Web Security Words Help Digitize Old Books
For anyone who missed it, this is an interesting article on the use of new technologies related to digitization: Web Security Words Help Digitize Old Books From: All Things Considered, August 14, 2008 Continue reading
Planned Launch of GPO’s Federal Digital System (Fdsys)
The first public release of GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) http://www.gpo.gov/projects/fdsys.htm will launch later this year. Staff in the Superintendent of Documents Library Services and Content Management unit at GPO have been working with GPO's Program Management Office who are responsible for developing this system. We want to ensure that the requirements for the Federal Depository Library Program will be met. In order to ensure that we are accurately communicating the requirements capabilities of the system, we are requesting your feedback. Based on your knowledge of FDsys, what are your expectations for the first public release? We want to make sure we continue to get this information in the hands of the development team and keep lines of communications open. Additional information should be also be shared with GPO's Program Management Office at pmo@gpo.gov Continue reading
Some exciting things have been happening at GPO in the world of digitization
As you have likely heard by now, we have a goal of digitizing all retrospective federal publications back to the earliest days of the Federal Government. A Request for Proposal (RFP) for Mass Digitization Opportunities has now been released via Federal Business Opportunities. Here's a link to this proposal and additional information on GPO's digitization initiatives. Proposals are due by September 19, 2008. We are in search of a cooperative, mutually beneficial relationship with a private or public sector participants where the uncompressed, unaltered files created as a result of the conversion process are delivered to GPO at no cost to the Government. These files will serve as the digital master copies that will be preserved and used for the creation of access derivatives within GPO's Federal Digital System. In exchange, the contractor will be able to maintain a collection of files produced in the process for inclusion in their collections (e.g., search indices, book search sites). This content will be made available online, free of charge from GPO. Also, if you haven't yet seen it, we have re-launched the Registry of U.S. Government Publication Digitization Projects, which contains records for projects that include digitized copies of publications originating from the U.S. Government. The Registry...
- serves as a locator tool for publicly accessible collections of digitized U.S. Government publications;
- increases awareness of U.S. Government publication digitization projects that are planned, in progress, or completed;
- fosters collaboration for digitization projects;
Promoting Your Depository Library
Ever have trouble coming up with new, cost-effective ways to promote the important services offered at your depository? Ever wonder how to reach different audiences? Ever wish there were tools to help you promote your library? At GPO, we heard you, and recently, we took on the challenge of helping you with those difficult tasks. We recently launched the FDLP Marketing Plan, which has three main components:
- Tips and strategies to help depositories promote themselves to non-depository libraries.
- Tips and strategies to help depositories promote themselves to the general public (broken down by group).
- The launch of a new marketing campaign that has tools that depositories can use in their promotion efforts.
Surfing with an Unsafe Browser?
A comprehensive study entitled, "Understanding the Web browser threat: Examination of vulnerable online Web browser populations and the "insecurity iceberg"" was recently released. It concludes that only 60 percent of the world's Internet users surf with the latest, most-secure versions of their preferred browsers. Why is this important? Upgrading to the latest, most-secure version of your favorite browser will provide better protection from Web dangers, such as spyware, phishing, and viruses. It is also important because it relates to changes that are coming to the FDLP Desktop. A re-release of the FDLP Desktop is due in the next few months. This re-release will improve our dissemination of Program-related content and news, but also release new community-based interactivity. During the course of the redesign, our research has shown that many of our users are surfing with legacy browsers. In addition to these legacy browsers being vulnerable to various Web dangers, they are also not built to today's Web standards. While the upcoming re-release of the FDLP Desktop is being backcoded to allow for legacy browsers, such as IE6, we are not ensuring 100% compatibility. Meanwhile, users utilizing IE6 to surf the new Desktop will receive a warning at the top of their screen regarding the dangers of IE6 and an encouragement to upgrade. So, with that said, which browsers/versions should we be using? Based on the report, they are:
Stay tuned! Next week, I will be releasing more information about the upcoming re-release of the FDLP Desktop as well as some new tools that we have up our sleeves. Continue reading
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