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April/May 2002 LibraryNet Monthly TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. ONTARIO DIGITAL LIBRARY MOVES FORWARDWith the public release of the Catalyst Group's Proposal "To Create the Ontario Digital Library" last month, the Ontario Digital Library (ODL) has moved one step closer to reality. The ODL is not a new physical entity or organization; it is a vision of how all publicly-assisted libraries (public, academic, and government) in Ontario can collaborate in a partnership that will provide seamless services and resources to all the citizens of Ontario. The ODL envisions a digital network of high quality information resources and services, including province-wide licensing of electronic resources for all types of libraries. In February, the Catalyst Group Proposal was presented to various departments of the provincial government, largely at the Deputy Minister level. It was also presented at the pre-budget consultation in March. While the delays occasioned by the change of Premier have put most decisions on hold, early government responses have been favourable. The proposal calls for a business plan to be developed over the next year and an implementation period during which government support will eventually be balanced with library investment. A multi-type library organization and not-for-profit board will administer the ODL. The proposal is based on ideas and directions formulated at library community discussions and other fora sponsored by the Ontario Library Association (OLA) over the past two years. Michael Ridley, then President of OLA, chaired the Catalyst Group and championed the ODL in presentations to the provincial government. In November 2001, OLA's Leadership Forum brought together over 80 participants from all library sectors to discuss the creation of this entity. The energy and momentum to embark on the project among participants was so strong that the Catalyst Group was identified and set in motion immediately. This group of cross-community people worked through January and part of February 2002 to prepare the Proposal for moving the ODL forward. For the full
text of the report (in PDF format): For more
information: 2. TWO INSTITUTIONS MERGE TO BECOME A NEW BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE DU QUEBECOn March 4, legislation merging the Bibliothèque nationale and the Grande Bibliothèque du Québec went into force. The new Bibliothèque nationale du Québec (BNQ) has a two-fold mission: to acquire and conserve Quebec's documentary heritage, and to pursue the construction of a Grande Bibliothèque, an institution providing access to the national collection. The GBQ will house the collection of the Bibliotheque nationale du Québec and that of the Bibliothèque centrale of Montreal; to this will be added a new lending collection to be acquired some time before the opening of the new library. With a staff of slightly over 200 working in four buildings, and headquarters located in Montreal, the BNQ will have an annual budget of approximately $16 million to carry out its activities. It will also have a new Board of Directors and an expanded management team. The new BNQ's new website combines the two previous sites, with easier access and navigability. The rich collections of the Bibliothèque nationale, with image banks of over 30,000 digital documents, are accessible via the library's on-line Iris catalogue. The new website also makes available information and plans for the construction of the Grande Bibliothèque, including a live webcam of the construction site. Visitors can also take a virtual tour of the current library as a book going through the processing steps. For more
information: 3. 191 MORE SASKATCHEWAN COMMUNITIES TO RECEIVE HIGH SPEED INTERNETOn March 15, SaskTel announced that it will expand its high speed Internet service to 191 more Saskatchewan communities over the next two years. "This expansion is a direct result of the Government of Saskatchewan's CommunityNet program and financial support for CommunityNet from the Government of Canada," said Crown Investments Corporation Minister Maynard Sonntag. Since 1995, SaskTel has offered high speed Internet service in 46 Saskatchewan communities. When the latest expansion is complete, about 71% of Saskatchewan's population will have access to high speed Internet service. The province's CommunityNet high speed internet initiative will connect more than 1,500 educational institutions, health care facilities and government offices in 366 Saskatchewan locations. The technical synergies provided by CommunityNet have made it possible for SaskTel to expand its commercial high speed Internet service far more quickly than was originally intended. For more
information: 4. NEW HISTORY WEBSITE FOR ELEMENTARY LEVELSOn April 15, the Windsor Public Library (WPL) launched its new bilingual online history of the Windsor area, "Settling Canada's South: How Windsor Was Made/Les pionniers au Sud du Canada: Comment a été créé Windsor." "This valuable history at a grade three level is not easily found anywhere else," said WPL CEO Steve Salmons. "Settling Canada's South will give children a fun, positive learning experience and encourage them to study on their own." WPL Board Chair Peter Wright thanked the federal government's Canadian Culture Online Program for funding the project. "It was this support that made the entire project possible," said Wright." "Settling Canada's South" joins a growing collection of heritage digital collections produced by the Windsor-Essex Centre of Digital Expertise (WECODE). The WPL is a major partner in WECODE, along with the University of Windsor Faculty of Education, the university's Leddy Library, WEDnet, the City of Windsor Technology Services, and several local school boards. To view the new digital collection: http://www.windsorpubliclibrary.com/digi/chi/ 5. E-LEARNING FUNDING COMPETITION OPENSOn April 22, CANARIE announced that the third phase of competition in its E-learning Program was open. The E-learning Program is a $26 million, shared-cost funding initiative which supports development of broadband applications that promote learning at all levels. It was established in 1999 with funding support from Industry Canada, and will run until 2004. In the first two competitions, 16 projects involving 138 organizations were selected for funding support of $18 million from CANARIE. Funded projects include applications such as online professional development for teachers, virtual veterinary medicine instruction, and a national sports coaches' network. The program objectives are to enable innovative projects to be undertaken by consortia of institutions and companies, and to reduce structural impediments to the effective use of advanced networks for education and training. The overall budget for this phase of the competition is $7 million. CANARIE is a non-profit corporation dedicated to accelerating the development of Canada's Internet and the creation of innovative applications that exploit the power of that infrastructure to benefit Canadians. For more
information or details regarding proposal submissions: 6. U.S. FILTERING CHALLENGE TO BE DECIDED SOONClosing arguments in the American Library Association (ALA) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) court challenge to the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) took place on April 4. The two-week trial ended with the judges openly critical of the legislation. "We're stuck right in the heart of the First Amendment when we're talking about libraries," said Third Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Edward Becker, head of the special three-judge panel that Congress created to hear the legal challenges to CIPA. A key argument in the challenge is the limitations of filtering software products. Even the federal government's attorneys concede that no product in the market can screen out objectionable websites without also blocking constitutionally protected sites. CIPA's "terms, if you will, are a sham. Everybody knows you can't comply with its terms," ACLU attorney Chris Hansen told the court. Harvard University student Ben Edelman testified earlier in the trial as an expert for the plaintiffs that he had evaluated the effectiveness of four filtering programs: CyberPatrol 6, N2H2 Internet Filtering 2.0, Secure Computing SmartFilter 3 and Websense Enterprise 4.3. He concluded that blocking programs, by design, "prevent access to a substantial number of sites that do not contain content that fits within the blocking company's stated category definitions." At stake for more than 40,000 American public libraries are hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies which are used to help pay for Internet access. A decision in the case is expected within weeks, since public libraries have only until July 1 to decide whether to comply with CIPA. However, any decision will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. For more
information: For ALA's
CIPA site: For the report
on Internet filtering programs: 7. BC TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL RELEASES SECOND REPORTIn August 2001, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell announced the formation of a Premier's Technology Council, whose mandate is to provide advice on all technology-related issues facing B.C. and its citizens. The council released its second report on April 2, listing 45 recommendations for improving broadband infrastructure, increasing public access to the Internet, developing high tech industry and marketing British Columbia. The report is based in part on presentations from more than 200 individuals and two dozen telecommunications industry vendors, and more than a hundred written submissions. Consultation participants stressed that there is an immediate need for high-speed Internet access; that broadband is a catalyst for economic diversification and offers the potential of improved access to health care, education, and government services; broadband is a community effort; and that one-size does not fit all in the province's regions. The recommendations with the most relevance for libraries are those to do with public access. The PTC recommends that the provincial government: ensure that there is public access to the Internet in every community in B.C.; work closely with the federal government to coordinate the allocation of scarce public dollars for public access; and find ways to sustain existing public access sites in the province and meet the growing public demand by increasing, where necessary (based on demographics and usage patterns), the number of sites, the number of public access terminals, the available bandwidth, and the hours of operation. The council invites further written submissions on identifying the issues that are important to overcoming the digital divide and/or spurring the growth of the technology industry in B.C. To read the
full text of the report: For more
information: 8. NEW E-COMMERCE REPORTOn March 25, the Canadian E-Business Opportunities Roundtable released its final report, "Fast Forward 3.0: Maintaining the Momentum," an update to Canada's previous E-Report Card. Canada continues to lead North America in wired homes, with 60 percent of Canadians hooked up in 2001, compared to 52 percent of the U.S. population. But despite the large number of Canadians online, only 17 percent used the Internet for shopping compared to 27 percent in the United States. E-commerce in Canada continues to grow; Canada had US$26.4 billion worth of e-commerce in 2001 - an increase of 69% from the 2000 figure of US$15.6 billion. But small- and medium-sized businesses continue to lag behind their U.S. counterparts in e-business adoption. Chaired by David Pecaut, CEO of iFormation Group, the Roundtable is a private-sector led initiative formed in 1999 to develop a strategy for accelerating Canada's participation in the Internet economy. "Overall, this is an 'A minus' report card showing that we have continued to make steady gains, but signaling that there is still room for improvement," said Pecaut. To read the
full text of the report: 9. THE NET IS WHAT KIDS CAN'T LIVE WITHOUTIf they could have access to only one medium or media technology, more children would choose the Internet, according to the findings of "How Children Use Media Technology," a study released April 5 by Knowledge Networks/Statistical Research (KN/SRI). Given a choice of six media, one-third (33%) of children aged 8 to 17 told KN/SRI that the Net would be the medium they would want to have if they couldn't have any others. Television was picked by 26% of kids; telephone by 21%; and radio by 15%. However, results were dramatically different among girls and boys. Twice as many boys (34% versus 17%) chose TV as their must-have medium, while the telephone was more than twice as popular (31% versus 12%) among girls. The Internet placed first with 38% of boys, and 28% of girls. The study was conducted as part of "The Home Technology Monitor," a year-round survey tracking which media technologies consumers own and how they interact with those devices and services in their everyday lives. Studying children's interactions with media is a KN/SRI specialty. For more
information: 10. DIFFERENCES IN ONLINE SKILLS ANOTHER DIGITAL DIVIDEMuch of the existing literature on the digital divide considers only whether someone does or does not have access to use the Internet. A new paper published in the current issue of First Monday, "Second-Level Digital Divide: Differences in People's Online Skills," looks at the differences in people's online skills. In order to measure online ability, the author assigned Internet search tasks to a random sample of Internet users from a suburban county in the United States. The findings suggest that there is considerable difference in whether individuals are able to find various types of content on the web, and a large variance in how long it takes to complete online tasks. Age is negatively associated with one's level of Internet skill, experience with the technology is positively related to online skill, and differences in gender have little statistical relevance. First Monday was founded in May 1996. One of the first peer-reviewed journals on the Internet, it publishes original articles about the Internet and global information infrastructure. The author of this paper, Eszter Hargittai, is a PhD candidate in Sociology at Princeton University. For the full
text of the article, see: 11. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY"The Evolving Role of Information Technology in Community Development Organizations," funded by the Ford Foundation, represents the first attempt to systematically assess the depth of use and impact of desktop computers and productivity enhancing software in the field of community development. The report shows that community development organizations have been slow to adopt technology. Most have not gone beyond email and simple database management because they don't have the resources or the expertise to do more. When organizations partner with a university, intermediaries or a foundation, innovation is the result. For example, community development organizations in LA, in partnership with UCLA, are using sophisticated computer mapping to reduce predatory lending and the number of abandoned houses. Findings of the report are based on the results of a survey of 353 community-based development organizations. The survey and resulting report comprise the initial phase of Seedco's Community Development Technology Initiative (CDTI), a multi-year project designed to assess and enhance the use of information technology in the community development process. Seedco is an American nonprofit community development intermediary which supports, through financial and technical assistance, the community building work of nonprofit organizations and small businesses in low asset communities. To read the
full text of the report (in PDF format): For more
information: 12. AMERICAN E-CITIZENS USING GOVERNMENT WEBSITESAccording to the new study " The Rise of the E-Citizen: How People Use Government Agencies' Web Sites", 68 million Americans have used the websites of government agencies, up from 40 million such users two years ago. Overall, 49% of these online Americans said the Internet had improved the way they interact with the federal government. Tourism and recreational information was the most sought-after content, pulling in almost four out of five government site users. Research for work or school claimed second place, drawing 70% of users. Half of those who visited government sites had gone to get health or safety information, suggesting that the government is seen as a dependable source of such data. While many government site users focus on their personal needs in dealing online with government agencies, there is some evidence that a new "e-citizenship" is taking hold. 42 million Americans have used government websites to research public policy issues; 23 million have used the Internet to send comments to public officials about policy choices; and 13 million have participated in online lobbying campaigns. The environment, education, and health care top the list of issues for these cyber-activists. The findings in this report come from several surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which funds original research exploring the impact of the Internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life in the United States. It is a non-profit initiative of the Pew Research Center for People and the Press. For more
information, or to read the full text of the report: 13. CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTSAdvancing
Knowledge: Expanding Horizons for Information Science The 30th annual conference of the Canadian Association for Information Science will be held at the University of Toronto. For more
information: Access and
Beyond: Advancing a Community Technology Agenda CTCNet is an American non-profit organization of more than 600 independent community technology centers where people get free or low-cost access to computers and computer-related technology, such as the Internet. Its National Conference is an annual gathering of members, leaders in the field, and others interested in creating equitable participation in information technology. For more
information or to register: Joint Conference
on Digital Libraries The Joint Conference on Digital Libraries is a major international forum focusing on digital libraries and associated technical, practical, and social issues. For the first time, JCDL 2002 combines the ACM Digital Libraries Conference and the IEEE-CS Advances in Digital Libraries Conference. Participation is sought from the full range of disciplines and professions involved in digital library research and practice, including librarianship, information science, computer science, archival science and practice, museum studies and practice, technology, medicine, social sciences, and humanities. For more
information or to register: Democratizing
the Information Society: Innovation, Proposals, Action The third Global Congress on Community Networking in the Digital Era (GlobalCN) takes place at a strategic moment in the process of international coordination of world communication policies, culminating in 2003 with the UN World Summit on the Information Society. One of the main objectives of the Montreal 2002 Summit is to develop a common platform representing the positions of community networks in the run-up to the World Summit. The organizers are aiming for an event that will help bring about the new information society by forging a productive partnership between governments, private enterprise and citizen groups active in this field. For more
information: 14. USEFUL INTERNET RESOURCESThe
Web Search Guide Learning
Resources for Students and Teachers webTeacher Becoming
WebWise Digital
Library Toolkit The
Alertbox: Current Issues in Web Usability The
WorldGenWeb Project Thomas
Head Raddall Electronic Archive Project If
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