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June 22nd, 2010LISWire
~More than 100,000 Institutions Benefit from Free Resources Offered via EBSCOhost®~
IPSWICH, Mass. — June 22, 2010 — EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) began providing key database content free of charge in 2008 and more and more users are incorporating these free resources into their daily research routines. Two free EBSCOhost® resources, GreenFILE™, and Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts™ (LISTA), have seen a tremendous amount of usage—a good indicator that EBSCO is providing the types of content users need, when they need it, and that these free resources are adding value to institutions around the globe.
GreenFILE focuses on environmental efforts while LISTA is geared toward those interested in libraries and information management. Today, there are more than 100,000 institutions benefiting from the free content in GreenFILE or LISTA. Statistics over the past 12 months have shown that there have been nearly 100 million searches for these two EBSCOhost resources alone—nearly 53 million searches performed in GreenFILE and more than 46 million searches in LISTA.
EBSCOhost databases are usually available by institution-level subscription only, but by making GreenFILE and LISTA freely available to anyone, EBSCO’s goal is to make it easy for those interested in environmental or library & information resources to get quick access to relevant information.
EBSCO Publishing President Tim Collins says these resources are in subject areas that tie in to EBSCO’s corporate culture. “EBSCO has made significant efforts to be an environmentally responsible company and making GreenFILE available to anyone interested is consistent with our commitment to make a difference in this area. We decided to make LISTA freely available as a way of supporting libraries as we have appreciated our decades-long relationship with the library community. We are very pleased to see the significant usage of these free resources.”
GreenFILE
GreenFILE is a bibliographic database of information about environmental concerns. The database offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on the environmental effects of individuals, corporations and local/national governments, and what can be done at each level to minimize these effects. GreenFILE is freely available at www.greeninfoonline.com.LISTA
LISTA indexes more than 550 core journals, nearly 50 priority journals, and nearly 125 selective journals; plus books, research reports and proceedings. Subject coverage includes librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. Coverage in the database extends back as far as the mid-1960s. It is EBSCO’s intention to provide access to LISTA on a continual basis at www.libraryresearch.com. Customers currently subscribing to other EBSCOhost databases may elect to have LISTA added to their EBSCOhost profile.Users can also take advantage of accessing the resources through EBSCOhost, the most-used for-fee electronic resource in libraries around the world. EBSCOhost offers a clean look and feel, for a technologically sophisticated, yet familiar search experience. Built-in flexibility provides users with the ability to customize their searches and brings an intuitive approach to searching online databases.
About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the world’s premier database aggregator, offering a suite of more than 300 full-text and secondary research databases. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals, magazines, books, monographs, reports and various other publication types from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.). The company’s product lines include proprietary databases such as Academic Search™, Business Source®, CINAHL®, DynaMed™, Literary Reference Center™, MasterFILE™, NoveList®, SocINDEX™ and SPORTDiscus™ as well as dozens of leading licensed databases such as ATLA Religion Database™, EconLit, Inspec®, MEDLINE®, MLA International Bibliography, The Philosopher’s Index™, PsycARTICLES® and PsycINFO®. Databases are powered by EBSCOhost®, the most-used for-fee electronic resource in libraries around the world.EBSCO is the provider of EBSCO Discovery Service™ a core collection of locally-indexed metadata creating a unified index of an institution’s resources within a single, customizable search point providing everything the researcher needs in one place—fast, simple access to the library’s full text content, deeper indexing and more full-text searching of more journals and magazines than any other discovery service (www.ebscohost.com/discovery). For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com. EBSCO Publishing is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.
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For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Public Relations Manager
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com -
June 22nd, 2010LISWire
I am pleased to announce the availability of Code4Lib Journal, Issue 10.
Please feel free to share this announcement! - Edward M. CorradoThe articles in Issue 10 are....
Editorial Introduction: The Code4Lib Journal Experiment, Rejection
Rates, and Peer Review
Edward M. CorradoCode4Lib Journal has been a successful experiment. With success,
questions have arisen about the scholarly nature and status of the
Journal. In this editorial introduction we take a look at the question
of Code4Lib Journal’s rejections rates and peer review status.
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/3277Building a Location-aware Mobile Search Application with Z39.50 and HTML5
MJ SuhonosThis paper presents MyTPL (http://www.mytpl.ca/), a proof-of-concept web
application intended to demonstrate that, with a little imagination, any
library with a Z39.50 catalogue interface and a web server with some
common open-source tools can readily provide their own location-aware
mobile search application. The complete source code for MyTPL is
provided under the GNU GPLv3 license, and is freely available at:
http://github.com/mjsuhonos/mytpl
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/2947OpenRoom: Making Room Reservation Easy for Students and Faculty
Bradley D. Faust, Arthur W. Hafner, and Robert L. SeatonScheduling and booking space is a problem facing many academic and
public libraries. Systems staff at the Ball State University Libraries
addressed this problem by developing a user friendly room management
system, OpenRoom. The new room management application was developed
using an open source model with easy installation and management in mind
and is now publicly available.
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/2941Map it @ WSU: Development of a Library Mapping System for Large Academic
Libraries
Paul GallagherThe Wayne State Library System launched its library mapping application
in February 2010, designed to help locate materials in the five WSU
libraries. The system works within the catalog to show the location of
materials, as well as provides a web form for use at the reference desk.
Developed using PHP and MySQL, it requires only minimal effort to update
using a unique call number overlay mechanism. In addition to mapping
shelved materials, the system provides information for any of the over
three hundred collections held by the WSU Libraries. Patrons can do more
than just locate a book on a shelf: they can learn where to locate
reserve items, how to access closed collections, or get driving maps to
extension center libraries. The article includes a discussion of the
technology reviewed and chosen during development, an overview of the
system architecture, and lessons learned during development.
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/3072Creating a Library Database Search using Drupal
Danielle M. Rosenthal & Mario BernardoWhen Florida Gulf Coast University Library was faced with having to
replace its database locator, they needed to find a low-cost, non-staff
intensive replacement for their 350 plus databases search tool. This
article details the development of a library database locator, based on
the methods described in Leo Klein’s “Creating a Library Database Page
using Drupal” online presentation. The article describes how the library
used Drupal along with several modules, such as CCK, Views, and
FCKeditor. It also discusses various Drupal search modules that were
evaluated during the process.
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/2920Implementing a Real-Time Suggestion Service in a Library Discovery Layer
Benjamin Pennell and Jill SextonAs part of an effort to improve user interactions with authority data in
its online catalog, the UNC Chapel Hill Libraries have developed and
implemented a system for providing real-time query suggestions from
records found within its catalog. The system takes user input as it is
typed to predict likely title, author, or subject matches in a manner
functionally similar to the systems found on commercial websites such as
google.com or amazon.com. This paper discusses the technologies,
decisions and methodologies that went into the implementation of this
feature, as well as analysis of its impact on user search behaviors.
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/3022Creating Filtered, Translated Newsfeeds
James E. Powell, Linn Marks Collins, Mark L. B. MartinezGoogle Translate’s API creates the possibility to leverage machine
translation to both filter global newsfeeds for content regarding a
specific topic, and to aggregate filtered feed items as a newsfeed.
Filtered items can be translated so that the resulting newsfeed can
provide basic information about topic-specific news articles from around
the globe in the desired language of the consumer. This article explores
a possible solution for inputting alternate words and phrases in the
user’s native language, aggregating and filtering newsfeeds
progammatically, managing filter terms, and using Google Translate’s API.
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/3232Metadata In, Library Out. A Simple, Robust Digital Library System
Tonio Loewald, Jody DeRidderTired of being held hostage to expensive systems that did not meet our
needs, the University of Alabama Libraries developed an XML
schema-agnostic, light-weight digital library delivery system based on
the principles of “Keep It Simple, Stupid!” Metadata and derivatives
reside in openly accessible web directories, which support the
development of web agents and new usability software, as well as
modification and complete retrieval at any time. The file name structure
is echoed in the file system structure, enabling the delivery software
to make inferences about relationships, sequencing, and complex object
structure without having to encapsulate files in complex metadata
schemas. The web delivery system, Acumen, is built of PHP, JSON,
JavaScript and HTML5, using MySQL to support fielded searching.
Recognizing that spreadsheets are more user-friendly than XML, an
accompanying widget, Archivists Utility, transforms spreadsheets into
MODS based on rules selected by the user. Acumen, Archivists Utility,
and all supporting software scripts will be made available as open source.
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/3107AudioRegent: Exploiting SimpleADL and SoX for Digital Audio Delivery
Nitin AroraAudioRegent is a command-line Python script currently being used by the
University of Alabama Libraries’ Digital Services to create
web-deliverable MP3s from regions within archival audio files. In
conjunction with a small-footprint XML file called SimpleADL and SoX, an
open-source command-line audio editor, AudioRegent batch processes
archival audio files, allowing for one or many user-defined regions,
particular to each audio file, to be extracted with additional audio
processing in a transparent manner that leaves the archival audio file
unaltered. Doing so has alleviated many of the tensions of cumbersome
workflows, complicated documentation, preservation concerns, and
reliance on expensive closed-source GUI audio applications.
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/2882Automatic Generation of Printed Catalogs: An Initial Attempt
Jared Camins-EsakovPrinted catalogs are useful in a variety of contexts. In special
collections, they are often used as reference tools and to commemorate
exhibits. They are useful in settings, such as in developing countries,
where reliable access to the Internet—or even electricity—is not
available. In addition, many private collectors like to have printed
catalogs of their collections. All the information needed for creating
printed catalogs is readily available in the MARC bibliographic records
used by most libraries, but there are no turnkey solutions available for
the conversion from MARC to printed catalog. This article describes the
development of a system, available on github, that uses XSLT, Perl, and
LaTeX to produce press-ready PDFs from MARCXML files. The article
particularly focuses on the two XSLT stylesheets which comprise the core
of the system, and do the “heavy lifting” of sorting and indexing the
entries in the catalog. The author also highlights points where the data
stored in MARC bibliographic records requires particular “massaging,”
and suggests improvements for future attempts at automated printed
catalog generation.
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/3154Easing Gently into OpenSRF, Part 1 and 2
Dan ScottThe Open Service Request Framework (or OpenSRF, pronounced “open surf”)
is an inter-application message passing architecture built on XMPP (aka
“jabber”). The Evergreen open source library system is built on an
OpenSRF architecture to support loosely coupled individual components
communicating over an OpenSRF messaging bus. This article introduces
OpenSRF, demonstrates how to build OpenSRF services through simple code
examples, explains the technical foundations on which OpenSRF is built,
and evaluates OpenSRF’s value in the context of Evergreen.
Part 1 of a 2 part article in this issue:
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/3284
Part 2 of a 2 part article in this issue:
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/3365 -
June 22nd, 2010LISWire
June 22nd, 2010
CONTACT:
Nathan Curulla
(888) 900-8944
sales@bywatersolutions.com
The American Numismatic Society Partners with ByWater Solutions for Koha SupportByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company, announced today that The American Numismatic Society, of New York, NY. has partnered with them for the support and hosting of the Koha integrated library system.
The Society's Library, which houses one of the world's most comprehensive collections of numismatic literature, presently numbers some 100,000 items. These include books, periodicals, manuscripts, photographs, pamphlets, auction catalogs, and microforms, all of which are cataloged. The library currently uses Koha as their ILS and had previously installed and implemented the system in house.
Elizabeth Hahn, Librarian at ANS, commented on the library's original decision to move to Koha:
"Budget considerations and the fear of vendor lock-in were our primary concern and therefore a major reason for choosing an open source solution. We also liked the idea of a community discussing issues and sharing updates, and the opportunity to take part in the ongoing development of the software. In addition, the ability to customize the catalog to suit our own needs played an important role in our decision."
She continues;
"The immediate responses to our initial questions and excellent customer service were leading factors in our decision to partner with ByWater. In addition, the reasonable pricing options and variety of available services also played a major role in our final decision. "
Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater Solutions stated; "Being an amateur (very amateur) coin collector, I was thrilled with the opportunity to partner with a library such as the ANS. We look forward to optimizing their Koha experience for them!"
About The American Numismatic Society:
The American Numismatic Society is an organization dedicated to the study of coins, currency, medals, tokens, and related objects from all cultures, past and present. The Society's headquarters in New York City has the foremost research collection and library specialized in numismatics in the United States. These resources are used to support research and education in numismatics, for the benefit of academic specialists, serious collectors, professional numismatists, and the interested public. For more information, please visit: www.numismatics.org.About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha's impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.Koha’s OPAC, circ, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies--XHTML, CSS and Javascript--making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit www.koha-community.org
About ByWater Solutions:
With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, support options and development of enterprise class open-source library systems. Offering a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them. ByWater Solutions pledges to share 100% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: www.bywatersolutions.com -