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September 1999 LibraryNet Monthly CANADA'S DIGITAL COLLECTIONS ONE OF THE TOP 50Yahoo Canada recently chose Canada's Digital Collections (CDC), one of the largest sources of Canadian content on the Internet, as one of Canada's Top 50 Most Amazingly Helpful Web Sites. As Mitchell Brown of Yahoo Canada wondered, "What do you get when thousands of Canadians students are let loose online to discover their country?" His answer: "Canada's Digital Collections, a government project that teaches students how to use the Web....and gives the rest of us a reminder of our rich heritage. There are hundreds of topics available for study, from Canadian women artists to Saskatchewan First Nations elders to Cape Breton's coal mining history." These fascinating web sites range from the treasures of institutions such as the National Library of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Civilization to the local histories and way of life of Canadian communities. CDC, a program of Industry Canada's Information Highway Applications Branch, is funded by the Youth Employment Strategy. Through partnerships with Canadian institutions, organizations and associations in all sectors, CDC provides young Canadians aged 15 to 30 information technology-based work opportunities in multimedia development and digitization. Visit the
CDC website at: OCLC MEASURES SCOPE OF THE WEBThe Web Characterization Project at the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) recently released results from its attempt to measure characteristics of the World Wide Web. The project determined that the World Wide Web has about 3.6 million sites, of which 2.2 million (or nearly 300 million Web pages) are publicly accessible. The results also show that significant portions of the Web are not publicly accessible or do not offer meaningful content. About 400,000 Web sites can be considered private," in that they do not provide content that is accessible without fee or prior authorization. In addition, about 1 million sites are in either a transitory or unfinished state (i.e. "Under Construction") or provide generally meaningless or trivial content. Adult content claims a small proportion of the Web; about 2% of the public sites contain sexually explicit material. The mean size of a public Web site is about 129 pages, a 13% increase over last year's estimate of 114 pages. The Web is dominated by a relatively small collection of "megasites": the largest 25,000 sites contain about 50% of all pages on public sites. OCLC is a nonprofit computer library service and research organization whose computer network and services link more than 34,000 libraries in 67 countries and territories. For more
information: SMART COMMUNITIES COMPETITION UPDATEThe Smart Communities Program is a three-year federal program created and administered by Industry Canada to help Canada become a world leader in the development and use of information and communication technologies for economic, social and cultural development. The objectives of the Smart Communities Program are to assist communities in developing and implementing sustainable Smart Communities strategies; to create opportunities for learning through the sharing among communities of Smart activities, experiences and lessons learned; and to provide new business opportunities, domestically and internationally, for Canadian companies developing and delivering information and communication technology applications and services. To date, over 129 letters of intent for the Smart Communities initiative have been received. Seven public libraries from communities in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario have made applications, including Hinton, Coquitlam, Hamilton, North Bay, Oxford County, Barrie and Windsor. In the next step of the proposal process, the letters will be scrutinized by the Review Committee, scheduled to hold its first meeting at the end of October. The organizations and communities which submitted letters are listed on the Smart Communities Web site. For more
information: CANADIAN HEALTH NETWORKOn September 13, it was announced that a group led by the Vancouver Public Library (VPL) will receive funding to become the Western Regional Operating Partner of the Canadian Health Network (CHN). The CHN is a national Internet-based service that currently provides information on health promotion and disease prevention; it will ultimately also provide information on self-care and the performance of the health system. As a CHN operating partner, the VPL consortium will identify a network of health information providers in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest and Yukon Territories, and create links with existing provincial, territorial and local networks. The consortium comprises the VPL and the Medical Library Service of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. As CHN's operating partner for Western Canada, it will provide leadership in ensuring that CHN addresses particular regional health information. For more
information: VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY CREATES LITERACY WEBSITEVancouver Public Library celebrated September 8, International Literacy Day, with the launch of its new Literacy Website, "Literacy at Vancouver Public Library." The site targets adults whose first language is English, describing library collections and services that can be used to improve their reading and writing skills. It also makes links to websites of interest to adult learners, and websites for selected literacy organizations. Visit the
site at: For more
information: SUMMER READING CLUBS AN ONLINE SUCCESSTraditional summer reading programs are going online to an ever-increasing extent. While the Calgary Public Library has been hosting electronic summer and winter reading clubs since 1997, this summer Burlington Public Library (Ontario), Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library (Nova Scotia), and the British Columbia Library Association have all followed suit. While many libraries advertise their summer reading clubs on their websites, these four are notable for the way they take advantage of opportunities for interactivity online. Elements common to most of these readings clubs include: online registration forms and reading logs; reading lists, usually organized by age group; invitations to email in personal book reviews; online games and contests; links to educational sites related to the reading theme; links to Internet safety sites for children and parents; and promotion of in-library activities related to the club, such as movies and author readings. The success of these sites is threefold. They contribute to Internet literacy for both children and parents as they learn to navigate the Internet, promote safe Internet use, and, of course, build traditional reading literacy. They also encourage continued walk-in use of the library by drawing children and parents into the library for special events and activities, as well as for books, making the library a site of family recreation. For more
information, check out these websites: CANARIE ANNOUNCES NEW INNOVATION FUNDOn September 15, CANARIE Inc. announced a new cost-sharing program, established with funding from Industry Canada, which is designed to enhance innovation in Canada's education and training sector. The CANARIE Learning Program is a $25 million, four-year program to support the development of broadband applications that promote learning at all levels. Its 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. Projects may include large-scale demonstrations, research test-beds, repositories for learning objects, and other innovations designed to have a broad impact on the education and training sector. The first competition for the CANARIE Learning Program opens immediately and is expected to fund as many as a dozen projects. The maximum support that any single project will receive is $2 million. CANARIE, Canada's Advanced Internet Development Organization, works in collaboration with industry, governments, and research and education communities to leverage the enabling capacity of the Internet to deliver the benefits of the information age to Canadians. For more
information: OFFICE OF LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES - CALL FOR PROPOSALSHuman Resources Development Canada's Office of Learning Technologies (OLT) works with partners to expand innovative learning opportunities through technology. Among its activities, OLT provides support for projects that contribute to a better understanding of learning technologies and how to use and adapt them for adult learners at home, at work and in their communities. OLT is soliciting proposals for funding consideration under the Learning Technologies Initiative until the deadline of November 1, 1999. This initiative addresses two themes: how learning technologies can help reduce barriers to learning, and how learning technologies can assist workers in improving or up-grading their skills. Proposals must focus on adult learners and meet the specific program themes, objectives and assessment criteria described in the OLT Guidelines dated September 1999. Funding will be for activities starting in January 2000. The Guidelines
and Application Form are available at: Information regarding a related OLT program, the Community Learning Networks Initiative, can also be found at the above URL. Public libraries are considered strong candidates for either program, and are encouraged to apply. For more
information: GENERATIONS CANCONNECTGenerations CanConnect is a new Industry Canada-sponsored program in which youth interview seniors, write stories, and create web pages posted on a site with photographs and images of treasured objects. The Generations CanConnect process was featured at the International Federation on Ageing's recent global conference in Montreal (September 5-9, 1999). Through a partnership with Volunteer Grandparents of Canada, youth from two Montreal-area Boys and Girls Clubs interviewed delegates and developed profiles for the Generations CanConnect web site. Elementary and secondary school teachers, as well as leaders in other youth organizations (including libraries), are invited to apply to Industry Canada to participate in a Generations CanConnect project. Upon completion of a web site containing a set of 25 profiles, organizations are eligible to receive $300. For more
information: HISTORICAL GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS ONLINEThe Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions (CIHM) welcomes comments and input from the library and academic communities and interested researchers on its new project - the digitization and online publication of selected official documents published before 1920 by the colonial governments, Upper and Lower Canada, the provinces and territories, and the Dominion of Canada. CIHM will first make preservation copies of the government documents on microfilm, and then provide access to the collection as electronic images via Early Canadiana Online at http://www.canadiana.org/. The end result will be a searchable full-text collection available by license across the country and to foreign scholars. For more
information: AMICUS NOW AVAILABLE ON THE WEBThe National Library's Access AMICUS on the Web is a new user-friendly graphical interface accommodating the needs of novice and expert searchers. Blending the best of Access AMICUS, resAnet and Romulus, it offers fee-based service to over 18 million records with over 30 million holdings in 500 Canadian libraries, including the National Library. With the introduction of Access AMICUS on the Web, users of AMICUS now benefit from many exciting new features. Clients can request items, through interlibrary loan, from hundreds of Canadian libraries whose holdings are in AMICUS. They can view interlibrary loan policies and services of Canadian libraries and request locations from the National Library for items not found in AMICUS. Users can also hyperlink to electronic publications, and avail themselves of other features useful for reference, interlibrary loan and cataloguing such as saving, downloading and customizing records. For more
information: NATIONAL LIBRARY RESOURCE-SHARING WEBSITEThe National Library has created a new web site for discussion of national resource sharing strategy. The site includes documents describing resource sharing trends and issues based on the results of a survey of Canadian libraries conducted earlier this year, minutes of meetings of the Resource Sharing Review Working Group, and summaries of consultations and focus group sessions held with major stakeholders. Librarians are encouraged to examine the documents and send input to any member of the Working Group. Visit the
site at: CANADA HEALTH INFOWAYThe Advisory Council on Health Infostructure released its final report on how new information and communications technologies could be used to build a better health care system for the 21st century in February of this year. The report, entitled The Canada Health Infoway: Paths to Better Health, envisions a health care system that provides health care professionals and providers access to state-of-the-art health care information and technologies. For example, it foresees a system in which those caring for a specific patient will always have that patient's medical history available to them at the time and place of treatment; where those having to make a complex diagnosis will have access to up-to-date information from anywhere in the world; and those treating a patient, no matter where they are, will have access to technologies and expertise previously available only in urban centres. The Canada Health Infoway will respond to these needs by offering the channels to collect, analyze, extract and share information. The plan includes report cards to the public to improve the overall accountability of the health care system. The complete
text of the report is available in PDF format at: ONLINE WEB SITE DESIGN COURSEDesigning A Library/Informational Web Site (106079) is a six week online course offered by Langara College Continuing Studies Department (Vancouver BC), starting the week of Monday, October 4. Participants will learn how to design an effective Web Site that users will return to again and again. Topics include: planning, content development, information management, design, production and implementation. In addition to learning the key concepts behind effective web design, participants will also create and publish several web pages and using Netscape Communicator (freeware.) The course is delivered using WebCT, a popular online learning environment that is easy to use. The course fee is $225. To register, telephone 604-323-5322, fax 604-323-5899, or visit the Langara College Continuing Studies Web Site at http://www.langara.bc.ca/cs/. For further
information: Merryn Kloepfer, Program Coordinator CONFERENCE AND WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENTSE-Commerce
Videoconference Workshop for Governments, Libraries, Archives and Museums
("GLAMS") Locations:
Learn about how E-Commerce can help your organization make money and promote services and products online. In this unique half day seminar, participants will learn how governments, libraries, archives and museums are selling content and services on the Net, assess and establish digital goals, and develop an e-commerce strategy. For more
information or to register: Research
Libraries Group Workshop on Managing Digital Imaging Projects The Council of Federal Libraries' Library Preservation Committee and the Canadian Library Association are offering a two day Research Libraries Group workshop on Managing Digital Imaging Projects. This workshop is designed to assist librarians, archivists, curators, and preservation administrators in managing digital imaging projects. Through lectures, demonstrations, and group exercises, participants will learn to:
This will be the last time that this popular workshop will be offered by the Research Libraries Group and the only time it is offered in Canada. Space is limited to 35 participants. A block of rooms have been reserved for out of town participants at the Ramada Hotel and Suites. The rate is $91/night plus tax. Please quote file # 9704. (613) 238-1331 or 1-800-267-8378. For more
information or to register: Integrating
Government with New Technologies '99 This conference will bring together senior officials and professionals from both public and private sectors to discuss evolving new technologies, the policies which governments are forming in order to face the new challenges, and how electronic services and transactions are being implemented. Keynote speakers will include Ian E. Wilson, National Archivist of Canada; Ralph Heintzman, Assistant Secretary, Service and Innovation, Treasury Board Secretariat; and Grant Westcott, Assistant Deputy Minister, GTIS, Public Works and Government Services Canada. For more
information or to register: If
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