A few titbits and information of interest from around the world.

Round up of Fair Use Week

Rich Stim, Copyright and Fair Use, Stanford University Libraries defines fair use,

“In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner. In other words, fair use is a defense against a claim of copyright infringement.” There are, of course, limits, to how much of a work can be copied for such use.

In the US, Fair Use Week ran from February 22 -26. The Association of Research Libraries has a great round up of the topics discussed during the week.

https://www.arl.org/arl-terms/fair-use/

The Oxford Comment’s 58th Podcast Discusses Open Access

A very interesting Oxford Comment series podcast on open access and whether academic research should be available to everyone. Amongst other topics discussed, it briefly explains what open access is, and what Oxford University Press is doing in that space.

https://soundcloud.com/oupacademic

The World Health Organization (WHO) and COVID-19 Literature

COVID-19 has resulted in the generation of massive amount of research and information. The WHO’s COVID-19 database is a repository of useful, multilingual, current literature on the subject. Users can refine the searches based on databases, collections, and topics with papers ranging from mask wearing to contactless payments, and lessons from history.

A valuable resource for librarians, in all sectors as they field an ever-increasing number of requests on this critical issue.

The Softlink Forum – Share Ideas, Seek Advice, Build Relationships

Liberty and illumin customers not only seek help and ideas from each other, they are generous with their time and assistance to those who need it.

The Softlink IC Forum is the place to go. Simply enter your username and password, to log into the Support portal and navigate to the Forum page.

There you can add your question, share a tip, or respond to another user’s question. For example, do you need advice on:

• What to add to your Homepage?
• The advantages of using a specific feature or function?
• How to implement a new service you want to deliver?
• Discuss ideas for additional enhancements or functions?

If so, the Softlink IC Forum is a valuable resource. Of course, the outstanding Softlink Support team is there whenever you need them, but many of our customers want to build relationships with each other too. They really want to know how other Liberty and illumin users take advantage of the opportunities available in either system.

Nothing like getting it from the horse’s mouth, as they say!

Step Back in Time – the Floppy Disk

They were used to store data and a disk drive was required to read and write to it. Who remembers the floppy disk? There’s a lot of us who still do! We remember how amazing they were at the time. The disk’s diameter ranged from 8 inches, in the early days, to 5¼-inch and then the 3½-inch. The 3½-inch disk was a common sight in libraries.

Such an amazing piece of technology in its time. Many software programs pay homage to this remarkable invention by using a Save icon designed to reflect a floppy disk.

Data storage has come a long way!