What is on the five-year horizon for academic and research libraries? The NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Library Edition examines key trends, significant challenges, and important developments in technology for their impact on academic and research libraries worldwide. via NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Library Edition | NMC.org.
Tag Archives: libraries
Creating the First Cultural #DigitalLibrary in Canada’s North | University of Alberta #libraries #culture
(Edmonton) When you live 400 kilometres from the nearest library, getting information can be a real challenge. Professor Ali Shiri of the University of Alberta’s School of Library and Information Studies is leading a project to address this issue. Together with co-investigator Dinesh Rathi, Shiri and a team of collaborators have begun to bridge the information gap for some of Canada’s most isolated people with a project called Digital Library North.
Currently, people in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region—an area that spans 90,650 square kilometres—must travel to the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre to access hard-copy information. The challenges with distance and winter above the treeline limit the access. The SSHRC-funded project will create a digital library infrastructure to address the unique information needs in Canada’s northern regions over the next three years. READ MORE: Creating the first cultural digital library in Canada’s North | University of Alberta.
Smithsonian’s @Kickstarter to Show Neil Armstrong’s Spacesuit Blasts Past Goal | Mashable #libraries #museums
May inspire other museums, libraries and archives to launch Kickstarter campaigns!
When the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum launched Reboot the Suit, a Kickstarter campaign to preserve and display Neil Armstrong’s iconic Apollo 11 spacesuit, they set a goal of $500,000. With two hours left of the campaign, they’ve raised over $715,000 from more than 9,400 backers. READ MORE: Smithsonian’s Kickstarter to show Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit blasts past goal | Mashable.
Five Great Questions I Was Asked As A #Reference #Librarian | BookRiot #libraries #books #reading
Danika’s post that asked how well we would do on the bookseller’s quiz show got me thinking about some of the best questions I was asked when I worked as a reference librarian. Anyone who knows anything about libraries knows that all patron interactions are private and that librarians never, ever share information about those who ask questions or seek advice. Anonymity is of the utmost importance.
That said, I’ve been out of libraries now for a while and feel confident enough that all of these questions are generic and rendered anonymously enough as to not be pinpointed to any individual. I thought it would be fun to compile a handful of the best, most unique, and most head-scratching questions I was asked as a reference librarian. READ MORE: Five Great Questions I Was Asked As A Reference Librarian |
BOOK RIOT.
British Library Asks for Help Deciphering Medieval Sword | CNET #libraries #museums #language
Image Credit: The British Library
A sword on display at the British Library has an 800-year-old mystery engraved on its blade. Dating back to between 1250 and 1330 AD, the sword was discovered in the east of England, in the River Witham near Lincoln, in the 19th century. The sword is a particularly fine double-edged steel weapon of English design. It was most likely forged in Germany and belonged to a wealthy man or a knight.
The hilt is cross-shaped, which is normal for swords from this period of the Middle Ages, and is heavy enough to have cloven a man’s head in twain if swung with sufficient strength.
But the sword, on loan to the library from the British Museum, does have a couple of highly unusual features. Down the centre of the blade, it has two grooves known as fullers, where most blades only have one. On one side, it also bears an inscription:
+NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI+
It’s not the presence of the inscription that has researchers nonplussed, but its content: Experts don’t know what the inscription means. READ MORE: British Library asks for help deciphering a medieval sword | CNET.
Biodiversity Heritage Library Launches #Crowdsourcing #Games | Library Journal #libraries #search #gamification #volunteer
The Purposeful Gaming and BHL project recently launched its first two browser-based video games, Smorball and Beanstalk. Both are designed to offer players a fun online diversion while helping the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) enable full-text searching of digitized materials. Funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which was awarded in December 2013, the project is exploring how games might be used to entice people to participate in crowdsourcing efforts at libraries and museums. READ MORE: Biodiversity Heritage Library Launches Crowdsourcing Games | Library Journal
Research Summary: #Competencies for Professionals in Learning Labs and #Makerspaces | Kyungwon Koh | Academia.edu #libraries
[T]he authors conducted a research project in order to identify the competencies required for professionals to perform innovative services in library or museum Learning Labs and Makerspaces. READ ARTICLE: Research Summary: Competencies for Professionals in Learning Labs and Makerspaces | Kyungwon Koh | Academia.edu.
Student Finds Old Parchment In University Library, Turns Out It’s Probably The World’s Oldest Quran | HuffPost #Quran #libraries #artifacts #religion
http://embed.live.huffingtonpost.com/HPLEmbedPlayer/?segmentId=55aff7fd02a76081990002ef&autoPlay=false
A Ph.D. student who stumbled upon several ancient pieces of paper hidden in another book may have inadvertently discovered pages from the world’s oldest Quran, researchers at the University of Birmingham in England announced Wednesday.
Radiocarbon dating estimates the pages, likely made of sheep or goat skin, are 1,370 years old, the BBC reports. The testing is more than 95 percent accurate, meaning the parchment is probably from the era of Prophet Muhammad, who is thought to have lived between the years 570 and 632. READ MORE: Student Finds Old Parchment In University Library, Turns Out It’s Probably The World’s Oldest Quran | Huffington Post.
Digital #Storytelling: An Opportunity for #Libraries to Lead in the Digital Age | Dr. Brian Detlor | Slideshare #tech #society
10+ Free #Workshops to Keep #Kids Busy This Summer | LifeHacker
List of workshops relates mainly to residents living in the USA. Broken out into the following categories: technology, crafts and building, and lastly outdoor and indoor sports. At least provides parents and caregivers living in other countries workshop/project/camp ideas. I suggest looking at summer programming at your local community library!
School’s out, but that doesn’t mean kids have to stop learning or being creative. The free workshops and activities below will keep kids from getting bored and parents from wondering what to do with them every day or weekend. MORE: 10+ Free Workshops to Keep Kids Busy This Summer | LifeHacker
infophile 