September 2004 - LIS-Forum - ncsi.iisc.ernet.in

Language help requested: Reference Query
by Vyasamoorthy＠icicikp.com 28 Sep '04

28 Sep '04

Dear Friends: This is a request for some librarian hailing from Maharashtra knowing Marathi. I understand that the Word 'Lingoo' in Marathi has been given as Latin name (Scientific name) to a kind of Taylor Bird. In this connection, one of my friends in Bird Watchers Society in Hyderabad wants to know "the etymology of the Marathi word: Lingoo". If the query is totally wrong and there is no such word in Marathi Language, even this may be conveyed. Thanks for your time Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre, ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA Email: vyasamoorthy(a)icicikp.com Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence: +91(40)27846631

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WISH LISTs -- Do you have any?
by Vyasamoorthy＠icicikp.com 27 Sep '04

27 Sep '04

Dear Friends: Do you have any Wish List Regarding-- 1) Content Development Activity for offering Digital Information Services 2) Training Program availability in IT related areas I mean, have you ever thought "How I wish some has developed 'a database/directory/course on --- topic'? "How I wish some institute offers short term training program on ....."? etc If you have such a Wish-list, you may share the specifics with me? Dr.P.Vyasamoorthy, Advisor, Virtual Information Centre, ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley, Turkapally, Shameerpet Mandal, RR District, Hyderabad 500078 INDIA Email: vyasamoorthy(a)icicikp.com Phone - Office: +91(40)23480053 Fax: +91(40)23480007 Phone Residence: +91(40)27846631

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New archiving software from NYU
by Subbiah Arunachalam 27 Sep '04

27 Sep '04

New archiving software under development Lindsay Greene, NYU to make archive software <http://www.nyunews.com/news/campus/7691.html>, Washington Square News, September 22, 2004. Excerpt: "NYU's library system has announced plans to develop software for an intercollegiate database that will make archival processing more efficient, a library official said. The system, called 'The Archivists' Toolkit <http://euterpe.bobst.nyu.edu/toolkit/>,' will allow universities and other research institutions to compile their archives into a online database, making the scholarship available worldwide....NYU, which is developing the project with assistance from the University of California at San Diego, decided to pursue the project after several researchers expressed an interest in a more accessible archive, Dean of Libraries Carol Mandel said. 'Our archivists were frustrated with the lack of software available, so they got together and kind of said "let's do this,"' she said. The archivists went to the Andrew W. Mellon foundation where they were paired up with the University of California. Both universities received a collaborative, two-year grant for $847,000. The project is expected to last from two to four years, and NYU hopes to renew the grant, Mandel said." (PS: The article doesn't say so, but the toolkit web site makes clear that the software will be both OAI-compliant and open-source. However, I'm still curious about what the project leaders found deficient in the nine existing systems <http://www.soros.org/openaccess/software/> of OAI-compliant, open-source archiving software.) New archiving software from NYU New archiving software under development Lindsay Greene, NYU to make archive software < http://www.nyunews.com/news/campus/7691.html http://www.nyunews.com/news/campus/7691.html > , Washington Square News , September 22, 2004. Excerpt: "NYU's library system has announced plans to develop software for an intercollegiate database that will make archival processing more efficient, a library official said. The system, called ' The Archivists' Toolkit < http://euterpe.bobst.nyu.edu/toolkit/ http://euterpe.bobst.nyu.edu/toolkit/ > ,' will allow universities and other research institutions to compile their archives into a online database, making the scholarship available worldwide....NYU, which is developing the project with assistance from the University of California at San Diego, decided to pursue the project after several researchers expressed an interest in a more accessible archive, Dean of Libraries Carol Mandel said. 'Our archivists were frustrated with the lack of software available, so they got together and kind of said "let's do this,"' she said. The archivists went to the Andrew W. Mellon foundation where they were paired up with the University of California. Both universities received a collaborative, two-year grant for $847,000. The project is expected to last from two to four years, and NYU hopes to renew the grant, Mandel said." (PS: The article doesn't say so, but the toolkit web site makes clear that the software will be both OAI-compliant and open-source. However, I'm still curious about what the project leaders found deficient in the nine existing systems < http://www.soros.org/openaccess/software/ http://www.soros.org/openaccess/software/ > of OAI-compliant, open-source archiving software.)

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INFLIBNET's National Seminars on Access to E-resources under UGC-Infonet - E-Journals Consortium
by JK Vijayakumar 27 Sep '04

27 Sep '04

National Seminars on Access to E-resources under UGC-Infonet - E-Journals Consortium --------------------------------- Visit this site for more details http://web.inflibnet.ac.in/econ/seminar/index.jsp ------------------------------- UGC-Infonet E-Journals consortium initiative taken by the Chairman University Grants Commission (UGC) is to facilitate free access to scholarly journals and databases in all areas of learning to the research and academic community across the country. The programme has been dedicated to the nation by His Excellency the President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on 28th December 2003 from Vigyan Bhavan during the concluding of Golden Jubilee celebrations of University Grants Commission. More than 2000 scholarly journals and databases are already made available for access which will cross 4000 journals in next few months. This effort has started making very good impact on the research and academic community and very encouraging usage is noticed. However, awareness is the key to exploit and utilize this scholarly literature in better way. There is a need to inform all the faculty, research scholars, students and library professionals to understand the benefit of this programme in the light of huge resources made available first time in the country for higher education sector. In order to facilitate the research and academic community the access to scholarly resources, it is proposed to conduct two days national seminars at five different places across the country for taking the benefit by attending the programme nearby. It includes � Presentations on new initiatives of UGC-Infonet and E-Journals Program � Presentation by Invited speakers � Demonstrations, Exhibition, Commercial Presentations � Panel Discussion to discuss the important issues relating to E-Journals/databases The programmes are initially planned at five cities and are held on different dates Vadodara (M.S. University),25-26, October 2004, Coordinator - Dr. K.H. Shukla Goa (Goa University),29-30, October 2004, Coordinator - Dr. P V Konnur Bangalore (Bangalore University), 29-30, November 2004, Coordinator- Dr. M Anjanappa Delhi (Delhi University),6-7, December 2004, Coordinator- Prof. V S Verma Kolkatta (Jadavpur University),10-11, December 2004, Coordinator- Prof. K K Mallik Importnat Dates: The last date for sending the Registration forms for Vadodara and Goa programmes will be 15th October 2004 and for other three programmes the last date is 10th November 2004. Since there is no registration fees for attending the programme the selection of the candidates for attending the programme is based on the first come first served basis. Who can register for the Seminar? The seminar will be useful for the faculty, research scholars, library science professionals working in the universities funded by UGC. Priority will be given to the participants from 100 universities provided this electronic journal access facility. Why you should attend the Seminar? The seminar will provide unique opportunity to know more about the access to scholarly journals and databases which was not available few years ago, and will enable the participants to understand different types of resources subscribed and made available for access. Presentations by different publishers will also enable the participants to know more about the advantages of having electronic access with features like the article alerts, Table of contents alerts etc are provided on to the desktop of the scholars. There are many more interesting presentations by the invited speakers. How one can register? Interested faculty, research scholars and library science professionals working in the universities funded by UGC are requested to fill up the registration form and send the filled in form to the Director INFLIBNET. Please note that the programmes are arranged on different dates at different places. Participants may look for their convenient date and place and put their choice of preference against the places in the registration form. INFLIBNET will try its best to accommodate the participants in their first choice of preference, however once the number of participants exceed for one programme they may be asked to attend the programme at their second / third choice of preference. Send the filled in application form to the Director, INFLIBNET as per the address given in the registration form Contact Details: Dr. T A V Murthy Director, INFLIBNET Centre, UGC, P B No. 4116, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad- 380 009 Tel: 079-26305971, 26304695, 26305702 Fax: 079-26300990/26307816 Email: tav(a)inflibnet.ac.in Queries may also be addressed to Dr. V S Cholin, Scientist-B at the above address. Email : cholin(a)inflibnet.ac.in Visit this site for more details http://web.inflibnet.ac.in/econ/seminar/index.jsp _______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today! http://vote.yahoo.com

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CCF
by Dr. M. P. Tapaswi 27 Sep '04

27 Sep '04

Dear Colleagues, Does anyone knows about a digital document or website that covers CCF (Common Communication Format)? With warm regards, Murari P Tapaswi National Info Centre for Marine Sciences (NICMAS) National Institute of Oceanography Dona Paula 403 004 Goa, India Phone: 91-(0)832-2450275 (Direct); 91-(0)832-2450450 (EPBX) Fax: 91-(0)832-2450602/603 URL: www.nio.org

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Contributions for COMLA Bulletin
by anjali gulati 26 Sep '04

26 Sep '04

Dear Professionals Hello! COMLA (Commonwealth Library Association) Bulletin solicits contributions for its Next Issue COMLA bulletin. Kindly see the note Below. Regards Ms. Anjali Gulati COMLAs Regional Vice President - ASIA COMLA Bulletin Notes for Contributors Contributions to the COMLA Bulletin may take one of the following forms: (a) Original articles (b) News items (c) Book reviews Contributions are published only in English, and are subject to review by the Editor. Minor corrections will be made to grammatical and linguistic errors without changing the meaning of the text. The desired length of articles is 2000 to 5000 words. Each article should be accompanied by an abstract of 75 to 100 words as well as a brief statement concerning the authors professional status and experience. Authors should also provide contact information including a street or postal address and an email address. Authors should remember that acronyms and abbreviations should be spelt out the first time they are used in the text, and that each article must contain sufficient background for each reader to understand it, regardless of their professional training. Illustrative material containing statistical data should be presented as charts or diagrams. Photographs should be submitted in TIF format or as positive prints (hard copy). The article should, if at all possible, be submitted either as an email attachment or on a 3.5-inch floppy diskette, using Microsoft Word. Those who do not have access to a computer or email should ensure that the article is submitted as a typewritten manuscript. It is the responsibility of the author to obtain copyright clearance for any copyrighted material which is included. Articles are published at the discretion of the Editor. All contributions should be sent to: The Editor COMLA Bulletin P O Box 5894, Kampala, Uganda Fax 256-41-348625 or via email to library(a)imul.com cc: batambuze_charles(a)hotmail.com http://clients.rediff.com/signature/track_sig.asp http://ads.rediff.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.cgi/www.rediffmail.com/inbo… Dear Professionals Hello! COMLA (Commonwealth Library Association) Bulletin solicits contributions for its Next Issue COMLA bulletin. Kindly see the note Below. Regards Ms. Anjali Gulati COMLAs Regional Vice President - ASIA COMLA Bulletin Notes for Contributors Contributions to the COMLA Bulletin may take one of the following forms: (a) Original articles (b) News items (c) Book reviews Contributions are published only in English, and are subject to review by the Editor. Minor corrections will be made to grammatical and linguistic errors without changing the meaning of the text. The desired length of articles is 2000 to 5000 words. Each article should be accompanied by an abstract of 75 to 100 words as well as a brief statement concerning the authors professional status and experience. Authors should also provide contact information including a street or postal address and an email address. Authors should remember that acronyms and abbreviations should be spelt out the first time they are used in the text, and that each article must contain sufficient background for each reader to understand it, regardless of their professional training. Illustrative material containing statistical data should be presented as charts or diagrams. Photographs should be submitted in TIF format or as positive prints (hard copy). The article should, if at all possible, be submitted either as an email attachment or on a 3.5-inch floppy diskette, using Microsoft Word. Those who do not have access to a computer or email should ensure that the article is submitted as a typewritten manuscript. It is the responsibility of the author to obtain copyright clearance for any copyrighted material which is included. Articles are published at the discretion of the Editor. All contributions should be sent to: The Editor COMLA Bulletin P O Box 5894, Kampala, Uganda Fax 256-41-348625 or via email to library(a)imul.com cc: batambuze_charles(a)hotmail.com

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"Rich Site Services: Web Feeds for Extended Information and Library Services"
by Gerry Mckiernan 24 Sep '04

24 Sep '04

"Rich Site Services: Web Feeds for Extended Information and Library Services" I am pleased to announce the publication and availability of my latest publication "Rich Site Services: Web Feeds for Extended Information and Library Services," _LLRX.com_, September 20, 2004, available at http://www.llrx.com/features/richsite.htm . "There are several practical ways in which the LIS (Library and Information Science) community can both exploit the content of RSS, and improve their services through the presentation and re-presentation of RSS feeds. These do not amount to a revolution, but rather represent a step on the path to better information services, and one which takes advantage of advances in technology." ]Roddy MacLeod, RSS: Less Hype, More Action, 161 FREEPRINT 7-10 (2004). Also available at [ http://www.freepint.com/issues/170604.pdf?PHPSESSID=18e229b6adc57736563635c… ] CONTENTS RSS News Aggregators and Feed Readers The Little Orange Button(s) Library Web Feeds Extended Services E-Journals and Table of Contents Services Potential Possibilities Notes Enjoy ! /Gerry Gerry McKiernan "Monsieur RSS" [:-) [ http://www.servicedoc.info/breve.php3?id_breve=569 ] Iowa State University Ames IA 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu

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Know more about Electronic Books
by B Sreeharsha 24 Sep '04

24 Sep '04

Hello, Here is an article that throws light on e-books - their advantages over traditional print documents, Copyright and security issues, how to find e-books in the e-directory, and shop them... Also, you will find some sites permitting to read and download e-books related to Business, IT, General interests... Very interesting one. Have a look Regards Harsha ******************************************************************************************* All about e-books If you're something of a bookworm, the chances are that most of the shelf space in your house will be taken up by paperbacks and hardbacks spanning everything from the latest best-selling autobiography to classic works of fiction. Books can take up a lot of space, but the birth of the electronic book, or e-book for short, means that you can rid your life of literary clutter. With e-books you can download texts from the internet, often free of charge, and save several books in digital form to a handheld device or notebook computer to read at your leisure. It beats lugging weighty tomes around to keep yourself entertained on holiday. Now that e-books are becoming increasingly popular, there are more texts (books and magazines) than ever available to download from the internet, and more and more writers and publishers are experimenting with the format. Four years ago, Stephen King set the pace by launching his novel Riding the Bullet as an e-book download for $2 and was swamped by half-a-million people trying to download it in the first week. In this feature we'll outline what you need to read an e-book, how much it will cost you and where you can find the free stuff. The case for e-books The concept behind electronic books is a simple one: it is to convert text, whether it's a book or a magazine article, into digital form so that it can be read on the screen of a PC, notebook or handheld computer. Some mobile phones will allow you to read e-books too, and there are even dedicated devices for displaying and reading e-books, such as the Sony Librie, which to date is only available in Japan. Making books and articles available digitally has several advantages. Perhaps the most obvious plus-point for anyone with a handheld computer is portability. Rather than carrying a book around in your bag, you can download the e-book version to a handheld computer from one of the many e-book websites online. Depending what software you are using to read e-books (and we'll look at this more closely later on), the e-book version of a paperback bestseller can take up less than 1MB of your handheld computer's memory. If you're planning a trip or going on holiday and need some reading material for the plane, saving three or four books to your handheld computer could save you a lot of space in your hand luggage. If you don't own a handheld computer, you can still use a notebook system or a desktop PC to read e-books, although you won't be able to take advantage of the portability aspects we've just looked at. A notebook computer may not be as light and compact as a book (unless you're reading the hardback version of War and Peace), but if you are taking a notebook computer away with you anyway, it allows you to leave printed copies of books at home. Using a desktop PC to read e-books may seem pointless to some but if you struggle to read the small typefaces used to print many books, you will appreciate being able to enlarge text on screen to stop you from having to strain your eyes or having to use a magnifier. E-books are also more interactive than their paper equivalents, often including links to references and further information to explore. Depending on the specific book you're after, it can also be cheaper to pick up the e-book version online. At the time of writing, Amazon was selling Bill Clinton's autobiography in hardback for £15 plus postage, but many e-book websites were selling the electronic download for $22 (around £12). Buying an e-book online rather than a hard copy from an online retailer also means you can get stuck in to reading it immediately. E-book shopping There are now numerous websites from which you can download e-books, some of which offer free titles. One of the most impressive online collections of free e-books is available from Project Gutenberg. It features a huge range of classic books and texts from Samuel Pepys's diaries to Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Shakespeare's Othello. Project Guttenberg produces e-book versions of texts on which the original copyright licence has expired, so there are few, if any, restrictions on sharing the texts you download with friends, provided you do not amend them or use them for commercial purposes. A quick search at eBook Directory will reveal a wide variety of free texts to download and while in some cases you may need to also download a specific software reader for an e-book, these are usually also free. If you are looking for e-books covering reference, religious and health topics, you can pick them up free at Free eBooks.net, while computer-related e-books can be downloaded from IT eBooks. Sci-fi fans will be pleased to hear that the BBC is currently offering a range of e-books based on the Doctor Who TV series, although they are not downloadable. The aforementioned websites provide a wide variety of reading material but there are plenty of other websites that offer free e-books. Try using a search engine such as Google or Yahoo to help you track down other free texts. If it's the latest bestsellers you're after, you'll be hard pushed to find these for free, although many publishers will offer a free sample of a book to download so you can dip into it before you decide whether or not you want to buy it. You can pick up the latest releases in e-book form from websites such as Amazon, Franklin and Handango, often at discounted rates. Also take a look at the selection of recently published books available at eBooks.com. Be aware, though, that there are legal and copyright restrictions pertaining to sharing e-books that prevent you swapping texts with friends in the same way that you might pass round a printed book. Some e-book programs will stop you from opening e-books on different computers or handheld devices if security measures have been installed when the e-book was produced. While there are loads of e-books available online, it's not just books that are available as electronic text. Magazines such as Computeractive, Cosmo Girl, PC Magazine and Sporting News can all be bought, downloaded and read via a website called Zinio. The site sells subscriptions to a number of popular magazines, usually at a discounted price. To read magazines in e-book form that you have downloaded from this site, you'll need the Zinio Reader program, which is free to download and will also allow you to keep track of when the latest editions of your favourite magazines are available. Zinio doesn't offer much free material except for a selection of business magazines. The right reader To read an e-book you'll need to download reader software, which is usually free and takes just a few minutes to install. The software you need will depend on the file format of the e-book you are downloading. To read e-books in PDF format, for example, you'll need a free program called Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available here. Microsoft has its own e-book reader, Microsoft Reader, which free to download. If in doubt over which reader you need, look for e-books with the file extension .lit - you'll need Microsoft Reader to read files with this extension. You'll find plenty of e-books in this format at www.mslit.com, some of which are available for free. Another popular reader is MobiPocket, which can be downloaded free of charge here. You'll find plenty of compatible titles at www.mobipocket.com. As mentioned, some e-book websites use their own reader software, which can be downloaded free of charge - there should be plenty of on screen instructions to help with this. In some cases, e-books can be downloaded as program files that run on their own without an e-book reader. Look for the file extension .exe after the name of the e-book file - after downloading such a file, double-click on it to launch the e-book. Bear in mind, though, that these types of files can also be used to transfer viruses, and you should only download an .exe file to your PC if you're absolutely sure if its origins. Make sure your antivirus software is running and up to date before you do anything. If you want to read e-books while on the move, you can install the same e-book readers on a notebook computer that you would use on a desktop system. The same applies to handheld computers, although you'll first need to check on the operating system (Palm OS or Pocket PC, for example) to find a compatible reader. Some of the latest handheld computers include a preloaded e-book reader but these may only be compatible with certain formats, so you may need to install another reader anyway. Some smaller portable devices such as mobile phones can also be used to read e-books. There are obvious drawbacks here, though, as the smaller screen size limits the amount of text that can be viewed at any one time. Larger-screened handsets that can be used to access the internet wirelessly are probably the most suitable. O2's XDA II, for example, uses Microsoft Reader for displaying e-books, so you can either download electronic books directly, or use a desktop computer and then transfer the files across. One major drawback of the XDA II, however, is its £349 price tag, so unless you have fairly deep pockets you might want to think about sticking with a handheld or notebook computer to read books on the move. DIY authoring Of course, you needn't merely stop at downloading and reading e-books from the internet. If you've written a book yourself there's nothing to stop you from turning it into an e-book and publishing it yourself online, or creating a newsletter in e-book form for a society or to keep family and friends up to date with your adventures. There's a selection of e-book production software available online to help you create your own interactive e-book, complete with a front cover, contents page and illustrations. The e-book authoring program yBook, which you can download here, is just one of the pieces of software available for free that will help you create your own electronic books. You could also try the trial version of Desktop Author from Ebook Publishing Tools, which provides the publishing software, a front cover maker and clip art to help make your own e-books. Alternatively, download MobiPocket Publisher and you'll be well on your way to creating your own e-book. Take it as read E-books are great for keeping you entertained on the move and are a real boon to those who have trouble reading the smaller typefaces used in printed texts. Unlike in the past, there is now a wealth of classic books and poetry available free in downloadable digital form and you can often pick up a recently released bestseller cheaper than you could in the shops. As most of the software you'll need to read an e-book is available free of charge, there is very little to stop you from dipping into this easily accessible literary library or creating your own texts to share with others. Copyright concerns While there are few restrictions on passing on a well-thumbed printed paperback to a similarly minded literature lover in the real world, the restrictions on sharing e-books you have purchased online differ greatly. Often, you simply won't be able to share a paid-for digital text with others, and the e-book software reader needed to view a text may prevent an e-book from being viewed on another computer. Check any terms and conditions on a website before you buy an e-book to see if you can send a copy of the e-book to someone else or transfer it to a handheld device. While free e-books have far fewer restrictions on their distribution, you may still need to visit the website to download each copy. Most free e-books, such as those available from the Project Guttenberg online library, are intended for personal use and cannot be used for commercial purposes. Copying text from an e-book or amending it in any way infringes copyright laws. Similarly, you shouldn't scan or copy published text to create your own e-books. If you are creating your own e-book, many of the programs that will help you do this offer security features to prevent people copying your words and sharing your book, which is especially handy if you are planning to charge to download it. Programs such as Virtual Vault at Ebook Security promise to protect e-books from being illegally shared and the MobiPocket Publisher software includes security features to prevent illegal sharing.******************************************************************************************* Sreeharsha BG Novell Software Development India Pvt. Ltd AM Industrial Area #49/1 & 49/3, 7th Mile, Hosur Road, Garvebhavi paly Road, Bangalore - 560 068 INDIA Phone: 91-80-25731856 E 2000 Visit us @ www.novell.com Hello, Here is an article that throws light on e-books - their advantages over traditional print documents, Copyright and security issues, how to find e-books in the e-directory, and shop them... Also, you will find some sites permitting to read and download e-books related to Business, IT, General interests... Very interesting one. Have a look Regards Harsha ******************************************************************************************* All about e-books If you're something of a bookworm, the chances are that most of the shelf space in your house will be taken up by paperbacks and hardbacks spanning everything from the latest best-selling autobiography to classic works of fiction. Books can take up a lot of space, but the birth of the electronic book, or e-book for short, means that you can rid your life of literary clutter. With e-books you can download texts from the internet, often free of charge, and save several books in digital form to a handheld device or notebook computer to read at your leisure. It beats lugging weighty tomes around to keep yourself entertained on holiday. Now that e-books are becoming increasingly popular, there are more texts (books and magazines) than ever available to download from the internet, and more and more writers and publishers are experimenting with the format. Four years ago, Stephen King set the pace by launching his novel Riding the Bullet as an e-book download for $2 and was swamped by half-a-million people trying to download it in the first week. In this feature we'll outline what you need to read an e-book, how much it will cost you and where you can find the free stuff. The case for e-books The concept behind electronic books is a simple one: it is to convert text, whether it's a book or a magazine article, into digital form so that it can be read on the screen of a PC, notebook or handheld computer. Some mobile phones will allow you to read e-books too, and there are even dedicated devices for displaying and reading e-books, such as the Sony Librie, which to date is only available in Japan. Making books and articles available digitally has several advantages. Perhaps the most obvious plus-point for anyone with a handheld computer is portability. Rather than carrying a book around in your bag, you can download the e-book version to a handheld computer from one of the many e-book websites online. Depending what software you are using to read e-books (and we'll look at this more closely later on), the e-book version of a paperback bestseller can take up less than 1MB of your handheld computer's memory. If you're planning a trip or going on holiday and need some reading material for the plane, saving three or four books to your handheld computer could save you a lot of space in your hand luggage. If you don't own a handheld computer, you can still use a notebook system or a desktop PC to read e-books, although you won't be able to take advantage of the portability aspects we've just looked at. A notebook computer may not be as light and compact as a book (unless you're reading the hardback version of War and Peace ), but if you are taking a notebook computer away with you anyway, it allows you to leave printed copies of books at home. Using a desktop PC to read e-books may seem pointless to some but if you struggle to read the small typefaces used to print many books, you will appreciate being able to enlarge text on screen to stop you from having to strain your eyes or having to use a magnifier. E-books are also more interactive than their paper equivalents, often including links to references and further information to explore. Depending on the specific book you're after, it can also be cheaper to pick up the e-book version online. At the time of writing, Amazon was selling Bill Clinton's autobiography in hardback for £15 plus postage, but many e-book websites were selling the electronic download for $22 (around £12). Buying an e-book online rather than a hard copy from an online retailer also means you can get stuck in to reading it immediately. E-book shopping There are now numerous websites from which you can download e-books, some of which offer free titles. One of the most impressive online collections of free e-books is available from http://www.promo.net/pg Project Gutenberg . It features a huge range of classic books and texts from Samuel Pepys's diaries to Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Shakespeare's Othello . Project Guttenberg produces e-book versions of texts on which the original copyright licence has expired, so there are few, if any, restrictions on sharing the texts you download with friends, provided you do not amend them or use them for commercial purposes. A quick search at http://ebookdirectory.com/ eBook Directory will reveal a wide variety of free texts to download and while in some cases you may need to also download a specific software reader for an e-book, these are usually also free. If you are looking for e-books covering reference, religious and health topics, you can pick them up free at http://www.free-ebooks.net/ Free eBooks.net , while computer-related e-books can be downloaded from http://www.itebooks.net/ IT eBooks . Sci-fi fans will be pleased to hear that the BBC is currently offering a range of e-books based on the http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/ebooks Doctor Who TV series , although they are not downloadable. The aforementioned websites provide a wide variety of reading material but there are plenty of other websites that offer free e-books. Try using a search engine such as http://www.google.co.uk/ Google or http://uk.yahoo.com/ Yahoo to help you track down other free texts. If it's the latest bestsellers you're after, you'll be hard pushed to find these for free, although many publishers will offer a free sample of a book to download so you can dip into it before you decide whether or not you want to buy it. You can pick up the latest releases in e-book form from websites such as http://www.amazon.co.uk/ Amazon , http://www.franklin.com/ Franklin and http://www.handango.com/home.jsp?siteId=1 Handango , often at discounted rates. Also take a look at the selection of recently published books available at http://www.ebooks.com/ eBooks.com . Be aware, though, that there are legal and copyright restrictions pertaining to sharing e-books that prevent you swapping texts with friends in the same way that you might pass round a printed book. Some e-book programs will stop you from opening e-books on different computers or handheld devices if security measures have been installed when the e-book was produced. While there are loads of e-books available online, it's not just books that are available as electronic text. Magazines such as Computer active , Cosmo Girl , PC Magazine and Sporting News can all be bought, downloaded and read via a website called http://www.zinio.com/ Zinio . The site sells subscriptions to a number of popular magazines, usually at a discounted price. To read magazines in e-book form that you have downloaded from this site, you'll need the http://www.zinio.com/main Zinio Reader program, which is free to download and will also allow you to keep track of when the latest editions of your favourite magazines are available. Zinio doesn't offer much free material except for a selection of business magazines. The right reader To read an e-book you'll need to download reader software, which is usually free and takes just a few minutes to install. The software you need will depend on the file format of the e-book you are downloading. To read e-books in PDF format, for example, you'll need a free program called Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available http://www.computeractive.co.uk/downloads/103888 here . Microsoft has its own e-book reader, http://www.microsoft.com/reader Microsoft Reader , which free to download. If in doubt over which reader you need, look for e-books with the file extension .lit - you'll need Microsoft Reader to read files with this extension. You'll find plenty of e-books in this format at http://www.mslit.com/ www.mslit.com , some of which are available for free. Another popular reader is MobiPocket, which can be downloaded free of charge http://www.computeractive.co.uk/downloads/1122683 here . You'll find plenty of compatible titles at http://www.mobipocket.com/en/HomePage/default.asp www.mobipocket.com . As mentioned, some e-book websites use their own reader software, which can be downloaded free of charge - there should be plenty of on screen instructions to help with this. In some cases, e-books can be downloaded as program files that run on their own without an e-book reader. Look for the file extension .exe after the name of the e-book file - after downloading such a file, double-click on it to launch the e-book. Bear in mind, though, that these types of files can also be used to transfer viruses, and you should only download an .exe file to your PC if you're absolutely sure if its origins. Make sure your antivirus software is running and up to date before you do anything. If you want to read e-books while on the move, you can install the same e-book readers on a notebook computer that you would use on a desktop system. The same applies to handheld computers, although you'll first need to check on the operating system (Palm OS or Pocket PC, for example) to find a compatible reader. Some of the latest handheld computers include a preloaded e-book reader but these may only be compatible with certain formats, so you may need to install another reader anyway. Some smaller portable devices such as mobile phones can also be used to read e-books. There are obvious drawbacks here, though, as the smaller screen size limits the amount of text that can be viewed at any one time. Larger-screened handsets that can be used to access the internet wirelessly are probably the most suitable. O2's XDA II, for example, uses Microsoft Reader for displaying e-books, so you can either download electronic books directly, or use a desktop computer and then transfer the files across. One major drawback of the XDA II, however, is its £349 price tag, so unless you have fairly deep pockets you might want to think about sticking with a handheld or notebook computer to read books on the move. DIY authoring Of course, you needn't merely stop at downloading and reading e-books from the internet. If you've written a book yourself there's nothing to stop you from turning it into an e-book and publishing it yourself online, or creating a newsletter in e-book form for a society or to keep family and friends up to date with your adventures. There's a selection of e-book production software available online to help you create your own interactive e-book, complete with a front cover, contents page and illustrations. The e-book authoring program yBook, which you can download http://www.spacejock.com/yBook.html here , is just one of the pieces of software available for free that will help you create your own electronic books. You could also try the trial version of http://www.ebook-publishing-tools.com/ Desktop Author from Ebook Publishing Tools, which provides the publishing software, a front cover maker and clip art to help make your own e-books. Alternatively, download http://www.computeractive.co.uk/downloads/1123408 MobiPocket Publisher and you'll be well on your way to creating your own e-book. Take it as read E-books are great for keeping you entertained on the move and are a real boon to those who have trouble reading the smaller typefaces used in printed texts. Unlike in the past, there is now a wealth of classic books and poetry available free in downloadable digital form and you can often pick up a recently released bestseller cheaper than you could in the shops. As most of the software you'll need to read an e-book is available free of charge, there is very little to stop you from dipping into this easily accessible literary library or creating your own texts to share with others. Copyright concerns While there are few restrictions on passing on a well-thumbed printed paperback to a similarly minded literature lover in the real world, the restrictions on sharing e-books you have purchased online differ greatly. Often, you simply won't be able to share a paid-for digital text with others, and the e-book software reader needed to view a text may prevent an e-book from being viewed on another computer. Check any terms and conditions on a website before you buy an e-book to see if you can send a copy of the e-book to someone else or transfer it to a handheld device. While free e-books have far fewer restrictions on their distribution, you may still need to visit the website to download each copy. Most free e-books, such as those available from the Project Guttenberg online library, are intended for personal use and cannot be used for commercial purposes. Copying text from an e-book or amending it in any way infringes copyright laws. Similarly, you shouldn't scan or copy published text to create your own e-books. If you are creating your own e-book, many of the programs that will help you do this offer security features to prevent people copying your words and sharing your book, which is especially handy if you are planning to charge to download it. Programs such as Virtual Vault at http://www.ebook-security.com/ Ebook Security promise to protect e-books from being illegally shared and the MobiPocket Publisher software includes security features to prevent illegal sharing. ******************************************************************************************* Sreeharsha BG Novell Software Development India Pvt. Ltd AM Industrial Area #49/1 & 49/3, 7th Mile, Hosur Road, Garvebhavi paly Road, Bangalore - 560 068 INDIA Phone: 91-80-25731856 E 2000 Visit us @ http://www.novell.com www.novell.com

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Fwd: Clinics on Consortia
by Prof. N. Laxman Rao. 23 Sep '04

23 Sep '04

devika(a)drtc.isibang.ac.in wrote:From: devika(a)drtc.isibang.ac.in Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 14:39:16 +0530 (IST) Subject: Clinics on Consortia To: Dear Prof.Rao Prof.David Kohl, Senior Fulbright Specialist who is visiting DRTC has kindly offered his consultancy to Indian consortia to help sort out issues. Please circulate this among professional colleagues Regards Devika Madalli ------------ ------------ ANNOUCEMENT ------------ ------------ Documentation Research and Training Centre (DRTC), Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), is pleased to announce that Dr.David Kohl, Emeritus, University of Cincinnati and Senior Fulbright Specialist will be visiting faculty at DRTC. Dr.Kohl is an expert in the area of Library and Information Consortia and has architected the OHIOLINK, which is one of the biggest and successful consortium. He has worked as a consultant to several projects internationally including national projects of Greece and Turkey. Dr.Kohl is presently Senior Fulbright Specialist and has offered consultancy to working, startup and proposed consortia during his stay here in India. We propose to hold a series of clinics to help trash out issues such as planning, design, implementation and negotiations through discussions and exchange of thought. This is an invitation to leaders, members and patrons of consortia to avail this opportunity to strengthen the Indian Consortial Initiatives. Please contact devika(a)drtc.isibang.ac.in for further details. Dr.Devika Madalli, Lecturer Documentation Research and Training Centre, Indian Statistical Institute, 8th Mile, Mysore Road, Bangalore - 560 059 Karnataka, INDIA Phone: 91-80-8483002/3/4 extsn no. 497 Fax : 91-80-8484265 email: devika(a)drtc.isibang.ac.in website:http://drtc.isibang.ac.in/DRTC/dpmcv.html Prof.N.LAXMAN RAO, Dept.of Library & Information Science, Osmania University, HYDERABAD- 500 007 (INDIA) President, Indian Association of Teachers in Library and Information Science (IATLIS). Ph:+91-40-27171565 (res): +91-40- 27682290 (off) 9246547599 (Mobile) e:mail-- naglaxman(a)yahoo.com OR naglaxman(a)indiatimes.com --------------------------------- Too much spam in your inbox? Yahoo! Mail gives you the best spam protection for FREE! Get Yahoo!Mail devika(a)drtc.isibang.ac.in wrote: From: devika(a)drtc.isibang.ac.in Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 14:39:16 +0530 (IST) Subject: Clinics on Consortia To: Dear Prof.Rao Prof.David Kohl, Senior Fulbright Specialist who is visiting DRTC has kindly offered his consultancy to Indian consortia to help sort out issues. Please circulate this among professional colleagues Regards Devika Madalli ------------ ------------ ANNOUCEMENT ------------ ------------ Documentation Research and Training Centre (DRTC), Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), is pleased to announce that Dr.David Kohl, Emeritus, University of Cincinnati and Senior Fulbright Specialist will be visiting faculty at DRTC. Dr.Kohl is an expert in the area of Library and Information Consortia and has architected the OHIOLINK, which is one of the biggest and successful consortium. He has wo! rked as a consultant to several projects internationally including national projects of Greece and Turkey. Dr.Kohl is presently Senior Fulbright Specialist and has offered consultancy to working, startup and proposed consortia during his stay here in India. We propose to hold a series of clinics to help trash out issues such as planning, design, implementation and negotiations through discussions and exchange of thought. This is an invitation to leaders, members and patrons of consortia to avail this opportunity to strengthen the Indian Consortial Initiatives. Please contact devika(a)drtc.isibang.ac.in for further details. Dr.Devika Madalli, Lecturer Documentation Research and Training Centre, Indian Statistical Institute, 8th Mile, Mysore Road, Bangalore - 560 059 Karnataka, INDIA Phone: 91-80-8483002/3/4 extsn no. 497 Fax : 91-80-8484265 email: devika(a)drtc.isibang.ac.in website:http://drtc.isibang.ac.in/DRTC/dpmcv.html Prof.N.LAXMAN RAO, Dept.of Library & Information Science, Osmania University, HYDERABAD- 500 007 (INDIA) President, Indian Association of Teachers in Library and Information Science (IATLIS). Ph:+91-40-27171565 (res): +91-40- 27682290 (off) 9246547599 (Mobile) e:mail-- naglaxman(a)yahoo.com OR naglaxman(a)indiatimes.com Too much spam in your inbox? Yahoo! Mail gives you the best spam protection for FREE! http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/mail/taglines/h/spam/*http://uk.mail.yahoo.com/ Get Yahoo! Mail

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(no subject)
by Daulat Jotwani 23 Sep '04

23 Sep '04

Dear Colleagues The Central Library, IIT Bombay conducts intership programme to provide opportunities to fresh graduates / postgraduates in Library & Information Science to have first-hand experience and exposure of one of the prestigeous S&T Libraries and the modern tools and techniques being used. We select only five candidates for six months each and pay them RS 3500/- per month. Interested persons may send their applications on plain paper to the undersigned so as to reach me by 15th October 2004. -- Daulat Jotwani Librarian Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Powai, Mumbai 400076 Phone 91-22-25768920, 91-22-25720227, 9819808920 -- Daulat Jotwani Librarian Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Powai, Mumbai 400076 Phone 91-22-25768920, 91-22-25720227, 9819808920

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