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ARL Digital Repositories Task Force releases its final report

The Association of Research Libraries’ Digital Repositories Task Force released its final report earlier this year. The Research Library’s Role in Digital Repository Services is freely accessible on the ARL website. It does not concentrate on content or technology but simply on the services in general.
Important actions that research libraries should undertake include the following:
• [...]

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] February 11th, 2009 | Comments Off

Library cats

I’ve just finished Dewey : a small-town library cat who touched the world, loaned to me by my student assistant. It’s a quick, easy read.
It made me wondered though about cats in academic libraries. So I started looking and found this map listing library cats around the world. It’s produced by Gary Roma, who once [...]

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] February 11th, 2009 | Comments Off

Revolution of the e-books

Mike Elgan of ComputerWorld lists six reasons e-books are about to reach an unprecedented high.

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.

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] February 9th, 2009 | Comments Off

Using Twitter in libraries

Phil Bradley wrote a post on his blog about the possible uses of Twitter in libraries.
My library has an account on Twitter (@usfplib). I simply feed the RSS of the library’s blog into it. Since my blog covers events, people, new resources, hours, services etc. I’m pretty well covered. I’m wondering though if it would [...]

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] February 9th, 2009 | Comments Off

NewsShow app installed

I’ve added the Google NewsShow app for a spin (right hand column, below the cloud). Let’s see what it comes up with. Not surprinsgly, I specified keywords that have to do with academic/university libraries.
Thanks to my DH for his help with the installation.

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] February 6th, 2009 | Comments Off

Call for Proposals – Brick and Click

The 9th Annual Brick and Click Libraries Symposium is now accepting proposals. Deadline is March 3rd and the Symposium will take place in Maryville, MO November 6th 2009. Topics accepted are far-ranging and basically cover anything addressing the needs of both on-ground and on-line students and faculty in an academic library.
I presented at Brick and [...]

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] February 6th, 2009 | Comments Off

ACRL early-bird tomorrow

The early bird rate for the ACRL conference in Seattle is ending tomorrow, February 6th. Keynote speakers are Naomi Klein, Sherman Alexie and Ira Glass. Don’t forget to register!
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that those who cannot attend in person can register for the Virtual Conference, with synchronous and asynchronous sessions.

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] February 5th, 2009 | Comments Off

Presentation pressure

Are we librarians too hard on ourselves when it comes to presenting?

Flash mob rave at the library

As seen on FaceBook (thanks H.D.) and Youtube:

On Dec. 9th, 2008 in order to break up the stresses of fall semester exam week, UNC students flash raved their Undergraduate Library. Without warning to those that were unaware, hundreds of students packed the library lobby and brought it hardcore for over 8 minutes.
That looked like a [...]

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] January 27th, 2009 | Comments Off

Off to Savannah

I’m leaving tomorrow morning for Savannah, GA to attend the SLA Leadership Summit. Keynote speaker is Stephen McGarvey.
I will also officially start my term there as Chair of the Information Technology Division. It will be my first visit to this Southern Belle of a city and I’m really looking forward to it.

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] January 12th, 2009 | Comments Off

Sources for sci-tech book reviews

Recently on the STS-L list, someone asked for good sources for book reviews in science and technology. As one of the reasons I started EngLib all that time ago was to create my own archive of interesting-things-to-know-and-remember, I will list the suggested items here by the various contributors to the thread (thanks to them).

Choice
Science
Nature
American Scientist
BioScience
The Scientist
New [...]

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] January 12th, 2009 | Comments Off

Top 10 news in academics libraries by LJ

The Library Journal just published a story on 2008’s top 10 news in academic libraries, in two parts. In Part 2 are the Honorable Mentions: Honorable Mentions: The LJAN Top Ten Stories of 2008, 4-10 .
And the top three are:
#1 Georgia State University Sued by Publishers over E-Reserves
#2 Harvard’s OA Mandate
#3 The Google Book Search Settlement

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] January 7th, 2009 | Comments Off

New SLA Division for academic librarians

SLA’s Inside the Box Connections blog announced today that the 2008 SLA Board of Directors voted in December to approve the formation of the Academic Division of SLA.

The scope of the Division is to focus on topics of interest to academic librarians from all subject disciplines. This division is committed to improving the quality of teaching [...]

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] January 6th, 2009 | Comments Off

Mechanics’ Institute Library

LISNews published a post today about a 2004 story on the membership libraries. The main library featured intrigued me as I didn’t know of it before. The Mechanics’ Institute Library and Chess Room was founded in 1854 in San Francisco and is the oldest library on the West Coast and one of the oldest chess clubs [...]

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] January 5th, 2009 | Comments Off

Top 10 Threats to Higher Ed Computer Systems Include Professors and Students

Jeffrey R. Young lists, in the December 19 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, the top 10 threats to universities’ IT systems. Phishing, malware, smart phones, social software, students and faculty all pose a security risk. Why? Sometimes your Friend is not your friend, students tend to share their password info and faculty are [...]

by Catherine Lavallee-Welch [ Full Article ] January 4th, 2009 | Comments Off

Nothin' but SwinglineLove Bug CraftClay Animals, Reynolds Branch Library Exhibit (1)Clay Animals, Reynolds Branch Library Exhibit (2)Tiger Salamander - JuanElephant - AnonymousSiberian Tiger - ChrisHorse - JordanBobcat - Anonymous