BrianS

The $100 laptop

A team at MIT is developing a $100 laptop to distribute to low income children in poor nations. More from CNN.

Negroponte and some MIT colleagues are hard at work on a project they hope will brighten the lives and prospects of hundreds of millions of developing world kids.

It’s a grand idea and a daunting challenge: to create rugged, Internet- and multimedia-capable laptop computers at a cost of $100 apiece.

AMeGA Final Report Released

The AMeGA Final Report was released yesterday. Here is a description of the project from its executive summary:


The Automatic Metadata Generation Applications (AMeGA) project, which was
conducted in conjunction with the Bibliographic Control of Web Resources: A Library of
Congress Action Plan
, addresses the
challenge of metadata generation for digital resources. The work underlying the AMeGA project
was guided by the following three goals:

  • To evaluate current automatic metadata generation functionalities supported by
    content creation software and automatic metadata generation applications; and review
    automatic metadata generation functionalities supported by integrated library systems
    (ILSs).
  • To survey metadata experts to determine which aspects of metadata generation are
    most amenable to automation.
  • To compile a final report of recommended functionalities for automatic metadata
    generation applications.

Linking Google Scholar to academic libraries

Library Journal has a news item this morning about a Google Scholar pilot project that is linking the service to participating academic libraries. Google Scholar is creating a link, through the use of SFX buttons and similar services, to local OpenURL link resolvers. This allows patrons to find items listed in Google Scholar’s results in local libraries. Common services include finding full-text articles, searching the local catalog, or requesting an item through ILL or document delivery.

Building an academic library from scratch: UC Merced

The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required) has an article about the library at the new University of California campus to be opened in Merced in the fall. The head librarian, R. Bruce Miller, describes his vision for the library:

With its focus on remote collections and digital resources, Merced’s Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library will either be a new model for research libraries or a brief experiment for a generation dazzled by the Internet. Mr. Miller’s vision departs from traditional library practices in every way, yet he believes he has “gotten back to basics,” serving up information for students and faculty members the way they want it, when they want it.

It sounds like Miller has a radically different vision of the academic library. Highly recommended.

Maverick family donates rare papers to Alamo Library

Descendants of Samuel Augustus Maverick (source of the term “maverick”) have donated rare papers to the Daughters of the Revolution of Texas and the Alamo Library. The collection includes a copy of the Declaration of Independence of Texas from 1836. Bruce Winders, curator of the Alamo Library, described the what this copy was originally used for:

“They were meant to be passed around and posted. Today they’d send it out as an e-mail attachment,” Winders said, adding Maverick’s copy is in remarkably good condition. “I think people will be surprised to see this document and know it was printed in 1836.”

LOC putting James Madison’s papers online

ABC News is reporting that the Library of Congress is putting 12,000 pages of James Madison’s papers online:

Beginning Friday, Madison’s “Notes for a Speech in Congress” of June 8, 1789, will be available online, along with about 12,000 other pages from his papers preserved in the Library of Congress. Some are in code, including letters to President Thomas Jefferson, for whom Madison served as secretary of state.

Brooklyn Museum to catalog costume collection

The New York Times is reporting (free registration required) that the Brooklyn Museum has recieved a Mellon grant to catalog its huge (70,000+ pieces) costume collection.

For the first time in the collection’s history, a detailed record of all its pieces will be created, with a digital image of each dress, purse, scarf, shoe, hat, earring and brooch. Four thousand of the most important pieces will be photographed at high resolution and at some point made available for viewing online by scholars, the Mellon Foundation said.

Net Generation Students and Libraries

Joan Lippincott of the Coalition for Networked Information contributed a chapter to an ebook on library services to Net Gen students. The ebook, titled Educating the Net Generation is available for free from Educause. Joan’s chapter is available in html or pdf.

With the explosion of Internet technology, libraries incorporated a wide array of digital content resources into their offerings; updated the network, wiring, and wireless infrastructures of their buildings; and designed new virtual and in-person services. However, technology has resulted in more modernization than transformation. There is an apparent disconnect between the culture of library organizations and that of Net Gen students.

U. of Maryland and Johns Hopkins hosting Open Access forum

The University of Maryland, Baltimore and Johns Hopkins University are hosting a forum titled Ownership and Access in Scholarly Communication on April 6. The forum is from 1pm to 6pm in the UMB School of Nursing Auditorium, with broadcasts to Johns Hopkins and a webcast. The keynote speakers are Dr. David Lipman and Dr. Chi V. Dang.

Dr. Lipman is the Director of the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a division of the National Library of Medicine within the National Institutes of Health. He will address Emerging Issues in Scientific Publishing.

Dr. Dang is Professor of Medicine, Oncology, Pathology and Molecular Biology & Genetics and Vice Dean for Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He will give a second keynote on Valuing New Models of Scholarship in Promotion and Tenure.