Recently, it was announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be ending their Global Libraries initiative in the next few years. Global Libraries works to expand access to digital tools around the world. Since 2000, they have reached more than 13,000 public libraries in nearly 20 countries. Janes LaRue, from American Libraries, writes on his blog: “The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation seems to be getting out of the world of libraries, which is a shame.”
One result of their investments has been the research conducted by the Pew Research Center regarding public library engagement in the United States. The slideshow below presents a wonderful argument for libraries, and LaRue even suggests it “would make a terrific presentation to the library board, staff, or community group.”
Recently, Simmons College SLIS wrote a blog post around the idea of libraries as platforms. Platforms, defined by David Weinberger in his Library Journal article, are “about developing knowledge and community, and would:
Be open to all
Give access to every scrap of information it has, including its digital content, but also metadata about that content, its usage, and the social interactions around it
Enable new products and services to be built by anyone with an idea
Integrate everything the library knows into the entire Net ecosystem”
Weinberger continues by pointing out that in order for libraries to become platforms, they “should provide access to everything it can, including some treasures traditionally they have yet to make available,” and “enable social knowledge networks to emerge and flourish.”
One library that has taken “Library as a Platform” to heart is the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). Through an application programming interface (API), developers are able to create engaging apps or tools for discovery that utilize the DPLA data. On their developer website, the DPLA has examples and sample code that can help facilitate the process.
How are you creating a Library Platform at your library?
This summer’s announcement of Amazon Unlimited caused quite the buzz in libraries and bookstores across the country. The service allows Kindle owners to sign up, for a $9.99 a month charge, to have instant access to more than 600,000 eBooks and audio books.
After the news, people came out on both sides of the fence concerning its possible future. Forbes’ contributing author Tim Worstall wrote an interesting piece wondering if we should Close the Libraries and buy everyone an Amazon Kindle Unlimited Subscription. Needless to say, this raised a lot of objection from libraries and librarians. Barbara Fister, an academic librarian at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, wrote a wonderfully worded counter-point saying among other things, that compared to Amazon Unlimited, “A library card has a lot more going for it.”
Maybe this the best argument against Amazon Unlimited? We know that libraries offer more than just eBooks or audiobooks, but telling the world this fact is also our responsibility. Perhaps Bloomberg’s steps sum up best how easy eBooks can be:
Step 1: Get thee a library card. Step 2: Log on. Step 3: Check out.
Get ready for the month of October. Along with pumpkins and falling leaves, its also Connected Educator Month (CEM). CEM was originally developed by the U.S. Department of Education and its partners as part of the Connected Educators initiative. CEM offers highly distributed, diverse, and engaging activities to educators at all levels.Based on its success in 2012 and 2013, the initiative is poised to reach even more educators in 2014, through expanded partnerships and enhanced programming.
On the CEM 2014 website, they have a multitude of tools including a CEM starter kit, an online edConnectr to connect educators with similar colleagues and online communities, blogs, book clubs, and a calendar of events. The calendar of events seems most helpful with webinars, events, collaborative projects, and many more!
How do you cite content you’re using from the web? Can you even use it in your work or on your website? If you need to modify it, can you? In today’s muddled online world, Creative Commons (CC) wants to be the answer to all your digital copyright questions.
So what is Creative Commons? In their own words, “Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.” Their copyright licenses are easy to use and complement existing copyright to “provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work.”
Sites like flickr, Wikipedia, and many others are using Creative Commons to let users know what they can and cannot use and how they can use it.
Here are some more excellent places to learn more about Creative Commons:
The Harvard Law School Library’s short libguide about Creative Commons.
Nancy Sims, the Copyright Program Librarian at the University of Minnesota Libraries, talking about CC.
This year CMLE is using Creative Common’s attribution standards with most images we use in our posts. If you need to know more about the individual licenses you can go to Creative Commons’ About The Licenses page.
Partnering with libraries for visioning, advocating, and educating
Recently, it was announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be ending their Global Libraries initiative in the next few years. Global Libraries works to expand access to digital tools around the world. Since 2000, they have reached more than 13,000 public libraries in nearly 20 countries. Janes LaRue, from American Libraries, writes on his blog: “The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation seems to be getting out of the world of libraries, which is a shame.”
Recently, Simmons College SLIS 
How do you cite content you’re using from the web? Can you even use it in your work or on your website? If you need to modify it, can you? In today’s muddled online world, Creative Commons (CC) wants to be the answer to all your digital copyright questions.