myOn E-book Library for Hillsborough County Students

Hillsborough County recently implemented an e-book program for elementary and middle school students throughout the county. The online library, called “Read on myON,” was funded by the Hillsborough County school district, along with community partners such as the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative. The myON library offers access to over 2,000 e-books that students can read wherever they have Internet access. The goal of the project was to offer students from less-advantaged communities easier access to reading materials. Now, access to myOn has expanded to also include students from all different types of schools in the area. You can read more about this program here.

During an initial pilot version of myON, some parents voiced concerns over the lack of a parental controls option. They were upset about certain books that featured autopsy scenes and witchcraft, among other things. For more about the parents' objections, click here.

In response to those concerns, Capstone Digital, the makers of myON, is investigating the addition of a parental controls option, which would allow parents to delete from their children’s accounts any books that they deem to be inappropriate. The county school district has also taken some of the books that during the pilot version stage were seen by some parents as graphic or inappropriate, and restricted them from being accessed by elementary schoolers. Edit: In a comment to this post, a Capstone Digital senior product manager states that this move was taken in accordance with the school district's challenged books policy.

According to the American Library Association: “Library policies and procedures that effectively deny minors equal and equitable access to all library resources and services available to other users violate the Library Bill of Rights. The American Library Association opposes all attempts to restrict access to library services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users.” However, the ALA does also state that: “We affirm the responsibility and the right of all parents and guardians to guide their own children's use of the library and its resources and services.” For more from the ALA on this topic, click here.

What do you think? We would like any feedback you may have, about this or other intellectual freedom issues you may see appearing in Florida libraries. Add a comment to this blog post or email Robin Shader, the chair of our Intellectual Freedom committee, at rshader@baycountyfl.gov, or myself at zenglish@evergladesuniversity.edu, and the rest of the committee will discuss your comments over email.

UF Libraries debut online exhibition as companion to opening of the Harn Museum David A. Cofrin Asian Art Wing

Smathers Libraries have debuted the online exhibition “Korean Art: Collecting Treasures” (http://exhibits.uflib.ufl.edu/harnkoreanart) to coincide with the March 30 opening of the Harn Museum’s David A. Cofrin Asian Art Wing and as a permanent companion to the temporary exhibition. The online exhibition features items from the Harn’s Korean holdings including bronzes, ceramics, furniture, paintings, prints and sculpture.

The online exhibition was designed by Lourdes Santamaría-Wheeler and curators were Jason Steuber, Allysa Browne Peyton and Lourdes Santamaría-Wheeler. Online content allows access to the collections of the libraries and the museum to an international audience, as well as to the local community and scholars.

All items featured in the online exhibition are also freely available as zoomable images in the University of Florida Digital Collections (http://ufdc.ufl.edu) uniting the art objects with related texts in order to create a more complete research portal.

The exhibition highlights the Korean donations of General James A. Van Fleet (U.S. Army officer during WWI, WWII and the Korean War and UF football coach 1923-1924), including rare blue-and-white porcelains and hanging scroll masterpieces by Kim Hongdo (1745 - c.1806), Jang Seung-eop (1843-1897), and Kim Eunho (1892-1979), each noteworthy for their quality and rarity in Western collections.

Multimedia content is featured from an exceptionally rare 17th-century Korean gilt wood bodhisattva from the Joseon Dynasty which has been extensively researched through medical imaging at both North Florida Regional Medical Center and Shands at UF, high resolution digitization in the round at the UF Digital Library Center, and both art and paper conservation.

The UF Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere Library Enhancement Grant partially funded the online exhibition.

The Washington Post published an article Friday, March 23 (‘Buddha’ goes to the hospital: A convergence of science, history and art – http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/buddha-goes-to-the-hospital-medical-scans-reveal-rare-documents-inside-17th-century-sculpture/2012/03/22/gIQADq96TS_story.html) featuring images of the Buddha from the University of Florida Digital Collections.

For more information contact: Lourdes Santamaría-Wheeler, (352) 273-2564, l.s.wheeler@ufl.edu

Manatee Teens Geek the Library

These Florida teens from Manatee County Public Library have put together a great video about their passions. They all geek the library in a different way.
http://geekthelibrary.org/archives/2011/08/florida-teens-geek-the-library.html

Unemployed without Internet service head to libraries

Sun Sentinel story describes impact on libraries of new Florida law requiring that unemployed persons now file claims online.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/careers/ask-marcia/sfl-unemployed-online-filing,0,6365487,print.story

At The Library: Online Resources Available For Job Seekers

At The Library: Online Resources Available For Job Seekers
By VIC NUNEZTHE LEDGER
Published: Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 12:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, July 1, 2011 at 4:31 p.m.
Job-seekers often come to the library to search for jobs online; indeed, many companies expect prospective employees to fill out their applications, and submit their resumes electronically. Polk County libraries offer more than just Internet access.
Visit www.cityoflakewales.com/library, and check out "Career Transitions" available on their home page. This is a well-conceived web application that residents access with their library card. Once validated, users can create a personal account and explore their career interests, prepare a proper resume, and search jobs via their database search tool.
Another opportunity -- the Job & Career Accelerator atwww.lakelandgov.net/library: click on "Services" on the bar, then "Online Resources" to the left, and then the "Research" tab in the center pane. JCA is the bottom link, and invites users to create an account, validating with their library card number as "User Name." As above, JCA leads users to explore careers, create their resume, and search for jobs across many databases.
Contact your librarian for information on how to access these services.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20110705/NEWS/107055005/1308/TIMEOUT?Title=At-The-Library-Online-Resources-Available-For-Job-Seekers

Libraries and Independence - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Libraries and independence
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
by M.C. Coolidge
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110704/COLUMNIST/110709950

Americans no long have to fight for our independence, as we did in the Revolutionary War, but we pay homage to the hard-won struggle every year on the Fourth of July, most notably with fireworks - our version of the "rockets' red glare."

As a community, we take that celebration of triumph very seriously. In 2008, when budget concerns led officials to decide that the city of Sarasota should no longer fund the bayfront fireworks, private businesses and individuals generously stepped up to the plate to continue the tradition of lighting up the sky to celebrate our freedom.

Now, local leaders are considering new cutbacks to our budget - but this time to something far more integral to preserving our independence than a fireworks display. They're talking about closing public libraries on Sundays.

There are only two Sarasota County libraries open on Sundays - Selby and Jacaranda. Closing their doors an additional 52 days a year would probably shave a couple of hundred thousand, maybe more, from our county budget. All libraries are generally open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and most stay open three days a week until 8 p.m.

Carl Sagan said, "... the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries." I couldn't agree more.

Contemporary independence is not won on a battlefield, but gained largely through individuals' ability to support and sustain themselves and their community. That ability is dependent upon access to education and resources that allow citizens to inform their minds, gain context for their experiences, and have access to the tools and information necessary to feed, clothe and house themselves and their families over the long haul. By offering spaces for knowledge-sharing, the communication of ideas, and technology not available in every home, our public libraries create and preserve a culture of independence and democracy for all. An informed public is a voting public.

The American Library Association's 2011 "State of American Libraries Report," released in April, suggests that people are using public libraries more than ever - to search for jobs and gather information about starting businesses, and they are particularly used by working mothers.

The recession means that more people might also be using the library to learn about government services and assistance, and that more people might not be able to afford Internet access and need to use the library to research career options and stay in touch with professional contacts.

Children in particular should be plowing through one book after another to stretch their minds and ignite their imaginations. Libraries are the most affordable way parents can feed the demands of a growing young mind.

Sunday library closings, on top of already restricted schedules, will surely impact the very people in our community who might need it most - people who, because of work, family or other scheduling constraints, are only able to get to the library on Sundays.

Sarasota County is the heart of Florida's "cultural coast." There's irony in the fact that we are in danger of losing Sunday access to one of the most crucial elements of a cultured, democratic and independent society.

Libraries are repositories of truth and power. They hold the veritable foundations of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness within their walls. And they hold their doors open to all, regardless of wealth or circumstance, to come inside and seek their own path to independence.

I hope we can find a way to preserve that.

M.C. Coolidge is a columnist for the Herald-Tribune's Ticket section and a free-lance writer. Website: www.coolidgewords.com

UF Libraries now adds Creative Commons CC0 to original catalog records

Beginning March 2011, the University of Florida Smathers Libraries implemented a policy to include a Creative Commons public domain dedication in all of its original cataloging records. The records are considered public domain with unrestricted downstream use for any purpose.

The following MARC 588 field (Source of Description Note) is added to new records contributed to WorldCat. It has not been added retrospectively to University of Florida original records in WorldCat.

588::|a This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CCO public domain dedication. The University of Florida Libraries, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

The University of Florida OPAC (a Solr/Lucene search engine) is configured to display a Creative Commons CCO statement based on the presence of a University of Florida OCLC symbol in the MARC 040 field |a. The specified 040 |a is mapped to the original cataloger_text field in the Solr/Lucene record if it exists in incoming records. This allows the statement to be displayed in the OPAC for original records retrospectively, i.e., records without the 588 field, and appear in RSS feeds.

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.

The University of Florida Libraries has waived all rights to this bibliographic record worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

Examples from the OPAC:

• Latinoamericanismo : historia intelectual de una geografía inestable
• Mapa Everest de carreteras, España y Portugal
• The Song of Ceylon
• A tale of two cities [book, music & lyrics by Jill Santoriello ... ]
• Numerical solution of transient and steady-state neutron transport problems
• Amendment to supplementary code of fair competition for the upholstery and decorative fabrics trade (a division of the wholesaling or distributing trade) as approved on October 3, 1934