The Source: news about digital libraries and library innovations from around the web

Introducing The Source

Integrating Journal Back Files into an Existing Electronic Environment

From the Ariadne website

Jason Cooper describes how Loughborough University Library integrated a number of collections of journal back files into their existing electronic environment.


Persistent Identifiers: Considering the Options

From the Ariadne website

Emma Tonkin looks at the current landscape of persistent identifiers, describes several current services, and examines the theoretical background behind their structure and use.


Digital Repository Audit and Certification Wiki

From the Digital Repository Audit and Certification Wiki

This Wiki contains information and documents generated by the working group which is attempting to produce an ISO standard on which a full audit and certification of digital repositories can be based. The aim will be to take this work into ISO in the same way as the OAIS Reference Model (ISO 14721), namely via ISO TC20/SC13, of which the working arm is CCSDS.


National Film Preservation Foundation: The Film Preservation Guide (Note: PDF)

From the National Film Preservation Foundation website

No doubt many organisations and institutions have a canister of 16MM film lying around someplace and some diligent member of their organisation might ask: "How can we preserve this item?" This helpful guide provides substantial guidance and assistance. The guide describes methods for handling, duplicating, making available, and storing film, which are practical for nonprofit and public organisations with limited resources.


No Brief Candle: Reconceiving Research Libraries for the 21st Century (Note: PDF)

From the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) website

This title is composed of a series of provocative essays, the proceedings of a lively and informed symposium in early 2008, and a set of recommendations extrapolated from both. While several of the subject headings are familiar - scholarly communication, peer review, preservation of data, and e-science - the conclusions and recommendations are not. The consensus derived from these efforts was unambiguous in calling for more aggressive intervention to better structure and manage the challenges we face. This report demands change. Common themes include collaboration between librarians, faculty, and information technology experts to articulate strategies and tactical approaches to a rapidly changing environment.


Social Software in Libraries: SPEC Kit 304 (Note: PDF)

From the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) website

Social software is a well-established phenomenon that has continued to grow and develop since the inception of the Internet. While Facebook and MySpace are relatively new types of communication venues, computer users have been chatting in online forums and communing in virtual worlds and using wikis since the 1980s. Social software has, however, become much more accessible to the casual computer user since the development of the World Wide Web in 1994.
Related to social software is the idea of “Library 2.0,” or enhancing library resources and services using social software, to reach users outside the walls of the traditional library. While many libraries had been experimenting with social software prior to 2005, this philosophy of extending services and communication beyond traditional models became very prominent in the literature and practice after this date.


The Social Report 2008 (Note: PDF)

From the NZ Ministry of Social Development website

The social report uses a set of statistical indicators to monitor trends across 10 “domains”, or areas of people’s lives. Together these domains provide a picture of wellbeing and quality of life in New Zealand. The social report has four key aims:
* to provide and monitor over time measures of wellbeing and quality of life that complement existing economic and environmental indicators
* to compare New Zealand with other countries on measures of wellbeing
* to provide greater transparency in government and to contribute to better informed public debate
* to help identify key issues and areas where we need to take action, which can in turn help with planning and decision making.


Making Web 2.0 Accessibility Mainstream (Note: PDF)

From the E-prints in Library and Information Science website

Research into ‘Web 2.0 accessibility’ for people with disabilities has recently gained momentum in library and information science studies due to the unique problems disabled individuals face because they must rely on digitized formats. People with disabilities who use assistive technologies are often restricted by incompatibility issues involving software and hardware when retrieving Web content since many resources have been constructed without consideration for disabled users. The result has been a new dilemma emerging for many information centers and libraries regarding how to provide access to Web 2.0 technologies which are not designed for persons with disabilities and are incompatible with many assistive technologies. Careful consideration must be given in the development stage of web design to the layout, navigation and compatibility of different assistive technologies used to view the site.


WebWise 2.0: The Power of Community: Selected papers from the Ninth Annual WebWise Conference on Libraries and Museums

From the First Monday website

This Conference explored how the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies can extend institutions’ capacities to make their collections and programmes accessible to all types of users.
Articles include:

* Creating Scholarly Tools and Resources for the Digital Ecosystem: Building Connections in the Zotero Project

* Second Life: A Virtual World. Why Are Librarians There?

* Ashes2Art: Collaboration and Community in the Humanities