On Tuesday 12/8, representatives from the New York State Library, including State Librarian Bernard Margolis, the New York 3Rs Councils, and Nylink met to discuss digitization efforts in New York, including opportunities for statewide collaboration. The meeting closed with agreement that a smaller subset of the group would meet again for planning purposes.

Registration is now open for the WebWise Conference on Libraries and Museums in the Digital World 2010.  And it is free! This conference, co-hosted by IMLS, the University of Denver, the Denver Art Museum and BCR, runs from March 3-5, 2010, in Denver, CO.  This year’s theme is “Imagining the Digital Future” and focuses on the future of collaborative digitization programs, the use of technologies for engaging audiences and sustainability of digital projects.

Attendees do have to pay for housing, food, etc but what a deal:  the conference and preconference are free.  Plus, you can enjoy some sun, networking and great outdoor adventures all in one.    Just make sure you register early, since space is limited.

OCLC is pleased to announce the release of CONTENTdm 5.2 with improved functionality and performance. With the new release, the CONTENTdm Project Client now supports auto updates, enabling users to get updates as quickly as they are available. It automatically checks for software updates in the background, so work is not interrupted. If updates are available, they are downloaded but not installed until the organization is ready.

"Auto update is an easy and efficient way to keep all of our staff up-to-date with the most current Project Client release," said Jennifer Ricker, Digital Collections Manager, State Library of North Carolina.

To better support text-based collections, PDF print quality can now be specified in the Project Client, enabling users to select a quality level when generating optional print versions of their compound objects. For users with large, full-text collections, several enhancements improve performance and reduce indexing times. Other enhancements include the addition of a new thesaurus, Canadian Subject Headings (CSH), and configuration options to filter hits in Usage Reports.

This new release is available to current CONTENTdm licensees at no additional charge.

CONTENTdm Digital Collection Management Software makes everything in digital collections available to everyone, everywhere. No matter the format—local history archives, newspapers, books, maps, slide libraries or audio/video—CONTENTdm can handle the storage, management and delivery of digital collections to users across the Web.

Learn more at www.oclc.org/contentdm/

How can cultural heritage institutions legally use the Internet to improve public access to the rich collections they hold?

A new digitization manual from Peter Hirtle, Cornell University Library’s senior policy advisor, can help professionals at these institutions answer that question."Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for Digitization for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums," published by Cornell University Library, is based on a well-received Australian manual written by Emily Hudson and Andrew T. Kenyon of the University of Melbourne, and it conforms to American law and practice. See more information about this publication here: http://communications.library.cornell.edu/com/news/PressReleases/manual.cfm

Well, he doesn’t seem to have a thorough knowledge of interlibrary loan, but Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and technology president, does make some interesting points about the Google Books project in an Op-Ed for the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/opinion/09brin.html

Nylink’s position is expressed in a joint objection from Lyrasis, NYLINK, and the Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR), which states that, while the settlement “has the potential to provide unprecedented public access to a digital library containing millions of books,” if not modified, it could lead to “unwarranted exclusion of library consortia.”

They said that the term “Institutional Consortium” is defined as including members of the International Coalition of Library Consortia with the exception of OCLC-affiliated networks. They said that there’s no consensus as to the definition of OCLC-affiliated network and that, even if there were, the understanding became moot because of recent changes in OCLC business arrangements.

Because of the many objections received by the court, the Google Book Settlement has been delayed. An amended version must be submitted by November 9th. Significant amendments were suggested by the Open Book Alliance, a group opposing the settlement that represents companies like Microsoft and Amazon (and NYLA), the nonprofit Internet Archive, and trade groups like American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), but the revision will most likely address Justice Department concerns regarding specific clauses.

Nylink is now partnering with METRO, BCR, Lyrasis and ExLibris on a series of digital preservation workshops.  Nylink members are entitled to a special discount.  Please contact us at dowlingd@nylink.org to get the discount code before you register.  Registration and more information can be found at METRO.

The Digital Preservation Workshop Series

Organized by METRO in collaboration with Nylink, Lyrasis, BCR and ExLibris.

Preservation of digital resources is a concern for any institution charged with stewarding born-digital and converted digital resources. This three-workshop series, sponsored in part by ExLibris, brings nationally recognized digital preservation experts to METRO to address digital preservation issues and the tools and strategies necessary for policy and plan implementation.

As part of a collaborative agreement between Nylink and the Metropolitan New York Library Council, Nylink members are able to register for this series at a discounted rate Take advantage of discount rates if you register for all three sessions ($150 off), or sign up 2 out of three. Note: the first workshop is recommended as a pre-requisite for the second and/or third workshops.

Nylink members, please email Deidre Dowling at dowlingd@nylink.org to receive the Nylink member discount code needed for registration.

Register for the entire series ($450) here: http://bit.ly/a5f63.

About the Series:
The Digital Preservation Workshop Series is organized by the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) in collaboration with Lyrasis, BCR, and Nylink. The series will feature the following three one-day workshops:

November 4, 2009
Assuring Long Term Access to Digital Collections:
An Introduction to Digital Preservation
Instructors: Tom Clareson (Lyrasis) and Liz Bishoff (BCR)
Scope: Focusing on the concept that “digital preservation begins at creation,” this session will review the most important concepts for preserving digital assets, look at actions to implement a digital preservation program, and preview some of the open source and commercial digital preservation tools and systems available to libraries and cultural heritage institutions.
Register for this class ($175 for Nylink Members) here: http://bit.ly/16buza.
December 16, 2009
Risk Assessment for Digital Collections
Instructors: Tom Clareson (Lyrasis) and Liz Bishoff (BCR)
Scope: This second in a three-part workshop series on digital preservation focuses on some of the common problems in preserving digital material, and helps participants learn how to assess the risks to their own digital collections, including but not limited to those risks associated with the digital collections, technology, personnel, environmental risks, and legal and financial issues.  Based on the risk assessment, attendees will be able to begin development of their digital preservation plan.
Register for this class ($175 for Nylink Members) here: http://bit.ly/vyB07.

January 28, 2010
Digital Preservation Tools, Systems, and Services
Instructor: Tyler Walters (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Scope: This third in a three-part workshop series on digital preservation focuses on the emerging technological frameworks and systems for digital preservation.  This session provides special emphasis on tools that cultural memory organizations can implement in-house, including commercial and open source components, systems, and services as ExLibris Rosetta, JHOVE, Bagit, LOCKSS, iRODS, and DuraSpace.
Register for this class ($175 for Nylink members) here: http://bit.ly/3TyDqm.
For more information, contact training@metro.org or call 212-228-2320 x19

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York, has posted a couple of dozen brief film clips on YouTube highlighting FDR, his wife Eleanor, and their activities during his three terms as president. There are home movies, newsreel footage, and more, some silent, some with sound. View these fascinating films here.

This month, four collections from the CONTENTdm Collection of Collections are featured on the OCLC Web site. The featured collections for August are JCPenney Dynamo Digital Collection, Campi Phlegraei, Observations on the Volcanoes of the Two Sicilies, Digital METRO New York and Carlton R. Stewart Slide Collection.
Digital METRO New York

[Metropolitan New York Library Resources Council]
These Digital Collections created by members of the Metropolitan New York Library Council include scrapbooks, handbills, sheet music, trade cards, religious materials, photographs, letters, and postcards. Contributing institutions include Brooklyn College, Brooklyn Public Library, CUNY Graduate Center, Greenburgh Public Library, Lehman College, Maritime College, Queens College, and Yeshiva University.
These are just a few of the many outstanding digital collections created by CONTENTdm users. To access the entire Collection of Collections go to www.oclc.org/contentdm/collections/.

Questions about CONTENTdm? Please contact OCLC’s Support department by phone at 1-800-848-5800 and follow the prompts, or by e-mail at support@oclc.org, for more information about this update.

Venue: ICPSR, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, October 11-16, 2009
The Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) will host the October 2009 Digital Preservation Management workshop, originally developed at Cornell University Library by Anne R Kenney and Nancy Y McGovern.

This workshop series, developed with funding from NEH, is aimed at managers at organizations who are or will be responsible for digital preservation. The workshop begins on Sunday evening with an opening session, continues Mon-Thursday 9am – 5pm, and concludes Friday at noon. Additional information about the workshop content and logistics is available at: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/dpm/workshops/fiveday.html.
Questions? Contact digital-preservation@icpsr.umich.edu

Based on Nylink’s 35-year history of serving the libraries of New York State our expert staff has a well-informed understanding of library issues and opportunities that enables Nylink to help you save money and time at your library. The experience and ingenuity of our professional staff lead to creative solutions for technical services, resource sharing, and reference needs. We provide a strong personal touch – you always talk to a person, not a machine, when you face a dilemma or need a helping hand. Every day, Nylink members get unlimited access to Nylink’s advice and counsel for metadata and technical services, resource sharing, digitization, financial services, and electronic resources management. Nylink Professional Solutions are also available to non-members on a quarterly or annual subscription basis.