techMETRO

Next Week: Our Rescheduled "Readers' Rights and the Kindle" Webinar. Last Session of the Season!

What happens to our rights as readers when books go digital? In a one-hour webinar on June 13 (1pm-2pm), Librarian Alycia Sellie and technologist Matthew Goins will challenge the status quo of book digitization and argue that a careless migration to electronic books may destroy well-established rights that readers have held historically with print. More than just an issue of convenience, this talk will examine restrictive licensing agreements and closed technologies used in current digitization projects and outline alternatives.

Who should attend:

Librarians who are considering acquiring ebooks for their collections, those concerned about digital restrictions, and professionals who interested to learn more about how ebooks--both in library and personal collections--function and are managed. Anyone interested in the role of the library in the age of electronic books.

 

By the end of this program, participants will:

Have a greater understanding of the current landscape of book digitization, and understand how digital restrictions affect our right to read.

For more information and to register, visit http://www.metro.org/en/cev/85. 

 

Talking Proactive Libraries with LJ Mover and Shaker, Maurice Coleman

Libraries, librarians, and their roles within the communities they serve are going through an understatedly turbulent time.  Many of us are faced with issues of how to handle changing economic conditions and changing patron needs at the same time.  METRO’s upcoming webinar, “Proactive Libraries in the 21^st Century – Keeping your Library Relevant to your Community” will address these concerns and some possible solutions.  Join us online next Thursday, July 21^st, as speaker Maurice Coleman, Technical Trainer and Library Journal Mover and Shaker 2010, discusses steps you can take to keep your library relevant to the community through this time of transition.

Description:
As access to information evolves, how do libraries remain relevant to their customers and communities?  How can libraries serve the ever-changing needs of their populations while dealing with shrinking budgets and rising expectations?  Maurice will discuss some ways to keep relevant, deal with lower funding coupled with increased demands, and how to stay able to meet your communities’ needs without knowing what those needs will be in the future. 

Speaker:
Maurice Coleman has been Technical Trainer at Harford County (MD) Public Library in North Eastern Maryland for the last 7 years. He has 20 years of experience training all ages how to sensibly use technology, computer hardware and software.  He has also trained on effective technology planning and deployment, social media skills, nonprofit organizational development and fundraising, community organizing and presentation skills. He hosts the library training podcast “T is for Training” and writes for the American Library Association’s LearnRT blog ALALearning.  For his work he was named a 2010 Library Journal Mover and Shaker and received the Citizens for Maryland Libraries Davis McCarn Technology Award. 

Please visit http://www.metro.org/en/cev/92 to learn more or to register.

 

New Library of Congress Initiative Highlights Digital Preservation Resources, Education

I just received some information about a  Digital Preservation Outreach and Education (DPOE) initiative at the Library of Congress that might be of interest to readers. According to the site, DPOE aims to "foster national outreach and education to encourage individuals and organizations to actively preserve digital content." To accomplish this, DPOE will be focusing on the following core activities: 

• Define education needs: develop and conduct a Needs Assessment Survey to determine the digital preservation needs that the DPOE initiative should address
• Review existing curricula: perform an environmental scan and analysis of current digital preservation curricula to identify current components, missing modules, and priorities for development.
• Define core principles: define core principles, fundamentals, and components of DPOE curriculum using the results of the Needs Assessment Survey as a guide.
• Build an instructor base: devise a train-the-trainer workshop, and develop other tools and services for digital preservation instructors.
• Evaluate delivery options: consider current and potential delivery mechanisms for education programs (e.g., online, on site) and recommend priorities for the next two years.
• Develop outreach materials: design outreach materials addressing multiple audience levels as identified on the DPOE Pyramid diagram below, using core principles, the Needs Assessment Survey and the education calendar as guides.

View a PDF overview of the activities here, or visit the site. 

ALA's OITP E-Books Task Force Meeting Continues Conversation with Harper-Collins

Last weekend at ALA's Annual Conference, the Office for Information Technology Policy's E-Books Task Force invited Harper-Collins to attend its regular business meeting. The following quote from the Task Force Chair, Bonnie Tijerina, comes from the official ALA release regarding the meeting: 

“One important outcome of our discussion is that HarperCollins will contribute to the E-books Taskforce’s series of answers to frequently asked questions sent to the taskforce from ALA members that cover issues from basic questions about e-book readers to specific questions about licensing. Our taskforce released its first FAQ addressing questions from public libraries and will release more to address questions from school and academic libraries. HarperCollins’ contribution will give the publisher’s perspective.

HarperCollins understands that public libraries value sharing information and has expressed to us a commitment to providing models that ensure this information-sharing can continue. Libraries know publishers are seeking viable economic models so that they can continue to provide the kind of resources that the public expects at their libraries. We look forward to continuing this open dialogue so that libraries can offer the public the enhanced services available through the emerging technologies in today’s e-book environment.”

Next Week: Readers' Rights and the Threat of the Kindle Webinar at METRO

What happens to our rights as readers when books go digital? In a one-hour webinar on June 13 (1pm-2pm), Librarian Alycia Sellie and technologist Matthew Goins will challenge the status quo of book digitization and argue that a careless migration to electronic books may destroy well-established rights that readers have held historically with print. More than just an issue of convenience, this talk will examine restrictive licensing agreements and closed technologies used in current digitization projects and outline alternatives.

 

Who should attend:

Librarians who are considering acquiring ebooks for their collections, those concerned about digital restrictions, and professionals who interested to learn more about how ebooks--both in library and personal collections--function and are managed. Anyone interested in the role of the library in the age of electronic books.

 

By the end of this program, participants will:

Have a greater understanding of the current landscape of book digitization, and understand how digital restrictions affect our right to read.

For more information and to register, visit http://www.metro.org/en/cev/85. 

NYPL Labs presents: Digital Humanities and the Future of Libraries

I just got this notice passed through my inbox from Ben Vershbow, Manager of NYPL Labs. Looks like it could be a pretty interesting program: 

NYPL Labs presents: Digital Humanities and the Future of Libraries

 

A conversation in honor of Dr. Paul LeClerc with: Kari Kraus, Jon Orwant, Dot Porter and Doug Reside

 

Thursday June 16, 4-6pm atThe New York Public Library
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (42nd St. and 5th Ave.),South Court Auditorium
FREE and open to the public

 

Since the early days of the field, Digital Humanities practitionershave frequently found allies and collaborators in librarians andarchivists. Many early digital humanities projects centered aroundorganizing and making accessible information--two activities at thecore of the mission of almost every library. Perhaps for this reason,many of the largest digital humanities centers are physically situatedin and often at least partially funded by University libraries.

 

Nonetheless, the field has traditionally been led (with a few notableexceptions) by faculty from humanities departments rather than bylibrary staff, and libraries have tended to isolate digital humanitiescenters as somewhat quarantined departments separate from the dailywork of the institution. However, as both digital humanities andlibrarianship develop in the 21st century, there are indications thatthese walls of separation are beginning to erode. In this paneldiscussion, NYPL Digital Curator for the Performing Arts, Doug Reside,and three digital humanists from very different backgrounds willdiscuss the future of libraries and the digital humanities and howthese two related, but as yet mostly separate fields, may (or may not) finally converge.

 

This event is held in honor of outgoing NYPL President Dr. Paul LeClerc, whose vision and passionate advocacy have advanced the frontiers of digital humanities innovation at the Library. The event is sponsored by NYPL Labs, a collaborative team of librarians, curators and technologists developing new ideas and tools for digital research.

 

Participants

 

KARI KRAUS is an assistant professor in the College of Information Studies and the Department of English at the University of Maryland. Her research and teaching interests focus on new media and the digital humanities, textual scholarship and print culture, digital preservation, transmedia storytelling, and game studies. Kraus is a local Co-PI on an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant for preserving virtual worlds; a Co-PI on an IMLS Digital Humanities Internship grant; and, with Derek Hansen (iSchool), the Co-Principal Investigator of an NSF grant to study Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) and transmedia storytelling in the service of education and design. In addition to the University of Maryland, she has taught at the University of Rochester and the Eastman School of Music, and in the Art and Visual Technology program at George Mason University.

 

JON ORWANT is Engineering Manager at Google, where he works on Book Search, Patent Search, visualizations, and the digital humanities, where he recently launched the Google BooksNgram Viewer. He's the author or co-author of several books on programming, including the bestselling Programming Perl, and published an independent computer magazine. Before joining Google he was the CTO of O'Reilly & Associates and Director of Research for France Telecom. He received his doctorate from MIT's Electronic Publishing Group in 1999.

 

DOT PORTER is currently the Associate Director for Content & Services in the Digital Library Program at Indiana University. Ms. Porter holds an MA in Medieval Studies and an MS in Library Science, although after receiving her MSLS rather than going to work in a library, she took a position in a digital humanities center. Over the next seven years she dedicated herself to working with humanities scholars to undertake faculty-driven digital projects. These projects often involved working closely with librarians, and with other scholars, such as computer scientists, as well, but the driving force behind the projects was always the humanities scholar. In June 2010, Ms. Porter came to work in the Digital Library Program at IU and was immediately stuck with a bit of culture shock. Although the technologies used in DL are very similar to those in DH, the aims and goals can be quite different, and working between the two can be an interesting, educational, and engaging experience.

 

DOUG RESIDE (moderator) became Digital Curator for the Performing Arts at New York Public Library in January of 2011 after serving for four and a half years on the directorial staff of the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) at the University of Maryland in College Park. He holds a BS in Computer Science and a BA, MA, and Ph.D. in English Literature. He has been a PI on three earlier startup grants (The Ajax XML Encoder, Music Theatre Online, and the Collaborative Ajax Modeling Platform) and the co-PI with Tanya Clement on the Off the Tracks workshop. Additionally, he is the original project director of the NEH Preservation and Access funded Text Image Linking Environment (TILE) which is scheduled for release in the summer of 2011.

 

New Cultural Tech Meetup Group to Convene in NYC

After a recent installment of our Digital Services News, I received a note from Leala Abbot (Senior Digital Content Analyst at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) about a new Cultural Tech Meetup group she's co-convening. The group's inaugural meeting is June 17 at 7:30pm at Donnybrook. Here are some details from the profile page: 

About Us:
NY Cultural Tech is a cross-disciplinary group for practicing technologists (coders, info architects, developers) who are focused on the advancement of emerging technologies from within the domains of public knowledge (government, museums, libraries, educational institutions, non-profits and other outwardly focused for-profits).

What we do:
We meet semi-monthly to share what we’ve been working on, coding, or more importantly playing with, to learn from one another, and to enjoy a good stiff drink after work. These are relaxed, cross-collaborative, “get-togethers” and we encourage everyone to bring their laptops and their imaginations as we pool together the brightest minds from across disciplines to refine existing ideas and execute new ones.

What we're into:
information architecture (ontologies, taxonomies, metadata), semantic web, UX, UI, development, programming, data-mining, database management and other information exchange technologies

We host three basic types of events:

• Socials: where we all get together under one roof, talk shop and drink beverages
• Education Intensives: where we all get together to learn something
• Project labs: where we all get together and work on a specific project

Keep up with all the members of the group via the NY Cultural Tech Twitter List. 

 

 

Creating a Comprehensive Technology Model for a Converged Facility @ U. of Calgary

Thanks to CNI for posting this from their Spring 2011 Membership Meeting.

Creating a Comprehensive Technology Model for a Converged Library, Archive, Art and Publishing Facility at the University of Calgary, a project briefing session presented by Thomas Hickerson (Vice Provost and University Librarian, University of Calgary) and Shawna Sadler (Technology Officer, Taylor Family Digital Library, University of Calgary)

 

Digital Public Library of America Beta Sprint Presents Opportunity for NYC Librarians and Technologists

As was reported by Jennifer Howard on Wired Campus, the Digital Public Library of America initiative is moving forward with a Beta Sprint phase. This presents a tremendous opportunity for NYC libraries to partner with the vibrant tech community in the city to play a lead role in the development of what a DPLA might look like. Here's more from Howard's article:

Think you know what the proposed Digital Public Library of America should look like? Now’s your chance to weigh in. The project’s steering committee has just announced a “Beta Sprint,” inviting the public to contribute “ideas, models, prototypes, technical tools, user interfaces, etc.” Anyone who wants to take part must submit a statement of interest by June 15, and final submissions are due September 1.

“We hope geeks and librarians, especially, will join forces to develop beta submissions in support of this initiative,” John Palfrey, the director of the steering committee, said in a statement. He is co-director of Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, which has been coordinating DPLA planning. (It also runs a public wiki where people can contribute to the discussion.) Mr. Palfrey explains more about the beta sprint and how it will fit into the broader planning process in this video, also posted today.

 

And a clip from John Palfrey explaining the Beta Sprint phase in more detail:

 

Free "myMETRO Presents" Event to Highlight Cutting-Edge Research from LIS Students

Join us for a sample of cutting edge research in librarianship from three students, including an investigation of the impact of recommender systems; risk management applied to digital asset preservation; and a collaborative project to connect LIS students. Register for free here. 

 

Robin Naughton
Recommender Systems: Investigating the Impact of Recommendations on User Choices and Behaviors
Recommender systems have been used in many information systems, helping users handle information overload by providing users with a way to receive specific recommendations that fulfill their information seeking needs.  Research in this area has been focused on the recommender system algorithms and improving the core technology so that recommendations are robust.  However, little research is focused on the user-centered perspective of recommendations provided by recommender systems and the impact of recommendations on user’s information behaviors.  In this paper, we describe the results of an exploratory survey study on a book recommender system, LibraryThing, and the impact of recommendations on user choices, particularly what users do as a result of getting a recommendation.  Based on survey respondents, our results indicate that users prefer member recommendations rather than the algorithm-based automatic recommendations and about two third of users that responded are influenced by the recommendations in their various information activities.

 

Michael Bellacosa
Digital Asset Preservation as a Risk Management Process
A collection of digital assets [e.g. text, images, audio/video, data, etc.] can be viewed as analogous to a portfolio of financial assets. As such, ways of looking at risk drawn from the financial markets sector are translatable and applicable to collections of digital assets. This presentation will introduce a digital preservation decision-making model based on three components: value, vulnerability and cost. The value of digital assets can be assessed and articulated in alignment with an organization’s strategic objectives. Their vulnerability can be expressed as a combination of the probability of “bad” events and the severity of their impacts. Value and vulnerability assessments are used to display a digital asset collection’s initial risk profile of as well as the profiles that result from implementing different digital preservation strategies. This graphic tool can help make the case for an investment in digital preservation consistent with a defined level of risk tolerance.

 

Micah Vandegrift
The HackLibSchool Experiment
HackLibSchool is a collaborative project that developed out of a perceived need for greater connections between LIS students as they transition from school to professional life. Beginning in October of 2010 as a publically-edited Google Doc, “HackLibSchool” quickly became a cross-institutional mantra, inspiring conversations on topics from pedagogy and curriculum in LIS to the practical experiences of life as a library school student. In its current incarnation HackLibSchool is a group blog featuring editors/bloggers representing 7 different schools, open submissions for guest authors, and ongoing critical discussions on education in library and information science. Micah Vandegrift, who created and manages the HackLibSchool experiment, will discuss the intricacies of it including inspirations, development, and future ideas.