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Greg Landgraf writes: “Information is an important tool in fighting the outbreak. Alison Blaine, a master’s student at the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science and a research assistant in the UNC Davis Library’s Research Hub, is part of an interdisciplinary team that developed ebolainliberia.org, a website that provides data and news about the Ebola epidemic. Blaine provided American Libraries her personal perspective on the project and the importance of visualizing data, as well as the role libraries can play in doing so.”...
American Libraries feature, Oct. 3
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Andrea Peterson writes: “Guarding patrons’ library activities is considered a core value of the profession, written into the ALA’s code of ethics: ‘We protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted.’ Over the years, the US government has tested the limits of how far librarians will go to defend that code.”...
Washington Post, Oct. 3
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Sponsored Content
Curriculum alignment at Gale
Frank Menchaca, Senior Vice President, Global Project Management, Gale, National Geographic Learning
At
Gale these days, our product and go-to-market strategies have all
centered on answering a single question: how do we help libraries
provide value that they can measure and demonstrate to their
stakeholders?
 One
initiative dedicated to advancing this cause is our new curriculum
alignment service. This involves a deep and extensive consultation with a
customer to identify: what are their metrics of value; who are the
stakeholders that evaluate those metrics, and how does a Gale product
demonstrate that value?
An example of that consultation’s output is the University of Toronto’s alignment.
Here we’ve taken products the university owns and related them to
faculty research and actual courses. We’ve looked at everything from
topics on which faculty members deliver papers, to course syllabi, and
related those down to the item level in our products.
A
study from the University of Washington’s Information School states
that only 13% of instructional handouts direct students to library
resources. We want that percentage to grow astronomically. We’re
providing this service as a part of a new and comprehensive post-sale
package in which we work closely with customers to align products with
their objectives, monitor usage and permit use of certain content sets
in data mining.
It’s an exciting new program and we’ve already received much positive reaction and constructive feedback.
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Michael Rodriguez writes: “Physical library spaces are designed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), hence the wide aisles, low checkout stations, and ramps. In contrast, alt tag awareness is low and web accessibility not a priority for most librarians. Yet for visually or otherwise impaired users, an improperly coded website can be like wandering into a maze and hitting a brick wall of frustration. For best practices, these are your first stops.”...
LITA Blog, Oct. 3
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A new white paper, authored by a cross-industry group of professionals from libraries, content providers, and OCLC, identifies problems with data quality in the content supply chain and gives practical recommendations for improved usage, discovery, and access of e-content in libraries. The paper offers recommendations on how to improve bibliographic and holdings data, how to synchronize bibliographic metadata and holdings data, and how to use consistent data formats.”...
OCLC, Oct. 6
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Registration and housing are now open for the 2015 ALA Midwinter Meeting and Exhibits in Chicago, January 30–February 3. “The conversation starts here” every year at the Midwinter Meeting, which offers the usual gold-standard networking, updates, exhibits, future-focused discussions, innovators, thought leaders, and high-profile speakers....
ALA Conference Services, Oct. 1
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Meaghan Darling writes: “Here is a brief look at instagrams of interest to engage teens and librarians navigating this social media platform. From #librarianproblems to fun programs and new books to book messes, librarians are sharing clever ideas through their accounts. Following library hashtags will provide inspiration and it can highlight different ways to showcase your library to the public. Is that just a photo of your desk, or is it a behind-the-scenes look at the Youth Services office?.”...
YALSAblog, Oct. 6
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The Nashville (Tenn.) Public Library decided to promote and celebrate library cards by covering one of the most popular songs right now. Employees did their own version of Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass,” as seen on Jimmy Fallon’s talk show. They wrote on their YouTube post (3:22), “We had a little bit of fun showcasing how easily Nashvillians can borrow, download, and stream books, music, and movies with a free library card.”...
WKRN-TV, Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 6
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Smithtown (N.Y.) Special Library District’s Commack branch has become Long Island’s second public library to receive a certification from the US Green Building Council for its sustainable design and construction. The branch, which recently underwent a $3.6 million renovation and expansion, fell into the new construction and major renovations category. Westhampton Free Library in Westhampton Beach was the first library to gain LEED certification on Long Island....
Long Island (N.Y.) Newsday, Sept. 26
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