Tag Archives: books

World Library of Science introduced by UNESCO

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UNESCO has launched the World Library of Science. “The library will be accessible to internet users everywhere in the world, at no cost. The majority of the content is for university-level students, giving them resources to ‘complement their learning’.”  Target groups are students and teachers in the more underdeveloped parts of the world, especially, Africa.  “The library – WLoS – ‘contains’ more than 300 articles, 25 eBooks and some 70 videos, as well as a digital platform that “provides a community hub” for learning, according to UNESCO, which created the site jointly with the international Nature Education publishing group and the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche.

“The library – WLoS – ‘contains’ more than 300 articles, 25 eBooks and some 70 videos, as well as a digital platform that “provides a community hub” for learning, according to UNESCO, which created the site jointly with the international Nature Education publishing group and the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche.”

From ResearchBuzz Saturday Afternoon Buzz, November 15th, 2014, Tara Calishain

WorldCat database reaches 2 billion holdings

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“WorldCat is a database of bibliographic information created and continuously updated by some 25,000 OCLC member libraries around the world. WorldCat records describe specific works and contain a listing of institutions that own an item, referred to as “holdings.” Institutions use holdings information to create local catalogs, arrange interlibrary loans and conduct reference work.”

“WorldCat was created in 1971 so that libraries could share cataloging information from a central database, increasing workflow efficiency and the ability to locate and loan materials. It took the OCLC cooperative almost 34 years, from August 26, 1971 to August 11, 2005, to add 1 billion holdings in WorldCat. It has taken just seven years and eight months to add the next billion.” 

“WorldCat spans six millennia of recorded knowledge, from about 4800 B.C. to the present. It encompasses records for books, serials, sound recordings, musical scores, maps, visual materials, mixed materials and computer files.”

From OCLC Member Update [oclc@oclc.org]

“Find more about WorldCat on the OCLC website, and watch WorldCat grow as libraries around the world contribute to the database.”

(Holdings constitute a higher number than titles.  A(nother) holding is counted for each library that owns a title.

American Mathematical Society Books Online

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American Mathematical Society Books Online [pdf]

"The American Mathematical Society (AMS) was founded in 1888 in order to further mathematical research and scholarship. Since that time, they have embarked on a number of outreach programs designed to educate the public about the importance of various mathematical endeavors. In the past several years, they have been developing the AMS Books Online website, and it’s quite a resource. The works were all originally published by the AMS, and they can be browsed by author or subject. The subject headings include analysis, general interest, logic and foundations, and number theory. Users can download individual chapters from each book, and there are currently over thirty books available on the site. Visitors should make sure and check back, as there are plans to add books to the site periodically."

Source:  The Scout Report from the Univ. of Wisconsin, Feb. 19, 2010

WorldCat, world’s largest book catalog, now lists JSTOR articles!

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"JSTOR now indexed in WorldCat.org – 18 Jan 2010

Authenticated scholars and researchers with online access to full-text content in JSTOR can now locate and connect to articles through WorldCat.org. JSTOR is a preservation archive and research platform for the academic community.

Over 4.5 million JSTOR article-level records from more than 1,000 journals, selected monographs, and other scholarly content are now indexed in WorldCat.org, the Web destination for discovery of materials in libraries worldwide. JSTOR records are delivered in WorldCat.org search results. Scholars and researchers using WorldCat.org can now identify content in JSTOR and connect to the full-text using the authorisation provided by their library.

WorldCat.org is a Web destination with search and social networking features that allow information seekers to discover, localise, and personalise content from local collections and those of more than 10,000 WorldCat libraries worldwide. WorldCat.org indexing of JSTOR metadata helps researchers easily identify resources in the collection alongside other materials relevant to their work. An authorization is required for access to full-text materials in JSTOR.

WorldCat claims to be the world’s largest database of bibliographic information built continuously by libraries around the world since 1971. Each record in the WorldCat database contains a bibliographic description of a single item or work and a list of institutions that hold the item. The institutions share these records, using them to create local catalogs, arrange interlibrary loans and conduct reference work. There are now more than 165 million records in WorldCat spanning five millennia of recorded knowledge. Like the knowledge it describes, WorldCat grows steadily. Every second, OCLC and its member libraries add seven records to WorldCat."

Source:  Knowledgespeak Newsletter.

Book barcodes can be scanned on iPhone with RedLaser app

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Scan a book barcode with your iPhone, see if we have it

Now thanks to a popular iPhone app called RedLaser, you can scan a book barcode and find our library results through WorldCat.org. The app shows results for our library and libraries nearby, when we have the item. Currently library results for RedLaser are for books only. Watch a 43 second YouTube video to see RedLaser’s library results in action, and then download the $1.99 app through Apple’s iTunes app store.

From today’s OCLC alert: NEW for WorldCat.org

Cornell University Library Historical Math Monographs Collection

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Cornell University Library Historical Math Monographs Collection

http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/math/

"The Cornell University Library Historical Math Monographs Collection has a rather interesting history. The collection began when a number of brittle and decaying math monographs were digitally scanned using equipment developed by Cornell and the Xerox Corporation. This collection brings together all of those documents, including a selection of other relevant papers and scholarly works. All told, there are over 1,000 works here, and visitors can use the "Browse" section to look over the offerings by title or author. Additionally, visitors can perform detailed searches across the entire collection. Visitors should also take a look at the "Selected Titles" on the homepage to get a sense of what lies within this rather compelling collection. Finally, there is a "Help" section that provides some hints on making the best use of the site."

Source:  The Scout Report from the University of Wisconsin, 27 Feb, 2009

Portico Archive now holds 10 million articles

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US Ten million journal articles preserved within Portico archive – 06 Feb 2009

"Non-profit electronic archiving service provider Portico, US, has announced that more than 10 million journal articles are preserved within the Portico archive. Launched in 2005 with support from JSTOR, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ithaka, and the Library of Congress, Portico provides a permanent archive of scholarly literature published in electronic form.

The Portico archive is supported by both publishers and libraries and is increasingly central to the digital preservation and permanent access strategies of institutions around the world.

The growth of the archive underscores the importance of preservation archives in facilitating a secure transition from print to electronic collections. At the close of 2008, 68 publishers producing journals and e-books on behalf of hundreds of scholarly societies participated in Portico and have entrusted over 8,200 journal titles and 4,600 e-books to the archive. Libraries from the global community have been equally supportive of Portico with nearly 500 current participants from 13 countries.

Click here"

Source:  Knowledgespeak Newsletter

WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry

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OCLC set to launch new service to discover copyright status of books
– 27 Aug 2008

Global library cooperative Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC), US, has announced that it is piloting a new service for libraries that encourage librarians and other interested parties to discover and share information on copyright status of books.

The WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry is a community working together to build a union catalogue of copyright evidence based on WorldCat, which contains over 100 million bibliographic records describing items held in thousands of libraries worldwide. In addition to the WorldCat metadata, the Copyright Evidence Registry uses other data contributed by libraries and other organisations. The new service seeks to encourage a cooperative environment to discover, create and share copyright evidence through a collaboratively created and maintained database, using the WorldCat cooperative model to eliminate duplicate efforts.

The Copyright Evidence Registry six-month pilot was launched July 1 to test the concept and functionality. Users can search the Copyright Evidence Registry to find information about a book, learn what others have said about its copyright status, and share what they know. During a later stage of the pilot, OCLC will add a feature enabling pilot libraries to create and run automated copyright rules conforming to standards they define for determining copyright status. The rules will help libraries analyse the information available in the Copyright Evidence Registry and form their own conclusions about copyright status.

The WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry beta can be accessed at http://www.worldcat.org/copyrightevidence. OCLC has called for feedbacks on the Copyright Evidence Registry from the library community on the WorldCat.org website at http://www.worldcat.org/copyrightevidence/registry/feedback.

Click here

From today’s Knowledgespeak Newsletter.