IFLA has endorsed the WikiLibrary Manifesto, aimed at connecting libraries and Wikimedia projects such as Wikibase in order to promote the dissemination of knowledge in open formats, especially in linked open data networks. The manifesto supports the application of the principles of FAIR (free, open, accessible, re-usable) data.
Closely aligned to IFLA Key Initiative 2.4 “Provide tools and infrastructure that support the work of libraries”, IFLA’s Library Publishing Special Interest Group (IFLA LibPub SIG) is focused on an identified trend which has emerged over the past decade: libraries taking on a visible role along the publishing continuum. This concerns not only scholarly materials by academic libraries (articles, reports, books, data), but also community content (stories, local histories, self-publishing support). IFLA LibPub presents the Global Library Publishing Map as the first main action involved documenting library publishing activities among IFLA’s global membership. IFLA LibPub partners with the Library Publishing Coalition on the 2021 Library Publishing Directory:
A new IFLA report highlights greater understanding of the contribution of libraries to delivering the United Nations 2030 Agenda among local governments, in a wider range of areas, than in national reviews of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) implementation. The report is designed to be used as a reference by libraries and library associations in their own advocacy for inclusion in Voluntary Local Reviews, as well as more broadly around the SDGs.
Download the report as a pdf.
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), and EDUCAUSE have released their final report on Mapping the Current Landscape of Research Library Engagement with Emerging Technologies in Research and Learning.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, remote library services are becoming more and more important. NDL Gallery features digital exhibitions of the NDL’s unique collections. The Web Archiving Project / WARP has been collecting and preserving websites published in Japan since 2002. Notably, it includes a collection of e-journals. Browse the periodicals collection from year 1000!
The GND (Integrated Authority File / Gemeinsame Normdatei) is the largest authority data collection for cultural and research data in German-speaking countries. In November 2020, the German National Library (DNB) published the WikiLibrary Manifesto together with Wikimedia Germany. The aim is to promote the expansion of a semantic network for data from culture and science by improving and standardizing Wikibase for use by institutions. The project and the manifesto were presented in detail by Barbara Fischer at the Sharing is Caring 2021 Conference and earlier in this blog post.
IFLA’s elections and appointments process is coming to an end. On 26 April 2021, voting will open for almost all posts across IFLA. All those eligible to vote will receive relevant information in time to be able to make choices, with wider information available through IFLA’s website and social media.
This study is the first to consider how academic librarians’ understanding of and participation in the peer review process influences their information literacy pedagogy and practice.
A team of Penn Libraries staff has been analyzing an accumulated history of periodicals in the collection—journals, magazines, newspapers, academic journals, comic books—to determine which are no longer restricted by copyright and are therefore available for free and unrestricted use. The Penn Libraries have more than 8.6 million volumes. Many of them did not maintain their copyrights but need to be researched to confirm that. All told, the Deep Backfile project is researching more than 10,000 such serials.
