MLC Blog

Photos from Teaching Technology to Patrons

Photos from the special program have been uploaded to MLC’s Flickr account. Click here to view the new set.

1 comment April 10th, 2008

Library Camp photos

Pics from Library Camp at Ann Arbor District Library have been added to MLC’s Flickr account. You can click here to see the new set.

1 comment March 25th, 2008

UofM Announces 1 Millionth Digitized Book

The University of Michigan announced the digitization of the millionth book this weekend. Most of the million volumes are products of the Michigan Digitization Project, a partnership with Google to digitize the entire U-M collection.

Congrats U of M Library! One million down and 6.5 million to go!

1 comment February 4th, 2008

The Library of Congress and Flickr

Check out the Library of Congress blog:

Great story about  the launch of a brand-new pilot project with Flickr, the enormously popular photo-sharing site.

More than 3,000 photos from two of the most popular collections are being made available on a new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist.

“We want people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves.”

Add comment January 16th, 2008

Perceptions 2007 library automation survey report

Marshall Breeding’s article, “Perceptions 2007: an International Survey of Automation,” was posted yesterday by Library Technology Guides.

Marshall writes:

“The year 2007 saw considerable upheaval in the library automation industry. To get some sense of the aftermath of the recent rounds of mergers, acquisitions, product consolidations, and to gauge interest in open source automation systems, I created and executed a survey that aims to measure the prevailing perceptions in libraries.

… The survey results indicate major differences in satisfaction in the products and companies from which libraries acquire their automation systems. Dissatisfaction and concern prevail, yet some companies maintain exceptional levels of satisfaction from the libraries that use their products.”

Click here for the complete article. Click here to view the interactive version of the survey’s statistical results.

1 comment January 10th, 2008

The Well-Wired Use Libraries More

New York Times
The Well-Wired Use Libraries More

By ALEX MINDLIN

Library use is far more prevalent among people who have a broadband Internet connection at home or at work, according to a new study. The finding counters a decade-old assumption that libraries serve as a “bridge” for people who want to use the Internet, but have only dial-up connections, or no access at all.

“People in the low-access population don’t often think, ‘If I only had the Internet, I’d be in a different position,’” said Lee Rainie, director for the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which performed the study in tandem with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The study also found that people 18 to 30 years old were the age group most likely to have recently used a library. “They are the most recently in school,” said Mr. Rainie, “so they potentially have a better sense of the way that libraries have become more wired and more high-tech.”

1 comment January 7th, 2008

MLC Seminar in Second Life tonight

If you have an avatar in Second Life, please join us tonight for a seminar at MLC’s Second Life building (7pm Michigan time). Please contact Evette Atkin (atkine@mlcnet.org) if you need help with coordinates.

Group Notice From: Evie Mikazuki

Join MLC tonight at 4pm SL for the presentation, “Breathing new life into your Digital Collections: The University of Detroit-Mercy Black Abolitionist Archive.” This talk will be given by Rosie Kidd, of the UDM site on Eduisland.

Add comment December 6th, 2007

RDA Meeting Summary Online

The Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA has announced the Outcomes of their October meeting on their web site. RDA - Resource Description and Access - is a new standard that will replace AACR2, scheduled for release in 2009.

We at MLC are excited to announce that RDA expert, Chris Oliver of McGill University, will be a presenter on RDA at MLC’s Technical Services Conference in Lansing on April 15, 2008. Chris is the author of “Changing to RDA.”

To see the complete conference agenda and to register online, see Technical Services Conference on MLC’s workshop registration page.

1 comment November 26th, 2007

MLC Jan-June 2008 Workshop Schedule online

Online registration is now open for MLC’s January-June 2008 workshops. Check out our line-up of 50 sessions at: https://members.mlcnet.org/workshops/ We have something for everyone, including workshops on Flickr, YouTube, RSS, cataloging, reference, copyright, licensing, Second Life, podcasting, and more. Plus — new this February 26! — “Tune In! Media and Technology for Youth Services.” Register now before the holiday rush!

In addition to our regular hands-on workshops, we are offering three special programs this semester:
February 19, 2008 - MeL Users Day (Lansing Center)
March 17, 2008 - Jessamyn West’s Teaching Technology in Libraries (LCC West)
April 15, 2008 - Technical Services Conference (LCC West)

To register online and for complete descriptions of MLC’s regular workshops and special programs, go to: https://members.mlcnet.org/workshops/ The print schedule will be mailed out this week and is also available online in PDF format.

If you have any questions about MLC’s workshops, special programs or registration system, please feel free to contact Heather Thomas at thomash@mlcnet.org or 800530-9019 x133.

1 comment November 20th, 2007

MLC Presentations at the MLA Conference

Are you attending the MLA Annual Conference in Lansing this week? MLC staff are involved with a number of presentations.

Evette Atkin is presenting a program on Second Life on Thursday at 10:45am (see News for details). Louise Bugg is presenting a MeLCat program on Wednesday at 4:00pm, and Suzanne Robinson is presenting on MeL Databases on Thursday at 8:45am (see MeL blog for details).

MLC staff will also be demo’ing the Evergreen open-source ILS at the MLC booth #23-24 (see Evergreen blog for details).

Hope to see you there!

1 comment November 6th, 2007