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Maggie Verster

Library Podcasts you Might Find Useful - 0 views

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    "These aren't podcasts done by local libraries, for their local customers. Instead, these podcasts are all focused on us librarians. And I'm using "podcast" loosely in my list - it includes audio-only podcasts, call-in live shows (that then turn into downloadable audio podcasts after the fact), and video shows."
Maggie Verster

Digital Libraries: Challenges and Influential Work - 0 views

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    "As information professionals, we live in very interesting times. Effective search and discovery over open and hidden digital resources on the Internet remains a problematic and challenging task. The difficulties are exacerbated by today's greatly distributed scholarly information landscape. This distributed information environment is populated by silos of: full-text repositories maintained by commercial and professional society publishers; preprint servers and Open Archive Initiative (OAI) provider sites; specialized Abstracting and Indexing (A & I) services; publisher and vendor vertical portals; local, regional, and national online catalogs; Web search and metasearch engines; local e-resource registries and digital content databases; campus institutional repository systems; and learning management systems."
Maggie Verster

15 Minutes local south african online Magazine - 0 views

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    Looks vibey and could be cool for local teens to read. Have a nice page turning look
Maggie Verster

How To Check Out Library Books on Your Kindle for Free - 3 views

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    Thousands of libraries across the United States offer digital lending for Kindle devices. Read on to see how you can enjoy the benefits of free library books on your Kindle. Just like you can check out physical books from your local library, at over 11,000 public libraries you can also check out ebooks for use on your Kindle. It's simple, free, and best of all there's no risk of late fees because the digital books simply expire the day they are due.
Maggie Verster

SA Libraries in the News - 0 views

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    Local library blog
Maggie Verster

NB Publishers - 1 views

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    A really great local booksite
Maggie Verster

Building of Libraries in Communities and Schools - 1 views

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    The Department of Arts and Culture briefed the Committee on the building of libraries in communities and in schools. Government had identified a need for transformation in the sector to address the challenges of a decline in service delivery and the disparities in service provision throughout the country. Libraries were excluded from Schedule 5 of the Constitution, resulting in problems with adequate access to funding. As a result, Conditional Grant Projects were introduced to transform urban and rural community library infrastructure, facilities and services (primarily targeting previously disadvantaged communities) through a recapitalisation programme at Provincial Government level in support of Local Government structures.
Maggie Verster

HSRC Press: Lots of great South African ebooks here - 0 views

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    HSRC Press is South Africa's open access publisher committed to the dissemination of high quality social science research based publications, in print and electronic form. The Press publishes the research output of the Human Science Research Council and externally authored works. A formal peer-review process guarantees the highest academic quality and the Press has a very active local and international marketing programme, in addition to collaborating with foreign publishers on specific titles.
Maggie Verster

Top ten twittering librarians - 0 views

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    Good starting point for network building for librarians. How I wish I could get a local list going!!!!
Fabian Aguilar

Resistance to Google book deal builds as Google woos Europe - Ars Technica - 0 views

  • Last Friday, the deadline passed for formal comments from parties interested in the Google Book Settlement, but the flow of less-formal comments doesn't seem to have abated.
  • This week, however, the focus has shifted to Europe, where Google has faced opposition from France and Germany that has prompted it to offer some concessions to local publishers.
  • First, we'll follow the action stateside, where Friday's deadline set off a flurry of filings.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • The Free Software Foundation was among those that filed an objection, this one focused on licensing issues. Because of the nature of the suit, the settlement focused on copyrighted works, but the works scanned by Google may (now, or in the future) include those covered by the FSF's GNU Free Document License. 
  • "If the Settlement is approved, Google will be authorized to continue to digitize, sell and partially display books without complying with the 'copyleft' and 'share alike' license terms which are essential to the freedom granted by these licenses."
  • But it's not just US copyright law that's being trampled on, according to Consumer Watchdog; the settlement also conflicts with international copyright agreements.
  • The group isn't alone in thinking that; European publishers have been leery of the deal, and action shifted to Brussels this week, where the European Commission has been holding hearings on the settlement.
  • Other Commissioners seem determined to use it as a launching point for a more general attempt to deal with related issues, like the modernization of copyright law to handle digital content and the digitization of works in European libraries
  • According to various reports, two countries (France and Germany) have already decided that they will oppose the deal.
  • Google seems to have come to the hearings well prepared, with some significant concessions to hand to the Commission: books that are out of print in the US but still published in Europe won't be licensed to the Books Rights Registry. The Registry would also pick up two European representatives, one an author, one a publisher.
  • At the same time, the Commissioners note that only one percent of the works in European libraries have been digitized to date, leaving the continent at risk of lagging in an effort that ultimate should improve public access to significant cultural material.
  • One of those consumer interests is undoubtedly privacy, given the potentially personal nature of a person's reading habits.
  • ere, the story jumps back to this side of the Atlantic, where the US' Federal Trade Commission has been hashing out privacy issues with Google
  • Although nothing formal has been decided yet, Google issued a formal privacy policy and FAQ that lays out the privacy protections it affords users of its current book service, and details the features that will be used for book sales if the settlement is approved. Basically, Google will keep personal information in-house, and only share information, such as lists of favorite books, if a user specifically opts in.
  • But, if Google was hoping to keep privacy issues separate from the objections to the book settlement, a coalition of privacy advocates had an unpleasant surprise for it. The ACLU and EFF organized a coalition of authors that have dealt with privacy concerns to file a brief as members of the class of rightsholders involved in the settlement.
  • The gist of the complaint is that the settlement will leave Google in a position where it could track users' reading habits, but does nothing to ensure that it won't. "The Settlement includes no limitations on collection and use of reader information and no privacy standards for retention, modification, deletion or disclosure of that information to third parties or the government," the filing reads.
  • The filing actually was modified in time to reflect Google's privacy policy statement, and it notes that there's nothing binding about these rules; Google can change them at will in the future. Obviously, the coalition would like to see something binding written into the agreement.
  • It's obvious that the concerns about, and outright resistance to, the original settlement have been extensive, and Google is willing to make some significant concessions to try to get the deal to go through. What's less obvious is whether these concessions will be formally made part of the legal settlement and, if so, whether outside parties will have another opportunity to comment on the revisions. The scheduled decision is now less than a month away, but it looks like it's going to be an extremely busy month for everyone involved.
Maggie Verster

FunDza: helping local teens to read - 0 views

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    The FunDza Literacy Trust boosts literacy through popularising reading and building a community of teen and young adult readers across South Africa. FunDza achieves this by providing content that is relevant to the lives of millions of young South Africans and leveraging the reach of mobile technology within this demographic.
Maggie Verster

Global Media Journal African Edition - 0 views

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    "The African Edition of Global Media Journal is maintained by the Journalism Department of Stellenbosch University in the Western Cape province of South Africa and publishes research papers, professional articles, and book reviews. Global Media Journal African Edition also offers an opportunity to graduate students to publish their work. It is published bi-annually."
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