BCU Library

And now for something different.... In one of the strongest memories from my childhood I am an altar boy in the local Catholic church, serving at a special solemn Mass. My job is to hold the large red-leather-bound Missal, or book of prayers, in my hands while resting its top edge against my forehead.

Outcomes, Types of Assessment, Assessment Activities

Summary of her first year as head of library instruction, creating a new program, assessment, lessons learned. 

Libraries are changing, despite their facades. And they're changing to high-tech service companies with embedded librarians, according to some library professionals. Of course, that assumes they aren't defunded out of existence. For ladies and gentlemen of a certain age, the library is changing too fast. For kids, it's changing too slow.

nstitute of Museum and Library Services announce the publication of "Libraries and Museums in an Era of Participatory Culture." The report details the events of the October, 2011 convening of fifty-eight library, museum, and cultural heritage leaders from thirty-one countries. Together, the participants developed a set of recommendations to help libraries and museums embrace new possibilities for public engagement that are made possible by societal and technological change. The deliberations identified "imperatives for the future" including accepting the notion of democratic access, placing a major emphasis on public value and impact, and embracing lifelong learning.

http://www.ted.com How do we consume data? At TED@SXSWi, technologist JP Rangaswami muses on our relationship to information, and offers a surprising and sharp insight: we treat it like food.

This map shows which news sources are read and shared at above-average levels by state. Roll over and click on the media outlets below to see where they influence readers and which stories were big hits. Updated monthly to reflect the latest trends.

"The Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication seeks to share useful innovations, both in thought and in practice, with the aim of encouraging scholarly exchange and the subsequent benefits that are borne of scrutiny, experimentation and debate. As modes of scholarly communication, the technologies and economics of publishing and the roles of libraries evolve, it is our hope that the work shared in the journal will inform practices that strengthen librarianship and that increase access to the "common Stock of Knowledge.""

In keeping with that spirit, The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has publicly released more than 161,000 digitally scanned historical maps spanning in excess of 130 years and covering the conterminous lower 48 states. This Historical Topographic Map Collection provides a comprehensive repository of the landscape of our Nation and tracks changes through time, providing essential clues critical in the understanding of our Nation's topography, geography and development.  

People want to collect and analyze data about what they do to help them reach their goals. Now that this is so easy we must consider how we can help them.

Tabbed display for multiple open wizards in the Workflows staff client for added efficiency; Indexing improvements and additional configuration options for use with the Item Group Editor wizard for increased accuracy and ease of use; Support for multilingual MARC record holdings including display enumeration and chronology information in the same language as the associated MARC bibliographic record, for convenience and time savings; SMS notification support giving libraries an additional efficient and cost-effective notification option for reaching library users;

Today we are launching the OCLC WorldShare Platform, a shared technical infrastructure that will support a growing number of OCLC services and applications. This platform will enable library developers, partners and other organizations to create, configure and share a wide range of applications that deliver new functionality and value for libraries and their users.

Was the Internet helpful to civilization?

a new public library in London with an unusual shape

Only 11 students in the survey, but as we saw with our usability testing, patterns tend to emerge with even a small group of people. 

A separate LibGuide was spun-off just for staff training ... one of those guides is this one - a LibGuide about LibGuides. 

Lots of links to reports and articles about library software including ILS vendors. Great resources!

What does your community want and need from a library? If you're a librarian, chances are you've made efforts to find out, to strategically plan, to adjust services to local interests and changing needs. Rarely, though, do any of us get to see a broad view of our library community through the filter of independent data.

  "Old models of library operation may disappear, but that does not mean they can't be replaced.  Academic libraries' central book model is temporarily insulated by high prices, but change will come just the same.  The time provided by this insulation should be used to explore sources of content like local special collections with clear ownership and distribution rights.  Without restrictions like those imposed by many third party vendors, special collections can provide a proving ground for next generation interfaces and services. This home-grown expertise within libraries can then be applied on a wider basis in the future.                 The examples and efforts discussed in this column share one thing at their core, and that is that they are services made by libraries, for libraries.  As a collective institution, libraries have great expertise in building sustainable preservation systems capable of lasting many years.  Third party vendors do not have a proven track record on building long term preservation systems for electronic resources at this point in time.  By placing our trust, funds, and collections in the hands of those third parties we turn libraries into middlemen.  For the short term gain of providing easy access to next generation library services, we risk disintermediation by those vendors and removal from the service equation entirely.  Libraries of all types and sizes can look inward and grow from our strengths.  Major publishers and content providers aren't likely to allow new services with the same scope libraries enjoyed in the past.  Fortunately, special collections and collaborative efforts are accessible to even the smallest library as perfect opportunities for gaining relevant experience and expertise.  By basing that experience and expertise on homegrown services built by and for libraries, they can ensure a sustainable future of next generation services."

The books present recent research on these subjects in a palatable way using interactive maps, podcasts and audio-visual materials. The result, which can be shared freely amongst both academic and non-academic individuals alike, is an engaging and diverse resource for researching and teaching relevant science issues across the humanities.