The first ‘unglued’ (crowd-funded rights to make a book free to the world in e-format) is available for download under a Creative Commons licence. Oral Literature in Africa by Ruth H. Finnegan.
Read Jan Holmquist’s article at Tame the Web to learn more about Unglue It.
From Sam Laird at Mashable Tech…
“when it comes to encouraging people to embrace the written word, e-readers trump their physical counterparts.” – Are Books Doomed? The Rise of E-Reading [INFOGRAPHIC]
But from Dan Turner at UX Magazine…
“Reading on an iPad, or a tablet, just isn’t the same as reading a book. And for me, it’s not better. Even though I was, of course, excited about the prospect of an infinitely accessible library in a carry-on form, the fact is that when I try to read on the iPad, I’m doing so reluctantly, and I get through far fewer pages in a sitting than I’m used to.” – A Tablet Still is Not a Book … Not Yet.
And on Gruen Planet – The Pitch segment features ads promoting paper books.
What’s your take? I’m really only reading ebooks at present. It’s the size factor for me. A book is just too big to be bothered carrying around, especially when I’m carrying an ipad anywhere (for it’s other features). And my kobo vox is working out well for reading in bed as I don’t have to turn on the light to read it, it’s smaller than many hardbacks or longer paperbacks, and the night-time reading option means that it’s not generating much light to bother my partner.
The LIANZA annual conference is on right now in Palmerston, New Zealand. Finishes the 26th of September.
Follow the hashtag #LIANZA2012, or for those without a twitter account you can follow the Coveritlive session set up by Hana Whaanga.
“Ipukarea – Celebrate, Sustain, Transform is the theme of the 2012 LIANZA conference. Ipukarea refers to the ancestral homeland, a significant land or water feature which relates to identity and source of livelihood. It is a place that represents our history, a place to which we have an emotional attachment, and a place where we go to be rejuvenated.” – Welcome, Linda Palmer, Convenor
An online petition has been created asking the Queensland Premier, Campbell Newman and the Ministers to reinstate funding for the Queensland Government Departmental Libraries.
It looks like the target of 600 signatures is going to be surpassed.
Image by League of Women Voters of California used under a Creative Commons Licence.
It’s topical in the tropical state, but I don’t have enough time to really pull this together as well as I’d like.
From today’s (11 September 2012) p. 5 Courier Mail. Black day for coal jobs: positions slashed as industry reels from price falls and slowing China. This article is accompanied by a table outlining what is so far known about the Queensland 2012 budget. In the table listed under Savings: “State government departmental libraries”
So far I have not found any other news articles on the government library cuts. I look forward to more detail being generally available.
One document I plan to take a closer look at is the Queensland Government Agency Libraries Review. This is a MS Word document that does not appear to have a date within it!! But on the website (Department of the Premier and Cabinet) where I accessed it, it says Last updated 23 April 2012 and Last reviewed: 27 October 2011. Based on content it appears that this review was undertaken in 2010. On the website it states…
“The review identified potential options for future service delivery. The key projects to be implemented include the development of a single library and research portal for all government officers; increasing the visibility and accessibility of information and knowledge resources to those officers regardless of their agency affiliation and introducing more cost effective purchasing and licensing arrangements.”
So clearly some actions towards cost saving and efficiencies were already in the pipeline.
ALIA has launched a campaign called Dumb Idea. The key message of this campaign against the library cuts is,
“Cutting expenditure on government libraries is a dumb idea. We hope the Queensland government will see sense, call a halt to the cuts and renew its investment in these essential library and information services.”…
based on these two main reasons:”
A press release is also on the ALIA website. (10 September 2012)
ALIA’s open letter to the Queensland Premier, Campbell Newman. (4th September)
“If you believe in giving government scientists, researchers, politicians and bureaucrats access to vital information that enables them to do their jobs well; if you want them to make informed, well-balanced decisions; if, ultimately, you want Queensland to be well governed, we urge you to retain well-resourced government libraries run by qualified professionals.”
On LinkedIn there is a conversation to generate ideas to educate the Queensland government and the public on why special/government libraries exist and why closing them is a bad idea. If any government department librarians would like to write a post that explains why, we can host it here on Libraries Interact – Let us know. A missal from the trenches or a day-in-the-life post would be good.
Australian Library and Information Association: Official This is a private group so you will have to join to participate in the discussion.
And, on a tangent…..
The radio interview title is not directly about government departmental libraries, the connection between ‘dumbing down’ and poor library funding strikes a chord though.
Library funding cuts and poor Qld literacy figures from Mornings with Steve Austin, an interview with Sue McKerracher, the Executive Director of the Australian Library and Information Association. 07 September 2012.
If you find other news articles or related resources please add a comment with links/details.
PS – for those interested, that newspaper page is embedded using PressDisplay’s feature to blog this page.
The Library 2.012 virtual conference is less than a month away. There are not many opportunities to attend international conferences that are quite as ‘international’ as this one will be. Presentations in multiple languages and there are keynoters from Brazil, US, Mexico, Romania, China, Singapore and Australia (Kathryn Greenhill), and although the schedule is not yet available you can see a list of accepted presentations.
If you have a late idea for a presentation you still have 5 days to submit a proposal.
Strands include:
The main hashtag for the conference is LIB2012
Put a reminder in your calendar now.
Wikipedia is one of my frequently used resources. It is great for that quick update when I need to understand a new concept. It was used in the creation of this series of trading cards. That’s where I got the Dewey class lists from. I couldn’t go past a quote from Jimmy Wales, the co-founder and promoter of Wikipedia.
My original concept was to provide a free encyclopedia for every single person in the world. — Jimmy Wales
Original image by perpertualplum used under a creative commons licence.
What’s the best, worst, funniest use of this literary technique that you have read? It may not have been considered such a clumsy method back in ancient times when the pantheon was as familiar to the audience as mobile phones are to us.
Original image by Amanda M. Hatfield used under a creative commons licence.
Found the perfect image in the multi-tasking student for this number.
Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life — Mortimer Adler
Original image by colemama used under a Creative Commons licence.
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