Friday, August 18, 2006

New Version of ARTstor viewer

New Version of the Offline Image Viewer Available The latest release of the ARTstor Offline Image Viewer (version 2.6) is now available for download.

The OIV 2.6 contains additional features and enhanced functionality that were not available in previous versions of the software. Using the OIV 2.6, users can now:

import PowerPoint presentations directly into the OIV, effectively translating PowerPoint presentations into OIV presentations,

view a preview of each image within an Image Group before it is downloaded,

choose from more templates when creating slide presentations

use new undo/redo functionality when editing slides,

fully utilize the OIV 2.6 with all new Mac computers with the Intel Core Duo processor, and

upload both local images and OIV presentations from the OIV to Personal Collections in ARTstor (for instructor-level users only).

The OIV 2.6 can be installed by any registered user from the ARTstor Digital Library. For detailed instructions on how to install the OIV, please visit “Installing the OIV 2.6” in our online help.

In addition to our online help, User Services offers free, daily online training sessions. We have added additional training sessions during the month of August specifically to accommodate those who are interested in learning about OIV 2.6 and the recently announced enhancements to the Digital Library.

To view a list of scheduled training sessions, click on the "Training Center" tab at http://artstor.webex.com. For additional instructions on how to register and attend an online session, view the “Training Sessions” section in the "Using ARTstor" section of our website.

ArtStor Update--Performance Art added

Franklin Furnace and ARTstor announce collaboration agreement, ARTstor’s first with an “alternative space”

Since its inception in 1976, Franklin Furnace has presented what has come to be known as “variable media” art work -- works that take on new dimensions in each iteration. These works challenge the bounds of genre, varying in the meanings they take on contextually as well as in their physical deployment.

Digital images are fast replacing slides and slide projectors in the teaching of art and art history. To respond to these changes, Franklin Furnace will work with ARTstor to digitize and distribute images and documentation of events presented and produced by Franklin Furnace, with the goal of embedding the value of ephemeral practice into art and cultural history.

The records of Franklin Furnace present an unparalleled resource in that they are the only artifacts of live, ephemeral, variable media works. While scholars still debate the locus of art in time-based, variable media, the physical history held in Franklin Furnace's institutional archives offers a rare and valuable resource that captures the moment, the concept of the artist, and the historical context in which the work was created through the prism of its documentary parts.

Artists working in the late 70s and early 80s broached topics of personal, social and political relevance, and artworks produced at Franklin Furnace reflect their historical context. Artists who got their start in alternative spaces crossed genres to address issues of identity and politics from the perspective of the marginalized “outsider” in the realms of gender, ethnicity/nationality and other subjects at the core of cultural conflict.

Artists presented by Franklin Furnace include: Eric Bogosian, monologist and star of stage and screen; Jenny Holzer and Ann Hamilton, who represented the United States in the Venice Biennale; Guillermo Gomez-Pena and Liza Lou, winners of the MacArthur "genius" award; Mona Hatoum, the first artist to ever win the prestigious Sonning prize; Shirin Neshat, world renowned Iranian artist and filmmaker; and Ana Mendieta, Cuban-born artist whose retrospective was on view in 2004 at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

The individual and collective impact of artists such as these upon larger culture is documented in the materials contained within the archives of Franklin Furnace:

In 1985, Franklin Furnace presented one of the first performance artworks to address the AIDS crisis; “Pink Triangle, Not Forgotten,” by S. K. Duff. About the identification and extermination of gays in Nazi Germany, this performance helped to kindle the public discourse that ultimately resulted in mainstream acceptance of AIDS victims;

Mona Hatoum's “Variation on Discord and Division” made a silent, eloquent statement on the bloodshed in the Middle East in 1984;

Robbie McCauley's 1985 “My Father and the Wars” explored the embedded nature of racism in American military and social institutions.

Teh-Ching Hsieh’s 1983 “One-Year Performance (Living Outside)” installation at Franklin Furnace was comprised of 365 maps of Lower Manhattan showing where he slept, ate, walked and slept each day; photos of the artist during the four seasons; and his clothes worn while living outside for one year, a silent treatise on what it means to be homeless.

Franklin Furnace has a history of actively making its collections and archives available for research. From pioneering storefront art space in TriBeCa to “going virtual” on the Internet, Franklin Furnace has explored new venues to reach the public.

On May 11, 2006, the organization received notification that its proposal to the National Endowment for the Humanities--to digitize and publish on its website, records of performances, installations, exhibits and other events produced by the organization during its first ten years—had been funded. This project will create electronic access to what are now the only remaining artifacts of these singular works of social, political and cultural expression.

Commenting on the value of Franklin Furnace’s event archives to scholars, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Professor of Performance Studies, New York University writes, “The Franklin Furnace archive is of interest to a wide range of humanities fields because of the opportunity it affords to explore the role of art and the artist in American society in the post-World War II period. …this work was particularly responsive to the historic era in which it was made. As a result, scholars in such fields as American Studies, art history, visual cultural studies, theater history, performance studies, cinema studies, cultural studies, critical studies and museum studies will find rich research possibilities here.”

Says Martha Wilson, Founding Director of Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc., “The Board of Directors made the wrenching decision to sell the loft at 112 Franklin Street and ‘go virtual’ during our 20th anniversary season in 1996-97. At that time, in the wake of the Culture Wars, our primary concern was to choose a venue and art medium in the Internet that would provide the same freedom of expression artists had enjoyed in the loft in the 70s. Ten years later, the decision to make our website our public face has resulted in Franklin Furnace’s successful transition from physical art space to online research resource. I am truly thrilled to be embarking on Franklin Furnace’s 30th year with ARTstor’s collaboration agreement and a major grant from the NEH. The confluence of these events will help fulfill our mission to make the world safe for avant-garde art.”

House of Common Parliamentary Papers Complete

ProQuest Completes Digitization of 19th Century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers ProQuest Information and Learning, the leading provider of digital content from the 19th century, has completed the digitization of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers from 1801 to 1900.

Parliamentary Papers are considered to be the most detailed primary source for information on 19th-century Britain, its colonies, and the wider world.

This comprehensive collection includes all sessional papers issued by the House of Commons between 1801-1900, including Bills, Reports of Royal Commissions, Reports of Select Committees, Accounts and Papers, and Command Papers.

The completion of the digitization of 78,000 papers, comprising all of the sessional papers issued by the House of Commons between 1801-1900 (4.2 million pages) was featured in both College & Research Libraries News and Information Outlook.

http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2006/june06/june06.htm http://www.sla.org/content/Shop/Information/index.cfm

CNKI interface upgrade

East View Information Services is pleased to announce a number of important upgrades of the CNKI platform. We think you will appreciate the new features and improved look of the interface.

New features (described below) create a much more robust search experience, including:

* Individual Journal page
* Browsing
* Cross-Database Search
* Century Journals Project
* Similar Documents Search Results and more.

Try it now on the East View mirror server at: http://chinanew.eastview.com.
ProQuest is pleased to announce the release of Safari 5.0.

The new interface will be available on August 19, 2006.This release brings a new look and feel to the interface along with improved search capabilities. Search functionality will remain the same so users will still have the ability to keyword and code fragment search.

The interface includes the following enhancements:

* "Graphically rich" books are now supported - See representations of book content in Safari for titles with particularly complex typography. The "Graphically rich" content offers improved display of illustrative content from charts and graphs to black and white photographs to color screen displays, allowing Safari to offer you more titles from Peachpit and Adobe Press on Photoshop, Flash and software for graphic programming and applications. This new content is perfect for web designers, web developers and those studying for careers in creative professions

* Faster Page Refresh - Using Ajax, Safari loads pages faster and more efficiently.

* Suggested Search - As you type your search term Safari suggests, in real time, expressions from the most popular searches our users have entered.* Convenient Access to Advanced Search Parameters - A new dropdown provides access to filtering on book titles, section titles, code fragments, author, and publisher.

* Choice Between Popularity and Text-based Relevancy in Search - A new slider bar allows you to weight your search results based on popularity or relevancy ranked by book.

* Improvements to "Additional Reading" links - When you click on an "Additional reading" link at the bottom of book content pages, the destination section is now viewable in full.

* Amazon reviews and ratings for thousands of titles

Lexi - Comp update

I couldn't really post the entire newsletter, but the key links are below:


Welcome to the August edition of Lexi-Comp’s enewsletter. This month, we are bringing you the following information:

Clinical Perspective
This month we highlight how Pediatric Lexi-Drugs® and Lexi-Comp® ONLINETM can provide comprehensive support in the care of a young patient.

What's New
Feature Added to Patient Care Module

Technology Update
Lexi-Comp, Inc. and Research In Motion® (RIM), the makers of BlackBerry™ devices, have partnered to offer healthcare providers constant connectivity to vital point-of-care information.

Budget Update-->Student Union Funds

Heather sent out the following:

As a result of discussion with the Student Union Library rep I just want to confirm that there will be no distribution of Student Union funds across all subject areas. The funds will be expended through an undergraduate book approval plan that will be established with YBP. This expenditure will start with 2007 imprints. I will be setting up meetings in your calendars re the undergraduate plan and sending out some information for consideration.

I'd like to add that the Students Union is also funding ebrary and this year have added RefWorks to the products they support.

Yay, we have the BEST students!!

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

New Product-->Natural.Re.Source

"Natural Re.Source is a comprehensive, highly searchable, internet database capturing the public policy requirements for the energy, environment, mining and forestry sectors in seven Canadian jurisdictions - Federal, Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, Yukon, NWT and Ontario."

http://ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca:2048/login?url=http://site.naturalresource.ca

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Information Hygiene--police your metadata

The Privacy commissioner of Canada has released a fact sheet on the Risks of Metadata.

A good read, for example, do you know how to make sure that tracked changes are cleaned off the final versions of any World document?

Platform change for Gale InfoTrac products

Effective August 1, 2006, the InfoTrac databases will be automatically switched over to the new PowerSearch interface.

This new interface allows you to search one or many of the Info Trac databases at the same time.

For full details about the switch to PowerSearch, please refer to the
following Thomson Gale notice:
http://www.gale.com/email/gin40906accuracy.htm

Please note, this switch will automatically take place and should NOT
affect access. This will result in a new interface for the InfoTrac databases.