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

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Intercultural dialogue through the arts and culture? (Note: PDF)

From the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) website

As part of the preparations for the 4th World Summit on Arts and Culture 2009 in Johannesburg, the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) opened up a discussion with its network members on the claim that intercultural dialogue has become a new priority for arts and cultural policy makers around the world.

To address this question, IFACCA, with support from Summit co-host, the National Arts Council of South Africa, commissioned the ERICarts Institute to design and analyse the results of a survey to map views and collect cases of good practice on the (potential) role of intercultural dialogue in the arts and arts policies. A questionnaire was sent to the member organisations of IFACCA and to experts in its larger international network of researchers, arts practitioners and NGOs. Between April and July 2009, 108 respondents from 51 countries on all continents were collected online.


Europeana - Next Steps (Note: PDF)

From the European Commission website

This document looks ahead to the next phase of development of Europeana, which opened in November 2008 as part of the Commission's digital libraries initiative, aiming to make Europe's cultural and scientific heritage accessible to all on the internet. This document also looks at its future orientation and sets out the main challenges for the coming years in relation to (1) enriching Europeana’s content with both public domain and in copyright material of the highest quality and relevance to users, and (2) a sustainable financing and governance model. The objective is to ensure that Europeana and the underlying policies for digitisation, online accessibility and digital preservation give European culture a lasting visibility on the internet and turn our common and diverse heritage into an integral part of Europe's information infrastructure for the future.


Towards green ICT strategies... (Note: PDF)

From the OECD website

Governments focus on greening ICTs rather than creating smart ICT applications. This OECD report analyses government programmes and business initiatives on ICT and the environment to address environmental challenges, particularly global warming and energy use.


Libraries Connect Communities 3: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2008-2009 (Note: PDF)

From the American Library Association (ALA) website

This new study finds that more than 71% of all libraries (and 79% of rural libraries) report they are the only source of free access to computers and the Internet in their communities. 66% of public libraries rank job-seeking services, including resume writing and Internet job searches, among the most crucial online services they offer – up from 44% two years ago. In a separate survey, 80% of New York libraries indicated they helped someone search for a job in late 2008.

Additional key findings on the state of Internet availability in public libraries include:
* More than 90% of public libraries provide technology training such as online job-seeking and career-related classes, general Internet and computer use instruction
* 76% of public libraries offer free wireless access
* 81% of public libraries report there are not enough public Internet computers to meet patron demand some or all of the time; increasingly, libraries are having trouble replacing outdated computer workstations due to cost


Data sharing: Empty archives

From the Nature website

Most researchers agree that open access to data is the scientific ideal, so what is stopping it happening? Bryn Nelson investigates why many researchers choose not to share.


Open access to journal content as a case study in unlocking IP (Note: PDF)

From the University of Edinburgh School of Law website

This paper assesses the extent to which the theoretical openness of access to refereed papers in open access journals is being exploited in practice. The internet has brought with it both means to disseminate and access content, and an enhanced expectation that content will generally be readily accessible. This has threatened entrenched for-profit activities, which have long prospered on closed, proprietary approaches to publishing, facilitated by anti-consumer provisions in copyright laws. The ePrints and Open Access (OA) movements have been complemented by the emergence of electronic repositories in which authors can deposit copies of their works. The accessibility of refereed papers published in journals represents a litmus test of the extent to which openness is being achieved in the face of the power of corporations whose business model is dependent on the exploitation of intellectual property (IP). A specification of the requirements for “Unlocking IP” in refereed papers is presented and applied, leading to the conclusion that a great deal of progress appears to have been made. The copyright arrangements applied by most publishers enable authors to self-deposit PrePrints of their papers on their own web-sites and in open repositories; and in many cases authors can also self-deposit the PostPrint, i.e. the author's copy of the final version.