FE Colleges are now able to complete the E-Books for FE agreement and gain free access to nearly 3,000 e-book titles via the Ebrary platform (for the next 5 years). A full list of titles available via the agreement is also now available.
The Strategic Content Alliance, a collaboration between JISC and public sector organisations across the UK, aims to develop a framework for the provision of publicly-funded online content.
As part of its ongoing work, the SCA has published a number of toolkits providing information and advice on IPR issues, Audience research and analysis and Business models and sustainability. These comprehensive publications include guides, briefing papers, case studies, model templates and a range of other tools to assist in the understanding and adoption of best practice.
The Web 2.0 forum for learning resources staff met for its fifth face-to-face meeting yesterday As ever, it was great to hear about current activities relating to the use of Web 2.0 and new technologies in FE and HE libraries.
Carolyn Groom (Carnegie College), Eithne Barry and Laurence Patterson (both Edinburgh Napier University) described the work of the Virtual Enquiry Project, which has surveyed the use of virtual reference (using chat or instant messaging to answer user enquiries) in libraries. The project team has developed a number of tools for libraries considering implementing a virtual reference service - these include a roadmap for institutions, a number of case studies and a software matrix.
Duncan Chappell from the Glasgow School of Art provided an overview of InfoSMART - a series of modules in information and research skills developed by the Library for use in their VLE. By following a simple 4-step programme, students can learn how to define their information needs, search for information effectively, evaluate information and cite the resources that they use. The modules are interactive in nature, making use of Web 2.0 technologies, multimedia resources and online assessment.
Carol Walker (JISC RSC Scotland North & East) demonstrated Twitter and led a discussion on its various potential uses within a library context. Carol mentioned a number of associated resources, including Accessible Twitter, TweetDeck which can be used to organise your Twitter updates, Twitterfeed for sending blog posts to Twitter and Polldaddy for creating Twitter polls.
JISC Legal recently held an online event which addressed copyright-related issues surrounding the use of digital materials in teaching and learning. The programme included an introduction to copyright law, an overview of the licences available and information on how to source resources for teaching and learning. A recorded version of the webcast is now available from the JISC Legal website.
The next meeting of the Scottish Federated Access Management (McShib) Forum will take place on 26th May at the University of Glasgow (Wolfson Medical Building). The forum provides an opportunity for staff within Scottish colleges and universities to share their experiences of implementing federated access management and discuss the processes involved.
The next meeting will include a federation update, case studies on IdP deployment and a presentation from library staff on the implications for library services. View the full programme and book a place.
JISC Legal recently delivered the online event ‘Web 2.0 and the law for e-tutors‘. Through a series of scenarios, topics such as data protection, negligence, accessibility, defamation and IPR were discussed. The webcast also included a session on the development of institutional Web 2.0 policies .
A recorded version of the webcast is now available on the JISC Legal website, along with some really useful additional resources such as a legal issues checklist for tutors and a guide to Web 2.0 and the law for learning resources staff.
Ever considered recording a podcast but didn’t know where to start? JISC Digital Media (formerly known as TASI) has recently published the guide Creating an audio podcast which explains the process step-by-step.
JISC Digital Media provides training and advice on the creation and use of digital medial collections. For further information visit the JISC Digital Media website.
Over 20,000 images capturing 150 years of polar exploration have been made available via the Freeze Frame project. The project was carried out by the Scott Polar Research Unit (University of Cambridge) as part of the JISC digitisation programme. Read the full press release.
The JISCmedia channel on YouTube contains several videos outlining new resources available under the JISC Digitisation programme. These include:
First World War Poetry Digital Archive
British Cartoon Archive
Cabinet Papers 1915-1978
Newsfilm Online (login required) - over 3,000 hours of news footage from the ITN/Reuters archives
John Johnson Collection (login required) - a collection of printed ephemera from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries
Further information on the programme and its outputs can be found on the JISC Digitisation blog.
The e-books for FE project will provide FE colleges with free access to a core collection of e-books from May 2009 (for a period of 5 years). Learning resources and teaching staff are invited to take part in a consultation to select titles to be included in the final collection.
Further information is available from the JISC consultation website. Staff are encouraged to complete the Core Collection spreadsheet as well as the Consultation spreadsheet for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The deadline for the consultation is 13th February.
