Thursday, February 28, 2008

Report: Official Proceedings of the New Skills for a Digital Era Colloquium

Quoting Jeanne Kramer-Smyth from SpellBound Blog:

From May 31st through June 2nd of 2006, The National Archives, the Arizona State Library and Archives, and the Society of American Archivists hosted a colloquium to consider the question “What are the practical, technical skills that all library and records professionals must have to work with e-books, electronic records, and other digital materials?”. The website for the New Skills for a Digital Era colloquium already includes links to the eleven case studies considered over the course of the three days of discussion as well as a list of additional suggested readings. As mentioned over on The Ten Thousand Year Blog, the pre-print of the proceedings has been available since August, 2007.As announced in SAA’s online newsletter, the Official Proceedings of the New Skills for a Digital Era Colloquium, edited by Richard Pearce-Moses and Susan E. Davis, is now available for free download. Published under Creative Commons Attribution, this document is 143 pages long and includes all the original case studies.

This report likely has useful information in it for those who are -- or will be -- dealing with electronic records, institutions repositories and digital archives.


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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

For New Yorkers: Members of the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries visit state legislators

Today I made my first visit to state legislators in Albany, NY. Member of the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries, along with Regent James Dawson and staff of the State Library [including State Librarian Janet Welch and Jeffrey W. Cannell, Deputy Commissioner for Cultural Education] visited at least 12 members of the Assembly and State Senators or their staff. I met with:
  • Mr. Chris Fowler, staff member of Assemblywoman Joan Christensen (119th Assembly District) [my representative in the Assembly]
  • Assemblyman John McEneny (104th Assembly District)
  • Mr. Steve Long, staff member of Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito (116th Assembly District)
  • State Senator John DeFrancisco (Senate District 50) [my representative in the Senate]
  • Ms. Kate Hogan, staff member of State Senator John Flanagan (Senate District 2)
Information on the funding request for 2008 - 2009 proposed by the NYS Regents, which we referenced during our visits, can be found here.

Tuesdays are "lobby day" this time of year, so there were many people in the Legislative Office Building (LOB) and State Capitol trying to see their legislators. Not only did that mean lines to get through security and crowded elevators, it also meant that legislators weren't just hearing from us about the state budget; they were hearing from many others (and that was just today). If also meant that space was at times a premium. One of our meetings (with Fowler) had to be held in a hallway because another group was meeting in the office.

What stood out to me today?
  • Besides the numbers, legislators want to know the impact of the potential funding.
  • Stories about the impact of the lack of funding are helpful.
  • Meaningful statistics help such as the average cost for all children and young adult hardcover books was $21.60, yet the governor's budget for school library materials is $6.25 per pupil.
    • Here's another statistic that made people stop and think -- New York ranks 41 among the 50 U.S. states in per capita spending on statewide Internet resources in 2006, declining from the rank of 35 in 2005. New York lags behind other states including New Jersey, Virginia, Ohio, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and North Carolina in providing state support for statewide Internet library services.
  • One legislator suggested that we present information from businesses and the impact NYS libraries have had on them. Economic development is important in NYS, so examples that demonstrate that library services are helping economic development would be useful.
  • Legislators remember when large groups have come to advocate for their concerns. I have heard that many bus loads of people come to Albany for Library Lobby Day. Coming as a large, recognizable group helps. There is power in numbers.
    • Now we need to get library users in NYS to visit their legislators in their district offices or in Albany -- in large numbers -- in order to advocate for library support.
  • Stories really help. Given that "a picture is worth a 1000 words," I think photographs that illustrate construction needs could be very powerful as well as photographs that show people using library facilities, people crowded into inadequate library space, etc.
    • I wonder if a library could do a time-lapse video that showed the foot traffic and usage that it gets? Or video of people talking about library resources (the good and the bad)?
Tomorrow I have a two-hour meeting with members of the State Education Department to talk about digitization. (I am representing the Regents Advisory Council.) The fact is that New York State does not yet have a statewide digitization program. (Another place where we are lagging behind.) After that, it's back to Syracuse. I hope the snow ends by then!


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Audience? User? Reader? Visitor?

Someone, who found the IST677 blog that my students have, asked the following questions. I've asked my students to respond the the questions. I've also liked to hear from you on this:
Are the terms "audience[s]," "user[s]," "reader[s]" and/or "visitor[s]" interchangeable or synonymous when thinking about and evaluating a digital project? And, ramping back a bit, what biases or assumptions with regard to "audiences" (broadly defined) are you and your students bringing to bear in evaluating such [digitization] projects?
The person noted that different types of organizations (e.g., museums) use different words. He wonders if there are inherent differences in these words OR in how we perceive the words?

Please leave comments with your thoughts. ALL thoughts are truly welcome.


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Friday, February 22, 2008

Event: VSMM 2008 Call for Papers

From the Digital-Preservation list.


VSMM 2008 Call for Papers

"Digital Heritage: Our Hi-tech-STORY for the Future"

Technologies to Document, Preserve, Communicate,
and Prevent the Destruction of our Fragile Cultural Heritage
October 20. - 26th, 2008
Limassol, Cyprus

http://www.vsmm2008.org

Invitation: You are kindly invited to submit a paper to the VSMM 2008 joint conference which will provide an opportunity to exchange research results, opinions, experiences and proposals on the best practice and hi-tech tools from Information and Communications Technology to document, preserve, manage and communicate Cultural Heritage (CH). The main goal of the event is not only to illustrate the programs underway but also excellent work wherever it is located and however it is supported, in order to promote a common approach to the tasks of e-documentation of World Cultural Heritage. Furthermore, regional capacities in the area of Cultural Heritage and IT will be facilitated in advancing their know-how through the exchange of information and
generation of new ideas and cooperation's, where the world meets the finger prints of several ancient civilizations on earth.

To reach this ambitious goal the topics covered will include experiences in the use of innovative recording technologies & methods and how to take best advantage to integrate the results obtained to build up new tools and/or experiences as well as improved methodologies for documenting, managing and communicating CH.

The VSMM 2008 joint event will focus on interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary research concerning both cutting edge Cultural Heritage Informatics and use of technology for the representation, documentation, preservation, archiving and communication of CH knowledge. The scope includes every phase of CH information technology: initial data capture/digitization, information/data processing, reconstruction, visualization and documentation as well as dissemination of results to the scientific and cultural heritage communities and to the general public (Multilingua, Multimedia Digital Library). We are also interested in aspects of the wider legal and ethical responsibilities of Cultural Heritage Informatics. Research subjects parallel the interests of VSMM, CIPA, ISPRS and EuroMed
including culturally significant monuments, artefacts and sites as well as the activities of museums, libraries, archives, and organizations involved with their care.

Topics: Those researchers who wish to participate in this event are invited to submit papers on original and unpublished work addressing the following subjects:
  • Data Acquisition Technologies focusing on Photogrammetry and Laser scanning, 3D Data Capture and Processing in CH
  • On-site and remotely sensed data collection
  • 2D and 3D GIS in Cultural Heritage
  • CAD and FEM based Digital Reconstructions and 3D Modelling
  • Reproduction Techniques and Rapid Prototyping in CH
  • Visualisation Techniques (desktop, Virtual and Augmented Reality)
  • Virtual Reality in Archaeology and Historical Research
  • Multimedia, Multilingua, Data Management and Archiving
  • Construction and indexing of large scale Multimedia/Multilingua
  • Encyclopaedias in Cultural Heritage
  • Computer Animation for CH Applications and Virtual Heritage
  • Game Technologies in Cultural Heritage
  • Non-Photorealistic Rendering of CH Data
  • Virtual Museum Applications (e-Museums and e-Exhibitions)
  • Digital/Virtual Documentation of Archaeological Excavations
  • Novel Internet-based Cultural Heritage Applications
  • Portals of Culture
  • Usability, Effectiveness and Interface Design for CH Applications
  • Innovative Graphics Applications and Techniques
  • Interactive Environments and Applications
  • e-Libraries and e-Archives in Cultural Heritage
  • National Digital Libraries as cross-domain systems
  • Long term availability of content and its long term accessibility
  • Effective IC-Technologies for the creation, management and reuse of content and knowledge
  • Storytelling and authoring tools
  • e-Learning in Cultural Heritage
  • Tools for Education, Documentation and Training in CH
  • Archaeological Analysis and Interpretive Design
  • Standards, Metadata, Ontologies and Semantic Processing in Cultural Heritage
  • Authentication, Accreditation and Digital Rights Management
  • Legal issues: Water-Marking, Orphan Works, Copyrights and IPR
  • Professional and Ethical Guidelines
  • The Economics of Cultural Informatics and Tourism
  • Natural and Man initiated deconstruction of Cultural Heritage and prevention techniques.
  • ICT assistance in monitoring and restoration.
Submission of Papers: Submissions for the joint event are completely electronic, and both the paper and all supplementary material must be submitted through the on-line submission website. The conference accepts only original, unpublished work written in English. We are soliciting three types of contributions:
  • Full research papers presenting new innovative results. These paperswill have a full-length oral presentation and will be published in ahigh-quality proceedings volume. Each submitted paper must not exceed8 pages in total.
  • Project papers focusing on the description of project organization,use of technology, and lesson learned. These papers will have a shortoral presentation and will be included in a "Projects & Short Papers"proceedings volume. Each submitted paper must not exceed 8 pages intotal..
  • Short papers presenting preliminary ideas and works-in-progress.These papers will have a short oral presentation and will be availableas posters in conference breaks. They will be published in the"Projects & Short Papers" proceedings volume. Each submitted papermust not exceed 6 pages in total.
For information concerning style and format of all submissions, please refer to:
http://www.vsmm2008.org and then choose Paper Submissions.

Important Dates:
  • Abstract (full-/project-/short papers): June 2nd, 2008
  • Paper submission full papers June 16th, 2008
  • Paper submission project/short papers June 30th, 2008
  • Notification of Refereeing results July 31st, 2008
  • Camera ready FULL papers to printer August 24th, 2008
  • Camera ready PROJECT/SHORT papers to printer August 29th, 2008
  • Proposals for showcases/ demo's June 30th, 2008
For more information about the joint conference please visit the webpage: http://www.vsmm2008.org
or directly contact the chair of the event at: chairman@vsmm2008.org.

The event is in cooperation with the European Commission Projects:


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Miss Jill goes to Albany

I will be out of the office for most of next week, including a two-day trip to Albany, NY and then two different workshops (including Promotion & Use of Digital Projects). So if I blog very little, you'll know why.

On Tuesday, members of the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries will visit NY state legislators in order to advocate for increased library funding. This is the first time that I'll be doing this, so everything about it is new to me -- where to park, what to say, what homework I need to do before going, etc. We've been told that we will meet with the legislators or members of their staff, depending on the legislators' schedules. I've heard that sometimes the time you get to spend with them is brief, so you have to be prepared to make you pitch quickly. (The two legislators from my area are Assemblywoman Joan Christensen and Senator John DeFrancisco.)

In two weeks, many librarians in NYS will descend on Albany by car and bus in order to advocate for increased spending, so our visit next week is a prelude (or warm up) to the larger event. I hope that all of us have a positive impact.

BTW I grew up about a mile from the State Capitol in Harrisburg, PA. Getting to the Capitol building was a easy walk -- no negotiating parking garages! Being close to the State Capitol also meant that I used the State Library regularly to research school projects. In fact, I never went to the Harrisburg Public Library because of my close proximity to the State Library. So, I'm looking forward to seeing the State Library in Albany. I hope it is as awe inspiring.


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Thursday, February 21, 2008

Event: Copyright Monopoly: Playing the innovation game

From the Digital-Copyright list.
8th Annual Symposium
Copyright Monopoly: Playing the innovation game
May 28-30, 2008
in Metro Washington, D.C.
http://www.umuc.edu/CIP2008/

Are you stuck on your next move? Join the Center for Intellectual Property, a trusted source of accessible professional development programming, and learn how to create a winning strategy for managing your creations and the use of third party copyrighted works. Sit down with noted scholars and practitioners exploring the relationship between the U.S. copyright monopoly, technological innovation and higher education institutions.

Programming highlights include:

Meet Some of the Players- James Boyle, Georgia Harper, Gigi Sohn, Patrick Ross, Lolly Gasaway, and many, many more! http://www.umuc.edu/cip/symposium/speakers.shtml

Honing Your Skills- Check out one of the intensive pre-conferences: Public Domain & Fair Use or Copyright 101 http://www.umuc.edu/cip/symposium/preconference.shtml

The Hottest Game of the Season- Sign up for the new management track: Institute for Copyright & Leadership Management (ICLM) http://www.umuc.edu/cip/symposium/institute.shtml

We urge you to check out the website for more information on this year's exciting events, including: "Game Night", our Opening Night reception, focused roundtables & the "Re-mix Contest". TO register for the 2008 Symposium see http://tinyurl.com/ypg33b

- - 2008 Institute for Copyright Leadership & Management (ICLM) - -

In addition to the full symposium agenda, the Center for Intellectual Property (CIP) has partnered with the National Leadership Institute (NLI) to bring to you a unique program that promises to meet the needs of many institutions struggling to better manage the changes in copyright law. The goal of the Institute is to increase participants' capacity for change management and to lead copyright initiatives on their campuses.

Register today to take advantage of the early bird rates. Please see the site for logistics & ICLM Team Discounts!

To join the ICLM Symposium cohort or register for the symposium:
http://tinyurl.com/ypg33b


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Press Release: JPEG 2000 a great step forward for the archival community

I've been keeping my eyes open for JPEG2000 info and this crossed my desk this morning.



JPEG 2000 a great step forward for the archival community

The Digital Preservation Coalition has examined JPEG 2000 in a report published today. The report concludes that JPEG 2000 represents a great stride forward for the archival community. The format now allows for greater compression rates and a recompression rate that is visually lossless.

The findings come as the Digital Preservation Coalition launch its latest Technology Watch Report written by Dr. Robert Buckley, a Research Fellow with Xerox, ‘JPEG 2000 – a practical digital preservation standard?’. The report looks in-depth at the new format and the challenges it has to cope with. JPEG 2000 is widely used to collect and distribute a variety of images from geospatial, medical imaging, digital cinema, and image repositories to networked images. Interest in JPEG 2000 is now growing in the archival and library sectors, as institutions look for more efficient formats to store the results of major digitisation programmes.

The report is aimed at organisations involved in the management and storage of digital information. The in-depth report will help archives, libraries and other institutions make informed decisions about JPEG 2000 format and their future storage needs.

JPEG 2000 can reduce storage requirements by an order of magnitude compared to an uncompressed TIFF file. Dr. Buckley says, “This new format has come at a time of heightened awareness about the access to digital documents. Any format that can assist archives and libraries to do this is welcome.”

The format will also enable users to open as much of the file as they need at that time. This means a viewer, for example, could open a gigapixel image almost instantly. This is achieved by retrieving a decompressed low–resolution display sized image from the JPEG 2000 codestream. Coupled with this, the users’ ability to zoom, pan and rotate an image have been enhanced.

Adrian Brown, head of digital preservation, The National Archives said: “This is a very timely addition to the DPC's Technology Watch Report series as many organisations are themselves reviewing the JPEG2000 format. This concise, comprehensive and clear guide will be of interest to practitioners across the digital preservation community.”

The report concludes that JPEG 2000 offers much more flexibility and features than JPEG, but at the cost of greater complexity. It is however a great stride forward, and of major significance for the information management community.

To download a pdf of the report please go to: www.dpconline.org/graphics/reports/index.html#twr0801

For further information please contact, Tim Matthews, tim.matthews@nationalarchives.gov.uk, or 020 8392 5277.

For further information on the DPC please contact, Frances Boyle, fb@dpconline.org or 01904 435320.

About The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC)

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is a cross sectoral member organisation established in 2001 to foster joint action to address the urgent challenges of securing the preservation of digital resources in the UK and to work with others internationally.



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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Report: The Preservation of Digital Materials

According to Priscella Caplan, "This issue of Library Technology Reports is intended to provide a relatively brief, relatively comprehensive introduction to digital preservation." You can read more about this report here. A subscription to Library Technology Reports costs $325/year.

In 2005, Caplan chaired the group that wrote the report Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata.


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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Digitization-related books

I received an email today asking why bloggers, etc., don't talk frequently about books that are available on digitization and digital preservation. I think it is because we're drawn to what is truly new and curent. In addition, book content is generally not immediate accessible. With digitization, there is a lot of excellent content on the Internet and available for free. Perhaps we -- bloggers -- wrongly point to that more frequently than to hardcopy books that are excellent resources, but not immediately viewable.

I had received a catalogue from Neal Schuman and was going to look through it for relevant books. The email message prompted me to do it today, instead of procrastinating. I'm including links below to the books on Amazon.com and Neal Schuman, both of which provide online ordering.


Link to Neal Schuman site

Link to Neal Schuman site

Link to Neal Schuman site

Link to Neal Schuman site

Link to Neal Schuman site

Link to Neal Schuman site

Link to Neal Schuman site

Link to Neal Schuman site


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Monday, February 18, 2008

Blog post: My (our) StoryCorps Adventure (and info on digital audio)

Susan Kitchens has done an excellent blog post on her StoryCorps experience. StoryCorps goes around the country recording people's stories. The post and comments contain useful information on the equipment they are using to create digital audio.

For those of you that want to add original audio content to your programs (e.g., oral histories), Kitchens' post will be of interest.


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Friday, February 15, 2008

Are you part of the scenario?

Another tragedy struck a college campus yesterday in the U.S. Schools used to be safe places, but we can't assume that anymore.

In 2002, the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University (SU) began building scenarios for what changes my occur over the next 10 years and how the School would need to respond. For example, it was becoming more difficult for foreign students to receive U.S. visas. How would that impact a program that attracted a high percentage of foreign students? Would that mean offering more online classes? And how would that impact the School's resources?

Your organizations may be creating their own scenarios concerning the impact of the economy, the impact of environment (and green initiatives), changes in the workforce, and changes security -- not only the security of employees and customers, but also the security of the building and collections.

As you are planning a digital collection, think about the various scenarios that could occur and how they may impact what you are doing. Think of as many "what ifs" as possible -- both positive and negative -- and then consider their impact on you.

Now think about how your digital collections could play a positive role in a scenario. If people begin to fear public spaces, could your digital collections provide information and experiences to them in the safety of their own homes?

By the way, scenarios take a while to develop, so don't try to do one in a minute (if you're truly serious about it). The team I was on at SU took months to talk and to develop several scenarios. We had to do research as well as bounce ideas off of each other. In the end, we presented them to a larger group, who then looked at what we might do now in order to be ready for the different futures that could come to pass. As time passes, we'll know if the scenarios helped the School plan correctly.


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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Blog post: Is JPEG Good Enough for Archival Masters?

The Disruptive Library Technology Jester discusses the Universal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines (UPDIG) for image creators. And...yes...they are talking about JPEG, not JPEG2000. Alhough this is a document more appropriate for photographers, it is interesting to note that some believe that certain JPEG files can be archived as the "master file" rather than a TIFF. Given the specifications for that type of JPEG file, I wonder if people will remember that not all JPEG files are worthy of replacing TIFF images? Or will this information be misused?


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Monday, February 11, 2008

Article: Rip This Book? Not Yet.

The question posed in the article is whether consumer book digitization is something that we're on the verge of seeing. Steven Levy, the article's author, believes that the fact that consumers can purchase their own book digitization equipment shows that the industry will soon go through some turbulence. Imagine people digitizing their own book collections so they can decide which books to carry with them? (As we now carry our music with us.) What would that do to the industry if people really could digitize books themselves?

Levi did test the BookSnap by Atiz and said:
Then I tested a BookSnap for myself. Short verdict: not a revolution. More a thud than a snap, the device—an ominous three-foot high construction draped with a thick black darkroom-style shade—looks like a Goth puppet theater and weighs 44 pounds. Under the shade is an angled cradle for a book and a glass platen to hold the pages down during scanning. You turn the pages yourself. It costs $1,600, not including the two Canon digital cameras (about $500 each) necessary to capture the page images and send them to your computer, where software transforms the pictures into files that can be read on a screen or an e-book reader. It takes considerable fiddling to get images set up properly. Supposedly, once you get started you can digitize 500 pages per hour, much faster and at higher quality than with flatbed scanners (which are much cheaper but not optimized for book scanning). I never got that far, but I imagine such a feat would require considerable caffeination.
The first version of a new product is what sets the stage for what follows. Can the equipment get smaller? Sleeker? Easier? Time will tell.


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Friday, February 08, 2008

Trends in eRepositories (video)

E-Info Global Symposium has placed videos of the presentations given at that conference online, with more to come. The videos are on the E-Info web site and on Google Video. Below is a link the video of my presentation (37 min.). Notes from the presentation are here, along with a link to the PowerPoint.




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Thursday, February 07, 2008

Resources on digitization project management

On Tuesday, Jeff asked a question on the IMAGELIB discuss list about locating "a recent, up-to-date handbook or guide to digitization project management, in particular with practical advice for building digital image databases." Responses came from around the world and, as I promised the group, I am posting the list of resources here. You'll notice that some of the resources may not be on-target (according to Jeff's criteria), but they are ones that people felt should be mentioned. If you know of resources that you think should be mentioned, please leave a comment on this blog post. We will all be very grateful!

BTW one of the things I noted is that something written earlier in this decade may still be good. In my mind, we gained enough knowledge in the 1990s in order to be clear now about what digitization is and how it should be done.


The Resources
  • Jill Marie Koelling. Digital Imaging: A Practical Approach. AltaMira Press, 2004.
  • Anne R. Kenney and Oya Y. Rieger, Moving Theory into Practice: Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives. Mountain View, CA: Research Libraries Group, Inc., 2000.



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Event: CeBIT 4-9 March 2008

Well, first of all there is an event called CeBIT. As it says below:
CeBIT is the world's largest trade fair showcasing the state of the art in information technology. Held in Hannover, Germany, it typically attracts over 400,000 visitors and 5,000 exhibitors each year. CeBIT has been regarded as the leading business event for digital technology. For more details see the exhibition program http://www.cebit.de/program.
In addition, there are digital preservation techniques being displayed at one of the booths (Stand B14, Hall 9, Future Parc). See below for more details.

To those who are able to attend this show, I hope you'll publish somewhere your thoughts on the event and on the technologies that you see.


Preserving the future - cutting edge digital preservation techniques showcased at CeBIT 4-9 March 2008 Stand B14, Hall 9, Future Parc

The latest digital preservation research and technology developments and their relevance to the industry will be showcased at the stand ‘We preserve – European Digital Preservation Initiatives’.

Prototype software tools which can help organisations address core digital preservation challenges will be demonstrated by the partners DPE, PLANETS, CASPAR and nestor.

DPE, Planets and CASPAR are strategic projects co-funded by the European Union under its Sixth Framework Programme. nestor, the German network of expertise in long-term digital preservation, is a cooperative project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

CeBIT is the world's largest trade fair showcasing the state of the art in information technology. Held in Hannover, Germany, it typically attracts over 400,000 visitors and 5,000 exhibitors each year. CeBIT has been regarded as the leading business event for digital technology. For more details see the exhibition program http://www.cebit.de/program.

CeBIT Exhibition Day Passes, with a value of €38, are available for FREE to all members of the DPE, Planets, CASPAR and nestor user communities.

Registration to our user communities is quick, simple and free.

For DPE, visit http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/mou/register/

or email Emily Witham at: E.witham@hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk

For Planets, email info@planets-project.eu

For CASPAR, visit http://www.casparpreserves.eu/createMember

For nestor, email m.jehn@d-nb.de


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Wednesday, February 06, 2008

LOCKKS vs. CLOCKSS

Amy from Stanford University Libraries contacted me with an updated version of the LOCKKS vs. CLOCKSS table mentioned on Feb. 1. You can view it here.


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Project & Program (definition)

I often find myself defining these two words during a workshop and trying to make a distinction between the two. We talk about digitization projects as well as digitization programs, but what is the difference? This is what I say...

A project has a defined beginning and end. Resources -- e.g., staff and funding -- are allocated specifically for the length of the project. Projects are often not integrated into an organization's mission and goals. Many digitization efforts have been projects.

A program is ongoing. It is part of what the organization does both now and in the future. A program is part of the organization's mission and not something that might be considered an after-thought. A program receives ongoing funding. It has people to attend to it ongoing basis. Although some digitization programs are called projects, a look at the details will tell you if it is something that is meant to end or something that will be ongoing.


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Tuesday, February 05, 2008

My late winter and spring schedule

Gear Up! Digitization 101 workshopI just noticed that the RSScalendar on the left side of this blog isn't working, and I have no idea why. Hopefully it will correct itself soon. 2/21/2008: I've changed the RSS Calendar twice on the left side of this blog. They made changes to their feeds and have eliminated the feed I really liked. Hopefully, they'll build new feeds so that I can display what is coming this year, without displaying the entire year (and events that have passed).

Although Punxsutawney Phil -- the most famous groundhog in Pennsylvania -- has predicted six more weeks of winter, however, spring will be here very quickly and along with it, some great conferences like Computers in Libraries (April) and the Special Libraries Association Annual Conference (June). I'll be at both of those events (as well as others), and I hope to see you then. Perhaps for coffee?

Here is my current speaking and travel schedule for the next five months, as well as the dates of two conferences that I'm helping to organize:
  • Feb. 28 -- Presentation and panel discussion, ASTD CNY Chapter Event on Second Life, East Syracuse, NY
  • Feb. 29 -- Workshop, Promotion & Use of Digital Projects, Cortland, NY (SCRLC & CLRC)
  • Mar. 4 -- Organizing Committee, Unconference on the Future of Libraries, East Syracuse, NY -- part of the Library Camp@Syracuse
  • Mar. 5 -- Organizing Committee, Collection Development Conference, East Syracuse, NY -- part of the Library Camp@Syracuse
  • Mar. 18 -- Presentation, Tour of InfoIsland, Second Life (web conference for Education Institute)
  • Mar. 19 -- Presentation, Second Life & Libraries, Wheeling, IL (North Suburban Library System)
  • Mar. 27 -- Presentation, Social Networking Tools & Second Life, Cortland, NY (Postponed from December due to the weather)
  • Apr. 6 -- Workshop, Digitization 101, Crystal City, VA (Computers in Libraries)
  • June 15 -- Workshop, Digitization Essentials, Seattle, WA (SLA Annual Conference)
  • June 16 -- Panel Discussion, What's all the Buzz about Social Networking, Seattle, WA (SLA Annual Conference)
  • June 17 -- Panel Moderator, Building Bridges, Creating Partnerships, Seattle, WA (SLA Annual Conference)
The workshop at Computers in Libraries (CIL) is a half-day workshop (1:30 - 4:30 p.m.) and is open to anyone. You do not have to register for the conference in order to register for the workshop. The agenda for the workshop includes a look at what digitization is, the five major steps in the digitization process, how project managers create a successful digitization program, copyright and other intellectual property issues, how to market a digitization program and get it funded, trends, and more.

The workshop at the SLA Annual Conference is a full-day workshop (8 a.m. - 5 p.m.) and is open to anyone. You do not have to register for the conference in order to register for the workshop. The description is:
Digitization is much more than converting a physical or analog object into its digital equivalent: it efficiently repurposes crucial information resources to improve their use by staff, colleagues, and end-users. For libraries, digitization can open the collection to a much larger user-base, whether that user-base is comprised of researchers, students, or business people. A dangerous trap for digitization efforts is to focus on the conversion process instead of other, mission critical, pre-scanning issues such as selection criteria, preservation of original documents, metadata creation, software and hardware concerns, integration into existing systems, and legal issues. These issues and more will be discussed in this workshop.
Obviously, there will be much more detail in the full-day workshop. However, I promise to pack everyone's head full of information at CIL as well as provide access to resources that help them in their projects.

For more information on any of the events on my calendar, please contact the sponsoring organization or me. If you would me to speak at your event, please give me a shout.


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Digital Information Management Certificate Program at Univ. of Arizona

I've mentioned to a few people recently that it is likely hard to know which university specializes in what. For example, I know that the iSchool at Syracuse University offers a certificate in digital libraries, but I have no idea what certificate programs the other iSchools offer. Well, below is an announcement about a program now being offered at the University of Arizona in digital information management, which includes digital preservation.



Digital Information Management Certificate Program Application Deadline Extended; Scholarships available

The University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science is pleased to announce that openings are available, as well as a number of full scholarships, in the school's graduate certificate program in Digital Information Management. The program is scheduled to begin a new series of courses starting this summer. Prospects have until April 1, 2008 to apply for one of the openings and available financial aid.

DigIn, as the program is known, provides hands-on experience and focused instruction supporting careers in libraries and archives, cultural heritage institutions and digital collections, information repositories in government and the private sector and similar institutions. The certificate is comprised of six courses covering diverse topics including digital collections, applied technology, technology planning and leadership, policy and ethics, digital preservation and curation, and other subjects relevant to today's digital information environments.

For people just starting in the field or considering career changes, the DigIn certificate program offers an alternative path to graduate studies that helps prepare students for success in traditional graduate programs or the workplace. The certificate also provides a means for working professionals and those who already have advanced graduate degrees in the library and information sciences to broaden their knowledge and skills in today's rapidly evolving digital information landscape.

The program is delivered in a 100% virtual environment and has no residency requirements. Students may choose to complete the certificate in fifteen or twenty-seven months.

The certificate program has been developed in cooperation with the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records and the University of Arizona Office of Continuing Education and Academic Outreach. Major funding for program development comes from the federal government's Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which has also provided funding for a number of scholarships.

Additional details on the program including course descriptions, admissions requirements and application forms may be found on the program website at http://sir.arizona.edu/digin. Or, contact the UA School of Information Resources and Library Science by phone at 520-621-3565 or email at sirls@email.arizona.edu.


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Monday, February 04, 2008

For New Yorkers: Summary of Jan. 25 Regents Advisory Council on Libraries

On January 25, members of the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries (RAC) met by telephone for about an hour. We called in from across NYS as well as Kentucky and Florida (yes, two of us were on the road). Besides members of RAC, there were also several members of the State Library and the State Education Department that were on the call. Those people helped to provide background and other information as needed. A summary of the conference call is below.

Two things stand out to me from this meeting, and the other two that I have attended. (Note that these are my thoughts and thoughts of no one else.)

First, there are many changes that are occurring in libraries -- for example -- the use of social networking tools to provide additional ways of interacting with patrons, the use of new technologies, and the need to focus less on information delivery and more on understanding analysis/interpretation/use. Although the myriad of changes that are occurring are very important, they are likely impossible to address at a statewide level in New York State because of how our library services are structured. Part of the problem is that are too many layers (or organizations) involved. In addition, we're are focused -- due to budget concerns -- on ensuring that basic library services are provided. Therefore, while some libraries are doing phenomenal work with "new tools", others find themselves woefully behind in just understanding what the tools are and why they might be beneficial.

It would be easy to say that the solution is to get our NYS library leaders setting examples for us by adopting the tools and attitudes that we see in progressive libraries, yet we need more than just examples (since those actually do exist). We need to know that our libraries do not have to worry about basic services, so they can work on new things.

BTW I should note that the changes I'm thinking of are not topics that come up in RAC meetings. We don't discuss Library 2.0, for example. It is the absence of those topics that I notice, although I should note that these topics do get discussed in sidebars (like discussing who is doing what with Second Life).

Second, we need our libraries in NYS to be properly funded. For many years, I have been hearing the plea for our libraries to be funded in a way so they can succeed, yet that has not happened. Each year, the State budget for libraries keeps our libraries at an inadequate status quo. As the summary below states, we'll be meeting with our legislators in February. I know that I may not have enough time with my legislators (State Senator John A. DeFrancisco and Assembly Member Joan K.Christensen) to talk in detail, but here are the things I hope to convey:
  • The amount of money in the governor's budget for school library materials is $6.25 per pupil. When was the last time you bought a book for $6.25? For a class of 30 pupils, that is $187.50. In 2006, the average cost for all children and young adult hardcover books was $21.60. That means that 8.6 books could be purchased for those 30 students, including any replacement books needed. If you wonder why outdated books are in some of our school libraries, this is why.
  • The amount of money in the governor's budget for public library construction is $14 million. NYS has at least 755 public libraries and 313 library branches. That amounts to $13,109.61 per library. Consider that older libraries need to be updated, that library buildings may need repair, and that some need to be expanded, and you'll quickly realize that the construction budget for public libraries is not nearly enough.
    • Besides the public libraries and library branches, NYS also has 144 bookmobiles, reading centers and other community outlets extending services to people in correctional facilities, nursing homes and urban and rural areas.
  • The initial proposal for 2008-2009 totaled $49,300,000. While the governor's budget is much less, it is important to note that NYS has 19,306,183 residents and that the budget would have amounted to $2.55 per person. That's less than one fancy coffee per year at Starbuck's for each New Yorker.
  • When we think of library innovation, we don't think of New York State. For example, when I talk about innovative digitization programs at the state-level, I point to North Carolina, Ohio, and others. If you want to point to truly innovative public libraries, most people will include in that list Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library and The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. What public libraries in NYS -- outside of New York Public -- would quickly fall from people's lips?
I have rambled long enough, but there is one more thought I want to put into writing. 5.19% of New Yorkers live in areas that are not served by chartered public libraries. Although that does not necessarily mean that they don't have access to library services, they may not have the same level of access as those who live in an area covered by a chartered public library. In addition, this group may live in areas that do not have high-speed Internet access. There is a move afoot to recharter libraries so that 100% of NYS residents have full access to library services. However, without high-speed Internet access, they may still feel disconnected from information. We can talk about how we might creatively service this population, but the reality is that these people are not on equal information-footing with the rest of the state, and that is sad.


February 4, 2008

Colleagues in New York Libraries and Library Systems -

A brief unofficial summary of the January 25 conference call of the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries (RAC) follows. Please contact me or any of the Council members if you have questions or ideas to share.

Visit http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/adviscns/rac/roster.htm to find a list of current RAC members with contact information.

Yours,

Lucretia McClure
Chairperson, Regents Advisory Council on Libraries

*****************
Regents Advisory Council on Libraries
Unofficial Meeting Notes
Conference Call
January 25, 2008

Please note: This summary is not intended to be all inclusive. Its purpose is to highlight issues of statewide importance discussed by the Regents Advisory Council that will significantly impact the New York library community.

Proposed 2008 Executive State Budget: The 2008 State Budget proposed by the Executive would result in a decrease of $5 million in library funding from 2007-2008. The library package is the same as the Executive proposal sent to the Legislature last year. The New York Library Association is asking the library community to urge State legislators to consider reinstating the $5 million and increasing the library aid package. For information on the Board of Regents 2008 budget proposal for libraries and library systems, visit http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/fundingproposals/.

Members of the Regents Advisory Council will be meeting with State legislators on Tuesday, February 26th in Albany to discuss the need for increased library funding.

RAC Goals: The Goals of the Regents Advisory Council were amended to better reflect a commitment to communication with the field and an ongoing effort to build consensus on policies and programs affecting all types of libraries in the state.

2008 Report to the Regents: Members of the Advisory Council are scheduled to meet with the Board of Regents on May 19th or 20th to offer their recommendations for the 2009-10 Budget and Legislative agenda. At this point, the primary initiative will be the creation of a “New York Digital Library” as discussed at previous meetings. An outline of this proposal is available at http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/adviscns/rac A meeting will be held this winter to bring together various stakeholders in the state’s current digitization efforts to discuss the proposal and fill in the details.

Joseph F. Shubert Award: The 2008 Joseph F. Shubert Award application for libraries and library systems will soon be posted on the RAC web page at: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/adviscns/rac/. The $1,000 award is made possible by EBSCO Information Services.
State Library News:

New York State Universal Broadband Access Grant Program: The State Library, in partnership with the 23 public library systems and the New York Library Association, has applied to the Governor’s Office for Technology for a $1.25 million State universal broadband access grant to improve broadband access and digital literacy programs for the public through public libraries and neighborhood branches, particularly those libraries located in high-need areas of the State. For more information on this OFT grant program, visit http://www.oft.state.ny.us/oft/UniversalBroadband/overview.htm.

IMLS Connecting to Collections Grant: The federal Institute of Museum and Library Services has awarded the State Library and State Archives a 2008 federal “Connecting to Collections” statewide planning grant for $37,277. The project, titled "Partnership for New York's Cultural Heritage" also includes as partners the New York State Council on the Arts, New York Library Association, New York Archives Alliance, Museum Association of New York, Lower Hudson Conference of Historical Agencies & Museums, and Upstate History Alliance. The project will survey the state’s cultural repositories to learn the risks to their collections, challenges in preserving their collections, and their need for education.

New Associates in School Library Services:

Ms. Welch announced the appointment of two new Associates in School Library Services to the State Education Department’s P-16 Office. John Brock joined the Department on December 12, 2007; Dr. Joanne Parnes Shawhan joined the Department on December 31. Both John and Joanne have been assigned as staff liaisons from P-16 to the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries.

1/30/08


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