by FOPLED | Jun 27, 2017 | FOPL News
This afternoon at the Burlington Central Library, Minister McMahon’s announced the new $3 million Improving Library Digital Services fund. Please share the good news with your members and networks. If you have questions about the specifics of the program please contact Jennifer Green, Culture Programs Advisor atJennifer.Green@ontario.ca or 416-326-8536 Cheers, Sam Samantha Fox Director of Policy Office of the Hon. Eleanor McMahon Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport T: 416.325.1689 Library Support NR_ French Library Support...
by FOPLED | Jun 12, 2017 | FOPL News
Ontario Invests in Open Educational Resources https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/06/09/ontario-invests-open-educational-resources “The Canadian province of Ontario will invest about $740,000 (one million Canadian dollars) toward developing free online textbooks, the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development said this week. The course materials will be made available through eCampusOntario, a nonprofit that runs an online portal to the courses and programs offered by colleges and universities in the province. Also this week, eCampusOntario announced the launch of the Open Textbook Library, an online library of open educational resources. The course materials created with the funds will focus on “Ontario-specific content,” including “French-language content, content for indigenous studies, trades and technical skills content, and content for new...
by FOPLED | Jun 12, 2017 | FOPL News
How cool is this!? The Weeknd made a stylish new video using the reference library and UTSC as backdrops Toronto-born singer shot ‘Secrets’ video at two hometown architectural landmarks http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/the-weeknd-secrets-video-1.4156747?cmp=rss Work at one and did my undergrad at the other. ...
by FOPLED | Jun 12, 2017 | FOPL News
Petition to House of Commons to Fix Crown Copyright http://micheladrien.blogspot.ca/2017/05/petition-to-house-of-commons-tyo-fix.html “University of Alberta Copyright Librarian Amanda Wakaruk is asking people to sign the petition she started to get the Canadian government to fix Crown copyright. Her text has quickly been shared on social media and various librarian discussion lists: “Canada is one of many countries stating a commitment to Open Government. It is also, conversely, one of a decreasing number of countries to retain a legal provision that gives the government the sole right to reproduce and distribute works produced for public consumption. For example, the vast majority of federal US government works are in the public domain (i.e., not protected by copyright and thus available for the public to re-use without permission).” “Decades of stakeholder requests to abolish or at least update the Crown copyright provision in the Copyright Act have been largely ignored. This has resulted in a barrier to the re-use of government publications prepared for and paid for by Canadian taxpayers. For example, the refusal of government departments to allow for the copying of content made freely available on their web sites, and then deleted from those same sites, resulted in the loss of countless digital government works in recent years. (Note that very few government publications continue to be produced in paper.)” “Removing copyright protection from government works made available to the public will allow individuals, corporations, and other organizations to make better use of these important resources. It will also allow librarians to continue their role as stewards of government information in a digital...
by FOPLED | Jun 12, 2017 | FOPL News
Advocacy win! Suspension of anti-spam Private Right of Action means board members won’t have to risk personal assets Imagine Canada and the Ontario Nonprofit Network welcome the announcement that the federal government is indefinitely suspending the Private Right of Action (PRA) provisions in Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL). The Private Right of Action is a right for private parties to obtain statutory damages for breach of CASL’s anti-spam commercial electronic messages regulations, including email harvesting restrictions under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIDEDA) (with damages up to $200 for each contravention to a maximum of $1,000,000 per day.) “This is great news for charities and for the volunteers from all walks of life who serve on their boards,” said Bruce MacDonald, President & CEO of Imagine Canada. “Charities have been working hard to understand and meet their obligations under CASL. Many remain concerned about whether they are fully compliant with the complex regulations, and the majority of organizations we surveyed have incurred significant financial costs attempting to comply. We appreciate the government’s sensitivity to our concerns and we look forward to participating in the anticipated Industry Committee review of the legislation – which we hope will take place soon.” “The PRA has no threshold – no need to prove harm, just that a commercial electronic message was sent,” said Cathy Taylor, Executive Director of the Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN). “Charities and nonprofit organizations with their limited staff and use of volunteers are at high risk for inadvertent mailing list errors. Organizations and their Board of Directors have been concerned that their organizational assets and the personal assets...
