D-Lib Magazine
February 2002

Volume 8 Number 2

ISSN 1082-9873

In Brief

OpenURL Standardization Moving Forward

Contributed by:
Eric F. Van de Velde
Director of Library Information Technology
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California, USA
<evdv@library.caltech.edu>

NISO Committee AX, the committee that is preparing the OpenURL Standard, met for the second time on January 24th and 25th at the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) headquarters in Reston, Virginia. This meeting was somewhat of a turning point, as the emphasis changed from defining the scope to addressing encoding issues.

Existing applications of OpenURL technology only scratch the surface of what is feasible. Currently, we apply OpenURL technology to bibliographic citations. In the near future, we may apply it to many other types of information: subject headings, legal documents, biological (genome sequences), etc. Currently, we encode OpenURL in an HTTP GET or POST format. In the near future, we may encode OpenURL links in XML. Currently, we think of OpenURL links being provided by specific information providers. In the near future, third parties may provide OpenURL links for any information resource. With these and other opportunities yet to be explored, it is obvious that OpenURL is a technology in its infancy, and we should think of the emerging OpenURL standard as the beginning of a long-term evolutionary process.

However, we cannot ignore short-term issues. The standard should not impede on the developments and innovations of early adopters. For this reason, the committee adopted the OpenURL draft as originally submitted to NISO (http://library.caltech.edu/openurl/Record_Documents/OpenURL_Version_0.1.mht) as Version 0.1 of the standard. Resolvers will interpret all OpenURLs that do not contain a version number as Version 0.1 OpenURLs. Therefore, Version 0.1 OpenURLs will remain valid, even after adoption of new version(s). To encourage innovation and experimentation, the committee adopted the resolution that it will never use any parameter names beginning with an underscore. Early adopters may use such parameters for testing, developing, and debugging purposes without fear of introducing future incompatibility.

Version 1.0 will be a significant departure from Version 0.1. It will put in place strong fundamentals that will survive technology and application changes. Over the past seven months, the committee spent considerable time refining the structure of an OpenURL and the definitions of all underlying concepts. The OpenURLs of Version 1.0 will contain up to six entities: referent, resolver, referrer, referring-entity, requester, and service-type. Each entity may be described by up to four different kinds of descriptors: id, metadata-description (by-value), metadata-description-pointer (by-reference), and private-zone. This variety of entities and the flexibility in description methods will increase the potential of the OpenURL technology to deliver targeted and context-appropriate services.

For details, please refer to the OpenURL web site at <http://library.caltech.edu/openurl>. Please note that nothing is final until the NISO membership votes to adopt the standard.

The next committee meeting is on May 30th and 31st at the Getty in Los Angeles, California.

Launch of Online Dictionary of New Zealand Biography

Contributed by:
Ross Somerville
Project Manager, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
Ministry for Culture and Heritage - Te Manatu Taonga
Wellington, New Zealand
<ross.somerville@mch.govt.nz>

The online Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, <http://www.dnzb.govt.nz>, comprising the entire five-volume series of the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (published 1990-2000) and its Maori-language companion series Nga Tangata Taumata Rau, will be formally launched in Wellington, New Zealand, in February 2002. (It was provisionally released online in December 2001.)

The site contains all 3049 biographies from the five-volume series, fully searchable in a wide variety of ways; over 2000 images (to date); and a substantial new feature -- Our Land, Our People -- presenting 'snapshots' of historical events and trends with graphics and text, including a good number of animated and interactive features. Much of this material was adapted under licence from the New Zealand Historical Atlas (1997).

The site is bi-lingual, offering a Maori-language search interface, and the 493 biographies of Maori people may be searched in Maori as well as in English.

The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography unit of the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage prepared the material for electronic publication, under contract to the New Zealand Historical Association. The search for images to illustrate the biographies began at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington and has extended nationwide, forming mutually beneficial partnerships and close relationships with libraries and museums. Many individuals have also contributed. The site was designed, programmed and built by award-winning Wellington firm Click Suite, which was selected for its reputation for technical and creative excellence.

This is the culmination of two years' work, including a particularly intensive final six months. While the site has achieved the initial goal of publishing the full series online, it now looks forward to the possibility of further enhancements, including additional media and broadened accessibility. There are further possibilities ahead in the DNZB's close relationship with the new online Encyclopedia of New Zealand, another digital project which will soon be underway at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

From a technical point of view, the site uses Microsoft SQL Server technology to ‘serve up' biographies to users quickly and easily -- regardless of their level of interest or expertise. The technology provides people with the option to search for a biography via name, word or author, and they may also choose a more advanced option that allows them to find a biography using nine different variables, ranging from occupations to birthplaces. In order to take maximum advantage of the search capacity of this technology, the first browsers to be supported are Internet Explorer 5 and Netscape 6, providing an impressively quick response to the FIND command.

With a general audience in mind, the site has been thoroughly tested by a cross-section of users. The developers were acutely aware of the need to provide an information architecture that would meet the needs of many diverse groups: ranging from school students doing class projects, to casual browsers with less specific interests in mind, to academics undertaking detailed historical research.

Being online now makes many aspects of the previously paper-based Dictionary content far more accessible, and also available to a new group of users, particularly those outside New Zealand, who may have never previously known about the Dictionary's existence. It is an indispensable resource for anybody interested in New Zealand history or in New Zealanders who have ‘made their mark' on the country. It includes not only the biographies of well known figures such as Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage and footballer George Nepia, but also a multitude of the lesser known.

Although a number of biographical dictionary projects have issued CD-ROMs, as far as the DNZB team is aware this is only the second such national biographical dictionary worldwide to go online, and the only one to offer free access.

Point of contact: Dr. Claudia Orange, General Editor, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
or email <ednzb@mch.govt.nz>.

The Astrophysical Virtual Observatory

Contributed by:
Dr. Peter J. Quinn
Head, Data Management and Operations Division
European Southern Observatory
Garching near Munich, Germany
<pquinn@eso.org>

Astronomy, like many other physical sciences, has reached a crisis point for the execution of large national and international research programs. In the last decade of the 20th century, an array of new ground and space observatories were inaugurated that now collect data across large sections of the electromagnetic spectrum. The data explosion from these new observatories can no longer be readily processed, explored and exploited on the desktops of individual astronomers. Researchers must now turn to the GRID paradigm of distributed computing and resources to conduct new and innovative programs. A necessary step toward utilization of this new IT paradigm is to unite the existing astronomical data centers and archives into an interoperating and federated unit. This new astronomical data resource will effectively form a Virtual Observatory (VO) in which the digital Universe resident in the new archives can be seamlessly explored across the entire spectrum. In much the same way as a real observatory consists of telescopes, each with a collection of unique astronomical instruments, the VO consists of a collection of data centers, each with unique collections of astronomical data, software systems and processing capabilities.

The Astrophysical Virtual Observatory Project (see http://www.eso.org/projects/avo/) will conduct a research and demonstration program on the scientific requirements and technologies necessary to build a VO for European astronomy. The Astrophysical Virtual Observatory (AVO) has been jointly funded by the European Commission and six European organizations for a three-year Phase-A work program valued at 5 million Euro. The six partner organizations are led by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Garching near Munich. The other partners are the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF), the ASTROGRID (UK) consortium, the Centre de Données Astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS) at the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, the TERAPIX astronomical data center at the Institut d'Astrophysique in Paris and the Jodrell Bank Observatory. The Phase A program will focus its work in three areas. Firstly, a detailed description of the science requirements for the AVO will be constructed following the experience gained in a smaller-scale science demonstration program called ASTROVIRTEL (Accessing Astronomical Archives as Virtual Telescopes. http://www.stecf.org/astrovirtel/). Secondly, the difficult issue of data and archive interoperability will be addressed by new standards definitions for astronomical data and trial programs of "joins" between specific target archives within the project team. Finally, the necessary GIRD and database technologies will be assessed and trialed for use within a full AVO implementation.

The need for VOs has also been recognized by the international astronomical communities. The American National Academy of Science Decadal Survey of Astronomy recommended the funding of a National Virtual Observatory (NVO) in the US, which has now been funded by the NSF. The AVO project team has formed a close alliance with the NVO effort, and both groups are working towards a joint international meeting to be held in Munich in June 2002 (http://www.eso.org/gen-fac/meetings/vo2002/). It is clear to the NVO and AVO communities that there are no intrinsic boundaries to the VO concept and that all astronomers should be working towards a truly global virtual observatory that will enable new scientific research to be done on the wealth of astronomical data held in the growing number of first class international astronomical archives.

iConnect - Applying Knowledge to Development

Contributed by:
Peter Ballantyne
Team Leader, Knowledge Sharing
International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD)
The Hague, The Netherlands
<pballantyne@iicd.org>

The 'digital divide' has emerged as a topic for international discussion in the last year or so. The G8 countries, the United Nations System, heads of Government, the non-profit community, and the international private sector have all pointed to the need for digital opportunities to be grasped, and divides to be bridged. One result has been an explosion of discussions, initiatives, and web sites on these issues.

iConnect Online was launched in mid-2001 by the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) and six other agencies involved in a joint project entitled 'building digital opportunities'. iConnect is a web site, a monthly e-mail digest, and a quarterly print newsletter. It is not 'the' gateway on digital opportunities issues. The institutional scene is still too cluttered, and the players pay insufficient attention to 'cooperativity.' Instead, iConnect is but one entrance point to a steadily expanding set of web resources and tools developed by several partner organizations working in this area.

iConnect publishes stories and experiences, mainly from developing countries, concerning ways in which the economic and social development processes can benefit from Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The focus is on sectors like e-business, e-governance, environment, education, and health, plus cross-cutting issues like capacity building, evaluation, content, policy, and access. Other issues and subjects like knowledge management or standards -- and specific countries -- are dealt with in much more detail by our partners and through linked sites. The philosophy is to collaborate horizontally across organizations, building bottom-up digital 'libraries' (or information centers at least) as well as electronic meeting places for people working in this area. Important linked sites include: Itrainonline, <http://www.itrainonline.org>; the Global Knowledge Partnership calendar, <http://www.bellanet.org/events/index.cfm?fuseaction=ShowCalendar&fusebox_id=2376>; the Learning and Evaluation Action Program (LEAP), <http://www.bellanet.org/leap>; IICD stories, <http://www.iicd.org/stories>; and Capacity.org & ICTs, <http://www.capacity.org/ict>.

iConnect is written for, and mainly used by, people working in the international development world -- from governments, foundations, research, private voluntary organizations, and international organizations. It seeks to bring lessons, ideas, and stories from the local level to the global level, and vice versa. Digital library managers interested in these issues, or working in developing countries, are invited to contact us to explore collaboration.

URL: <http://www.iconnect.org>

Contact: Peter Ballantyne
Team Leader, Knowledge Sharing
International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD)
PO Box 11586, 2502 AN
The Hague, The Netherlands
Email: <pballantyne@iicd.org>

Cross-Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF): Agenda for 2002

Contributed by:
Carol Peters
IEI-CNR
Pisa, Italy
<carol@iei.pi.cnr.it>

Objectives

The Cross-Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF) promotes research in cross-language system development for European languages by providing an infrastructure for:

• cross-language and monolingual system testing and tuning
• comparison of different approaches and discussion of results
• creation of reusable evaluation test suites for system benchmarking

Call For Participation

Multilingual Information Retrieval

The main task in CLEF requires searching a multilingual document collection for relevant documents. Using a selected topic language, the goal is to retrieve documents for all languages in the collection, listing the results in a merged, ranked list.

The CLEF 2002 document collection for this task contains English, German, French, Italian and Spanish documents. A common set of topics, i.e., structured statements of information needs from which queries are extracted, will be prepared in a large number of languages. These will include Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Japanese and Chinese.

CLEF 2002 also offers a series of additional tracks designed to test different aspects of information retrieval system development.

Bilingual Information Retrieval

In the cross-language task, any topic language can be used to search target document collections in Dutch, French, German, Italian or Spanish. First-time CLEF participants only can choose to search the English document collection using a European topic language.

Monolingual (non-English) Information Retrieval

Until recently, most Information Retrieval (IR) system evaluation focused on English. CLEF provides the opportunity for monolingual system testing and tuning, and for building test suites in other European languages. CLEF 2002 offers tracks for Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Mono- and Cross-Language Information Retrieval for Scientific Collections

This track offers two distinct tasks:

AMARYLLIS: System performance when searching a multi-disciplinary scientific database of about 150,000 French bibliographic documents will be studied. Tools are provided that can be used in the retrieval task (a controlled vocabulary in English and French).

GIRT: The rationale for this task is to study CLIR in a vertical domain. The GIRT collection which contains nearly 80,000 German social science documents in a structured database is used. A German/English/Russian thesaurus and English translations of the document titles are available.

Interactive Cross-language Information Retrieval

An interactive track that focused on the document selection problem was experimented with success in CLEF 2001. The design of this year's interactive track will be determined by the coordinators on the basis of input from interested participants.

Cross-Language Spoken Document Retrieval

An experiment will be set-up as part of a feasibility study conducted by the DELOS Network of Excellence for Digital Libraries on evaluation for cross-language spoken document retrieval systems. Results will be reported at the CLEF 2002 Workshop.

Important Dates

CLEF 2002 Workshop

A two-day Workshop will be held on 19-20 September 2002 in Rome, Italy, immediately following the Sixth European Conference on Digital Libraries (ECDL 2002).

The aim of the Workshop will be to discuss the results of the CLEF activity and allow researchers and developers to compare performance between systems using different cross-language strategies. Proceedings of past Workshops can be accessed on the CLEF Web site.

Participation and Contact Information

For further information see: <http://www.clef-campaign.org>.
or contact:
Carol Peters - IEI-CNR, Pisa, Italy
Tel: +39 050 3152897 - Fax: +39 050 3152810
E-mail: <carol@iei.pi.cnr.it">

Open Archives Forum (OAF)

Contributed by:
Susanne Dobratz, Birgit Matthaei and Dr. Peter Schirmbacher
Computing Centre of Humboldt-University Berlin
Berlin, Germany
<dobratz@rz.hu-berlin.de>
<birgit.matthaei@rz.hu-berlin.de>
<schirmbacher@rz.hu-berlin.de>

The Open Archives Forum support projects and national initiatives using an open archive approach as an interoperability framework. One focus is directed on initiatives that are implementing the recently released Open Archives Initiative (OAI) metadata harvesting protocol in Europe. OA-Forum will provide a common vocabulary for OAI implementations in Europe by creating a glossary and defining the history and background of concepts such as harvesting, acceptable use, rights, ownership, identifier resolution, metadata sharing, etc. This enables projects and national initiatives to share their experience and to coordinate the development of software tools and infrastructures for open archives in general.

The Open Archives Forum will provide a virtual information space on the web to hold several databases with complex details about projects, implementations, archives, services and tools. This composition will be more detailed than the OAI database and will also contain information about repositories and services using other protocols. The project will set up a web-based inventory of software products that are in use or under development in Europe and elsewhere. Each product in the inventory will be accompanied by a metadata description and, when possible, an evaluation of the product, existing documentation, etc.

It is intended that interested parties and communities use the information space to search purposefully for references and tools to handle the metadata implementation, and to find detailed and up-to-date facts about similar projects in their field. This should encourage the emergence of new relationships and promote the exchange of experiences with specific problems. The reuse of software development may help to set up new archives. Possibilities for a critical evaluation of the open archive technology and the variety of possible business models for the implementation of open archives will illustrate the added value that the open archives model might offer in different application communities. Particular attention will be dedicated to the issues related to Intellectual Property Rights, terms and conditions of use, and quality assurance within an OAI-based system.

With a series of four workshops, the Open Archives Forum will provide a forum for exchange of information between European initiatives and the international community. They will be targeted towards different domains, e.g., cultural institutions, research organizations, public sectors, community services and commercial organizations, and towards different classes of users, e.g., potential implementers, service and data providers. Domain-specific analytical reviews will stimulate feedback by presenting the potential and added value provided by the open archives approach. Exemplar reports will open chances to win new partners to explore new fields for usage.

The first workshop about experiences with OAI in Europe will take place on 13 - 14 May 2002 in Pisa, Italy. Further information will be provided as soon as possible. If you are interested, please contact Donatella Castelli, IEI-CNR, e-mail: <castelli@iei.pi.cnr.it>.

The Open Archive Forum (OAF) is an accompanying measures proposal under the Information Society Technologies-Programme of the European Commissions 5th Framework (IST-2001-320015). The project partners are: UKOLN- University of Bath (United Kingdom) (coordinator), Istituto di Elaborazione della Informazione- CNR (Italy) and Computing Center of Humboldt University (Germany).

Visual Resources Association - The Resource for Visual Information

Contributed by:
Trudy Levy
Digital Imaging Guide
Image Integration
San Francisco, California, USA
<Trudy@DIG-mar.com>

The Visual Resources Association is a non-profit organization established to further knowledge, research, and education in the field of visual information resources and to promote a spirit of cooperation among the members of related professions. Our international membership includes information specialists; digital image specialists; art, architecture, film, and video librarians; museum curators; slide, photograph, microfilm, and digital archivists; architectural firms; galleries; publishers; image system vendors; rights and reproductions officials; photographers; art historians; artists; and scientists.

Visual Resources Association members work together to improve our skills and to share ideas to make images and information available easily and swiftly to a world hungry for visual material. We welcome all those who maintain, manage or distribute visual materials to join us in this endeavor. If you are interested in issues related to the study of, access to, and management of images in any media, I encourage you to learn more about our organization.

The benefits of membership are many. Our members stay abreast of developments in the field, keeping up-to-date on the latest equipment, technologies, and supplies with our active email listserv. We also support members through the annual national conferences, local chapters, workshops, publications, a quarterly VRA Bulletin, and the annual members' Sourcebook and Directory. The membership stays informed about copyright issues, cataloging standards, new publications, metadata, digital imaging, web pages, preservation of image quality, and mentoring and educational opportunities. The diversity of VRA members makes our organization more interesting. The collective knowledge of our membership, strong level of collegiality, and ready exchange of information is our greatest strength. The VRA has ten regional chapters that hold meetings and workshops on a regular basis. Attending chapter meetings is an invaluable way to make contacts and share knowledge with other professionals in your geographic area. These regional chapters are: Great Lakes, Greater New York, Upstate New York, Greater Philadelphia, Mid Atlantic, Midwest, Pacific Rim, Southern California, Northern California, and Texas.

Join us in utilizing and maintaining the best resource for visual information professionals, the Visual Resources Association. For more information on our organization, membership, listserv, and publications, visit the VRA website at <http://www.vraweb.org>.

New Discussion List - OAIS-implementers

Contributed by:
Robin L. Dale
Member Programs & Initiatives
RLG
Mountain View, California, USA
<Robin_Dale@notes.rlg.org>

A new discussion list has recently been launched: oais-implementers@lists2.rlg.org.

As the list name implies, this discussion list is intended for individuals and institutions who are actively working with the Open Archival Information (OAIS) Reference Model as a part of an overall effort to model, build, and manage their own digital archive or repository. List members will come from a variety of disciplines including (though not restricted to) libraries, archives, space data centers, corporations, universities, and others.

RLG has created this list and its supporting web pages (available at http://www.rlg.org/longterm/oais.html) to facilitate communication and provide information about OAIS reference model implementations, applications, and related standards development. The list provides a forum for discussion among people engaged in similar activities while the supporting web pages alert researchers to OAIS activities occurring in similar disciplinary or geographical areas.

To subscribe to the new list:

Send the following message to listmanager@lists2.rlg.org:

Subscribe oais-implementers <FirstName LastName>

The welcome message will provide you with further details.

If you have any information about this new list, please contact Robin Dale at <Robin.Dale@notes.rlg.org>.

New Listserv Announced - DIGITAL-COPYRIGHT

Contributed by:
Neal Pomea
Center for Intellectual Property
University of Maryland University College
Adelphi, Maryland, USA
<Npomea@umuc.edu>

To meet the developing application of copyright laws in the online environment, the Center for Intellectual Property is proud to announce the new listserv DIGITAL-COPYRIGHT: <http://www.umuc.edu/distance/odell/cip/listserv.html>.

DIGITAL-COPYRIGHT provides a forum for the analysis of topics such as copyright law and policy, technologies, and federal information law and policies that impact higher education, particularly digital distance education. In addition to ongoing discussions of critical and theoretical issues, the list will contain:

• postings on upcoming conferences
• calls for papers
• legislative news announcements
• and many other matters which should be of interest

This listserv aims to be a space for educators, policy makers, librarians, lawyers and all who have a vested interest in digital content, digital copyright and other intellectual property matters of importance to the higher education community. The list encourages all levels of discourse, as well as relevant political, historical, cultural and philosophical approaches to the problem of applying copyright to the digital arena.

To subscribe to DIGITAL-COPYRIGHT list, compose and send a message:

To: listproc@listserv.umuc.edu
Subject: <leave the subject line blank>

<The BODY of the message should read:>
subscribe digital-copyright <your name here>

Do not include the brackets. If you need more information, please feel free to e-mail the listmanager, <ofrancois@umuc.edu> or visit the FAQ - <http://polaris.umuc.edu/~ofrancoi/forum/FAQdc.htm#subscribe>.

We look forward to hearing from you!

About the Center for Intellectual Property and Copyright in the Digital Environment (CIP):

The Center researches and educates on issues of ownership, use, and transfer of information in the digital era. In addition to the launch of the listserv, DIGITAL-COPYRIGHT, the CIP offers myriad resources and educational opportunities to the higher education community including online workshops and seminars such as: Copyright Management in Higher Education. April 4-5, 2002, Adelphi, Maryland. <http://www.umuc.edu/distance/cip/copy_manage2002>.

For more information, please visit the Center's virtual portal at <http://www.umuc.edu/distance/odell/cip>
Intellectual Property Virtual Scholar Program
<http://www.umuc.edu/distance/odell/cip/ip_scholar_gasaway.html>.

Medical Informatics Training Fellowships at Oregon State Health & Science University

Contributed by:
Kent Spackman
Associate Professor
Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, Oregon, USA
<spackman@ohsu.edu>

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) offers a two- to three-year research training fellowship program in medical informatics. Candidates must be US citizens or permanent residents, and possess a doctoral degree (M.D., Ph.D., or other doctoral degree). Support for the program comes mainly from the National Library of Medicine but also from the Department of Veterans Affairs and other sources. The overall goal of the program is to give fellows the research training and experience that will prepare them to enter the academic community and undertake programs of independent medical informatics research, or to take leadership positions in the growing number of hospital and/or commercial efforts in medical informatics. Fellows are expected to select a faculty mentor who will help them outline a curriculum and a program of research; the fellow then will focus on and complete a significant research project, and present their research results orally and in writing.

There are many opportunities for classroom learning in the program. Fellows are encouraged to take courses in the curriculum of the Master of Science in Medical Informatics, as consistent with their research and career goals, but they may choose whether or not to be formally degree-seeking candidates. Besides the MS degree, fellows have the option to pursue a Master of Public Health (MPH) with a specialization in health informatics. Accepted fellows who choose to pursue the MS degree in medical informatics are automatically admitted to that program; separate application is required for the MPH program. Fellowship applicants who wish to be considered for admission to the informatics MS degree program even if not accepted for fellowship support should indicate this in their application.

Courses taught by OHSU faculty cover introductory and advanced medical informatics topics, as well as computer science, research methods, quantitative methods and statistics, introduction to clinical medicine, and management topics. The division also provides a weekly seminar, with a combination of inside and outside speakers. Fellows may also take part in a seminar series for fellows in the Division of General Internal Medicine and advanced coursework in computer science and other relevant topics taught at nearby universities.

The OHSU medical informatics fellowship program formally began in 1992 and is directed by Kent A. Spackman, M.D., Ph.D. The master's degree program is directed by William Hersh, M.D. More than fifty Portland-area faculty are affiliated with the program and are potential mentors to fellows. Active research areas include bioinformatics, information retrieval, computer-based patient records, clinical terminology, clinician information needs, and health care information technology management.

For more information about the fellowship program, including an application form, visit our Web site at: <http://www.ohsu.edu/bicc-informatics/fellowship>. Preferential consideration will be given to applications that were received by February 1, 2002.

In the News

Recent Press Releases and Announcements

Daniel Greenstein Appointed University Librarian and Executive Director of the California Digital Library

February 13, 2002, Oakland, CA - "The University of California is very pleased to announce the appointment of Daniel Greenstein as University Librarian and Executive Director of the California Digital Library, effective May 1, 2002."

"As University Librarian and Executive Director of the CDL, Dr. Greenstein will assume leadership of one of the largest programs of digital library content and services in the country. The CDL - a collaborative partner library of the 10 campuses of UC - focuses on developing and providing access to digital content and services and supporting scholar-led innovations in scholarly communication. In his new role Dr. Greenstein will also be responsible for library planning across the UC system."

"Dr. Greenstein is currently Director of the Digital Library Federation, based in Washington, D.C. Through its 28 members, including UC libraries, the DLF provides leadership to libraries throughout the nation by identifying standards and "best practices" for digital collections and services, coordinating leading-edge research and development, and collaborating to create digital collections and services that libraries cannot develop individually."

"'Daniel Greenstein has been a world leader in pioneering the scholarly use of electronic communications and database access for researchers,' University of California President Richard Atkinson said, in announcing the appointment. 'We are fortunate that we were able to bring him to the university and the California Digital Library.'"

"After receiving his BA and MA from the University of Pennsylvania and a Doctor in Philosophy degree from Oxford, Dr. Greenstein’s academic career began with an appointment as Senior Lecturer in Modern History at Glasgow University. Simultaneously, he served as founding director of the Glasgow University Arts Faculty Computing Facility, an advanced computing service supporting technology-based innovations in teaching and research for the University's Arts Faculty."

"In 1996, he was appointed founding director of the Arts and Humanities Data Service of the United Kingdom. In this position, he led the strategic and operational development of a digital information service to support arts and humanities research and teaching at higher education institutions in the U.K. Building on this success, Dr. Greenstein was named founding co-director of the UK Resource Discovery Network in 1998. The RDN expanded on the successful model of the Arts and Humanities Data service through the establishment of a series of networked portal services, each providing access to selected high-quality information in a specific subject area."

"The California Digital Library, established in 1997, provides digital content and services for UC faculty and students, and is an important vehicle to focus strategic planning for the University of California library system. Included among its programs are UC licensing of shared digital content, the Melvyl union catalog, the Online Archive of California, the Counting California interactive social science data service, and the eScholarship program supporting innovations in scholarly communication...."

For more information, please contact John Ober, CDL director for education and strategic innovation at <John.Ober@ucop.edu>.

Announcement: Indiana University Digital Library Program Launches the U.S. Steel Gary Works Photograph Collection

"In a comprehensive electronic exhibition portraying the history of one of the nation's largest planned corporate communities, the Indiana University Digital Library Program recently launched an online digital photograph collection that captures the history of the U.S. Steel Works at Gary, Indiana."

"The U.S. Steel Gary Works Photograph Collection, 1905-1971 is accessible online at <http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/steel>. It includes not only a wealth of photographic documentation reflecting the steel plant's rich history, but a host of other resources as well, including bibliographies, suggested readings, and hypertext links to a wide range of research and educational materials."

"...The completion of this project marks the first significant phase in the Digital Library Program's long-term plan to create a substantial Web-based learning site for students, focusing new attention on valuable primary sources drawn from university library and archival collections. The digitization project is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [<http://www.imls.gov>] under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Indiana State Library [<http://www.statelib.lib.in.us>]..."

For more information, contact: Eric Bartheld, Assistant Development Director, Public Relations and Grants, Indiana University Libraries <ebarthel@indiana.edu>.

President's Budget Requests $210,742,000 for Institute of Museum and Library Services

"Washington, DC - The President's Budget for FY 2003 released to Congress today contains $210,742,000 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services reflecting an increase of $15,765,000. The request for the Office of Museum Services is $29,022,000. The request for the Office of Library Services is $181,720,000. Increased funding will support an initiative to recruit and train a new generation of librarians and expand core services of libraries and museums nationwide."

"Dr. Robert S. Martin said, 'The Bush Administration's support for education extends beyond the classroom into the community. Libraries and museums are core public agencies for education. They are sources of community strength with resources to meet educational and information needs in early childhood, in school, at work and in retirement.'"

"IMLS uses Federal dollars for:

Education: promoting the roles of museums and libraries as centers for lifelong learning,
Access: using technology and training to give all citizens equitable access to information and cultural resources,
Families and Children: supporting museum and library use for all ages,
Communities: strengthening the role of museums and libraries as centers of civic engagement,
Cultural Heritage: studying, preserving, and showcasing the unique heritage at the heart of America."

For the full news release, please see <http://www.imls.gov/whatsnew/current/020402.htm>.

Digital Library of Secret Tobacco Documents Released by UCSF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 31, 2002 - "The UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management today released on the internet the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, a collection of more than 20 million previously secret documents from tobacco industry files. The documents represent the world's largest public digital collection maintained by a library. The searchable collection can be accessed at <http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/>."

"Ranging in date from the 1930s to the 1990s, the documents cover projects central to the tobacco industry such as marketing, research and development, cigarette analysis and design, as well as industry efforts to establish business in developing countries. The documents were obtained through the legal discovery process for a lawsuit against the major tobacco companies by the Attorney General of Minnesota and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota, and suits brought by other states. The suit was settled in 1998. Funding for the project comes from the American Legacy Foundation (Legacy), which exactly one year ago awarded $15 million to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to establish permanent internet access to the documents and to develop a center for scholarly study of the material. UCSF is a national leader in research examining tobacco industry practices as well as the health effects of tobacco. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provided additional support...."

"...The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LTDL) allows seven separate document collections to be searched through one user-friendly interface. Users can perform simple or advanced searches, view documents in a variety of image formats (PDF, TIF, or simply in the window of the web browser) and collect findings in a digital bookbag which can be downloaded or emailed. "

For more information, please contact Wallace Ravven <wravve@pubaff.ucsf.edu>.

Collaboration Announced between Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and National Library of Australia (NLA)

Press Release 31 January 2002

"The DPC and NLA are pleased to announce that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to work collaboratively on digital preservation activities."

"The parties recognise that the facilitation of the long-term preservation of digital heritage is a shared goal of the DPC and NLA, which can be enhanced by working together."

"As a new product of this collaboration, the DPC and NLA will jointly compile a 'What's New in Digital Preservation' electronic digest of selected new items added to PADI and to the JISCmail Digital-Preservation list. The digest will be compiled as a quarterly list and as an annual edition containing an evaluation of the year's additions in review."

"Users of PADI will also now have access to resources relating to digital preservation initiatives and events in the United Kingdom contributed directly to PADI by the DPC. This will provide comprehensive UK input to the database and direct UK support for this international resource. In addition to pointing to padiforum-l, PADI's own discussion list for the exchange of news and ideas about digital preservation issues, PADI will also now provide a direct link to the Digital-Preservation list archive from its News and Discussion area."

"The Preservation Management of Digital Materials handbook - a selective, peer-reviewed, cross-sectoral introduction and guide to best practice in digital preservation - was published in October 2001. The DPC will shortly provide and maintain an electronic edition online. This will include the PADI search function. Users of both PADI and the Preservation Management of Digital Materials will benefit from the shared expertise of NLA and DPC in writing and review of selected topics of interest to both resources."

"The NLA currently coordinates and maintains the PADI safekeeping initiative to promote the permanent preservation of selected significant digital preservation resources. As part of this initiative, the DPC will work to ensure long-term preservation of the archives of its Digital-Preservation list and the DPC web pages. It will also contribute to the shared annual selection of new digital preservation resources for this initiative."

"Both organizations will provide appropriate acknowledgements to each other for contributions made under our MOU."

Notes

"1.The Digital Preservation Coalition was established in 2001 and includes 18 major organizations involved in digital preservation in the UK and Ireland. Further information on the Coalition is available from <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/preservation>."

"2. The PADI subject gateway has been developed by the NLA with the guidance of an International Advisory Group. With the implementation of PadiUpdate (<http://www.nla.gov.au/padiupdate>) in 2001, registered contributors from around the world can now enter data onto PADI."

"3. The Digital-Preservation list on JISCmail is a moderated annoucement list covering key digital preservation news items in the UK and internationally. It reaches over 750 list members worldwide. Further information on the Digital-Preservation list is available from <http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/preservation>."

"4. Preservation Management of Digital Materials: A Handbook, was written by Neil Beagrie and Maggie Jones and published by the British Library in October 2001. The handbook was developed from research and testing conducted over an 18 month period with funding from Resource:the Council for Museums, Archives, and Libraries, and the British Library Collaboration and Partnership Programme. An international advisory group including staff from the NLA contributed to its development and peer review."

"5. Commenced in mid-2001, the safekeeping project aims to cooperatively build a distributed and permanent collection of digital resources from the field of digital preservation. All resources incorporated in this project have been selected from the PADI subject gateway. This project has received financial support from the Council on Library and Information Services (CLIR). Its website is located at: <http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/safekeeping/safekeeping.html>"

Council on Library and Information Resources Seeks Applicants for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's International Library Award

"WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is seeking applicants for the third annual Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award, an international award given to a library, library agency or comparable organization that has been innovative in providing free public access to information."

"'The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation established this award to give organizations an opportunity to expand programs that provide access to information for all people,' said Deanna Marcum, president of the Council on Library and Information Resources. 'We look forward to receiving applications from innovative organizations around the world.'"

"The Access to Learning Award includes a grant of up to $1 million. Applications are available at www.clir.org/fellowships/gates/gates.html. They must be postmarked by April 15, 2002, for consideration...."

For the full news release, please see <http://www.clir.org/pubs/press/gates2.html>.

CrossRef and SFX Now Fully Integrated

"January 18, 2002 - Chicago, IL - Ex Libris is pleased to announce a strategic alliance with CrossRef whereby, via an SFX Link Server, libraries can utilize DOI and CrossRef linking in a fully integrated way. The combined solutions are now operational at a number of SFX sites that are also CrossRef Library Affiliates."

CrossRef/SFX integration specifically addresses the "appropriate copy" problem, ensuring that CrossRef links resolve to the copy of the resource for which the user has rights of access by virtue of their affiliation. CrossRef/SFX integration also enables article-level linking to articles from those CrossRef publishers whose linking solutions are based on the DOI."

"Ex Libris and CrossRef, together with other interested parties, have participated over the past year in a prototype to address localized linking for libraries - the "appropriate copy" problem as it has become known to the library community. The solution, using the OpenURL and local library link servers such as SFX, is now available to all CrossRef Library Affiliates."

For the full news release, please go to the Ex Libris home page and look for the link by title and date in the rotating list of press releases in the upper right of the screen <http://www.exlibris-usa.com>.

(Correction made 4/30/02 in one of the items above to replace "less than" and "greater than" characters with the correct HTML coding for those characters.)

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DOI: 10.1045/february2002-inbrief