Nylink is proud to now offer products from TD Net an innovative information solution company that provides technology to help libraries to effectively manage and utilize their electronic resources.

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- Have you ever wondered if all the hard work you are putting into starting a digital collection is worth while?

- Are you thinking of starting a digital collection, but are unsure if the work is warranted?

A recent series of threads on the CONTENTdm listserv asked just those questions. The question was:

We are deeply saddened to inform you of the death of our friend and colleague, Jane C. Neale, Nylink’s Information Technology Coordinator. Jane fought a valiant but brief battle with cancer with courage, grace and determination.

Jane joined Nylink in 1998 and was at work until last week, serving and supporting our members. Jane was an integral part of our staff and her quick wit and bright, cheerful and positive attitude are just some of what we will miss.

Final arrangements are being made at this time and will be shared at a later time. Thank you for your thoughts and compassion as we get through this difficult time.

http://nylink.org/staff/janebio.cfm

Just in case you haven’t seen the NY Times article that was published July 8th – here’s a link to “A Hipper Crowd of Shushers.”

The article profiles younger librarians and their influence on librarianship – which makes me wonder, which came first: young librarians who helped change the perception of librarianship and increased the use of innovative technology – or – a more innovative use of technology in librarianship, which attracted younger librarians?

LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) State grant program funds had been restored to the $171.5 million originally set by President Bush.

Rep. Grijalva (D-AZ) has added language to a House Bill that would incluinclude MLS librarians along with teachers under a provision for $5,000 in “discretionary loan forgiveness” for Perkins educational loans as long as the librarians in question are serving in a poverty area

Among the many legislative initiatives reported at this meeting were two bi-partisan bills that would enhance important open government laws, including the Freedom of Information Act, the Presidential Records Act and whistleblower protections.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Amendments of 2007 HR 1309 introduced by Rep. Clay (D-MO) with two co-sponsors, includes reforms to reduce backlogs and delays in responding to FOIA requests; provides incentives for agency compliance; and in general, strengthens FOIA. (Passed 308-117).

The OPEN Government Act of 2007 (S. 849), introduced by Sen. Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) with nine co-sponsors, is similar to HR 1309 and was reported out of the Judiciary Committee in April 2007.

Librarians wishing to keep up to date on the latest issues before Congress should note the following sites: http://www.ala.org/washoff for ALA Washington Office. http://www.ala.org/ogr ALA Office of Government Relations. http://www.ala.org/oitp. For the Legislative Action Center updates and to learn how to help ALAWO http://www.capwiz.com/ala For copyright updates: http://www.ala.org/copyright

This year’s Annual Conference held in Washington DC set a record attendance 28,228, surpassing the previous record from 2005 of 27,962.
One of the many interesting programs was Moving Mountains:Exciting Trends in Library Delivery Services. Presenters Brenda Baley, Valerie Horton and Bruce Smith spoke about the Moving Mountains project which grew out of a 2006 Symposium held in Denver, some of their experiences and many of their ideas for creating a more efficient larger delivery project.
Brenda spoke about the history of the project, while Valerie spoke about creating a National Courier Service. Valerie addressed some of the challenges that would need to be solved, like consistant labeling, and standard packaging. Valerie proposed a nationwide system with 4-6 regions that would piggyback on existing courier services but would be managed regionally. Bruce spoke about how to handle volume, from his experience managing a very large delivery service in Wisconsin. Brenda closed the session speaking about home delviery.
Excellent speakers with obvious experience their’s is a vision with great potential. For more information check out the following websites:
http://www.clicweb.org/movingmountains/
http://www.clicweb.org/movingmountains/agenda.html)
http://rethinkingresourcesharing.org/

“The paper e-book” title snared my attention right away on the if:book blog. They were writing about Manolis Kelaidis’ BlueBook which integrates circuits into a paper book, allowing text and images to be links. (Kelaidis is a Designer at the Royal College of Art and recently spoke at an O’Reilly conference.) When a user presses one of these links a corresponding element opens on a nearby computer screen. Think dictionary for looking up words you stumble on when reading or images of art work/projects mentioned in the text.

Read if:book’s blog entry which give a full overview of the process involved and some of the questions that arise relating to the future of books.

For pictures of the BlueBook, check out Booktwo.org’s Flickr photo page – you might also want to read their article on BlueBook.

The if:book blog can be found at http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/.

The O’Reilly blog post about this (Kelaidis recently spoke at their “Tools of Change for Publishing Conference”), “bLink: Completing the Connection Between Analog and Digital,” has more of an overview and some interesting discussion of the project and its implications.

Going Digital and Getting it Out There!

There has been a lot of talk lately about positioning digital collections in different digital environments for added visibility. People have been adding their digitized images to entries in wikipedia, OCLC has been harvesting digital collections from CONTENTdm to WorldCat.org*and Open WorldCat, and the latest addition to this trend is the application “Digital Past” on Facebook.

Developed by Ian Baaske of the North Suburban Library System in Illinois, the application allows facebook users to search their digital collection, add digital images from the collection to their photos and comment on them. So far over 100 users have downloaded the free application. The application does not bring the user out of facebook and into their website, but rather allows complete searching inside of facebook.

Digital Past is an innovative way to enhance access. On a post in facebook from June 21st, Ian said that they will be releasing the code soon so other libraries can share their collections too! What a great application to help college students access historical digital images where they are.

* For an example of digital collection in WorldCat.org, go to www.worldcat.org and search for “Klondike Nugget Excursion.” Click on the first entry and notice in the metadata a url for a web resource. If you click on the url you are brought to: content.lib.washington.edu, University of Washington’s CONTENTdm website and directly to the object.