For Immediate Release
Contact: Rob Colding
Information Today, Inc.
(609) 654-6266, ext. 330

January 23, 2012, Medford, New Jersey—Information Today, Inc. (ITI) announced the publication of The Cybrarian’s Web: An A–Z Guide to 101 Free Web 2.0 Tools and Other Resources by Cheryl Ann Peltier-Davis.

In The Cybrarian’s Web, published simultaneously in print and ebook editions, Peltier-Davis introduces and describes 101 free internet tools with applicability to all types of libraries. She covers blogging resources, RSS feeds, photo and video sharing services, folksonomies and tag clouds, podcasting services, instant messaging solutions, wikis, mashups, virtual worlds, social networks, social bookmarking services, productivity tools, Q&A services, and more.

Each of the 101 listings includes an overview of a Web 2.0 resource along with illustrative screenshots, details of important features, and innovative examples of how libraries can and are using the resource to improve user services and build a stronger library community.

“Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of web-based services that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users,” according to Peltier-Davis. “Some have ventured to draw the distinction between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 by describing the former as a place to go and get, and the latter as a place to be and do.” She adds, “It is not surprising that the potential benefits of Web 2.0 technologies have not gone unnoticed in the library community. There has been widespread consensus that these cutting-edge tools should be immediately adopted in a bid to retain core library users and cajole new users into the library.”

“This book belongs on every library innovator’s bookshelf,” says Stephen Abram of Cengage Learning in the book’s foreword. “Web 2.0 is first and foremost about the end-user experience and, so, for every reference librarian, trainer, director, web content writer, blogger, and library leader, review the opportunities in this guide as part of your strategic planning process. You’ll be glad you did!”

In addition to practical, easy-to-implement coverage of 101 free applications recommended by the author, The Cybrarian’s Web features tips and techniques for keeping current on Web 2.0 technology, a glossary of terms, a list of all sites and services referenced in the book, and an index. The author’s companion website (cybrariansweb.com) is designed to keep readers up-to-date on the latest Web 2.0 developments and as a place to share their own experiences and recommendations.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cheryl Ann Peltier-Davis is the archives and digital librarian at the Alvin Sherman Library, Research and Information Technology Center, at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. She has given conference presentations on a diverse array of library-related topics including Web 2.0 and libraries, core competencies for librarians, digitizing library collections, information management, and Caribbean public libraries. She is the editor, with Shamin Renwick, of the award-winning book Caribbean Libraries in the 21st Century: Changes, Challenges, and Choices, recipient of the Association of Caribbean University, Research, and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL) award for Excellence in Research and Publication. She is the author of Caribbean Connector, a blog she created to connect Caribbean librarians and deliver relevant and timely information directly to their desktops.

The Cybrarian’s Web (512 pp/softbound/$49.50/ISBN 978-1-57387-427-4) is published by Information Today, Inc. (ITI) and is available wherever professional books and ebooks are sold. For more information, contact the publisher by calling (800) 300-9868; faxing (609) 654-4309; emailing custserv@infotoday.com, or visiting the ITI website at www.infotoday.com.

~ Integrating A-Z Listing Service and Link Resolver as Part of EDS Provides Enhanced Usability Along with Greater Efficiencies In Cost and Resource Management ~

Ipswich, MA & Birmingham, AL — January 20, 2011 — EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) is set to benefit from the formal merging of EBSCO A-to-Z® and LinkSource® into EBSCO’s overall discovery solution. The two resources, which are relied upon by thousands of universities and other institutions around the globe, will become an integrated part of EBSCO Discovery Service. The EDS technology and service teams will work to provide additional value for EDS customers via a seamless integration of the services with EBSCO Discovery Service.

While high-end indexing, search value and user experience are most often the driving forces for discovery evaluation and adoption, tight integration of resource browsing within the EDS discovery experience will bring unparalleled functionality to the industry. According to, EBSCO Publishing’s Executive Vice President and CIO, Michael Gorrell, “Our vision is to provide the most complete and highest quality discovery experience for our users. Tightly integrating the A-to-Z browse functionality from within EDS represents a major step in this direction.”

While EDS is currently able to leverage the EBSCO A-to-Z knowledgebase to facilitate quality linking and limiting for a customer’s holdings, regardless of which resource listing product a customer subscribes to, this change will allow EDS customers to gain unique functionality in EDS. Complete browsing of a library’s e-resources will be possible within the same experience in which users conduct their keyword discovery searches. EBSCO A-to-Z and EDS customers will also reap the benefits of a unified administrative tool (under EBSCOadmin™) that will allow for streamlined management process for all products.

“By integrating these products which are the primary means of access to a library’s resources, we are able to create solutions that are very high up on the value/functionality curve,” said Gorrell. “This integration will be a big win for customers.”

EDS User Group Meeting
EBSCO plans to begin the process for integrating the services over the coming months, and will be conducting focus groups and engaging customers to ensure the greatest possible value upon initial integration. The company is planning the facilitation of a formal customer-driven EDS User Group Meeting that is currently planned to take place in summer of 2012. Additional detail on the EDS User Group Meeting is forthcoming.

About EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS)
EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution’s information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box-searching made even more powerful because of the quality of metadata and depth and breadth of coverage.

The Base Index for EBSCO Discovery Service forms the foundation upon which each EDS subscribing library builds out its custom collection. Beginning with the Base Index, each institution extends the reach of EDS by adding appropriate resources including its catalog, institutional repositories, EBSCOhost and other databases, and additional content sources to which it subscribes. It is this combination that allows a single, comprehensive, custom solution for discovering the value of any library’s collection.

The EDS Base Index is comprised of metadata from the world’s foremost information providers. At present, the EDS Base Index represents content from approximately 20,000 providers in addition to metadata from another 70,000 book publishers. Although constantly growing, today the EDS Base Index provides metadata for nearly 64,000 magazines & journals, approximately 825,000 CDs & DVDs, nearly six million books, more than 320 million newspaper articles, more than 400,000 conference proceedings and hundreds of thousands of additional information sources from various source-types.

About EBSCO
EBSCO encompasses both EBSCO Publishing and EBSCO Information Services. In addition to EBSCO Discovery Service, EBSCO Publishing is the producer of EBSCOhost®, the world’s premier for-fee online research service, including full-text databases, subject indexes, point-of-care medical reference, historical digital archives, and eBooks. The company provides more than 350 databases and nearly 300,000 eBooks. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals and magazines from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.).

EBSCO Information Services, the provider of EBSCONET®, is the world’s leading information agent providing consultative services and cutting-edge technology for managing and accessing quality content, including e-journals, e-packages, eBooks, and more. Now more than ever libraries and research organizations are looking for new ways to manage their collections more efficiently. EBSCO has developed the most comprehensive “e” discovery and management solutions, offering unparalleled integration to help librarians save time and money while empowering their users.

EBSCO Publishing and EBSCO Information Services are divisions of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.

###
For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Public Relations Director
EBSCO Publishing
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com

~ Completes the Five Series Collection from American Antiquarian Society ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — January 20, 2012 — The fifth and final series from the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection has been released by EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO). American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodical Collection: Series 5 (Series 5) includes more than 2,500 titles dating from 1866-1877.

The themes presented in American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 5 reflect a nation that persevered through a most difficult set of circumstances: a bloody civil war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives; the incorporation of the recently-freed African Americans into American life; a population that rapidly expanded into the Western territories. Broad subject areas covered in the collection reach into every facet of American life, including science, literature, medicine, agriculture, fashion, family life, politics and religion.

Series 5 provides researchers with a unique look at a nation that has reached its 100th birthday and continues to grapple with the growing pains of transnational expansion, the aftermath of war, and the extending of American democratic life to its African American population. More detailed subjects include, but are not limited to: African American freedom, agriculture, children's literature and education, leisure and hobbies, medical advances, temperance and religion, trade and commerce, and fashions for men and women. Series 5 contains nearly two million pages of content.

Combined with the four previously released Series, the complete American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection from EBSCO is the most comprehensive digital collection of its type.

American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodical Collection: Series 5 is available through the state-of-the art EBSCOhost® Content Viewer , specifically designed to meet the needs of scholars and researchers by enabling them to navigate historical content in new ways. This interface allows researchers to navigate historical content in a manner that is fast and natural while preserving the possibility of serendipitous discovery that is a highlight of doing historical research with hard copy primary documents. EBSCOhost Content Viewer replicates the experience of browsing and reading the original archival material while also allowing users to explore, manipulate, collect, take notes, and export content.

The collection also includes the Reference Shelf feature which provides contextual essays, terminology guides, and citation instructional assistance in a variety of styles. The contextual essays, written by experienced historians, provide overviews of important titles in the collection and connect them to broader themes in American history.

American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 5 is the last of the five series collection that includes digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals never before available outside the walls of the American Antiquarian Society, the premier research library documenting the life of America’s people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction. EBSCO partnered with the American Antiquarian Society to create the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection which contains a total of more than 7,600 periodical titles estimated at seven million pages of content.

More information on EBSCO’s digital historical archives may be found on the digitals archives web page at: http://www.ebscohost.com/archives.

About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the producer of EBSCOhost®, the world’s premier for-fee online research service, including full-text databases, subject indexes, point-of-care medical reference, historical digital archives, and eBooks. The company provides more than 350 databases and nearly 300,000 eBooks. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals and magazines from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.). EBSCO is also the provider of EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS), which provides each institution with a fast, single search box for its entire collection, offering deeper indexing and more full-text searching of 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.

###
For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Public Relations Director
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com

FOSS4LIB offers a set of Decision Support Tools for the library community to assess open source readiness and related decisions. The tools include:

• a self-paced survey to determine the best open source hosting option;
• a list of questions that helps libraries understand open source software requirements and how to integrate with their larger institutional technology environments;
• a list of factors that impact the true cost of implementing open source; and
• a document to guide the final software package selection.

The site also details current information about open source software service providers, events and usage. Through its open source software registry, FOSS4LIB enables providers to highlight their software packages and benefits, libraries to submit firsthand experience with open source software, and users to learn about open source software updates and releases.

FOSS4LIB is accessible at http://foss4lib.org/. Software package creators, service providers and library professionals are encouraged to add their contact information to the registry. LYRASIS is providing additional information about this free online resource via free webinars and online classes, and will present overviews at the ALA Midwinter Conference.

• January 21st from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM (CST), City Center Marriott Somerset Room
• January 22nd from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM (CST), City Center Marriott Bordeaux Room

About LYRASIS

LYRASIS partners with member libraries to create, access and manage information, while building and sustaining collaboration, enhancing library and technology operations, and increasing buying power. For more information, please visit www.lyrasis.org.

1/19/2012

CONTACT:

Nathan Curulla

(888) 900-8944

sales@bywatersolutions.com

ByWater Solutions to Offer Free Open Source Webinars

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and official Koha support company is happy to announce a new open source education initiative. In an effort to educate library staff about the true nature of open source ByWater Solutions will be offering a series of free webinars entitled: Open Source in Libraries: Freedom and Community.

We at ByWater Solutions are dedicated to supporting open source software in libraries and support starts with Education. It is with that in mind that we would like to offer free training webinars to teach you all about open source.

Taught by our Vice President of Education, Nicole C. Engard, these 1.5 hour webinars will walk attendees through the history and meaning of open source software. Nicole comments on this series of webinars: “After years of training librarians how to use the Koha ILS I have found that there is still a lack of knowledge of open source software and I’d like to help combat that with these lessons.”

Librarians have adopted a culture of helplessness and workarounds when it comes to our software. Open source software is a way to get freed from these chains. But open source is about more than just software, it’s about community and a philosophy of freedom. This session will give librarians the facts about open source software by introducing them to what open source is and what it means for libraries.

Join us online for one of our first two lessons (space is limited so register early).

February 16, 2012 at 10am-11:30am EST

Register Online: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/993578942

March 13, 2012 at 2pm-3:30pm EST

Register Online: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/636868638

About ByWater Solutions:

With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, top ranked 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: http://bywatersolutions.com