Ever since the Library of Congress announced an effort to lead us beyond MARC a year ago last May, many of us have been wondering just what the effort would produce. With the recent release of a report titled “Bibliographic Framework as a Web of Data: Linked Data Model and Supporting Services”, we have a much clearer, albeit not fully […]
Next Gen OCR Project Reaches Back into Early English History (and Databases)
By on November 26, 2012
The eMOP project led by Texas A&M will use page images from ProQuest’s Early English Books Online and Early European Books, Gale Cengage’s Eighteenth Century Collections Online, and other sources to create a database of early typefaces used in English books and documents, and then train optical character recognition (OCR) software to read these documents.
Ex Libris Group Acquired by Golden Gate Capital
By on November 16, 2012
Golden Gate Capital, a $12 billion San Francisco-based private equity firm with a significant software and technology portfolio, has entered into an agreement to acquire library automation solutions provider Ex Libris Group from current owner Leeds Equity Partners, the companies announced this morning. The deal is expected to be completed in December. Under new ownership, Ex Libris will remain an independent business based in Jerusalem and run by the current management team, the company explained in the announcement. Additional terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Groups Digitize Local History with Help of Scottsdale Public Library
By on November 9, 2012
The Scottsdale Public Library (SPL) recently went live with the Papago Salado Story Tour Collection, a digitized project that features historic photos of several of their city’s most notable buildings, accompanied by audio files of locals telling stories about those buildings. The collection got its start last year, when Arizona’s Papago Salado Association received a grant from the Arizona Humanities Council to record memories of historical buildings.
Orbis Cascade Alliance Signs Agreement With Ex Libris
By on October 9, 2012
All 37 member libraries of the Orbis Cascade Alliance will replace their current ILS and discovery systems with the Ex Libris Alma unified resource management system and Primo discovery solution, the Alliance announced today. Following an extensive request for proposal process, the Orbis council of library directors decided to enter into a contract with library automation provider Ex Libris in July.
OCLC recommends Open Data Commons Attribution License
By on August 6, 2012
OCLC is recommending that member institutions that would like to release their catalog data on the Web do so with the Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-BY). The license allows users to share, copy, distribute, modify, transform and build upon a database, provided that users “attribute any public use of the database, or works produced from the database, in the manner specified in the license,” according to ODC’s simple language summary. OCLC has requested that participants making use of WorldCat-derived data conform to the norms defined in the WorldCat Rights and Responsibilities. The ODC-BY license will also be used by OCLC, as it releases additional sets of WorldCat data, including future linked data projects.
Seattle Public Library Partners With KEXP Radio
By on July 18, 2012
The Seattle Public Library (SPL) has partnered with the University of Washington’s acclaimed KEXP radio (90.3 FM) to offer access to KEXP’s collection of approximately 3,200 live, in-studio performances recorded at the station. The recordings—including performances from up-and coming local groups, as well as nationally popular acts such as Arcade Fire, Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, Norah Jones, and the Black Keys—can now be discovered and streamed via SPL’s online public access catalog.
Boston College Goes Live With Ex Libris Alma
By on July 12, 2012
Boston College University Libraries (BCL) has replaced multiple systems previously used for managing print, electronic, and digital collections with a single consolidated solution provided by Ex Libris’ next-generation Alma library management service, the company announced on July 11. BCL is the first of more than 70 institutions that will be using the new cloud-based […]
