Access to libraries for students Association

For the students of Association KU Leuven there is a significant change on access regulations from 26^th of December 2012 onwards.

Students of the Association still have free access to the libraries of the KU Leuven but those who have not yet applied for a library card on Wednesday 26^th of December 2012, pay a day card (€ 2.5 + 5 € deposit). This rule also applies to KU Leuven students.

This action runs until the end of the exam period, Friday 1^st of February 2013.

So come as soon as possible – before 23/12/2012 – to our desks for requesting a free library card. KHL-students can also apply for this card in their own KHL-libraries.

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Flandrica.be online

On November 15th, the Central Library hosted the launching of Flandrica.be, the new portal website of the Flanders Heritage Library and its six partner libraries. In this online heritage library, the visitor can browse through the most important pieces of each library collection. You can stumble across beautifully illustrated medieval manuscripts, old prints of Plantijn, but also old cookery books, lyrics and catechisms.

Inspired by international examples like Europeana, Flandrica.be is the portal for – at this moment – more than 400 books, manuscripts, newspapers and other documents from the six partner libraries: Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience, University Library Antwerp, Public Library Bruges, University Library Ghent, Provincial Library Limburg and University Library Leuven.

For KU Leuven, Flandrica.be displays documents from the Central Library, Maurits Sabbe Library, University Archive and Campusbibliotheek Arenberg: masterpieces such as the Bible of Anjou, but also documents that vividly depict the university history of Louvain and the cultural life of the city and region.

Source: News KU Leuven

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Old Maps Online unlocks old maps

Old Maps Online is an easy to use new website for historical maps in libraries worldwide. Users can access digitalised maps online via a geographical search interface. You can filter on place-name, by clicking on a location or by limiting the time period. For the moment, Old Maps Online contains parts of map collections from, among others, the British Library, the New York Public Library and the National Library of Scotland. The project is now looking for institutions with a digitalised map collection of their own, who would like to participate in the endeavour.

Source: http://www.vlaamse-erfgoedbibliotheek.be/nieuws/2012/07/2484-old-maps-online-ontsluit-oude-kaarten-geografisch-tijdslijn

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Wanted: New Head University Library

The KU Leuven is looking for a Library Director to succeed the present Chief Librarian, Professor M. W. Collier, who retires in the summer of 2012. The KU Leuven Library is a large and complex organisation including campus libraries, faculty libraries, electronic library services, archives and art collections. The job of Library Director provides the challenge of combining the management of important traditional and heritage collections with an ultra modern approach to e-resources and digitalisation of library materials. The Library’s IT division LIBIS provides a wide range of services to a network of institutions throughout Belgium and beyond. KU Leuven has also a network of University Colleges offering academic and professional programmes. The libraries of these Colleges form part of the wider network of the University Library. Moreover, the Library participates in a range of Flemish, Belgian and international co-operative activities.

 More information can be found here.

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Much criticism on fusion plans of the Vrije Universiteit

The Vrije Universiteit shall be radically reformed.  The management wants to merge several faculties and enter into an intensive collaboration with the University of Amsterdam.  The University Library (UB) is to be joined together with the IT-department (UC-IT).  400 employees shall loose their jobs due to these cutbacks. 

Many of the staff disagree with the plans.  They fear an excavation of the academic standard of the organization. Anonymous employees have written as such in a pressing letter (Dutch) to the universitypaper ‘Ad Valvas’.  The employees consider the managers at the VU too powerful and speak of ‘colonization by the management culture’. 

Apart from that, Richard Oerlemans, director of UC-IT, is keen on the idea of a fusion between his department and the UB.  He states (Dutch) in Ad Valvas that a new organization will mean an improvement in supporting the education.  Because of the increase of digitalization of the library, a merge with the IT-services of the university becomes a logical next step. 

Source (Dutch): Informatieprofessional

Source Image: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

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A tool to visualize history

While a student at UC Berkeley, Roland Saekow had the idea for a tool that would help people visualize history - all the way from the big bang to yesterday – and zoom in on whatever parts interest them. Called ChronoZoom, it is kind of like Google Maps for the fourth dimension, and it will get richer and richer as it’s fleshed out wiki-style.  Microsoft Research has gotten involved in ChronoZoom, which will presumably accelerate the project. You can already take a peak at http://www.chronozoomproject.org/. Obviously, there is still some work to be done, but the concept is pretty intriguing. Here you can watch a video of Saekow demonstrating his nex invention.

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/03/cool-new-history-tool/255008/#

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Rare stolen atlas returned

A rare copy of an Atlas of the New World, stolen from Sweden’s Royal Library a decade ago has been officially returned. Published in 1597, the Descriptionis Ptolemaicae Augmentum was the first atlas documenting the geography and natural history of the Americas. Belgian cartographer Wytfliet used the writings of geographers José de Acosta and Giovanni Battista Ramusio, among others, to create 19 exceptionally accurate maps of South America, Central America, North America and the Caribbean, among them the first regional map of California ever printed. The book is one of only nine complete copies known to survive. It was stolen by the former head of the library’s manuscript department, Anders Burius, who from the day he was hired in 1995 began to help himself to rare volumes which he would then sell. Wytfliet’s Atlas had been on the market for years and passed through several hands before a Royal Library librarian spotted it in 2011 for sale by New York map dealer W. Graham Arader II. The Royal Library and Arader determined that it was the stolen copy, so he returned it to Sotheby’s and got his money back. Sotheby’s in turn decided to give the book back to the library.

Source: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/17824

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Avoid damage to your paper collections caused by insects with aid of the British Library

Insects enjoy nourishing themselves with books, manuscripts, photographs and other archive materials, sometimes with losses to your collections as a consequence.  David Pinniger, a British entomologist, wrote a new and free online brochure for the Preservation Advisory Centre of The British Library.  It is titled ‘Managing pests in paper-based collections’.  It is intended as a tool of aid in identifying, preventing and suppressing insects that affect your paper collections. 

The Preservation Advisory Centre is the centre of expertise in preservation and management of library – and archive collections of the British Library.  You can find more brochures, video’s, manuals etc. on their website. 

Source: Vlaamse Erfgoedbibliotheek  (Dutch)

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Renovation works started

Today (28.06.2012) we have set the first step in the implementation of the planned renovation works at the Central Library. These works will definitely last until the autumn of 2013.

Some of those works will fully pass you. Others do have an impact on you and our service to you (as a customer).

Today the new 1600 kg weighing transformer was delivered. Which is intended for our new high-voltage cabin, the backbone for all subsequent electricity works. That is why the Binnenhof from today onwards (until 13/7) will be a yard zone and thus prohibited for unauthorized persons like you and me.

On Saturdays June 30th and July 7th there will be worked hard to swap the old transformer (of early 1950s; still 600 kg heavier than the new one) for the new one. During those 2 Saturdays our building will be totally without electricity. In the intervening week everything should continue to work.

In August 2012 the real renovation works will start in the stackrooms wing. They include:

-          Making the spaces fire safe via new fire doors

-          The replacement of the lighting, more energy efficient

-          The replacement of the (obsolete) electricity network (early 1950s)

-          The extension of the data network

These works are tackled floor per floor. There is counted on six weeks for each floor. And there are 10 floors. We work from bottom to top.

During these 6 weeks each floor is a yard zone and therefore a prohibited area for library staff. Books and magazines stacked on this floor cannot be delivered. To protect against dust and crushed stone the collections will be shielded.

This will be communicated clear and timely to the customers. The relevant items will be displayed in the catalogue as temporary-not-requestable.

There are concrete plans to replace the current reception desk  - in the course of 2013 – into a (larger) reception centre on the ground floor. As a customer you will walk inwards through the desk area.

Finally, in the course of 2013, the Carillon tower will be developed into a tourist attraction, by the city of Leuven. They expect a multiple of the current number of tourists (10,000 per year) for this building.

All these works will undoubtedly cause annoyance. We try to minimize the nuisance. We are committed to inform you as soon as we have the necessary information.

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NYC online archive crashes on opening

New York City’s Department of Records announced that they had digitized and uploaded 870,000 of the best photographs out of the 2,200,000 kept in the city’s Municipal Archives. The pictures date from the mid-1800s onward and document every aspect of city governance. Only a few of them have been published before. The Department has been working for four years to make them available to the public. Although the entire archive hasn’t been uploaded at this point because they’re on a tight technological and funding budget, the department will continue to add new content to the online database.Those technological limitations became immediately obvious when the day after the database opened, it crashed. The interest was massive and came from all over the world, which meant that the server never caught a break. It was down for weeks before they finally got their act together. Now the site is stable again and therefore finally bloggable.

Source: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/17031

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