BCReview

NetLibrary eBook Provides Intimate View of China's Remote Regions

2009-11-06T14:09:00.002-07:00

The NetLibrary eBook of the Month for November is Invisible China: A Journey Through Ethnic Borderlands, an eloquent and eye-opening adventure narrative from two Americans fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Korean and Uyghur, who throw away the guidebook and bring a hitherto unexplored side of China to light.

Authors Colin Legerton and Jacob Rawson journey more than 14,000 miles by bus and train to the farthest reaches of the country to meet the minority peoples who dwell there, talking to farmers in their fields, monks in their monasteries, fishermen on their skiffs and herders on the steppe.

In Invisible China, they engage in a heated discussion of human rights with Daur and Ewenki village cadres; celebrate Muhammad’s birthday with aging Dongxiang hajjis who recount the government’s razing of their mosque; attend mass with old Catholic Kinh fishermen at a church that has been forty years without a priest; hike around high-altitude Lugu Lake to farm with the matrilineal Mosuo women; and descend into a dry riverbed to hunt for jade with Muslim Uyghur merchants. As they uncover surprising facts about China’s hidden minorities and their complex position in Chinese society, they discover the social ramifications of inconsistent government policies—and some deep human truths as well.

Publishers Weekly hails it as "a spectacular achievement reminiscent of early 20th-century anthropological monographs by Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict."

The eBook of the Month showcases new and noteworthy titles available from NetLibrary. Each month, NetLibrary selects a new featured title and provides free, unlimited access through the authenticated homepages of more than 13,000 public, academic and special libraries. To access each month's eBook as well as a tool kit of free promotional materials that can be downloaded and personalized for your library, visit the NetLibrary eBook of the Month resources webpage.

For more information about eBooks, please contact BCR's Chris Cook at ccook@bcr.org.

New for WorldCat.org: Elsevier Content, Goodreads Reviews

2009-11-06T11:32:00.002-07:00

Elsevier ScienceDirect articles are now on WorldCat.org, and Goodreads reviews have been added to help users evaluate materials with fellow readers' comments.

Elsevier metadata for SCOPUS and ScienceDirect collections from 2006 to the present have now been indexed in WorldCat.org search results. This article-level metadata joins similar content such as the GPO Monthly Catalog, ArticleFirst, Medline, ERIC and the British Library Inside Serials. The ScienceDirect content corresponds to 1,800 journals, 150 book series and more than 1.3 million records.

WorldCat has added Goodreads reviews to help users evaluate materials with fellow readers’ comments. Users will find Goodreads reviews in the Reviews section alongside WorldCat, WeRead and Amazon reviews. Get great book recommendations from people you know, keep track of what you've read or what you'd like to read or maybe form a book club, answer book trivia or collect your favorite quotes.

For questions related to WorldCat.org and any of its services, contact BCR's support team (support@bcr.org).

Your Path to Professional Development — OCLC’s New Training Portal

2009-11-06T11:25:00.003-07:00

OCLC and its training partners, including BCR, work together to ensure that the training requirements you have throughout the year can be easily fulfilled. The new OCLC Training Portal aggregates all training available throughout the nation on all OCLC services relevant to today’s information specialists.

Librarians and other professionals can find and register for training available from OCLC-certified training partners through the Training Portal. As a certified training partner, BCR offers a wide array of training from cataloging and resource sharing to emerging technologies and digital and preservation topics.

BCR’s training opportunities range from in-person courses—scheduled, on-request or on-location and online training via WebLive workshops, self-paced online classes and the popular Free Friday Forums and Product and Services Showcase sessions. A full list of all of BCR’s current offerings can be found at www.bcr.org/training/index.html.

Newly available are BCR’s online training coupons. Libraries can now prepay for a booklet of twenty (20) training coupons and receive a significant discount for each unit of online training. See the BCR website for more details.

For additional information about the OCLC Training Portal as well as options available for BCR training, contact training@bcr.org.

Special Promotion on Naxos Music Library

2009-11-02T14:13:00.002-07:00

Does your library subscribe to the Naxos Music Library? To celebrate the upcoming launch of the new iPhone application for Naxos Music Library (NML), Naxos is offering a special discount, but only to current subscribers.

Libraries and other institutions that upgrade to unlimited users before December 31, 2009, will receive up to $1,000 off the retail price of the unlimited subscription rate. The NML iPhone and iPod touch application will allow remote access to personal and account playlists, authenticated by username and password. For further details on the application, please visit the Naxos blog.

For pricing information, please contact BCR’s Ellie Nowicki at enowicki@bcr.org.

Taylor & Francis Webinars Scheduled for November 5

2009-10-30T10:22:00.002-06:00

Sign up now for a free webinar sponsored by Taylor & Francis. Scheduled for November 5 at either 10:30 a.m. or 2:00 p.m. ET, participants will get a look at the CRCnetBASE collection, Europa World plus online and the Taylor & Francis eBook collection of more than 20,000 titles in the social sciences and humanities.

To register, contact Monica Avellone at Taylor & Francis.

Also, don't miss the opportunity to take a test drive of the following databases. Sign up before November 30 for a free trial by contacting BCR's Jay Ford (jford@bcr.org).

Armed Conflict Database
Routledge Politics and IR
Routledge Religion
Europa World Year Book
FORENSICnetBASE
Handbook of Chemistry and Physics Online
FOODnetBASE
CivilENGnetBASE

NISO Presents Webinar: Data, Data Everywhere: Migration and System Population Practices

2009-10-30T10:04:00.003-06:00

Join NISO for a November 11 webinar, Data, Data Everywhere featuring Migration and System Population Practices.

When:
November 11, 2009
1:00 - 2:30 p.m. (Eastern Time)

About the Webinar:
The scope and scale of metadata repositories continues to grow, with increasingly heterogeneous data and complexity both on the ingest side (e.g., bibliographic metadata) and in inter- and intra-organizational exchange of usage, patron, purchase, and accounting data. While data format and exchange standards are a given, how do policies, implementations, and standards interact? What are some examples of effective alignment of standards, policies and implementation, and what challenges remain?

Agenda:
Data quality, policy, and large-scale data flows
How do regional consortia establish and implement policies to allow them to cope with increasing amounts of data in a widening variety of formats?

Hilary Newman, Vice President of Implementation Services, Innovative Interfaces, Inc.

Academic library perspective
Individual research libraries provide local, customized services for their audiences that are based upon large quantities of data — hopefully of high quality and supported by easy-to-use tools and processes provided by vendors and consortia. What are the successes, stress points, and failures from the perspective of the academic library?

Maribeth Manoff, Coordinator for Networked Service Integration, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Robert McDonald, Associate Dean for Library Technologies, Indiana University

For more information and to register, visit the event webpage. Registration is per site (access for one computer) and includes access to the online recorded archive of the webinar. NISO and NASIG members receive a discounted member rate. A student discount is also available. Can't make it on the 11th? Register and gain access to the recorded archive for one year.

This announcement is published on request of NISO. The webinar is sponsored by Ex Libris.

Grove Music Online Adds New Tools, Functionality

2009-10-30T09:36:00.001-06:00

New features in Grove Music Online include an updated list of the most influential writings on contemporary music along with a new searching functionality that allows users to limit a search to the article being viewed.

The Essential 20th-century reading list outlines writings on contemporary music, covering composer tracts to periodicals to historical and theoretical studies published during the era. Hyperlinks are provided to help users explore related content in Grove Music Online.

A new feature, search within this article, is particularly useful for users accessing large articles spread over multiple pages, allowing them to search for terms within a single article, such as large country articles and articles on families. Look for the search within this article box near the top left of each entry. Simply click on the plus sign [+] to open the search box, enter the search term(s) and click search. The search box then expands to display a convenient list of search hits along with headings to contextualize them.

Oxford University Press is asking subscribers to participate in a 10-15 minute survey to assess how they can best serve the research needs of students and scholars using the reference database. Take the survey and be entered into a drawing to win one of two Amazon Kindles.

For additional information about Grove Music Online and other Oxford University Press reference resources, visit the BCR website or contact BCR's Chris Cook (ccook@bcr.org).

CQ Press Subscription Renewals Due November 30

2009-10-30T09:28:00.002-06:00

The renewal deadline for BCR's annual group subscriptions for the CQ Press online databases is November 30. BCR already has sent renewal announcements via email to the subscribing library's contact person listed in our member database. Renewals are not automatic, so please respond and let BCR know if you are renewing your CQ database(s) subscription.

The BCR group subscription period is December 1 through November 30. New subscribers are always welcome, and new subscriptions will be tied into the group subscription period. CQ product information is available on BCR's website. New subscribers are asked to complete BCR's Quote Request form.

Questions about your subscription? Contact BCR's Chris Cook (ccook@bcr.org).

BCR Represented at Conferences in Oregon, Hawaii and Colorado

2009-10-30T09:05:00.005-06:00

Don't miss your opportunity to visit BCR staff members, learn more about who we are and what we do at conferences in Portland (OR), Oahu (HI) and Denver (CO).

At BCR's exhibit booth, our knowledgeable and friendly staff will be on hand to provide information, answer questions and help navigate the wide variety of products and services available to the library and cultural heritage communities through BCR. In addition, several presentations with BCR staff are scheduled, bringing new ideas and news to library staff at each venue.

Museum Computer Network, November 11-14, Portland (OR) — Join BCR's Liz Bishoff, director, Digital & Preservation Services, both in the booth (#3) and at a panel discussion on Friday, November 13 (9:45-10:45 a.m.), as she and other panel members address the topic of Business Intelligence and look at the thousands of ways archives, libraries and museums are dealing with digital preservation, decision-making and sustainability. The program, Of Business Intelligence and Sustainability, will be presented by Bishoff; Steve Jacobson, president and CEO, Jacobson Consulting Applications, Inc.; and Jeremy Ottevanger, web developer, The Museum of London.

Hawaii Library Association, November 12, Kaneohe, Oahu (HI) — BCR's library services consultant, Jay Ford, is traveling to Oahu for the Hawaii Library Association annual conference. Visitors will find Jay in the BCR booth or at the BCR program, People, Action, Noise: The Value of BCR, Thursday, November 12, 1:00-1:30 p.m. In both places, he will be talking about BCR and its mission of bringing libraries together for greater success by expanding their knowledge, reach and power. In these days of smaller budgets and staff, BCR can help libraries keep pace with the latest developments in technology and services by offering a broad range of products and solutions.

Colorado Association of Libraries, November 19-21, Denver (CO) — BCR staff will be busy at the annual conference being held at the Marriott Denver Tech Center. Beyond the BCR staff members who are looking forward to meeting conference attendees at the BCR booth (#1), other staff members are participating in presentations during the three days of the conference. Can't attend? Check the BCR website after the conference for links to the presentations.

Assuring Long-term Access to Your Digital Collections: Risk Assessment and Its Role, Thursday, November 19 (1:00-4:00 p.m.) — BCR's Liz Bishoff, director, Digital & Preservation Services, and Anne Marie Lyons, digital initiatives consultant, discuss digital collections and how to ensure their accessibility to users in the next 20-30 years.
Economic Edge, Friday, November 20 (10:15-11:15 a.m.) — Justine Shaffner, BCR library services consultant-public, will be joining Amy Phillips, Pueblo City-County District; Cindy Phillips, Jefferson County Public Library; Naioma Walberg, Douglas County Libraries; and Susie Whiteford, Denver Public Library, in a panel discussion of what public libraries can do to maximize their impact on the community.
Ever Green, Friday, November 20 (1:45-2:45 p.m.) — Justine Shaffner is also presenting Ever Green, a program that will help librarians discover methods to help their libraries go green and save money, from easy ones like setting up a recycling program to more complicated ones like retrofitting your building for maximum energy efficiency.

Iowa's Drake University Joins Shelf2Life Program

2009-10-25T17:00:00.000-06:00

Drake University's Cowles Library, Des Moines, is now providing content for BCR's Shelf2Life program, making it possible for the University to advance its educational goal to provide services, collections, technology and learning opportunities for faculty and students to successfully access and use information.

Initially, the Library is contributing materials from a collection of under-utilized historical items, including large format music score and history, literature and fiction monographs, as well as a series of one-act drama scripts from the early 1900s.

As these collections are digitized, they will be available in the library's online catalog to Drake-affiliated users.

"The participation of Drake University Library in BCR's Shelf2Life program supports the Library's role in teaching and learning, promoting the aims of information literacy and providing new methods of accessing important content," commented Rod Henshaw, Dean of Library. "The Library is excited to be able to extend use of its collections into the wider community through the Shelf2Life eBooks and print-on-demand program."

The goal of BCR's Shelf2Life program is to help libraries and cultural heritage organizations share their collections with new and existing audiences. By providing organizations with the tools to digitize and widen access to their collections, BCR's Shelf2Life program helps increase the visibility, use and recognition of their important collections.

To see some of the titles that are now available, visit the Amazon.com website. Under the advanced search capability, search for BCR under Publishers. For more information, contact BCR's Liz Bishoff, Director, Digital & Preservation Services (s2l@bcr.org), or visit the BCR website to see a video describing the project and learn more about BCR's Shelf2Life program.

McGraw-Hill Offers Year-end Discounts

2009-10-25T11:24:00.002-06:00

McGraw-Hill is offering a selection of its medical databases to BCR member libraries, giving students, residents, clinicians, researchers and all health professionals access to current, up-to-date, peer-reviewed content, at a significant discount.

Through December 31, all new subscribers will receive 15 months for the price of 12 on any of the following McGraw-Hill medical databases:

AccessSurgery
AccessAnesthesiology
AccessEmergency Medicine
AccessPharmacy
USMLEasy
AccessMedicine
JAMAevidence

Complete with videos, images and audio, these resources offer an array of features, including specialized search capabilities, integrated drug databases and case studies, self-assessment tools and links to thousands of related sites. Users get fast, direct access to the information necessary for completing evaluations, diagnoses and case management decisions.

These databases are an invaluable addition to an institution's research and medical education resources. For more information, including subscription and pricing details, contact BCR's Ellie Nowicki (enowicki@bcr.org) or visit the BCR website.

BCR and LITA Partner to Offer Continuing Education Opportunities

2009-10-23T11:54:00.002-06:00

BCR and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), have agreed to develop a reciprocal continuing education program to complement and expand the training opportunities for the members of both organizations.

The partnership will combine those areas in which each organization is expert to meet the growing need for libraries to offer new and innovative online continuing education courses, while meeting the challenges of the rapidly changing library environment and shrinking budgets.

BCR brings a professional staff of trainers in traditional librarianship, with broad perspective and experience of both the library and cultural heritage environment, as well as experience in creating, implementing and delivering training courses for the online community. BCR will provide the technical infrastructure to support both online and self-paced learning.

LITA's membership base brings an array of expertise in library standards, emerging technologies and best practices that can be utilized to bring practitioners into the forefront for passing on their expertise to the rest of the community. Michelle Frisque, LITA President, said "I am excited by this new partnership with BCR which will allow LITA to provide a wider range of educational opportunities to our members."

Beyond the advantages of being able to learn where and when it is most practical, the membership of both organizations will benefit from receiving high-quality instruction immediately applicable to the operation of their libraries, as well as extending the variety of courses available through each organization. All members of the BCR/LITA community will have a unique opportunity for continuing education, from the basics to emerging technologies, taught by high-quality subject matter experts.

This new partnership is the first time a multistate consortium such as BCR and an ALA division have combined to undertake a broad-based continuing education program for their respective members.

Questions about the program can be directed to Regan Harper, BCR's director, Education & OutReach, or Mary Taylor, LITA executive director.

To submit a proposal for a continuing education program, visit www.lita.org/ala/mgrps/divs/lita/litaevents/education/proposalform.cfm.

For more information about BCR's continuing education and training programs, contact BCR at training@bcr.org.

BCR Appoints Project Coordinator for NEH Digital Preservation Grant

2009-10-23T11:42:00.002-06:00

Holly South has joined the staff at BCR, filling the position of project coordinator for an NEH-funded project, Digital Preservation for Digital Collaboratives. South will be working directly with BCR's Digital and Preservation Services director, Liz Bishoff, who is the Principal Investigator, as well as project faculty and staff from BCR, Lyrasis and OCLC Digital Programs.

As project coordinator for the Digital Preservation for Digital Collaboratives project, South will be responsible for establishing an appropriate project framework to implement the two-year NEH grant; creating and executing the workshop promotional program; coordinating monthly post-workshop activities; arranging for workshop facilities and appropriate local arrangements; and assisting with project evaluations.

In early 2009, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded $218,154 to BCR to support workshops on digital preservation developed specifically for leaders of collaborative digitization programs. The workshops are designed to help digital collaboratives and their members develop the capacity for assuming responsibility for long-term accessibility of digital collections under their stewardship.

South has several years of reference and collection development experience in libraries and archives, including her most recent position at the Texas Legislative Reference Library. Prior to becoming a librarian, she worked in content production and project management at Microsoft. South earned her MSI with a focus on Archives & Records Management at the University of Michigan and her BA from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.

Cambridge Extends Special Offer to More Libraries

2009-10-23T10:54:00.003-06:00

Cambridge University Press is extending a special offer on Cambridge Histories Online to all BCR member academic and community college libraries, regardless of their FTE level.

Between now and December 15, 2009, academic libraries and community college libraries can take advantage of 50 percent off Cambridge Histories Online.

With instant access to the renowned texts of the Cambridge Histories series, patrons and researchers will find more than 250 volumes published since 1960, equating to some 196,000 pages of unrivaled scholarship from 15 different academic subjects.

Don't miss out on this limited-time offer. Visit the BCR website to request a price quote or contact BCR's Ellie Nowicki (enowicki@bcr.org) for subscription details.

Metropolitan New York Library Council Joins Shelf2Life Program

2009-10-20T11:04:00.002-06:00

The Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) is the newest participant in BCR's Shelf2Life program. A consortium of 250 members, METRO is the first organization to join the Shelf2Life program.

”Shelf2Life is an exciting new opportunity for our libraries and cultural heritage institutions to share access to their legacy collections with each other,” commented Dottie Hiebing, METRO’s executive director.

BCR's president and CEO, Brenda Bailey-Hainer, noted that, "By working with the Metropolitan New YOrk Library Council, BCR is able to extend the Shelf2Life program to libraries and archives, large and small. We are also excited to make this a truly national initiative by working with prominent New York cultural heritage organizations."

METRO's alliance with BCR means that METRO members will be able to pool their contributions to the Shelf2Life program, saving valuable staff resources and forgoing the need to purchase expensive equipment.

METRO has helped its member libraries to deliver their services more effectively since l964. The consortium agreement between METRO and BCR will help these institutions make their unique collections available in a digital format to a much wider audience.

For more information on how your library, cultural heritage institution or consortium can participate in BCR's Shelf2Life program, contact Liz Bishoff, director, Digital & Preservation Services, or visit the BCR website.

Read the full press release.

Taylor & Francis Offers Free eBook Trials, Webinars

2009-10-20T09:05:00.005-06:00

The Taylor & Francis Group is offering free trials to a selection of its online content through November 30, including databases such as Routledge Politics and IR and FOODnetBASE. BCR members are also invited to an online demonstration of the Taylor & Francis eBooks, the CRCnetBase collection and Europa World Plus online on November 5.

The free trials are available through November 30 and highlight eight databases in topics from religion and wars to politics and civil engineering. To sign up for your free trial, contact BCR's Jay Ford (jford@bcr.org) to obtain login and access information. Take advantage of this limited-time offer to discover the following databases:

Register for Free Webinar

Join your colleagues for a free look at the CRCnetBASE collection, Europa World Plus online and the Taylor & Francis eBook collection of more than 20,000 titles in the social sciences and humanities. The CRCnetBASE products are a collection of 33-plus different, subject-specific science and technical online libraries. The highly acclaimed Europa World Year Book and Europa World Plus online is a versatile political and economic reference database that offers access to detailed information about more than 250 countries.

Two webinars are scheduled on November 5 (10:30 a.m. or 2:00 pm EST). To register, contact Monica Avellone at Taylor & Francis.

For more information on the Taylor & Francis products offered by BCR, including pricing and subscription details, contact BCR's Jay Ford (jford@bcr.org) or visit the BCR website.

BCR’s Shelf2Life Program Digitizes 2,500th Title

2009-10-19T14:52:00.004-06:00

On October 2, BCR’s Shelf2Life Program reached a milestone. Mrs. Rorer’s Philadelphia Cook Book: A manual of home economics, by Sarah Tyson Heston Rorer, was the 2,500th title to be digitized for the project.

Originally published in 1886, the cookbook was included in a shipment of books from the Kansas State University’s Morse Department of Special Collections. The book features recipes and tips from baking breads and donuts to preparing meats and sauces.

Part of the Shelf2Life Food, Cooking & Recipes Collection, this unique set of pre-1923 cookbooks and other materials focus on food preparation, preservation and cooking instruction as well as the etiquette of entertaining and conventions of family life.

The collection also includes such titles as Mrs. Seely’s Cook Book: a manual of French and American cookery (1902), with chapters on domestic servants, their rights and duties and many other details of household management; The Young Wife’s Cook Book (1870), by Hannah Mary (Bouvier) Peterson, with recipes of the best dishes for breakfast, dinner and tea; and First Principles of Household Management and Cookery (1879), by Maria Parloa, a textbook for schools and families.

BCR’s Shelf2Life program wants to help libraries and cultural heritage organizations share their collections with new audiences. By giving libraries the opportunity to digitize and widen access to their collections, the Shelf2Life program helps libraries increase the visibility, use and recognition of these important materials. Your library or institution can bring its collection of rare and historical materials to a wider audience, too, without the expense of equipment and significant staff time.

Visit the BCR Shelf2Life website for more information and to discover the various collections now available for print-on-demand purchase through online vendors such as Amazon.

2009-2010 College of DuPage Teleconference Season Starts November 13

2009-10-19T12:55:00.003-06:00

The College of DuPage teleconferences for 2009-2010 have been scheduled. The first broadcast, "Millennials in the Library," is set for Friday, November 13.

The state library agencies of Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming, along with the Utah Academic Library Consortium, together have funded a group license with the College of DuPage, negotiated by BCR on their behalf, providing access to this year's series of teleconferences, Library Futures: Staying Ahead of the Curve 2010.

Mark these dates on your calendar to make sure you don't miss any of these programs.

November 13, 2009 — Millennials in the Library
January 29, 2010 — Making the Best of a Shrinking Budget: Creative Practices in a New Economy
February 19, 2010 — Cataloging: Where are we now? Where are we going?
March 12, 2010 — Information Literacy Education: A National Overview
April 9, 2010 — Technology Trends in Libraries: Tools, Skills, Staffing, Training

Details for each teleconference are available on the BCR website, including registration information, downlink/webcast viewing sites in each state, broadcast times for your area, licensing terms, equipment needed and access to College of DuPage resources.

Questions? Contact BCR's Regan Harper (rharper@bcr.org).

BCR Staff Visiting Nebraska and California Library Association Conferences

2009-10-19T11:47:00.003-06:00

At the end of October, BCR staff members Chris Cook and Jay Ford will be setting up the BCR exhibit booth at the Nebraska library Association conference and the California Library Association conference.

BCR can help your library keep pace with the latest developments in technology and services, and our broad range of solutions helps you stay current in today’s quickly changing environment. Don't miss this opportunity to visit the BCR booth to discover how we can help your library improve its efficiency, reach and power.

Chris Cook, BCR's solutions coordinator, will be visiting librarians at the Nebraska Library Association conference, October 28-30, at the La Vista Conference Center. Find her at booth #8 and keep her busy...stop by to chat, get an update on BCR's activities and discover BCR's new mantra... People, Action, Noise!

During the California Library Association conference in Pasadena, October 30-November 1, BCR's library services consultant, Jay Ford, will be available in the BCR booth (#605). Take a few minutes out of your busy schedule to stop by, ask questions and learn who BCR is and how our professional staff can help your library or institution better serve its patrons and users.

Interested in finding more about BCR? Visit our website or contact our support team.

Save with BCR's New Training Coupons

2009-10-13T14:42:00.002-06:00

BCR is pleased to introduce a new way for you to save on our nationally recognized Continuing Education & Training courses. BCR members can now prepay for online training coupons and receive a significant discount for each unit of online training.

Online training coupons are fully transferable and valid for any of BCR’s online training courses for up to one (1) year from date of purchase.

Up to 1 hour of self-paced training = 1 training coupon
1.5-2 hours of online training = 2 training coupons
3.5-4 hours of online training = 4 training coupons
5-6 hours of online training = 5 training coupons

It’s a great way to keep your skills up-to-date and learn about new developments in the field.

For more information about BCR's online training coupons, contact training@bcr.org or visit the BCR website.

BCR Launches Self-paced Online Workshops

2009-10-13T12:13:00.008-06:00

BCR’s new Self-paced Online Training offers the best of both worlds—workshops created and taught by our expert staff along with the flexibility and convenience of going at your own pace.

Sharpen Your Skills or Learn Something New
BCR’s new self-paced training workshops are available now. During the rest of October and all of November, anyone registering for one of these workshops will receive 50 percent off the cost of the online session.

The following two workshops are currently available. Sign up now!

BCR will be adding more self-paced learning opportunities in the near future. Keep an eye on the BCR Continuing Education & Training website for new self-paced workshops.

For more information about BCR’s new self-paced training options, please contact training@bcr.org.

State Library of Ohio Joins BCR Shelf2Life Program

2009-10-13T11:59:00.002-06:00

BCR is pleased to welcome the State Library of Ohio as the newest participant in the expanding Shelf2Life (S2L) program. The State Library will initially be contributing materials from its Rare Books Room collections from the American Colonial and Revolutionary eras, with local history, travel, world history and religion monographs to be added in the future.

"State library agencies are often overlooked as resources for substantive historical resources," commented Brenda Bailey-Hainer, BCR President and CEO. "I’m delighted that the Shelf2Life Program will make these collections from the State Library of Ohio easily accessible both in Ohio and beyond the region."

"The State Library of Ohio is committed to being the leader in ensuring the delivery of information and library services to Ohio’s residents, anywhere, anytime. Participating in BCR’s Shelf2Life program, the State Library of Ohio is able to provide Ohio's residents access to important content in ways they have never been able in the past," said Jo Budler, State Librarian.

BCR's Shelf2Life program was created to help libraries and cultural heritage organizations share their collections with new audiences. By making it easy for libraries to digitize and widen access to their collections, BCR's Shelf2Life program helps libraries increase the visibility, use and recognition of their important collections. The program helps researchers, collectors and readers by putting these editions within easy reach—in print-on-demand or electronic format.

Visit the BCR webpages for more information about the Shelf2Life program as well as the extensive resources available through BCR's Digital & Preservation Services.

Access American History in Video Free For Limited Time

2009-10-13T11:17:00.003-06:00

Since its launch in April, Alexander Street Press' American History in Video has grown to include more than 1,500 titles and 500 hours. For a limited time, access to the entire collection of this highly lauded resource is free on the web through November 15.

American History in Video is specifically designed for use by scholars and students with features to help users find, view, share and analyze the videos in the collection. The collection is expected to grow to include more than 5,000 complete titles and 2,000 hours of rare newsreels and important documentaries from leading producers such as PBS, The History Channel, Bullfrog Films and California Newsreel.

Particularly useful for students, they can easily make custom video clips and name and annotate them to create personal playlists; include them in course folders to share and post online; cite them in papers; or embed them in a website. It also provides public libraries a resource that gives history buffs of every age remote access to premium content.

Visit the American History in Video website to experience this award-winning product. No username or password is required—just enjoy!

For additional information on this or any of the many other Alexander Street Press products offered through BCR, contact Chris Cook (ccook@bcr.org) or visit the BCR website.

Visit BCR at Iowa Library Association Conference

2009-10-13T10:34:00.002-06:00

Plan to visit BCR staff at the Iowa Library Association conference, October 21-23, in Des Moines. Linda Gonzalez, BCR’s cataloging and metadata consultant, will be presenting two conference sessions, and Jay Ford, BCR’s library services consultant, will be available at the BCR exhibit booth (#8).

On Friday morning, October 23, Linda plans to demystify Resource Description and Access (RDA) with her program, Can You See the Future with RDA? She will review the basics of this anticipated next edition of the cataloging rules and the changes it might bring to current cataloging practices and online catalogs.

Linda also will present Learn, Grow, Achieve: A BCR Update later on Friday morning. Join her as she explains the new ways as well as the tried and true methods BCR is working on to help our member libraries in these challenging times.

As always, both Jay and Linda will be in the BCR booth and would enjoy the opportunity to answer questions and help identify those products and services designed to help our members have the best and most appropriate tools at their fingertips.

Wilson Announces Live Online Training Schedule for October

2009-10-09T16:07:00.003-06:00

H.W. Wilson has announced new, live online training sessions for October. These mini-sessions introduce new databases and features in a convenient 30-minute overview.

Training schedule (EST):

Thursday, October 15, 11 a.m. – Statistics Module
Tuesday, October 20, 3 p.m. – Text-to-Speech and My WilsonWeb
Thursday, October 22, 11 a.m. – Art Museum and Cinema Image Gallery
Tuesday, October 27, 3 p.m. – Administrator’s Module
Thursday, October 29, 11 a.m. – Text-to-Speech and My WilsonWeb

Statistics Module
Learn how to generate and schedule usage reports. WilsonWeb statistics allow you to monitor the number of logins, number of searches run, the total number of items retrieved, the number of citations/abstracts accessed and the number of full-text articles accessed in a specified month(s) or year.

Text-to-Speech and My WilsonWeb
Learn about two of the newest WilsonWeb software upgrades. Brand new features will be covered, including enhanced text-to-speech functionality for all HTML full-text articles and the debut of text-to-speech in all WilsonWeb biography databases.

Art Museum Image Gallery and Cinema Image Gallery
Art Museum Image Gallery is a rich collection of digital images from museums and private collections located around the world. Cinema Image Gallery contains thousands of images, plus links to full video, biographies, coverage of television shows and comprehensive Academy Award and Golden Globe Award information.

Administrator's Module
Learn how to define user classes, set button and toolbar defaults, add co-branding images and out-bound hyperlinks and synchronize your online catalog to WilsonWeb.

To register for any of the above sessions, please visit the H.W. Wilson website.

For additional information, contact BCR's Ellie Nowicki (enowicki@bcr.org) or visit the BCR website for details on H.W. Wilson databases available through BCR.