The VALA Blog - Technology for Information Services aggregator

Digital Koans: Need Help with DSpace? Use the DSpace Provider Grid

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:21:31 -0500

The DSpace Foundation has published the Provider Grid, which lists vetted companies that can provide DSpace customization, design, development, hosting, integration, installation/configuration, metada

Digital Koans: University of Michigan Library Launches MTagger

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:21:31 -0500

The University of Michigan Library has launched MTagger, which allows users to tag library web pages, online catalog pages, image pages, and locally published e-journal articles and to utilize tag clouds for these resources.

Digital Koans: Creative Commons License Option for ETDs at the University of Auckland

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:21:31 -0500

The University of Auckland now gives students submitting an electronic theses or dissertation the option of putting it under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand License.

Digital Koans: To Loan an Electronic Article from an Elsevier E-Journal, Print It, Scan It, and Send it with Ariel

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:21:31 -0500

Of late, there has been discussion on the Liblicense-L list about how libraries should go about performing interlibrary loan transactions for articles published in licensed e-journals. Since, in th

Digital Koans: Are Publishers Ready for the JISC/SURF Licence to Publish Author Agreement and Its Principles?

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:21:31 -0500

The SURFfoundation has published Acceptance of the JISC/SURF Licence to Publish & accompanying Principles by Traditional Publishers of Journals. Here's an excerpt from the "Management Survey" section (I have added the link to the Licence to Publish):

Digital Koans: Scriblio Final Report: Open Source WordPress-Based Online Catalog and CMS

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:21:31 -0500

The Scriblio project, which was partially funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, has issued "Scriblio MATC Project Final Report." Scriblio is an open source, WordPress-based online catalog and content management system.

Digital Koans: The "Community Conscious Internet Provider" ISP: Utah Wants to Certify Porn-Free ISPs

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:21:31 -0500

Under a bill in the Utah legislature (H.B. 407), Utah would certify a qualifying ISPs as a Community Conscious Internet Provider (CCIP). The designation would be renewed annually. Among other provi

Digital Koans: Intellectual Property? OK, Let's Tax It as Property

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:21:31 -0500

Scientist Dallas Weaver has suggested that if copyright holders want "property" rights then they should be subject to a significant fixed annual tax in order to continue to hold the copyright. This tax would encourage copyright holders to put their works in the public domain.

Digital Koans: Topaz 0.8.2.1 Released: Open Source Digital Publishing System from PLoS

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:21:31 -0500

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) has released Topaz 0.8.2.1, an open source digital publishing system that is used to support several PLoS publications. Read more about it at "Topaz Release Can

Digital Koans: Australian ISP Porn Filter Test Gets Green Light

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:21:31 -0500

The Australian government is ready to proceed with testing an ISP Internet filter that aims to eliminate digital pornography. Customers who do not want a filtered Internet connection will need to opt out.