It will come as a surprise to many Londoners and
Asians and Africans further away,
to know that London was home to a black
millionaire in the 1620 and that 2,500 South Asians came to
London annually by 1814. more...
Trains and boats and planes take me away
There
are several
well known engineering information services, but one of them has
a unique focus. SAE covers anything that moves: trains, space craft, ships, off-road
vehicles... Members are engineers who are designing the components and systems
that are mobility related. more...
Blackboard confident of steady growth in Asia
Libraries throughout Southeast Asia are taking an interest
in e-learning. Blackboard, which has seen its fortune rise in
Thailand and Singapore, is set for growth in the region. more...
Food on the Web
IFIS, the food people and begetters of FSTA, have announced Food Science Central on the
Web. The complete FSTAAA is its foundation with links from records to
scientific literature, document delivery service, a
thesaurus and dictionary. There are also weekly alerting services. more...
Asian news from ProQuest
ProQuest is launching Reference Asia which will
deliver political, economic, financial and
business
information about East and Southeast Asia. Much of the content
appears for the first time on the Web while other has been especially created
for the service. more...
The A-Z of library automation
Believe it or not there are still many parts of
Southeast Asia where libraries have hardly automated. And
there are others using old fashioned or free software who don't
understand the possibilities of the new systems which suit every
pocket from a school in Thailand to a university in Taiwan.
more...
Wanted: a marriage of convenience
The Gale Group has recently unveiled their Resource
Centers - mega collections of different types of
publications in one database. The History Resource Center has much
Asian data but Gale's Paul Tucci, speaking to ACCESS, said he wants more.
more...
Many have heard, few understand
What started as a cooperative
effort between publishers and technologists to promote DOI-based
linking of citations in e-journals, evolved into an independent, non-profit
enterprise in early 2000. more...
Elib.Web rescues BOI Library
Thailand's Board of Investment had a problem: a
growing library collection
in Thai and English but no
modern tools to manage it. It also wanted to capitalise on
being one of the first government departments to have a Website.
more...
Physics on the move
The Los Alamos
e-print archive was the first of its kind and the most
successful. It revolutionised the way physicists and mathematicians publish and communicate.
more...
Singapore's National Library Board
launches enhanced digital library
A personalised library with rich
contents available through a
single point of access, anywhere, anytime
Library users in
Singapore can now access eLibraryHub, a one-stop, integrated
digital library for rich array of information resources anywhere,
anytime. Complementing its existing network of physical
libraries, the National
Library Board's (NLB)
eLibraryHub was unveiled
recently by Mr Lim Swee Say, Acting Minister for the Environment and
Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology
(MCIT) at the Woodlands Regional Library.
The eLibraryHub
is part of NLB's initiative to build knowledgeware in a
digital economy. Through a single point of access, everyone -
from individuals to businesses and community groups - can tap
the rich content comprising some 10,000 electronic books,
13,000 electronic magazines, journals and databases, 900
video-on-demand titles and 700 CD-ROM that will be streamed
seamlessly through the Singapore ONE Network.
An
abundance of 'e' at the launch of eLibraryHub
Speaking at the
launch, Mr Lim said, "Singapore is today one of the most
e-inclusive nations in the world. Sixty percent of households
own PCs at home while 50 percent have access to the internet.
Over the years, the NLB has come up with many creative ideas
and implemented many innovative programmes to help Singapore
achieve our vision of an e-inclusive society. The eLibraryHub
is the latest initiative to e-empower our people".
The 2 million
members of the NLB library system have immediate access to
this eLibraryHub and its rich information resources. In
addition, several community organizations, government bodies
and private corporations have already adopted eLibraryHub as
their personal digital library. These include more than
480,000 people from the Central Singapore
Community Development Council, the Teachers' Network, the
Ministry of Manpower, and the Singapore Management
University
.
A key feature of
the eLibraryHub is the ability to personalise the digital
library to the user's needs to create a personal library. The
user can search, organise and stock up his library according
to his personal preferences and interests. Relevant
information is then surfaced and presented to the user when he
logs into the digital library.
Book
recommendations derived from user
preferences
A powerful
search engine retrieves the relevant information from the vast
collection of materials. As an added service, eLibraryHub
users will be able to receive peer recommendations of books
from the Library's analysis of user patterns and preferences.
eLibraryHub users will also be able to consult a "Cybrarian"
(Cyber Librarian) about their library needs through the
eLibraryHub.
"The
eLibraryHub is the latest offering in our continuing efforts
to improve and innovate services for the community. It is
conceptualised and designed for user's needs and experience.
In addition to a suite of eService applications, the contents
have been specially acquired to help users in their knowledge
acquisition, whether it is for self improvement, business
decisions or edutainment. The difference between a physical
and digital library is that you can decide and create a
library you want", said Dr Christopher Chia, Chief Executive
of the NLB. The eLibraryHub membership is free. Some resources
and services are free while others are chargeable at low
subscription rates.
Lim Swee Say (seated)
Minister of State for Communications and Information
Technology and Dr. Christopher Chia (standing, centre) CEO of
the NLB, at the launch of eLibraryHub
Payment by cash card, credit
card and pre-paid accounts
The eLibraryHub
links users to a vast collection of information resources from
local and overseas libraries as well as leading content
providers. Information covers journals, reports and
specialised fields of interest to fulfil the information needs
of users. Library users can now access resource sites of the
world's leading research and resource sites including Reuters, Lexis-Nexis, Netlibrary
, amongst many others. These
services are available at low subscription fees and through a
single point of access, anywhere. Payment for these materials can
be made via Cash Cards, major Credit Cards and prepaid
accounts through a secure online interface. The eLibraryHub will
also be part of IDA's eCitizen portal, an
integrated portal for all government services catered for the
convenience of the public.
Commenting to
ACCESS on the overlap between
the NLB's free of charge online database service TiARA and
eLibraryHub, an NLB spokeswoman said "TiARA was launched as a
joint project with the National Computer Board (now known as
Info-Comm Development Authority) with the objective of
introducing the concept of a digital library. To reduce the
barrier entry, the services were free. With the advancement in
technology, we can now offer eLibraryHub as a full fledged
digital library with the option of personalised library
services. It makes no operational sense to run both TiARA and
eLibraryHub at the same time. TiARA will run concurrently for
a while (six months) and will then be subsumed under
eLibraryHub."
An
abundance of 'e' at the launch of eLibraryHub 
