Dr. Finkopolous put me on to fuppes last night. Basically it is a way to stream content to your xbox 360 via uPnP, yay! So, no more huddling around the laptop watching movies. The fat Sony tube tele gets a stay of execution and that puts off the NEED for the huge LCD monitor. It appears to be fairly easy to install on linux, but my linux box is on its own internet connection, and the xbox and two mac laptops are on another.

I have written about Drupal & the Digital Collections site (http://digitalcollections.mcmaster.ca) a few times now, but haven't really explained how to make a digital collections site out of Drupal. So, without further ado...

What are the necessities of a digital collections site?

• Dublin Core standard metadata
• OAI-PMH Version 2
• Searching
• Browsable
• Collection Sets

It has been a while since I have done an IR update. So, the UPDATE: 3 new e-Journals, 2 in the works, and 2 books from the anthropology department have been published to the IR. Also, the big news is we have a Scholarly Communications Librarian now - Barbara McDonald - who will be the spokesperson for the IR. So, now I can concentrate more on the technical side of the project. Also we have launched Selected Works. It is basically a standardized faculty page that allows faculty to manage their work, upload new documents, generate readership reports, and send mailings.

Access was great, my first time going, first time at a hackfest, first time presenting at a conference. I had to laugh to myself at some points. Presenters were throwing out their Access "street cred" - being at the '96 Access...I was in high school.

Hackfest
Worked on problem 7:

7 . Socialize Evergreen! John Blyberg just released SOPAC 2.0
(http://www.thesocialopac.net/ and
http://www.blyberg.net/2008/08/16/sopac-20-what-to-expect/) built on a
Drupal, MySQL, and Sphinx platform, with interfaces defined for

Here is the library press release:

The William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections at McMaster University Library is launching the latest in a series of digital initiatives aimed at bringing its unique collections to a wider, online audience. The new site, Peace and War in the 20th Century, has been developed with the assistance of almost $100,000 in funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage, through the Canadian Memory Fund.

Just we put the finishing touches on the Library and Archives Canada funded Peace & War in the 20th Century project, we received word from the granting agency that our newest grant application has been accepted. We have been awarded almost $100,000 to develop a state-of-the-art, interactive website on the history of Canadian publishing. The project will last for a year (same amount of time for the PW20C project), and will focus on the history of Canadian publishing houses, people in publishing, authorship, and aspects of unique to Canadian culture.

blog:

del.icio.us:

Ok, kids. Finally, done. The Peace & War in the 20th Century is finally done - http://pw20c.mcmaster.ca. The site is now official. The site consists of nearly 3000 records, and is divided between two over archiving themes, Waging Peace and Waging War. The over arching themes are broken down into sub categories, and case studies, covering an expansive wealth of information. Images digitized for the collection include posters, letters, 3-D objects (grenades, metals, etc.), audio, and video.

We've added pictures from our Mass Digitization and Publishing Launch to the blog, including pictures of or brand new Kirtas scanner. The event was a huge success, drawing over 100 guests, and press coverage. The Hamilton Spectator Catherine Baird, our Marketing, Communications, and Outreach Librarian and myself about the project. The article can be viewed here: http://thespec.com/article/388938

Ok, the Digital Collections website is ready for beta testing. Registered users can comment, vote on comments, and tag records - and updated version of the "bookbag" will be added soon. Collections with content include; Peace and War in the 20th Century, Russell Library, and World War II Concentration Camp Correspondences. At this time, AICT, and Kirtas Book Collection are outlines for content to be added later.