• American Scientist
• BioScience
• The Scientist
• New Scientist
• Environment 
• Science & Technology Libraries
• Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship 
• the newsletter of the SLA scientific and engineering divisions, SciTech News 
• R.R. Bowker’s Resources for College Libraries online
• Physics Today
• Physics Teacher
• Angewandte Chemie International Edition 
• various MAA journals (for mathematics) 
• Science Books and Films are said to be OK, but may be more oriented toward public libraries than academic institutions
• E-Streams: Electronic Reviews of Science & Technology References

Sources for sci-tech book reviews is a post from: EngLib

• Searching for the Synthesis or Reactions of Specific Compounds or Classes of Compounds
• Chemical Safety and Toxicology Information

He graciously invites the community of people who are engaged in teaching about chemical information sources will collectively engage in modifying, updating, and enhancing this resource. He expects to be more content from his class on the wiki this semester.

Chemical Information Sources wiki is a post from: EngLib

For more info, contact John Haynes, Assistant Director, IOP Journalst.

Eprintweb.org is a post from: EngLib

Knovel news is a post from: EngLib

This is an open-theme issue with articles about use and usage statistics, faculty/librarian collaboration, institutional repositories along with database and book reviews.

Summer issues of ISTL is a post from: EngLib

The journal’s issue from 1963 are already available in the database. The volumes between 1919 and 1963 will be forthcoming in a few months.

IEEE news is a post from: EngLib