InsideHigherEd.com article on library research and discourse: "Good at reviewing books but not each other" http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/04/27/bell . The good news - there are great comments to be read at the end of the article.

Download videos? You bet - through your library!: Video Downloading Extends Libraries' Reach, Improves Service http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/overdrive/27751/ . I am going to check it out to see if this service will work on my video iPod...

Story in the EU Observer on April 19th: Copyright Deal Clears Way for European Digital Library
http://euobserver.com/9/23894. From the story: "An EU expert group on digital libraries has agreed to a basic model for handling copyrights for digitalised cultural publications in libraries." Libraries would be responsible for collecting payments for copyright holders, estimated to be 1 Euro per item used (similar to the iTunes payment model).

Another story covering this topic: Report addresses copyright issues linked to digital preservation http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=27530.

Good news - there are still free online storage facilities for computer users to connect with. One that I heard about today: Gspace http://www.getgspace.com/. This would be useful for anyone conducting outreach, traveling between computers, or that would appreciate always having access to a file through any computer.
After using sites such as this successfully before the dot-com bust, I thought most of the sites had gone to a membership business model (such as .Mac, and others). Glad to see that free online storage still thrives.

In honor of National Library Week (April 15-21):

Thomson Gale has announced a new online community for libraries:
http://www.gale.com/librareo

Thomson Gale has also announced a $10,000 contest for "I Love My Library" videos - for rules, go to: http://www.gale.com/librareo.

And Thomson Gale has an open house for all of its databases this week:
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/libraryweek

Evidence-based medicine resource, from the Institute of Medicine, has a chapter on training health professionals: http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11903&page=211. Title of resource - The Learning Healthcare System: Workshop Summary - Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine.

The National Agriculture Library is adding federating searching, and creating a National Digital Library for Agriculture: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-12-2007/0004564139&EDATE=. The mock-up of their new page: http://www.nal.usda.gov/ndla/. And the sources that will be searchable through the new gateway: http://ndla.nal.usda.gov/sources.shtml.
Reading the comments in the press release, such as "DWT provides powerful federated search solutions that help users save time and improve results by intelligently
and securely accessing internal, subscription and web databases and sources
through one search page.", makes one wonder - in the future, will our users only have a gateway and digital access with no librarians? What are the long-term prospects of digital libraries as well as those with human searchers/aggregators?
If there are any library/information science students writing about the future of libraries, please get in touch with me and I will share your thoughts on this blog!

Other examples of digital gateways:
Iraqi Virtual Science Library https://www.ivsl.org/
National Science Digital Library http://nsdl.org/browse/index.php?GEM_cat=2&verb=Search&q=Health&s=0&n=10
Some that didn't make it:
Virtual Naval Hospital http://www.vnh.org/
Virtual Hospital/Virtual Children's Hospital http://www.vh.org/ (but may be mirrored here? http://lib.cpums.edu.cn/jiepou/tupu/atlas/www.vh.org/)
EPA Digital Library of Environmental Quality http://www.epa.gov/ceisweb1/ceishome/digitallib/
BiodefenseEducation.org http://www.biodefenseeducation.org/

Librarian of Congress Testifies On Library's Digital Evolution

News story: http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=5616

Testimony: http://www.loc.gov/about/welcome/speeches/digital/digitalage.html