Electronic Brainstorm: Wild Ideas!

back to it

2006-03-28T17:23:00.000-08:00

yeah....
so I ended up inviting mysel"ves" many times ( well, + turning on/off, clearing cache/cookies, switching browsers and screaming at the monitor..... ).

[Laurie- IF you HAVE TO DO THIS..... please let your boss know that you won't be able to do this while sitting at the reference desk + IF you don't have enough email accounts ((hotmail works the best.... all you need to do is to accept the invitation set up the account shut down the counter and invite yourself again... Then you'll get a new invitation..... you can't really cheat w/ the gmail accounts :( ))
It may take you days to finish it..... ]

In return, there are lots of accounts set up w/ the same email account. Office of eln has become the CENTRAL CONTROLLING SYSTEM of them ( well, one email add is always better than 30+ email address + 30+ sets of usernames and 30+ sets password.... gee........ ).

It is very easy to retrieve password/ user id for me now. All I need to do is to "forget" my username. Then the system will send me all the user names registered w/ the email address.

hee hee....

It is always worth investing more time on setting up the accounts then spending time keeping track of the usernames/pswds....
OR simply make friends w/ the techsupport of this hostsite.... lol...

Library Collections of the Future

2006-02-28T14:05:00.000-08:00

Suggestions so far include Books and E-books, and Streaming Video. To recap where BC ELN is with collections of information: there are a total of 79 databases licensed on behalf of partner libraries; a list can be found at: http://www.eln.bc.ca/dbs/select.php. This includes fulltext databases, the netLibrary business e-book collection, and abstracting and indexing services.

We have been adding an average of about 3-5 databases per year. Decisions about priorities are made on the basis of the suggestions and voting by BC ELN Partner Library through the annual Resource Forum and Ranking Survey. Information about products and services are made available through the BC ELN web site.

There has been much exciting activity in this area in the past year, with the provincewide (post-secondary) license to Hospitality and Tourism index, the provincewide post-secondary / public / school libraries license to Encyclopedia Britannia, and of course the e-HLBC consortium is currently in the process of implementation.

Public Library Services Branch is moving forward in the area of shared electronic collections, as outline in the Libraries Without Walls strategic plan. The school libraries also have their Educational Resources Aquisition Centre, for which BC ELN has provided consultation services.

Many BC ELN libraries are producing new kinds of collections, for example digital collections such as SFU Library's Multicultural Canada Collection. The Union of BC Indian Chiefs' Resource Center, which serves the Institute of Indigenous Government, has created the Our Homes are Bleeding Ditigal Collection. University libraries are participating in the Canadian Association of Research Libraries' Institutional Repositories progam - have a look at the search service to see what has been done to date - making the work of their own faculty and students openly available over the internet. One example of how this changes things: many institutional repositories include students' theses. The thesis, until recently available only through a very few print copies and perhaps one microfiche, is now often openly available to anyone.

SFU Library, in partnership with UBC's Public Knowledge Project, provides hosting and support services for the open source Open Journal Systems publishing platform, used by publishers throughout the world.

With 25,000 new student spaces being created in the next future, new possibilities for collaboration, new technologies and kinds of projects, there could be many new opportunities for services at our libraries, and for libraries to work together. What might these opportunities look like?

Resource Sharing: the next few years

2006-02-28T10:29:00.000-08:00

To recap where BC ELN is now in the area of resource sharing:

BC ELN shares the provincial OutLook OnLine system (portal for library catalogues, union catalogues, and integrated ILL system) with B.C.'s public libraries. BC ELN libraries also use the GODOT link resolving and ILL requesting system. We have a provincial electronic document delivery network, thanks to 2001 provincial funding, featuring scanners and Ariel software, to be upgraded early in the new fiscal year. In the past few years, we have streamlined ILL invoicing, standardized costs for different services, and moved to annual invoicing. Most recently, BC ELN libraries have unanimously agreed to drop charges for returnables (books).

There are many environmental factors that could impact resource sharing in the next few years. What kinds of factors do you see as changing the landscape for resource sharing? What might libraries - and BC ELN - do to enhance services for students and faculty?

25,000 new student spaces: what does this mean for academic libraries?

2006-02-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

The Province of British Columbia is in the process of creating 25,000 new student spaces. What this means for the province is new student opportunities, reduced study costs, an expanded supply of skilled workers, increased research, and increased jobs and investment (from Achieve BC web site).

At Simon Fraser University, where the BC Electronic Library Network office is housed, creation of the physical infrastructure to support all these students is well underway. This is the first time I've ever worked at a place where flagpersons were needed to steer pedestrians through all the construction! This is happening elsewhere, I know.

This is more than just spaces, too - many of these new students will be in new, often more advanced, programs.

What is or will be happening at your institution, space-wise and program wise? What will all those extra students and faculty need in terms of library services?

Evolving technologies (Electronic Brainstorm new look example)

2006-02-23T09:27:00.000-08:00

Greetings - if you have been following Electronic Brainstorm, you may have noticed the new look and feel! This was not intentional - there must be changes affecting the stylesheets at Google (similar changes are appearing on one of my other blogs). The basic font appears to have changed; I'll look into some intentional changes, now, to make the blog easier to read.

The joys of working with evolving technologies! Actually, it's great to know that Google is continuing to develop the blogger software.

My hunch is that BC ELN libraries will be working in an evolving-technology environment for the next five years or so. Thoughts?

Update: the problem has been resolved! A little piece of code, the kind of thing you would never have guessed would have done something like this...

It took 3 sfu, 2 eln, 2 hotmail, 1 collegeclub, 1 yahoo, 4 gmail email accounts to ~set up the member accounts~in 2 days part 1

2006-02-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

It was not an easy task to set up the e blogger accounts.

When Heather asked me to set up the members on e blogger (and "no rush"), I told her it would be done in a short time (i never knew it would actually take me more than 4 hrs... not exaggerating.... ) sigh........

To become a member of the blogger is very easy. It takes approximately 3 mins to register. However. . . . to be con't ( yes, it's about time to go back to work.... )

Could ELN host Library blogs?

2006-02-21T15:36:00.000-08:00

So what do you think about ELN looking into hosting blogs for its member libraries? And if they included RSS feeds, it'd be one more way for us to reach our client base. What do you think?

Laurie

Cariboo and delivery in the north

2006-02-21T13:43:00.000-08:00

Far in the north country, I hear that mail service can be infrequent - sometimes only twice a year. Can cariboo be trained to help out with physical delivery of library materials, I wonder?

Or is this too practical for Wild Ideas?

This is a demonstration-posting, to show just how serious Wild Ideas need to be!

Accessibility and you!

2006-02-20T12:28:00.000-08:00

Our online teaching material is reaching more students everyday, and we as librarians and educators need to understand what it means to provide meaningful access to this material for students with disabilities.

What do you do at your institution to ensure the accessibility of your online guides and other learning materials? What resources do you use to design and test and refine your educational materials? What resources and staff training are required to make sure we are creating accessible materials for our students? What does universal design really mean?

These are a few of the questions I've been asking myself lately, and I'd love to hear from others on what's happening at their institutions, and what role a consortium like ELN can play in the online accessibility of our subscription resources.

Corey Davis at CILS http://www.langara.bc.ca/cils/

Free Database Tutorials for the Busy Librarian

2006-02-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

EBSCO has really gone crazy with producing some nice tutorials on a variety of their services. And what Library doesn't want to provide some tutorials for their students on how to use their databases? The best part is that they're available World-Wide so no need to set-up any kind of off-campus login.

For the full listing of EBSCO's tutorials:
http://support.epnet.com/training/tutorials.php

I found it very easy to add the ones most appropriate for my client base to my Database Tutorials webpage for my Library. Although, I renamed the French one on the suggestion of one of our French-Canadian Instructors.

http://ycweb.yukoncollege.yk.ca/yclibrary/pages/db_tutor.php

Now if only Proquest and WilsonWeb could do such nice Flash/Java tutorials instead of clunky PDFs...

Laurie

Library Elf to the rescue!

2006-02-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

Do you patrons ever ask you to notify them BEFORE their items are due? Or do you ever have problems with your notification system, either the email or snail mail version? Well, these have regular concerns of ours and we've been looking for a solution that didn't involve a lot of work...

Now, we have something to recommend those patrons and I'd like to share it with you: Library Elf!

Go to http://www.libraryelf.com for more information.

Ignore how they say that they can only hook-up with libraries with Dynix. We have library.solutions from TLC and it's working just fine.

Good luck!
Laurie

Why I created my own Personalized Homepage in Google...

2006-02-14T15:09:00.000-08:00

Or, all about my PIP (Personal Information Page)

See the following URL for the presentation. It's a simple explanation of how I set-up my own PIP.

http://www.eln.bc.ca/pip.pdf

Thanks to Heather for posting it online for me!

Laurie Prange
Yukon College Library

PS Here's a publically viewable document that a bunch of us at Yukon College collaborated on to evaluate various PIPs and PIEs... http://www.writely.com/View.aspx?docid=bbcbfxkc6gfr

Mixing metaphors: information superhighway & one stop shopping

2006-02-13T16:31:00.000-08:00

Way back in the last century, i.e. the 1990s, the "information superhighway" became one of the popular terms to describe what was happening with the Internet/Web. The metaphor was usually extended and/mixed with other ones such as "roadkill" (i.e. nobody wanted to be relegated to this status on the information superhighway). This was usually accomplished with much handwringing about libraries and their fate in this brave new world.

Fast forward to the 21st century where we've replaced the old terms and metaphors with new ones like "portal" and "one stop shopping." The handwringing is still there, but its usually around a new concern -- Google -- that looms over all of our hopes and aspirations to impose logic and order on the Web primarily by inserting the Library's online presence as the ideal centre for all of this (a persistent contemporary variation on pre-Copernican theories about the universe).

Perhaps it is time to re-think our "build it and they will come" approach to Library websites and our associated presence on the Internet. I attended the Access 2005 conference in Edmonton last fall and was very impressed with some of the work underway to provide dynamic links back to Library content as part of standard Google searches. Rather than wait for users to drop by our Websites, possibly never find what they were looking for, and never to return...its time move in the completely opposite direction.

Let's dismantle our large and complex Websites! Instead let's free our information and send it packing on the Internet, i.e. hitchhikers on the information superhighway. (This is where we resurrect a dusty old metaphor from the ancient past.) Let's drop it into Google and the other online environments where our users live and work on a regular basis. Let's link it into the tools they are familiar with and provide them with direct and timely access to the specific information/content they are seeking (as opposed to making them work their way through our arcane and not especially intuitive interfaces and search tools).

OK, so what is wrong with this wild idea. Lots probably, including the fact the standard Web browsers that are currently out there require a special plug-in or two to make Google work the way we might like it work. And unless you're a dedicated keener who likes to tune and tweak online systems and Web browsers this is not likely something the average user, including most of us, are quite up to doing...yet.

Brian Owen, SFU Library

Google Scholar Versus Metasearch

2006-02-07T17:14:00.000-08:00

Interesting article - thanks to Anonymous for the link...
Google scholar versus metasearch systems.

Thoughts?

COPPUL Animated Tutorials Sharing Project

2006-02-07T17:01:00.000-08:00

Our colleagues in COPPUL are starting yet another interesting project! Many thanks to COPPUL people for sharing...Could this be an inspiration for BC ELN, or another joint consortial project?

COPPUL Animated Tutorials Sharing Project

The COPPUL Distance Education Forum, in conjunction with the COPPUL
Public Services Group, would like to announce the launch of a new
COPPUL Initiative: "The COPPUL Animated Tutorial Sharing Project. "

This initiative creates a means whereby libraries can easily share
the development of Animated Tutorials for specific e-resources.
These tutorials are built using software such as ViewletBuilder or
Captivate, which is easy to learn and can be used to quickly
construct a tutorial that incorporates Screenshots, Text, Highlights,
Quizzes, and Audio. The end result is a tutorial that is both
captivating and highly professional.

Librarians participating in this initiative can:

Learn which e-resources are common among fellow COPPUL libraries.
Learn whether an animated tutorial has been created for an
e-resource they use in their library.
Learn which library is in the process of creating an animated
tutorial for an e-resource they use locally.
Go to a central repository at the University of Calgary
(D-Space) to upload and download tutorials.
Alter downloaded tutorials for local use.
Register for D-Space and be notified any time new content is
added to it.
Utilize listservs and contact information to find help with a
piece of software they are using to create a tutorial.

Presently, there are only a few tutorials in D-Space, but it is our
hope that COPPUL members will recognize the value of contributing to
this project. Collaboratively, we can create a critical mass of Open
Access tutorials that are designed to help users whenever they need
assistance with a specific e-resource.

All COPPUL librarians are encouraged to visit our web site and learn
more about the project. We also want to encourage everyone to
participate in this exciting initiative.

To learn more, go to: http://www.brandonu.ca/Library/COPPUL/

Thank you for your time and welcome to the project!

COPPUL Animated Tutorial Working Group:

Carmen Kazakoff Lane (Brandon), Coordinator

Karen Hunt (Winnipeg)

Paul Pival (Calgary)

Bill Badke (Trinity Western)

Streaming Video

2006-02-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

Jim Bruce said...

Second idea: video collections streamed not shelved.

Our VHS collection is getting long in the tooth. Staff want DVDs. But the thought struck me "why do I want to re-purchase a whole collection during a time when online delivery on demand" is near?

I am teaching an online course, and found out that I could license access to an NFB video for about $500.00. That is big moola for a small library like ours, but if the digital product was streamed province wide that could be reduced.

It would work like this: ELN teams with AEMAC to license streaming of digital videos to the colleges.

Our classrooms at NVIT are being gradually converted with digital projectors provided in the ceilings, and computer consoles below.

We just need to add $150 wireless speakers for good sound, and the videos could be streamed after passworded access on the web.

Colleges would be billed on a formula based on 1. covering operating expenses 2. digital video usage.

Our library would then not have to physcially maintain the items, and would save much shelf space.

Jim

[For the original post, with Jim's picture! See the Books and E-Books post]. Heather, BC ELN

choose a different topic

2006-02-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

This is post for whatever topic you like - in case the first choose your topic post has been taken.

choose your topic

2006-02-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

This is a post for adding comments on whatever you like. Heather, BC ELN

Books and E-Books

2006-02-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

I want to see book collections "leased by collection area from ELN" rather than "purchased by title". In the long run publishers will get more this way, sort of like the "fee for service" that Pierre Berton wanted on library books.

Book publishers need to be paid by use, we need as consumers to have more titles available. Pay-for-view books will click eventually because e-publishers give us access to much more. To get people reading from online books we need to have more bait in the water. The bait needs to be cut smaller as well...we need table of contents indexing. Besides who wants to read a whole book online?

This is the approach that would succeed:

1. ELN negotiates a contract for an entire electronic library, and we are billed by a forumula based on hits and downloads.

Billing formula is important: it would allow small libraries like this one to share in big collections, but pay on a pro-rated bases.

2. We get 505 field "table of context indexing". You can contract for this from Blackwell on most titles. That enables one single book to have as many as 50 odd titles for access by title. Then of course, we have to allow "downloading by chapter"

3. This can be managed by negotiating not for purchases by title but "leases for a collection". Then member libraries can lease collections maintiained around a subject area (such as "social sciences" or "law").

4. Member libraries in a collection area share the reviewing and leasing arragnements.

5. Titles in a collection change annually based on usage patterns and preferences of the selection team.

6. Initially MARC records could be shared, with 856 links to the online collection. In the long run, we need to migrate to a union collection which includes books in print and eletronic.

Note: this is a copy of the first comment - Jim's original post - copied here for easy reading.

Open data and e-research

2006-02-07T14:58:00.000-08:00

Check out the CERN Workshop on Scholarly Communications links - Supporting the Research Process. Definitely futuristic stuff!

Peter Murray-Rust's presentation is very interesting - it's a half-hour webcast. He talks about how most scientific data is being thrown away, but can now be kept - for storage and retrieval by anyone.

This is great for the professional researcher at the large university - but can be useful for the student, too. Liz Lyons talks about the potential for education in her presentation.

Speaking of students, Peter Murray-Rust demos an automated peer-review robot called Oscar, developed by undergrads, which can read chemistry - and check the formulae!

Will B.C. researchers want to share their data in the future?

Will B.C. students be doing original research, with access to the same data that the rocket scientists use?

Topics so far

2006-02-01T15:22:00.001-08:00

Library Collections of the Future

Resource sharing: the next few years

25,000 new student spaces: what does this mean for post-secondary libraries?

Could ELN host library blogs?

Cariboo and delivery in the north

Accessibility and you!

Free Database Tutorials for the Busy Librarian

Library Elf to the Rescue!

Why I Created My Own Personalized Homepage in Google

Mixing Metaphors: Information Highway & One Stop Shopping

Google Scholar Versus Metasearch

COPPUL Animated Tutorials Sharing Project

Streaming Video

Open Data and E-Research

Hello post!

Books and E-Books

Nifty Links and Ideas

About Electronic Brainstorm: Wild Ideas!

About Electronic Brainstorm: Wild Ideas!

2006-01-31T09:12:00.000-08:00

Electronic Brainstorm: Wild Ideas! is the first phase of BC Electronic Library Network's 2006 - 2011 Strategic Planning process. Staff of all BC ELN partner libraries are encouraged to post any thoughts, comments, ideas, or pointers to writings that can help BC ELN and its partner libraries to prepare for the next few years.

There are several ways to participate. Regardless of which method you use, please be sure to tell us who you are, and which library you are from!

Post a comment: At the bottom right-hand side of each posting, there is a link to Comments. If a post has no comments yet, there will be 0 comments. Click on this link to view comments, or to add a new one. When posting a comment, you will need to enter in a word that appears on the screen - this is to prevent blog spam.

Start your own posting: Each BC ELN library will be supplied a username and password. To create a post,
go to http://www.blogger.com
log in with your library's username and password
select Electronic Brainstorm: Wild Ideas
Click Create New Post
Enter a title, some text in the box, and click on "Publish Post!"
Later, you can return to edit your own posts

If you would like, you can have your own username and password; ask BC ELN staff for assistance (Heather, Ewa or Elaine).

Send a comment for BC ELN staff for post on your behalf.

Suggestions for Posting

Please note that Electronic Brainstorm: Wild Ideas! is a completely open forum, hosted by google. Anyone can read comments on this blog, and any comments posted may be used by BC ELN for communications purposes. If you prefer to share confidential comments for BC ELN Strategic Planning purposes, please use the BC ELN resource teams' list, send your comments marked confidential to BC ELN staff, or share them your library's Director.

The idea behind Wild Ideas! is to have an electronic brainstorm. If it were possible to get everyone together in one room for this, that's what we would do. Since we don't have the means to get everyone together, let's share our ideas electronically. What we'd like is for everyone to have an experience as close to an in-person brainstorm meeting as we can get.

What does this mean? When you're brainstorming, the idea is to share your ideas quickly, without stopping to think about grammar, spelling, or whether they would actually work. This is just the first phase of BC ELN Strategic Planning - there will be plenty of time for reflection and critique at a later date. If we were meeting in person, there would be opportunities for everyone to chat a little bit as well. Do feel free to chat a little, introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about your library, patrons, or community.

The scope of Wild Ideas! is meant to be broad - let's talk about the future of information resources and services in the next 5 years, and what this will mean for post-secondary libraries - let's start there, and then think about how BC ELN might fit in.

Perhaps you have read or heard something - whether in your local newspaper, in a library journal or at a library conference - that seemed to inspire an idea about what library users might be looking for, or what might be possible in the next few years. If your library does not have a huge travel budget, please note that many conference presenters nowadays post their presentations on the web - for example, see the link to the Access 2005 conference on this page. You can listen to or view the powerpoints for most of the conference presentations. There are also links to published documents from the home page for Wild Ideas! as well.

Overview of the 2006 - 2011 Strategic Planning Process

For help with blogger accounts or posting, please contact Ewa Kniec or Elaine Shu at the BC ELN office. For any other questions about Electronic Brainstorm: Wild Ideas!, please contact Heather Morrison. Contact information for BC ELN staff can be found here.

Electronic Brainstorm: Wild Ideas! will be open from February 7 - March 3, 2006.

Hello Post!

2006-01-27T14:44:00.000-08:00

Hello! This is a blogpost for entering comments to introduce ourselves. If you would prefer, you can also create a hello and welcome post of your own.

Nifty links & Ideas

2005-01-05T14:20:00.000-08:00

LIBRARIES AND E‐LEARNING: Final Report of the CARL E‐Learning Working Group. November 2005.

Would a cross-border document delivery service, coordinated by BC ELN, be of any interest?