Well we have nearly reached the end of another year and what a year this has been with much football excitement and many challenges.  I know that everyone is feeling the need to slow down and relax a bit and though many have gone off on their leave breaks already there are still a few of us slogging away. So happy reading.

It is with great sadness that we closed the Wits Office in Senate House on the 10th of December and bid farewell to Lorraine Young who ran the office for the past year or two.

It is also with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to Lawson Ricketts the Assitant Manager of the VUMA! Portal Programme.

We shall miss you both!!!

This will be the last posting for 2010 so I want to say Best Wishes for season and travel safely and see you in the New Year

The Staff of FOTIM wish you well over the festive season and strength for the new year and thank you for all the support given us during 2010

Anke, Lawson, Lorraine, Tanya and Carole

(PS read about the book tree below under Library Trivia Notes)

* To all staff members who wrote exams. Let’s hope they went well.

The GAELIC Strategic Plan

Well the GAELIC Summer Camp 2010 has come and gone and we had a really good time with lots of networking and discovery of new ideas or different ways to do thing. Read all about it and access the presentations here.

Once again thanks to all who participated by presenting or attending this event and thanks again to the National Library of South Africa (Pretoria Campus) for the use of their facilities.

The Unisa Library is the first academic library in Africa to introduce this service on wheels which allows then the  opportunity to take library material, resources and training to remote clients.

Congratulations to the President, Ms Naomi Haasbroek and the President-elect, Ms Ujala Satgoor We wish you and the Representative Council much success.

12^th LIASA Annual Conference opening speech by Ms Lulu Xingwana is now available on the LIASA website Take a look >>>

SA Library week- 19-26 March2011

The theme for the 2011 SA Library week is  “Read in Your Language @ Your Library”. One of the aims is to get the slogan translated into all 11 official languages. The lack of a reading culture is of great concern and greater awareness should be raised.  While reading is high on the agenda from various sectors, the Library Week theme speaks to this issue, stresses the importance of mother tongue instruction while at the same time promotes the use of libraries.  Read more here>>>>

A new revamped Rhodes University Library ….

Take a look at the new library Photos

Read about the project here >>>>

The Bodleian Library expands
The official opening of the library’s new £26-million ($41-million U.S.) book storage facility in South Marston, Wiltshire. Over the next year, nearly six million books will be moved there this is the biggest book move since the Bodleian first opened its doors to scholars in 1602…. (from BBC News, Oct. 7)

• IFLA Annual Report 2009 Access the Complete 2009 Annual Report (28 pages; PDF)

• African Portal: an Open Access repository on Public Policy The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) announced the launch of the Africa Portal, an tool to share insights on Africa and publish work on policy issues.  A collaboration between CIGI, Makerere University in Kampala, and the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg it features an online library collection, issues section, experts directory, and international events calendar  Being open access the information is free for full-text download.

The NLSA joins the World Digital Library Project : John Tsebe signed a partnership agreement with the World Digital Library Project (WDLP), a joint project of the Library of Congress and UNESCO, which makes significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world available on the internet   From a U.S. Embassy (South Africa Announcement):

The FOTIM Board have decided to close the foundation and to find new homes for the programmes. Please read the letter here. We are all busy trying to negotiate a friendly “take over” for all the programmes. The FOTIM Office has closed permanently on the Wits Campus.  We bid a sad farewell to Lorraine Young who ran the office for the past year or so. The virtual offices will be closing for the Summer break from the 15^th December until early in 2011 and any further contact with the foundation can be made directly through the programme managers.

We hope to continue for a few months still to enable us to shut down all processes and finish off all projects but we will not be planning anything new.

VUMA! Portal Notes

The Vuma! portal continues to be developed and add value to the student first year and adapting to student life experiences.  Some of the new content is in the form of Toolkits that help students to deal with such issues as money matter, careers choices, financial aid advice and the overall education system in South Africa.  These kits have been developed for students to access information, quizzes, videos, fast facts and more aimed at helping students adjust and make the most of university and life.   We encourage you to register and try them out.

MONEY TOOLKIT - information on banking, budgeting and spending. Videos, quizzes, fast facts, glossary and more.

CAREER TOOLKIT – Start mapping your career today. Access information, quizzes, videos, and start your own Career Log.

FINANCIAL AID TOOLKIT - Find out more about all your financial aid options. Information, quizzes, fast facts, glossary and more.

STUDY GUIDE TO SOUTH AFRICAN EDUCATION TOOLKIT – This is a good place to brush up on the study options available to you in South Africa. Access tons of resources, quizzes and more to learn about how the South Education system works and how it can benefit you as a student.

Disability Project

The SALIT Project

Thank you to all for their participation in our survey. The results are being analysed and the report is scheduled to come out in early 2011.

Hopefully you have all received your video on the training of library staff  as well.  Read about the Open Rose group here >>>>>

The South African Library for the Blind in proud to announce that its catalog is now available to all on the Library’s Website. www.salb.org.za

Access, library exceptions named top WIPO priorities
At the November meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) a 2-year plan was drawn up to improve access for the print disabled and identify potential library exceptions in international treaty agreements. (District Dispatch, Nov. 15)

Text to Speech: “Elsevier Enables Its E-Books to Read Aloud, Increasing Access for People with Print Disabilities” December 8, 2010 17:33  Read the article from Resource Shelf

III news              

Innovative Interfaces, Inc.has endorsed the recommendations of the Knowledge  Base and Related Tools (KBART) Working Group, (comprising NISO and the UK Serials Group) to improve data quality in the knowledge base supply chain. Read more>>>

Neil Block is named as the new Innovative Interfaces President who will cover sales, marketing, product development, and customer service. He will report directly to Jerry Kline, Founder and Chairman of Innovative Interfaces. Read more>>>>

Report back from the :IUG-SA 9^th Conference on Millennium Maximized! :

Congratulations to UNISA for winning the GAELIC floating trophy for the most presentations

Read more here >>>>

Technology notes

• How to maintain your PC

Eric Griffith writes: … perform some consistent maintenance for a PC to treat you well in return…. 14 things you can do to repair your relationship with your computer.      (from PC Magazine, Oct. 8)

• How to clean malware from your computer

Seth Rosenblatt show you how to remove malware infections from your computer. FAQ and this How To video (3:40)
CNET: Download Blog, Oct. 19

• Crucial trends in 2011

Sean Fitzpatrick writes that he realized from reading the ‘11 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2011.’ How nearly all are relevant for libraries (from AL: Perpetual Beta, Dec. 1)

• Bit.ly now generates QR codes Read how you can automatically generate QR codes which can be used by a mobile QR code reader to direct you to shortened links. To create a QR code, visit bit.ly, write or paste in a URL address, click “shorten,” and add .qr to the end of the generated bit.ly link.   (Mashable, Oct. 13)

• The Desk Setup
  21 librarians reveal what hardware and software they use and what their dream setups are. By Brett Bonfield

15 useful mobile apps for conferences
15 apps that are helpful at conferences and events but maybe not so useful elsewhere. By Aliza Sherman (GigaOM, Oct. 20)

EBooks: “DAISY to Epub converter announced by Don Johnston Inc.” Don Johnston Incorporated, announced a new software conversion tool, DAISYtoEPUB. This tool converts DAISY 3 (Digital Accessible Information System) electronic files into EPUB, an XML format to easily navigate through digital books and publications.  Read more>>>

Capacity Building  Notes

• Training? Now more than ever by Betha Gutsche

“As trainers, we don’t question the value of staff development” But do our managers, directors, and funding agencies agree with us?. Here are two reasons why training is essential and three key efforts for moving it forward.”…  (ALA Learning, Nov. 30)

• The academic librarian’s identity conflict

Stephen Bell writes about our role in higher education and where we fit into the structure of colleges and universities…
(from ACRLog, Dec. 1)

• Is it our job to teach? Read what Eveline Houtman has to say in “Trying to figure it out”: Academic librarians talk about learning to teach” in Library and Information Research, Vol 34, No 107 (2010) . Full Text: PDF

• Libraries and digital access

British Library Chief Executive Lynne Brindley writes: “To continue to play their part in enriching the cultural life of the nation, libraries and archives are going to have to work fast and take the digital lead.

• Read the British Library’s 10-year strategy plan.

2020 Vision (PDF file)

• See the British Library online exhibition that showcases 21st-century research tools…. ,       Growing Knowledge: The Evolution of Research, (The Telegraph (U.K.), Oct. 15)

• ARL’s 2030 scenarios on the future roles of researcher and collections

Read the guide to scenario planning, which identifies four main areas.  By Lynn Blumenstein

1. The Research Entrepreneur
2. Reuse and Recycle .
3. Disciplines in Charge .
4. Global Followers .

or Read more about the scenario project here  project’s website.

or the four scenarios

or Read the comments on the  roles of the librarian in the 4 scenarios by Jennifer Howard         Four very different futures imagined for academic libraries (from Chronicle of Higher Education, Oct. 19; Association of Research Libraries, Oct. 19)

• The Unknown cataloguer

” So, let’s hear it for the Unknown Cataloger playing her or his part in the sublime mission of preserving and transmitting the human record and the more mundane task of enabling the discoveries of Professor Hebden-Snorkel and her many colleagues that will, if all goes well, …..”   Read more>>>

Gaming

Celebrating National Gaming Day
Read about a National Gaming Day and other gaming resources such as Games and Gaming Resources wiki, especially the Advocacy and Gaming and Literacy sections, the Librarian’s Guide to Gaming.  (from AL: Ask the ALA Librarian, Oct. 26)

Look also at this useful list of links ………..The Connection Between Literacy and Gaming

Metedata notes

• Metadata: Proceedings from the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative 2010 Conference in Pittsburgh, PA.  Table of Contents: Proceedings from DCMI 2010 Conference with thanks from Resource Shelf

• “What Does Open Bibliographic Metadata Mean for Academic Libraries?” November 15, 2010

Go Direct to “The Open Bibliographic Data Guide” from JISC

Need help with RDA ……

RDA print snapshot now available
RDA: Resource Description and Access. Published by ALA, this resource  is available to help cataloguers evaluate RDA.

The online RDA Toolkit includes PDFs, but purchasing the print version offers a convenient, time-saving option….  ALA Publishing, Dec. 3

SHARING

The British Library is set to share millions of catalogue records for free to researchers and other libraries.  Read more here

Digitization Notes

Database and Directory of Newspaper Digitization Projects and Digitized Newspapers Worldwide The directory is browsable and searchable. Go Directly to ICON: International Coalition on Newspapers

Read about Andrew Rens, the former leader of Creative Commons South Africa

from Creative Commons » CC News by Allison Domicone

Letter from featured Superhero Andrew Rens, former Lead for CC South Africa

• Dead Sea Scrolls To Be Digitized in New Project from Israel’s Antiquities Authority and Google   Read more>>>October 19, 2010 18:43    Look at the exhibition

The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library is to document the entire collection of the Dead Sea Srolls by using updated  technologies  to image the entire collection of 900 manuscripts comprising c. 30,000 Dead Sea Scrolls fragments and to make the digitized images freely available and accessible to anyone anywhere in the world on the internet.  With thanks from Resource Shelf

• Read about the Electronics Archives Preservation Policy created by the workgroup with members from UJ, UP, UNISA and NRF.

• From a World Bank Announcement: The World Bank makes available an Open Access Collection of all World Development Reports from 1978 . Take a Look

The site also features quick links to World Bank open databases, RSS feeds, new content alerts, and COUNTER-compliant usage statistics for librarians.

Bibliotheca Alexandria adopts the use of the Summon web-scale discovery service to modernize access to its expansive collections through an integrated search of all types of content—print, digital and every format in between – from a single search box. Read more

• Microsoft Windows is 25 years old!!!  

25 years of Microsoft Windows
Preston Gralla takes you through the image gallery highlighting the system’s development.  Computerworld, Nov. 19

• New futuristic library in the Netherlands

Are users customers? The architects of the new library in Almere, The Netherlands designed the library using the appeal of a retail store. Books are arranged in themed zones rather than by call number and are displayed cover out, spine out, or in small piles. The meandering bookcases create an adventurous, textured environment….
Contemporist, Nov. 18   

Booking to the future
The Colorado State Library conducted a survey to check current library professionals’ predictions for the future of the paper book.  From an  American Libraries feature

The Association of College and Research Libraries comes up with the more tools.  Along with other very valuable reports such as  Futures Thinking for Academic Librarians (PDF), the 2010 Top Ten Trends in Academic Libraries, and the Value of Academic Libraries report, the ACRL has now compiled the new ACRL Plan for Excellence (PDF) and invite comment and input.