by Judy Moore

Alberta Representative 

People

Pat Sandercock, formerly of TransCanada Pipeline, NOVA and Revenue Canada Taxation Library replaces Nigel Long the as Faxxon (Rowe.ComCanada) Representative.

Andrienne Brown-Canty has been appointed as the Assistant Manager of Main Information, Edmonton Public Library.  Prior to her EPL appointment, Adrienne was librarian for Tobacco Control.

Effective January, 2000 Paula Bowering will assume her position as a library consultant with Parkland Regional Library.  Paula’s previous position was with the John W. Scoot Health Sciences Library, University of Alberta.

Peter Schoenberg becomes the new Virtual Services Manager at EPL.  Peter was formerly the librarian for Glenrose Hospital in Edmonton.

News

The Alberta Library (TAL) will soon be able to offer enhanced services to their users with visual impairments and other print disabilities.  TAL, under the auspices of the APLEN project, has signed an agreement with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) to provide access to the CNIB’s VisuNet: Canada Service for all TAL members.  A pilot project has been in operation at Calgary Public Library and Edmonton Public Library.

VisuNet consists of  three modules: VISUCAT offers clients direct access to CNIB’s holdings including talking and braille books.  Delivery may be arranged to the client or the library.  VISUNEWS provides access to newspapers.  VISUTEXT provides full text access to digital materials, including books, encyclopedias and periodicals.  All TAL members have been invited to participate and the implementation process will begin in the new year.  No special technology is required to access the VISUNET modules provided library staff is prepared to search and request material.

Visit the CNIB Library Web site at http://www.cnib.ca/library/index.htm

Public and academic library users throughout Alberta now have increased access to online materials because of a new licensing agreement.  This was made possible through two specific initiatives that complement and enhance the objectives of The Alberta Library: The Alberta Public Electronic Network (APLEN) funded through Alberta Community Development and the Knowledge Networks Envelope established by Alberta Learning.  This License Agreement, between TAL and the Gale Group, allows participating libraries to offer full text journal articles from the databases Expanded Academic Index ASAP, General Reference Centre and Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly.  This is the first province-wide license to electronic resources negotiated by TAL with 100% participation of its members.  In addition to giving users instant online access to over 1,200 academic and general interest journals and all the articles contained in them, other benefits of the TAL license include: Using the Internet, learners gain access to the full text of copyrighted journal materials; Up-to-date information; Libraries acting together can offer users more content than any single institution could afford on their own; and Albertans have equitable access to quality library and information resources.

The NetSpeed ’99 Conference was a huge success!  Attendance at this year’s conference reached 450,with a waiting list that grew after the conference site capacity was reached.  Sessions received very good reviews.  Visit the TAL web site at http://www.library.ualberta.ca/altablib/netspeed/netspd99/proceedings

Return to PNLA Quarterly Winter 2000 Table of Contents