april09a.indd David Free N e w s f r o m t h e F i e l d New Choice building fi nalized On February 20, Choice took possession of the new Liberty Square offi ce condominium unit in downtown Middletown, Connecticut. The new three-story building has retail space on the ground fl oor, office rental space on the second fl oor, and Choice occupying the entire 7,635-square-foot third fl oor. Designed in accordance with “green building” princi­ ples, Liberty Square features a prefabricated exterior wall system that provides excellent insulation, a high-efficien­ cy heating and cooling sys­ tem, insulat­ ing windows, and a recycled steel building frame. The Choice office unit is equipped with e n e rg y e f f i ­ cient lighting and switches, low volatility paint, green window treatments and fur­ niture, and makes use of natural lighting whenever possible. Choice staff moved into the new building on March 23. Visit the ACRL Flickr site (www.fl ickr.com/photos /acrl/) to see updated pictures of the new building and Choice offi ce space. Choice’s new address is 575 Main Street, Suite 300, Middletown, CT 06457. University of Cincinnati showcases North American Indian art A new digital collection is now freely avail­ able to the public at the University of Cin­ cinnati (UC) Libraries Digital Projects Web site. C. Szwedzicki: The North American In­ dian Works is a collection of 364 images and texts showcasing North American Indian art. Between 1929 and 1952, C. Szwedzicki, a publisher in Nice, France, produced six portfolios of artwork created by 20th-centu­ ry American Indian artists. The publications were edited by American scholars Oscar Choice’s new office building in Middletown, Connecticut. Brousse Jacobson, Hartley Burr Alexander, and Kenneth Milton Chapman. Many of the images were published as pochoir prints, which are similar in appearance to silk screen prints. Important documentation of the Battle of the Little Big Horn is provided in the reproduction of the now-lost ledger art of Amos Bad Heart Bull. Visitors to the site can view thumbnails and large versions of the images, rotate, zoom in and out, magnify particular areas, and print the im­ ages. Search­ able PDF ver­ sions of the t e x t o f t h e six portfolios are available, along with an introductory essay by Janet Catherine Ber­ lo, professor of Art History a n d V i s u a l and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester. The essay includes links to images within the collection and can be used as a navigational tool. The contents of this collection are drawn primarily from materials in the UC Archives and Rare Books Library, but items are also included from the Public Library of Cincin­ nati and Hamilton County and the Yale Col­ lection of Western Americana. Alice Cornell, associate senior librarian emerita, served as curator and editor of the collection. The collection is available on the UC Web site at digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/szwedzicki /index.asp. To view other digital collections, visit digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/. Indiana offers open source digital music library software Indiana University (IU) recently announced the release of open source software to create a digital music library system. The software, called Variations, provides online access to streaming audio and scanned score images C&RL News April 2009 206 http:digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu in support of teaching, learning, and research. Variations enables institu­ tions, such as college and university libraries and music schools, to digitize audio and score materials from their own collections, provide those mate­ rials to their students and faculty in an interactive online environment, and respect intellectual property rights. A key feature of the system for faculty and students is the ability to create bookmarks and playlists for use in studying or in preparing classroom presentations, allowing easy access later on to specific audio time points or segments. A key feature for libraries is a flexible access control and authen­ tication system, which allows libraries to set up access rules based on their own local institutional policies. Variations is the culmination of nearly 15 years of development and use of digital music library systems at IU. Creation of the current Variations software platform was originally funded by the National Sci­ ence Foundation. In 2005, the Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded IU a National Leadership Grant to extend this highly successful system to the nationwide library community. Beyond IU, the software is currently being used at the Ohio State Uni­ versity, University of Maryland, New England Conservatory of Music, and the Philadelphia area Tri-College Consortium (Haverford, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr). The IU Digital Library Program created Variations in collaboration with faculty and students in IU’s Jacobs School of Music. The IU Digital Library Program is a collaborative effort of the IU Libraries and the IU Offi ce of the Vice President for Information Tech­ nology. For additional information and to download Variations, visit variations.source­ forge.net/. ProQuest supports Shibboleth In February 2009, ProQuest announced that all products hosted on the ProQuest plat­ form are now Shibboleth compliant. The Shibboleth System is a standards-based, open source software package for Web single sign-on allowing library sites to make informed authorization decisions for indi­ vidual access of protected online resources. I can’t live without . . . BoingBoing.net has always pushed the boundaries of nerdiness to include everything from baking to bigfoot. BoingBoing is of particular interest to librarians because of their unmitigated passion for anything and everything that is open access. This includes software, music, books, scholarly communication, and just about any form of in­ formation out there. While I often go to this site for interesting videos of Chinese bluegrass and elephants painting, I can also find the latest news on copyright, publishing, and new technologies that help or hinder access to information. —Bill McMillin, Illinois State University . . . BoingBoing www.boingboing.net ProQuest’s Shibboleth release provides sup­ port for the following federations: the Unit­ ed States (InCommon), Canada (The Cana­ dian Access Federation), United Kingdom (The UK Access Management Federation for Education and Research), and Germany (DFN-AAI). Other federations will be sup­ ported at a later date. Shibboleth overcomes the complex­ ity of managing passwords, as well as the challenges associated with authentication technologies (such as IP authentication and Athens), enabling single sign-on and feder­ ated administration of access to restricted resources. The user’s site and the target site ex­ change information based on attributes (for example, a student in a particular course or a particular faculty member). This approach allows for more active privacy management than relying solely on the unique identity of the user, significantly reducing the workload for information professionals in managing user identities, and providing a more uniform experience for the user. Johns Hopkins to pilot heritage conversion program The Johns Hopkins (JHU) Sheridan Librar­ ies have been awarded $792,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to launch a pilot program for post-doctoral fellows in heritage conservation science. Two heritage April 2009 207 C&RL News http:www.boingboing.net http:BoingBoing.net http:forge.net conservation fellows will be selected each year in an international competition to ad­ dress a vetted scientific research agenda dur­ ing the two-and-a-half-year initiative, based in the libraries’ conservation and preserva­ tion department. The program will provide opportuni­ ties for the research fellows to collaborate with faculty and students in the JHU Whit­ ing School of Engineering’s department of materials science, the JHU Museums, and area institutions such as historical societies. Their investigations will emphasize research relevant to materials in libraries, archives, and other cultural heritage organizations. “The Sheridan Libraries’ conservation program was the first in the country to of­ fer apprenticeships and internships to train conservators at the bench,” said Winston Tabb, Sheridan dean of university libraries and Museums. “It is particularly fitting that at a research intensive university like Hopkins we will now have the opportunity to col­ laborate with our colleagues at the Whiting School—not only to generate a new body of research, but also to invigorate and sustain the profession.” The creation of the post-doctoral fellows program was one of the recommendations of a group of 23 internationally recognized conservators and applied research scientists, convened in April 2008, to develop a detailed set of specific proposals to address the re­ search/development activities needed to con­ serve the nation’s book and paper materials. An integral part of the conservation fel­ lows’ research agenda will be engaging industry partners. “Conservators are dependent upon the products industry provides to conduct conser­ vation treatment,” said Sophia Jordan-Mow­ ery, the Joseph Ruzicka and Marie Ruzicka Feldmann director of library conservation and preservation, and principal investiga­ tor for the project. “Yet industrial products, their formulations, and their applications are judged by how well they serve the conserva­ tor’s needs. Engaging industry in the entire chain of production and application will serve both the market and the cultural heritage organizations.” An advisory board chaired by Jordan- Mowery and comprising experts from aca­ demic, conservation, scientific, and industry sectors, will set the strategic agenda for re­ search and solicit calls for proposals from the scientific community. Board members include William Minter (principal of Bookbinding and Conservation, Inc.), Jonah Erlebacher (associ­ ate professor in materials science engineering at JHU), Nels Olson (analytical chemist and former chief of the Preservation Research and Testing Division at the Library of Congress), and David Grattan (manager of conservation research services at the Canadian Conserva­ tion Institute). The board will review fellowship appli­ cations and recommend awards beginning this spring for project initiation in the fall of 2009. Nature offers SUSHI and COUNTER Release 3 reports Nature Publishing Group (NPG) and Pal- grave Macmillan Journals (PMJ) are now providing upgraded usage statistic report­ ing for all online publications. NPG and PMJ statistic reports now include the additional reports and services required by the new COUNTER Release 3, including SUSHI (Stan­ dardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initia­ tive). The enhanced statistics reporting is provided by MPS Insight, a new service for publishers from Macmillan sister company MPS Technologies. The move to MPS Insight provides site license customers with an improved service, including more timely reports and consoli­ dated consortia statistics. Reports are now also available in XML (eXtensible Markup Language), in addition to the familiar CSV (Comma separated value) formats that can be opened in Microsoft Excel. XML reports can be automatically har­ vested into local systems using SUSHI, with time-saving benefits for librarians and library consortium administrators. Reports meet the criteria set by COUNTER Release 3, which publishers must comply with by August 2009 in order to retain their COUNTER-compliant status. NPG and PMJ customers can now access usage statistic reports for the period January 2006 to January 2009. Older reports have been archived. For full details of Project COUNTER and of Release 3, please visit www.projectcounter. org. C&RL News April 2009 208 www.projectcounter Colorado and Oregon State join Shelf2Life The University of Colorado-Boulder (UCB) Libraries and the Oregon State University (OSU) Library are participating in BCR’s Shelf2Life program. UCB, the fi rst participant in the program, is bringing its collection of pre-1923 U.S.-published monographs back into the public domain, along with other unique collections that have had limited or no access due to age, condition, or scarcity. UCB’s initial Shelf2Life collection is focusing on western history, followed by collections on railroads and mining. OSU is providing its collections of pre-1923 U.S.-published monographs in the fields of genealogy and family history to the public through a print­ on-demand program available through hun­ dreds of online book retailers. Books from both collections will be available as print­ on-demand through hundreds of online re­ tailers. BCR’s Shelf2Life program was created to help libraries and cultural heritage orga­ nizations share their collections with new audiences. By making it easy for libraries to digitize and widen access to their collec­ tions, the program helps libraries increase the visibility, use, and recognition of their collections. Visit www.bcr.org for complete details on the program. LibLime launches new support portal LibLime, a provider of open solutions for libraries, has announced the launch of a customer-centered Web portal to their Sup­ port Center software. Support Center boasts request (support ticket) management, ac­ count and contact management, contracts management, and knowledge base tools via an easy-to-use customer self-service portal interface. “The addition of the new customer Web portal will improve accessibility for custom­ ers by giving customers an easy interface for reviewing their support requests—by indi­ vidual or by library. Customers can track the ongoing status of their requests,” says Debra Denault, senior vice president of operations at LibLime. “In addition to improving commu­ nication with LibLime support staff, the new Support Center gives customers increased access to product information (such as new feature announcements) and FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).” Information about Lib- Lime is available on the Web at liblime.com. RBMS seeks comment on access statement The latest version of the ALA/SAA Joint Statement on Access to Research Materials in Archives and Special Collections is now available under the News and Events sec­ tion of the RBMS home page at www.rbms. info. The statement was originally approved in 1979, and revised in 1994. For more than two decades it has been the guiding docu­ ment of principles relating to collection ac­ cess in both libraries and archives. Send comments on the document to RBMS Task Force Cochair Tim Murray (tdm@udel.edu) by April 20, 2009. Marquette University digitizes Van Vechten Postcards from Manhattan: The Portrait Pho­ tography of Carl Van Vechten is the most recent digital initiative from the Marquette University archives. The online collection currently features more than 700 images of prominent African Americans made by au­ thor, critic, and amateur photographer Carl Van Vechten (1880–1964). Van Vechten pho­ tographed hundreds of artists, musicians, authors, and cultural leaders, including many leading figures of the Harlem Renais­ sance. The collection preserves more than 4,000 Van Vechten images and archivists plan eventually to complete digitization of the full collection. The February release of the Van Vechten collection coincided with the centennial of the NAACP’s founding. Postcards from Manhattan and Marquette’s other digital collections are accessible at www.marquette.edu/library/MUDC/. Correction The article “Audiobooks on iPods” in the March 2009 issue incorrectly attributed copyright to author Nancy Allmang. The copyright statement for the article should read, “This article is authored by an em­ ployee of the United States Government and is in the public domain.”The editors apologize for any inconvenience. April 2009 209 C&RL News www.marquette.edu/library/MUDC mailto:tdm@udel.edu www.rbms http:liblime.com http:www.bcr.org