Chinese Canadian Library Weblog

The review was published on May 1st. I can’t wait to read the book now. Way to go Allan!

Primary Research Group has published Library Use of E-books, 2008-09 Edition, (isbn 1-57440-101-7) and some of the results are:
Some of the report’s findings are that:

Libraries in the sample expected to renew over 77% of their current contracts.

Well over 81% of the sample cataloged their e-book collection and listed it in their online library catalog.

The libraries in the sample had MARC records for a mean of approximately 74% of the e-books in their collections.

Nearly 21% of the libraries in our sample have digitized out-of- copyright books in their collections in order to make their contents more available to their patrons.

Nearly 70% of the sample’s total spending on e-books was with aggregators, while just over 24.6% of the total spending was spent with individual publishers.

I just came back from the Florida Library Association Annual Conference at St. Pete, FL. There were two interesting sessions about the future of libraries. I walked out of the two sessions with, well, not exactly daunting spirit, but definitely not with a singing heart. The keynote speaker was Jane Frye Williams, a wonderful speaker who is widely known in the library world as a futurist for libraries. For those of you who haven’t heard her talk before, I would recommend you to go to her site and check out her webcast archive section. Another session “The Future of Academic Libraries” was presented by Joseph J. Branin, the library director of the Ohio State University. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my laptop to the keynote and didn’t take notes for the session. But I am sure you’ll get most of the gist of Jane’s prediction of the future of the libraries from the archival speech she gave back in 2005 . Here I’m going to share with you some highlights from the 2nd talk I mentioned above:
1. According to the study “Recent environmental scans and user studies” done by OCLC in 2005, 89% electronic information searches begin at a search engine, whereas only 2% from a library website.
2. New roles for librarians as “knowledge managers”.
3. The library has become a key in shaping students’ college choice. (Facilities Manager, March 2006)
4. Librarians(at OSU?) don’t do reference work anymore. All librarians at OSU must become subject specialists in their designated areas and provide research assistance services at points of need. They are expected to be heavily involved in the whole process of the research projects in their areas, including collecting research data and managing the data(which is only a vision for the time being).

I was overwhelmed at this year’s conference in Atlanta, and still feel wierd no matter what I do here in my office. One thing for sure, we must change our collection development policy. The major East Asian collections have had their books scanned by Google. We should stop buying those big sets of reprints. Open Access development in China will also bring us impacts. American East Asian libraries are bound together this year to negotiate with e-resources vendors…

The Vancouver Association of Law Libraries invites SLA members to join us in this hands-on workshop on screencasting.

The registration form, which includes more detailed information, is available here:
http://vall.vancouver.bc.ca/mar08wkshop.pdf

Special offer for students:

In order to assist students attending the 2008 VALL workshop, Screencasting in Libraries, the Association has made 10 spots available to students at $25.00. These registrations will be awarded on a first come, first served basis and must be received by March 21, 2008. The cost listed on the registration form is the non-student price – please indicate that you are registering at the student rate on the form.

***Registration deadline is Friday March 21, 2008***

We hope to see you on March 27.
Note: Registrations must be prepaid and accompanied by a form (one form for each attendee please). However, if you have questions about your registration please contact Deborah MacLeod at deborah.macleod@bccls.bc.ca.

Emma Wood, on behalf of VALL
Emma Wood
Library Technician

Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLP
Barristers & Solicitors
2700 – 700 W. Georgia St.
Vancouver, BC V7Y 1B8

Phone:
(604) 484-1700

Direct:
(604) 628-2736

Fax:
(604) 484-9700

Email: ewood@ahbl.ca
Firm Web Site: http://www.ahbl.ca

SLA WCC is pleased to present Paul Whitney, City Librarian, Vancouver Public Library, in Vancouver on April 8 for an interesting and practical update on copyright developments in Canada as they impact all types of libraries and all Canadians.

Tuesday April 8, 5:00 – 8:00pm at The Sandman Hotel (180 W Georgia St) in the Georgia Room. This session requires an email RSVP and paid registration, see below; there will be a cash bar; light refreshments are included with your registration.

:30 – 6:00 register & socialize

6:00 – 7:00 presentation

7:00 – 8:00 more socializing

PRESENTATION – COPYRIGHT AND YOU

For more than four months now, there have been rumours that the Canadian Government is ready to introduce new copyright legislation. At the time of planning this presentation, they have yet to follow through. During this time, citizen and media engagement in copyright as a public policy issue has reached unprecedented levels. A strong private sector coalition has added its voice to those calling for enhanced user rights to be recognized in the new legislation. At the same time, there is an emerging rift between user rights advocates on the appropriateness of certain institution-specific exceptions.

SPEAKER

Paul Whitney, City Librarian (Vancouver Public Library)

Paul Whitney joined VPL in June 2003 from the Burnaby Public Library where he had been Chief Librarian since 1989. He has been involved in various professional activities since 1989, including serving as President of the Canadian Library Association and the British Columbia Library Association. Presently, he is Chair of the Library and Archives of Canada Council on Access to Information for Print-Disabled Canadians, and a Member of the Canadian Heritage Public Lending Right Commission and the PLR Executive. He is also Chair of the Canadian Urban Library Council Copyright Committee; Chair of the Copyright Forum, which is responsible for addressing digital copyright issues with the Federal Government; and a resource person to the International Federation of Library Associations’ Copyright and Other Legal Matters Committee. In 2002, Paul received the Canadian Library Association’s Outstanding Service to Librarianship Award, and the British Columbia Library Association President’s Award for contributions to the Association. In 2001, he received the University of British Columbia’s School of Library, Archival and Information Studies Alumni Service and Leadership Award.

REGISTRATION

To pay by cheque, complete the online registration form http://units.sla.org/chapter/cwcn/programs/regform2004.htm and mail it with your payment (cheque made out to SLA WCC), to:

Lesley Perkins
Canada Border Services Agency

Pacific Region Enforcement Centre
700- 300 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC
V6B 6C8

To pay by credit card, go to our online announcement at http://units.sla.org/chapter/cwcn/programs/programs.shtml and follow the PayPal links.

FEES

For SLA members, students, and those between jobs

$28

For non-members

$35

RSVP

Please send an email to Lesley.perkins@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca indicating that you’re attending this session, and whether or not you are an SLA member. This will help to ensure we have sufficient space and refreshments for everyone. Thank you!

VENUE

The Sandman Hotel is located at 180 West Georgia (between Cambie & Hamilton).

Thank you to our sponsor FPinfomart for generously supporting this event.

Lesley Perkins

Kevin Bradley, Junran Lei, and Chris Blackall. Paris: UNESCO, 2007
Towards an Open Source Repository and Preservation System: Recommendations on the Implementation of an Open Source Digital Archival and Preservation System and on Related Software Development

This Document defines the requirements for a digital archival and preservation system using standard hardware and describes a set of open source software which can be used to implement it.

The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies and the SLAIS Alumni Association are pleased to announce the 2008 Meet the SLAIS Grads Event. The event will take place at the Alice McKay Room, lower level VPL Central Branch, 350 West Georgia St., Friday March 28 from 5:30-8 pm.
For more info and to register online, go to www.slaisalumni.org/meetslaisgrads.

https://www.slaisalumni.org/page/events/ezlist_event_02ce2747-ce57-434e-b191-1e8ee191c832.aspx

This is an opportunity to meet and network with grads, alumni, faculty and friends of SLAIS. All SLAIS students who graduated from Summer 2007 to June 2008 are invited to this event in your honour.

I will be there! See YOU there.

Ticket(s):
Alumni, Faculty and Friends – $39.00
Support a Grad – $24.00
New SLAIS Grad (FREE) – $0.00
New SLAIS Grad Partner/Spouse/Family – $24.00

Mr. Zhu Lei has done a great job writing the minutes. Please read and comment here.

Time: March 8, 2008, 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Location: Asian Library
Present: Jing, Xuemei, Qi, Ian, Lingbo, Jane, Wei, Lei, Qiong, Lili, Min (remotely via Skype) and Heather (remotely via Skype). Two guests – Jessica and Wendy.
Topics:
1.Toastmasters – Practice Makes Perfect!
2.UBC Institutional Repository Project–cIRcle
3. Multicultural Canada Project

Topics:

1.Toastmasters – Practice Makes Perfect!
A 7-minute speech by Linbo, fully in English with impressive poise and confidence, introducing the concept of Toastmasters, the importance of strengthening your communication skills, and the great value of joining a Toastmasters club.
2.UBC Institutional Repository Project
A presentation by Lili based on her professional experience at University Archives, explaining the purpose of UBC’s cIRcle project, various policies and procedures to follow, and the challenges they are currently faced with, followed by a demo of uploading a sample record to the system.
3.Multicultural Canada Project
A presentation by Ian on this national-wide digitization project lead by SFU, including a brief history of the project, a quick glance of the multicultural collections (e.g. historical newspapers in different languages), an overview of the whole system architecture as well as some details at technical element level, concluded with a warm and informative session of Q&A and discussion.

In addition,
·We were happy to see some new Chinese SLAISers with strong computer background, and two guests who showed great interest in the career path as a librarian;
·Heather and Min shared with us their current roles and responsibilities at work, as well as some great thoughts and suggestions on career goal setting, relocation after graduation, etc., which are particularly valuable to those soon-to-graduate MLIS candidates;
·For the first time and with great success, Skype was used in our meeting to reach out to our friends located in Quebec and Florida;
·Everybody in the meeting was happy with this informative, straight 4 hour professional meeting and, of course, a full table of tasty snack food;
·Schedule for the next meeting was not discussed during the meeting, but according to the reflection of most attendees, a “hot and practical” topic should be able to attract more friends to show up in our next gathering; and
·Special thanks to Jing, Ian, Linbo, Qi and Lili for their organization of and presentations in this successful meeting.

Many have asked me about our next gathering. Let’s give ourselves two months to prepare. Please let me know any topics that you would like to discuss on top of the Multicultural Canada Project.