Blog

Thanks to our grant from the Mellon Foundation, AMICAL is again able to provide a significant amount of support to help AMICAL members attend our Annual Conference. Because of the conference location, however, the cost of supporting attendance is particularly high this year. At the same time, we have had a record number of travel sponsorship requests from AMICAL presenters, whom we try to prioritize for support. AMICAL is therefore unable to support as many non-presenters this year, but we are offering at least some form of support to all AMICAL members. Detailed information on the types of support available has now been posted on the Conference Hub in AMICALconnect.

Registration is now open for the 10th Annual AMICAL Conference (John Cabot University, 12-15 June 2013)! AMICAL members are invited to visit the Conference Hub for further details about the event, including the registration link and draft program.

Hasmik Galstyan (Head of Reference and Circulation Department, AGBU Papazian Library, American University of Armenia) leads EIFL-sponsored project to review Armenia’s Law on Copyright and Related Rights “to ensure that the new law meets the real needs of libraries and library users” in the digital environment: Key achievements (from the case study report)✓ A major accomplishment was the fostering of a professional relationship with the Armenian copyright office. For the first time, copyright officials were brought to meet librarians around the country to hear their views. As a result, libraries have a new standing as a credible stakeholder with policy-makers.✓ The library community has been strengthened with new knowledge, and through collaboration with cultural heritage institutions. For the first time, libraries, archives and museums came together to discuss common legal issues and solutions - a rewarding experience that reinforced the role of library leadership for the benefit of all.✓ Gained confidence to present the library perspective at national events on an equal basis with other stakeholders.✓ The first resource on library copyright issues adapted for Armenian law was published.

Info Lit at AMICAL Institutions - An Online Conversation about Visions and Realities When: 3 April 2013, 11:30-13:00 Athens time (see event time converted for your location) Where: Online, using Collaborate Who should attend? All AMICAL members - in particular faculty, librarians and instructional technologists that teach information literacy - are welcome to join us for this conversation. About the webinar: Elissa Raffa (Collaborative Technologies and Distance Learning Advisor) and Vicky Tseroni (Assistant Dean of Libraries) of American College of Greece, along with Meggan Houlihan (Coordinator of Instruction/Reference, American University in Cairo), will be hosting an online discussion about information literacy programs at our institutions. We’ll be talking about how we’re currently working on information literacy at our institutions, as well as plans for the future evolution or transformation of information literacy programs. More information about the event and its agenda will be posted soon to the webinar’s event page on AMICALconnect.

The list of Digital collections and repositories at AMICAL institutions has just been updated. AMICAL institutions whose digital collections don’t appear here should send us the names, descriptions and links for any additional collections we can include.

About a year ago, we started planning the launch of an online platform for all AMICAL members. A place to communicate, share and collaborate. A way to keep the momentum going after our annual conferences. AMICALconnect was officially launched in March 2012 and was presented at the 9th AMICAL Meeting and Conference at the American University of Sharjah, last April. Since then, we have seen AMICAL members engage in various types of activities that further promote collaboration and sharing of work and ideas throughout the year. Today, AMICALconnect welcomes its 200th member, Aleksandr Nazaryan from the American University of Armenia. Aleksandr joins 199 other IT professionals, instructional technologists, faculty, librarians and campus leaders from AMICAL institutions that are now on the network. A huge thanks to everyone who has helped keep this new resource active by joining groups, participating in conversations, sharing documents and pictures, as well as new thoughts and ideas. Thank you for helping us build a stronger AMICAL community! Posted by Dimitris Tzouris, AMICAL Advisor on Social Media and Learning Technologies

AMICAL members can now pre-register for the AMICAL-OCLC Forum on The Challenges of Discovery Services being held 8-9 March at Lebanese American University. The pre-registration form is linked from the event page on AMICALconnect.

Ning has now restored access to AMICALconnect, and the site appears to be fully functional again.

AMICALconnect, the social network for collaboration amongst AMICAL members, is currently unavailable due to a technical problem at Ning (the service platform on which AMICALconnect is built). Ning has promised to resolve the issue within the next few hours, so the site should be available again shortly. (posted 18:30 GMT+1, 17 Jan 2013)

AMICAL members: the temporarily expanded scope of AMICAL’s Small Grant program has now been extended through 20 March 2013. Please see the Small Grant guidelines for more information.