Library Stuff

“Credo, the industry leader for information skills solutions, today announced that it has launched 12 new and updated Subject and Publisher Collections, adding to the more than 75 collections currently available for perpetual purchase or subscription.” (via Credo Reference)

“A scholarly publisher has issued a warning to Jeffrey Beall, a librarian who writes about what he calls “predatory” practices in the scholarly publishing industry, threatening him with a $1 billion lawsuit for his blog posts criticizing the company. Beall is an academic librarian at the University of Colorado; he writes about the journal industry on his personal blog, Scholarly Open Access. More specifically, Beall identifies and lists journals that he says prey on academics’ need to publish their research. Such companies often charge a “handling fee” that requires authors to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars if a paper is published.” (via NPR)

“The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) was recently named one of the top 10 original catalogers in the world in OCLC’s Annual Report for FY12. During that period, GPO added 17,310 new records for U.S. Government information products to WorldCat, a database of bibliographic information built continuously by libraries around the world and OCLC. As one of the founding members of the OCLC network in 1976, GPO has reached several important milestones as an active contributor to WorldCat over the years. In 1992, a GPO Cataloger contributed the 100,000th record to the OCLC Bibliographic Database, and in 1999, another GPO cataloger contributed the 43,000,000th record.” (via FDLP)

“Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), a not-for-profit organization and leading provider of licensing and Open Access (OA) solutions, has joined the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), which offers a forum for bringing together the entire Open Access community. “As traditional and new publishers gather and create standards around Open Access publishing, it’s increasingly important to have organizations like OASPA leading dialogue among publishers, academics, researchers and others,” said Roy Kaufman, Managing Director, New Ventures, CCC. “We’re honored to be a part of OASPA’s ambitious mission of exchanging information, setting standards, improving the author experience, educating the research community and the public and promoting innovation.” (via Copyright Clearance Center)

“Today, the menu of the Scholarly Kitchen is expanding with the launch of our podcast, which is being edited and managed by Stewart Wills, whose Side Dishes you have likely become familiar with via his excellent Twitter feed.” (via The Scholarly Kitchen)

1) Faculty Usage of Library Tools in a Learning Management System

2) Invoking the User from Data to Design

3) YouTube Has Changed Everything”? Music Faculty, Librarians, and Their Use and Perceptions of YouTube

4) Student Involvement for Student Success: Student Staff in the Learning Commons

“The paint on my worn out ol’ library soapbox is getting rather chipped these days, but I’m about to get back up on it, my friends. Brace yourselves. (The soapbox should probably brace itself too, poor thing.) There are two recent library-related articles on HuffPo to which I’d like to draw your attention. The first article, written by my friend and fellow ULU advocate Christian Zabriske, is an example of how one should write about libraries in the modern age. It’s passionate, it’s coherent, and it’s chock full of relevant and accurate information. (via Rita Meade)

“The Kilbourn Public Library Board of Trustees approved a public behavior policy and billing by the South Central Library System of four counties for $22,269 for use of the library at its monthly meeting May 9. The public behavior policy is to “preserve a reasonably quiet atmosphere where library patrons may use library services and materials without disturbance.” The policy provides that if someone is disturbing others and not responding to the needs of others, that person will be asked to leave and can be restricted from using the library.” (via Wisconsin Dells Events)

“Lawmakers are calling for a study of the availability of e-books to Connecticut public libraries. The state House of Representatives voted Tuesday 143-0 to pass a bill requiring the commissioner of consumer protection to report to the General Assembly on the issue by Feb 1. The bill, which originally called on publishers to offer e-books to libraries at a reasonable price, was amended to reflect lawmakers’ concerns about the likelihood of lawsuits.” (via AP)

“At a table in the library of the Maryland Historical Society, an investigator with the National Archives pulls file folder after file folder from a cardboard box and hands them to library director Patricia Dockman Anderson. An FBI agent sits nearby. Item No. 451: an invitation to meet Vice President Hubert Humphrey in Hawaii in 1966. Item No. 1695: a ticket stub to the 1912 Democratic National Convention. Item No. 1332: a program linked to President Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 funeral. Until recently, the documents were evidence, some of the more than 10,000 items seized in a massive theft investigation that ensnared a well-known collector of presidential memorabilia and his assistant. This week, however, they were returned to the society to become again pieces of history available to researchers.” (via AP)