Thanksgiving Day News and Announcements

Here are some brief news tidbits for your Thanksgiving Day from the National Library of Medicine, Library Journal, NASA and the WIPO.

National Library of Medicine Launches YouTube Channel

The National Library of Medicine announced “the launch of its new YouTube channel, at http://www.youtube.com/nlmnih.  According to this news release “NLM YouTube channel will post a variety of videos on topics from database training, NLM exhibitions (like an overview of the new Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness), Public Service Announcements, lectures and more.”

Library Journal’s Technology Summit, Dec. 8th, free registration

In her blog No Shelf Required, Sue Polanka alerts readers to Library Journal’s first virtual technology summit, Power to the Patrons: From Systems to Services.  The idea here is to provide “an online forum to examine what technologies patrons are using, what technologies they want from their library, and how these technologies can help them discover their place and enhance their connection with the library.”   Individual registration is free and the registration code is TechSmt11MS.

Two Libraries at NASA Center to Close and Go All Electronic

“Budget pressures, dwindling patron traffic to the physical libraries, and the growth in the use of digital materials are all driving the decision to close the Goddard Space Flight Center Library at the main facility of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the Wallops Technical Library, near Chincoteague, Virginia.”  These closings and the “transition to a completely digital service model” are scheduled for January 1st, 2012.

WIPO Meeting: European Versus American Interpretations of Orphan Works

INFOdocket has been keeping tabs on the the World Intellectual Property Organization and provides links to the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights: Twenty-Third Session and the documents coming from that meeting.  Orphan works are taking center stage during these sessions.  The meeting is being held November 21 through December 2nd in Geneva Switzerland.  This INFOdocket post also provides links to other documents of interest.