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Showing posts from April, 2014

Five open source tools libraries need to know about

libraries need to take a closer look at open source software. By removing the "owner" (aka the vendor) from the equation we get a lot more freedom to make software that does what we want, how we want, when we want. One of the hardest thing to teach libraries who are switching to an open source solution is that the power is now in their hands to direct the software! SubjectsPlus SubjectsPlus is an open source subject guide tool. For the non-library types reading this: a subject guide is a common resource in libraries to point people to relevant resources on a specific subject. When I first started in libraries, what we were working with was a series of hard-coded pages full of links. Now we have tools like SubjectsPlus to do the heavy lifting for us. SubjectsPlus makes it easy to add staff (or guide managers) and resources (print, databases, links, and more) so that you can publish a handy subject guide for your patrons. For example check out the Oakland University Librar

Libraries go high-tech

Libraries go high-tech...by Celia Britton The idea of humans being served by robots is no longer confined to the realms of Science Fiction. University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) staff and students will soon start accessing books from a new library retrieval system (LRS), a state-of-the-art underground facility that uses robotic cranes to retrieve books. The 13,000m³ facility, which is part of a much bigger building program underway at the university’s Broadway and Haymarket campuses, includes six robots and seemingly endless rows of metal shelves that will eventually hold almost 12,000 metal bins filled with books. Increased study space, financial and energy savings and better control over the library’s collection are just some of the benefits for UTS, which has a book collection that grows, on average, by 25,000 books every year. “It was a case of building this facility or building a library four times the size of the one we currently have, in order to accommodate the growing

Wife of the Vice President,Mrs. Matilda Amissah Arthur, Urges Librarians To Keep Up With New Trends in ICT

The Wife of the Vice President,Mrs. Matilda Amissah Arthur has charged librarians in the country to add value to themselves by embracing the task of keeping up with new trends in the information sourcing industry and the changing face of library services in the country. She was speaking at the opening ceremony of a Collaborative International Workshop organised by the Nigerian Liberian Association (IT Section) in conjunction with the Ghana Library Association(GLA) under the theme “ Librarianship and the demands for new Leadership Skills,’’ at the forecourt of the Balme library at the University of Ghana Legon in Accra. Mrs. Amissah Arthur,a librarian for over 30 years and the first female President of the Ghana Librarian Association noted that to build a Strong Librarian Association, the negative stereotyped notion about libraries and librarians has to be changed to embrace new technological ways of sourcing information and rendering library services. Mrs. Amissah Arthur said ov

An 8-Step Process for Change

An 8-Step Process for Change

Embracing the Innovative and Non-Traditional at #CILDC

Embracing the Innovative and Non-Traditional at #CILDC

Hacking Strategies for Library Innovation: The Tuesday Keynote

Hacking Strategies for Library Innovation: The Tuesday Keynote
  PLANNING A SCHOOL LIBRARY                     BY   OSAROME OGBEBOR                                                                                                                                       PLANNING A SCHOOL LIBRARY INTRODUCTION The word ‘library’ is rich in tradition, meaning, and usage. The definitions of ‘school library’ given by various library scientists and associations reflect this heritage. Throughout the world the school library is considered as part and parcel of the academic set-up. It is created and maintained to serve and support the educational activities of the school. A school library is an organized collection of study and teaching materials aimed at pupils, teachers and other staff alike. It also includes access to local, regional, national and international information databases. The facilities, materials, equipment and staff of the school library as well as its operation are organized in such a way that they support learning within t