News You Can Use: Contemporary SDI and Anticipatory Reference for Government Information

ABSTRACT

Government information is becoming available to citizens more quickly than ever before due to electronic dissemination via the Internet. Two projects that rapidly capture, organize, and publicize regionally relevant government information are examined: Government News for Montana and New Mexico News Plus. These news-based sites serve as tools for collection development and digital archiving, proactive reference, content alerting services, information literacy, promotion, and outreach. Issues to consider and suggestions for the application of these services at other libraries are discussed.     

Libraries and Faculty Collaboration: Four Digital Scholarship Examples

ABSTRACT

About twenty years ago, the Internet began to change the way people create, access, publish, and share information. The impact of this information revolution has been felt in every industry. For instance, the Internet has enabled new models in the publishing sector, which has subsequently impacted education and changed the landscape of teaching and learning. About a decade ago, the introduction of new buzzwords such as open access, electronic publishing, digital humanities, and digital scholarship continued to challenge the scholarly production and dissemination of knowledge. Undoubtedly, these changes also created new opportunities for collaboration among multidisciplinary groups including researchers, scholars, students, technologists, librarians, and others. In this article, the author discusses four successful faculty-driven digital scholarship projects that his library system has supported in the last two years. His team's work serves as an example of how academic libraries and centers for digital scholarship at undergraduate institutions can support digital humanities and digital scholarship initiatives. Additionally, the case examples can contribute to the ongoing discussion of new roles for librarians and technologists in working with scholars and students to gain the skills necessary to implement digital scholarship projects.     

Building the Global Legal Information Network (GLIN)

ABSTRACT

Although the quantity of sources of foreign and international law available on the World Wide Web is rapidly growing, users quickly discover that everything is not available, and the quality of much of what exists is suspect. Driven by its mission to collect, preserve and provide access to reliable legal information from around the world, the Law Library of Congress is developing the Global Legal Information Network (GLIN), a database containing statutes, regulations and related legal materials from countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. This article describes the history of this effort; the future plans for development; standards for quality, and the organizational structure of the GLIN network. The article concludes that although the creation of a comprehensive digital law library is a mammoth undertaking, the need for GLIN is obvious.     

The World of Charles J. Kappler: A Digital Portrait

ABSTRACT

Charles J. Kappler (1868–1946) is known almost exclusively for his Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties compilation, yet his life and his career were much fuller. Besides serving as Clerk for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, he was co-counsel for the Pious Fund of the Californias v. Mexico proceedings before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and, in one role or another, played a substantial part in many significant federal Indian law cases before the United States Supreme Court in the years leading up to the establishment of the Indian Claims Commission. A digital Web site has been developed to present lesser known aspects of his personal and professional life.     

Metadata for Geographic Information

Abstract

Users of geographic data may not be able to afford to purchase and implement a dataset that does not finally meet their needs. Therefore, metadata has a very important role in the information supply environment of geographic data. The development of national/local spatial data infrastructures recognizes the importance of metadata, as do the digital libraries providing spatial data.

The new ISO 19115:2003 standard of metadata for geographic information is introduced briefly. In particular, geographic information can be made available as digital maps (or images) that are meant for visual use, or as datasets meant for computational use. Metadata for digital maps is closely related to the metadata elements for conventional maps and can be enhanced by providing a sample map with the data. The case of computational use of geographic data is more complex. There are several details that may appear crucial when determining the fitness of data for an intended use. Understanding the importance of the crucial factors in each use case requires professional skills from the users of metadata.     

Digital records as relational objects–Yuk Hui’s concept of digital objects applied to archival science

The writings of Yuk Hui, bringing together both technical and philosophical insights, present a new way of dealing with the digital. The aim of this article is to assess the use of Hui’s theories on digital objects as a critical reframing, looking at the concept of digital records in particular. Two types of ontology are needed in order to understand digital objects according to Hui: (1) ontologies which relates to the technical language and hierarchies of knowledge representation, like metadata; (2) Ontology, which is a question of being-in-the-tradition of Heidegger’s phenomenology, the understanding of what it is to be in the world. Both are needed to account for the nature of the digital object. Further, digital objects are produced and constituted through their relations, which can be divided into discursive (technical and logical) and existential (the understanding of being-in-the-world) relations. Different conceptions of digital records are discussed, in order to find commonalities and possibilities in relation to Hui’s theory. The digital record as a process of becoming, information as affordance, and temporality are related to and structured through the application of Hui’s perspective. The article ends with the contribution of a possible redefinition of digital records: a digital record is constituted and concretised as material by discursive and existential relations that taken together function as a persistent representation. Hui’s theory is suggested as a set of coordinates for further thinking and a method for critical reading of digital records.

     

(Re)Making the Serials Cataloger: The SCCTP Within an Educational Framework

ABSTRACT

The Serials Cooperative Cataloging Program (SCCTP) is reviewed from the standpoint of a library educator. Although the demand for copy catalogers has declined in the era of digital information, the demand for original catalogers has remained constant due, in part, to the growth in titles in different media formats and different languages. Additionally linking to information housed externally or internally and embedding metadata tags for resource discovery are among the new tasks for organizers of information in the Internet era. Increasingly professional organizations are filling the need for continuing education and training for advanced-level catalogers. This article examines the SCCTP as a model for continuous professional development and concludes it is adaptable more generally.     

Changes in confidence during a period of speech training: Transfer of training and comparison of improved and non‐improved groups on the bell adjustment inventory

The Examiner papers, the Conduct of the Allies, the History of the Four Last Years of the Queen, and the other productions which Jonathan Swift composed during his years as chief publicist for the Tory administration of Harley and St. John (1710–1714) are among the most effective examples of persuasive discourse in the history of British political pamphleteering. Much of this effectiveness is attributable to the skill with which Swift‐steadily aware of the prejudices and demands of his predominantly rural and conservative audience—manipulated such specific rhetorical devices as imagery, anecdote, analogy, historical example, allegory, insinuation, and other such items from the vast catalogue available to the polemicist.     

Digital libraries initiatives in India

Abstract

Digital libraries (DLs) have evolved, and developments in information technology have changed the concept of the library from one of print and paper media to digital media. The success of a DL depends upon the computers, communication skills, and knowledge of library professionals in connection with modern technology. In the present scenario, we stand at a transition from the traditional library to a global DL. The technology-based idea is to provide universal access to digital content available only in a DL environment.

Today the emergence of digital technology and computer networks has provided a means whereby information can be stored, retrieved, disseminated and duplicated in a fast and efficient manner. On a global level, DLs have made considerable advances both in technology and its application. India still has far to go if the nation is to benefit from this movement. Only sporadic and partial attempts have been made towards DL initiatives in India.

The basic objective of DL initiatives in India has been to preserve the art, culture and heritage of this country. All projects aimed at creating DLs concentrate only on specialized collections. The DL initiative in India is still at a nascent or embryonic stage. But with the initiative like DL policy, it can also be said that the nation is serious about DL implementation.     

Confronting the Digital Environment: Assessing the Challenges to Bibliographic Control of Electronic Resources

Abstract

In the early 2000s, the dissemination of digital information resources was overwhelming library collections. Libraries struggled to make these materials discoverable in OPACs. The PCC stepped up its priorities to develop training, standards, and procedures for addressing digital content. Two events influenced the thinking and the direction of the PCC: The Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium: Confronting the Challenges of Networked Resources (2000) and the 2004 CONSER Summit on Serials in the Digital Environment. The discussions and the priorities resulting from these events provided guidance to the PCC.     

Digital archives and metadata as critical infrastructure to keep community memory safe for the future – lessons from Japanese activities

This paper discusses some key issues for digital archives and metadata in a networked information environment to keep our community memory for the future. The paper is based primarily on the experiences and lessons learnt by the author from his research activities on metadata and digital archives. The author participated in a study group on digital archives hosted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of the Japanese Government from February 2011 to March 2012. The group discussed the promotion of digital archives in Japan, particularly at memory institutions. The Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011 caused serious damage in the north-eastern part of Japan, especially the Pacific coastal regions. This disaster significantly affected the discussions of the group. The basic lesson that the author learned is that digital archives built on a robust information environment are essential for keeping our community memory safe for the future. Not only do the primary digital resources need to be properly maintained and preserved for the future but also secondary resources, metadata and meta-metadata. We need to use Linked Open Data technologies to enhance the usability of such digital resources in the archives.     

An Interview with Daniel K. German,Senior Vice President of Database Creation and Maintenance,info USA,Inc.

ABSTRACT

On the transition between editors, Charles Popovich reflects on his more than ten-year tenure as the third editor of the Journal of Business&;Finance Librarianship (JBFL) from 1996 to 2005. Among his contributions as Editor are a regular and predictable publication schedule; special thematic issues; business and information professionals from multi-type information settings as authors, contributors and column editors; and broad dissemination of content. This interview seeks to capture Charles Popovich's unique perspective on business librarianship publishing. It also documents some history of Haworth Press' Journal of Business&;Finance Librarianship, established in 1989.     

Economic Analysis and Copyright Law: Are New Models Needed in the Digital Age?

Summary

Economic analysis has played a central role in the development of intellectual property policy. Since information exhibits characteristics of a public good, both non-rival consumption and non-exclusivity, information markets are prone to market failure. This requires a policy response in the form of a subsidy or direct government provision. The monopoly rights granted to owners of intellectual property can be viewed as a form of subsidy intended to avert market failure. But in the digital environment, the tendency to market failure increases as information is more susceptible to copying and distribution with neither significant additional cost nor loss of quality.

While a wide range of policy tools are available to meet the challenges of the new digital environment, the range of current legislative proposals shows that the expansion of property rights in information is the only approach being given serious consideration.

This paper reviews these proposals as well as the wide variety of other approaches that could be considered including an increased role for the public provision of information. It is concluded that the traditional model of positive economic analysis is unable to explain the current policy environment and that a broader approach rooted in political economy would be appropriate.     

Collaborating on Electronic Course Reserves to Support Student Success

Abstract

As we move into an era in which an increasing amount of information is available in digital form and more universities and colleges are providing distance education courses, electronic course reserves are becoming an essential part of library services. The Digital Reading Room (DRR), an Athabasca University collaboratively developed e-reserves system, facilitates immediate student access to faculty selected, course specific resources in a variety of media and promotes increased use of electronic information resources. To encourage student success in a digital environment, the Library has worked with Faculty to create information literacy tools designed to help students become better researchers and information consumers.     

Role of the Information Professional in the Development and Promotion of Digital Humanities Content for Research,Teaching, and Learning in the Modern Academic Library: An Irish Case Study

ABSTRACT

The Internet has been the catalyst for the convergence of many subject areas and online platforms. Information professionals such as Archivists, IT developers and especially Librarians have been impacted in the development and promotion of digital humanities content for research, teaching, and learning in the modern academic library. In this case study, relevant findings from research that sought to determine the level of awareness of digital humanities in Irish Libraries is examined. The research project, The Mary Martin Diary, is highlighted as an example of a multidisciplinary collaboration project that utilized library communication skills, project management skills, digital humanities tools and techniques, as well as other online resources in its development. These skills and tools have the potential to be applied to similar projects that librarians engage in. Recommendations derived from this research highlight the practical application of skills for information professionals and their roles in the development and promotion of digital humanities content for research, teaching, and learning in the modern academic library.     

Academic Digital Libraries Russian Style: An Introduction to The Fundamental Digital Library of Russian Literature and Folklore

SUMMARY

This article provides an overview of The Fundamental Digital Library of Russian Literature and Folklore (FEB-web). The intersection of philology and information technologies at FEB-web is considered in the context of Russian culture and the Russian academy. Topics discussed include: the FEB-web process for creating digital scholarly editions, the structure of FEB-web, new developments in the FEB-web collections, plans for the future, copyright issues, digitization processes, inter-library cooperation, and the place of digital libraries in constructing civil society in Russia.     

Building a Collaborative AgNIC Site as an Outreach Model

Abstract

Construction of the Rangelands of the Western U.S. web site provides a dynamic model for information outreach. Central to its success is the collaboration between librarians, other information professionals, and rangeland experts committed to working together for a common goal: a selective, centralized, web-based resource designed to help meet the information needs of rangeland scientists, range professionals, students, faculty, ranchers, environmentalists, librarians, and other stakeholders. Begun over eight years ago by a University of Arizona AgNIC Project team, the effort is extending to include participation of range and information professionals from the other Western states. In addition to linking to existing digital content, the project seeks to create or support the creation of critical electronic information resources through an integrated user interface.     

Institutional Repositories and Faculty Participation: Encouraging Deposits by Advancing Personal Goals

The Future Voices in Public Services column is a forum for students in graduate library and information science programs to discuss key issues they see in academic library public services, to envision what they feel librarians in public service have to offer to academia, to tell us of their visions for the profession, or to tell us of research that is going on in library schools. We hope to provide fresh perspectives from those entering our field, in both the United States and other countries. Interested faculty of graduate library and information science programs, who would like their students' ideas represented in these pages, are invited to contact Nancy H. Dewald at nxd7@psu.edu.

Brigitte Burris is a graduate student at Drexel University's iSchool and also works as a librarian at the University of Pennsylvania. At a time when many librarians hope for the expansion of open access to scholarly resources, Burris here proposes a method of adding attributes to articles in institutional repositories in order to increase faculty members' incentive for depositing their scholarly articles.

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The iSchool at Drexel's Master of Science in Library and Information Science, MS(LIS), is the second oldest program of its kind in the nation, and one of just 56 ALA-accredited programs. More technologically oriented than other programs, the MS(LIS) prepares graduates for a wide variety of positions including academic librarian, knowledge management specialist, systems librarian, digital librarian, Web developer, and competitive intelligence analyst. The 2009 edition of U.S. News & World Report's “America's Best Graduate Schools” rated the MS(LIS) program 11th in the nation overall, with specialties in information systems and digital librarianship ranking fifth and sixth, respectively. The iSchool at Drexel's faculty has been nationally recognized, ranked by Academic Analytics, a third party company benchmarking academic excellence, as 8th in the nation for scholarly productivity.