Library News, Reviews, and Views
To make the most of BEA, here are the offerings that are best for librarians—not all of them are particularly aimed at our profession, but eavesdropping on “the other side” can be illuminating. Though ebook questions feature heavily, we’re moving on from library availability concerns to debates surrounding secondhand ebooks, the effects on authors, and e-publishing of out-of-print titles.
SIrsiDynix, one of the largest ILS companies, is poised to roll out a new system later this year that the company says will integrate its product lines in a cloud architecture.
Various aspects of the BLUEcloud Suite (BCS) have been discussed previously, and some products that it comprises–such as Enterprise, BookMyne, and Social Library–are already on the market. But, at the Cosugi conference held in Salt Lake City March 14-16, BCS was announced as a re-engineered technology stack and holistic brand that company officials say will become the architecture upon which the company will build its products in the future.
The SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, TX, is all about bringing together different elements—technology, play, education, and branding—to create new and memorable experiences for the attendees. Last year, librarians Cindy Fisher and Andrea Davis raised the profile of the Libraries Archives and Museums (LAM) group at SXSW by organizing a conversation around #sxswLAM on Twitter and getting librarians and festival goers to sport the group’s signature zebra print. This year, the sxswLAMers wanted to think of a way to get people to really ‘interact’ with libraries during the festival. Inspired by the bicycle-powered taxis that shuttle around stranded conference goers during the festival, Fisher and Davis came up with the idea of a mobile pedicab library.
Why is this conference unlike all other conferences? Several of this year’s innovations are drawn from the current trends in professional gatherings that feature high-energy, interactive, bottom-up content rather than traditional presentations. Other 2013 changes to the conference include added support for body (yoga, massage) and brain (the new Buddy Program), plus technology-enabled instant gratification: attendees can vote for their favorite sessions in the ACRL People’s Choice Awards via mobile device.
Urban Librarians Unite (ULU) collected more than 20,000 children’s books to help replace library collections damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The library advocacy and support group, founded by 2012 LJ Mover & Shaker Christian Zabriskie, also placed Mini Libraries in front of libraries that were closed by storm damage. Locations include Queens Library branches in [...]
As usual, ALA was a whirlwind of panels, book buzzes, parties, and my favorite—meeting librarians in the inevitable lines for food and bathrooms (will the conference centers ever figure this out?). The best fun was at the AAP Library Family Feud, where librarians took on authors about such burning questions as what 100 librarians said [...]
Despite conventional wisdom that conferences held on the coasts draw smaller crowds and complaints from some vendors that show floor traffic was down, Keith Michael Fiels, executive director of the American Library Association (ALA), reported that this year’s Midwinter attendance totaled 10,731. That’s up slightly from 2012’s 9,929 and 2011’s 10,110, though below 2010’s high of 11,095.
The Chicago Public Library has joined the list of major U.S. libraries that have signed on with Toronto-based BiblioCommons as its discovery provider. An investment from the Chicago Public Library Foundation made possible the three-year deal that was announced Saturday. Among the other libraries where Bibliocommons’s BiblioCore catalog is live are Seattle Public Library, Cleveland [...]
From the Digital Public Library of America Blog: The DPLA Nominating Committee was established by the DPLA Board of Directors during a December 2012 meeting to recommend two additional members for the DPLA Board of Directors. The Nominating Committee is composed of the following individuals: Cathy Casserly, DPLA Board of Directors (Treasurer) Luis Herrera, DPLA [...]
From the Palgrave Macmillan Website and News Release: Palgrave Open offers authors and their funders the option to publish open access (OA) research across all publication formats. Palgrave Macmillan journal articles, monographs and Palgrave Pivot publications can now be made available with immediate open access upon publication. [Clip] Palgrave Open publishes OA content under the [...]
INFOdocket by Gary Price
