Thanks to the initiative of Meggan Houlihan (American University in Cairo), AMICAL is sponsoring the participation of its members in the September 21 SEFLIN Virtual Conference, "eBooks: Benefits, Challenges, and the Future," and organizing an online follow-up discussion specifically for AMICAL members. More information on the follow-up discussion will be available soon.

OPEN TO FACULTY AND INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGISTS AT AMICAL MEMBER INSTITUTIONS Date: 11-12 November 2012 Location: American University in Cairo Attending? See the event page on AMICALconnect. Speakers and workshop leaders will include experts in instructional technology as well as faculty with extensive experience in classroom videoconferencing or other collaborative technologies: Patricia A. McGee, PhD (Associate Professor of Instructional Technology, University of Texas at San Antonio), via video and web conference Aziza Ellozy, PhD (Director of the Center for Learning & Teaching, Associate Dean for Learning Technologies, American University in Cairo) Ahmad ElZorkani (Manager, Multimedia Services, Center for Learning & Teaching, American University in Cairo) Mohamed Fahmy Menza, PhD (Office of the Core Curriculum, American University in Cairo) Mike Lattanzi, PhD (former professor of political science, American University in Cairo) Patrick Mason, PhD (Claremont Graduate University, California) Overview Are you interested in bridging your class with a class at another institution, or connecting your students in a meaningful way with experts and guests from off campus? Do you want to improve the way you design your courses -- and use videoconferencing, Blackboard, Word Press, Google Docs, or more innovative technologies -- for such collaborations? This workshop will be an opportunity to learn about and exchange best practices and innovative ideas for the use of videoconferencing and other collaborative learning technologies, in a participative group environment with colleagues from similar institutions. The workshop will cover a variety of issues related to using technology -- videoconferencing, learning management systems, web-based collaboration tools, blogs and social publishing platforms, voice discussion threads, and other technologies -- for virtual/online classroom collaboration. The focus will be on technologies supporting virtual collaboration between classes at different AMICAL institutions, but much of this could also be relevant to purely local hybrid (blended learning) classes that include a significant online component or that bring in external speakers/participants virtually. Through presentations, demonstrations, discussions and practical activities, the program will elicit best practices and innovative ideas around topics such as: eCollaboration for Learning The right technology for the right learning context:Simulating face-to-face presence Sharing and collaborating on work in progress Sharing/exposing students’ final products Creating community Content/pedagogy/administrative issues related to inter-institutional teaching collaborations Local initiatives and ideas for collaborative projects For further details, see the accompanying preliminary program and a detailed description of the “eCollaboration for Learning” workshop. Who should attend? This event is aimed particularly at faculty from AMICAL member institutions. Ideally, interested institutions should send a team including at least one faculty member and an instructional technologist. Teams should have a strong interest in working together on using technology to engage in collaborative learning projects. Priority will be given to teams that bridge a class they plan to teach with partners outside of their campus, in particular with classes at other institutions around the world and at other AMICAL institutions. Those planning to use videoconferencing for class collaborations are especially encouraged to attend. We will be inviting a number of speakers to join us virtually, but all attendees must be physically present; we hope that the face-to-face contact with other AMICAL peers will facilitate future teaching collaborations among members of our consortium. Support for attendance Thanks to a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, AMICAL is pleased to be able to support the cost of attendance, including travel, housing and most meals, for a limited number of teams from AMICAL member institutions. Support, which will be in the form of a reimbursement for travel expenses following attendance at the workshop, can be requested in the registration form. Housing Housing will be provided for all participants at the Dusit Thani LakeView Cairo Hotel, used frequently for AUC events and very close to the AUC campus, in New Cairo. Rooms will be reserved for an arrival on 10 November and departure on 13 November unless indicated otherwise in the registration form. Registration Please use the online form for registration. Registration will close on 8 October 2012; replies to requests for financial support will be sent out by 15 October 2012. Questions? For questions regarding the workshop, please contact one of the organizers: Jeff Gima (Director, AMICAL) - jgima@amicalnet.org Dr. Aziza Ellozy (Director of the Center for Learning & Teaching, Associate Dean for Learning Technologies, American University in Cairo) - aellozy@aucegypt.edu Ahmad ElZorkani (Manager, Multimedia Services, Center for Learning & Teaching, American University in Cairo) - zorex@aucegypt.edu

The scope of the AMICAL Small Grant program has been temporarily expanded to include a wider range of projects that support professional development and transformative improvements in library and information services, including faculty development related to information literacy and collaborations with librarians and technologists. The maximum allowable grant budget has also been increased to 8000 euros, to allow for the possibility of funding larger and team projects, longer-term continuing education programs, etc. See the Scope and Budget Guidelines for more information. Small Grant awards are available only to AMICAL member institutions.

UPCC eBooks on MUSE A new source of scholarly ebook collections in the humanities and social sciences - current and backfiles AMICAL members are probably already aware of Project MUSE's new venture into ebook distribution, UPCC Book Collections on Project MUSE. MUSE has agreed to extend its consortial discount to AMICAL member institutions purchasing UPCC ebook collections. Full information on collection options, pricing and orders is accessible to AMICAL members in the Licensed Resources area of AMICALconnect (requires joining group). Background on the UPCC Collections The University Press eBook Consortium (UPeC) was a group of university presses that joined forces in 2009 with the idea of offering their ebooks through a common platform and business model that would be sustainable into the future. UPeC awarded the contract for creating and distributing the ebook versions of their content to Project MUSE. The result is the University Press Content Consortium (UPCC), now numbering nearly 70 university presses that offer via the MUSE platform some of the richest and most diverse collections of current scholarly ebooks available.

All available materials from the April 2012 AMICAL Conference at the American University of Sharjah are now linked from the 2012 Conference page. A few of the highlights: Available to the public: Presentation archive - with downloadable presentations and workshop materials Social media stream - with tweets and shared images from participants during the conference Available to AMICALconnect members: AMICAL 2012 event page, with a more complete list of conference materials Summary notes for most discussion groups Additional conference photos posted by members

AMICAL member American University of Rome, together with the U.S. Embassy to Italy, will be hosting the 5th annual Biblionext Spring Event on Thursday April 19 2012, at the Hotel Aldrovandi in Rome. Speakers will include Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, Erik Boekesteijn and Japp van de Geer , authors of the Shanachie Tour and This Week in Libraries, Matteo Bittanti, Professor in the Visual & Critical Studies programs at the California College of the Arts, Jeffrey Schnapp, Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, Jannik Mulvad, librarian at Mediaspace, Aarhus, Denmark, Nicola Cavalli, researcher and senior member of the Osservatorio sui Nuovi Media (NuMediaBiOs) of Milano Bicocca University, Francesco Mazzetta, director of the Biblioteca comunale Fiorenzula d’Arda, Karen Hartman, U.S. State Department, and Ross Todd, Director, Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries, State University of New Jersey For more information: www.biblionext.it

Dimitris Tzouris (American College of Thessaloniki) has pulled together for us a 'Storified' collection of social media activity on the recent AMICAL Conference at American University of Sharjah - activity tagged with #AMICAL2012. Check it out at: http://storify.com/amicalnet/amical-2012

Essential information on the 2012 AMICAL Annual Meeting and Conference (4-7 April) can be found here: Official conference site at American University of Sharjah Conference program Conference Sessions and Abstracts On AMICALconnect (accessible only to AMICAL members): 2012 AMICAL Conference event page Workshops Discussion groups General forum discussion on the 2012 AMICAL Conference

There's a week left to vote in the OCLC EMEA Regional Council elections of delegates to sit on on the OCLC Global Council (the highest governance body in OCLC outside the OCLC Board of Trustees, to which the Global Council elects six of its members). The main contact at each OCLC member library should have received the voting instructions this past month. If you're curious about how OCLC governance works, this page sums it up nicely. There is only one contested position in this election, to represent Archives, Museums and other Cultural Heritage Institutions. You can see the candidates background and statements in this PDF. The last two listed there are the candidates concerned: Annette le Roux, University of South Africa (UNISA), South Africa Bert Looper, Tresoar, Netherlands Special Note: AMICAL's own Cendrella Habre (Director, Riyad Nassar Library, Lebanese American University) is running uncontested for the position representing Middle East/India!

A PILOT PROJECT OPEN ONLY TO AMICAL MEMBERS: AMICALconnect A social network connecting AMICAL members AMICAL's annual conferences are exceptional opportunities for sharing ideas with librarians, technologists and faculty at other AMICAL institutions, but one of our challenges has been to further develop those great ideas throughout the year. After much talk about creating a platform to facilitate online communications and collaboration between AMICAL members, we are pleased to announce that such a platform is now available. AMICALconnect is an online space, open to AMICAL members (Full, Affiliate, Consortial Partner Institutions and Individuals), that is designed to help individuals at AMICAL institutions connect, communicate and collaborate with each other, individually and as groups. We will be using it initially as a communiciations platform for discussions that develop before and during the AMICAL Conference, but any member can create a new group or discussion at any time on any kind of topic related to AMICALor its mission. Inorder to create an environment where members feel as free as possible in their discussions, AMICALconnect is visible only to AMICAL members. Get started! To create your AMICALconnect account, sign up here (to be approved, you must be an AMICAL member and use your institutional email address). Sign-up is easy - only 2 questions on the sign-up form are required, and you can complete your profile later if you wish. (Please do add a photo and your profile details as quickly as possible, though, since this enriches the social network function of the site.) Since approval is done manually, you may have to wait a few hours before receiving your confirmation email. What can you do with AMICALconnect? Among other things, once you've created your account, you can use AMICALconnect to: Suggest/Vote on ideas Ask/Contribute/Find answers Join or Create a group Start a forum discussion Search for other members by job title, institution, etc. See/add photos from AMICAL events You can choose to follow nearly any type of site activity (groups, discussions, comment streams on any page), using your AMICALconnect email settings to control the type of activity you follow and how often you get notified. Guidelines for the use of the site, still under development, are being posted in answers. What other kinds of information can you find on AMICALconnect? To simplify access to AMICAL member services requiring login, we are also testing the relocation of members-only content from AMICALnet.org to AMICALconnect. E-resource pricing information, for example, is being copied to the Licensed Resources section on AMICALconnect. Anything about this site may be changed over time, including the names and organization of groups and discussions. Your feedback on the site is warmly encouraged (as an idea, a reply to the feedback discussion, or by message to the administrators), and you may notice frequent changes to the site during this pilot period as features are tested, feedback incorporated, and improvements made. Please join us on AMICALconnect, make active use of this resource, and help us build on the conversations that generate so much excitement at our face-to-face events! The AMICALconnect Site Administrators Jeff Gima (AMICAL / American University of Paris) Dimitris Tzouris (American College of Thessaloniki) Josiah Drewry (American University in Cairo)