AskScotland brings librarian expertise to the Web

Earlier this year, the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) launched an interactive digital reference service that enables people around the world to get answers about Scotland. AskScotland is a collaborative national service that pools the staff and resources of Scotland’s public libraries to bring their knowledge and rich collections to a global audience. The new service is powered by QuestionPoint, the virtual reference desk developed by OCLC and the Library of Congress

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iPod-compatible eAudiobook titles

Recorded Books and OCLC NetLibrary are bringing libraries a wide collection of iPod-compatible downloadable eAudiobooks. The new, 1,000-title collection works with a wide range of MP3 players—iPods, iPhones and other portable listening devices—and includes contemporary best-sellers along with classics and children’s favorites. The new titles are available through Recorded Books Premium Subscription Collections at no additional charge using the NetLibrary Media Center.

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OCLC recognizes 2009 award winners

Part of OCLC’s commitment to research and education includes furthering the advancement of librarianship. OCLC does this not only through OCLC research but also by financially supporting awards and scholarships. The following 2009 awards and their recipients were recognized at the OCLC President’s Luncheon at the 2009 ALA Annual Conference.

OCLC/LITA Minority Scholarship in Library and Information Technology
Victoria Chu
University of British Columbia

Virginia Boucher—OCLC Distinguished ILL Librarian
Barbara Coopey
Associate Librarian
Assistant Head for Access Services and Head of Interlibrary Loan
Penn State University Libraries

Margaret Mann Citation
Francis L. Miksa
Emeritus Professor
School of Information
University of Texas at Austin

Frederick G. Kilgour Award for Research in Library and Information Technology
William H. Mischo
Head
Grainger Engineering Library and Information Center
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Melvil Dewey Medal
James Neal
Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian
Columbia University

John Ames Humphry/OCLC Forest Press Award for International Librarianship
Patricia Oyler
Professor and Associate Dean of Curriculum
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Simmons College

European WorldCat Mashathon inspires new tools

Held May 13–14, 2009 at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the second WorldCat Mashathon attracted more than 40 participants from libraries and cultural institutions in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. The event culminated in a range of mash-ups, apps and creative ideas to implement in developers’ home library catalogs.

Examples of successful projects:

• WorldCat World Tour: An app that finds artists’ albums through the WorldCat Search API and uses a U.K.-based streaming music service to play the musical tracks online.
• WorldCat Identities widgets: Four small blocks of functionality that build on each other to turn a Dutch catalog ppn number into an OCLC number, and return author names, citations and related works (subject headings) in XML and JSON.
• Also available at a WorldCat Library: A new sidebar in the Wageningen UR Library Catalog that uses the WorldCat Search API and the WorldCat Registry OpenURL Gateway to display a locationsensitive listing for other WorldCat libraries that also hold the item.

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Six librarians named 2010 IFLA/OCLC Fellows

Sasekea Harris, Librarian, University of the West Indies, St. Andrew, Jamaica

Mahmoud Khalifa, Cataloger Librarian, Library of Congress, Cairo Office, Cairo, Egypt

Elchin Mammadov, Senior Information Specialist, Baku American Center, Baku, Azerbaijan

Catherine Muriuki, University Librarian, Pan Africa Christian University, Nairobi, Kenya

Sidra Shan, Assistant Librarian, International Islamic University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan

Shao Yan, Group Leader, National Library of China, Beijing, China

The Jay Jordan IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellowship Program supports library and information science professionals from countries with developing economies. The program provides advanced continuing education and exposure to a broad range of issues in information technologies, library operations and global cooperative librarianship. Since its inception in 2001, the program has welcomed 50 librarians and information science professionals from 30 countries. The list of program sponsors includes OCLC, IFLA and the American Theological Library Association.

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The Ripple Effect | Web scale for libraries