Digital Library Digest: Friday the 13th Edition

Creve Coeur Public Library receives grant to help close digital divide

“Creve Coeur is one of 15 Illinois libraries that will receive part of a $400,000 grant designed to enhance residents’ broadband computer access. The Creve Coeur facility’s share is almost $19,000, according to Greg Weydert, the library director.

“’I’m trying to eliminate that digital divide,’ Weydert said in echoing the name of the grant the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity awarded the Illinois State Library, which redistributed the money.

“’People born with computers are basically very comfortable with them,’ he said. ‘People who weren’t can be very uncomfortable with a computer.’

“Weydert suggested that schism isn’t necessarily generational. It also can be a result of economics and education. The library plans to combat that by augmenting its inventory of five computers and increasing the number of self-contained continuing education classes it offers.”

From Nick Vlahos’ article in the Pekin Daily Times, Library cuts into the digital divide

Project Gutenberg reaches over 40,000 titles

“With little fanfare, Project Gutenberg reached #40,000 in its eBook series; Extinct Birds: an attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times: that is, within the last six or seven hundred years: to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction, by Walter Rothschild.

“Extinct Birds covers globally extinct and rare birds as well as hypothetical extinct species which include bird taxa which existence are only based on written or oral reports or on paintings. The accounts of the extinct bird taxa are based on Rothschild’s lecture On extinct and vanishing birds published in the Proceedings of the 4th International Ornithological Congress 1905 in London.”

From the Project Gutenberg News article, Project Gutenberg 40,000th eBook Milestone!

OCLC to launch new initiative to help ensure public access to digital content

“The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has awarded a $99,957 grant to OCLC for a new initiative, ‘The Big Shift: Advancing Public Library Participation in Our Digital Future.’ The purpose of the grant is to more fully understand the challenges that U.S. public libraries face in providing e-book content to borrowers, as they ensure that all Americans continue to have access to commercially produced content through their local public libraries, even as formats change.

“OCLC will partner with the American Library Association (ALA) and the Public Library Association (PLA) to review the e-book landscape and jointly develop recommendations for managing the e-book environment, in order to ensure adequate public access to these emerging resources.

“Research indicates that libraries are at a tipping point in e-content investment, as the percentage of e-book and e-journal collection expenditures continues to steadily outgrow print books and journals each year—and is likely to increase exponentially with the rapid growth in e-book adoption.

“’Now is the time to work together so that the rise of e-books does not result in a society where content is actually less accessible than it was in the era of print,’ said IMLS Director Susan Hildreth. ‘As a society, we depend on the free flow of information and ideas to strengthen our economy and our democracy. I am confident that we will find new strategies that embrace exciting new digital innovations and continue to deliver essential library services.’”

From the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) press release, Public libraries lead initiative to ensure public access to digital content

Ohio State University Library’s map of Africa explores literary landscape

“The Literary Map of Africa is a bio-bibliographical database, designed to be a comprehensive research and information tool on African literature. It does not focus on selected authors or national / regional literatures, nor does it follow the sometimes rigid North & sub-Saharan Africa divide; instead, the database seeks to cover the whole continent. This wider scope makes it possible for writers from different regions and countries, with varied histories and cultures, and who produce works in diverse African and European languages to be represented in one project. One objective this project hopes to fulfill is to include as many emerging writers as possible, especially those based in Africa. Many in this category of creative writers do not have a readership beyond their national boundaries and are therefore hardly represented in many bibliographies and encyclopedias.”

From the Ohio State University Library site, Literary Map of Africa.