Links used in presentation:

Intro and History:

Wikipedia entry for Digital Humanities

The Walt Whitman Archive

Civil War Washington

Wikipedia entry for Father Busa

Office of Digital Humanities at the National Endowment for the Humanities

Models of Digital Humanities: Individuals

Jean Bauer – Davila. Davila is an DAVILA is an “open source relational database schema visualization and annotation tool.”

Ben Brumfield – From the Page. An annotation tool.

Anonymous – Almas Diary. Placing a family diary online, adding commentary and light categorization.

Small Groups

NYPL Labs.

Digital Humanities Centers

Center for Digital Research in the Humanities

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

Scholar’s Lab

Collaboration

Digging into Data

The Whitman Archive

Resources

centerNet – centerNet is an international network of digital humanities centers, and is part of The Alliance of Digital Humanities Organisations (ADHO)

Office of Digital Humanities – The Office of Digital Humanities, part of the National Endowment for the Humanities, offers many grants. They have an active blog, and reading through some of the entries can give you an idea of the focus of today’s DH projects.

Digital Humanities Questions and Answers – A very nice resource where you can ask questions about the Digital Humanities in one of many categories. People are very nice and friendly, unlike some online technical boards.

Humanist – an email list geared towards the Digital Humanities. Very active.

Digital Humanities Twitter List – curated by Dan Cohen, at the CHNM, a great way to see what digital humanists are up to.

Open source software, from desktop applications to library wide Integrated Library System (ILS) software, has been a hot topic of conversation lately. Increasingly libraries are looking to open source solutions to meet the evolving needs of library patrons. One of the often quoted disadvantages of open source is the lack of support. In the past, there were no vendors that could offer support, so libraries had to rely on in house technicians or a crowd of very helpful but sometimes unavailable volunteers. Today, libraries can choose open source and enjoy the benefits of full support and turnkey hosting for open source ILSs. In the US, libraries currently have two options: LibLime, which supports the open source products Koha and Evergreen, and Equinox, which supports Evergreen only. This paper takes a look at LibLime, primarily their Koha and Koha ZOOM offerings.

Profile of Company

LibLime is an Integrated Library Systems (ILS) systems provider, like SirsiDynix or Innovative. The main difference between most commercial ILS vendors and LibLime is that LibLime provides service for open source ILSs, rather than only providing support for their own proprietary ILS. LibLime’s primary offerings are Koha and Koha ZOOM, though they offer support and hosting for Evergreen as well.

Koha began as a solution for Horowhenua Library Trust in New Zealand, which needed to replace its text based ILS for the year 2000. The Horowhenua Library Trust hired Kapito Communications consulting firm to design an ILS solution, and the result was Koha (Anonymous, 2007b). The first library in the US to implement Koha was Nelsonville Public Library System in Athens County Ohio. The systems administrator for Nelsonville Public Library went on to co-found LibLime to support the implementation and development of Koha in other libraries (Ferraro, 2005a).

Besides supporting open source ILS solutions, LibLime also helps develop the Koha code base. One of the advantages of using open source software is that collaborations can be formed between companies willing to share code. To that end, LibLime partnered with IndexData, a provider of open source indexing and digital library solutions, in 2006 to incorporate advanced searching into Koha (Breeding, 2007a, para. 8). The partnership resulted in a new product, dubbed Koha ZOOM, which is now offered as a separate product from the original, now called Koha Classic.

In 2007, LibLime acquired the portion of Kapito Communications that had to do with the development of Koha. This move “expands the staff of LibLime from 6 to about 9 employees, bringing into the company individuals associated with Koha’s original development” (Breeding, 2007b, para. 1). LibLime also secured existing support contracts for Koha, copyrights relating to Koha, and the koha.or domain name. Adding a New Zealand branch to the LibLime corporation also allows LibLime to offer support round the clock.

Solutions for All Types of Libraries

LibLime will support just about any kind of library or other entity that needs a system to catalog, retrieve, and display results. In fact, their first customer was not a traditional library at all, but General Motors (Engard, 2007, para. 11). Koha is in use by many libraries around the world, and LibLime has implemented or helped with over 300 installations, including implementations for public, academic and special libraries (Anonymous, 2007b; Breeding, 2007a; Engard, 2007). LibLime co-founder Ferraro says he “can’t really identify a single type of library that’s more ready than any other” for open source (Anonymous, 2007a, para. 32). As different types of libraries support and pay for development of the products, the potential user base grows larger.

LibLime’s business model is a little different from traditional ILS providers. Instead of requesting a feature from a vendor, a library can either request it of the open source community, sponsor an addition through LibLime, or pay their own technical staff to implement it. When an addition is sponsored, it is then added back into the code base and released for other libraries. Ferrarro says: “If you want something developed you have the option to sponsor development through a software provider like LibLime” (Ferraro, 2005b). The more libraries that sponsor development projects for Koha, the better the software will get.

There are several options for support through LibLime. They offer turnkey hosted support, which requires little to no technical expertise from the library, self hosted solutions, or a limited support option for libraries with knowledgeable technical staff (Rogers, 2007, para. 8). LibLime supports Koha, Koha ZOOM, and Evergreen. It is important to note that while Evergreen has a competing service provider in the US (Equinox software: esilibrary.com/esi/), Koha does not.

Strengths of Koha and Koha ZOOM

Public Interface

One of the major advantages of Koha as an ILS is its public interface. While many ILS vendors have been developing applications to improve the user interface of ILS systems (which must be purchased separately) Koha, and especially Koha ZOOM, feature a robust and usable OPAC interface. The importance of interface is hard to overestimate: for many library users, the OPAC is the library. Marshall Breeding said he “believe[s] that failure to make progress in this area can foster a creep of irrelevancy as potential users increasingly rely on information resources provided by entities other than libraries” (Breeding, 2007b, para. 1). Breeding continues, saying a next generation interface is “more in tune with current Web technologies and user expectations. It’s broader in scope, takes advantage of search technologies and techniques that are closer to the state-of-the-art, and offers more dynamic interactions with library users” (Breeding, 2007b, para. 6).

Koha certainly succeeds in many of these expectations. The interface is customizable and can be made to match a library’s existing web design. Koha ZOOM offers advanced searching features like excellent relevancy ranking, faceted search, spell check, and RSS feeds for searches. Users can also re-rank searches many ways, including “‘field-weighted,’ ‘relevance ranked,’ ‘popularity,’ ‘author,’ ‘call number,’ ‘dates,’ and ‘title’” (Anonymous, 2007b, para. 14). Many of these features are absent or poorly implemented in other ILS offerings.

Search

Koha ZOOM, which incorporates Index Data’s search product Zebra, excels in search technology and relevancy ranking. Speed is noticeably improved from Koha Classic, and Koha ZOOM can scale much larger than Koha Classic while still providing speedy search results (Eby, 2007, para. 1).

Eby quotes Owen Leonard, webmaster of Nelsonville Public Library System as saying Koha ZOOM “really leverages the full potential of the MARC format to bring advanced and intuitive search functionality to our patrons. The OPAC also now [allows] us to integrate content from external web services to expand and improve the information we offer to our patrons” (Eby, 2007, para. 3). The search as implemented on Nelsonville Public Library System’s site is very zippy, and provides very relevant results.

Weaknesses of Koha and KohaZOOM

Cataloging and other back end functions

While the public face of the ILS is clearly Koha’s strength, its weakness lies in some of the back end functions. The system is entirely web based, and though that can be advantageous for some library systems, particularly ones that want to run thin clients for workstations, it comes with a certain lack of usability. Nicole Engard says “One feature that I was not impressed with this time around … was the cataloging module” (2007, para. 21). The cataloging module provides a somewhat clunky interface for data entry, forcing the user to use the mouse quite a bit and use tabs to access different part of the record. In the inaugural issue of “The Code4Lib Journal,” BWS Johnson wrote “Cataloguing for a large institution would be tough [in Koha]. Holdings information is a bit bodged at the moment. The cataloguing module is certainly clunky to use” (2007, para. 13). If a library were to sponsor a more robust cataloging interface, though, this issue would improve. Lack of technical staff

Though LibLime offers a turnkey solution for LibLime, many of the advantages of open source are lost if no one in the organization knows anything about coding or open source. To get the most from the software and the system, the library should be able to at least evaluate problems, submit bug reports, and make decisions about the sponsorship of new code. Because of the funding structures of some libraries, it may not be possible to have technical staff on hand. For example, the technical staff of some public libraries is shared with the city. Without some technical expertise, a library may lose out on some of the important benefits. Still, a hosted solution from LibLime should certainly be evaluated along with other options.

Future

LibLime appears to be growing quickly as the buzz surrounding open source software in the library community continues to grow. LibLime’s flagship product, Koha ZOOM, will continue to get better as more libraries sponsor development of the code. The next probable development in the open source market is the emergence of new vendors to support the same products, and this may be the best thing for open source. Many tout the lack of vendor lock in as one of the reasons to try open source, but currently there is not much competition, especially in the US. An anonymous author said “if LibLime isn’t offering the best services to [their] customers, [the customers] have the opportunity to look elsewhere for support” (Anonymous, 2007a, p. 35). This advantage is lost if there is no other vendor to turn to. I believe more competition in the open source market could actually help LibLime, because libraries would see that the product is not tied to one vendor, and would therefore be more likely to try open source.

Bibliography

Anonymous. (2007a). Using open source, Library Technology Reports, 43(3), 28.

Anonymous. (2007b). Next-generation flavor in integrated online catalogs, Library Technology Reports, 43(4), 38.

Breeding, M. (2007a, April). The business side of open source: LibLime buys Koha division, Library Technology
Guides. Retrieved February 15, 2008, from http://www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytext.pl?RC=12738.

Breeding, M. (2007b). The birth of a new generation of library interfaces, Computers in Libraries, 27(9), 34.

Eby, R. (2007). Open-source server applications, Library Technology Reports, 43(3), 48.

Engard, N. C. (2007, August 17). Intro to Koha redux, What I learned Today… Retrieved February 16, 2008, from http://www.web2learning.net/archives/1165.

Ferraro, J. (2005a, April 27). Koha use, Web4Lib. Retrieved February 15, 2008, from http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/web4lib/2005-April/003761.html.

Ferraro, J. (2005b, July 15). Getting catalog software vendors to make more useable software choices, Web4Lib. Retrieved February 15, 2008, from http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/web4lib/2005-July/037726.html.

Johnson, B. (2007). 700 dollars and a dream : Take a chance on Koha, there’s very little to lose, The Code4Lib
Journal (1). Retrieved February 16, 2008, from http:// journal.code4lib.org/articles/28.

Rogers, M. (2007). LibLime signs Kansas and Indiana., Library Journal, 132(16), 21-22.

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What is Zotero?

Zotero is a citation management program, similar to RefWorks or EndNote. One of the biggest differences is that Zotero lets you store electronic resources in addition to citations- not just PDF’s, but HTML pages as well. Zotero was created by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.

Zotero is a plug in for Firefox, an open source web browser. Zotero builds on the already useful Firefox to create a new application.

Advantages of Zotero:

• Keep things in electronic form
• Searchable PDF’s and electronic resources
• Highlight and annotate HTML Pages
• Free!

How Does it Work?

Use of Zotero is fairly straightforward: Once installed, a Zotero icon appears in the lower right side of your Firefox screen. Alternately, you can use the keyboard shortcut Control+Alt+Z to bring Zotero up.

When Zotero detects a resource on the web (see a list of supported resources) an icon appears in the upper right side of the address bar. Click the icon, and the citation will save to your Zotero database. If a folder appears, a list of resources has been found- you can click the folder and choose which resources to add to your list.

Why are some sites supported and some aren’t?

Zotero gets information from metadata embedded in web pages, and not all sources have that metadata. Alternately, some sites are supported through a script that pulls information from an HTML page- but this process is fragile. If the page changes, the import won’t work anymore.

Import

To import citations, you have several options:

• If there is an item icon on the right hand side of the address bar,you can click that to import the item.
• You can export from another citation management program and import into Zotero.
• Or, you can manually enter in information.

Annotating and adding notes

You can add notes to all citations- just select the citation and click “notes” in the right side pane. Notes auto save as you type, so there is no need to fear of losing data.

If the resource is a saved HTML page (snapshot), you can also highlight and annotate- simply choose the snapshot and the controls will appear on the upper left side of the window.

Export

You can export Zotero citations into several popular formats. You can then re-import them into another citation management program. One export format, ‘Zotero RDF’ will preserve files and notes as well as citation information. Export is currently the best way to share resources.

What doesn’t work?

• Zotero does not have as many citation styles as RefWorks or EndNote- though more are being added all the time.
• Right now, there is no easy way of sharing resources, as there is with RefWorks. That functionality will be coming in 2008, though.
• Zotero cannot auto capture information from all resources.

Special Features

Build a Bibliography

Zotero makes it easy to build a bibliography- just right click (Control + click for Mac) the items you want to export and choose “Generate Bibliography from selected item.” You can export as HTML or rich text, or copy to clipboard. If you embed your HTML bibliography in a web page, others will be able to automatically import your bibliographic items to Zotero as well.

If the built in bibliography styles are not enough, you can download more from the Zotero site.

Integrate with writing software

Zotero plug ins are available for Word (Mac and Windows) and Open Office (Mac, Windows, Linux). Both versions feature “cite while you write” functionality. You can change citation format whenever needed, and fine tune your citations.

Open Office is a free, open source program anyone can download. It makes a nice alternative to Word, especially for a cash strapped student!

Timeline

The ability to create a timeline of your references is a nice addition to Zotero. You can create a timeline from any collection, and highlight words in the timeline as well. Timeline is powered by MIT’s SIMILE project.

Open Source

While the fact that Zotero is open source isn’t precicely a feature of Zotero, it is important for several reasons:

• Open source programs can incorporate code from other open source programs (like the above mentioned timeline code) to enhance and enrich the program. Closed source programs can’t do this, at least not legally.
• Open source programs are community supported, which can mean richer features. For instance, translations for Zotero came from the community, so many translations have been created in a fairly short amount of time.
• Open source programs generally have an active community of developers and helpers, and Zotero is no exception. If you run into a problem, you can head over to the forums and search for an answer, and if no one else has asked, as yourself. You’ll be surprised at the help you get!

Saved Searches

Saved searches work like smart lists in iTunes and other programs- you set the parameters, and Zotero automatically populates the folder for you. You can use saved searches in conjunction with tags and other metadata to get to your data quickly.

Store files on your computer

Storing your own files can be good or bad, depending on how often you back up. However, having your files on your computer allows you to work off line, and puts you in control of your data. Backup of the Zotero database is easy; it consists of copying the Zotero folder to another drive or burning it to CD.

Languages

Zotero is available in many languages, and there are plans for more. If you would like to see a language not listed, jump in and help out! Since Zotero uses Unicode to store documents, you can save resources in any language.

The Future

There have been several posts lately about the much anticipated sharing feature of Zotero. The Zotero project and the Internet Archive have joined forces to bring many needed features to the scholarly community:

• A place for scholars to upload personal archive items. Many scholars have items in their archives that are important and out of copyright. The Zotero/Internet Archive will give people a place to share and find these items, called Zotero Commons.
• OCR for scanned documents. Uploading documents to the Internet Archive will automatically apply Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to pull text from the documents, making them searchable.
• Permanent URLs. Scholars will be able to upload to the Internet Archive and get a permanent URL for cited resources.
• Share citations. Zotero will not only allow for public uploading of out of copyright or creative commons licensed work, it will allow password protected sharing of resources as well.
  
• Back up and sync Zotero database. Once sharing its possible , it will be possible to backup and sync your Zotero references across computers.

Until then….

Running Zotero from a Portable Drive

It is possible to use one Zotero database on several machines by keeping the database on a USB drive or a networked drive and sharing between computers.

You can also install Zotero on top of a Portable version of Firefox (Windows and Mac) and use it on multiple computers (note that the portable versions are system dependent- that is,the PC version will only run on PC’s, and the Mac version will only run on Macs.)

I have my Zotero database on a USB drive, which I link to from my home and work computers. (Tools>Add ons>Zotero>Advanced) This way I can share the same database between all three. To back up a USB drive, just drag the contents onto another drive.

Tips and Tricks

I use Google to transform PDF’s into HTML so I can annotate.

If I can’t find a citation to import, often I can find it through Google Scholar to import into Zotero.

Links

Zotero screencast tutorials: http://www.zotero.org/documentation/screencast_tutorials

List of sites where Zotero works: http://www.zotero.org/translators

Zotero Quick start guide: http://www.zotero.org/documentation/quick_start_guide

Zotero forums: http://forums.zotero.org/categories/

Downloads

Firefox (Win, Mac, Linux): http://www.mozilla.com/firefox

Zotero (Win, Mac, Linux): http://www.zotero.org or https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3504

Open Office (Win, Mac, Linux): http://www.openoffice.org

Portable Applications (Windows only): http://portableapps.com

More citation styles for Zotero: http://www.zotero.org/styles/

Plugins for Word and Open Office: http://www.zotero.org/documentation/word_processor_integration

Articles

Dan Cohen announces Zotero Sharing: http://www.dancohen.org/2007/12/12/zotero-and-the-internet-archive-join-forces/

Swem Library’s review of Zotero: http://techview.wordpress.com/2007/03/15/zotero/

Linux.com Zotero review: http://www.linux.com/feature/57841

Presented at the Nebraska Library Commission, February 1, 2008.

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History­

Beginnings­

see timeline: http://laptop.org/vision/progress/

January 2005:

“Negroponte sketches out his idea for a $100 laptop for the poor children of the world in an e-mail to his old friend, Hector Ruiz, CEO of AMD. Six hours later, Ruiz replies:­ “Count us in, and we would be delighted to take a lead role here.” Within weeks, News Corp. and Google also join as founding members of the newly formed program, One Laptop per Child.”­

“Later in the month, Negroponte presents the idea for the $100 laptop at the in Davos, Switzerland, where the political, economic, and cultural elite of the world gather each year. Although he has nothing to show his audience but a simple mock-up with no functioning parts, the machine makes a big splash. John Markoff writing for The New York Times, calls Negroponte­ “the Johnny Appleseed of the digital era.”­

February of 2007:­

B2-Test­ (Beta 2­) machines deployed to children in launch countries.­ This begins a continuing cycle wherein computers are put into the hands of children ad teachers, feedback is gathered, and changes are made due to the feedback.

November/December 2007:

Mass production begins, G1G1 begins, children begin learning with the laptop. First large orders are filled.

Mission­

“We believe the emerging world must leverage this resource by tapping into the children’s innate capacities to learn, share, and create on their own. Our answer to that challenge is the XO laptop, a children’s machine designed for­ learning.”

“OLPC is not, at heart, a technology program, nor is the XO a product in any conventional sense of the word.­”

One in three children in the developing world don’t complete the 5th grade. Teachers are scarce, books are scarce.­ The One Laptop Per Child organization exists to address these problems, by delivering a device to children that can tap into already existing information. The laptop can be reprogrammed, re-purposed, and is a vehicle for discovery and creativity.

G1G1­ (Give One Get One­)

G1G1 ran from November 12, 2007 to December 31, 2007. OLPC sold 162,000­ (making $3,2400,000­) XO laptops to buyers in North America. OLPC is now considering deployment in other countries.­

There have been problems. OLPC was set up as a non profit organization designed to sell large quantities of laptops to governments. The G1G1 program has proven problematic in terms of logistics, shipping, customer support, etc. These issues are still being worked out, over two months later.

Hardware­

Specs­

see the specs page on OLPC’s website for complete, uber geeky specs.­

Size: 9.5­” x 9­” x 1.26­”
Screen:­ Resolution is 1200×900­ (200 DPI­), and size is 6­” x 4.4­”
By comparison, the Eeepc (another low power, low cost computer) has a screen with a resolution of 800×480 pixels.
Screen has a black and white mode, which uses less power and can be seen in bright sunlight, and can be turned around for e-book reading.­
Weight: about 3.2 pounds­
Memory: 256 mb of ram­
Space: 1GB internal flash memory. Expandable via SD card slot, or USB ports.­
Peripherals: Camera­ (640×480 still, will do video too­), Microphone + mic jack, speakers + headphone jack, keyboard, wireless networking – wifi+mesh. Also included are stylus sensitive areas to the right and left of the touchpad, but no software uses these yet. ­
Power/battery: fully enclosed, more stable than regular laptop batteries, lasts about 4 hours, uses much less power.­ Power management features have not been built into the current system release, but will be included in automatic updates in the future.
Green: The laptop is one of the most environmentally friendly ever made. It has a low ecological footprint, parts are made to be reused, and it contains less hazardous materials. ­
Mesh: The Laptop has wifi built in, and a wireless mesh that allows the computer to talk to other XO’s.

Body design­

The design of the laptop is very innovative, and has been considered from the ground up. The laptop is made to be rough and rugged, not only because they are meant to be placed in third world countries, but also because they are to be placed in the hands of children, who are not known to be gentle with computer equipment.

­To that end, the laptop closes up and seals out dust, dirt and water. Ridges around the body keep out much debris, and the wifi antenna fold down to protect the USB, audio, and mic jacks. The keyboard is completely sealed with a soft rubbery overlay so no dirt can get between the keys.

­The XO laptop is made to withstand much more abuse than a normal laptop. It can withstand a drop of 5 feet (though I have not tested this on my machines) more humidity and heat, and a good deal of jostling. The body is covered with a texture that makes it more grippable, and there is a built in handle for carrying. Each XO laptop has a unique color combination on the cover – there are over 400 color combinations available, so children will be able to tell their laptops apart.

The XO screen is designed to flip around and be used as an e-book reader, even in bright sunlight. The joint for the pivot is built especially strong, and by placing the motherboard behind the monitor, less cables have to run through the vulnerable pivot point. The laptop is made to be easily disassembled and repaired, and uses standard screws and other components.

Software­

Sugar­

The operating system is based on Fedora 6, a linux distribution. Linux is a stable operating system, and Fedora is one of the more established distributions.­

Why Linux­? OLPC chose Linux to build off of because Linux is open source- and as such developers could change and add to the system to suit the project. This is something they would be unable to do with, for example, Windows. The best that can be done in Windows and Mac is to write programs that sit on top of the operating system, but that does not do anything to make the system itself, which is full of confusing icons, menus and directories, friendlier for children. Because the makers of OLPC wanted to rethink the computer for children, Linux was really the ONLY choice.­

On top of Fedora Linux, OLPC built a new GUI­ (Graphical User Interface­) from scratch in Python. They called this interface Sugar, and it is still evolving.­

The interface for Sugar is, as expected, simple. No Windows­ (each application is full screen­) no menus, no­ “desktop,­” exactly. The system is intended for education, and as such, it invites sustained concentration on individual activities rather than switching between applications rapidly. There are very few customization options, and only one way to get at files. ­

Specific keys on the keyboard show users different “views”:

The Neighborhood View­ is where you can see other users, networks, and shared activities.

The Group View­ is where you can see yourself, your friends, and your shared activities.­

The Home View­ is where you can see your applications, your clipboard, and friends you are sharing documents with.

The Activity View­ is where you can see the full screen activity.

Collaboration

Most activities feature sharing options at the top of the main screen, and you can choose to share with friends only or everyone in your mesh range­ (neighborhood­). Every activity is designed with sharing in mind – in the write activity, multiple users can collaborate on a document at the same time. In the photo application, users can send snapshots to each other. Chat, of course, allows users to talk to one another.

­It is possible to connect XO’s outside the same mesh so they can use collaborative tools as well. A website called xochat.org allows current XO users to chat with each other. The possibilities for education are exciting- children from all over the world can chat and work on projects together through a safe, familiar interface.

Activities­

What we would normally call programs are called activities on Sugar. Activities are available from the activities wiki page­ – all a user has to do is browse to the page and click on the .xo file to install. Many of the activities focus on programming – the idea here is that by learning programming, children will be able to extend their laptop indefinitely. Planned for future release is a­ “view source­” key that will let you view the source of any program.­ A view source option in the programs has the potential to be a very powerful tool for learning and extension – think of the fact that WWW pages really took off after mosaic included a view source key in their web browser. “One of the defining moments in the history of the World Wide Web was the decision by the Mosaic team to include a­ “¬View Source­” menu option. This single addition allowed thousands of users to become web designers.­” (Winter, olpcnews.com) The view source key is essential for creating a sustainable platform in which educators and students can write applications.­

In addition, programs are written in a language called Python. Python is an unusual choice for a low powered laptop such as this, because unlike a language like, for instance, C++, Python is compiled as you run the program. Normally, you have to write the program, compile it, and test it. Thought this makes programming take longer, it lessened the burden on the machine running the software. However,­ languages that compile on the fly mean you can seamlessly move back any forth between writing and using programs. In addition, many say Python is one of the easier programming languages to learn. So, although Python is somewhat resource intensive, it is a good choice for sustainable code that users can learn to edit themselves.­

The hope is that the success of the G1G1 program will spur many developers to pitch in and help write activitis for the XO: in fact, this is already happening.­

Journal­

Journal is Sugar’s file management application, and is, in fact, the only way to get to files on the XO laptop without going to the command line. In the Journal, all your documents are listed in one, long, continual list – there is no directory structure. Think of the “photostream” concept in Flickr, or the way blog posts are saved in dated “streams.”

­Children can organize their materials in several ways: they can tag things for searchability, they can title the document, and they can star important documents. Everything is kept by default- children can choose to go back and delete files later. Automatic saving is at the core of the simplicity of Sugar. Children should never have to experience the awful feeling of losing two hours of work because they forgot to save- so Sugar is built to save automatically. All work is accessible through the journal unless explicitly deleted. (Though there have been a few kinks in this system, the developers are working on it.)

Fun

I am obviously not a third world child. So why did I buy my XO laptop? First and foremost, I have been excited about the project ever since I first heard of it. When the Give One Get One program was announced, I knew I wanted to buy and XO for myself and try it out. I bought it with the hope that I might be able to present on it and spread the word, and also hoped to use it as a portable conference laptop.

Since I received the laptop, though, I have been having a lot of fun with it. A lot of the pictures on Flickr depict people having fun with their laptops as well. the friendly design and dead simple operating system make it easy to pick it up and use.

I read web comics and visit website, check email, and just surf around. I have been known to pull up recipes on the XO while cooking, with little fear that I will splash something on the computer and break it.

A surprising benefit of the XO is the way it encourages me to focus on one activity at a time. When I want to sit down and just write, I find myself turning to the XO because it minimizes the distractions I face at my desktop computer. I have come to appreciate the way the XO focuses my attention.

At the same time, the XO encourages play. I can doodle with the draw application, take pictures of myself making funny faces and insert them into other applications, and make music with Tam Tam. I find myself wanting to create on the XO.

However the One Laptop Per Child project develops, I hope that product designers take notice of what can be done when you allow the user the freedom do do with their computer what they want, and the great things that can come from totally rethinking a design rather than just repurposing the same old thing. I would love to see the sugar operating system deployed as a stand alone operating system, which parents can install on old computers for their children. I hope that the ideas of one laptop per child spread, and more people get involved in the program.

A video of my presentation can be found on the Nebraska Library Commission Blog.

If you would like to comment on this presentation, please do so on my corresponding blog entry. Thanks!

Description: Zotero (www.zotero.org) is a free, open source bibliographic management software, made by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. I will explain Zotero and show its uses, and also discuss how Zotero is similar and different from RefWorks.

Introduction: What is Zotero?

“o hai i made you a paper… but i eated it”

Zotero is a free, open source citation and research materials manager, developed by the Center for History and New Media at the George Mason University. With Zotero, you can not only store citations, but the contents of electronic resources or resources you have scanned in yourself. You can also highlight and annotate the resources. One of the advantages of Zotero is the ability to store sometimes transitory web materials.

Quick Screenshot Overview:

• (Screenshot of Zotero without Annotation)
• Viewing window
• Library
• Tags
• Citation and files
• File information
• Zotero Button

Zotero and RefWorks

So what is similar and different between Zotero and Refworks?

Automatic citation detection

Screenshot: Zotero detecting a file, RefWorks pings in library resources

Both RefWorks and Zotero will automatically “see” situation information on a number of sites. Refworks works with almost all UNL resources, but not not as many online resources. Zotero doesn’t work with all UNL resources, but works with other online resources.

Screenshot: Places RefWorks and Zotero saving can be found in Worldcat

Access

“My citashuns, let me show you them”

Zotero and RefWorks differ in how they store and display files.

Table: Zotero advantages and disadvantages

Zotero: All information is stored on your computer, and the program is run locally.

Zotero/Advantages: Since the materials live on your computer, you can access them even when you are offline.

Zotero/disadvantages: Since the files live on your computer, you can’t just move from computer to computer across operating systems. However, it is possible to keep Zotero on a portable version of FireFox, so you can access your Zotero library from different operating systems (I’ll demo this later)

Table: RefWorks advantages and disadvantages

Refworks: All information is stored online, and can be reached from any computer with an Internet connection.

Refworks/Advantages: Completely online access means that you can get to your files on whatever computer you’re at. The online access also facilitates sharing.

Refworks/Disadvantages: You can’t access your files if the network is down. You have to log in to see your files depending on where you are.

Integration with Word processing software.

“wurd”

Both Refworks and Zotero will integrate with Word, Zotero will also integrate with Open Office, making it Linux compatible.

Screenshot: Zotero open office integration

Screenshot: RefWorks Word Integration

Citation Styles

“i can haz apa?”

Table: RefWorks and Zotero citation formatting

RefWorks: Over 800 styles predefined, you can also make your own.

Zotero: 10 styles, maintained by an open source community. Interested parties can work on or alter their own citation styles, and offer them to be incorporated into Zotero.

• American Medical Association
• American Political Science Association
• American Psychological association
• American Sociological association
• Chicago Manual of Style (3 versions)
• Harvard Reference format
• IEEE
• Modern Humanities Research Association
• Modern Language Association
• National Library of Medicine
• Nature Journal

Import/Export

Table: Zotero and RefWorks importing capabilities

Zotero import:

• MODS
• BibTeX
• EndNote
• MARC
• RDF
• RIS

Refworks import:

• Over 120 formats, including those Zotero handles

Table: Zotero and RefWorks exporting capabilities

Zotero Export:

• Zotero RDF
• MODS
• BibTeX
• Endnote
• RIS
• Unqualified Dublin Core RDF
• Wikipedia citation template

Refworks export:

• Bibliographic Software (EndNote,Reference Manager,ProCite)
• BibTeX – RefWorks ID
• Citation List
• RefWorks Tagged Format
• RefWorks XML Format
• Tab Delimited
• XML (deprecated)

Other features

Refworks and Zotero can both build a bibliography for you at the touch of a button. Both have management features like folders, etc.

What Zotero can’t do

“care to share ur citashuns?”

The big feature of Refworks that Zotero can’t do is sharing. Refworks makes it possible to share citations (especially within the university) easily. Zotero promises this feature in the future, but it is not there yet. (I’ll talk a little about the proposed sharing features at the end)

As far as I know, it’s not possible to integrate Zotero with Blackboard, other than copying and pasting information.

Refworks has a nice feature to find duplicate items.

What RefWorks can’t do

“I’m in ur computr storin’ ur filz”

The major feature that Refworks is missing is the ability to store materials. Zotero can store HTML snapshots, pdf’s, and images. All text (including PDF’s) is searchable. Users can add tags to materials, or add notes. HTML material can be highlighted and notes can be added. There are even a few interesting features like a timeline view of your materials.

Screenshot: Timeline view

Why might you recommend one product over the other?

You might recommend Zotero if:

• A student is leaving college soon and wants to take their citations with them without paying $100/year for RefWorks. Their citations can be exported from RefWorks and re-imported into Zotero.
• A student or professor wants a way to store and manage electronic resources beyond just downloading or email to themselves, or they want to annotate electronically.
• A student or professor wants everything stored on their computer, not online.
• Someone is using web sources heavily for research and needs a way to save reliable backups of these files. (Blogs, wikis, etc.)

You might recommend RefWorks if:

• Someone just wants an easy way to store and format citations, and doesn’t care about storing files or annotating.
• A teacher wants to share a bibliography with a class.
• Someone needs a solution that works on lots of different computers, both mac and PC, without a lot of downloading, installing, and configuring.

What other colleges are doing

Lots of other schools support both RefWorks and Zotero. (and Endnote, for that matter.)

A few examples of schools that support both Zotero and RefWorks:

University of Michigan

This school lists many citation management options, including Zotero, on their Library Guides and tutorials page

http://www.lib.umich.edu/guides/displayDocumentsFromDescriptor.php?desID=101&displayAll=1

http://www.lib.umich.edu/knc/howto/citation/available.html

Florida State

Prominently displays refworks information but there are also links to Firefox: campus edition and Zotero.

http://www.lib.fsu.edu/help/citing/tools

http://www.lib.fsu.edu/help/tools#firefox

Ebling Library at the University of Wisconsin

Ebling Library has a very nice page located under Reference Help > Citation Management (their navigation is really nice!)

This page gives links to tutorials and demos of Refworks, Endnote, and Zotero

http://ebling.library.wisc.edu/portals/reference_tools/citation_styles.cfm

MIT libraries

The MIT libraries have a couple of nice charts to help their users decide on a citation management software.

http://libraries.mit.edu/help/bibliography/index.html

http://libraries.mit.edu/help/bibliography/comparison.html

A note about navigation

It is interesting to see how these different schools place citation management programs in their navigation.

Zotero’s new sharing feature

Recently, there has been discussion on Zotero’s new sharing feature. They have partnered up with Internet Archive, and will give scholars to store materials that are not copyrighted so everyone can see them. There will also be the possibility to password protect certain materials, and to get a permanent URL for web materials.

http://www.dancohen.org/2007/12/12/zotero-and-the-internet-archive-join-forces/

For more information

You can also find a nice chart detailing the difference between citation management programs on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_reference_management_software

Karin’s items tagged “zotero” at del.icio.us: http://del.icio.us/karindalziel/zotero

Conclusion

Zotero is a powerful citation management that is getting more powerful all the time. Even if Zotero is not officially supported at UNL, it’s worth knowing about in case a student wants to use it.

“Plagiarism: Ur doin it rong”

Demonstration of Zotero on Portable Firefox with Open Office integration.

Library-friendly technology: Presentation

Presentation for NLA Technical Services Round Table/College and University Section Spring Meeting: Next Generation Library

Karin Dalziel (karin@dalziel.org) and Marcia Dority Baker (mdority_baker2@unl.edu)

If you have any questions, please contact
Karin Dalziel (karin@dalziel.org).

Examples of portable and web applications: Karin Dalziel

What is a portable application?

A portable application is one that does not require that you install it. This has several advantages:

• You can run it from a USB drive and take applications with you from computer to computer.
• You can download and use a portable application on a computer that you don’t have installation permissions.
• Because there is no installation process, the program won’t put itself in your start up folder, shortcuts on your desktop, or add itself to your start menu.
• On Windows, a portable application will not write to the registry.

You may have heard about U3 applications, which are a special breed of portable applications which must be run from a specifically formatted U3 drive. The applications I will show can be run from any USB drive, and are all free and open source (most U3 applications are not free and they are not open source.) If you are looking at USB drives, getting a U3 drive is fine, but the applications I am demonstrating do not require it. Make sure your USB drive is USB 2.0, though!

Open source applications

There are many advantages to open source software:

• It’s free (most of it, anyway). Everything in this presentation is free, as is most open source software. Many open source companies make money off support, not the software itself.
• You can redistribute it. If a patron finds a piece of software useful, you can send him or her the link, or even burn it on CD for them! Likewise, you can outfit the entire office with a piece of software.
• Most open source software is community supported. You don’t have to rely on a company for support- many of the more popular pieces of software, like Firefox, have a huge development base, community run and supported. There are forums where you can ask your question, and if you mention you are a librarian, you are likely to get the best help!

Software Demos:

The portable software below is for Windows computers. On Macs and Linux computers, you can use the same software, but not necessarily in a portable form. All the links are to the portable, Windows version, but a quick web search will find the website should you want to download other versions.

Firefox and its extensions

Firefox is a great application, not only for what it has built in, but what you can add to it. It comes with spell check, tabbed browsing, built in search engines and many security features. What makes Firefox so great is the add-ons that let you extend and change it.

Extensions change Firefox’s abilities, tweak performance, or add new functionality. You can even choose from hundreds of themes to change what Firefox looks like!

Extensions that make Firefox easier to use.

One of the Firefox add ons I use most frequently is DragdeGo. This handy little extension lets you add some simple mouse gesture functionality to Firefox. For example, normally in Firefox you can press control and click a link to open it in a new tab underneath. With DragdeGo, you can assign actions to dragging a link- so, for instance, when I drag a link down, I get a new tab underneath. When I drag up, I get a new focused tab. I can also select text and perform actions- dragging down looks the highlighted word or term up in an online dictionary. Dragging up looks it up in Google. Left looks the term up in Wikipedia, and right looks it up in Lincoln City Libraries catalog. You can completely customize DragdeGo‘s options, and make it do what you want.

A nice complement to Drag de go is a handy little extension called Add to search bar, which that lets you add any search engine to the search bar at the top. Just right click in any field and choose “add to search bar” – this is handy for adding a library’s page to your search box.

You may have encountered the frustration of needing to post a lot of information on a web site, but are given only a tiny text box to type in. A handy extension called Resizable Textarea lets you drag to resize any text box.

Greasemonkey is an extension that allows you to download bits of code from userscripts.org that changes functionality of pages. One of my favorite scripts highlights items on Amazon that have free shipping. A similar extension, Stylish, allows you to download styles from userstyles.org or make your own and apply them to any page. One application of this is to change the look of a page, for instance, turning Google blue instead of white. Another use is to block ads on web pages using the Ad Blocking Filterset. This style works great, but you must use it with caution because it occasionally blocks legitimate content.

Extensions that add functionality.

Zotero is by far my favorite Firefox extension. Zotero is a project of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University with sponsorship from the IMLS and the Mellon Foundation. It is a citation management system like End Note or RefWorks- and can import into and out of these systems. Zotero can save citations from the web as well as store snapshots of web pages and PDF’s. One can even annotate snapshots of web pages and add notes! Zotero will format citations in a few formats, and if you want more, you can help develop them.

Office Applications

Open Office is a full featured office suite of programs, similar to Microsoft Office. Most Microsoft Office files can be opened and saved in Open Office.

• Write=Word
• Calc=Excel
• Base=Access
• Impress=PowerPoint
• Draw=PageMaker

AbiWord is a lightweight word processor. It cannot open word docs, but can read and save rtf. The nice thing about Abi word is, it does not auto format!

• Media Apps
  • GIMP is a program that lets you manipulate photos. It has many of the features of PhotoShop, but without the $600 price tag.
  • Media Player Classic, VLC and Billy are portable media players. Between VLC and Media Player Classic, you’d be hard pressed to find a video format that won’t play. Billy is a super lightweight MP3 player- just open up a folder of MP3′s!

Web Tools

• • Gaim (now called Pidgin) is a portable IM client software that works with most major instant messaging services. (AIM, Yahoo, MSN, etc)
  • FileZilla and WinSCP are FTP programs that are stable and fast. If you’ve ever needed to upload files from many different computers, these are helpful!

Web Applications

in addition to applications that can be stored on your USB drive, there is an increasing number of applications that live entirely on the web, making them ideal tools for collaboration.

Document and image creation

• PB Wiki is a site that lets you quicly and easily create a wiki. You will need to create a password to alter the wiki, but you can publish that on the main page if you want. You can choose whether to make your wiki public or private, though public is encouraged. You can create as many wikis as you want!
• When you want to collaboratively work on a single document or spreadsheet, you can use Google Docs. Google Docs gives you most of the formatting options you’d expect of a word processor, and lets you share your document or publish it to the web. You can easily see what changes others have made.
• When you need to collaborate with someone on something more visual, Skrbl works well. Skrbl is a whiteboard collaboration tool that makes it easy to collaborate from afar.

File sharing sites

There are an enormous number of ways to share your creations with others now and elicit feedback. Here are just a few:

• Most have by now heard of Flickr, a photo sharing tool. Flickr is also a great tool when you need a picture for a flyer or webpage: just do a search on a Creative Commons license!
• Scribd is a site similar to Flickr, but it lets you share documents. You could use it to embed a PDF in a web page. One of the most useful features of Scribd is the ability to re download your document in different formats, including MP3.
• If you want to share a Power Point or other slide presentation, you can use Slideshare. Slideshare will accept most formats, and users can leave comments on individual slides.
• Most people already know about the website YouTube, which is a great way to share videos. Another video sharing website, Vimeo, accepts only original content, and offers a slightly cleaner embeddable video.

Uses

• Library 2.0 training- preload a USB drive with software and bookmarks to explore Web 2.0 and other new developments.
• Carry all you bookmarks, passwords, etc. with you wherever you go.

Notes and cautions

The next step is to download some portable applications and start playing! As with any software, though, there are cautions: Always read the user agreement carefully, download only from reputable sources (look for an open forum, see if there are user comments, ask around, etc.)

A couple of websites to start with:

• PortableApps.com has a suite of applications you can download, along with a self starting menu to launch them and a ready made document structure.
• Source Forge is a repository for community supported open source applications.

Pictures from the NMRT meeting are on Flickr.

At the NMLA/MPLA 2007 conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I attended a talk called “Launching 90 Languages for Your Patrons: Language Learning and Global Culture in the Library,” by Stephen Shorb and Marvel Maring of the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). They showed slides of UNO’s Language Learning Center, an area of Criss Library that I admired. Stephen Shorb also showed slides from SCOLA, the non-profit foreign language network that provides streaming video to the Language Learning Center.

Before I saw the presentation NMLA/MPLA, I had no idea the extent of tools in the Language Learning Center: not only are there 4 LCD screens with a constant selection of foreign language material to watch, but there is great language learning software on the 6 workstations. The video content provided by SCOLA is what most caught my attention.

SCOLA (which is a root word for school) is “a non-profit educational organization that receives and re-transmits television programming from around the world in native languages.” (http://www.scola.org) Located outside of McClelland, Iowa, the old houses and farmland surrounding SCOLA make a lovely contrast to the abundance of satellites and electronic equipment. Founded by Reverend Leland Lubbers in 1981 at Creighton University, SCOLA has grown into ant organization that provides classroom material, photos, video, and other content from around the world. When I learned that the NLA’s New Member Round Table would be visiting SCOLA at their spring meeting, I jumped at the chance to go.

The meeting began at Criss Library, where we received a tour of the Language Learning Center from Marvel Maring and Greg Sunderman. We were able to try out the software and watch 3 channels of content. While we held our meeting in the Language Learning Center, students waited anxiously to get back into the popular area, which features comfortable seating in addition to the spacious computer stations and work tables. After our tour of the Language Learning Center and the rest of Criss Library (which was also inspiring!) the group headed to McClelland, Iowa for our tour of SCOLA.

When we arrived at the facilities, Francis Lajba, SCOLA’s President/CEO, met us out front. Francis is friendly and looks more like a farmer than a CEO, and his excitement about SCOLA is contagious. Our first stop on the tour was the communications center, where staff at SCOLA receive content from around the world and reformat it into 5 channels of programming. Some programming shown on SCOLA’s channels comes in by satellite, but other content comes by video tape or DVD. This is some of the most extraordinary content, because it is not easily accessible anywhere else. Nothing could quite prepare me for the sheer amount of electronics in one room at the command center. SCOLA staff, many of who live in nearby towns, staff the center 24/7, as SCOLA is never off the air. Francis explained some of intricacies of satellite communication and super high speed internet connectivity.

We next moved into the main building of SCOLA. Francis showed us his office, which is painted John Deere green and yellow and is filled with artifacts from around the world. We met many of the people that help run SCOLA, as well as the fascinating founder, Reverend Leland Lubbers. I wish I had tape recorded the entire tour, because there was so much said and so much to take in. I snapped as many pictures as I possibly could. I wondered if perhaps I might be going overboard in my picture taking, but Francis assured me later that I was nothing compared to some visitors.

One of the many exciting aspects of SCOLA is their partnership with China Yellow River Television. As part of this agreement, two people come to Nebraska and produce a news program that is broadcast back to China. Upon request, the anchor showed us the beautiful traditional Chinese outfits she wears on air when we toured the studio. This partnership embodies the spirit of international collaboration that SCOLA is all about.

In our very thorough tour, we got to see digitization equipment and countless videotapes (I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps they could use a cataloger). The tour ended with snacks and conversation with many of the staff of SCOLA. The hospitality was just what you’d expect in small town Iowa, though the setting was a bit surreal. The friendly conversation turned at one point to ghosts, and it seems that the buildings that house SCOLA have had a few specters, although they have been chased away. The main building was once the County’s indigent home, and stood empty for years before the city sold the property to SCOLA.

My excitement about SCOLA and its possibilities to further language learning, as one might imagine, has only grown from this experience. UNO’s partnership with SCOLA reminds me of all the good libraries can do. In UNO’s case, the Language Learning Center does an amazing job of supporting and supplementing UNO’s language curriculum, and exposes students to current programming in languages they are learning. The Language Learning Center is not just for UNO students, though – anyone in the community can take advantage of the resource, and many do. Although something like UNO’s Language Learning Center is out of reach for a smaller library, SCOLA offers more affordable options as well. Libraries on a smaller budget can start with streaming video on any up to date Windows or Apple computer.

For more information on SCOLA, please visit their website at: http://www.scola.org.

Karin Dalziel is a Library Science Master’s student through the University of Missouri-Columbia and works at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Love Library.

Open Access for Librarians: What, Why, and How?

I hear occasionally about how open access publications are not a viable option for scholars to publish in. In their essay Building the Profession-Research, Creative Activities, and Publication by Academic Librarians, Joan Beam and Cathy Cranston interviewed three new librarians about their publishing habits. “So far, each new librarian has chosen well-established journals in which to publish. Although all were aware of open-access journals in their field, they did not feel that it was worth the risk to publish in these lesser-known journals” (Gregory, 2005, p. 40). This sentiment is popular with scholars, but librarians are uniquely positioned to fight it. In the tenure and review process, librarians can explain the decision to publish in open access literature with authority, and explain to the review committee the reasons for choosing open access publishing.

Librarians need to be informed of open access publishing methods and ideology because it is becoming an increasing force in scholarly literature.

What is open access?

Open access (OA) means immediate, free and unrestricted online access to digital scholarly material, primarily peer-reviewed research articles in scholarly journals. OA was made possible by the advent of the internet. (Wikipedia)

There are two types of open access: Self-archiving, and open access journals.

Self-archiving: Users self publish (usually in an institutional or topical repository) and conform to OAI standards so search engines can treat the separate archives as one. These archives often contain pre- or post-print material that is also submitted to a print journal, or it may contain material unpublished in other formats.

Open access journals: These are often peer reviewed journals that are free and open to the public. Funding for the journal may come in a variety of ways – institutional support, grants, or even through the people that submit to the journal.

Why Open Access?

Not everyone has access. This may be because of money or location.

It is easy for librarians in larger institutions or cities to forget that the “standard” databases are not standard everywhere. In many cases, small libraries cannot afford even the most basic databases- but members of their communities still have a need for accurate information. Even in larger academic institutions, faculty are finding that they have to cut information from course packs that is essential to student’s learning. Karen Estlund describes a situation where “Professors cut readings from their syllabi so that students could afford to purchase course packs, frustrating their attempts to provide the education they wanted for their students” (Donovan and Estlund, 2007, “Karen’s story” section). Faculty may even find that they have to pay to be able to distribute their own research! “On one occasion, a faculty member was shocked when he learned that he had signed away the rights to his work, which was no longer his own to use for teaching” (Donovan and Estlund, 2007, “Karen’s story” section). These problems are not getting better, either. “permissions [are] increasing at a rapid per-page rate … Permission fees averaged $0.05 a page/copy in the 1990s but had risen by the year 2000 to an average of $0.10 a page/copy” (Donovan and Estlund, 2007, “Karen’s story” section). These rises in rates continue to be a problem, and more of the libraries budget must be spent to access precious few journals.

Another consideration for the librarian is the place where the user wants to access information. Georgie Donovan described her experiences of trying to teach students information literacy overseas:

“I quickly realized that my university, though well equipped with computer labs and state-of-the-art computer classrooms, had access to virtually none of the scholarly databases I knew. As a substitute, I turned to finding scholarly information on the Internet and put my energy behind teaching students how to evaluate sources critically. At that time, however, few peer-reviewed articles were available freely online in any discipline, and I experienced firsthand the knowledge divide–where groups of individuals have vastly different levels of access to information. In my situation, even a small subset of scholarly work would have been priceless” (Donovan and Estlund, 2007, “Georgie’s story” section).

This problem manifests itself as well in rural areas in the United States. Small, rural libraries don’t often have access to the big databases, and ILL may be difficult in a library staffed by one. However, even the smallest libraries can usually manage to get online. Open access resources can also be printed and distributed easily, so a librarian can print out information and give it to a patron. On a global scale, this allows for decentralized distribution, so even areas without Internet access can get materials cheaper, because they can be printed closer to their place of need.

Open access enables global communication and collaboration.

The Internet has brought with it globalization like the world has never known. People can now talk for free with someone on the other side of the globe as easily as with someone down the street. This has led to an increase in international collaboration on projects. Donovan and Estlund note that “factors stimulating the need to rethink our communications models” is “globalization and the intense need to do collaborative work with colleagues around the world” (2007, “Changing nature of research” section). Open access facilitates this collaboration by providing materials that everyone with an Internet connection has access to. Content locked behind a pay wall slows down distance collaboration, especially if there is no easy way to get the information out from behind the pay wall and share it. With open access, it’s usually as easy as sharing a link. Not only can the information be more easily shared, it can be more easily referenced in casual modes, like blogging, leading to an Internet with more trustworthy information. How often have you tried to follow a link to what looks like an interesting article only to find that it is locked behind a pay wall? For many people, this problem, though annoying, is not a big issue because they can go to their local library for the article- but not everyone has that luxury. Being able to share and reference information globally will increase scholarly communication dramatically.

Open access might keep prices and permissions reasonable.

Much has been said about the sharp increases in journal prices over the last 20 years. Librarians increasingly have to make choices between subscribing to expensive journals (the content of which is usually rented rather than owned) or buying books. However, open access allows affordable access to librarians, and in many cases does not hurt print publishing much. Peter Suber said that “a March 2006 study by the ALPSP found that high journal prices cause many more cancellations than OA archiving” (2007, “Trends favoring open access” section).

Some confuse the issue of open access publishing with a call for scholars to work for free, and this isn’t so. In fact, may scholarly journals pay nothing or very little already; if scholars are going to give their work away, it might as well be to the largest audience possible. Journals used to be necessary to facilitate distribution of scholarly literature, but now “the Internet allows distribution of perfect copies at virtually no cost to a worldwide audience. We can seize rather than fear the opportunities it creates” (Suber, 2003, para. 15).

The increases in prices and move to electronic forms of delivery have caused another problem for Librarians: that of access. In the past, a library subscribed to a journal, and they could then archive the journals so patrons have access to past content. Many journals now are rented , not owned. Armory, Dubbeld and Peters speak of the process in their article “Open Content, Open Access and Open Source?“:

“Now, instead of journal issues being sold and becoming the property of the buyer, as is the case for print journals, the ejournal is hired or rented out by the year; the subscriber buys access for a year to that journal and all preceding years one has paid for. As soon as the subscription lapses, however, access to all that has been previously paid for ceases” (2004, p. 5).

As more and more journals move to online only content, this becomes more of a problem. Peter Suber calls it the “permission crisis. It’s the result of raising legal and technological barriers to limit how libraries may use the journals for which they have so dearly paid. The legal barriers arise from copyright law and licensing agreements (statutes and contracts)” (2003, para. 2). This problem is especially troublesome when academic librarians have to pay for access to content produced by scholars at their own institution! Open access content allows libraries to “own, not merely license, your own copies of electronic journals. You would have the right to archive them forever without special permission or periodic payments” (para. 4).

Another problem with access locked behind proprietary databases and pay walls is that it makes it harder to effectively search across databases and pull together information from disparate sources. Most of us have had experiences with clunky databases that are difficult to use. Our patrons and users, untrained in using such databases, feel an even greater frustration, especially when the open Internet is easier to search and use. Open access journals that conform to the Open Archive Initiative standard have the advantage of being searchable across institutions- an engine can effectively treat all the disparate archives as one giant archive.

How can librarians help?

Librarians are already enacting change- both in their libraries and on their own by education others on open access. Laura Cohen recently reported that the “ACRL accepted my suggestion to create a hybrid book/wiki publication of the forthcoming Library 2.0 Initiatives in Academic Libraries. I thought the idea would be rejected, but took the risk anyway” (2006, Cohen). Libraries are building digital resources that are free and open to the public. Librarians are active voices in the open access community. Librarians will gain an advantage by keeping informed of open access developments.

Library students may have a difficult time finding information on open access int eh curriculum. Donovan and Estlund advise library students to “Establish contact with the person in your program or campus library who specializes in this area, and try to gain as much background as possible. Better yet, seek an internship or hands-on experience with your campus library” (2007, “Taking the step from awareness to action” section). Because of the ever changing nature of open access, the best approach may just be to read a few blogs and newsletters devoted to open access to keep up. While writing this paper, I had a hard time because everyone I opened my feed reader, I found new and interesting blog posts, articles, and papers that fit right in!

Talk about it.

As they say, talk is cheap. Just about anyone can talk about open access with their friends and colleagues. Open access will benefit greatly from more exposure- too many people are simply not aware that it exists! “Researchers themselves control the rate of progress toward OA, but after all these years most of them are still oblivious to its existence and benefits” (Suber, 2007). Mentioning open access, even in passing, can go a long way towards rectifying this. In reference interviews, don’t forget that there are open access resources out there for those who care to look. Some librarians may be afraid of pointing patrons to resources outside the library, because it may confirm the patron’s “everything is on the Internet” mentality, but I find that when people get good information and service, they are more likely to return. (An aside- when I worked in retail, I would often send people to other stores that carried what customers needed, many times because it was cheaper there. People were grateful, and came back to us more often than not.)

In addition to mentioning open access in casual conversation and in reference interviews, Employees can offer informal brownbags about open access. Donovan and Estlund remark: “even a new member of the library staff, freshly graduated from library school, can spearhead a brown bag series, where library staff discuss an article together or interact with a speaker to raise the collective awareness of salient issues” (2007, “Taking the step from awareness to action” section). A brownbag might focus on the best way to find open access, a discussion on the advantages and drawbacks of open access, or a few particularly good open access resources.

Submit to open access journals and archives

There are several open access journals devoted to Library and information science. One of particular interest to Library students is the Library Student Journal which accept submissions from any student studying Library and Information Science. Librarians can show a commitment to open access by “publish[ing] in open access journals when we can, routinely use pre- and postprint repositories, make deals with publishers to create hybrid publications, and use social software tools to create living, incomplete publications” (Cohen, 2007). Many state associations, including Nebraska, put the content of their newsletters online as well as publishing it in a paper format. This sets a great example, so it would be a great place to contribute. If only the ALA would follow suit with some of their publications!

When possible, Librarians and others publishing in information science should consider self archiving their articles, presentations, etc in the E-LIS repository which “aims to further the Open Access philosophy by making available papers in LIS and related fields” (2007).

Publish

There are many ways librarians can self publish or help with the publishing process. Libraries can take it upon themselves to print open access material of interest to their population, or take on roles similar to a small university press. One area in which libraries have been a leader in publishing is the advancement in online scholarly websites. These sites are usually open access and provide a wealth of information to the public. A scholarly website is developed around a theme, and material and critical content is added over time. A few examples of this, created by my workplace, the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, are the Walt Whitman Archive, the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the Willa Cather Archive. These are large undertakings, but even small public libraries can facilitate a small website on local history. Dorothea Salo talks about her role in publishing on her blog, Caveat Lector: “I am the enemy because I will become a publisher. Not just “can” become, will become” (Salo, 2007).

Sources Cited:

Amory, A., Dubbeld, C., & Peters, D. (2004). Open Content, Open Access and Open Source? Ingede: Journal of African Scholarship, 1(2), 1-12.

Cohen, L. (November 20, 2006). Library 2.0: An Academic’s Perspective: The Coming End of Completed Publications. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://liblogs.albany.edu/library20/2006/11/the_coming_end_of_completed_pu.html

Donovan, G., & Estlund, K. (2007). New librarians and scholarly communication: Get involved. College & Research Libraries, 68(3), 155-158. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from Wilson Web.

E-LIS. (2007). Welcome to Eprints for LIS. Retrieved May 3, 2007, from http://eprints.rclis.org/

Gregory, G. (2005). The successful academic librarian : winning strategies from library leaders. Medford N.J.: Information Today Inc.

Salo, D. (December 15, 2006). Caveat Lector – Why I am the enemy. Caveat Lector. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from http://cavlec.yarinareth.net/archives/2006/12/15/why-i-am-the-enemy/

Suber, P. (February 2003). Introduction to Open Access for Librarians”. Retrieved April 15, 2007, from http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/acrl.htm

Suber, P. (2007). Trends favoring open access. SPARC Open Access Newsletter. Retrieved May 3, 2007, from http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/05-02-07.htm

Wikipedia. (01:21, 14 April 2007.) Open access. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access

Other Selected Works.

Antelman, K. (2004). Do open-access articles have a greater research impact. College and Research Libraries, 65(5), 372-382.

Chan, L., Cuplinskas, D., Eisen, M., Friend, F., Genova, Y., Guédon, J., et al. (2002). Budapest Open Access Initiative. Retrieved April 27, 2007, from http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml

Cohen, L. (2007). Library 2.0: An Academic’s Perspective: The Campus is a User. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://liblogs.albany.edu/library20/2007/03/the_campus_is_a_user.html

Morgan, E.L. (2004). Open access publishing. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from http://infomotions.com/musings/open-access/open-access.pdf

Suber, P. (2007). Open-Access Timeline (formerly: FOS Timeline). Retrieved April 15, 2007, from http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/timeline.htm

Vershbow, B. (March 1, 2007). if:book: AAUP on open access / business as usual? Future of the Book blog. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2007/03/aaup_on_open_access_business_a.html

General Links:

• Directory of Open Access Journals
• Peter Suber’s Open Access Overview
• SPARC Open Access Newsletter and Discussion Forum
• Budapest Open Access Initiative

Selected Open Access Journals in Library and Information Science:

• ARIADNE
• D-Lib Magazine
• E-JASL: The Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship
• Information Research
• Journal of Issues in Informing Science & Information Technology
• Journal of Digital Information
• Library Student Journal
• LIBRES- Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal

You can find the photos I used in this presentation in my del.icio.us account with the tag “openaccesspresentation0507.”

The handout for the presentation is here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/47924/Dalziel-open-access-handout

Promoting the Digital Learning Lab – Why?

The “Tell your story @ your library” program will allow students to “discover” an underused resource, integrate the Digital Learning Lab into the curriculum, promote university programs and teach multimedia skills

About:

UNL’S Love Library has a fantastic resource called the Digital Learning Lab. The DLL “consists of librarians, staff and equipment necessary for students to view, create, and locate non-print/non-text resources, including audio, video, and images.” (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Love Library | Digital learning lab) The DLL not only has computers for digital video editing, audio editing, and image editing, but they also have equipment to check out and knowledgeable Digital Learning Librarians to assist with questions.
When I was an undergrad at UNL, I did not know about this resource. I knew that the library had a computer or two with scanning equipment, but I didn’t know the full extent of the equipment, nor that there were staff whose job it was to assist in using the equipment. Talking to other students on campus, I find they don’t know about it either.

In the University Libraries Strategic Plan for 2006/08, the first priority listed is to expand the Digital Scholarship and Literacy Program. In specific, the Libraries aim to increase use of the “Digital Learning Librarian (DLL) Program. Integrating multi-media into the curriculum.” (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University libraries strategic plan: Priorities for 2006/08). The “Tell Your Story@yourlibrary” campaign also incorporates two of the seven “Core Values” of the University- by engaging communities outside UNL (through promotion of and participation in the sites) and promoting “Research and creative activity that inform teaching [and] foster discovery.” (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2005)

Who:

Intermediate Graphic Design class Work with teacher to create final class project I chose to narrow my focus to an Intermediate Graphic Design class because the students will have some experience with design, but will not yet be very advanced, and because Graphic Design students are often looking for a means to express themselves to a larger public, but chances to do this can be few and far between.

I also chose this group of students because I believe that knowing at least the basics of multimedia design will be advantageous for any Graphic Design or Art student. Even if the student never works with video or audio again, they will know what it is like, which will make them better collaborators.

I believe the work produced by these students will be visually appealing and exciting, making it easy to promote to others on campus and in the larger community.

Goal:

Students will utilize the Digital Learning Lab to create exciting web based projects showcasing their talents.

Most Art and Graphic Design students love showing others what they are doing, and getting feedback. Teachers love venues for promoting their students. And the University loves showing the community the good work of the students.

Most of all, though, this event is about building skills that students can take with them into their careers and communities. The Digital Learning Lab exists because of the increasing importance of being able to express oneself not only through writing and speaking, but through multimedia. Students possessing these skills will have an edge in the marketplace.

Examples:

• IT IN Place
• The Amateur Gourmet

These are just a couple of examples of different styles a website might take. On “IT IN Place,” Alex Itin creates a running commentary using images, video, sound and text, interwoven into a continuous visual stream.

On “The Amateur Gourmet,” Adam Roberts uses a comic format to tell his story.

Objectives:

One class will work closely with Digital Learning Librarians. Each student will create a web based project utilizing at least one piece of equipment.

One [intermediate graphic design] class will work closely with Digital Learning Librarians. Each student [or group] will create a [complete, interactive,] web based project utilizing at least one piece of equipment [that the student was previously unfamiliar with].

Digital Learning Librarians will work with Graphic Design Instructor to create help create assignment, leaving leeway for creativity. Instructor may set other parameters, but site should: pick a topic (anything the student is interested in) and present it in an attractive and innovative way. The site could be a Blog, a Wiki, an interactive game, a video presentation, etc. The only stipulation is that the student should try and learn a new piece of equipment.

Digital Learning Librarians will give several short demos of equipment to students. There will at least be a demo each on audio, video, and web services. During these sessions, Librarians will use examples of borrowed media and pictures, and explain what is ok to use and what is not. They will also discuss citing used sources and copyright concerns.

Students will utilize the Digital Learning Lab equipment and computers to create project sites. Sites will be listed on the Library main page, and will be shown in several stages: the first will be the proposals for the projects,t he second, sketches, and third, the final project. This ongoing activity will help maintain public interest.

Final “Meet and Greet”: There will be a final presentation/exhibition in the Library so students can show off and explain their final projects The presentation part will be held in the LIR room, where each student will give a brief (5 minutes) presentation on their project to their peers and any one else that wants to show up (friends, family, etc.)

After the presentation, there will be an exhibition in the upstairs link computer lab, where each student will display their project on a different computer.

Advertising:

Before:

The first step in getting the word out will be to advertise and generate interest in the class itself. Posters can be placed around the art buildings explaining the class, a notice can be placed on the Art department and library web pages, and a descriptive title can be written for the course catalog. This will need to be planned well in advance.

During:

Once the class has started, the Library should make an effort to publicize the class and the projects regularly through e-news announcements, listings in the Scarlet, and Blurbs in the Daily Nebraskan.

End:

The final stage will culminate in a “Meet and Greet” event to which the University and community will be invited. Most of the advertising will gear up towards this final event. A press release will be sent to campus and city newspapers, as well as students’ hometown newspapers (if they choose.) Students will have the option of designing and posting flyers around campus.

Assessment:

Logs kept for use of computer and equipment checkout Website will get at least 500 unique hits Equipment use and checkout should increase by at least 20%. This can be easily tracked by looking at the logs for the equipment checkout and using software on the computers that will track the total time in use. Librarians will need to keep statistics for the previous semester before the class so they have something to compare the new statistics to.

Statistics on the site will also be easy to keep. I have a conservative goal of 500 unique hits per month. In addition to these measures, students will evaluate the class in general at the end of the semester. These evaluations can then be compared to past, similar classes to see if it is rated more highly. While not a definite indicator of success, it would be a start. Librarians also may be able to obtain and anonymous comments written by the students on these evaluations.

Sources:

Itin, A., (Image), IT IN Place, [Blog], http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/

Roberts, A., (Image), The Amateur Gourmet, [Blog], http://www.amateurgourmet.com/

University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Love Library | Digital learning lab. Accessed November 28th, 2006 from http://www.unl.edu/DLL/about.html

University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 2005. The role of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Accessed November 28th, 2006 from http://www.unl.edu/ucomm/aboutunl/roleandmission.shtml

University of Nebraska-Lincoln. University libraries strategic plan: Priorities for 2006/08. Accessed November 28th, 2006 from http://www.unl.edu/libr/admin/strategicPlan.doc