Library Information Resources (LIR) Annual Seminar 2015

The LIR HEAnet User Group for Libraries aims to explore and develop awareness of electronic information resources and to promote the use of the HEAnet network in exploiting these resources. Since its inception in 1993, it has provided a forum for discussion on the use of electronic resources and networks by HEI libraries and encouraged communication and co-operation between member libraries in accessing electronic resources. Each year, LIR hosts a seminar organised around a central theme, and in the past has covered topics such as Open Access and Open Source, Cloud Based Collaboration and the Management of Electronic Resources.

This year’s seminar was entitled ‘Uncharted Territory? What Next for Webscale Discovery’, and dealt with the topic of library discovery tools. Keynote speakers on the day included Gareth Owen & Mark Hughes from WHELF (Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum) who discussed their recent assessment and selection process for their resource discovery tools: ‘Transitioning a Vision to Reality: The Wales Higher Education Library Forum (WHELF)’, and Dorinne Raaimakers, Utrecht University Library whose presentation, ‘Thinking the Unthinkable: A Library Without a Catalogue’, discussed Utrecht University’s decision to do away with their discovery tool.

Videos and slides of these presentations, as well as the other presentations on the day, including one from the James Hardiman Library’s Electronic Resources Librarian, Ronan Kennedy (Discovery Tools – Walking the Tightrope between Complexity and Simplicity), can be found on the LIR website, and will give valuable insight into the current trends in resource discovery, as well as how libraries plan to tackle this topic in the future.

Letter to the editor of the New York Times from Ambassador Anne Anderson

Date: 17 June 2015

To: The Editor, New York Times 

In the aftermath of the tragic accident in Berkeley, resulting in the deaths of six young Irish people and the serious injury of seven others, there has been an outpouring of sympathy across the United States.  All the messages we receive strike the same note:  deep sadness at these bright young lives cut short, or profoundly affected by injury, and hearts going out to the grieving families.

At such a time, we found some of the language in your article today (“Six Deaths in Berkeley Cast Pall on Program”) both insensitive and inaccurate.  No one yet knows what caused the collapse of the fourth-floor balcony; the matter is under urgent investigation by structural engineers.  The implication of your article – that the behaviour of the students was in some way a factor in the collapse – has caused deep offence.

It is quite simply wrong to say that the J1 visa programme is “a source of embarrassment for Ireland”.  On the contrary, we are fully supportive of this programme and we know that it brings enormous mutual benefit.  Some of our best and brightest young people participate; they come for a summer in the US on the threshold of their adult lives, and take back experiences and memories that establish life-long bonds.  And they make a real contribution here; one of the messages of condolence we received yesterday put it simply:  “We welcome their energy and joy”.

Yes, there have been isolated incidents of the type to which your article refers.  But they are wholly unrepresentative: bear in mind that 150,000 young Irish people have participated in the J1 program over the past fifty years, and some 7,000 are here for Summer 2015.  From all the feedback we receive, we know that the overwhelming majority of our J1 participants behave in a way that does Ireland proud.

At this time of searing grief, the messages of condolence and offers of support which are flooding in to the Embassy and our Consulates are balm to the soul.  They reflect far more accurately the feelings of the American people than does your article.

Anne Anderson

Ambassador

High court in India instructs indian Govt to provide access to deaf :)

n a landmark judgement in 2011 the High Court of Delhi has created history by instructing the Indian Govt to provide Interpreter access to the deaf community of India. The Nad India had filed a Public interest litigation in this regard in 2007.

A long awaited “post of Sign Langauge Interpreter” has been mooted and the Govt is now to hire interpreters to provide access to deaf people at all points of service access such as courts, hospitals, police stations and so on.

This is great news for the interpreting profession and also for the deaf community of India long oppressed and denied basic rights and access to core services. the court observed that the mainstreaming of the deaf community was very important and the Govt has to bear the cost of providing access.

Interpreting training centers in India languishing for the lack of applicants can now hope for a deluge as the opening up of 15-25000 jobs in interpreting brings a flood of people wanting to learn sign language and become interpreters.

A Week Without Social Media.

great post for 2day

Patrick Ferriter (1856 – 1924) manuscript collector, Dingle and USA

• Patrick Ferriter was born in an Baile Uachtarach on the Dingle peninsula.
• He collected local songs, poems, stories and folklore. He also copied from other manuscripts which he had on loan.
• In 1896 he left Ireland for Boston and continued to collect material from Irish speakers he met there.
• Ferriter also visited the Boston Athenaeum and transcribed material from three Irish language manuscripts that he found there.
• In 1903 Ferriter moved to New York, where he edited material for the Irish language column of The Gaelic American.
• He also contributed material to the bilingual journal An Gaodhal.
• Ferriter fell sick in the year 1922 and some time later moved to Chicago to be with relatives.
• He bequeathed his entire manuscript collection to Douglas Hyde for the library of the National University of Ireland, Dublin.

Many thanks to Dr. Séamus Ó Diolluin, St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra and UCD library for this biographical information on Patrick Ferriter.

The Patrick Ferriter Manuscript Collection was  donated to UCD Library in 1924.

It contains 57 vols

The Longest Ride – Movie Review

No More Workhorse

The Longest Ride – Movie Review by Emily Elphinstone

Director: George Tillman Jr.
Writers: Nicholas Sparks (novel), Craig Bolotin (screenplay)
Stars: Scott Eastwood, Britt Robertson, Alan Alda

As a Nicholas Sparks adaptation, it is safe to assume that The Longest Ride will involve passionate (rather wholesome) love, kissing in the rain, some sort of conflict keeping the lovers apart, and preferably somebody’s death. No Sparks adaptation should be watched in the hope of seeing something groundbreaking.

However, as an almost entirely predictable guilty pleasure, The Longest Ride is surprisingly watchable. The film focuses on Art History Senior Sophia (Britt Robertson), who meets hunky professional bull-rider Luke (Scott Eastwood) after she is dragged along to a nearby Rodeo by her sorority sisters. From the beginning, it is made very clear that they are from ‘different worlds’: she is just about to move to New York for an internship in a prestigious…

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Ramblings From a First-Semester Nonmajors Biology Professor

great post

Teaching nonmajors biology

This is a guest post by Naima Montacer, who just finished her first semester as an Adjunct Biology Professor at Mountain View College in Dallas, Texas. To learn more about her wildlife and environmental adventures, visit her website at EnviroAdventures.com or email her at njmontacer@gmail.com.

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Image cred: Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture, and Design

Sex, evolution, embryonic stem cells, Ebola, sexually transmitted diseases, genetically modified organisms, and gene therapy. What do all of these controversial issues have in common? Biology 101. For the last four months I’ve navigated these rough waters in my first semester as a college professor and emerged with my eyes wide open.

After one semester, three major things became apparent:

1. Every single adult needs a biology refresher.
2. The single most difficult, yet important, thing we teach our students in biology is discerning between accurate scientific information and crap.
3. Students resist studying hard, improving their study…

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Sylvia Rivera-Vecchio

Top Female Executives, Professionals & Entrepreneurs

Title: Payroll Principal Secretary (Retired)

Company: New York Board of Education

Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Initially, Sylvia Rivera-Vecchio became involved in the educational profession because she was a single parent and decided to choose a career that meshed with her daughter’s school days. She found a job with the principal, who personally asked her to be his assistant. Now retired after 26 years in the profession, Ms. Rivera-Vecchio looks back upon payroll principle secretary at the New York Board of Education.

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AAP, PPC Launch Seven Great Achievements Campaign at PAS

On April 25, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) conference in San Diego, CA, the PPC and the AAP announced a new campaign to celebrate the successes in pediatric research. The campaign, 7 Great Achievements in Pediatric Research, highlights seven key discoveries over the past 40 years that have saved millions of children’s lives worldwide, from groundbreaking treatments for deadly chronic diseases to life-saving interventions for babies who are born premature.

In order to help educate the public and members of Congress about the importance of sustained investment in pediatric research, a new video was also unveiled from the podium at PAS, which outlines each of the following achievements and spotlights real-life success stories:

1. Preventing disease with life-saving immunizations
2. Reducing SIDS with “Back-to-Sleep”
3. Curing a common childhood cancer
4. Saving premature babies by helping them breathe
5. Preventing mother-to-baby HIV transmission
6. Increasing life expectancy for children with chronic disease
7. Saving lives with car seats and seat belts

Following the announcement, all of these achievements were featured by CBS News. For more information and a brochure on the 7 Great Achievements in Pediatric Research, please visit AAP.org/7Achievements.

Drilling Company Found Guilty of Discrimination for Refusing to Hire Management Applicant with Vision Loss

Houston-based Parker Drilling Company has been found guilty of disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuit was filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after Parker withdrew a job offer from an applicant because he only has vision in one eye. The applicant was offered a management position at the company’s Anchorage, AK operation, but was later told his disability disqualified him for the job.

Visit this link Drilling Company Found Guilty of Discrimination for Refusing to Hire Applicant with Vision Loss

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