The British Library Offers Free Access to Bibliographic Records

The British Library will make its extensive collections of bibliographic records available for free to researchers and other libraries. The U.K. national library has around 14 million catalogue records comprising a wealth of bibliographic data. The initiative will help expose this vast dataset to users worldwide, allowing researchers and other libraries to access and retrieve bibliographic records for publications dating back centuries and relating to every conceivable subject area.

For libraries, free access to these records will help reduce the effort involved in cataloging their holdings. For the wider research community, they are a valuable source of data to help advance knowledge.

As the national library of the U.K., the British Library seeks to provide world class information services to the academic, business, research, and scientific communities and offer access to a large and comprehensive research collection. The library’s collections include 150 million items from every era of written human history beginning with Chinese oracle bones dating from 300 BC, right up to the latest ejournals.

VTLS Announces The RDA Sandbox!

The following is a VTLS press release about access to its RDA sandbox ...

VTLS Inc. announces its sponsorship of The RDA Sandbox, a special program designed to provide tools by which Libraries and librarians can practice creating MARC records following the Resource Description and Access (RDA) Implementation One Scenario.

Participants in the program will have access to a Virtua™ database with over 250,000 MARC FRBRized linked records. Participants will also be provided with a specially customized Virtua Cataloging Client that will allow them to create and modify their own RDA records in the shared database.

Virtua, a remarkably intuitive, full-featured integrated library system, has been configured with a simplified interface specifically designed for The RDA Sandbox program. Special user’s guides and other documentation, as well as email support services will be provided. An online forum for participants to post comments and compare notes will be offered as well.

The cost for participation is only $60; however, the first individual from the first 20 institutions that sign up will be given a credit back on their credit card that is equal to the amount charged. The program is open to librarians across the globe (although not to competitors of VTLS Inc!), and will run now through January 2011.

Sign up here for access: www.vtls.com/services/rdasandbox

Questions concerning the RDA Sandbox program may be directed to John Espley, Principal Librarian at espleyj@vtls.com

Free cataloging webinar by Deborah Fritz - MARC 21 in your library

Kudos to my colleague and friend Deborah Fritz for offering a free webinar to the cataloging community during tough economic times. Deborah recently rolled-out MARC 21 in Your Library -Part 1- MARC and Bibliographic Information: the Underlying Fundamentals as an online FREE series of nine webcasts or web-based, self-paced, mini-courses, available anytime on the TMQ website at:

http://www.marcofquality.com/webinars/webm21.html

Part One Sessions

1.1 Bibliographic information—What is it? (Self-paced, approx. 25 min.)

1.2 Bibliographic information—Why Do We Need It? (Self-paced, approx. 20 min.)

1.3 Bibliographic information—How Do We Know What To Provide? (Webcast, approx. 30 min.)

1.4 Bibliographic information and MARC (Webcast, approx. 20 min.)

1.5 MARC Records—What Are They? (Webcast, approx. 20 min.)

1.6 MARC Records—Why Do We Need Them? (Webcast, approx. 15 min.)

1.7 MARC Records—Where Do We Get Them? (Self-paced, approx. 30 min)

1.8 MARC Records, Bibliographic Information, and Library Catalogs (Self-paced, approx. 65 min.)

1.9 MARC and Bibliographic Information—How do I speak it? (Webcast, approx. 35 min.)

Trainees are advised to work their way through Part One at their own pace, and then register online for the live online Part Two sessions which is offered at a subscription price ($135). Attendees can register for the Part two session on the OCLC website.
Click here to register for the Part Two modules

Read more at http://www.marcofquality.com/

Value of Academic Libraries: A Comprehensive Research Review and Report - ACRL publication

The ACRL publication Value of Academic Libraries: A Comprehensive Research Review and Report is a review of the quantitative and qualitative literature, methodologies and best practices currently in place for demonstrating the value of academic libraries, developed for ACRL by Megan Oakleaf of the iSchool at Syracuse University.

The primary objective of this comprehensive review is to provide academic librarians with a clearer understanding of what research about the performance of academic libraries already exists, where gaps in this research occur, and to identify the most promising best practices and measures correlated to performance.

Report in PDF

Executive Summary

Author's podcast

Bloglines to officially close service October 1 2010

Bloglines, one of the earliest web-based RSS readers, and one which I have used religiously over the years, is scheduled to officially close on October 1 2010. According to a report on the Read Write Web "while it was one of the early success stories of the RSS movement, the service never managed to get its groove back after the launch of Google Reader and a number of technical issues that made Bloglines very unreliable for a while".

Users who store and manage web content on Bloglines will now have to think about migrating to other rival services such as Google Reader. On the Bloglines website there are simple instructions currently posted on how to export current subscriptions. This comes as a surprise to the many loyal users who have consistently used and relied on the service for years.

How Libraries Stack Up - OCLC 2010 report

In the US, we go to libraries to find jobs, create new careers and help grow our small businesses. We borrow books, journals, music and movies. We learn to use the latest technology. We get the tools and information needed to reenter the workforce. We get our questions answered, engage in civic activities, meet with friends and co-workers and improve our skills at one of the 16,600 U.S. public libraries. Every day, our public libraries deliver millions of dollars in resources and support that meet the critical needs of our communities. BUT how do libraries compare/stack up to the corporate/for-profit world in these areas?

OCLC did the research and came up with a two page 2010 report (pdf) called How Libraries Stack Up.