New & noteworthy

Citation

(2002), "New & noteworthy", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 19 No. 9. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2002.23919iab.001

New & noteworthy

Resource

To Review its Role across the Library Domain

Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries has launched a UK-wide consultation exercise to identify clearly the ways it can most effectively benefit the whole library and information domain.

Until now most of Resource's library-related work has focused on public libraries. This is in large part due to the sheer size and scale of the People's Network, coupled with the need to prioritize the implementation of the Building on Success strategy for public libraries. Now, Resource wishes to see what can be realistically accomplished across the whole of the library and information community, ranging from school, further and higher education libraries, through health, prison and workplace libraries to the book trade and Internet providers.

The first step for Resource in this project will be to consult policy makers, key practitioners and professional associations (especially CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) and discuss with them the role Resource might play to help maximize the contribution that the domain makes to the UK's economic, social and cultural well-being. This consultation process has been named WILIP – Wider Information and Library Issues Project.

The objectives of WILIP are to:

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  map the library and information domain and adjacent areas;

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  identify the issues that currently confront libraries and information providers;

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  identify where and how Resource might add value in helping to resolve these issues; and

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  communicate the conclusions to all Resource's stakeholders – especially stakeholders in the library and information domain and relevant government departments.

It is intended that WILIP will both inform and be informed by emerging regional library strategies.

The conclusions of the consultation exercise and proposals for the future will be published in Spring 2003. The process will be managed by Sue Howley, Resource's Senior Policy Adviser. Sue will be assisted by Stuart Ede, the Project Co-ordinator. Stuart is the Director of management, marketing and information consulting firm proSede, and was formerly Director of Collection Management at the British Library. He will bring to WILIP his experience of leading the successful UK-wide consultation exercise on adopting a new national standard for exchanging electronic catalogue data.

Resource – http://www.resource. gov.uk

CompTIA

Launches Accreditation Standard for Document Management

CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association, has announced the UK's first independent training and accreditation programme to assess competency in document management. The training programme will be offered through document management education specialists iTx and Optimila. CompTIA's CDIA+ examination is also directly available to all document management professionals from CompTIA. It assesses and rubber-stamps competency in planning, designing and specifying document management systems.

CompTIA's accreditation programmes are designed and created by subject-matter experts made up of professionals from within the IT and communications industry. CompTIA CDIA+ is the result of seven years' intensive planning and discussion to assess and define competency in document management. Following a major review of the curriculum in 2001, a new test was introduced in 2002 which places extensive weight on system analysis, thereby more accurately reflecting the changing responsibility of today's document management specialists. Experts from three continents were consulted and more than 40 subject-matter professionals contributed to the new examination.

CompTIA CDIA+ will assess knowledge in five key dimensions facing the document manager or consultant: Gathering Business Requirements (31 percent), Analysing Business Processes (32 percent), Recommending a Solution (15 percent), Designing a Solution (32 percent), and Planning for Implementation (9 percent). The certification examination has also been broadened to tackle scanning, storage and colour output alongside questions that address the impact of the Internet on document management.

CompTIA – http://www.comptia.org

Higher Education Digitisation Service

Reports on Charging Models for Digital Cultural Heritage

The Higher Education Digitisation Service (HEDS) has published the final report for its study on Charging Models for Digital Cultural Heritage. The report is now available online at: http://heds.herts.ac.uk/ mellon/charging_ models.html It is available in both HTML and PDF format.

The purpose of this study (on behalf of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation) is to investigate some of the underlying assumptions being made in the move from previously analogue photographic services into the realm of digital capture and delivery, in particular to look at how marketable, cost-efficient and income-stable the new digital services and resources are in comparison with previous methods (which in many places still exist alongside the newer digital developments). The study, through interviews and comparative modelling of costs and fees charged, illuminated the differences in practice for the sale of analogue versus digital formats.

The report includes survey results of 51 institutions from university, public and national libraries, plus museums and galleries, as well as interview results from 15 institutional service providers (11 from the UK, four from mainland Europe). It shows how pricing structures are determined for delivering digital versions of rare or unique items in libraries, museums, archives and similar public institutions. Furthermore, it gives evidence of how these digital pricing structures compare with those used for the delivery of the same or similar resources in analogue form.

The HEDS study explored the thresholds that determine the point at which an organization charges for the sale of content and other rights to their digital holdings and the reasons given for such charges. The report aims to provide information which will aid the future decision making of funding agencies and project planning in deciding the relative merits of digital resources over analogue in terms of their chargeable status and possible rights issues.

The Conclusions and Implications sections of this report identify the clear relationship between the gatekeeper function, the pricing policy and the assignment of revenue raised in the institutions accounting of whether a service is profitable or not. Future trends and further steps are also suggested.

HEDS – http://heds.herts.ac.uk

Resource

To Set up New Task Force for UK Archives

Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries has been invited by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to carry out an in-depth analysis and review of the state of the UK's unique and diverse archives.

The DCMS has asked Resource to undertake a close and detailed investigation of UK archives, demonstrating how this unrivalled but often neglected national legacy can be turned more fully to advantage as a rich learning resource accessible to all, a means of reinforcing a sense of local and national community and the nation's personal, corporate and public memory. Resource is setting up an Archives Task Force which is expected to report its initial findings to the Secretary of State by April 2003.

Resource Chairman, Matthew Evans, commented: "The UK holds an unrivalled wealth of exceptionally rich archival material: the love-letters of Elizabeth I and the Earl of Essex; the war diaries of regiments and squadrons; film footage of the 1966 World Cup Final or the fall of the Berlin Wall. The work of the Task Force will be a catalyst for a fundamental and far-reaching programme of change for UK archives, enabling them to be better understood, better looked after, and better used."

Stuart Davies, Resource's Director of Strategy and Planning, will act as Project Director. He said: "The work of the Task Force will centre on wide consultation with archive users, potential users and archive professionals, to ensure that the full range of views from the archives world will be considered. We are currently undertaking ground clearing research which will be used to underpin a comprehensive consultation programme, which will begin this autumn."

Resource – http://www.resource. gov.uk

OCLC

Offers CONTENTdm for Online Digital Collections

OCLC Digital & Preservation Resources is now offering the CONTENTdm Software Suite as a complete solution for libraries developing online digital collections to provide preservation and access to special collections.

Already in widespread use and supporting hundreds of collections, CONTENTdm provides tools for all aspects of digital collection management. With its ability to handle virtually all media types, it supports a diverse set of collection items, including photographs, slides, maps, yearbooks, fully transcribed diaries, rare books, audio and video clips, postcards and any other asset accessible via a Web browser.

OCLC – http://www.oclc.org

Culture Online

Receives Funding for Projects

UK Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has announced £13m of funding for a series of Culture Online projects to be launched this year. Culture Online (COL) will use the latest technologies – via the Internet and other digital platforms – to offer new forms of access to the nation's cultural resources. As well as providing key resources for schools, it will allow people around the country to learn from and participate in a variety of innovative new projects. By inspiring and motivating children and adults, Culture Online will encourage them to interact with the arts, heritage and culture in new and more creative ways.

The funding will be available to fund this stage of Culture Online, covering the period 2002 to 2004. The money will be spent on 20 to 30 targeted projects. Drawing on the varied resources of cultural institutions, the projects will be accessible in a variety of ways including an online gateway linked to Curriculum Online and the National Grid for Learning, both run by the Department for Education and Skills.

Announcing the funding, Tessa Jowell said: "Culture Online has the potential to transform people's experience of the arts, dissolving barriers of distance, time or attitude. By allowing children and adults to access the rich resources of our cultural sector they will acquire a world-class educational and recreational tool. These new projects will demonstrate what is possible by creating a 'digital bridge' linking new digital technology with cultural resources, educational institutions and homes."

DCMS will shortly be inviting organizations to put forward proposals for involvement in projects. Criteria for the assessment of proposals will also be published.

Projects might, for example, deliver:

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  Interactive technology allowing people to see a major exhibition at a national museum that they were unable to visit. The experience could be enhanced through digital television, the Web, and connections with other events throughout the country. The museum could also collaborate with television companies, historic sites and local museums with relevant collections. This would enable people to explore the history, influences and inspirations behind a great painter's work, or to participate in a local project inspired by the exhibition.

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  A cross-curricular project on the impact of the Second World War, incorporating a virtual tour of London during the Blitz designed by a computer games company, recordings of local people's wartime experiences collected by a group of museums working with schoolchildren, and the creation of a digital storybook showing how the region changed as a result of the war.

Culture Online projects will unite the abilities of cultural organizations and the private sector, including broadcasters, education professionals and those on the cutting edge of digital technology, to create innovative, high quality resources for adults and children.

Culture Online – http://www.cultureonline.gov.uk

Endeavor

Releases ENCompass 2.0

Endeavor Information Systems has announced that Release 2.0 of ENCompass, its advanced digital system for managing e-content and digital collections plus full linking capabilities, is now commercially available. The latest version features multi-protocol (Z39.50, XML and HTTP) searching across resources, OpenURL-syntax support, fully customizable XSLT for the user interface, and increased navigation.

Endeavor Information Systems – http://www.endinfosys.com

University of Michigan Libraries Digital Library Production Service

Launches OAIster Search Interface

The University of Michigan Libraries Digital Library Production Service has launched the OAIster search interface, version 1. OAIster has harvested a large number of records from a variety of institutions – 274046 records from 55 institutions – that have made these records available using the OAI protocol (see http://www.openarchives.org/). Each of these records leads to an actual digital resource hosted at an institution.

University of Michigan Libraries Digital Library Production Service – http://oaister.umdl.umich.edu

Metro

Digitization Symposium Webcast Available

The Metropolitan New York (USA) Library Council has announced that METRO Digitization Symposium multimedia clips are now available via Webcast on METRO Web site. METRO successfully organized a Digitization Symposium on 17 July at Baruch College, New York. As part of the project effort, METRO is providing a Webcast access to Symposium audio/video clips. To view the Webcast, visit the project Web site and click on Symposium link section.

METRO – http://www.metro.org/modic

Mobile Libraries

Use Satellite Technology to Enhance Services to Rural Areas

Across two states in Australia, a progressive library service is now using satellite technology to provide much improved services and Internet access to regional customers throughout the rural areas of the Upper Murray Valley region in the states of Victoria and New South Wales.

The Upper Murray Regional Library (UMRL) provides two mobile libraries to service its patrons who are not in the vicinity of one of its 13 fixed branches. However, because the 28,000 sq. km. region is situated in rugged mountainous country, it is a difficult environment for mobile communications, allowing until recently the provision of only the very basic of library services.

Aspiring to provide a library service that is as equitable and accessible as possible, UMRL approached Xantic, the satellite solution provider for an answer. What Xantic came up with was a satellite-delivered mobile Global Area Network (GAN) service, made possible through their partnership with Inmarsat Ltd, a world leader in satellite networks. Based in Sydney, Australia, Xantic is one of Inmarsat's key distributors.

"For the Upper Murray Regional Library Service it has meant greater connectivity for the mobile libraries, with online services and live access to the central library," said Dale Cousens, UMRL Information Systems Manager.

The package provides for full mobile ISDN service at 64kbps, a mobile packet data service (MPDS) and the GAN mobile voice service. The MPDS is a breakthrough and allows continuous and low cost online connections. Costs are minimized because users are only charged for the packages of data transmitted rather than for the time the user is connected or online.

"In practical terms it means that the public using our mobile libraries have access to the Internet, whilst staff in mobile centres have access to our LAN and Library Management system, making searching for titles, availability and customer profiles instantaneous."

The GAN service means the two mobile libraries can send large amounts of data, e-mail and even participate in video conferences. All this is done with a PC and a laptop-sized satellite terminal.

"Our mobile libraries carry a combined stock of nearly 11,000 items and last year they processed 74,000 loans, nearly 6,000 reservations and 6,800 requests for information. Completely stand-alone and self-contained, we can now offer library services anywhere regardless of the location or facilities available," said Ms Cousens.

Funding assistance was provided to the Library Service through the Federal Government's "Networking the Nation" and is currently a pilot for library services throughout the country.

Upper Murray Regional Library – www.umrl.nsw.gov.au

Endeavor

Announces ENCompass-Blackboard Interface

Endeavor Information Systems has announced the development of an interface between the ENCompass system for managing, searching and linking diverse collections with the Blackboard Learning System. The combined powerful and user-friendly interface assists in course creation and gives students single-logon access to learning resources and learning tools, expanding efforts to build a virtual campus for learning. It enables instructors to search the library's digital content for relevant course material and instantly "collect" this information within their course materials using the Blackboard Learning System. Faculty could create pre-defined ENCompass searches for students and select documents, images and other digital information to be used as course content.

Endeavor Information Systems – http://www.endinfosys.com

CILIP

Launches E-mail Discussion List

CILIP: The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals has launched a new e-mail discussion list dedicated to discussion of issues that concern Members of CILIP. The list was set up by Ian Johnson of Robert Gordon's University in Aberdeen. He will continue to manage it on CILIP's behalf.

Welcoming this new development, CILIP's Chief Executive Bob McKee said, "The new list will be an important two-way communication channel for CILIP and all its Members, wherever they are based. It will also help forge strong links between Members, which is crucial to the development of our new Institute. The establishment of LIS-CILIP is one of the first steps towards achieving CILIP's vision of an inclusive e-community Institute."

To subscribe to LIS-CILIP: send an e-mail to jiscmail@jiscmail.ac.uk; leave the subject line empty; in the message box, enter "join LIS-CILIP firstname lastname".

CILIP – http://www.cilip.org.uk

National Library of Canada

Launches REFCAN-L

The National Library of Canada has launched REFCAN-L, a new electronic forum for discussing issues relating to the provision of reference and information services from a Canadian perspective. To subscribe to REFCAN-L, send an e-mail to: listserv@infoserv.nlc-bnc.ca In the body of the message, type the following command: SUBSCRIBE REFCAN-L Firstname Lastname.

NISO

Announces the Release of the 2002 Library Statistics Standard, ANSI/NISO Z39.7

NISO, the National Information Standards Organization, has released the 2002 Library Statistics Standard as a Draft Standard for Trial Use. The revised standard (Information Services and Use: Metrics and statistics for libraries and information providers – Data Dictionary) addresses an area critical to the information community: measurement of electronic resources (E-metrics). The new draft standard is available on the NISO Web site.

"This new edition of Z39.7 is a major departure from prior versions of the standard. Not only has the Committee embraced valuable best practices long recognized by the US library community, we have also incorporated international definitions", said Denise Davis, Chair of Standards Committee AY, Library Statistics, "and, by offering this standard in a Web-accessible database we are extending its reach and functionality."

NISO – http://www.niso.org/emetrics

DWRC

Finds Mobile Phones are Changing Teenagers' Behaviour

Research carried out by the Digital World Research Centre (DWRC) at the University of Surrey indicates that mobile phones enhance and invigorate teenagers' social learning skills and communication abilities. The study found that teenagers' lives revolve around mobile phones and a highly developed subculture exists that shapes the way they behave and interact.

Mobile phones are not used by teenagers just for chatting or even texting; they have evolved other uses. For example, sharing mobile phones helps to consolidate friendships and relationships of trust; showing messages displayed to friends nearby forms topics of conversation and the phone can be used to demonstrate rivalry and power.

The research formed one element of a larger three-year study – known as STEMPEC (Socio-Technical Shaping of Multimedia Personal Communications) – looking into how users and industry shape mobile futures. The study investigated use of WAP phones, use of mobiles in public spaces as well as the sociology of mobiles. The STEMPEC study was sponsored by the DTI, the DWRC and the mobile operator partners – Vodafone, One2One, Orange, BT Cellnet (02) and Granada Media.

Digital World Research Centre – http://www.surrey.ac.uk/dwrc

Verity

Provides Technology for US Department of Defense

Verity, which provides infrastructure software for business portals, has announced that the US Department of Defense Intelligence Information Systems (DODIIS) has integrated Verity's advanced search and notification software into its new message handling platform.

The new platform, called the Multimedia Message Manager (M3), is the DODIIS' next generation message handling system. It marks an evolution in the ability of the US military's intelligence community to handle information in the form of graphics and rich-media files, in addition to text messages. M3 provides messaging services at more than 40 sites worldwide, and has the capacity to process as many as 35,000 messages at each site per day.

Verity – http://www.verity.com