Zak Mensah and Gavin Brockis from JISC Digital Media gave a good introduction to what screencasting is, how to plan a screencast and some useful tools and techniques.  As well as an introduction to the software available Zak and Gavin gave an introduction to the hardware involved including a useful guide to various microphones.

I used Jing a few months back to create short screen casts on how to subscribe to RSS feeds for Paul Richardsons’ Lunchtime Byte “Its Out There Somewhere!”.   However “A Beginners’ Guide to Screencasting” gave me lots of practical tips and links to other screencasting software to try out.

During the session Zak and Gavin gave an overview of how screencasts could be used.  Being quite familiar for screencasts for instructional use I was quite surprised to find you could use them for student feedback too.

Have you created a screencast?  Any advice you would give to others?  If you are feeling brave post a link to your screencast in the comments section below.

From Creative Comons "adactio" photostream

No that isn’t a typo in the title this post is all about apps, specifically mobile apps for libraries and education.  In this post I’ll explore the work going on around mobile libraries and list some of my favourite educations apps.
Recently a discussion on #UKlibchat (a fortnightly discussion group held on Twitter, you can find out more here) asked what mobile apps would you like to see in libraries. Two replies to this really caught my eye, the first from @joeyanne:

“I’d like to see innovative use of mobile functionality to help users find materials whilst in and out of library so in the library it might be augmented reality and location based services, out of the library would be electronic resources”

@joeyanne is the Twitter username of Jo Alcock who is working on the m-libraries support project.   The aim of the m-library community support project as part of the JISC Mobile Infrastructure for Libraries programme is to “provide a mobile library community support project to help support and engage the emerging m-library community by reviewing and synthesising existing research and  evidence-based guidance.”  The project aims to build a collection of useful resources and case studies based on current developments using mobile technologies in libraries, and to foster a community for those working in the m-library area or interested in learning more.  There is a brilliant presentation on Slideshare which Jo Alcock gave at the CoFHE 2011 Conference, available here which gives numerous examples of mobile technologies being used in libraries.
The second reply was from @calire: “I want an app that can scan a book barcode and tells me if it’s in my local library…”
To me this seemed like the most obvious choice for an app, there are so many shopping based services that do just that but what struck me from both comments is the ability for learners to be able to access learning resources both inside and outside the learning resource centre in a way that is convenient and easy to access, blending there learning and access to resources with their daily lives.
#UKlibchat also asked what are the advantages and disadvantages of mobile apps over mobile versions of websites?
•    @librarydonna functionality better thought out, more user control and interactivity in general
•    @JohnGreenaway  unless after really fancy stuff like augmented reality – mobile web much more cost effective to reach lots of models
•    @librarydonna  disad of apps – have to download, mobile version of web quicker
•    @joeyanne Interesting article on mobile web vs. mobile app:http://t.co/Uf4NKa9F Useful graph on how people use them both
There have been some great discussions on #UKlibchat about apps for libraries/Learning Resource Centres.  I highly recommend joining in #UKlibchat if you get a chance or keep an eye on the blog for a summary of the conversations.
If you’re interested in that you might also be interested in Educational Technology Creative Collection.  It is a collaboration of educators investigating and experimenting with digital technologies to enhance education. It is open to anyone (especially educators). The first iteration of #edtechcc will run for 12 weeks and enrolment is now open.  You can register here.
I did also mention at the start that I would be looking at some useful apps for education.  I’ve compiled a short list below of some of my favourite apps, please feel free to share your ideas by commenting below, on Twitter @sharon_crossan or @rscwales or get in touch here.  Some other posts from the RSC Blogs which might be of use are Codes, symbols and nearest tubes: Augmented Reality and Mobile Phones – Blessing or Curse?

So here are a list of some of my favourite apps for learning and access to resources:
•    iProcrastinate (for Mac/iPhone): Task management app designed to help students plan their schedule.
•    inClass (forMac/iPhone): Task management app which also lets you take multimedia notes.
•    Quizlet: Make your own flashcards
•    Bluefire Reader: An e-book reader (also lets you read the free e-books from the public library e-book pilot project)
•    Evernote: Note taking app that can also synchronise across devices.
•    Mendeley:  For reading and organising papers.
•    Aurasma: An augmented reality creator.
•    Bambuser: For live video streaming
•    Qik Video: For video sharing

Image CC from Andrew Mason, Flickr

Last week I went along to the CyMAL E-books discussion day at the National Library of Wales Aberystwyth.  Their was a great mix of delegates from HE, FE and public libraries and masters students from the nearby Department of Information Studies at Aberystwyth University.

It was a very interesting day with presentations from Welsh libraries taking part in E-bok pilot project, as well as the RNIB and Libraries Northern Ireland. Alyson Tyler has written an excellent blog post on the day and links to presentations, documents and more!

If you want to know even more (and trust me Alysons’ post covers a lot) I was “Tweeting”  during the day using #ebooksdaywales or you can view the Tweets on my Twitter profile @sharon_crossan.  Or you can always get in touch with me via the usual channels.

The JISC Content website provides an introduction to digital collections designed for education. The collections are supported via JISC and JISC Collections. They are provided in association with publishers and institutions including The British Library, The National Archives, Royal Society of Chemistry, Thomson Reuters, Oxford University Press and many other leading universities and libraries.  The collections are mainly aimed at university students, researchers and librarians but many of the online archives are open to anyone. The collections cover areas such as history, social sciences, or science and engineering and include, for example, journals, newspapers and images.  Some of the collections are publically accessible but some are protected and you will need a username and password to access them.

The collections included in the website can be viewed here, although you can search the website in various ways.  You can search for collections by A-Z by subject or by keyword, explore themes through an interactive mind map, or explore a timeline to see how collections fit with historical events.  You can also view all freely available collections.
You can promote the collections online with a handy range of tool developed, which includes widgets and banners.

I was very impressed by the range of collections available, especially the freely available collections, but I would love to hear what you think.  Have you promoted the JISC Content website/collections?  Have you used them for learning or teaching? Will you be adding the promotional tools to your website or Moodle?

Presentation skills by o5com, via Flickr's Creative Commons License

At the CILIP Wales Conference in May I watched a presentation in a different style – it was a Prezi presentation.  I liked the style of the presentation, instead of following a series of slides the presenter instead had an image of the topic which they zoomed in and out of.  For me it meant that I could see what the presentation was about at a glance, but zooming into different areas meant the presenter could go into detail on certain subjects.  I found I wasn’t writing down notes from the screen I was actually following what the presenter had to say.

As I was searching for more information on Prezi I came across a link to the Prezi online webinar series.  So I signed up, and with a little help created my first Prezi presentation.  The webinars are held almost every Thursday and are completely free. You do need a phone or Skype to call in to the audio though.

There are excellent screencasts and videos here explaining how to create presentations and another useful part of the site is the help manual which is available here. However I felt the webinar was a great way to learn how to use Prezi, my fellow participants and I followed our hosts instructions to the letter and created a Prezi during the session.  If you would like to see what I created you can view it here.

As with many web 2.0 tools the sign up process is relatively straight forward and the interface is user friendly. To the top left of the screen is a bubble menu, as opposed to the usual drop down menu that goes across the screen, hover over the words with your cursor for the menu to appear.  Add text, images, videos and sound to the canvas (rotate/resize however you like) and then create your path, which is essentially the order in which you want your text/images/videos to appear.  A small feature that I liked was that you don’t have to embed a video into the Prezi, you can simply copy the URL from You Tube and add it from that.

Any content created using the basic Prezi service is fully discoverable on the web.  I’m not sure I like this feature and would prefer the option of making them either public or private but that option is only available in the paid services. Also with the free service you are limited in the amount of formatting you can do, however I don’t see it as a major issue and doesn’t sway me towards the premium service.

The biggest barrier I could find to using Prezi for all my presentations is access.  Getting access to web 2.0 tools can be tricky from local government buildings, Universities and colleges and as Prezi presentation are hosted on the web you may not be able to access your presentation on the day.  CyMAL (Museums, Archives and Libraries Wales) undertook a survey of access and views of web 2.0 in Welsh libraries, the report is available here.  You can download a copy of your Prezi but you are unable to edit it.  It downloads in a .zip folder and opens in Flash, but you are then reliant on using the most up to date version of Flash.

I think Prezi can be a useful alternative to Powerpoint and I’m looking forward to trying it out more.  If you have tried Prezi, or have any questions, please feel free to use the comments below or contact me in the usual way.

The rather spectacular Gregynog Hall

This week I attended three days of the Welsh Higher Education Libraries Forum (WHELF) Gregynog Colloquium.  Although the focus was on HE libraries there were several sessions that I thought would be useful for other sectors too.

Being innovative with information literacy training was apparent in several of the sessions, including a very high energy session from Samuel Nikoi, Joy Cadwallader and Karl Drinkwater (of RSC Wales fame) from Aberystwyth University in collaboration with Katrina Dalziel from Swansea University talking about how to make information skills interesting.   This included a variety of innovative ways to conduct inductions and information skills sessions including beanbags, congas (yes congas!) and a Love Your Library day.  The aim was to make these sessions relaxed and informal, all very well received by students and greatly enjoyed by staff too!   On the technology side of things I was most impressed by Peter Godwin (University of Bedforshire) who discussed their experience of using mobile devices for information literacy.  Including one minute videos and details of their Android App for mobile devices. This got me thinking about the use of QR codes and Augmented Reality for library use and although I’ve seen examples of the use of QR codes, the use of augmented reality seems to be more of an issue.

On the subject of being innovative I attended a presentation by Cath Wright-Jones (University of Glamorgan) on Graphic Design for everyday use: some simple principles.  Cath had a fantastic eye for design and shared some of her best tips.  This made me think about the diverse nature of library work, from information skills to design, librarians really do a variety of things and have a variety of skills.  But this also sparked a bit of a debate on Twitter (#gregynog11), are librarians trying to be Jack of all trades? Should we leave non library work to the specialists?  Or should we be getting involved and creating our own material? I think this a debate that could go on and on but the general consensus was that usually it’s not the librarian’s choice, or how often have other departments put your priorities to the bottom of theirs?

Another key theme was partnership working/collaborative working and shared services, both internally and externally.  Paul Jeorrett looked at this externally, working in partnership with a variety of institutions (and sectors) across North Wales.  Rebecca Davies took an internal view, giving a presentation on the shared services with IT at Aberystwyth University, and Paul Riley discussed WHEEL: a collaborative approach to electronic resource procurement.

The presentations from the event should be available on the website soon, however if you would like to discuss any of themes don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Screen from the Coleg Llandrillo Cymru video

RSC Wales has been involved with CyMAL’s FE reader development/information literacy grants for a number of years now. Our involvement eases the administrative burden on providers, and is an excellent way to work with and support colleges. We have posted about previous grants in this blog (2008/9 grant and 2009-10). Now the latest projects as part of the 2010/11 grant are finished, and I like to think that it has been another successful collaboration, from the start when we held an online meeting to discuss the options up to the actual hosting of the completed learning objects and a final email sent to FE-LRC-WALES today.

All the learning objects created as part of the CyMAL FE information literacy grant are now available in Welsh and English, and packaged up as convenient zip files for downloading, whilst also offering samples to view. The learning objects are all available from our Moodle here, and full details of the project can be found here. Our evaluation of the project is also available.

The materials may also be hosted on the library.wales.org staff toolkit, NGfL Cymru and other places. Feel free to promote them far and wide so as to benefit LRCs and their learners. The objects are being released into the public domain for the benefit of FE on a ‘no attribution’ basis so they can be re-purposed as necessary.

Finally, here is a summary of the five learning objects / groups of materials.

Coleg Llandrillo covered e-safety, aiming to help students to understand and engage in learning about staying safe online via a short tutorial. The content is made up of videos, a Powerpoint presentation, and Word documents.

Coleg Powys created a Moodle course on e-awareness, attempting to help students to become e-aware and to give them the skills to maintain their safety online.

Gower College Swansea created material on using journals and e-journals to help tutors gain a deeper understanding of how learners can be encouraged to use them, and how sessions with learners can be more effectively planned, delivered and evaluated. This includes Powerpoint presentations, Word documents (such as lesson plans and worksheets), and videos.

Pembrokeshire College covered Harvard referencing, though the materials could be adapted for any referencing system. Their resources aim to demonstrate the need for referencing in coursework and to show students how to reference their sources correctly. It is comprised on Powerpoint presentations which are also available in web page formats.

Yale College’s entry won a prize for their involvement of students. It aims to engage students and tutors in discussions about Internet safety issues. The college has produced a video and quiz plus PDFs of banners and leaflets so that services can run their own awareness events about Internet safety. The material can be embedded into the induction process or used at appropriate points during the year.

This is my final blog post for RSC Wales, tomorrow being my last day. It has been lovely working with everyone in FE LRCs and RSC Wales, and I am sure that I will meet many of you at learning resources events in the future. If anybody wants to keep in touch then I will still be on Twitter, have a new personal blog, and contribute to an Aberystwyth University blog which I set up (English / Welsh). Hwyl fawr!

Keep information literacy on the agenda!

Image by sophiea

There is a vast array of online resources available to support teaching and learning. Some are free to all, some are only free to particular sectors, but I have been meaning to give an overview of this area for some time. Those below are useful whether an institution is just starting to build an online collection, or if it already has one but wants to expand the contents of their digital library at no cost. Right, time to roll up my sleeves and get started.

Note that for resources which require institutional registration (such as E-books for FE) a member of staff in the institution – usually the librarian – needs to set up access using whatever method is appropriate (e.g. Shibboleth, IP/VPN/proxy, OpenAthens). There will probably be staff training needs to get up to speed with the new resources, and then there will be publicity and user education needs – user guides, links to the resources (from VLE/web pages/desktop), training sessions for students and teaching staff. Only then will the resource start to count as embedded.

Resources via JISC Collections
Resources via CyMAL
Resources via public libraries
Resources via the National Library of Wales
Openly available resources
Further e-resources – subscription options

Resources via JISC Collections

JISC Collections have licensed and digitised a large number of collections on behalf of the UK academic community over the years, below is just a selection.

• E-books for FE project
  • Sectors available to: FE-only.
  • Free until: May 2014.
  • Description: There are c.3000 e-books within the core collection hosted on the Ebrary platform. Unfortunately Ebrary said they won’t provide a Welsh language interface. Every college in the UK should sign up to this – click here to register if you haven’t done so already. If you have any questions or problems contact the E-books for FE Project Manager, Anna Vernon at JISC Collections:
    Tel: +44 (0)20 3006 6008
    Email: a.vernon@jisc.ac.uk
• BFI Inview
  • Sectors available to: Higher and Further Education only.
  • Free until: 31 Aug 2014.
  • Description: Contains over 2,000 non-fiction film and television titles from the 20th century to the early 21st. It is easily searchable and clearly organised under six main themes, each with an introductory essay by an academic historian. Access to the site is via the UK Federation (Shibboleth / OpenAthens) only. Any institution with an .ac.uk domain joining the UK Federation should get automatic access without having to do anything further. For further details contact Gemma Starkey. [NB May also be worth looking at Screenonline, BFI's online free resource which offers access to more than 3,500 titles from the BFI National Archive - unlike Inview this resource also includes non-fiction film and TV material, but it is not downloadable.]
• The JISC Collections UK National Academic Archive
  • Sectors available to: UK Higher and Further Education institutions, and Research Councils.
  • Free until: free forever.
  • Description: An expanding range of specially selected resources.
• Hairdressing Training
  • Sectors available to: everyone.
  • Free until: free forever.
  • Description: Helping to develop skills, Hairdressing Training provides exemplary step-by-step guidance videos, self-evaluation tests, worksheets and guides relating to an expanding collection of hairdressing styles and techniques; the service is also mapped to the NVQ Hairdressing curriculum. No need to register. Mobile version here.

To check JISC Collections for other free agreements, go to the catalogue on their site – there is a filter for ‘Only free resources’. Also browse the JISC Content website, which has brief details of the large number of collections JISC has licensed and digitised on behalf of the UK academic community.

Resources via CyMAL

Both of these are available to all FE, HE, health and public libraries in Wales – register via this email address or phone (01970 632800 Ext 403). Adult and community education or work-based learning organisations can get access through their institution’s library, public library, or the National Library of Wales.

• Newsbank. Free until 31 March 2012. Full text of a huge range of newspapers, all searchable. Marketing and training material is in the Staff Toolkit ‘Online Resources’ section.
• European Sources Online (ESO): Free until 31 March 2012. An information service that focuses on the European Union, the countries of Europe and on issues of concern to citizens and stakeholders.

Resources via public libraries

You may wish to investigate what online resources are available from your public library and encourage students or staff to register for use of these also. Information on public libraries can be found on the library.wales.org website. This way anyone in Wales can get access to Newsbank and other online resources so is potentially useful for adult and community education, schools or work-based learning. For example Swansea Libraries have this online reference collection. Join your local library and ask about the online resources you can access.

It should be noted that educational institutions of any kind can benefit from collaborating with public libraries. There is a good example of schools collaborating in the CyMAL Magazine (Winter 2010 / issue 10, pp15-17), where schools in Swansea got every pupil registered. An FE example would be those colleges that get regularly changed fiction stock from their public library.

Resources via the National Library of Wales

The National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth) gives members remote access to many online resources, such as Early English Books Online and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – see here for a list of resources. You can register with them online to access resources as long as you have an address in Wales, so these are open to everyone in Wales, regardless of sector.

Openly available resources

• Don’t forget to scan the RSC Wales Delicious Account! We have a tag specifically for free e-resources.
• The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) covers free, full text, quality controlled journals in many subjects and languages. There are more than 6,260 journals in the directory.
• Project Gutenberg is the place where you can download over 33,000 free e-books to read on your PC, iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, Android or other portable device.
• There are huge amounts of Open Educational Resources in places such as Jorum and NGfL. See Sam’s blog post here for more information.
• Obviously you can make your own resources using tools like Xerte, or via screencasting and video footage. JISC Digital Media can give guidance on the latter.
• If you are ever looking for images, audio and video that have licences for re-use then use the excellent Creative Commons Search. Another tool is Xpert – it helps you to search for media released under licenses for re-use and to attribute them correctly. For example search for something, when you get the results click ‘Select’, then choose ‘Get image with attribution’ and you will get the image back, with license information included across the bottom of the image. Gwych! No excuse for learners not to attribute their sources! If you just want images I heartily recommend www.morguefile.com and www.sxc.hu.
• British Library Archival Sound Recordings is a fantastic free resource for Higher and Further Education institutions. It allows learners to explore 46,200 selected recordings of music, spoken word, and human and natural environments. Institutions can register here.

Further e-resources – subscription options

• If you want to know about the options for paid-subscription resources there are reduced-cost subscriptions available from JISC Collections and Eduserv CHEST.
• JISC Collections also have an Academic Database Assessment Tool which lets you compare databases, e-book and e-journal collections.
• Many resources can be subscribed to directly, for example Issues Online is very popular with FE.
• In August 2011 you might want to look out for the JISC Mediahub, a new subscription resource that will bring together a huge amount of multimedia content.

I hope something on this page tickled your fancy. I’m off to sample the Shibbolised truffles and IP-authenticated chocolate fudges.

11:00-11:30 Primo at Aberystwyth University / Christiane Kloos

In my Aberystwyth University role I have been involved with this system so was familiar with how we got to where we are now, but for everyone else it was useful that Christiane began with the history. Times are changing and libraries are looking at keeping up with user expectations. Our Voyager library system was not going to be upgraded by Ex Libris in the future so we needed something else if we wanted to upgrade. Aberystwyth had SFX for e-journals and Metalib as a federated search tool – all Ex Libris products. Although we had been an early adopter of Shibboleth, Voyager had its own authentication system. The multiplicity of authentication systems and different access points was not ideal – it made more sense to have a single, intuitive user interface. One point for resource discovery, and only one user interface to keep up to date.

The current Primo implementation

Christiane’s team had looked at a number of options: Aquabrowser (they felt it was too public library-focused); Summon (had a nice interface); Vufind (an open source system but it wouldn’t seem to work with our Voyager system); WorldCat Local (promising but too US-focused); and Primo. At the end of the day they all look and function in similar ways. The advantage for us of using Primo was that it was from the same vendor as our other systems, which should help with interoperability.

The project started in May 2010 with a small team, aiming for an August 2010 launch. Shibboleth authentication was incorporated first; then making an OPAC available via Primo; and most recently work on implementing Primo Central. There were delays so the system was launched as a beta for the start of term 2010, and work is still ongoing. The main problems were with some OPAC functions, full-text availability, and statistics. On the 2nd March 2011 the team made the default search a combined Primo Central and local holdings.

There has been lots of feedback (some surveys offered free printer credit as an incentive). Currently users can select whether they want to use Voyager or Primo, and about twice as many users seem to be preferring Voyager, but Primo usage is increasing. Christiane gave a live demo to show the way that Primo integrates the patron functions. You can view the current Primo implementation here.

11:30-12:00 Encore at Bangor University / Mieko Yamaguchi

At Bangor they wanted to make the OPAC more interesting by adding features such as tagging, reviews, personalisation etc. Encore was the product they chose. However this was where one of the recurring themes of the day came up – naming. Mieko began by pointing out that Encore is the commercial name for the resource discovery product, but the name would never be mentioned to users. There are pros and cons to both branding options, for example using the commercial name may mean that people who have used the system elsewhere could be happy to realise they have access to a system they are familiar with. On the other hand, the chance to brand something locally as either a new product or as an update to an existing portal can be beneficial for user continuity and reassurance.

Naming issues came up again when Mieko pointed out the difficulties in explaining to users the difference between an Encore ‘quick search’ (the Encore search box can be embedded anywhere) and ‘simple keyword search’ or OPAC search (which would be a search of the OPAC via their LMS Millennium). Both allow a keyword search and both can find books in the library, yet they search different systems. Mieko pointed out that many other libraries that have Encore offer both search options, one via Encore and one via a classic catalogue link. This can be confusing for users. At Bangor they wanted Encore to be the default, but this is a work in process, since Encore is not fully customisable, and issues include not being able to use it to search for a classmark (a common request, as anyone who works in a library will be aware!)

Mieko showed screens of their implementation, with a tag cloud on the right and refining facets on the left. An innovation was that within records users can click on the location for a link to a pinned Google map (identified by coordinates rather than postcode for greater accuracy); their system also links to Google reviews. They will soon add Encore Synergy for full text linking, and include harvested records from the repository. Mieko also showed screens of other institutions’ implementations before discussing user and staff feedback. In the future Mieko wants to better integrate Encore and the OPAC.

12:00-12:15 Questions and discussion

• There was some discussion of what mechanisms were used for feedback. In many cases it was a link on the first page of the catalogue.
• The issue of naming came up again, trying to explain to users what they are searching. For example Ex Libris do not allow purchasers of Primo Central to list the databases that a user is searching when they use it – so how can a searcher know whether they have included all the major databases in their literature review? We always have to consider two audiences. We have one group that wants a quick and easy way of finding materials; and also a smaller audience of ‘expert’ searchers who need advanced options and have to know what they have searched so they can see when they have exhausted all the main possibilities. Hiding the search targets from them is incredibly frustrating.
• The question was also asked: to what extent are users involved in the purchase and development of new systems? Librarians were accused of being ‘notorious’ for buying systems and setting things up then presenting it as a finished thing, where it is too late for users to affect things. This is often due to tight timescales and budgets that have to be spent by a certain date, but where possible involving learners can be valuable.

1:30-2:00 Implementing SUMMON at UWIC / Julie Neenan

Julie began by taking us through the early stages of UWIC’s resource discovery journey, and it was a story that is familiar to many librarians. In 2009 they had multiple interfaces and routes to content (Athens, Google, OPAC, repository etc) which led to a confusing user discovery experience and access routes, especially off-campus. Julie applied Zipf’s Law to the experience, the interpretation being that users will take the route of least effort to achieve anything – another familiar story! UWIC discovered that their LMS Talis Prism 2 would cease to be developed by Talis and they would have to pay a lot for a minor upgrade to Prism 3 if they wanted to stick to the same system.

There were also lots of reports coming out at the time: the Google Generation report, HE e-books observatory report, various RIN reports (‘Mind the skills gap‘, ‘Overcoming barriers‘ and ‘E-journals use, value and impact‘), the JISC Service Provider Interface Study and so on. These raised many questions about how our users find materials.

UWIC staff decided that for 2009/10 they would just concentrate on getting the basics right. They moved resource information for students from the external website (which became a marketing tool rather than useful resource – the third familiar story…) into an intranet portal, called Electronic Library. For 2010/11 they went on to look at authentication and moved from Athens to Shibboleth and EZproxy. Julie said it was one of the best things they did – there was a fair bit of work involved at the start but it was well worth it, and established good foundations to build on.

UWIC already had some Serials Solutions products (360 Link resolver, 360 Core, 360 MARC Updates). In August 2010 they added 360 Resource Manager, set up a harvesting mechanism and started extracting data out of Talis Prism so that the new Summon system they had selected could be a one-stop-shop, with search boxes that can be embedded anywhere. Summon seemed to be ideal – the IT department was busy with large projects (familiar story #4) but with Summon the library could mostly do the work themselves, bringing print and e-resources together and allowing search and retrieval in one interface with faceted options. They hoped to maximise usage of their resources in this way.

The project has been held back a bit by problems extracting data out of the Talis Prism system. There was a large cost if they wanted Talis to do it, but the system is not set up to make it easy for you to do it yourself. Therefore they are going ahead with the other steps first, and will add OPAC data later. They might just launch Summon as an e-resource portal in September 2011 until they can incorporate the OPAC functions with the extracted Talis data and maximise the value of their MARC data.

Pitfalls they have faced include the Talis data extraction problems, and some problems of interconnection between Proquest and EBSCO which inhibits resource discoverability. Commercial competition and tight reins on metadata harvesting was a theme discussed a few times during the day. Looking to the future Julie was interested in the use of statistics comparing educational attainment to usage of e-resources and the library: there is obviously huge potential there for libraries.

2:00-2:30 Vufind at Swansea University / Paul Johnson

This talk had to be cancelled which was a shame since I am interested in open source software and how far you can get using it. Particularly when there was so much talk during the day of closed systems, lack of interoperability, commercial rivalry, companies refusing metadata harvesting, inability to export your own data, high costs paid to companies, lack of support when it has been paid for etc.

2:30-3:00 WorldCat Local for Trinity Saint David / Alison Harding

Many of Trinity Saint David’s decisions had been driven by the merger of two HEIs. As a result they had two LMS: Voyager and Horizon (which they still have because they have not implemented WorldCat Local yet – the beta is to launch in April 2011). They wanted a new solution, since both LMS were at the end of their life and were comparatively clunky. Trinity Saint David looked at Aquabrowser, Vufind and WorldCat Local as possible replacements. WorldCat Local allows users to search multiple catalogues simultaneously plus other systems and some e-resources and it has a Web 2.0-type interface. The other systems offer this too but in the end they chose WorldCat Local because they favoured the support options.

Trinity Saint David currently uses OpenAthens but would love to move to Shibboleth since Athens administration takes up so much time. They will still use the separate LMS systems behind the scenes, but will offer one OPAC search for the users (even if they have to resort to native LMS interfaces for patron functions). So far they have had issues with items that have no ISBNs (e.g. the oldest books pre-1840s; artefact collections), and the quality of the bibliographic records varies – something that becomes more visible with advanced resource discovery interfaces. WorldCat Local is not currently used heavily in the UK, so most of the live examples are US-only.

3:00-3:30 Questions and discussion

• A lengthy discussion of the issues of commercial metadata hoarding took place. For example resources like Westlaw and LexisNexis don’t allow metadata harvesting, which makes their products less flexible and harder to integrate into a single streamlined process for users. Likewise Ex Libris won’t allow libraries to announce the things being searched in Primo Central, as discussed earlier. The librarians all agreed that these kind of approaches are behind the times.
• There was some discussion of open source software. The point was made that whether you go with commercial or open source, you can pay for support (or not). For example, PTFS Europe support the implementation of open-source LMS such as Koha and Evergreen. Therefore the old argument that open source software has no support is no longer true.
• We discussed the sharing of cataloguing records. I pointed out that every institution is currently paying for them (whether as an imported purchase or salaries for local cataloguing); also many institutions pay for expensive conversion projects to bring records up to date. This is in many ways a duplication of cost. This could be a clear win for sharing of records in a simpler way, whether just within HEIs (organised by WHELF) or across all libraries (perhaps supported by CyMAL). It makes sense to share; at least for records that are not gained under restrictive licence agreements.

Overall it was an interesting and thought-provoking day, many thanks to UC&R Wales. The fact that every talk covered a different system meant that as well as serving as an overview of some of the major choices, the day illustrated common themes and messages, most of which I have mentioned somewhere above. One issue that we did not discuss much was user training. Some people claim that modern resource discovery interfaces should be self explanatory ‘like Google’. However any power user knows that even Google is not straightforward, and to understand things such as Creative Commons searches requires extra guidance. I am a fan of screencasts as a way of showing the main features. <controversy> They tend to be quicker to work through than long text pages with screenshots, and more attractive too. Why implement a snazzy new system then parade it around with only old-school library culture? </controversy>

I’ll link to the presentations once UC&R Wales makes them available.

This phone uses the Android operating system: don’t worry Apple fans, I looked at iPhones some time ago. As my colleagues know I am not a fan of e-book readers as single-purpose devices but had been interested in how a smartphone could do the job of providing access both to e-books via online platforms, and e-books as downloaded documents. This was a topic I covered recently. I have had a mix of experiences so far. Online e-books on platforms such as Ebrary are not as usable as I would like, and I would avoid using them for that purpose unless absolutely desperate. But e-books downloaded onto the phone for offline use via one of the e-book reader apps are pleasantly usable. True, I wouldn’t want to read War And Peace on there, but if I was a learner and wanted to skim a chapter then that would be perfectly feasible. The main problem there is the DRM that most book publishers use would prevent you from reading the books on your smartphone unless you stick to freely available titles. A case of technology leaping ahead of culture, perhaps.

Below is a video of me browsing some e-books on the phone – apologies for the poor quality!