February 2003-- Six major research universities announced this week that they are working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to fine-tune an MIT program for archiving scholarly works called DSpace, which has become wildly popular in academe in just a few months.

February 2003-- "I have to greet the proposed fiscal year 2003 RandD budget with mixed emotions. On the one hand, non-defense research spending is being treated better than other domestic discretionary programs. Even excluding the substantial increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), non-defense research spending is slated to grow at a rate 1 percent higher than discretionary spending as a whole, which is also about 1 percent above inflation. I applaud the Administration for highlighting some priority programs, such as the $80 million Climate Change initiatives; for evaluating programs to ensure their productivity; and for recognizing the National Science Foundation as a model of effectiveness and good management."
Related Link: http://www.house.gov/science/

February 2003-- "Much of the work of American Library Association (ALA) Council proceeds with relatively little debate. But consistent with the challenges facing the nation, several issues during the 2003 ALA Midwinter Meeting generated heated discussion. For several days, ALA units, notably the Committee on Legislation and the Intellectual Freedom Committee, discussed the appropriate response to the USA Patriot Act. The sweeping provision of the act compromises privacy, they said, because it overrides state library confidentiality laws protecting library records and does not require law enforcement officials seeking records to demonstrate "probable cause" regarding a crime. Some favored calling for a repeal of the act's provisions relating to libraries, while others, heeding the counsel of some speakers at a Washington Office briefing, favored a more nuanced call for mitigation of the act."

February 2003-- NSDL project PI, Committee chairperson, and former K-12 library media specialist Marcia Mardis was interviewed by Walter Minkel of School Library Journal for the December online edition of the TechKnowledge column. The topic of the interview was the InvisibleWeb, the part of the Web that traditional search engines are unable to index. Marcia has written and presented extensively on the benefits of the Invisible Web for K-12 educators. She concludes the article with a mention of the NSDL, calling it "the ultimate hidden Web tool."
Related Link: http://slj.reviewsnews.com/

February 2003-- "A NSDL Core Integration Technical Planning Meeting was held in Boulder on January 6-7 to establish priorities for NSDL Core Integration and plan for achieving those goals based on available resources. The meeting was focused in three broad areas: definition of long-term technical goals; CI technical activities to realize those goals, and plans over the next three quarters. On January 23 an NSDL CI Communication, Marketing, Media Relations, and Outreach Planning Meeting was held at Columbia University. Findings will be presented at the National Visiting Committee Meeting in Washington, D.C. on February 10-11. Updates on these activities will be available next month."

February 2003-- The Health Education Assets Library (HEAL), a national web-based repository of multimedia health education resources, has added new features in its February 3, 2003 release. An earlier release of the application provided advanced searching and downloading of free multimedia teaching resources in the health sciences. The latest release now allows the user to:

February 2003-- "The archive consists of information about the NSDL Annual All-Projects Meeting held December 3-4, 2002 in Washington, D.C. including a list of participants with contact information and a means to email them (email addresses were not listed in order to prevent spammers from harvesting addresses); a list of all the projects, and abstract information for most; survey information, and miscellaneous documents."

February 2003-- "The first issue of DLESE Matters, a regular email news service describing activities and developments in DLESE, made its debut in January. If you are currently subscribed to one or more DLESE email lists you will receive DLESE Matters via email. If you would like to receive future issues, please email newsletter@dlese.org and ask to be subscribed. The table of contents includes:"

February 2003-- "Susan Van Gundy will join the CI team as an Education and Outreach Specialist on February 18th. With ten years experience in science education and outreach, a BS in Geology from Oberlin and an MS in Geosciences from Penn State, she comes to us from her position as Outreach Program Manager at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Before that, she was Director of Outreach Education and Science Classes at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland."

February 2003-- The American Medical Publishers Association and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) are co- sponsoring a one-day conference to be held March 4, 2003 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia. Clifford Lynch, Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information, will give the keynote address on, "Essential Elements of an Archiving Strategy." The program features presentations on three electronic journal archiving strategies - Elsevier's agreement with the Royal Library of the Netherlands, PubMed Central, and JSTOR - from the perspectives of publishers who have chosen each strategy and the organizations that are maintaining the archives. The broader digital archiving landscape will also be covered, including initiatives of the Library of Congress, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Council of Library and Information Resources, the Mellon Foundation, and NLMs "Profiles in Science," which makes the papers of Nobel Prize-winning scientists accessible via the Web.

February 2003-- The theme for this year's Conference set for February 26-28, 2003 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. is "Sustaining Digital Resources."

February 2003-- At the upcoming the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Denver, CO, Project 2061 director Jo Ellen Roseman, professor Joseph Krajcik of the University of Michigan, and others will discuss issues such as designing materials aligned with national science standards in the symposium "Inquiry and the Development of Scientific Ideas: Selected Case Studies" (scheduled for Saturday, February 15, 2003, 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.). You can also find Project 2061 staff members and resources at the project's exhibit booth at the Science Innovation Exposition.

February 2003-- The Annual Meeting Planning Committee, chaired by Kim Roempler of ENC, is using the 2002 Annual Meeting survey results (http://nsdl.comm.nsdlib.org/meeting/) to create the 2003 event in Washington scheduled for October 12-15, 2003. Kim Roempler of ENC, chair of the group, said that more unstructured time for posters and informal meetings with colleagues were major themes of the survey and the planners are building that in.

February 2003-- Six major research universities announced this week that they are working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to fine-tune an MIT program for archiving scholarly works called DSpace, which has become wildly popular in academe in just a few months. The six institutions are Columbia University, Cornell University, Ohio State University, the University of Rochester, the University of Toronto, and the University of Washington at Seattle. Together with MIT and the University of Cambridge, they will form a group called the DSpace Federation and test the archiving software. The software is free and open source, which means the users can read and change the source code so they can customize it to their liking. -by Dan Carnevale, Chronicle, January 30, 2003.
Related Link: http://www.dspace.org/

February 2003-- Science.gov connects citizens to US Government Science and Technology by providing cross-agency gateway access to over a thousand selected and authoritative US Government science and technology resources. Potential users include science professionals, students, teachers, business people, and members of the public interested in science. The portal, launched in December 2002, represents an integrated, voluntary cross-agency effort of 14 scientific and technical information programs in 10 federal agencies in support of the Administration's E-Gov objectives to bring government science and technology closer to citizens.
Related Link: http://science.gov

February 2003-- Much of the work of American Library Association (ALA) Council proceeds with relatively little debate. But consistent with the challenges facing the nation, several issues during the 2003 ALA Midwinter Meeting generated heated discussion. For several days, ALA units, notably the Committee on Legislation and the Intellectual Freedom Committee, discussed the appropriate response to the USA Patriot Act. The sweeping provision of the act compromises privacy, they said, because it overrides state library confidentiality laws protecting library records and does not require law enforcement officials seeking records to demonstrate probable cause regarding a crime. Some favored calling for a repeal of the act's provisions relating to libraries, while others, heeding the counsel of some speakers at a Washington Office briefing, favored a more nuanced call for mitigation of the act. Eventually the ALA Council rejected the harder line approach, voting 90-60 not to call for eliminating portions of the act. However, the resolution they then passed by a substantial majority did beef up the alternative approach. The lengthy resolution states that ALA considers section of the act a president danger to the constitution and privacy rights of library users. It not only encourages librarians to defend user privacy, it also asks ALA to take action to obtain and publicize information about surveillance and assess the impact on libraries. It further urges Congress to provide active oversight of implementation of the act; hold hearings to determine the extent of the surveillance of library users and their communities; and amend or change the sections of those laws and the guidelines that threaten the rights of inquiry and free expression. -- Library Journal Academic News Wire, January 30, 2003.

February 2003--More than 500 University of California Press books are now available online free of charge through an ongoing partnership between UC Press and the California Digital Library. Over 300 of the University of California Press eScholarship Editions are available to the public. The other titles are currently only available to UC faculty, students and staff. Readers outside the UC system may view citations, abstracts and tables of contents, but not the full texts.
Related Link: http://escholarship.cdlib.org/ucpress/

February 2003-- Interest in the NSDL program continues to grow within NSF. Proposals are due on April 21, 2003. Letters of intent (optional, but encouraged) are due March 12, 2002. Proposals are again solicited in the Collections, Services, and Targeted Research tracks. New language has been added about the progress over the last year and expectations for projects. In addition, there are pointers to the Communications Portal and the various activities hosted there. As in the previous years, "symbiosis" is called for among projects both continuing and new ones. Sharing of progress and outcomes will make the whole enterprise that much stronger.
Related Link: http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf03530

February 2003-- The Health Education Assets Library (HEAL), a national web-based repository of multimedia health education resources, has added new features in its February 3, 2003 release. An earlier release of the application provided advanced searching and downloading of free multimedia teaching resources in the health sciences. The latest release now allows the user to: -Browse through the collections with a navigation tree organized by Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) to find specific multimedia files. -Contribute to the HEAL collection by uploading multimedia files with appropriate cataloging information using a simple web-based wizard. In addition, HEAL continues to add to its collection of multimedia teaching resources, most recently with 600 histological images from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and over 100 neurology examination videos, in both English and Spanish, by Paul D. Larsen, M.D., and Suzanne S. Stensaas, Ph.D. HEAL continues to seek more contributors to augment the scope of its collections, expanding into new file types and into new subject areas. HEAL is a multi-institutional, collaborative project funded by NSDL since Fall of 2000. The primary mission of HEAL is to provide educators with high-quality, free multimedia materials to augment health sciences education. In addition, HEAL is working with other organizations to establish a network of distributed databases of high-quality teaching resources. Sharon E. Dennis, from the University of Utah Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, Dr. Sebastian Uijtdehaage from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and Dr. Chris Candler from the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine are the co-directors of the project. To access the multimedia collections or contribute files to HEAL, visit the website at http://www.healcentral.org, or contact Sandra McIntyre, HEAL program manager, at 310-267-2873.
Related Link: http://www.healcentral.org

February 2003-- The archive consists of information about the NSDL Annual All-Projects Meeting held December 3-4, 2002 in Washington, DC including a list of participants with contact information and a means to email them (email addresses were not listed in order to prevent spammers from harvesting addresses), a list of all the projects, and abstract information for most, survey information, and miscellaneous documents. The main URL for the All Projects site is: http://nsdl.comm.nsdlib.org. The archives can be found at: http://nsdl.comm.nsdlib.org/meeting/
Related Link: http://nsdl.comm.nsdlib.org/meeting/

February 2003-- The theme for this year's Conference set for February 26-28, 2003 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. is "Sustaining Digital Resources." Details about the conference as well as an on-line registration form is available at: http://webwise.mse.jhu.edu. Although there is no cost to attend, all participants are required to register in advance. Upon submitting your on-line registration, you will receive a detailed confirmation letter via email. If you have questions, please contact Matt Burdetsky via email or by phone at (703) 536-4993.
Related Link: http://webwise.mse.jhu.edu

February 2003-- At the upcoming the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Denver, CO, Project 2061 director Jo Ellen Roseman, professor Joseph Krajcik of the University of Michigan, and others will discuss issues such as designing materials aligned with national science standards in the symposium "Inquiry and the Development of Scientific Ideas: Selected Case Studies" (scheduled for Saturday, February 15, 2003, 8:30 am-11:30 am). You can also find Project 2061 staff members and resources at the project's exhibit booth at the Science Innovation Exposition. Learn more about the AAAS Annual Meeting and Science Innovation Exposition, February 13-18, 2003: http://www.eurekalert.org/aaasnewsroom/
Related Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/aaasnewsroom/

February 2003-- The Annual Meeting Planning Committee, chaired by Kim Roempler of ENC, is using the 2002 Annual Meeting survey results (http://nsdl.comm.nsdlib.org/meeting/) to create the 2003 event in Washington scheduled for October 12-15, 2003. Kim Roempler of ENC, chair of the group, said that more unstructured time for posters and informal meetings with colleagues were major themes of the survey and the planners are building that in. The Committee, made up of Standing Committee chairs, a Policy Committee representative and Core Integration staff, is also making plans for a transition to a conference format, overseen by the Standing Committees. The meeting will begin with a luncheon and Orientation for New Projects as well as the opening poster session and reception on October 12th and will close with Policy, Standing Committee and Core Integration meetings on the afternoon of October 15th. The closing general session will conclude at noon that day.
Related Link: http://nsdl.comm.nsdlib.org/meeting/

February 2003-- Project 2061 is a long term initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science working to reform K-12 science, technology and mathematics education nationwide. Making K-12 science textbooks that help all students learn key ideas and skills available is a key focus of Project 2061.
Related Link: http://www.project2061.org/

February 2003-- The Beaumont Foundation is a not-for-profit philanthropic organization, is dedicated to enriching the lives of individuals by providing technology to historically underserved schools and communities. They have approximately $20M for their 2003 Education Grants, which is available to K-12 public, private, parochial or charter schools where a minimum of 50 percent of students qualify for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and where staff are dedicated to promoting technology-based education solutions. Applicants may request from $60,000 to $200,000 in Toshiba branded equipment.
Related Link: http://bmtfoundation.com/grants/?index=3

February 2003--Digital Content Strategies and Resources
Related Link: http://www.econtentmag.com/index.html

February 2003--"The only monthly magazine that focuses exclusively on on the use of high tech in higher education."
Related Link: http://www.syllabus.com/

February 2003--
Related Link: http://www.triangle-coalition.org/tceb.htm

February 2003-- Mac users (the few, the proud) may be interested to know about the new web browser announced by Apple at MacWorld last month. "Safari" for OSX users (10.2 is required, and 10.2.3 provides the best performance) is a "public beta" release worth looking at. The price is right (free).
Related Link: http://www.apple.com/safari/

February 2003-- Olin College opened its doors to its first class of freshmen this past fall. There are currently 75 students, all freshmen, enrolled. Each student attends on a full scholarship--tuition and room are paid for by the Olin Foundation. The new library has a largely virtual collection.
Related Link: http://library.olin.edu/

February 2003-- "As technological advances are literally reinventing their profession, librarians can take a cue from John Perry Barlow. The son of a Wyoming State Senator and a 1969 graduate of Wesleyan University, CT, Barlow has gone through quite a reinvention himself. As late as 1988 Barlow was punching cattle at the Bar Cross Land and Livestock Company in Cora, WY. Just a few short years later, in 1992, he published the landmark article "The Economy of Ideas" for Wired magazine, one of the most influential pieces ever written on the nature of information in the age of technology."-- By Andrew Richard Albanese, Library Journal, Nov. 11,2002.
Related Link: http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=articleArchive&articleid=CA256583&publicatio

February 2003-- Science magazine's latest issue has an editorial from Thomas R. Cech, president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and professor at University of Colorado, Boulder. The HHMI "Million-dollar Professors" program selects 20 "outstanding teacher-scholars to make an impact on university education." These educators receive a million dollars each over four years to develop new ways to teach science, with an emphasis on research experiences and innovation. Awardees are expected to create web or DVD resources for dissemination and participatory learning.
Related Link: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/su

February 2003--The Einstein Project is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to improving the quality of science,mathematics and technology education for K-12 students in Wisconsin.
Related Link: http://www.einsteinproject.org/