Knowledge Ontario Newsletter

Knowledge Ontario News
Building the Digital Citizen

Join KO at Super Conference
Have we got a session or two for you!

If you're heading to OLA's Super Conference in February, you can connect with KO in a dozen different ways. We're offering three pre-conference sessions, a stream of conference sessions, and have a big booth at the expo where you can demo the services and talk to us.

Details are in the last item in this newsletter or you can download KO at a glance here. We look forward to seeing you.

ASK ONTARIO
Interested in becoming an askON partner?  The askON team has fielded many inquiries from libraries interested in becoming askON partners for September 2010. To gauge the level of interest and help everybody understand how the service functions we've scheduled the first two information sessions for potential partners:These will be 30-45 minute virtual sessions. The askON project team will review the operational aspects of askON, the toolkit, the technology, outline partner responsibilities and benefits and answer your questions.

INFO SESSIONS

• Tuesday February 16 - 10:30am
• Friday February 19 - 10:30am

Participation is via telephone conference call and online meeting space. Access details when you sign up.

Please RSVP to Virginia Roy for either date: vroy@knowledgeontario.ca More dates to come.

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CONNECT ONTARIO
Consider joining before April

Word is spreading. More than 10 public libraries have the BiblioCommons discovery layer Online Public Access Catalogue installed on their systems and several others are completing surveys and getting ready to test it out. Come and hear firsthand what early adopters have to say about how this ground breaking service has helped to transform the experience of their patrons. 

As you may know, Knowledge Ontario has already pre-paid the license for any public library that has an ILS compatible with BiblioCommons. Libraries making the transition now have no set-up costs -- period. In addition, those libraries that sign up for the product by the end of April, 2010 will have their no-cost subscription period extended to July 31, 2011.

If your library ILS is one of: Sirsi-Dynix Symphony or Horizon (including versions that use Oracle or Informix as the database platform), Innovative Interfaces or Evergreen then you may be ready to take advantage of the free prepaid license window now.
 

INFO SESSIONS
A day-long session is planned for February 5th at the Oakville Public Library to provide an overview of the service, current functionality, integration with Drupal and other planned features, the provincial umbrella agreement as well as to assist with any questions about set-up and going live.

You can also learn about the product at the OLA Super Conference sessions -- see below or download KO at a glance here.

DIGITIZATION
VITA 3.4 Release: Streamlined features & new functionality
Responding to our Toolkit user needs, the VITA 3.4 toolkit upgrade makes data management easier as well as enhancing the public user's experience. The upgrade features:

• new customization options for Advanced Searching,
• optional Creative Commons licensing for digital objects,
• improved login and user management,
• new full text search and display features,
• and more...

For more information see theVITA 3.4 Upgrade newsletter

Interested in using the VITA toolkit to digitize your collection? Contact Our Ontario Project Coordinator Jess Posgate at jposgate@ourontario.ca

RESOURCE ONTARIO
Gage Canadian Dictionary now live in Gale's Student Resource Centre 

The Gage Canadian Dictionary is an excellent resource for grades 9-12, and all Canadians, featuring over 140,000 entry words. A respected authority of Canadian English, this dictionary contains:

• clear and accurate definitions,
• IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) pronunciation key,
• extensive notes on homonyms and synonyms,
• hundreds of clear and supportive illustrations and photos,
• and more.  

It includes a grammar and usage appendix, plus an appendix of charts and tables with a Canadian focus. It is accessed through Gale's Student Resource Centre - Canadian Edition.

LEARN ONTARIOPhase Two early results: top 25 stumpers

Curious as to what the "in demand" tutorials from Atomic Learning have been among colleges, universities and public libraries? A quick glance will show you the top 25 applications where Ontarians have found the 24x7 online access to tutorials to be very useful. You may recognize some of these applications as "stumpers" for you too!

LearnON will be exploring the results of the Phase One and Phase Two pilot projects at Super Conference, and outlining next steps...

LAUNCH
The 1812 History Project
Our Ontario is partnering with the 1812 History Project that is designed to make the surviving records and artefacts from the 1812 period available online. Our Ontario is providing toolkit services and a specially scoped hosted site to the collaborating partners:

• Brock University,
• Jordan Historical Museum,
• Niagara Falls Museum, 
• Niagara Historical Society Museum,
• Port Colborne Historical & Marine Museum, and
• RiverBrink Art Museum

Our Ontario also offers these organizations the option of contributing their own collections as they build toward the bicentennial. This project received financial support from the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Culture Online Strategy to ensure its success.

The project's website will launch February 18th from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. at the Niagara Historical Society Museum in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Bookmark the 1812 History website and check back to see some extraordinary documents, objects, and images from Ontario's 1812 era.
  
             
ASK ONTARIO
Internship program keeps askON humming

Last spring, in partnership with U of T's iSchool, askON launched a pilot project to train second year students and recent library school grads to work on askON/ONdemande, the province's collaborative virtual reference service.

Now a pool of close to 30 students volunteer up to two hours a week in the askON service. "Its a winning situation for everyone involved," said Virginia Roy, project manager.

"Despite everyone's best efforts the library partners aren't able to provide enough staff to cover the capacity the service needs, especially in evenings and on weekends. The students help fill slots in those very busy hours and get fantastic frontline virtual reference training and experience," she continued.

The askON management team trained 11 more student interns in January and had interest from over 30 students. A great article on the program can be found in the iSchool News.
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E-postcards of support: Tell us your story

Thank you to the many of you who have taken the time to share your experiences in helping Knowledge Ontario tell our story. We have received over 900 e-postcards of support to date. We have begun using your good words and personal stories to introduce the new Minister of Culture Michael Chan and other provincial parliamentarians and staff to Knowledge Ontario. Through your postcards we are telling the real day-to-day impact of the resources and services KO offers with its partners.

If you use KO services but have not yet filled out an e-postcard, please do so now. And enjoy the postcards we have received already.

• Please fill out the postcard here

• Share the link with others who have stories to tell http://www.knowledgeontario.ca/testimonials/

• Read what others have already said (thank you!)
  

We respect your privacy and give you the choice to hide your name and message in filling out the postcard, but please consider making your testimonial public so we can more fully share the news!

At a glance: KO at Super Conference
We look forward to seeing you!

Download this page

Wednesday February 24
3 pre-conference sessions

• Beyond Ratings and Reviews (BiblioCommons). Session 6: 9:30 a.m-4:00 p.m. (Connect Ontario)
• Knowledge Ontario Databases: Find them. Know them. Use them. Session 7: 9:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. (Resource Ontario)
• Go Virtual: The 23 Skills and Habits of Great Virtual Reference Staff. Session 9: 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. (Ask Ontario)

Thursday February 25
4 sessions, booth 813-817

• Ontario Government Documents: Digitization and Online Access. Session #302 9:05 a.m. (Our Ontario)
• Virtual Reference Voice ... the Next Frontier. Session 328 9:05 a.m. (Ask Ontario)
• Breaking down Barriers with BiblioCommons. Session 411 10:40 a.m. (Connect Ontario)
  
• Community Digitization Program: Collaboration and Capacity Building. Session #623 3:45 p.m. (Our Ontario)
• Expo booth 813-817 for demos and information

Friday February 26
2 sessions, booth 813-817

• Are You Atomic? LearnON & the Atomic Learning Pilot (Learn Ontario). Session #1025 9:05 a.m. 
  
• Exploration d'Eureka.cc Training conducted in French (Resource Ontario). Session #1204 2:10 p.m.
• Digitizing Community Newspapers: The Our Ontario Experience. Session #1327 3:45 p.m. 
• Expo booth 813-817 for demos and information
  

Saturday February 27
2 sessions

• Knowledge Ontario on Northern Roads (KO). Session #1722  9:05 a.m.
• Technology Got You Stuck? Help is at Hand. Session #1818  10:40 a.m.

In This Issue KO at Super Conference askON info sessions BiblioCommons info sessions Vita 3.4 released Gage dictionary now 1812 site launch Humming interns Thanks for the support KO's Super Conference schedule
Knowledge Ontario     
KO is a collaboration of libraries, cultural heritage organizations and education institutions, Through the province's publicly-funded libraries, we provide digital content and resources to all Ontarians. Our projects make it easy to connect to information, access help and cultural collections, and build digital literacy and research skills. Forward email This email was sent to lisa.weaver@tdsb.on.ca by lslobodian@knowledgeontario.ca.Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.Email Marketing by Knowledge Ontario | 50 Wellington St. E, Suite 201 | Toronto | Ontario | M5E 1C8 | Canada