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Helen L | 1 Jan 19:43
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NETSL Award 2010: Call for Nominations

New England Technical Services Librarians (NETSL) Executive Board is seeking
nominations for its annual NETSL Award for Excellence in Library Technical
Services.

The NETSL Award recognizes and honors significant New England-based
contributions to the field of library technical services. Contributions may
have been made in New England by librarians from throughout the United
States, or nationally by librarians residing in New England, through
publications, service, or innovations in practice. The NETSL Executive Board
members select a recipient at their February meeting based on nominations
received. The Board reserves the right to suspend the Award for a year if no
suitable candidate is nominated.

The next NETSL Award will be presented at the NETSL Annual Spring Conference
2010: Crosswalks to the
Future<http://www.nelib.org/netsl/conference/2010/index.htm>
,* April 15, 2010*****, at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.

Eligibility for nomination is as follows:

   - Nominees may be NETSL/NELA members, but membership in the Association
   is not a requirement.
   - A nomination must be accompanied by a written statement that includes
   the rationale for nomination and, if a resume of the nominee is not
   appended, a narrative summary of the nominee's career and achievements.
   Provision of a resume is strongly recommended.
   - Nominations may be made by NETSL members, or by non-members.
   - Nominations and statement(s) must be received by the NETSL
   Vice-President no later than Friday, February 5, 2010.
   - Current members of the NETSL Executive Board are not eligible for
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Peter Schlumpf | 2 Jan 21:54
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Avanti

 Many of you have not heard from me for a very long time. I find myself at
the beginning of this new decade without a job. The last few years have been
rough. The job market is terrible. So what to do? I think this is a blessing
in disguise. I have all the time in the world to do something.

As I look at around, I feel a bit like a Rip van Winkle. So much has
happened that I have not been a part of. Yet, I have been quite aware of it
all from the very beginning. I've watched open source and free software
happen and evolve in libraries. I am pleased. Koha exists. And Evergreen.
They are very good alternatives to commercial offerings. But Avanti has not
lived up to its name. Now it is time.

After many years of neglect, I am getting back to work on Avanti, picking it
up from where I left it. I will do so as long as I have a network connection
and the lights stay on. I plan to keep whatever it turns out to be open
source. So I ask you, the library community, what do you want in an opac?
Would it be something different than what we have thought of as a opac? I
want to redesign the opac from the ground up beginning with the basics. What
would you tell someone who has nothing better to do with his time than to
build such a thing?  feel free to tell me.
 Come January 4th, I will set myself down to work. Best wishes, and good
health to all in the new decade.

Peter Schlumpf
http://www.avantilibrarysystems.com
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Miksa, Shawne | 3 Jan 18:07
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information organization, systems, and terrorists

It’s Sunday morning and I’m listening to CNN’s State of the Union while working on a chapter of my
book.  I’m hearing mostly about the thwarted December 25th terrorist attack on the plane from Amsterdam
to Detroit and the breakdown in the intelligence community as it concerns making the connections between
information they had concerning the individual terrorist, his connection to Yemen, how and why things
were missed that may have prevented him from being able to get on the plane in the first place, etc.  At the
same time I’m trying to write a chapter on our library information systems, what they are, what are
library catalogs today, objectives, FRBR, etc.  All of this brings to mind the complexity of an
information system and the effect of that complexity on making those connections, the reliance and
over-reliance on the technology (i.e., on commentator asked why the computer technology didn’t make
the connection), and on human ability to make the connections, and so on.  If we shift that complexity to the
kinds of information systems we in LIS create, populate, manipulate, maintain, and cross-connect to
other systems---it begs the question of how much complexity can we expect to be able to maintain or work within?

Let’s pretend that every information resource we have in our system(s) represents one terrorist and we
are the intelligence community. A terrorist attack is equivalent to a failure to meet an information need
(e.g., someone presented what they thought was a thorough report with all the facts, but it turns out they
missed a major piece of info and a major deal broke down or someone got an F on a paper because of lack of viable resources).

As the organizers of the information (the raw data), our tools are description, authority control of names
and headings, inclusion and exclusion of shared vocabulary, both natural language and controlled, our
interpretation of the intentions of the resource creator from both ourselves and outside resources
(i.e., agents on the ground, snitches, etc.), our judgment based on the experience, or inexperience, we
have accumulated during our life, and the ability of the system to make these same types of judgment (based
on how it’s been programmed).  On top of that we as the organizers also have to have a strong understanding
of the system or variety of systems that we work within, as well as information needs and information
seeking abilities (human information behavior) of the users of those systems.  Furthermore, we realize
that we have no control over how that information is used, misused, or not used by the user---which
logically would push us to make even richer representations as a way of attracting the user so they might
use the information correctly and make those connections.
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B.G. Sloan | 4 Jan 02:13
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Let=?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=99s_?= Hear It for Reckless Enthusiasm!

 
Here's a great op-ed piece by Joe Esposito at the Scholarly Kitchen blog:
 
Esposito, Joe. Let’s Hear It for Reckless Enthusiasm! January 1, 2010.
http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2010/01/01/lets-hear-it-for-reckless-enthusiasm/
 
The final paragraph of this essay ties in nicely with the purpose of NGC4LIB:
 
"And this prompts my personal reckless enthusiasm:  to build infrastructure that enables an
unmediated, direct connection between scholars and scholarly materials.  For example, there is a huge
need for a new order of bibliographical records, which are transparent to end-users and easily
integrated into machine-to-machine communications.  Such records will be very expensive to create;
no one knows how they will ultimately earn their keep.  But then I think of these telco executives shaking
their heads and saying, Where is the programming going to come from? It will be there."
 
Bernie Sloan
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Joe Hourcle | 4 Jan 16:15
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Re: information organization, systems, and terrorists


On Sun, 3 Jan 2010, Miksa, Shawne wrote:

> Its Sunday morning and Im listening to CNNs State of the Union while 
> working on a chapter of my book.  Im hearing mostly about the thwarted 
> December 25th terrorist attack on the plane from Amsterdam to Detroit 
> and the breakdown in the intelligence community as it concerns making 
> the connections between information they had concerning the individual 
> terrorist, his connection to Yemen, how and why things were missed that 
> may have prevented him from being able to get on the plane in the first 
> place, etc.  At the same time Im trying to write a chapter on our 
> library information systems, what they are, what are library catalogs 
> today, objectives, FRBR, etc.  All of this brings to mind the complexity 
> of an information system and the effect of that complexity on making 
> those connections, the reliance and over-reliance on the technology 
> (i.e., on commentator asked why the computer technology didnt make the 
> connection), and on human ability to make the connections, and so on. 
> If we shift that complexity to the kinds of information systems we in 
> LIS create, populate, manipulate, maintain, and cross-connect to other 
> systems---it begs the question of how much complexity can we expect to 
> be able to maintain or work within?

I'm going to take a different approach to the problem, because the systems 
I design aren't your typical "library" systems.

The catalogs that I deal with fall into two broad catagories*.  They might 
go by other names in other science fields, but for solar physics:

 	data catalogs :
 		a record of the data collected and/or its processed forms
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Qiang Jin | 4 Jan 21:40
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Re: ALCTS Cataloging and Classification Section Midwinter 2010 Forum

Apologies for cross-postings.

ALCTS Cataloging and Classification Section Midwinter 2010 Forum
To kick-off the year of Cataloging Research (2010), the CCS Forum will be devoted to presentations and
discussion about cataloging research as well as examples of current research. The CCS Forum will take
place on Friday, January 15, 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm at the Boston Convention Center, Room 104A/B. Qiang Jin,
Chair of the Cataloging and Classification Section, will serve as moderator.
Speakers:

Michèle V. Cloonan, Dean and Professor of the Graduate School of Library & Information Science at Simmons
College will discuss Simmons’ up-and-coming Ph.D.s and how important the program is to foster an
understanding of the need for cataloging research.

Sandy Roe, Editor, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, and Bibliographic Services Librarian at
Illinois State University will discuss the importance of cataloging research and how CCQ supports
cataloging research. 

Martha Yee, Cataloging Supervisor, UCLA Film & Television Archive, will discuss the RDF model to build in
ways for encoding the relationships between topics and their subdivisions that conveys more
information than the MARC subfield codes v, x, y, and z provide. 

Tina Gross, Catalog Librarian at St. Cloud State University, Daniel Joudrey, Assistant Professor at the
Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College and Arlene Taylor, Professor
Emerita, Library and Information Science Program, School of Information Sciences, University of
Pittsburg will present “The Effect of Controlled Vocabulary on Keyword Searching.” Their research
explores the need for LCSH and other controlled vocabularies to enhance keyword searching and retrieval
in today's catalogs.

***
Qiang Jin
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Guajardo, Richard R. | 4 Jan 23:50
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Recent Trends in Catalog Architecture, ALCTS Catalog Form and Function Interest Group

Recent Trends in Catalog Architecture

ALCTS Catalog Form and Function Interest Group
Saturday 16 January,  10:30 am-12:00 noon
HYATT, Grand Ballroom A
ALA Midwinter Meeting, Boston, MA

To Fix A Leaky Sink: Envisioning The Potential of Discovery Layers
Joshua P. Barton & Lucas Wing Kau Mak, Michigan State University

Abstract: Michigan State University Libraries was an early development
partner and implementation site of Encore from Innovative Interfaces, Inc.
Our local catalog has been maintained in parallel with Encore. Up to and
since our Encore implementation we have taken the "kitchen sink" approach to
the local catalog: we have included as much of our owned and licensed
content as possible. This presentation will examine how the continuing
development of "discovery layers" like Encore could allow libraries to
reassess the role and scope of the local catalog, contingent on how the
technology is applied. We will compare the potential of using discovery
layers for searching across aggregated metadata to that of using federated
searching. In addition, we will discuss the hopes we have for discovery
layers and the benefits and efficiency that we expect they could yield in
the facilitation of access to owned and licensed library resources.

LENS: Catalog records and Additional Data Sources in the Aquabrowser
Implementation at the University of Chicago
Frances McNamara, University of Chicago

Abstract: The Aquabrowser system has allowed mixing of Catalog 5.7 million
MARC records: Hathi Trust 238K MARC records; e-Resources from SFX and
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Alejandro Garza Gonzalez | 5 Jan 15:27
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Libwebcat's list of libraries with discovery layer interfaces

Just wanted to point this out in case anyone besides myself had missed it =)
http://www.librarytechnology.org/discovery.pl?SID=20100105878173828

         "Discovery Layer Interfaces
         The following are some of the Discovery Layer Interfaces that
    have been selected by libraries."

It's rather surprising there are only 3 listed libraries adopting both 
SOPAC and Scriblio? I bet there are more somewhere...

-- 
_________________ ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
*Ing. Alejandro Garza González*
Coordinación de proyectos y desarrollo de sistemas
Centro Innov <at> TE, Centro para la Innovación en Tecnología y Educación
Tecnológico de Monterrey

Tel. +52 [81] 8358.2000, Ext. 6751
Enlace intercampus: 80.689.6751, 80.788.6106
http://www.itesm.mx/innovate/

El contenido de este mensaje de datos no se considera oferta, propuesta 
o acuerdo, sino hasta que sea confirmado en documento por escrito que 
contenga la firma autógrafa del apoderado legal del ITESM. El contenido 
de este mensaje de datos es confidencial y se entiende dirigido y para 
uso exclusivo del destinatario, por lo que no podrá distribuirse y/o 
difundirse por ningún medio sin la previa autorización del emisor 
original. Si usted no es el destinatario, se le prohíbe su utilización 
total o parcial para cualquier fin.
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Breeding, Marshall | 5 Jan 15:30
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Re: Libwebcat's list of libraries with discovery layer interfaces

Thanks for pointing out the Library Technology Guides page on discovery interfaces.
Please use this url without the session data:
   http://www.librarytechnology.org/discovery.pl

And definitely let me know if your library has implemented a discovery system and it's not listed.

Thanks very much,

-marshall

Marshall Breeding
Director for Innovative Technology and Research
Vanderbilt University Library
Editor, Library Technology Guides
http://www.librarytechnology.org
615-343-6094

-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [mailto:NGC4LIB <at> LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Alejandro
Garza Gonzalez
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 8:28 AM
To: NGC4LIB <at> LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: [NGC4LIB] Libwebcat's list of libraries with discovery layer interfaces

Just wanted to point this out in case anyone besides myself had missed it =)
http://www.librarytechnology.org/discovery.pl?SID=20100105878173828

         "Discovery Layer Interfaces
         The following are some of the Discovery Layer Interfaces that
    have been selected by libraries."
(Continue reading)

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Alejandro Garza Gonzalez | 5 Jan 15:49
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Re: Libwebcat's list of libraries with discovery layer interfaces

Now that you mention it, we used Drupal and a mix of modules (Millennium 
module would be the main "bridge" module) to create various subject 
catalogs (e.g. "Medicine and Health", "Engineering", etc.) from our 
Millennium records. Each also contains a database listing, metasearch 
tool, etc.

This is a sample search from that portal:
   http://biblioteca.mty.itesm.mx/pasteur/en/search/apachesolr_search/heart

and a writeup is here:

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?contentType=Article&Filename=/published/emeraldfulltextarticle/pdf/lht-12-2008-0059_rtc_cl_final.pdf

However, I'm not sure you'd want to list "Millennium Integration module 
for Drupal" as a "discovery layer"? (Although, SOPAC is also a module 
that runs on top of Drupal, and you list it as "SOPAC" =))

_alejandro

Breeding, Marshall said the following on 05/01/2010 08:30 a.m.:
> Thanks for pointing out the Library Technology Guides page on discovery interfaces.
> Please use this url without the session data:
>     http://www.librarytechnology.org/discovery.pl
>
> And definitely let me know if your library has implemented a discovery system and it's not listed.
>
> Thanks very much,
>
> -marshall
>
(Continue reading)

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