Category Archives: News

Library 2.013 Free Virtual Conference

The dates are set for the Library 2.013 Worldwide Virtual Conference. The third annual global conversation about the future of libraries is scheduled for October 18-19, 2013. The conference will once again be held entirely online around the clock in multiple languages and time zones. Everyone is invited to participate in this FREE forum designed to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among information professionals worldwide.

To be kept informed of the latest conference news and updates, please 
join the Library 2.0 network. You do not need to join this network to attend, but doing so will also allow you to correspond with the presenters and other members, and to comment on sessions and discussions.

NEW for 2013! The Library 2.013 conference will feature two additional themed conference strands: 1) Doctoral Student Research and 2) Library and Information Center “Tours.” We encourage doctoral students to take advantage of this exciting opportunity to present their research and hone their online presentation skills. We also heard that many of you want to “see” libraries from around the globe. Presenters will take conference attendees on virtual tours of their libraries or information centers. We will post more information soon on the format of these tours.

Altogether, there will be eight conference strands covering a wide variety of timely topics, such as, MOOCs, e-books, maker spaces, mobile services, embedded librarians, green libraries, and more! Presenters may also submit presentations that cover LIS-related topics not included in the themed strands. The Library 2.013 Worldwide Virtual Conference is a great opportunity for professional development and networking. View the Conference Strands. (As a reminder, recordings of the Library 2.012 Worldwide Virtual Conference presentations are still available for viewing at your convenience.)

Section Begins Revision of the IFLA/UNESCO School Library Guidelines

The revision of the 2002 IFLA/UNESCO School Library Guidelines began with a workshop at the Singapore WLIC, held on August 20, 2013 at the National Library of Singapore. Dianne Oberg (Canada) and Randi Lundvall (Norway) began the workshop with a brief history of the development of the 1999 IFLA/UNESCO School Library Manifesto and of the 2002 School Library Guidelines.  Then Barbara Schultz-Jones organized five working groups, based on the content of the Guidelines: Introduction; Resources; Staff; Programs; and Promotion. The groups each gave a brief report at the end of their discussions, which were recorded on a flipchart. Dianne Oberg, incoming Secretary of the School Libraries Standing Committee, has transcribed the flipchart notes, and soon the group reports will be available as well. 

Tentative Timeline for the Revision Process

The process for the revision will involve a series of reviews and writing sessions as well as consultations with members of the IFLA School Libraries Standing Committee and with members of IASL. The joint committee anticipates considering feedback on the Guidelines during October and November in order to have a first draft of the revised document by December 2013.  Further feedback and rewriting will continue throughout the first half of 2014. The plan is to have a final document ready for endorsement in August 2014 by the IFLA School Libraries Standing Committee and by IASL. Then the document will go for approval to the Governing Board of IFLA in December 2014, followed by approval by UNESCO.

IFLA members are invited to participate in the revision of the School Library Guidelines as members of the “expert panel” to provide on-going feedback and advice to the joint committee. Interested individuals should contact Dianne Oberg [email protected]. Dianne will provide you with the information and resources that you will need to participate as a member of our “expert panel” over the next year.

Dianne Oberg,
Secretary, School Libraries SC, IFLA
Chair, IASL-IFLA School Libraries Joint Committee
Director-Canada, IASL

Rubenstein / Library of Congress Literacy Awards

First Winners of Library of Congress Literacy Award Winners Announced Reach Out and Read, 826 National and PlanetRead Receive Prizes.

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has chosen the winners of the 2013 Library of Congress Literacy Awards, a new program originated and sponsored by philanthropist David M. Rubenstein. The recipients are:
David M. Rubenstein Prize ($150,000): Reach Out and Read, Boston, Mass.
Reach Out and Read encourages early-childhood literacy by capitalizing on the relationship between parents and their children’s pediatricians. By integrating basic literacy awareness into regular office visits, children are exposed to books and
reading at the earliest age, well before they start school. Free books are distributed during the visit as well. Reach Out and Read achieves sustainability because it has integrated literacy education into a widely practiced experience (the well-baby
visit). Today, 12,000 medical providers serve 4 million annually in 5,000 clinics in all 50 states.
The American Prize ($50,000): 826 National, San Francisco, Calif.826 National uses unique storefront offices in eight cities nationwide as bases for addressing community problems of both literacy and aliteracy. One-on-one tutoring for at-risk K-12 students is offered along with a range of free core programs, including storytelling, bookmaking, in-school writing workshops and publishing projects. 826 has offices in San Francisco,
New York City, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor/Detroit, Seattle, Chicago, Boston and Washington, D.C., serving more than 31,000 students and publishing more than 1,000 student books annually.

The International Prize ($50,000): PlanetRead, Mumbai, India
PlanetRead in India is an innovative program that reinforces literacy skills, primarily through subtitles for popular musical television programming. SLS (Same Language Subtitling) was developed in India based on solid research. It is simple to
implement and easy to replicate, reaching 200 million low-literacy TV viewers in India. SLS is notable as a highly motivational approach for getting low-literacy adults to read, particularly where access to books is difficult.

The Library of Congress Literacy Awards were announced in January 2013 as a program to help support organizations working to alleviate the problems of illiteracy and aliteracy (a lack of interest in reading) both in the United States and
worldwide. The awards seek to reward those organizations that have been doing exemplary, innovative and easily replicable work over a sustained period of time and to encourage new groups, organizations and individuals to become involved.
“The generosity of David Rubenstein in instituting this literacy awards program will have a profound impact not just on the winners and their programs, but also on literacy programs everywhere that can benefit by replicating some of the best Literacy Award
practices of those who applied for an award,” said Billington. He noted that the Library is producing a publication that highlights the best practices in a number of categories as exemplified by the top applicants. “Literacy opens doors to life’s great opportunities,” said Rubenstein, a co-founder of The Carlyle Group and a major donor to the Library of Congress National Book Festival. “I am pleased to support the work of these outstanding literacy organizations that are making a profound difference in the lives of so many individuals.”
The Literacy Awards Advisory Board, which comprises a broad range of experts in the field of literacy and reading promotion, provided recommendations to Billington, who made the final selections. The award-winning organizations best exemplified the intent of the awards:
• The David M. Rubenstein Prize, for a groundbreaking or sustained record of advancement of literacy by any individual or entity worldwide
• The American Prize, for a project developed and implemented successfully during the past decade for combating illiteracy and/or aliteracy
• The International Prize, for the work of an individual, nation or nongovernmental organization working in a specific country or region
The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress administers the awards, and John Y. Cole, the center’s director, also serves as the chair of the Literacy Awards program.
Since its creation by Congress in 1977 to “stimulate public interest in books and reading,” the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress (www.Read.gov/cfb/) has become a major national force for reading and literacy promotion. A publicprivate
partnership, it sponsors educational programs that reach readers of all ages, nationally and internationally. The center provides leadership for affiliated state centers for the book (including the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and nonprofit reading-promotion partners and plays a key role in the Library’s annual National Book Festival. It also oversees the Library’s www.Read.gov website and administers the Library’s Young Readers Center and the Poetry and Literature Center. The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled collections and integrated resources to Congress and the American people. Many of the Library’s rich resources and treasures may be accessed through the Library’s website, www.loc.gov.

Student privacy issue

The following information which was published in the Dutch newspaper Trouw on 17 September 2013 http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4492/Nederland/article/detail/3511258/2013/09/17/School-Zweden-mag-Google-cloud-niet-gebruiken.dhtml may be of great interest to some of you:

English text:

A judge in Sweden has decreed that a school in Sweden may not store data in Google Cloud

Sweden’s Data Inspection Board (Datainspektionen) has told a Stockholm school that they must either discontinue using a Google cloud service or sign an agreement with Google in which the US firm promises to adhere to the Personal Data Act (in Sweden) and comply with the Swedish guidelines on privacy. The school in question is the Rudbeck school in Sollentuna in northern Stockholm.  It is an upper secondary school (gymnasium) with approximately 2,000 students which uses various Google services; all teachers and students at the school are required to open a Google Account..

“It is especially important in a school environment, where there is sensitive private personal data relating to children and young people, that those responsible really make sure that personal data is handled in a legal manner,” said Ingela Alverfors at the Data Inspection Board in a statement.

The Data Inspection Board has established that the school lacks an agreement with the US firm to cover the protection and management of personal information. The agreement would cover instructions and stipulate limits for handling data.  The privacy watchdog demands a contract in which these matters are properly regulated. The school has therefore been instructed to sign a contract with Google which ensures the privacy and integrity of the students in its care. If the school declines to do so then they have been told to stop using the service.

 

Do any of you know of similar statements or regulations in your own countries?  If so, would you please forward this information to Helen Boelens at [email protected]