James M. Day – Page 5 – Library Technology Launchpad

6 Chrome Browser Extensions Every Librarian Needs

A look at global browser market share data will show that Google’s Chrome browser commands more than half of the browser market (58.4% for January 2017, to be specific). The market share might be even higher among librarians (who have a choice at work). If you’re not a Google Chrome user, these six browser extensions might make you switch.

We later posted 6 More Chrome Browser Extensions Every Librarian Needs.

If you’ve never considered browser extensions, they are plugins or small applications that add functionality to your browser. Sometimes they work in the background (like Grammarly, below) but usually they work when you click on a small icon that gets added to the browser’s toolbar.

Google has a huge Chrome Web Store for browser extensions, most of them are free. They offer help to install and manage extensions but for the most part, a single click will install an extension. Sometimes additional configuration options are available.

Here are six Chrome browser extensions every librarian needs.

Continue reading “6 Chrome Browser Extensions Every Librarian Needs”

OAI-PMH: Basics and Resources

Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) is a set of specifications for making structured open repository metadata accessible to other service providers issuing requests.

Why learn about OAI-PMH?

Taking advantage of repositories (data providers) and services (service providers) that offer metadata using OAI-PMH will allow your resources better visibility and access. For example, many discovery services (the “harvester”) use OAI-PMH metadata for indexing open access institutional repository articles.

The Basics

Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) specifies how metadata is structured and presented for ingestion by external services, usually on the Internet. OAI-PMH metadata is encoded in extensible markup language (XML) format. OAI-PMH records are harvested using HTTP requests.

OAI-PMH is a project of the Open Archives Initiative.

Continue reading “OAI-PMH: Basics and Resources”

Basics and Resources Series 2016

Last year we created a Basics and Resources series to introduce some common library technology topics. As you can guess from the name, in each article we introduced the basic concepts and listed resources where you could learn more. Based on feedback, these articles proved very popular and we will be posting more in the coming year.

The Basics and Resources articles from 2016 were:

Linked Data

Linked Data mug Linked Data is a set of practices which involves the publishing, sharing, and connecting of related data across the Web in a structured format, preferably using an open access license.

Read Linked Data: Basics and Resources.

BIBFRAME

BIBFRAME is a bibliographic framework for the description of physical and online objects to make them accessible on the Web by using a standard Linked Data model. It is a replacement for MARC.

Read BIBFRAME: Basics and Resources.

Altmetrics

Altmetrics are “alternative metrics” to measure the influence and reach of scholarly output on the Web through peer-review counts, influential news sites and blog posts, citation manager bookmarks such as Mendeley, Wikipedia citations, and social media mentions on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Read Altmetrics: Basics and Resources.

API

API stands for Application Programming Interface which allows external applications to access software or Web services data, in the latter case by using HTTP request messages, for recombination (mashup) or custom presentation by the external application.

Read API: Basics and Resources.

We will keep a current list on the Basics and Resources Series page.

2017 Library Conference Schedule

With 2017 just started, we are looking forward to this year’s batch of annual library conferences. The list below covers large library technology conferences as well as the major conferences where technology will be discussed.

January		#hashtag
20-24	ALA Midwinter Meeting, Atlanta, GA	#alamw17
March
6-9	Code4Lib 2017, Los Angeles, CA	#c4l17
15-16	Library Technology Conference 2017, St. Paul, MN	#LTC2017
28-30	Computers in Libraries 2017, Arlington, VA	#CILDC
April
2-5	12th Annual ER&L Conference, Austin, TX	#erl17
3-5	Designing for Digital, Austin, TX	#d4d17
14-15	DPLAfest 2017, Chicago, IL	#DPLAfest
June
16-20	SLA Annual Conference 2017, Phoenix, AZ	#SLA2017
19-23	Joint Conference on Digital Libraries 2017, Toronto, Canada	#JCDL2017
22-27	ALA Annual Conference 2017, Chicago, IL	#ALAAC17
August
19-25	IFLA World Library and Information Congress, Wrocław, Poland	#wlic2017
October
27-11/1	ASIS&T Annual Meeting 2017, Washington, DC	@asist_org
November
6-10	Charleston Conference, Charleston, SC	@chsconf
March 2018
20-24	PLA Conference 2018, Philadelphia, PA	#PLA2018

For more comprehensive lists, see Douglas Hasty’s Library Conference Planner website or D-Lib Magazine.

Support Open Access Resources

We continue our celebration of Open Access Week.

While open access repositories and journals are free for end users, they do cost money to set up and maintain. Forward-thinking libraries are beginning to allocate funds to support open access resources.

Here are some open access resources you should consider supporting.

BioMed Central

BioMed Central contains over 290 peer-reviewed journals in Biology, Clinical Medicine, and Health. Your library can get an institutional membership to manage Article Processing Charges (APCs).

Knowledge Unlatched

Knowledge Unlatched creates packages of scholarly books in the humanities and social studies which are “unlatched” to become open access ebooks through membership contributions. The first two rounds allowed the release of over 100 titles, made available for free via the HathiTrust Digital Library and OAPEN. The pledging period for the next collection, KU Select 2016, runs through January 31, 2017.

Open Library

Open Library is an initiative of the Internet Archive with “one web page for every book” ever published. Users can read public domain “classic books” for free or borrow up to five titles for two weeks each. Users can contribute by adding books or editing records. Sign up for a personal account or register your library to provide in-library loans for users on your library network.

Open Library of Humanities

The Open Library of Humanities (OLH) is a UK-based open access publishing platform for scholarly peer-reviewed articles. The OLH charges no author fees, but is “funded by an international consortium of libraries” along with grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Annual fees range from $534 to $1,600 based on institution size. US libraries can join through LYRASIS at lyrasis.openlibhums.org.

PLOS

PLOS Add PLOS ONE (and other PLOS publications) to your library’s databases list and activate PLOS ONE in your discovery service. There are several ways you can get involved. You and your institution’s faculty can publish in PLOS. Your library can become an institutional member to handle Article Processing Charges (APCs) for your faculty. Or you can simply donate to PLOS. See www.plos.org/get-involved.