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January 2004 LibraryNet Monthly TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. CANADIANS ONLINEAbout two-thirds of Canadians surf the Internet at least once a month, according to a recent poll. A survey by Leger Marketing found that 64 per cent of Canadians used the Internet in the month before the poll was conducted in August 2003. (A similar survey in 2002 pegged Internet use in Canada at 61 per cent.) The Canadian poll was conducted as part of a larger international survey on the use of government services online. 51% of Canadians had used the Internet to access Government Online over the last twelve months. However, 60 per cent of Canadian respondents still believe it is either "unsafe" or "very unsafe" to provide personal information to governments over the Internet. For more information: 2. WARNING LABELS ON KIDS' BOOKS?Mandatory warning labels on children's books are a hot topic of discussion in Australia at the moment. Freda Briggs, an influential child protection advocate, is demanding that the federal government create a labelling system for children's books, similar to the ratings given movies and television shows. In a recent article in The Australian, she claims that "this is violent, hard-core porn being disguised as children's literature." Apparently, attempts to convince Australian publishers to voluntarily introduce such a scheme have failed. To read the full text of the article: 3. NEW RELATED ISBN LOOKUP FROM OCLCxISBN is a new experimental project of OCLC Research that supplies all of the ISBNs associated with a work represented in OCLC's WorldCat database. Enter an ISBN, and the xISBN service will return a list of associated ISBNs - other editions or printings (hardback, paperback, etc.), or even alternative titles - for the same work. The ISBNs returned from the xISBN service can be re-used in another query to improve the chances of a user finding any or all instances of the work in a given bibliographic database. For example, a user finding an item of interest at Amazon could conveniently query a local library's online catalogue and see whether any editions of the item are held by the library. To use the xISBN service, enter the following string into your browser window: http://labs.oclc.org/xisbn/[ISBN], where [ISBN] is an actual number. For example, see the results for: For more information: 4. KEEPING FOUND THINGS FOUND ON THE NET"Keeping Found Things Found" is an ongoing research project at the University of Washington's Information School that seeks to learn how people actually work with the information they find on the Internet. Internet users have devised many tricks - sending emails to themselves, printing front pages, "bookmarking" - for keeping track of useful websites. So far, however, the researchers have found that people often don't use any of these when they want to revisit a website. Instead, they rely on searching to find it all over again. The three most popular options are typing the URL directly into the browser (with help from the browser's auto-completion feature); using a search engine; or accessing it via a link from another website. Eventually, the researchers hope to develop better information seeking and management tools for end users. Bookmarks, though they are the primary "keeping" tool provided by most web browsers, rank low on many characteristics that users want. For more information: 5. CHANGES IN AMERICAN INTERNET USE OVER TIMEAccording to a recent meta-analysis by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, analyzing the responses of thousands of Americans to their phone surveys over the past three years, 63 percent of U.S. adults are now online. "America's Online Pursuits: The Changing Picture of Who's Online and What They Do" found that Internet users discover more things to do online as they gain experience, and as new applications become available. This momentum in turn fuels increasing reliance on the Internet in everyday life and higher expectations about the things people can do online. Despite this increase in activity, the growth of the U.S. online population itself has slowed. There was almost no growth over the course of 2002, and only a small increase in recent months, leaving the size of the online U.S. population at 63 percent of all those 18 and over. Many of those who aren't online yet are in the low-income bracket, which raises the question of whether the much-discussed "digital divide" is closing. The Pew findings show that the poor and less-educated continue to be online much less than the affluent. Among Americans with less than a high school education, Internet usage actually dropped from 31 percent in January 2002 to 26 percent in August 2003, according to the report. Although financial activities such as online banking and online auctions have grown more than any other genre of activity, email remains the "killer app" of the Internet. More people use email (91 percent) than any other online activity or application. To read the full report: 6. NEW INTERNET EDUCATION CAMPAIGNOn January 13, a new public awareness campaign called "Be Web Aware" was launched by a coalition of Canadian organizations led by the Media Awareness Network (MNet). Helping Canadian parents protect their children from potential Internet risks is the focus of the campaign. The "Be Web Aware" initiative includes public service announcements on television, radio, and in print that direct parents to a comprehensive website full of information and tools to help parents teach their children to handle the potential risks associated with going online. Research by MNet shows that Canadian youth are among the world's most active Internet users, with 80 per cent having regular access at home. Yet more than half report using the Internet with little or no supervision. MNet is a non-profit Canadian organization whose mission is to support and encourage media and Internet education. For more information: 7. CANADIAN SPENDING ON ELECTRONIC SERIALS UP NEARLY 40%The recently released Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) Statistics 2001-2002 show that spending on electronic serials by Canada's academic and research libraries rose from an average of $1.01 million in 2000-2001 to $1.40 million in 2001-2002 - an increase of 38.6% in just one year. For the first time, one library (University of Waterloo) spent more on electronic serials than print ones. "This is a remarkable shift in expenditure patterns when one considers a few years ago, CARL libraries spent next to nothing on this category of material," according to David Holmes, former Director of Institutional Research and Planning at Carleton University. Researchers are increasingly expecting - and finding - information to be accessible online. Collectively, CARL member libraries spent $211,180,000 on materials in 2001-2002. They hold over 76 million monographs and subscribe to nearly 570,000 journals. The annual CARL Statistics reports detail their expenditures, collection size, salary information, and much more. CARL is made up of 27 major academic research libraries across Canada, plus the National Library of Canada and the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI). For more information: 8. NEW UK LIBRARY STATISTICSThe United Kingdom's Library and Information Statistics Unit (LISU) has just published the latest edition of its annual compilation of statistics relating to libraries. "LISU Annual Library Statistics 2003" includes information on public and academic libraries, national libraries, some special libraries, and general book trade statistics. Encouragingly, the report found that there was an increase in spending on libraries for a fourth consecutive year. Total library expenditure in 2001-02 was £930 million (roughly CDN$2.2 billion), equivalent to £15.82 per person (almost CDN$38). However, when adjusted for inflation spending has only returned to the level of 1991-92. Less encouraging is a continued decline in circulation and in the traditional public library collection of printed books. Book purchasing fell to its lowest level for ten years; only 9.6% of total library expenditure was on books in 2001-02. Spending on audio-visual material and on electronic resources appears to be taking up the slack. For more information: To read the executive summary of the statistical report (in PDF format): 9. NEW HIGH-SPEED NETWORK TO RING THE GLOBELast month, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), a consortium of Russian ministries and science organizations, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced the start of operations for the first round-the-world computer network ring, intended for joint scientific and educational projects. The new network will provide increased reliability and flexibility and enable cooperation on international research. The network will also enable collaborations between universities and local schools, such as shared seminars and distance-learning programs. Known as "Little GLORIAD," the ring connects the StarLight facility in Chicago to the NetherLight facility in Amsterdam. From there it continues to Moscow, then to the Russian cities of Novosibirsk and Zabajkal'sk. After crossing the Chinese border to Manzhouli, the network continues to Beijing, then Hong Kong and finally crosses the Pacific Ocean to complete the ring in Chicago. As the name suggests, Little GLORIAD is a first step towards an even higher-speed network - GLORIAD, the Global Ring Network for Advanced Application Development - that the three countries are planning for a mid-2004 start. GLORIAD is proposed to be a 10-gigabit-per-second optical network around the entire northern hemisphere. The GLORIAD network will provide Chinese and Russian scientists, educators and students direct connectivity to North American research and education networks including Canada's CANARIE. For more information: 10. MORE NEWS FROM THE WORLD SUMMIT ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETYDebate is still ongoing regarding the first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held in December 2003. Some commentators call the summit a success, others a failure, and still others regard it is a combination of both. Over ten thousand people participated in the three-day, UN-sponsored event. Delegates to WSIS did adopt two documents, a Declaration of Principles and an Plan of Action, designed to ensure freedom of speech in the information society and bring computers and Internet access to poor nations. However, the summit failed to address important issues such as Internet governance and the creation of a digital solidarity fund. In his speech at the at the opening plenary session, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted the extraordinary power of information and communication technologies. He defined the "digital divide" as really made up of several gaps in one, including a technological divide, content divide, gender divide and commercial divide. "We cannot assume that such gaps will disappear on their own, over time... Building an open, empowering information society is a social, economic and ultimately political challenge." Some attendees were less than satisfied with the results. "We thought we would be able to help formulate public polices on the Internet," said Adam Peake, a spokesman for the Civil Society caucus on Internet governance. He complained that organizations were invited to present their positions, then ignored while governments jumped into policy-making behind closed-doors. Even the secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) admitted that the second phase of the summit in 2005 would require administrative changes to make it run faster and more efficiently. For more information: To read the final Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action agreed upon (in PDF format, both English and French): 11. "BIG READ" TRANSLATES INTO BIG SALES - FOR DVDSThe "Big Read", the BBC's hunt for Britain's most popular book was launched nine months ago, and the winners were announced on December 14. As expected, J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings emerged in first place, ahead of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials was third. For all of the short-listed books, the Big Read led to big numbers. Sales of the original top 100 books soared by 1,100 per cent over the summer. Combined sales of the short-listed works increased by more than 425 per cent in the two months after they were announced. However, sales of film adaptations of the books were even more successful, increasing by 1,500 per cent in the same period. Of the 21 short-listed books, 15 were available on DVD, and sales of those often eclipsed those of the novels, according to figures released by Amazon.co.uk. For example, Pride and Prejudice saw a 73 percent jump in book sales over the period - and a 977 percent rise in the sales of a television miniseries based on the book. For more information: The news from Great Britain ties in with a recent article in the Denver Post pointing out that the "local library looks more and more like a Blockbuster." According to the article, 53 percent of the Denver Public Library's circulation now consists of audio-visual material, including music CDs, DVDs, and books on tape. DVDs will account for almost 20 percent of the total acquisitions budget in the Arapahoe Library District next year, only four years after their introduction. Library patrons seem to be leaving text behind, according to Denver librarians. "When customers come to help desks asking for information, often their second question is, 'Do you have that on video?'" says Beth Elder, senior collection specialist for Denver Public Library. To read the full text of the article: 12. SEARCH TECHNOLOGIES EVOLVINGA recent AP story takes a look at some online search developments that are just beginning to reach public awareness. The first paragraph of the article points out the obvious - "[search engines] often deliver too much information, and a lot of it isn't quite what we're looking for." It goes on to examine recent developments at large search companies such as Grokker, Vivisimo, and Teoma. Most of the search improvement strategies outlined in the article have to do with sorting related results into clusters, either visually (as with Grokker) or by text category. According to R.J. Pittman, CEO of Groxis, "People are becoming more astute and demanding better results, and they're demanding a more powerful search experience. People like to get a landscape of information once they've found out there's one available." To read the full text of the article: 13. OCLC RELEASES STRATEGIC FORECAST FOR LIBRARIESOCLC, one of the largest library services vendors, recently released a strategic report based on a document commissioned by its board for internal planning. The "2003 Environmental Scan: Pattern Recognition" report reviews global issues affecting the future of libraries, museums, archives, and librarians. By publicly releasing a version of its internal strategic thinking, OCLC hopes to encourage widespread discussion in the library community. Based on interviews with more than a hundred experts and information professionals from a wide variety of organizations, the Environmental Scan organizes its strategic assessment around the central theme of service to the "Information Consumer." According to the report, "The ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is: How do we together, as a community of libraries and allied organizations, move our trusted circle closer to information consumers at the level of their need?" Issues covered include funding alternatives, collaboration, digital archiving, e-learning, scholarly publishing, "open source" and "open access" movements, distance learning, digital rights management, online services, and more. Each section ends with a list of questions about the implications for librarians, which form the basis for an interactive feedback survey posted on OCLC's website. As feedback is contributed, OCLC will synthesize and post comments and discussion threads. To read the full text of the report (in HTML or PDF format): To contribute your comments: 14. GLOBAL BROADBAND KEEPS CLIMBINGBroadband internet is well on the way to becoming one of the "fastest growing new technologies in history", according to a recent report by industry analysts Point Topic. The report estimates that there are now 100 million broadband connections worldwide. All of the G7 countries, plus China, are now in the top 10 countries for total broadband numbers. The report claims that broadband has been adopted much faster than other emerging technologies. It has taken 3 and a half years for broadband lines to climb from 10 million to 100 million connections. In comparison, it took 5 and a half years for cell phone use to reach the same milestone. Cable is still the major means of broadband connection, although DSL connections via telephone lines are increasing. For more information: 15. SEARCHING FOR LIBRARY KNOWLEDGE BASESGerry McKiernan of Iowa State University is seeking to identify library-created or library-related knowledge bases for a new online registry. A "knowledge base" may be defined as a database with a focus on empirical or practical knowledge. In recent years, knowledge bases have become common to many businesses and services, especially in the technical support field. The focus of the new registry, however, will be strictly on library-related projects, not on corporate knowledge bases. Article citations, reports, studies, papers, or projects regarding library knowledge bases are also of interest for a planned bibliography. For more information, or to report a library knowledge base: 16. CALLS FOR PAPERSThe Reference Librarian Blake Carver, creator and editor of the LISNews.com website, is editing an upcoming issue of "The Reference Librarian" covering all aspects of blogging and how it can be applied to librarianship. Papers should relate to libraries, whether directly or indirectly. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: "how we do it here" stories about starting or assessing blogs at your library; preservation of blog entries; how blogs fit into librarianship; their use in distance learning or for remote patrons; philosophies of blogging and librarianship; or legal aspects of blogs. The deadline for final article submissions is fall 2004, but proposals are requested ASAP. Send a brief note of intent with an informal abstract. For more information: Center for Intellectual Property Annual Symposium The theme for this year's symposium is "Colleges, Code and Copyright" concerning the impact of digital networks and technological controls on copyright and the dissemination of information in higher education. Two conference tracks will focus on either "Framing the Issues" or "Possible Solutions." The deadline for submitting an abstract is February 9, 2004. For more information: 17. CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTeBooks in the Public Library This one-day event will include case studies, exhibits, panels and presentations from librarians and industry leaders on the role of e-books in the public library. Space is limited, so register as soon as possible. For more information or to register: 18. CONTINUING EDUCATIONLicensing Review and Negotiation Licenses are now standard practice for providing access to and use of electronic information in library settings. Librarians must pay attention to both the details and the cumulative effect of these agreements on their users and institutions. The Association of Research Libraries offers this online course designed to: introduce librarians to the legal underpinnings of the licensing of electronic information resources; discuss the specific terms and conditions that make up a license; and give hints on how to negotiate terms. The registration deadline is February 13, 2004. Fees are US$500 for ARL members, $550 for non-members. For more information or to register: 19. USEFUL INTERNET RESOURCESCanadian Poetry CyberBee Research 101 WebWatch Online Conference Proceedings Internet Resources Newsletter Recalls.gov Theatrehistory.com Classics Unveiled START Educator's Reference Desk Dogs and More Dogs If you have information you would like featured in the next issue of LibraryNet
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