Mounting Books Project

4th International Conference on Open RepositoriesThis presentation was part of the session : Conference PresentationsDate: 2009-05-19 03:00 PM – 04:30 PMThe Northwestern University Library undertook a software development project to create an automated workflow to enable files from its Kirtas book scanner to be both linked to the OPAC with a page viewer application, and ingested into its Fedora repository as archivally sustainable and reusable digital objects. The web-based Book Workflow Interface (BWI) software utilizes jBPM for management and web services for key creation components. It also features an AJAX interface to support drag-and-drop creation and editing of METS-based book structures. The BWI system ingests locally scanned texts as well as texts digitized by external partners or vendors. This project addressed the need for a Fedora-based book viewing tool that can be used by other research libraries developing digital repositories based on a Fedora systems architecture. The book view interface includes full-text search and view, search-within-a-book, book structure browse, page turning, and zooming interface components. The workflow system can be expanded over time to support new functions in the book publishing process, and can be redeployed in support of digitization processes for other types of media. Shifting from a simple book reformatting operation to a dynamic program that makes any multipage text object fully accessible online, this system dramatically improves Northwestern's ability to share its unique library and archival collections. The project was fully supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Book Workflow Interface and public book viewing software will both be released as open source in spring 2009.Andrew W. Mellon Foundatio

An Iterative Approach to Building Sustainable Repository Services on Fedora

4th International Conference on Open RepositoriesThis presentation was part of the session : Conference PresentationsDate: 2009-05-19 10:00 AM – 11:30 AMNorthwestern University Library is engaged in a multiyear project to implement a robust digital repository on Fedora. Building a system that accommodates richly heterogeneous collections, empowers professional staff engaged in a variety of production workflows, and provides access commensurate with the richness materials afford is not achieved all at once. In order to support specific near-term project commitments while building broadly applicable content models and services for the long term, we devised a cyclic three-phase strategy. It is cyclic in that feedback and demand from users will result in revision and expansion of core models, services and associated end-user tools.Institute for Museum and Library Service

Future States of the Research Library

What can be said about the year 2021 that hasn’t already been said? Challenging, unprecedented, extraordinary in almost every way, 2021 even surpassed the previous annus horribilis, 2020. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to ripple humanity-wide, ceaselessly rebounding off, and cruelly amplifying, almost every kind of inequity and social challenge. A long overdue reckoning with the legacies of racism in the United States did not materialize in any truly transformative way, political discord worsened, and anti-science voices grew to dominate what should have been rational conversations about a coherent and collective response to a profound global health threat. It was within this context that the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) planned its 2021 meetings, which continued as virtual gatherings for a second year. Recognizing the monumentality of the change upon us, the committee of organizers planned the spring and fall 2021 meetings as a series, devoting the spring meeting to hearing from experts, mostly from outside of research libraries, on a set of broad issues, with the fall meeting more specifically focused on the library response and to understanding its evolving context. “The Big Pivot,” as we dubbed the meeting sequence, gave us time and space to grapple with major forces reshaping every aspect of our society, to work to understand them more deeply, and to contextualize their implications for our libraries and institutions. In this issue of Research Library Issues (RLI), we reflect on some of the topics explored in 2021 with a forward look to the conversations and work continuing into 2022

Preservation and Access in an Age of E-Science and Electronic Records: Sharing the Problem and Discovering Common Solutions

As academic libraries grapple with the challenge of preserving their own digitized special collections, intensification of interest in preserving other electronic content may present opportunities to collaborate with organizations on campus. This article offers a brief introduction to some of the core issues in digital preservation and suggests an orientation to the problems that can be helpful in thinking about how to join forces with others on campus

The Evolution of Dinner: A Review of Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal by Abigail Carroll

Food historian Abigail Carroll’s debut book, Three Squares: the Invention of the American Meal, explores the historical reasons why we eat what we do, and when. Combing through a range of primary sources, she analyzes how Americans\u27 eating choices have been determined by changing economic circumstances. A book review by Claire Stewart

Workshop Report: Digital Content and Issues for Libraries

A “Digital Content and Issues for Libraries” workshop sponsored by ALA’s Office of Information Technology Policy (OITP) was held at the O’Hare Hilton in Chicago April 7–9, 2006. Thirty-three attendees represented several ALA divisions, OITP, the Special Library Association, NISO, the Association of Research Libraries, the Association of Moving Image Archivists, the Digital Library Federation, public broadcasters, foundations, and government libraries and funding agencies. The workshop was convened to help OITP form its policy agenda with regard to digitized library content

In-Service Education and the Provision of Educational Materials to Improve Awareness of Chronic Wasting Disease Management Efforts in Arkansas

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a disease caused by an accumulation of misfolded prions throughout the nervous system. This disease affects animals within the Cervidae Family, which includes deer, elk, moose, and caribou. This disease is fatal and physical symptoms often do not materialize until the animal is near death. CWD has become an increasing issue in Arkansas since an elk (Cervus canadensis) in Newton County tested positive for CWD in 2016. Since then, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) has worked with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture (UADA) and others to develop management strategies to slow the transmission of this disease in the state. For this research project, three objectives were established. The objectives of this study included: 1) develop engaging and up-to-date CWD educational materials and analyze whether these benefit UADA County Extension Agents (CEAs) in public education, 2) create a ready-to-use packet of program materials and demonstrate those materials for CEAs in efforts to increase the annual number of extension programs in Arkansas about CWD, 3) determine how effective an in-service training is at improving CEAs’ knowledge of CWD. The methodology for this study included creating educational materials for a UADA CEA in-service training consisting of a PowerPoint® presentation providing an overview of information and current management strategies regarding CWD in Arkansas as well as 4 handouts discussing various topics related to CWD. These materials were presented to CEAs and made available to them following the presentation through a Box file. The study included a pre-assessment and post-assessment given to the CEAs prior to and following the training. These assessments utilized convenience sampling to gather quantitative and qualitative data. A statistically significant difference between pre-assessment and post-assessment responses to 4 questions was detected for objectives 1 and 3. Responses corresponding to objective 2 were analyzed qualitatively and indicated success of the objective’s goals when comparing pre-assessment and post-assessment responses. These results indicate an overall positive response to the materials presented during the in-service training

The impact of the introduction of girl choristers at Salisbury and its influence on other British Anglican cathedral choirs

The aim of this thesis has been to examine the effects that the introduction of girl choristers has had on the all-male tradition that hitherto characterised the Anglican cathedral choir. Arguably, the future of any tradition relies on the success of the present generation for its survival and continuity. That should not imply that the tradition remains identical as in past generations, but rather that a tradition should be able to respond and, if necessary, embrace new ideas. The thesis provides an historical context for the widely reported and seemingly ground-breaking initiative at Salisbury Cathedral in the early 1990s. Through the analysis of contemporary texts, related literature, interviews, a small-scale survey and three illustrative in-depth case studies (Salisbury, Lincoln and Lichfield), the thesis reviews the background to this choral development and explores the immediate and subsequent impact across the sector. The initiative at Salisbury was not (and in some instances is still not) without controversy and so opportunity is taken in the text to rehearse examples of these conflicting views by drawing on contemporary commentary, in part by using the lens of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). Notwithstanding these cultural dissonances, by 2020, nearly all the Anglican cathedrals have introduced girls' choirs to share the responsibility of sung services with boys across the liturgical year, occasionally combining for special festivals and musical events, such as concerts and broadcasts. In each instance, the boys' choir has continued and the evidence suggests that there is now commonly mutual recognition of the value of having separate choirs of girls as well as boys – a value that is both musical as well as social and cultural

GoWell East Headline Indicators Comparison Report

This report outlines results for our GoWell East study within four separate chapters, that are focused on the Scottish Government, Commonwealth Games legacy themes: 1) Active; 2) Flourishing; 3) Sustainable; and 4) Connected. Results are presented for the longitudinal cohort analysis, wave 1-wave 2, and in addition, within the chapters focusing on the Active and Flourishing themes, data will be presented by gender and age. The findings highlight that the vast majority of people living near the Games venues in the East End continue to be supportive of the fact that Glasgow hosted the Games, and that most of those who experienced inconvenience at the time of the event thought it was worth it

In-Service Education and the Provision of Educational Materials to Improve Awareness of Chronic Wasting Disease Management Efforts in Arkansas

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a disease caused by an accumulation of misfolded prions throughout the nervous system. This disease affects animals within the Cervidae Family, which includes deer, elk, moose, and caribou. This disease is fatal and physical symptoms often do not materialize until the animal is near death. CWD has become an increasing issue in Arkansas since an elk (Cervus canadensis) in Newton County tested positive for CWD in 2016. Since then, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) has worked with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture (UADA) and others to develop management strategies to slow the transmission of this disease in the state. For this research project, three objectives were established. The objectives of this study included: 1) develop engaging and up-to-date CWD educational materials and analyze whether these benefit UADA County Extension Agents (CEAs) in public education, 2) create a ready-to-use packet of program materials and demonstrate those materials for CEAs in efforts to increase the annual number of extension programs in Arkansas about CWD, 3) determine how effective an in-service training is at improving CEAs’ knowledge of CWD. The methodology for this study included creating educational materials for a UADA CEA in-service training consisting of a PowerPoint® presentation providing an overview of information and current management strategies regarding CWD in Arkansas as well as 4 handouts discussing various topics related to CWD. These materials were presented to CEAs and made available to them following the presentation through a Box file. The study included a pre-assessment and post-assessment given to the CEAs prior to and following the training. These assessments utilized convenience sampling to gather quantitative and qualitative data. A statistically significant difference between pre-assessment and post-assessment responses to 4 questions was detected for objectives 1 and 3. Responses corresponding to objective 2 were analyzed qualitatively and indicated success of the objective’s goals when comparing pre-assessment and post-assessment responses. These results indicate an overall positive response to the materials presented during the in-service training