A while ago, I had a little play-time with data released from the University of Huddersfield Library by Dave Pattern, which led to a Talking With Talis podcast with Dave (see this post).
They also asked both Dave and me to write short articles for their Panlibus magazine, and as it turns out the entire issue (PDF) is devoted to several aspects of openness in higher education and libraries more generally. Anyone with an interest in openness in education will find lots of interest.
Here's a few highlights from the issue, just to whet your appetite.
- The National Library of Scotland in the Digital World
- Martyn Wade talks about the plans for the National Library of Scotland future as a
'small and smart' national library, starting from "the view that digital is what we
do; digital is what we are." He also raises many intriguing questions about the
future role of libraries and digitisation. - The New City Library
- Tony Durcan talks about the newly remade Newcastle city library, which includes a
four-storey atrium, complete self-service, and even a 24 hour vending machine,
"providing a range of books and DVDs" - Building a library service for the future
- Liz McGettigan talks about the network of public libraries in Edinburgh
self-reimagining to embrace Web 2.0 features and easier access to services,
including using RFID technology to enable city-wide self-service terminals. - Plings--places to go, things to do
- Steven Flower talks about making a listing of positive activities for youth as easily browsable as the TV listings -- his analogy to TV listings is really impressive!
- Libraries, openness, and the global community
- Nicole C. Engard talks about openness, open source, and open catalogs with LibLime's biblios.net service.
- Juice up your OPAC
- Richard Wallis talks about Talis's Juice framework for creating innovative interfaces onto your OPACs. I'll be spending lots of time exploring this!
- Opening up Higher Education, starting with the library
- Dave Pattern and yours truly talk about releasing library and other university data under open licenses to facilitate innovative reuse of university info.
- Next-generation resource list management at the University of Plymout
- Talis and the University of Plymouth make resource lists open and accessible
- A Code4lib week for Talis
- Richard Wallis is back to talk about his experiences at this year's code{4}lib conference.
All that and more in the issue. All of it looks wonderfully to the future of opennes in libraries and higher education. Many ideas and insights into what the future will hold.
I'd also like to thank Panlibus' editor, Harpreet Kaur Sanghera, for inviting me to contribute to the issue and for all her wonderful help in putting the article together. I really appreciate all your work and feedback!
Slowly, higher education is making strides towards making its materials open to all. And of course, with the rapid spread and proliferation of the Internet, digital materials is one important factor in making it happen.
Textbooks that used to cost hundreds of dollars can now be had for a fraction of the price, or free, due to the digitizing of course material. American Sentinel University is working directly with several textbook publishers and managing to cut the cost in half for many of its courses. Even a prestigious school such as MIT is opening its information up to the public for the pursuit of equal access to its wealth of knowledge for all.
Hey Patrick,
Thanks for the mention. Of course, it got a bit confusing when we got the digital tv plug working for plings - as they were on the tele then!!
Best wishes
Steven
Anytime! Hope it works well. I mean it that your analogy to TV listings was really important -- I see it applying in many many contexts, and it points out a place where a LOT of work needs to be done. (After all, most of don't have marketers on our staff!)
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