Mix/mash/win $6000 or an iPad2

Libraryhack is a mashup and apps competition using data from Australian and New Zealand libraries. There are great prizes to win for the best entries.

From February 8, 2011 you can enter the ideas competition by submitting your ideas for mashups and apps using library data.

You can check out the Libraryhack competition actegories and prizes and start working on your apps and mashups right away. There are three categories: Application/Data mashup, Photo mashup, and Digital media mashup. For each category the open prize is $6000 and the youth prize is an iPad2. NSLA staff can also win an iPad2.

The Libraryhack competition will be held in May 2011 with mashup and hack events held across Australia. Entries in the competition will be accepted from 1 May.

Keep up to date on the competition and what's happening for Libraryhack in your part of Australia or New Zealand by checking in on the website, or by following us on Twitter (@libraryhack2011) or Facebook.

NSLA Distributed Print Repository

As a part of the Collaborative Collections Project, NSLA staff have undertaken an environmental scan of developments in collection management, showing complementary projects in international academic and national/state sectors. In particular, this scan has shown that the shift from print to electronic is gaining momentum globally and while this shift is being delivered in varying degrees across the NSLA libraries, there has not always been a corresponding understanding of the impact this will have on our physical collections.

As a part of the response to changes to print collections, the Collaborative Collections Project is working on the framework for a subject based distributed repository, which will:

- identify subject strengths to be collected by each participating library
- develop options for subjects not identified as strengths
- develop model and procedures for implementation - including last copy and delivery requirements
- draft a Service Level Agreement.

The framework recognises that NLA and the Heritage Collections in each state are the prime repositories for Australian content. The distributed repository would be defined as all participating NSLA libraries agreeing to be the custodian of last copies of agreed titles.

For further information, please contact the Project officer for the Distributed Repository, Barbara Patison, or either of the Project Managers, Noelle Nelson or Anna Raunik.

Opening our collections: Creative Commons and Orphan Works

As part of the Do It Now project, NSLA staff have been working hard to implement ways to make copyrighted materials openly accessible. The focus of their work has included Orphan Works and Creative Commons.

NSLA supports a system of copyright in which the rights of creators and the public interest are balanced. Orphan works represent a major obstacle to this balance. An orphan work is a work where the copyright owner cannot be identified or located, so permission to digitise and make the work available online cannot be obtained. NSLA affirms its principles to facilitate use of orphan works and the application of the flexible dealing exception in the NSLA Position Statement on Reasonable Search for Orphan Works, and NSLA Guidelines for Reasonable Search for Orphan Works.

From 2011 NSLA will release the material it creates as part of Re-imagining Libraries projects using Creative Commons licences and, where possible, individual NSLA libraries will release their material using Creative Commons licences, to foster a positive, permissions based environment for researchers, library professionals, educators, and anyone who wants to make use of our material. The NSLA Position Statement on Creative Commons is now available. This project has been lead by Janice Van de Velde, from the State Library of Victoria.

Information and Research Services in NSLA Libraries

The Virtual Reference project has investigated and analysed best practice reference options, with the view to providing a model for the delivery of reference services for NSLA Libraries. A primary result of this work has been the development of Information and Research Principles, supported by Service Guidelines for Information and Research Services in NSLA Libraries.

The Principles outline the aim of NSLA Libraries to assist people to find, access, and effectively use resources in our collections for whatever purpose they choose. The Service Guidelines explain how the libraries will do this, both as a initial response and as a more detailed enquiry.

For more information, please contact Leneve Jamieson, the Project Manager for Virtual Reference.

A Thank You to Dr Warwick Cathro

As the NLA's Assistant Director-General, Resource Sharing and Innovation, Warwick Cathro has led the Division of the Library that delivers online services to the Australian library community. This has included the provision and development of online resource discovery services such as Libraries Australia, Picture Australia and Trove, as well as leading significant new strategic initiatives for the Library.

In recent years Warwick has chaired steering committees for projects such as the development of Libraries Australia and the National Library's Newspaper Digitisation Project. He has also led the National Library's participation in research infrastructure projects such as ARROW and the Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories.

In the context of Re-imagining Libraries, Warwick has led the Open Borders project on behalf of NSLA libraries. In May, Stage 4 of Trove is expected to go live - providing access to electronic full text and articles through the authentication mechanisms developed as a part of the Open Borders project. The introduction of this service is a tremendous revolution in how we can provide information directly to our communities.

With the announcement of Warwick's retirement in June, later this year, the National Library of Australia's loss is also recognised as a loss to all the NSLA libraries. The Re-imagining Libraries Program sends its great thanks and best wishes to Warwick for his wonderful contribution to both NSLA libraries and to the library sector overall.