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June 2000 LibraryNet Monthly TABLE OF CONTENTS
"BEST PRACTICES" 2000 RELEASEDFor the fourth year, LibraryNet presents its annual Best Practices list, to recognize Canadian public libraries for leadership in making innovative use of the Internet. Best Practices 2000 features 23 public libraries from across Canada, that have used the Internet to deliver programs and services, stimulate local economic growth, create local content, and teach information technology skills. The Bibliothèque Adélard-Berger in Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Quebec, has been recognised for designing a web scavenger hunt and quiz for kids that tests their knowledge of Internet navigation and safety issues. The Western Counties Regional Library in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, has created an impressive collection of material on the history of the town, providing photographs and detailed information on every house in the Collins Heritage Conservation District, which has proven popular with visitors interested in architectural heritage. With "What Have You Done For Me Lately?" the Saskatoon Public Library, in Saskatchewan, demonstrates how citizens can use electronic resources to check up on their elected officials and representatives. Suggestions for searching indexes, minutes and proceedings are included along with links to the library's electronic indexes. For the complete
document see: NEW STATSCAN DATA ON INTERNET USEThe latest figures from Statistics Canada, released May 19, show Canadians logging onto the Internet in growing numbers. According to data from the 1999 Household Internet Use Survey, the proportion of households that contained at least one regular user jumped to 41.8% from 35.9% in 1998. For the first time, home was the most popular location for Internet use at 28.7% of households in 1999, up from 22.6% of households in 1998, possibly reflecting the expansion of available Internet services and lower connection costs, while Internet use from public libraries was steady at 4.5%. Note that the study includes only "regular" Internet use, and the point of use data includes only use "on a regular basis." Thus, it excludes both occasional Internet users and occasional use of the Internet at the public library by regular Internet users. The 4.5% figure for public libraries, therefore, is likely to under-represent the actual percentage of the population using Internet resources at the public library. (In the Calgary Public Library's November 1999 telephone survey, 20% of Calgarians reported using the Internet in the public library at least once in the past 12 months.) For more
information: ONTARIO LIBRARIES TO RECEIVE URBAN CAP FUNDINGOn June 6, 2000, a partnership agreement which will provide $4.4 million in federal funding to establish additional community Internet access in urban Ontario public libraries was announced by federal Minister of Industry, John Manley, and Ontario Minister of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation, Helen Johns. Ontario is matching the Government of Canada's contribution through existing funding for libraries, bringing the total provincial and private-sector funding to $13 million over the last four years. A total of 258 library branches in 35 urban municipalities will benefit from enhanced access to the Information Highway, permitting the development of new ways in which public libraries can better serve their communities. "The Internet is very much in demand as a research tool in public libraries," said Wendy Newman, CEO of Brantford Public Library. "This funding will reduce the waiting time for clients to access online information and help library branches provide better service." The Government of Canada's contribution builds on previous Community Access Program contributions to Ontario public libraries, which established 447 Internet access sites at rural and urban public library branches throughout Ontario in 1999. For more
information: ALBERTA LIBRARIES RECEIVE GATES FUNDINGOn June 22, 2000, at the Canadian Library Association Conference in Edmonton, The Alberta Library announced that the province's public libraries have received a grant of $1.3 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide public access, computers and technical training for libraries serving low-income communities in the province. The grant from the Foundation will provide patrons of 81 libraries throughout Alberta with increased access to computers and the Internet. The Edmonton and Calgary Public Libraries will also receive permanent computer training labs, each containing 11 workstations for public and staff use. In addition, one mobile workstation will be used to train the public and staff at libraries throughout Alberta. Separately, Microsoft Canada will donate software with a retail value of up to $480,000 to libraries receiving Foundation grants. "This is an overwhelming but exciting project, and it is wonderful to be a part of it," comments Anne McMeekin, Director of the Slave Lake Public Library. "The impact on our children, seniors, and the poor will be considerable, and will help narrow the digital divide." For more
information: MONTREAL LIBRARIES RECEIVE GATES FUNDINGOn May 29, Agnès Maltais, the Québec Minister for Culture and Communications, announced that 43 public libraries in the Montréal area will receive $1.125 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Overall, Québec public libraries serving low-income communities will receive $8 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in addition to software with a retail value of $2.9 million donated by Microsoft Canada. The Foundation grant will provide patrons of 548 libraries throughout Quebec with increased access to computers and the Internet. "The initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has come at the right moment for public libraries and their patrons," said Mme. Maltais. "Libraries have already embarked upon a major change in direction to incorporate new information and communication technologies in their activities and to adapt to the population's needs." The Ministry for Culture and Communications has entrusted the Centre régional de services aux bibliothèques publiques de la Montérégie with the responsibility for program coordination. Library officials can obtain additional information by dialing 1-877-666-6290. For more
information: CANADA'S DIGITAL COLLECTIONS WINS INTERNATIONAL AWARDOn June 13, the Canada's Digital Collections (CDC) program of Industry Canada won a Stockholm Challenge 2000 Award, the only Canadian project so honoured. CDC was chosen out of eleven world-wide finalists (63 original entries) in the Culture and Entertainment category. Canada's Digital Collections has involved over 2,300 young Canadians in creating over 350 high quality web sites of cultural significance collecting original Canadian curriculum and learning resources. The Stockholm Challenge is an international information technology contest which focuses on the benefits and positive changes that information technology can bring to communities, rather than on the sophistication of the technology itself. For more
information: CANADA SITE HAS NEW FEATURESModifications have been made to the Canada Site Portal to improve the delivery of Government of Canada information and services to Canadians, and to facilitate navigation of the site. The newest release of the Canada Site features libraries prominently by increasing visibility of depository libraries as primary access points to Government of Canada information, as well as linking directly to the National Library's new Canadian Library Gateway and Industry Canada's LibraryNet. The main welcome page now includes a drop down menu of Service Access Points. This menu contains a direct link to the list of depository libraries as well as links to Canada Business Service Centres, the Community Access Program, Human Resource Centres, Postal Outlets and Tax Services Offices. Under the button "Publications and Forms" you will find the links to the Canadian Library Gateway and LibraryNet. Additional improvements have been made to the Programs and Services section and to the Search Engine, with more revisions to follow in December, 2000, as part of the Government On-Line Agenda. Users are invited to provide feedback on the site through an on-line survey. For more
information: NEW STUDIES ON INTERNET USE AND READING BY YOUTHOn May 23, a comprehensive telephone survey of Canadian teens' Internet use was released showing that 85% of Canadian teens use the Internet regularly. This is a very high percentage compared with other age groups. Including email and chat use, the average time spent online by a teenager is 9.3 hours a week. The survey's findings suggest that the social aspect of Internet use is taking up time once spent on other media, particularly television. Thirty three percent of teens claimed they spend less time watching TV now that they're on the Web. The Internet was seen by both teens and parents as a valuable educational tool. 95% of parents believed the Internet is "a great learning tool," and 85% of teens indicated that the Internet helped them learn. Unsurprisingly, support for controlling Internet content was higher among parents than teens. 73% of parents, but only 51% of teens, would like the Internet to be more heavily monitored. The survey was conducted by Northstar Research Partners for Youth Culture Inc., a media and research group that tracks the latest trends among today's young people. One thousand teens from 12 to 17 were interviewed, as well as 450 parents, from February through April 2000. For more
information: Another recent study from the UK, "Rediscovering Reading: Public Libraries and the National Year of Reading," shows that by the age of 15, 58% of British children are using the Internet or CD-ROMs for research, just 2% fewer than the percentage using non-fiction books. After the peak age of 15, use of the Net or other electronic sources for reference falls sharply and books become more popular. The report found that most children and youngsters still use books as well as electronic access. But it adds: "As many as 9% of children use electronic sources exclusively for obtaining reference information," without consulting any printed sources at all. The survey of 1,700 adults and 700 children, funded by the UK Library and Information Commission, was conducted by the Reading Partnership, a group which promotes literature in public libraries, and the research group Book Marketing. The full
report will be available online soon at: ALBERTA CREATIVE PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICE AWARDThe 1999 Alberta Creative Public Library Service Award was presented this year to the St. Albert Public Library for its participation in The International Year of the Older Person. The library provided senior citizens with the opportunity to learn an important new technology by offering free hands-on workshops on basic Internet skills. A librarian was hired to compile an instructional package that covered everything from understanding how to use browser toolbars and icons through to parsing URLs and basic search techniques. The package also contained comparisons of search engines, a glossary of commonly used terms, and warnings on some of the pitfalls of the Internet. Each workshop participant received this package to take home. After the first workshop library staff realized that the pace of instruction would need to be modified to accommodate beginners with no experience using a mouse or keyboard. Many of the seniors already had home computers (often hand-me-downs from their children) and e-mail addresses, but they all needed assistance in getting the most out of their computer. The program increased seniors' participation in the library, and interest generated by the program resulted in the Library offering Internet training to the general public as well. For more
information: NORTH BAY LAUNCHES "VIRTUAL CITY HALL"On May 12, the City of North Bay launched Access North Bay, an Internet-based virtual city hall. Produced in partnership with the North Bay Public Library, the North Bay & Area Museum, and the North Bay Chamber of Commerce, the goal of the Virtual City Hall project is to provide enhanced access to city information and services. Access North Bay now provides a mailing list forum for public discussion, facts, forms and staff contact names, and offers a chance to interact with municipal government on a 24 hour, 7 day a week basis. The project included the digitization of all city by-laws dating back to 1894, as well as related council minutes and agendas. Indexed using a SQL database, the searchable information is freely available on the Access North Bay site. The by-laws and related council documents were chosen to be digitized since they represent the backbone of municipal government. They will be useful for North Bay and area citizens who need to know local rules and regulations; other regional towns and cities, which may consult them when preparing new legislation; and for other levels of government which need to know what position the City of North Bay has taken on an issue. The project was funded by a Digital Content Creation grant from the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation and managed by the Library's CEO Paul Walker and systems manager Donna Bourne-Tyson. Visit the
Virtual City Hall at: For more
information: "HOME SWEET HERITAGE HOME""Home Sweet Heritage Home" is a new website created by the Calgary Public Library with funding from Industry Canada's Digital Collections program. It profiles one hundred well-known pioneer Calgarians and their residences. From magnificent mansions to the "Bow Bend Shack" built for Calgary's first environmentalist, the stories of the individuals who lived in these houses are a fascinating sidebar to Canadian history. While other people have resided in these homes over the years, the houses are still clearly connected to their famous inhabitants. The home where Nellie McClung (Canadian author, suffragette and celebrated member of Alberta's Famous Five) lived from 1923 to 1932 is still called the McClung House in recognition of her nine-year occupancy. While the photographs on the site date from 1957 to 1977, some of the houses and residents featured date back to the 1800s. Most of the photographs were taken by Alison Jackson, who worked in the Calgary Public Library for 38 years. Although some of the buildings have been demolished, the houses which escaped wrecking crews are now lived in and appreciated by a new generation of Calgarians. To visit
"Home Sweet Heritage Home": PM'S SPEECH STRESSES CONNECTIVITYPrime Minister Jean Chrétien spoke at the opening of the Organization of American States' Assembly in Windsor, Ontario on June 4. In his speech, he commented on the recent "explosion of new technology" and the "rapid development of a truly global economy and a global village." Prime Minister Chrétien emphasized that this technology should be used for wider ends than merely economic development: "Connectivity can contribute directly to making the lives of our people better, and that is what the focus of our policies should be." He encouraged governments to work together with the private sector and international organizations to ensure that the digital divide does not widen further. "Our job is to ensure that the emerging technologies build bridges, not widen the gaps that already exist." For the complete
text of the speech: NATIONAL LIBRARY CREATES NEW GOVERNMENT ON-LINE TASK FORCEOn June 9, Roch Carrier, National Librarian, announced the creation of the National Library of Canada's Government On-Line Task Force as part of the federal government's Government On-Line (GOL) initiative to make all government programs and services available online by 2004. "The National Library of Canada and its 21 000 partner libraries across the country are well-placed to provide Canadians, no matter where they are located, with affordable and easy access to the information, programs and services of their federal government," said Mr. Carrier. In addition to managing the Library's own GOL projects to bring the riches of the Library to all Canadians, the Task Force will also facilitate GOL initiatives with other partners, such as the National Archives and the federal government library community. For more
information: US-CANADA CONNECTIVITY COMPARISONIndustry Canada's SchoolNet recently released a brief paper comparing Internet connectivity levels in Canadian and American schools. Both Canada and the United States have recently conducted surveys that explore the level of Internet connectivity in their respective public schools and classrooms. In October 1999, Statistics Canada conducted a Canadian survey as part of the Second International Technology in Education Study (SITES). The American National Centre for Education Statistics (NCES) conducts annual surveys regarding school connectivity, with the latest results released in February 2000. Both surveys posed questions relating to what method(s) elementary and secondary schools use to access the Internet as well as to how the Internet is being used in their schools and classrooms. According to SITES, in 1999 more than 9 out of every 10 Canadian students attended a school that had access to the Internet for educational purposes. This is roughly equivalent to the NCES's finding that in 1999, 95% of U.S. public schools were connected to the Internet. The SchoolNet report also includes information on the national ratios of students per Internet connected computer, and the differences in location of Internet computers between the two countries. Read the
SchoolNet paper at: For more
information: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WEEK 2001Industry Canada plans to establish an annual Canadian Information Technology Week, intended to provide an opportunity for Canadians to showcase the innovative ways we use information technology in our schools, industries and communities. It will also celebrate Canada as one of the world's most connected nations and recognize our growing talent and skills in this area. The first annual IT Week will take place from May 4 to 13, 2001. The Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) will co-ordinate this initiative with Industry Canada and in consultation with various stakeholders, nationally and regionally. For more
information, keep an eye on the ITAC website: NEW BRITISH IT NEWSLETTERInfotech is a monthly newsletter, available in PDF format, which offers a variety of IT news stories from Britain. It is produced by the British High Commission in Canada and may be freely used in whole or in part. The most recent edition has a feature article describing Q-Player and how it may change the way we use the Internet, as well as stories on cyber confidence scams and using the web to find missing children. To view Infotech: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS TECHNICAL PAGE ON DIGITAL LIBRARIESThe Library of Congress National Digital Library Program (NDLP) has revamped its webpage on "Building Digital Collections: Technical Information and Background Papers." This portion of the American Memory website documents the technical activities, procedures, and practices employed by the NDLP over its past decade of digital library efforts. The page now includes direct links to the sections of American Memory framing materials entitled, "Building the Digital Collections," with access by digital format, collection division or format of original. The NDLP scanning service RFPs/contracts continue to be available, as well as numerous background papers covering aspects of text mark-up, repository development, Web interface design, workflow and production (NDLP Writer's Handbook, quality review guidelines, project planning, the role of conservation) and rights and restrictions statements. View the
website at: If
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