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Yale Partners with Microsoft, Kirtas on Scanning Project
Yale University officials this week announced that they have partnered with Microsoft and Kirtas technology to scan and host up to 100,000 unique volumes held by the Yale University Libraries. Under the plan, Yale librarians will work with Microsoft to identify which books and documents will be chosen from Yale's approximately 13 million volumes, focusing on out-of-copyright English-language books. Although the value of the agreement was not released, a Kirtas official told reporters it would be a multi-million dollar deal in the first year alone.
The partnership is the latest in the rush to scan library holdings and is a significant one for Microsoft given Yale's rich holdings. Microsoft still lags well behind Google's ambitious scan plan, which numbers nearly 30 library partners internationally and includes the scanning of in-copyright library books, unlike Microsoft which so far has said it will scan only books in the public domain or in-copyright books with permission of the copyright owners.
Yale's scan plan also differs from the recently announced Open Content Alliance agreement with the Boston Library Consortium, consisting of Yale's neighboring institutions in New England. Although the agreement gives Yale a library copy of the scans both for preservation and "for use in future academic initiatives and in collaborative scholarly ventures," the books scanned (even though public domain works) will initially be available to the public exclusively through Microsoft's Live Search, just as Google's public domain books are largely accessible exclusively through the Google interface.
Such restrictions have rankled many in the library community who argue that commercial competitors are placing an undue burden on the public domain. OCA partners allow their public domain scans to be surfaced in any search engine and also allow for bulk download. Supporters of commercial scan plans, meanwhile, note that the deals are non-exclusive, meaning that inclusion in one service doesn't preclude inclusion in others, and that they are happy to work with commercial entities with the resources to facilitate greater access to content.
University of Connecticut (UConn) librarian Brinley Franklin told the LJ Academic Newswire, however, that the library staff at UConn, which will scan a million pages under the BLC/OCA deal, was "unanimous in its endorsement of unrestricted access to the materials we digitize." He stressed the library was "ready to turn down funding from companies that restrict searching digital collections through their proprietary search engine." Librarians and administrators at Emory University made a similar decision earlier this year.
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ICOLC Objects to AAAS's Removal of Science from JSTOR
The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC), an organization representing the interests of some of the largest library alliances in the world, this week issued a rebuke to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) over its recent decision to remove its flagship publication, Science, from JSTOR. The ICOLC statement adds significantly to mounting library opposition to AAAS' controversial decision, as it is endorsed by some 72 library consortia.
In its statement objecting to the decision to pull Science, ICOLC noted that the AAAS' decision is in conflict with their mission, "as a non-profit, membership-based organization, of advancing science and serving society." ICOLC officials "emphatically" urged AAAS to reconsider its decision "in light of the damage such action would bring to the mission and purpose of AAAS."
The resolution criticizing AAAS's decision was first presented by David Carlson, library dean at Southern Illinois University. Carlson first floated the resolution, which was then brought to the boards of the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA) and the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) after AAAS officials announced this summer that it would become the first member publisher to withdraw from JSTOR. Both boards approved the resolution unanimously, and the issue has since continued to garner the strong support of academic librarians.
Officials at Science have maintained that removing the publication is a matter of "strategic planning" and that, in a competitive environment, more scientific societies are "digitizing and controlling" their content. JSTOR executive director Michael Spinella, however, noted JSTOR contracts are nonexclusive and that Science could have both maintained its own archive and remained in JSTOR, which shares with publishers the fees it collects from subscriber libraries.
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LC Cites Resources and Priorities in Response to ALA Cataloging Concerns
In response to the American Library Association's (ALA) concerns about cataloging changes contemplated by the Library of Congress (LC) aired at an October 24 Committee on House Administration Oversight Hearing, LC's Deanna Marcum, associate librarian for library services, said LC would listen to concerns and is weighing "all recommendations from all of the working groups in light of available resources and future priorities." The October 30 LJ Academic Newswire, reported ALA's concerns but not Marcum's response, which was not included in testimony forwarded to LJ by a committee official. At the hearing, ALA President-elect James Rettig expressed concern that LC not move too precipitously and urged "broad and meaningful consultation" prior to making significant changes to cataloging policy.
"The Library of Congress works with 694 other libraries in the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, which we staff and support" Marcum noted in response. "We participate in literally dozens of committees and organizations that collaboratively set cataloging policies. In addition, after ALA complained about a decision the Library made to streamline its cataloging processes by not creating series authority records, I responded by forming a Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control." That committee includes representatives from the major library professional organizations, including three from ALA, has held open hearings, and offers a web site open to comments.
Further, Marcum noted that while the number of catalogers has dropped from to just over 400 today from 650 in 1987, their "productivity has increased dramatically," with the number of books cataloged growing by more than 80 percent. "We are trying to meet all needs with existing staff by streamlining and finding imaginative solutions," she said.
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U. of New Mexico Library Basement, Ripped by Fire in 2006, Floods
You have to feel for librarians at the University of New Mexico's (UNM) Zimmerman Library. With the library basement nearly finished and set to reopen in a matter of weeks following a 2006 fire, a pipe burst this week, flooding the space.
According to a report in the UNM student newspaper the Daily Lobo the pipe burst in the afternoon yesterday, causing library officials to evacuate the library. Parts of the basement were reportedly covered by as much as six inches of water. Luckily, books and government documents were mostly above the waterline and unaffected, UNM dean of libraries Martha Bedard told reporters some books did get wet, however, and would need refurbishment. Luckily, Bedard noted, the pipe burst in the middle of the day and was caught quickly, hopefully limiting the damage. A new timeline for opening the basement, which was set for January, was not yet determined.
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Call for Nominations: Movers & Shakers 2008
The editors of Library Journal need your help in identifying the emerging leaders in the library world. Our seventh annual Movers & Shakers supplement will profile 50-plus up-and-coming individuals from across the United States and Canada who are innovative, creative, and making a difference. From librarians to vendors to others who work in the library field, Movers & Shakers 2008 will celebrate the new professionals who are moving our libraries ahead. Movers & Shakers 2008 will be distributed with the March 15 issue of Library Journal.
Deadline for submissions is extended to November 15, 2007! You can nominate someone here (scroll down the page).
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Best Sellers in Computer Science, February 2007–present, as compiled by YBP Library Services
(13 digit ISBNs in brackets)
- Beyond the Desktop Metaphor: Designing Integrated Digital Work Environments
Kaptelinin, Victor
MIT Press
2007. ISBN 026211304x [9780262113045]. $35.00
- Web Data Mining: Exploring Hyperlinks, Contents, and Usage Data
Liu, Bing
Springer
2007. ISBN 3540378812 [9783540378815]. $59.95
- Cryptology Unlocked
Translated by Angelika Shafir
Wobst, Reinhard
John Wiley
2007. ISBN 0470060646 [9780470060643]. $50.00
- Beautiful Code
Oram, Andy
O'Reilly Media
2007. ISBN 0596510047 [9780596510046]. $44.99
- Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction
Sharp, Helen
John Wiley
2007. ISBN 0470018666 [9780470018668]. $76.70
- Inside Your Calculator: From Simple Programs to Significant Insights
Rising, Gerald R.
John Wiley
2007. ISBN 0470114010 [9780470114018]. $49.95
- Department of Defense Sponsored Information Security Research: New Methods for Protecting
Against Cyber Threats
Wang, Cliff
John Wiley
2007. ISBN 0471787566 [9780471787563]. $60.00
- Ubiquitous Computing in Education: Invisible Technology, Visible Impact
Van 'T Hooft, Mark
Lawrence Erlbaum
2007. ISBN 0805857354 [9780805857351]. $110.00
- Computer Science Reconsidered: The Invocation Model of Process Expression
Fant, Karl M.
John Wiley
2007. ISBN 0471798142 [9780471798149]. $89.95
- Algorithms on Strings
Crochemore, Maxime
Cambridge University Press
2007. ISBN 0521848997 [9780521848992]. $75.00
- Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists
Reas, Casey
MIT Press
2007. ISBN 0262182629 [9780262182621]. $50.00
- Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Source Software
Chopra, Samir
Routledge
2008. ISBN 0415978939 [9780415978934]. $95.00
- Visual Languages and Applications
Zhang, Kang
Springer
2007. ISBN 0387298134 [9780387298139]. $99.00
- Universal Usability: Designing Computer Interfaces for Diverse User Populations
Lazar, Jonathan
John Wiley
2007. ISBN 0470027274 [9780470027271]. $70.00
- Research and Trends in Data Mining Technologies and Applications
Taniar, David
Idea Group Publishing
2007. ISBN 1599042711 [9781599042718]. $94.95
- Ambient Networks: Co-Operative Mobile Networking for the Wireless World
Niebert, Norbert
John Wiley
2007. ISBN 0470510927 [9780470510926]. $130.00
- Advances in Fuzzy Clustering and Its Applications
De Oliveira, J. Valente
John Wiley
2007. ISBN 0470027606 [9780470027608]. $130.00
- Negative Binomial Regression
Hilbe, Joseph Editor
Cambridge University Press
2007. ISBN 0521857724 [9780521857727]. $75.00
- Bayesian Core: A Practical Approach to Computational Bayesian Statistics
Marin, Jean-Michel
Springer
2007. ISBN 0387389792 [9780387389790]. $74.95
- Modular Forms, a Computational Approach
Stein, William
American Mathematical Society
2007. ISBN 0821839608 [9780821839607]. $55.00
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