New & Noteworthy
BookSurgeLibraries Partner with Amazon for Print-on-Demand Program of Historical Materials
BookSurge, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., announced in June agreements that will increase the selection of historical content available to Amazon.com customers. Cornell University Library and Thomson-Gale will join the University of Michigan Library Scholastic Publishing Office (UMSPO) as organizations participating in Amazons Print-On-Demand program, powered by BookSurge technology, to preserve historical book collections and make them available on Amazon.com. The program empowers libraries, museums and archives to publish their unique collections for the benefit of the public and creates additional revenue to further the organizations academic and preservation missions in a time of shrinking funding sources.
Cornell University Library announced plans to use the program to make available nine diverse collections comprising subjects such as the American Civil War and the abolitionist movement; nineteenth and early twentieth century texts in home economics, agriculture, animal science, food science, and rural sociology; and historical western travel narrations of Southeast Asia, as well as important historical works in science and mathematics. Similarly, library services provider Thomson-Gale will make the Sabin-Civil War collection available in print, containing thousands of books published during the Civil War era. The UMSPO implemented the program earlier this year to make books from their 19th century collection available in a wide variety of subject areas including education, psychology, US history, sociology, religion, science and technology.
Amazon's POD program removes the economic barriers associated with traditional book publishing while making titles available to the more than 57 million active customers of Amazon.com. Books are printed as they are ordered,providing an easy and economical way to introduce niche titles, and offering Amazon.com customers a dramatically expanded selection of books to purchase.
For more information, on the Print-on-Demand program: www.booksurge.com/pod.
Lessons LearnedA Case Study in Digital Library Decision Making
In a feature article in the April 2006 issue of the Research Libraries Group(RLG) newsletter RLG DigiNews, Max Marmor offers six lessons learned by the builders of the ARTstor collection of digital images on the occasion of the second anniversary of its launch. ARTstor is a non-profit organization created by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. As part of its ongoing effort to become a community resource, ARTstor is developing a rich digital library that will offer coherent collections of art images and descriptive information as well as the software tools to enable active use of the collections. The ARTstor Library's initial content includes approximately 500,000 images covering art, architecture and archeology. ARTstor's software tools support a wide range of pedagogical and research uses including: viewing and analyzing images through features such as zooming and panning, saving groups of images online for personal or shared uses,and creating and delivering presentations both online and offline. This community resource will be made available solely for educational and scholarly uses that noncommercial in nature.
Marmor summarizes the lessons as follows:
the feasibility and importance of building a campus-wide resource that engages users across a range of disciplines without being balkanized into narrow, discipline-specific collections;
the importance, when it comes to digital images, of providing tools for teaching and research;
the ramifications of such a resource for "buy vs. build" decisions on the part of libraries and other campus entities;
the trade-offs entailed by building valued, "user-driven"collections while also striving to accommodate a strong interest in interoperability with other collections and services;
the (perhaps unique) complexities surrounding contemporary art; and
the challenge represented by the lack of appropriate assessment metrics for online resources that support both research and classroom teaching.
The lessons learned will be of particular interest to others engaging in the work of building digital libraries.
RLG DigiNews (April 15, 2006): www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID=20916
Evergreen Open-Source ILSAnnounces Beta Release
The Evergreen software development team is proud to announce the Evergreen ILS Beta release. Many suggestions have been integrated and bugs fixed in this latest release, including enhancements in cataloging and a more powerful Z39.50 client.
Evergreen is powerful, flexible, open source, enterprise-class ILS being developed by the Georgia Public Library Service for PINES, a consortium of over 250 public libraries. The Evergreen ILS is scheduled to go into production in PINES this fall.
For information on the Evergreen public demo server and where to download the software: http://open-ils.org/blog/?p=57
PINES homepage: www.georgialibraries.org/public/pines.html
Next Generation Catalogs for LibrariesNew Mailing List
Eric Lease Morgan, University Libraries of Notre Dame, has created a mailing list called NGC4Lib – Next Generation Catalogs for Libraries.
NGC4Lib is open to anybody in the world, and its purpose is to discuss things including but not limited to:
Who are the primary intended audiences for a library's "card catalog"?
Considering the changing nature of information access in an Internet environment, how is an electronic "card catalog" of today different from the one designed ten or 15 years ago?
What kind of content should these "card catalogs" contain?
To what degree are these things "catalogs" (as in inventory lists),and to what degree are they finding aids?
To what degree should traditional cataloging practices be used in such a thing, or to what degree should new and upcoming practices such as FRBR be exploited?
How would such a thing get created and by whom?
What are some of the functionalities of "next generation" catalog?
From its start-up on June 6, 2006, the list has generated enthusiastic discussion of these topics and more, and had enrolled 1,245 subscribers within three weeks of launch.
NGC4Lib homepage: http://dewey.library.nd.edu/mailing-lists/ngc4lib/
Innovative InterfacesAnnounces Encore
III recently announced that it is developing a new unified search and access tool called Encore. This discovery services platform leverages Web 2.0 technologies and builds on the foundation of the Millennium integrated library technology platform. With Encore, libraries will be able to directly leverage Millennium to provide next-level public access without having to sacrifice real-time functionality or the unique information and services that make a library a library.
Millennium's integrated tools for authentication, federated searching, and link resolution will be pulled seamlessly into Encore. In this way, patrons arrive at what they need without an extended search path, complex searching strategies, or the need to know a specific solution to their information need. More importantly, libraries will be able to deliver this service without the need for extensive programming resources and technology expertise. Encore's integration with Millennium also means libraries can focus on shaping the patron experience rather than establishing interoperation between service elements.
Features and products planned for the first release of Encore include:
Simultaneous import and display of federated-searching results and link-resolution destinations.
Faceted results display for effortless retrieval of complex data sets.
RightResult relevance ranking enhanced with a new Best Bets feature.
Community tagging of collection to facilitate additional access points and community participation.
Real-time holdings and status information for print and e-resources.
An attractive, easy-to-use, and dynamic user interface with the latest design techniques including the use of AJAX.
ApacheTM-based technology.
Encore is planned for general release in mid-2007 with development partners to be named later this year.
III Press release: www.iii.com/news/pr_template.php?id=290
TalisAnnounces "Mashing Up the Library" Competition to Encourage Innovation
Paul Miller, Senior Manager and Technology Evangelist of Talis, has announced news of a competition intended to encourage innovation in the display, use, and reuse of data from and about libraries. The competition is open to all, and includes a first prize of £1,000 for the best entry. The competition closes on 18 August 2006.
From Jon Udell's early work with LibraryLookup to the current spate of Greasemonkey plug-ins and the structured exposure of web services by Talis,Amazon, Google and others, there are significant advances being made in the ways in which libraries offer their services to the outside world. At least as important is the revolution occurring outside the library, as those beyond the walls take and manipulate library data on their own.
This competition is intended to celebrate and showcase all that is best in these efforts to push library information out to existing audiences in new ways,or to reach totally new audiences with compelling and captivating applications.
The competition is open to anyone, anywhere. Entrants do not need to work in a library, and entries do not need to make use of any Talis product or service. Entrants simply need to have an idea for a way to make better use of existing information from or about libraries, and an ability to turn that idea into a"mash up" or other application that shows it off to good effect.
For more details on how to enter and other requirements, visit the web site at: www.talis.com/tdn/competition
OCLCIntroduces WorldCat.org
For WorldCat libraries, OCLC is introducing WorldCat.org, a new destination Web site that allows Web users outside the library environment to search WorldCat libraries.
To be released August 2006 in beta form, WorldCat.org continues OCLC's efforts – begun with the Open WorldCat program – to make library resources more visible to Web users, and to increase awareness of libraries as a primary source of reliable information and helpful personal assistance. Where Open WorldCat inserts "Find in a library" results within regular search engine results, WorldCat.org provides a permanent destination page and search box that lets a broader range of people discover the riches of library-held materials cataloged in the WorldCat database.
The main attraction of the new site is the WorldCat search box, which allows Web users to search the entire WorldCat database with the method most familiar to them: simple keywords. Search results in this public view of WorldCat are generated directly on WorldCat.org, instead of through Google or Yahoo! Search. Just as in Open WorldCat, each linked search result leads to a Find in a Library information page for an individual item. There the user can enter geographic information, receive a list of nearby WorldCat libraries that own the item, and link right to a library's online catalog record to initiate circulation activity or access electronic content directly. The WorldCat.org search box makes visible all resources in member library collections – the complete WorldCat database – not just the smaller data subsets utilized by Open WorldCat partner sites.
From WorldCat.org, any web user or organization can easily install a free modularized version of the WorldCat.org search box on their personal or commercial web page, allowing even more people to discover WorldCat library content. Libraries inside and outside the OCLC cooperative are encouraged to add the box to their sites so information seekers can optionally expand their search beyond locally-held items to all of WorldCat.
WorldCat.org will also offer these features designed to appeal to a new generation of web users accustomed to instant access, lots of options and anything that facilitates personalization and redistribution:
Free web toolbars and other plug-ins that let people search WorldCat information from an ever-present browser pane.
A variety of open-source software and Web services such as RSS feeds that anyone can register and use. These technology components – part of the developing WorldCat Affiliate Program – will continuously pull defined sets of information out of WorldCat, link to WorldCat search results, or link to WorldCat libraries' online catalogs and services.
The ability to contribute reviews and notes to WorldCat records, or to directly buy an item from a trusted e-commerce partner, both introduced in Open WorldCat.
Links from Open WorldCat results pages to WorldCat.org will allow people who arrive from partner sites to discover the destination site and these library-information accessories.
OCLC plans to release the new site with the downloadable search box in August 2006. The site will initially be considered a beta release, with adjustments in design and function made as feedback is provided by end users and our member libraries.
Thomson ScientificAnnounces Development of Full Suite of Authorship Tools
Thomson Scientific, a leading provider of research and development information solutions to the worldwide scientific community, has announced a robust suite of authorship search tools to simplify the tasks of finding and assessing authors' works. Thomson Scientific has worked carefully to craft an effective, large-scale solution to the complex issue of author identification in the world's largest multidisciplinary citation resource, the Web of Science1,and will be rolling out this initiative beginning July through the end of 2006.
"Through discussions with customers, we realized the daily challenges users face in finding all of an author's works across large multidisciplinary collections and correctly `disambiguating' them from other authors. A simple,quick-fix solution would not meet our users' needs," said Jim Pringle, vice president, product development, Thomson Scientific. "Instead, we have worked closely with researchers over several years to develop a full suite of offerings to address those challenges."
These new tools help researchers find their own works, or those of a colleague, in a simple, single search. Then, they can analyze and report on these works using the powerful tools available in ISI Web of Knowledge.
The suite of Thomson authorship tools in development for ISI Web of Knowledge includes:
Author Finder, a quick process that helps users find papers published by a specific author by leveraging the expert indexing within the ISI Web of Knowledge. Enter a name, then choose from a list of name variants and match the results with subject category and/or institution of the author for whose works you are searching to retrieve works specific to a particular author.
Author Disambiguation – how do you distinguish one V. Lee, from another? Or J. Smith? A new approach solves this problem across a full century of scholarly information. This key challenge has been the focus of a multi-year research effort within Thomson Scientific that has resulted in powerful "disambiguation"algorithms now being applied across the entire Web of Science. Avoiding the pitfalls of a simplistic solution, all of the elements in the indexed records and the full range of citation relationships have been combined with sophisticated mathematical techniques to organize all records in Web of Science by "authorships" – groups of papers by the same author.
Biographical and Bibliographical Information for Highly Cited Authors: A direct link will be available from these authorship groups to www.ISIHighlyCited.com, a collection of some of the world's most highly cited researchers. Web of Science users can link to biographical and bibliographical information from the ISI Web of Knowledge record.
Processing Author Full Names. The processing centers will now capture full author names for all records that contain them, making it simple to determine whether "J. Smith" is John, James or Jane.
More information: http://scientific.thomson.com/
LexisNexisNew LexisNexis Academic Service Prototype Unveiled
LexisNexis US, a leading provider of information and services solutions,unveiled the new LexisNexis1 Academic service prototype during the American Library Association meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, from June 24-27, 2006. This online academic service has new features, functionality and a new look that mirror the new Nexis1 service, which was launched for the corporate and federal marketplace earlier this year. The resemblance between the two services will provide more power and flexibility to all researchers, and help students prepare for careers in the corporate, government and legal sectors.
The redesign makes search easier for both advanced and novice users. Students and new users who are only experienced with mainstream search engines will find it easy to use the new LexisNexis Academic service, as all of its search forms support natural language searching with proprietary LexisNexis query analysis and relevancy ranking.
While users will still have access to the same collection of news, legal and business information, they now gain an enhanced source selection, allowing them to search across broad areas of content in a single search for a big-picture view. As a result of the new interface and enhancements to the proprietary LexisNexis SmartIndexing TechnologyTM, users' search results will be displayed in organized and easy to interpret category clusters. These search results can be classified and filtered by subject, industry, or company, allowing the user to determine the best way to categorize his or her research on every project.
Special adaptations for the academic market include enhanced interoperability to support the systems that libraries use to improve information access, such as link resolvers, federated search and bibliographic software.
The new LexisNexis Academic service will launch in summer 2007, with a Beta release available in January 2007. LexisNexis will be holding a series of Webinars regarding the new LexisNexis Academic service in July and August. Regular updates about the service will be posted at: www.lexisnexis.com/academicmigration
ebrary's eBook Ordering Platform (eBOP)Now in Beta
ebrary1 (www.ebrary.com), a leading eBook technology and services provider, has announced the release of the ebrary eBook Ordering Platform (eBOP) version 1.0 Beta. The new, self-service platform enables librarians to easily search through ebrary's perpetual access eBooks,recommend titles for acquisition by selectors, and build a custom database of eBooks online.
ebrary offers perpetual access eBooks under both a simultaneous multi-user and single-user access model that does not require a check-out period. eBOP will also support ebrary's subscription eBook products in future releases.
The eBOP beta is currently available to a select test group of ebrary customers and will be rolled out to the library market during the third quarter.
More information: www.ebrary.com/
EndeavorAnnounces Release of New Version of Meridian
Endeavor Information Systems has unveiled an enhanced version of Endeavor Meridian, its electronic resource management (ERM) system. Endeavor Meridian 1.5 is designed to help librarians and information professionals efficiently manage electronic resources as well as the licenses and packages associated with those resources. Institutions worldwide recognize the efficiencies that ERM systems provide by supporting all the administrative tasks associated with selecting,evaluating, licensing, acquiring and providing access to E-content. By working closely with its development and field test partners, Endeavor focused on enhancements to Meridian that improve patron access to bibliographic information, expand its localization capabilities and comply with industry standards that will result in more efficient delivery of content to patrons.
The availability of dynamic data exchange between Meridian 1.5 and the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC), an electronic database of a library's holdings,allows patrons to swiftly view and access relevant resource materials and the conditions for their use directly from the OPAC display record. The integration between Meridian and the OPAC is achieved via a web service, which allows an external system to query and receive product, license and interface data from Meridian for use in the external system. The increasing application of web services is part of Endeavors strategy for architecting a Hybrid Library System,an integrated technology framework for managing physical and digital collections within libraries. This web service builds upon existing capabilities for communicating MARC and acquisitions data from an integrated library system (ILS)to Meridian and extends the array of integration options available to libraries. Overall, the use of web services will enhance the level of interaction between Meridian and interfaces from third-party applications and services in a library environment.
In addition to expanding its use of web services, Meridian 1.5 provides support for localization of all elements of the web-based staff interface, which will allow the ERM tool to be translated into any language. With Meridian's expanded infrastructure, libraries desiring additional interface languages will have the opportunity to perform their own translations in order to meet local needs. Interface inheritance extends Meridians capabilities for license inheritance to public access details, allowing a library to make changes at the package level. As these alterations are made, they then "trickle down"to the individual titles included in the package. However, Meridian provides the flexibility of overriding this information at the individual title level, if there is relevant title-specific data to record. Overall, this unique feature simplifies the process of modifying a record in one place and having that update reflected in all corresponding titles.
As industry standards emerge that streamline the communication of serials product and subscription information, Endeavor continues to devote resources ensuring that its product suite supports those initiatives. The introduction of Meridian 1.5 marks the first time that an ERM solution complies with the ONIX Serials Release Notification (SRN), which is designed to support information exchanges about the planned or confirmed publication or electronic availability of one or more serial releases. The SRN message will allow library staff and patrons to view specific information about the most recent issue, including the date on which that issue was made available electronically. This new capability also supports easier troubleshooting and claiming of electronic issues.
Additionally, the new version of Meridian features tighter integration with Endeavor Analyzer, Endeavor's analysis and reporting solution for libraries based on Cognos business intelligence technology. Keeping with the company's goal of making its technology more accessible, Meridian can deliver complete E-resource information to Analyzer whether the library is using Endeavor's Voyager or a third-party ILS. Likewise, enhanced security features in Meridian determine which users have permission to create and write reports with Analyzer.
Endeavor web site: www.endinfosys.com
Networking for Digital PreservationCurrent Practice in 15 National Libraries
A survey on digital preservation practices in the international library world has recently been issued in the IFLA Publication Series. Libraries all over the world have to deal with fast growing numbers of digital materials that need to be safeguarded. Publications in digital form, online or on cd, digitised images,and born-digital objects need to be preserved and kept accessible. Especially for national libraries, safeguarding the digital heritage is a major issue,because of their legal task to preserve the national heritage of a country.
Safe storage of the digital heritage and ensuring access for future use requires libraries to have a trusted digital repository system in place, and to have an ongoing R&D program aimed at developing preservation strategies,such as migration and emulation. In 2005, as digital preservation in libraries was becoming increasingly important, two national libraries already had a fully operational digital repository in place, and in several other countries, the development of digital repositories was well under way.
When planning digital preservation activities and improving cooperation in digital preservation, an overview of recent developments in the field of digital preservation issues could be a valuable aid: Does the day-to-day practice in storing and accessing digital objects illustrate a mutual need for certain standards? Are there currently any standards for the development and building of digital repositories, and how are these being applied? Are there common standards in research on permanent access? Or is it still too early to speak of standards, and is it only possible to distinguish best practices?
The publication provides an overview of the state of the art of digital repositories, preservation strategies and current projects in the national libraries of Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan,Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA. A PDF version of Networking for Digital Preservation: Current Practice in 15 National Libraries is available for download at: www.ifla.org/VI/7/pub/IFLAPublication-No119.pdf
Commission StudyAddresses Europe's Scientific Publication System
The European Commission has published a study which examines the scientific publication system in Europe. Scientific publication ensures that research results are made known, which is a pre-condition for further research and for turning this knowledge into innovative products and services. Scientific publication is also an important part of certifying the quality of the work done. Given the scarcity of public money to provide access to scientific publications, there is a strong interest in seeing that Europe has an effective and functioning system for scientific publication that speedily delivers results to a wide audience. The report, drawn up for the Commission by a panel of experts, makes a number of recommendations for future action, including improving access to publicly-funded research. All interested parties were invited to send feedback on the report's findings to the Commission, to provide input for a conference on scientific publication to be held in autumn 2006.
European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik said, "It is in all our interests to find a model for scientific publication that serves research excellence. We are ready to work with readers, authors, publisher and funding bodies to develop such a model."
The study looked at the economic and technical evolution of scientific publication markets in Europe. It was commissioned as a contribution to on-going public debate on the conditions of access to and dissemination of scientific publications. There have been significant changes in the landscape over the last 30 years, in particular the rise of internet use. The study confirms scientific journals as an essential channel for the dissemination of scientific knowledge. With large amounts of public money invested in research, it becomes increasingly important for publications reporting on that research to be accessible to as wide a public as possible. The study therefore makes a number of recommendations for future action, including:
Guaranteed public access to publicly-funded research, at the time of publication and also long-term.
A "level-playing field" so that different business models in publishing can compete fairly in the market.
Ranking scientific journals by quality, defined more widely than pure scientific excellence, but also taking into account factors such as management of copyright, search facilities and archiving.
Developing pricing strategies that promote competition in the journal market.
Scrutinizing major mergers that may take place in this sector in the future.
Promoting the development of electronic publication, for example by eliminating unfavourable tax treatment of electronic publications and encouraging public funding and public-private partnerships to create digital archives in areas with little commercial investment.
The European Commission has called for reactions to the study, and contributions on other issues linked to scientific publications. The study and its public feedback will be at the centre of a conference on scientific publication to be held in autumn 2006. SINAPSE, the web interface between the scientific community and Europe's policy-makers, will also host a debate on the subject. A consortium led by Professor Mathias Dewatripont of the "UniversitéLibre de Bruxelles" carried out the study.
The study is available for downloading at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/pdf/scientific-publication-study_en.pdf
SINAPSE's web site: http://europa.eu.int/sinapse
dLISTAnnounces New Team of Editors
dLIST, a cross-institutional, subject-based, open access digital archive for the Information Sciences, has announced a dynamic new team of editors to manage contributions in specific subjects:
Charles W. Bailey, Jr, University of Houston Libraries.
Anita Coleman, University of Arizona.
Marija Dalbello, Rutgers University.
Fernando Elichirigoity, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign.
Kristin R. Eschenfelder, University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Cheryl Knott Malone, University of Arizona.
Paul Marty, Florida State University.
Michael May, Carnegie-Stout Public Library.
Soo Young Rieh, University of Michigan.
The editors represent diverse sub-disciplinary communities and work closely with scholars in different fields such as Digital Humanities and Digital Libraries (Dalbello), Government Information and Social Informatics(Eschenfelder), Information Behaviors (Rieh), Museum Information (Marty),Scholarly Communication (Bailey), Science Technologies Studies (Elichirigoity),and Classics (May). The dLIST vision is to serve as a trusted archive and source for scholarly communication in the Information Sciences, including Archives and Records Management, Library and Information Science, Information Systems, Museum Informatics, and other critical information infrastructures.
Some dLIST features include:
DL-Harvest, an open access aggregator, which brings together materials from 14 global and open access archives in the Information Sciences for meta-searching and access to the full-text.
Detailed Usage Statistics, providing usage statistics for each item in dLIST.
RSS feeds and subscription alerts for items deposited in dLIST are available both by individual subjects as well as the entire archive.
dLIST Classics – a new project that will be making fundamental and leading Library and Information Science texts openly accessible in dLIST.
dLIST web site: http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/
Seeking SynchronicityEvaluating Virtual Reference Services
The time is right to evaluate virtual reference services (VRS):
Web-based library reference services have emerged as vital alternatives to the traditional face-to-face (FtF) or telephone reference encounter.
Synchronous, (i.e. chat reference or Ask a Librarian services) and asynchronous (i.e. e-mail) virtual reference services have grown in number and become common features of both public and academic library home pages.
Many virtual reference services were initially supported by grant money, but support is running out for many and sustainability is a critical issue in these times of extremely tight budgets, rapidly changing technology, and continually evolving service models.
Beyond sporadic – usually quantitative – data, little is known about the participants in VRS, including characteristics such as how users determine service excellence, how users rate satisfaction, how and why users choose to use VRS, patterns of user behavior, librarians' satisfaction with their own performance, or how librarians determine success and satisfaction. Even less, indeed a negligible amount, is known about non-users of these services and the reasons they do not choose VRS.
"Seeking Synchronicity" is a project that evaluates the sustainability and relevance of virtual reference services. The project is funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and in-kind contributions from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and OCLC.
This international study, conducted jointly by OCLC and the Rutgers School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, will:
investigate factors influencing the selection and use of chat-based VRS;
study user and staff perceptions of satisfaction;
investigate why non-users of these services do not choose VRS; and
seek to develop research-based recommendations for VRS staff to increase satisfaction.
The methodology involves a combination of data collection and analytical techniques, including quantitative and qualitative approaches. Results will be widely disseminated as the study progresses, since preliminary indications suggest that findings will be immediately relevant and useful to the LIS community.
OAEI '06Campaign Begins
The Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative (OAEI), a coordinated international initiative that has been set up for organizing evaluation of ontology matching systems, has issued a call for matching systems participation in the OAEI '06 Campaign. The OAEI '06 campaign will consist of four tracks gathering six data sets and different evaluation modalities.
The tracks include:
comparison track (systematic benchmark series);
expressive ontologies (e.g. from the anatomy domain);
directories and thesauri (e.g. Google, Yahoo!); and
consensus workshop.
Important dates
Early June, 2006: First publication of test cases.June 28, 2006:Comments on test cases (any time before that date).July 3, 2006: Final publication of test cases.September 4, 2006: Preliminary results due (for interoperability-checking).September 15, 2006: Participants send final results and supporting papers.October 9, 2006: Organizers publish results for comments.November 5 or 6, 2006: OAEI'06 final results ready; Venue– the ISWC'06 workshop on Ontology Matching, OM-2006, GA Center, Athens,Georgia, USA.
Further details of the OAEI'06 campaign, e.g., an evaluation process, and presentation of the results, are available at: http://oaei.ontologymatching.org/2006/
More information about OAEI as well as previous campaigns can be found at: http://oaei.ontologymatching.org/
More information about Ontology Matching can be found at: www.ontologymatching.org/
New Research Bulletin on ETDsFrom EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research
EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) has released a new research bulletin entitled "Institutional strategies and policies for electronic theses and dissertations", authored by Joan K. Lippincott. As noted in the abstract, the "focus of this bulletin is on the development of institutional policies to address ETDs and the changes needed in academic culture to implement robust ETD programs. The value of ETDs as institutional intellectual assets is also explored."
ECAR Research Bulletins, issued as frequent electronic updates, provide an overview of key IT developments and illustrate their impact on higher education. Research bulletins provide concise, insightful analyses of current topics that may range from products and services to policy and legislation. One goal of ECAR research bulletins is to provide credible, thoughtful, and timely analyses of important IT-related developments in higher education. Current research bulletins are available by subscription, and early bulletins are publicly available.
Report (PDF): www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ERB0613
Research Bulletin listing: www.educause.edu/ResearchBulletins/1007
