December 2005 - LIS-Forum - ncsi.iisc.ernet.in

OCLC Report : Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources
by Mailing List Manager 17 Dec '05

17 Dec '05

Date: 16 Dec 2005 07:12:43 -0000 From: Sharad Jadhav <email2sharad(a)rediffmail.com> �--apologies for cross postings-- An informative report from OCLC Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources http://www.oclc.org/reports/2005perceptions.htm Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005) summarizes findings of an international study on information- seeking habits and preferences With extensive input from hundreds of librarians and OCLC staff, the OCLC Market Research team developed a project and commissioned Harris Interactive Inc. to survey a representative sample of information consumers. In June of 2005, we collected over 3,300 responses from information consumers in Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Perceptions report provides the findings and responses from the online survey in an effort to learn more about: Library use Awareness and use of library electronic resources The Internet search engine, the library and the librarian Free vs. for-fee information The "Library" brand The findings indicate that information consumers view libraries as places to borrow print books, but they are unaware of the rich electronic content they can access through libraries. Even though information consumers make limited use of these resources, they continue to trust libraries as reliable sources of information. Inside the Report Introduction Part 1: Libraries and Information Sources--Use, Familiarity and Favorability Part 2: Using the Library--In Person and Online Part 3: The Library Brand Part 4: Respondents' Advice to Libraries Part 5: Libraries--A "Universal" Brand? Conclusion Appendix A: Supporting Data Tables Appendix B: Sample Verbatim Comments About OCLC Regards, Sharad Jadhav, National Insurance Academy, Pune 411045, India sharad7703(a)yahoo.co.in

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BetaNews: Librarians Voice Support for OpenDoc
by sandeep bhavsar 16 Dec '05

16 Dec '05

BetaNews: Librarians Voice Support for OpenDoc Dec 16, 2005, 22 :00 UTC (3 Talkback[s]) (584 reads) (Other stories by Ed Oswald) "Five library associations voiced their support for the use of OpenDocument (ODF) in Massachusetts this week, sending a letter to William Galvin, the Commonwealth's Secretary of State. In it, the groups say the open source format is the best choice, as everyone has access to its specifications. "Secretary Galvin has publicly derided the plan, saying he has 'grave concerns' about switching to OpenDocument from Microsoft Office. He also had been rumored to be pushing the various state agencies to decline to participate..." Regards Sandeep Bhavsar Librarian Dr.V.N.Bedekar Institute of Research and Management Studies Thane(W) 400601. MUMBAI PH : 25364492 25446554 25339868 Mo : 9867437438 email : sandeep.bhavsar(a)gmail.com --------------------------------- To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. BetaNews: Librarians Voice Support for OpenDoc Dec 16, 2005, 22 :00 UTC ( http://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/2005121602226OSPB#talkback_area 3 Talkback[s] ) (584 reads) (Other stories by http://www.linuxtoday.com/search.php3?author=Ed:Oswald Ed Oswald ) "Five library associations voiced their support for the use of OpenDocument (ODF) in Massachusetts this week, sending a letter to William Galvin, the Commonwealth's Secretary of State. In it, the groups say the open source format is the best choice, as everyone has access to its specifications. "Secretary Galvin has publicly derided the plan, saying he has 'grave concerns' about switching to OpenDocument from Microsoft Office. He also had been rumored to be pushing the various state agencies to decline to participate..." Regards Sandeep Bhavsar Librarian Dr.V.N.Bedekar Institute of Research and Management Studies Thane(W) 400601. MUMBAI PH : 25364492 25446554 25339868 Mo : 9867437438 email : mailto:sandeep.bhavsar@gmail.com sandeep.bhavsar(a)gmail.com To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/uk/taglines/default/security_centre/*http://uk.… Yahoo! Security Centre .

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Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica
by sandeep bhavsar 16 Dec '05

16 Dec '05

Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica Daniel Terdiman, December 16, 2005 The journal Nature says the open-access encyclopedia is about as accurate as the old standby. Over the last couple of weeks, Wikipedia, the free, open-access encyclopedia, has taken a great deal of flak in the press for problems related to the credibility of its authors and its general accountability. In particular, Wikipedia has taken hits for its inclusion, for four months, of an anonymously written article linking former journalist John Seigenthaler to the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and John F. Kennedy. At the same time, the blogosphere was buzzing for several days about podcasting pioneer Adam Curry's being accused of anonymously deleting references to others' seminal work on the technology. In response to situations like these and others in its history, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has always maintained that the service and its community are built around a self-policing and self-cleaning nature that is supposed to ensure its articles are accurate. Still, many critics have tried to downplay its role as a source of valid information and have often pointed to the Encyclopedia Britannica as an example of an accurate reference. For its study, Nature chose articles from both sites in a wide range of topics and sent them to what it called "relevant" field experts for peer review. The experts then compared the competing articles--one from each site on a given topic--side by side, but were not told which article came from which site. Nature got back 42 usable reviews from its field of experts. In the end, the journal found just eight serious errors, such as general misunderstandings of vital concepts, in the articles. Of those, four came from each site. They did, however, discover a series of factual errors, omissions or misleading statements. All told, Wikipedia had 162 such problems, while Britannica had 123. That averages out to 2.92 mistakes per article for Britannica and 3.86 for Wikipedia. "An expert-led investigation carried out by Nature--the first to use peer review to compare Wikipedia and Britannica's coverage of science," the journal wrote, "suggests that such high-profile examples (like the Seigenthaler and Curry situations) are the exception rather than the rule." And to Wales, while Britannica came out looking a little bit more accurate than Wikipedia, the Nature study was validation of his service's fundamental structure. "I was very pleased, just to see that (the study) was reasonably favorable," Wales told CNET News.com. "I think it provides, for us, a great counterpoint to the press coverage we've gotten recently, because it puts the focus on the broader quality and not just one article." He also acknowledged that the error rate for each encyclopedia was not insignificant, and added that he thinks such numbers demonstrate that broad review of encyclopedia articles is needed. He also said that the results belie the notion that Britannica is infallible. "I have very great respect for Britannica," Wales said. But "I think there is a general view among a lot of people that it has no errors, like, 'I read it in Britannica, it must be true.' It's good that people see that there are a lot of errors everywhere." To Britannica officials, however, the Nature results showed that Wikipedia still has a way to go. "The (Nature) article is saying that Wikipedia has a third more errors" than Britannica, said Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopedia Britannica. But Cauz and editor in chief Dale Hoiberg also said they were concerned that Nature had not specified the problems that it had found in Britannica. "We've asked them a number of questions about the process they used," Hoiberg said. "They said in (their article) that the inaccuracies included errors, omissions and misleading statements. But there's no indication of how many of each. So we're very eager to look at that and explore it because we take it very seriously." Regards Sandeep Bhavsar Librarian Dr.V.N.Bedekar Institute of Research and Management Studies Thane(W) 400601. MUMBAI PH : 25364492 25446554 25339868 Mo : 9867437438 email : sandeep.bhavsar(a)gmail.com --------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica Daniel Terdiman, December 16, 2005 The journal Nature says the open-access encyclopedia is about as accurate as the old standby. Over the last couple of weeks, Wikipedia, the free, open-access encyclopedia, has taken a great deal of flak in the press for problems related to the credibility of its authors and its general accountability. In particular, Wikipedia has taken hits for its inclusion, for four months, of an anonymously written article linking former journalist John Seigenthaler to the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and John F. Kennedy. At the same time, the blogosphere was buzzing for several days about podcasting pioneer Adam Curry's being accused of anonymously deleting references to others' seminal work on the technology. In response to situations like these and others in its history, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has always maintained that the service and its community are built around a self-policing and self-cleaning nature that is supposed to ensure its articles are accurate. Still, many critics have tried to downplay its role as a source of valid information and have often pointed to the http://www.britannica.com/ Encyclopedia Britannica as an example of an accurate reference. For its study, http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051212/full/438900a.html Nature chose articles from both sites in a wide range of topics and sent them to what it called "relevant" field experts for peer review. The experts then compared the competing articles--one from each site on a given topic--side by side, but were not told which article came from which site. Nature got back 42 usable reviews from its field of experts. In the end, the journal found just eight serious errors, such as general misunderstandings of vital concepts, in the articles. Of those, four came from each site. They did, however, discover a series of factual errors, omissions or misleading statements. All told, Wikipedia had 162 such problems, while Britannica had 123. That averages out to 2.92 mistakes per article for Britannica and 3.86 for Wikipedia. "An expert-led investigation carried out by Nature--the first to use peer review to compare Wikipedia and Britannica's coverage of science," the journal wrote, "suggests that such high-profile examples (like the Seigenthaler and Curry situations) are the exception rather than the rule." And to Wales, while Britannica came out looking a little bit more accurate than Wikipedia, the Nature study was validation of his service's fundamental structure. "I was very pleased, just to see that (the study) was reasonably favorable," Wales told CNET News.com. "I think it provides, for us, a great counterpoint to the press coverage we've gotten recently, because it puts the focus on the broader quality and not just one article." He also acknowledged that the error rate for each encyclopedia was not insignificant, and added that he thinks such numbers demonstrate that broad review of encyclopedia articles is needed. He also said that the results belie the notion that Britannica is infallible. "I have very great respect for Britannica," Wales said. But "I think there is a general view among a lot of people that it has no errors, like, 'I read it in Britannica, it must be true.' It's good that people see that there are a lot of errors everywhere." To Britannica officials, however, the Nature results showed that Wikipedia still has a way to go. "The (Nature) article is saying that Wikipedia has a third more errors" than Britannica, said Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopedia Britannica. But Cauz and editor in chief Dale Hoiberg also said they were concerned that Nature had not specified the problems that it had found in Britannica. "We've asked them a number of questions about the process they used," Hoiberg said. "They said in (their article) that the inaccuracies included errors, omissions and misleading statements. But there's no indication of how many of each. So we're very eager to look at that and explore it because we take it very seriously." Regards Sandeep Bhavsar Librarian Dr.V.N.Bedekar Institute of Research and Management Studies Thane(W) 400601. MUMBAI PH : 25364492 25446554 25339868 Mo : 9867437438 email : mailto:sandeep.bhavsar@gmail.com sandeep.bhavsar(a)gmail.com http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/uk/taglines/default/messenger/*http://uk.messen… Yahoo! Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/uk/taglines/default/messenger/*http://uk.messen… calling worldwide with voicemail

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SITE FOR LIBRARIANS
by Suresh Kumar Tejomurtula 16 Dec '05

16 Dec '05

Dear Student friends, Am a final student in LIS from Andhra University, I would like to let all the students know the information I've found. This a site for the students who are new to Internet http://www.lii.org/ Have a note of it friends, And I hope students from all the corners will share their informative knowledge with the remaining. Regards T.suresh Kumar Dept. Library & Information science Andhra University Visakhapatnam. Dear Student friends, Am a final student in LIS from Andhra University, I would like to let all the students know the information I've found. This a site for the students who are new to Internet http://www.lii.org/ http://www.lii.org/ Have a note of it friends, And I hope students from all the corners will share their informative knowledge with the remaining. Regards T.suresh Kumar Dept. Library & Information science Andhra University Visakhapatnam.

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NET JUNE'05 RESULTS OUT!!!
by rupesh kumar 16 Dec '05

16 Dec '05

Dear All, The results of June 2005 UGC-NET exam is available on the UGC website http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/net.html Congratulations to the successful candidates and good luck to aspirants. Regards, RUPESH KUMAR.A. DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE BANGALORE UNIVERSITY __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com Dear All, The results of June 2005 UGC-NET exam is available on the UGC website http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/net.html Congratulations to the successful candidates and good luck to aspirants. Regards, http://www.bub.ac.in/buLogo.jpg RUPESH KUMAR.A. DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE BANGALORE UNIVERSITY __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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New Stuff
by Thapar, Amit 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

Library, Librarian and Librarianship Quotes http://informatics.buffalo.edu/faculty/ellison/quotes/libquotesac.html There's a lot of material for sig files here; you can also submit your own favorite quotes. Merriam-Webster Open Dictionary http://www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/ "where you can 1) submit and share entries that aren't already in our Online Dictionary, and 2) browse entries submitted by other members of the Merriam-Webster Online community." Among the recent submissions: "blogosphere" (THAT isn't in the dictionary yet?), "craptastic," "geekmeister," "chillax." amit@niper Cell: 9417419457 e-mail: amit_thapar(a)yahoo.com Library, Librarian and Librarianship Quotes http://informatics.buffalo.edu/faculty/ellison/quotes/libquotesac.html http://informatics.buffalo.edu/faculty/ellison/quotes/libquotesac.html There's a lot of material for sig files here; you can also submit your own favorite quotes. Merriam-Webster Open Dictionary http://www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/ http://www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/ "where you can 1) submit and share entries that aren't already in our Online Dictionary, and 2) browse entries submitted by other members of the Merriam-Webster Online community." Among the recent submissions: "blogosphere" (THAT isn't in the dictionary yet?), "craptastic," "geekmeister," "chillax." mailto:amit@niper amit@niper Cell: 9417419457 e-mail: mailto:amit_thapar@yahoo.com amit_thapar(a)yahoo.com

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From libraries to 'libratories'
by Mailing List Manager 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2005 15:57:29 +0530 From: "Thapar, Amit" <amitt(a)niper.ac.in> Source: First Monday Volume 10, Number 12 - December 5th 2005 >From libraries to 'libratories' by Leo Waaijers http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_12/waaijers/ Abstract: While the eighties of the last century were a time of local automation for libraries and the nineties the decade in which libraries embraced the Internet and the Web, now is the age in which the big search engines and institutional repositories are gaining a firm footing. This heralds a new era in both the evolution of scholarly communication and its agencies themselves, i.e. the libraries. Until now libraries and publishers have developed a digital variant of existing processes and products,i.e. catalogues posted on the Web, scanned copies of articles, e-mail notification about acquisitions or expired lending periods, or traditional journals in a digital jacket. However, the new OAI repositories and services based upon them have given rise to entirely new processes and products, libraries transforming themselves into partners in setting up virtual learning environments, building an institution's digital showcase, maintaining academics' personal Web sites, designing refereed portals and - further into the future - taking part in organising virtual research environments or collaboratories. Libraries are set to metamorphose into 'libratories', an imaginary word to express their combined functions of library, repository and collaboratory. In such environments scholarly communication will be liberated from its current copyright bridle while its coverage will be both broader - including primary data, audiovisuals and dynamic models - and deeper, with cross-disciplinary analyses of methodologies and applications of instruments. Universities will make it compulsory to store in their institutional repositories the results of research conducted within their walls for purposes of academic reporting, review committees, and other modes of clarification and explanation. Big search engines will provide access to this profusion of information and organise its mass customization.

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2020 Shape of Academic and Research Libraries
by Mailing List Manager 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:33:59 +0530 From: Sukhdev Singh <esukhdev(a)gmail.com> Year 2020 - Online is In and Paper is Out: Let us assume by the year 2020: -- All content required for teaching, learning and research is available online. -- 24/7 Access is available for free or fee. -- Online content is well indexed and rated. -- Vendors provide single point access to premium content and organized free content. -- Access is available at a cost, which is less then 10 % of the total educational cost of a postgraduate student. What would be shape [should I call future?] of Academic and Research Libraries? Any wild guesses? Let us dare to imagine. Comments Please. --Sukhdev Singh, NIC. http://openmed.nic.in

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Digital Content Management
by visakhi bapaiah pulagam 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

Dear Collegues, We are planning to digitize the contents, subject heading / glossories from books of our library. Can any body kindly help me to write the name of the libraries where this type of project was done. Thanking U Dr. P. Visakhi Librarian, IASRI, New Delhi Dear Collegues, We are planning to digitize the contents, subject heading / glossories from books of our library. Can any body kindly help me to write the name of the libraries where this type of project was done. Thanking U Dr. P. Visakhi Librarian, IASRI, New Delhi http://adworks.rediff.com/cgi-bin/AdWorks/sigclick.cgi/www.rediff.com/signa… http://adworks.rediff.com/cgi-bin/AdWorks/sigimpress.cgi/www.rediff.com/sig…

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Re: [oa-india] Re: Fw: [BOAI] Functioning IRs
by Subbiah Arunachalam 15 Dec '05

15 Dec '05

Thank you Sukhdev for expressing your views openly so everyone will have an opportunity to reflect. 1.India has such a great reputation - as one of the world's best in software, for example - and many of our LIS professionals attend and speak at conferences on digital libraries and other adanced topics. Many Indian LIS professionals have spent several months in good US institutions as Fulbright scholars and a few have spent time in the UK (as exchange visitors). Many LIS departments do teach computer programming and use of technology in libraries as part of their curriculum. One would therefore expect that there should be no "fear of working with Linux," at least in leading research institutions and the better higher educational institutions. Assuming that some LIS professionals are not familiar with Linux, how long would it take to learn? 2. There is no harm in examining different software before one chooses one of them. For example, at NIC Sukhdev and colleagues took time before they decided to go ahead with GNU EPrints. Mr Muthu Madhan at NIT Rourkela took time to examine both DSPace and EPrints before he decided to work with DSPace. Indeed taking time to examine different software before a repository is set up, in my opinion, is a good thing. It gives one hands-on experience and strengthens one's involvement in OA. 3. Yes, the passing away of Raja is a great loss. But his legacy, viz. the IISc GNU EPrints archive, should inspire the rest of the community to set up similar archives in other institutions. Right now we have competent people such as Dr A R D Prasad, Dr D K Sahu and Sukhdev imself. When I wanted OneWorld South Asia to set up an archive for ICT-enabled Development (somewhat similar to penMED for biomedical research), I took the OWSA team to Sukhdev without prior appointment and he was kind enouugh to spare two hours (and he even offered to provide us lunch). My point is we have lost one of our best men, but mercifully we have others who are more than willing to help anyone who wants to set up an archive. 4. I have not heard of any computer science department coming forward to set up an institutional archive. By and large is going to be the LIS personnel who will have to set up and maintain institutional archives. At least in India, that is how it will happen. 5. When we held two workshops at MSSRF more than 18 months ago, virtually everyone of the participants told Leslie Chan that he/she would be able to set up an archive within a few months (ranging from 3-9 months). But only a few have actually set up till now. As the coordinator of the workshop, I wrote to virtually everyone of the participants more than once. I am not even sure how many of them spoke to their managements (Vice chancellor, Director, Registrar, Head of Dept, Dean, etc.). Things may improve only if there is an order from above! If heads of institutions/ funding agencies could mandate making publicly funded research available through open access, then people will start action. The recent versions of both DSpace and EPrints are pretty easy to install. Costs are not a major problem, but cannot be ignored altogether. Advocacy at all levels - at the levels of research students, faculty, heads of institutions, policy makers, donor agencies - should continue. And of course some introspection - just started by Sukhdev, for which he deserves our thanks. Let us hope Dr Alma Swan [who will speak at the Science Congress on 6th January and also visit Bangalore, Bombay and Delhi to meet with people and promote Open Access] will inspire a number of people to start new OA archives. Best wishes. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sukhdev Singh" <esukhdev(a)gmail.com> To: "Discussion Group for Open Access Workshop India" <oa-india(a)dgroups.org> Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 11:10 AM Subject: [oa-india] Re: Fw: [BOAI] Functioning IRs > However, Institutional Archives are not coming up as expected in > India. What are the reasons? > > I suspect the following could be some of the factors: > > - Fear of working with Linux. > - Spending too much time on deciding which IA Repository Software to use. > - Lack of technical leadership of the kind of Late Dr. Rajshekhar > - Confusion on Domain Area, whether computer department should set up > or initiative should be taken by libraries. Some librarians may even > fear loosing the (false?) tag of being the sole custodian of > knowledge > - Mere lip service to the whole issue. Boosting too much and doing too > little. > > Following could serve a solution to some extend. > > - Work to package all components required for installing and running : > Linux, Apache and EPrints. > - Distributing a set of CDs that will format a new machine, install > linux and eprints - all set and running. > - A national level team of practical professionals could be formed > that would implement the above two steps. > - State level teams could be formed that would take the distribution > CDs and implement the same in instituions / universities. It would > also provide training and support service for day to day running of > servers. > > However, the motivation and policy level lobbing is not included the > above solution. Moreover funding has also to be arranged. Someone > else may suggest the same. > > Regards > Sukhdev Singh, NIC. > http://openmed.nic.in > > > On 12/15/05, Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> wrote: >> >> >> >> [Forwarding from the AmSci OA Forum. --Peter Suber] >> >> >> Posted on behalf of Subbiah Arunachalam, Leslie Chan and Barbara Kirsop >> >> Regarding comments to the list on the costs of setting up and maintaining >> an >> Institutional Repository (IR), we agree that figures are being publicised >> about the costs without distinguishing whether these are solely for the >> institute's published research output or for a high-cost Institute-wide >> or >> Campus-wide resource for all purposes. So when issuing cost statements it >> is >> critical to explain precisely what is being set up, otherwise figures are >> meaningless. Because of these confusions, we are concerned that the very >> high figures quoted can deter smaller institutions and developing >> countries >> from setting up open access archives. >> >> To off-set such concerns, we know that over 70 repositories for research >> publications have already been set up in the developing world and we have >> evidence of the low costs associated with these. >> >> Only yesterday a colleague from India responded to a question we asked, >> saying '....organisations can do with a server just costing about 40 K >> (rupees) and use a broad band connectivity. This connectivity has become >> very cheap recently due the launch of Broadband Services by >> BSNL/MTNL/Private Cos. Running the server is also not a problem for us. >> We >> are already paid for other work. It just takes fraction of our time to >> maintain the server and handle the approval of uploaded articles. In the >> same manner, Indian Universities / Research Institutes already have >> infrastructure in form of libraries and librarians....' And we have had >> other similar reports from developing country organisations. >> >> Cost should not be used as an argument to dissuade organisations from >> setting up an eprints server. As Arthur says, costs are trivial compared >> with the overall institutional budgets and can generally be absorbed. If >> further examples of costs are to be reported, the purpose of the >> repository >> and the overall research budget of the institution should be stated at >> the >> same time. >> >> Leslie Chan, Subbiah Arunachalam, Barbara Kirsop >> Electronic Publishing Trust for Development >> >> >> Dgroups is a joint initiative of Bellanet, DFID, Hivos, ICA, IICD, >> OneWorld, UNAIDS and World Bank >> --- You are currently subscribed to oa-india as: esukhdev(a)gmail.com >> To unsubscribe send a blank email to >> %%email.unsub%% > > Dgroups is a joint initiative of Bellanet, DFID, Hivos, ICA, IICD, > OneWorld, UNAIDS and World Bank > --- You are currently subscribed to oa-india as: arun(a)mssrf.res.in > To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-oa-india-137598Y(a)dgroups.org

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