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In: dloc

News from the University of Florida (here and copied below): Concert to benefit libraries, archives damaged in the Haiti earthquake September 22, 2010. GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida will host a fundraiser on Oct. 22 in University Auditorium to benefit the Protecting Haitian Patrimony Initiative, which brings together international contributors to support vulnerable libraries and archives in Haiti damaged in the Jan. 12 earthquake. The fundraiser will feature music and dance performances celebrating the African diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean. Performances will include capoeira, Afro-Brazilian dance, Afro-Haitian dance, reggae, Afro-Peruvian music, samba music and more. Choreographers and performers include professor ElizabethRead More →

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In: UFDC, usability

The URLs for the UF Digital Collections are now shorter and easier. The new programming, by Mark Sullivan, to support simplified URLs: Shortens the base URL for UFDC Prevents server names from showing (an ongoing issue during the major server move) Removes the need for the aggregation code type indicator (the a, c , g, or s to indicate the aggregation between the “?” and “=”) Removes the requirement for the aggregation query (which is “?=” and very confusing) Enables the ability to assign new, persistent names for aggregation codes With these now in place, the persistent URL displayed for the main collection pages haveRead More →

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In: design, SobekCM, technologies, UFDC

In addition to great added functionality like item-level statistics for external users, the UF Digital Collections‘ underlying SobekCM system is always improving in terms of internal infrastructure. One recent major enhancement is the “Directory” view. The Directory View is very important to ensure we can easily and quickly check and verify all files, including all metadata files, and locate, copy, and send any files per patron request. This was a very small technical change, with significant day-to-day operational benefits. In keeping with principles for smart design, the internal Directory View is built within the same external user views – ensuring that we trouble-shoot and verifyRead More →

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In: statistics, UFDC

The UF Digital Collections (UFDC) greatly benefit from the statistical tracking of items, pages, and usage. Most recently, those statistics were augmented at the item level for easy item-level statistics for each and every item.  The item-level statistics, like all of the usage statistics for UFDC, are cleaned for robots and other automated systems to ensure that the usage is actual usage by humans and not simply machine checks. One of our favorite examples is a particular version of The 3 Little Kittens, which has been viewed over 15,000 times since it loaded in 2008.  The full item-level statistics for the item are shown inRead More →

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In: printondemand, technologies

Rice University Press went all digital in 2006 and will be closing completely in September. As noted in this Chronicle article, this is particularly sad news because Rice’s experiment with going all digital held so much promise for greater sustainability. The Chronicle article mentions an important point that I hadn’t realized: that Rice had a catalog of only approximately 20 titles. This makes sense given the labor required to edit and publish an academic text – whether digital and/or in print. However with so few volumes, the long tail effect doesn’t have much of a chance of being sustainable. I hope that the announcement ofRead More →

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In: interoperability, LinkedData, standards, technologies

From the SNAC website: Leveraging the new standard Encoded Archival Context-Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families (EAC-CPF), the SNAC Project will use digital technology to “unlock” descriptions of people from finding aids and link them together in exciting new ways. We will: Create efficient open-source tools that allow archivists to separate the process of describing people from that of records. Create a prototype integrated historical resource and access system that will link descriptions of people to one another and to descriptions of resources in archives, libraries and museums; online biographical and historical databases; and other diverse resources.Read More →

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In: SobekCM, technologies, tools, UF, UFDC

Mark Sullivan, the UFDC/DLC/dLOC programmer, recently shared this information. It’s exciting to see that SobekCM (our digital asset management system, digital library system, and digital production tool set) is such a streamlined solution with so much functionality. There are seven projects which make up the SobekCM solution. In those projects, there are: 113,643 lines of code ( not comments or empty lines ) 23,452 lines of comments 420 files 60 folders 544 classes ( 55 abstract classes, 1 windows form, 5 ASPX pages ) 14 interfaces The main two projects are: 1) SobekCM_Bib_Package which has all the code to represent digital objects, read metadata, writeRead More →

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In: ARL, copyright, cultural heritage

Press Release: For immediate release: August 4, 2010 For more information, contact: Karla Strieb Association of Research Libraries 202-296-2296 karla@arl.org ARL Promotes Member Use of Large-Scale Digitization Principles Washington DC— The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Board of Directors unanimously voted on July 26, 2010, to endorse a set of nine principles to guide vendor/publisher relations in large-scale digitization projects of special collections materials, recommended by its Transforming Special Collections in the Digital Age Working Group. The Board’s vote strongly encourages ARL member libraries to refrain from signing future agreements with publishers or vendors, either individually or through consortia, that do not adhere to theRead More →

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In: cfp

News Release The Association of Caribbean Historians (ACH) is pleased to announce the launch of its new website: http://www.associationofcaribbeanhistorians.org It’s the best place to learn about the history, structure and activities of the organization. The ACH is an independent, non-profit, professional organization whose principal activity is an annual conference, alternately hosted by an English-, Spanish-, French-, or Dutch-speaking Caribbean country. To encourage intellectual exchange, all delegates attend each conference session and all papers and discussions are simultaneously translated in English, Spanish and French. We encourage you to visit the website to learn more about our mission and initiatives. *CALL FOR PAPERS:*** The ACH has alsoRead More →

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In: UFDC

Digital Humanities 2011 conference: June 19-22, 2011, with excursions on June 23rd, to be hosted by Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA. The ADHO Programme Committee will be issuing the Call for Papers, Short Papers, Posters, and Panels in late August 2010 with an anticipated deadline in November 2010. This year’s program committee members are: ACH: Bethany Nowviskie, Dot Porter, and Katherine Walter ALLC: Arianna Ciula, John Nerbonne, and Jan Rybicki SDI-SEMI: Dominic Foret, Cara Leitch, and Daniel O’Donnell Local organizers are Glen Worthey and Matt Jockers.Read More →