Amazon rolls out new lending feature for Kindle users

Following on the heels of competing e-reader Nook (Barnes and Nobles) built in LendMe feature, Amazon has finally acquiesced to users requests and added a lending feature for its very popular Kindle e-book reader. Users can loan out supported publishers titles once for a period of 14 days, but there is a one-loan limitation which prohibits the lender from accessing the e-book while it is on loan.

Read the Mashable blog for detailed instructions on How To: Use Amazon’s New Kindle Lending Feature. This is great news for Kindle users...

OCLC and RLG releases joint document on five year accomplishments

OCLC recently released the document OCLC Research and the RLG Partnership: A Five Year Overview of Accomplishments which highlights some of the issues over the last five years that have had high impact or have changed the topography of the information landscape. The issues are identified under five broad headings with action items and impact listed for each heading. These headings are:

• Reasearch and Information Management


• Mobilizing Unique materials


• Metadata Support and Management


• System-wide organization


• Tools and Solutions

This document can be of value to the library, archive and museum communities, as it not only highlights joint achievements of both organizations but lists a broad array of initiatives, and online publications easily accessible to all.

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