The January 20, 2005 Cornell Daily Sun student editorial entitled, "Outgoogled" characterizes the Dec. 14, 2004 Google Print announcement as "a solid step in the direction of indexing information that exists in the real world, not just cyberspace." Digital library builders may be gratified to learn that students are concerned about having access to information beyond the ether of the World Wide Web. Later in the article the author states that, " History has proven -- especially in the arena of computers and the Internet -- that the future will hardly be predictable. But more likely than not, it will make our lives better." Librarians, scholars, and others have voiced a variety of opinions with respect to whether or not the beta release of Google Scholar coupled with recent Google Print academic library agreements will ultimately improve lives. Can endless information really do that?

Many K12 students were assigned Tsunami homework in early January. One parent reported that her eighth-grade daughter had 7,000 results returned from a Google search on "Tsunami." The same search in NSDL returns 183 results. NSDL's results are immediately relevant to students and parents who may or may not have the skill, time, or patience to sort through volumes of information to find a resource like PBS/WNET New York's web site "Savage Earth: Waves of Destruction: Tsunamis." With additional age-appropriate links, this resource is one example of how NSDL meets the real day-to-day needs of students, teachers, and the families who support them. In this case the context for K12 learning is embodied in a synergy created in the lives of students, their teachers, and their families. NSDL's value is in improving those lives by by providing easy access to learning resources and communities.

Beyond easy access, Dr. Paul Berkman, Co-chair of NSDL's Sustainability Standing Committee, points out that in general "more information does not equal more knowledge," while Google News Engineer Krishna Bharat, reiterates Google's charter, ". . . to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Large aggregators seek to make every-digital-thing-in-the-world available to everyone debunking a "less is more" approach to information access. Google, Yahoo and others provide us with an "embarrassment of riches" that we all seem to take advantage of. NSDL's value in this equation is to provide a lens through which parts and the whole of digital resources can be viewed "up close and personal" bringing educational meaning into focus.

Pat Parrish, an instructional designer with the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training (COMET) has said that "Information has an ecology, and learning happens in an ecology." NSDL technology, projects, and people create an ecology for learning that is both distinct and valuable because it makes digital resources useful for different audiences and individuals. Paul Berkman adds, "The challenge is no longer access, but being able to objectively integrate information based on user-defined criteria independent of scale to discover knowledge."

Delivering the keynote address at the National Science Digital Library's (NSDL) Annual Meeting in November 2004, Daniel Greenstein, Librarian for the University of California, and Executive Director of the California Digital Library analyzed multiple areas where NSDL's unique applied digital library research environment has advanced digital library practice within information science. The "layered service model" which was novel when NSDL's architecture document was written three years ago is innovative and far-seeing even now. Greenstein credits NSDL with an expanding set of collections that add value to life-long learning activities as well as the application and implementation of a rich set of collections and metadata policies developed by the NSDL community.

Greenstein pointed out that, "NSDL has taken the lead in the digital library industry as a whole by advancing more good and focused work on metadata than anywhere else." NSDL can be the best in the world at making use of the inherent structure of information to:
* Provide audience vocabularies and filtering for user groups.
* Provide state-to-state standards mappings, and enable the alignment of NSDL resources to national and state science and mathematics standards using a community-accessible registry.
* Enable a flexible extensible digital object repository (FEDORA) architecture for education. The Fedora digital object acts as a container for Datastreams (bitstreams of content or metadata) and Disseminators (linkages to services for transformation of content or computation). This transformative architecture will support:
--Streamline "push" and "pull" library communications
--Communities of practice around the use of discipline-oriented materials.
--Creation and access of simulations and visualizations
* Utilize search to facilitate user profiling adding demographic and geographic metrics so that the rankings are determined by identity.

Imagine users visiting NSDL to access documents and resources aligned with relevant standards, creating new ones by adding text, illustrations and rich media such as video and sound, reflecting new learning objects in various formats out to multiple audiences, and contributing those new materials back to the NSDL. Cultivating this rich and finely-grained flow of information alongside limitless resources is the true value of NSDL. The future of the National Science Digital Library lies in enabling an ecology of learning that integrates information structure, content, and context to make educational meaning on and off line. --Please send your ideas about NSDL's value to Carol Minton Morris .
Related Link: http://nsdl.org

http://www.jcdl2005.org
February 10,2005 is the deadline for Short articles, posters, demonstrations, and proposals for Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL) workshops. Call for papers at: http://www.jcdl2005.org/papersub.html
Related Link: http://www.jcdl2005.org/papersub.html

http://www.rccm.tsinghua.edu.cn/ieee-sssm05/index.php
The Second IEEE International Conference on Services Systems and Services Management (2005) co-sponsored by IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society and Chongqing University will be held June 13 to 15, 2005 in Chongqing, China. Call for papers at: http://www.rccm.tsinghua.edu.cn/ieee-sssm05/submission.htm
Related Link: http://www.rccm.tsinghua.edu.cn/ieee-sssm05/index.php

http://www.online-deliberation.net/conf2005/
The 2nd Conference on Online Deliberation: Design, Research, and Practice will bring together software developers, social science researchers, and practioners of online deliberation for three days of presentations and workshops on the Stanford University campus in May 20-22, 2005. Call for papers at: http://www.online-deliberation.net/conf2005/callforpapers.php
Related Link: http://www.online-deliberation.net/conf2005/callforpapers.php

Publication of the premiere issue of NSDL Priority Report establishes an ongoing communication that will provide updates on technical developments and improvements in library production systems for NSF NSDL-funded project principle investigators and technical staff. NSDL Priority Report will be published quarterly, or as needed to ensure that the NSDL technical community has up-to-date information about what, if any, impact ongoing technical work will have on their interactions with NSDL production systems. Read the report online at http://nsdl.org/community/highlights.php
Related Link: http://nsdl.org/community/highlights.php

Publication of the premiere issue of NSDL Priority Report establishes an ongoing communication that will provide updates on technical developments and improvements in library production systems for NSF NSDL-funded project principle investigators and technical staff. NSDL Priority Report will be published quarterly, or as needed to ensure that the NSDL technical community has up-to-date information about what, if any, impact ongoing technical work will have on their interactions with NSDL production systems. Read the report online at http://nsdl.org/community/highlights.php
Related Link: http://nsdl.org/community/highlights.php

By John W. Moore, Journal of Chemical Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The JCE DLib is part of the Journal of Chemical Education (JCE), which has been published by the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society (ACS) since 1924. The JCE was founded by Neil Gordon, who also founded the Division of Chemical Education within the ACS, and originated what are now called (in his honor) the Gordon Research Conferences.

Read the story of how The Journal of Chemical Education's 1.4M budget is balanced in the full "Sustainability Vignette" by clicking here.
Related Link: http://nsdl.org/community/project_profile.php

Are you involved with a special event this year such as "National Engineers Week", "Pi Day", or "National Geography Awareness Week"? Are you doing anything special for World Year of Physics - 2005 (http://www.wyp2005.org/)?

If you are, NSDL can help you feature an "ask an expert" service for that special week through NSDL's reference desk service Ask NSDL.

Please contact Blythe Bennett and let her know your event plans so you can be placed on the calendar of STEM Special Events 2005. She can help arrange an "ask an expert" feature for your project so you don't have to start one from scratch, you can run it through AskNSDL.

Special thanks to those who have volunteered to put the new tsunami category in their expert categories.
Related Link: http://www.wyp2005.org/

Interested in finding out how to use a digital library in the classroom? "Using the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues" co-authored by Frank A. Settle, Elizabeth R. Blackmer, and Thomas P. Whaley highlights ways that students can use the Alsos Digital Library as an educational resource. The full article appears in the February issue of Physics Teacher magazine.
http://scitation.aip.org/journals/doc/PHTEAH-ft/vol_43/iss_2/111_1-div0.html
Related Link: http://scitation.aip.org/journals/doc/PHTEAH-ft/vol_43/iss_2/111_1-div0.html

The UC Berkeley Digital Chemistry Library has created a general method for streamlining the creation and cataloguing of rich media learning objects. With 2000 students per year in the introductory chemistry classes, the project continues to demonstrate the viability of these methods through the creation of a digital library composed of tightly integrated learning objects drawn from blended/distance learning resources in use at UC Berkeley. The project faced several initial challenges including (a) how to use technology to streamline the process of collection design, encourage new contributions, and promote anytime, anywhere access, and (b) how to build upon existing cataloguing strategies (LOM) to support resources that carry extensive, domain-specific metadata or tightly integrated educational connections.

The Digital Chemistry Project now has production versions of two new, highly sophisticated technologies: PRISM (Presentation, Replay, & Interaction With Streaming Media) for recording and capturing live lecture content (see http://digitalchem.berkeley.edu/prism) and LOTIS (Learning Object Tagging and Information System) which automatically catalogues and indexes learning objects using customizable metadata templates (see http://nsdl.comm.nsdl.org/meeting/poster_docs/2004/3560_digChem_cuthbert.pdf).

The LOTIS product in particular is highly relevant to NSDL groups seeking to streamline the process of tagging learning objects, managing and automatically assigning domain-specific keywords, and intelligently selecting and structuring learning outcomes. Rollout to the general public is scheduled for 2006, but partnerships with early adopters are possible. Please contact the project directors for more information or to enquire about collaborative proposals.

Contact Info: Mark Kubinec (PI) mkubinec@berkeley.edu, Alex Cuthbert alx@socrates.berkeley.edu
Related Link: http://digitalchem.berkeley.edu/

The Nominating Committee has announced that the following slate was approved by the NSDL Assembly by a vote of 43-0.

- Bruce Caron, Executive Director of the New Media Studio and the New Media Research Institute.
- Martin Halbert, Director for Library Systems, Executive Director for the MetaScholar Initiative at Emory University.
- Brandon Muramatsu, Project Director, Open Sustainable Learning Opportunities (OSLO) Group,Department of Instructional Technology at Utah State University.

Effectively immediately, the new members join the NSDL Policy Committee (PC) for three-year terms. Continuing members of the PC include Katherine Hanson, Bill Mischo, Rachel Bower, Lillian (Boots) Cassell, and Steve Weimar.
Related Link: http://nsdl.org

As of Tuesday, January 18, 2005 ALA attendance at the Boston Mid Winter Meeting had reached 13,322, surpassing the 10,788 who went to the San Diego Mid Winter Meeting of 2004.

A resolution on Privacy and Standardized Driver's Licenses and Personal Identification Cards passed unanimously. It seeks a system of "checks and balances" to insure the protection of individual liberties and privacy rights through cooperation of the Department of Homeland Security with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board created by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.

The Council adopted a Resolution on Rebuilding Libraries and Archives Damaged or Destroyed by the Earthquake and Tsunami in South Asia which expresses sympathy to library associations and national libraries and archives in the region and coordinates ALA's response with other U.S. Associations, IFLA and its members, and UNESCO, to respond more efficiently to such calamities as they affect libraries and library service.
Related Link: http://nsdl.org

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/01/science/01math.html
"For those who missed it, Dr. Summers, the president of Harvard, told a conference last month on women and science that people worried about the relative dearth of women in the upper ranks of science should consider the possibility that women simply cannot hack it, that their genes or the wiring of their brains somehow leave them less fit than men for math, and therefore for science.
Dr. Summers has since said clearly that he does not believe that girls are intellectually less able than boys. But maybe his original suggestion was right. If we ever figure out exactly what goes on inside the brain, or how our genes shape our abilities, we may find out that men and women do indeed differ in fundamental ways."--From "For Some Girls, the Problem With Math Is That They're Good at It," by Cornelia Dean, New York Times, Feb. 1, 2005
Related Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/01/science/01math.html

http://www.pewinternet.org
Before librarians and those in academe get too comfortable leaving so many digital solutions to companies like Google, consider this: only one in six Internet search engine users can tell the difference between unbiased results and paid search advertisements. According to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, only 38 percent of web users even know of the distinction between the two, and just 47 percent say they can always tell which results are from paying advertisers.

Pew researchers say they are surprised at the results, as 92 percent of web searchers say they are confident about their searching abilities. The study also showed that many searchers are relatively unsophisticated in their use of search engines. Just 44 percent use a single search engine, with 47 percent using it no more than once or twice a week. Despite their difficulty in discerning unpaid results, nearly half of all users say they would stop using search engines if they thought the presentation of paid results wasn't made clear. On other hand, a core of 32 percent use search tools more seriously. Pew data shows that these users tend to male, young, better educated, with higher income and longer online experience. They also are more likely to be able to differentiate between paid and unpaid results.-- Library Journal Academic News Wire, January 27, 2005
Related Link: http://www.pewinternet.org

http://www.insidehighered.com/
There is a new free online journal (part blog) currently in beta called Inside Higher Ed. With some content the publication is anticipated to grow significantly. This is something like Chronicle of Higher Education online, only free, born online, and structured more for the online environment. Note that the February 1 issue has science content: an interview with "rising faculty star" Alison Farmer, a fifth-year astrophysics graduate student at Caltech who will be taking a postdoc at Harvard.
Related Link: http://www.insidehighered.com/

February 2005 --Library Featured in Synergistic Live Dance and Machine Performance http://www.theithacajournal.com/entertainment/stories/20050127/culturalevents/1922566.html Viewed through the prism of modern history, "Dance of the Machines" showed the machine as an embodiment of mathematical and geometric beauty, an expression of technical power, an enabler of scientific discovery and as a symbol of kinetic art in a performance in Ithaca on January 30, 2005. Cornell Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Frank Moon provided the scientific framework that focused on Cornell's unique collection of 19th century Reuleaux machine models from the NSDL Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library (KMODDL). Cornell Dance professor Byron Suber showed how machine and human movement are related, and the Galumpha Dance Company provided an acrobatic embodiment of kinematics. The performance ended with a rare live performance of Ballet Mecanique from Ensemble X, conducted by Cornell Given Professor of Music Steven Stucky. The original film created for the score in 1927 by cubist/surrealist Fernand Leger was shown as part of the performance.
Related Link: http://www.theithacajournal.com/entertainment/stories/20050127/culturalevents/1922566.html