Katherine Hart Weimer

GIS Day and Web Promotion: Retrospective Analysis of U.S. ARL Libraries' Involvement

Given the increasing demand for GIS services and collections in libraries, librarians should use every outreach tool available to reach potential audiences. An annual event, GIS Day has a robust and established range of supporting tools that are easily customized for local use. Effective marketing, including visibility and longevity of Web pages, is an effective tool for increasing awareness of GIS services. This study analyzes content of Web pages to evaluate the levels of participation and promotion of GIS through GIS Day at U.S.-based Association of Research Libraries academic libraries and their host universities. Results indicate a range of involvement, with some libraries participating in numerous events while others are not taking full advantage of this valuable outreach opportunity.

Toward a Linked Data Model for Describing Cartographic Resources

This article highlights an ongoing investigation into Linked Open Data (LOD) description models for cartographic resources. The Linked Data for Production (LD4P) project is a multi-institutional effort that is exploring the use of the Library of Congress’ Bibliographic Framework Initiative (BIBFRAME) as a means to semantically annotate library metadata using LOD principles. The LD4P Cartographic Materials subproject is focusing both on evaluating the existing BIBFRAME ontology and extending it in order to enable the description of cartographic resources in LOD environments.

How We Participate in the Scholarly Communication Life Cycle

Writings and discussions on the topic of scholarly communication and the research life cycle abound. These topics are increasingly relevant as scholars and institutions attempt to define their identities and their objectives while the arena of scholarly communications continues to evolve. The research life cycle begins with an idea to pursue, followed by data collection, and data analysis, and continues with creating a story, or context for the analysis. The product of that analysis could be shared in the form of a book or article, blog, illustration, presentation, or other communication channel. These resources, or information vehicles, then provide an opportunity for the scholarly community to engage in conversation, debate, and further study on the topic at hand. The outcome of further study starts the cycle anew. For most scholars the gold standard in the world of scholarly communication is the peer reviewed article. This journal, as with any other, provides a venue for scholars to communicate on the subject and outcomes of their research, at that gold standard level. Each manuscript is vetted by experts in the field through a double-blind peer review process, who provide input to the editors on the value of the work and judge whether it is worthy of publication, as well as advice to the author(s) on improving the work for final publication if accepted. In recent years, there has been a shift in peer reviewed journals toward open access (OA), due to issues of affordability and a better provision for access to all readers. Open access journals are considered “gold” when they are peer reviewed and authors retain copyright. Additionally, authors who self-archive are supporting a “green” open access model. Routledge/Taylor & Francis (our publisher) launched a two-year author-rights pilot policy in 2011 for their library and information science journals, and has decided to continue that program indefinitely. The Journal of Map & Geography Libraries is among those that have a true “green OA” policy that allows for authors to sign a license to publish (rather than assign copyright) and are able to post

Training original catalogers to utilize CAT ME plus: An outline

For catalogers who want to simplify their work and lower costs by working offline, OCLC′s Cataloging Microenhancer Plus is an obvious solution. The Cataloging Microenhancer CAT ME Plus stores workforms, and allows the addition of constant data and blocking/copying of data to original records.

Shannon Mattern: Perspectives on Place—In, For, and With Libraries and Archives

Can library designs positively impact its surrounding community of users? In what ways do maps and cartographic concepts intersect with graphic design, various forms of art, and digital media? What is at the intersection of archives and dirt? These are just a few of the areas of research and teaching that Dr. Shannon Mattern pursues. Dr. Mattern’s record of scholarship in the area of Media Studies crosses many disciplinary boundaries. We chose to learn more about her work and research due to her interest in the roles of libraries/archives in societal issues, how maps and mapping inform urban dynamics and social media, and more broadly with her unique understanding about epistemological interrelationships between media formats, place, history and modern urban issues.

Looking Back, Moving Forward: An Interview with Ron Grim, Map Curator and Archivist

In one’s lifetime, one may meet and get to know individuals who are experts in a discipline or area, but it is unusual to become acquainted with someone who is an expert in two or more. The editors were very pleased when Dr. Ronald E. Grim accepted their offer to share his career in the form of an interview, notably because his experiences are deep and rich in two areas, archives and archival management of resources, and map librarianship. It is also a pleasure to be able to share Dr. Grim’s career with our readers so that they become aware of another luminary in our midst. Dr. Ronald E. Grim is the Curator of Maps for the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library (Figure 1), which can be found online at http://maps.bpl.org/. The Map Center is located on the first floor of the Library’s historic McKim Building. In 2011, the map collection was moved from the third floor of the Johnson Building where it had been stored since 2005 after it was consolidated from several other locations throughout the Library. According to the Center’s website, “The Leventhal Map Center is ranked among the top ten in the United States for the size of its collection, the significance of its historic (pre-1900) material, and its advanced digitization program. It is unique among the major collections because it also combines these features with exceptional educational programs to advance geographic literacy among students in grades K to 12 and enhance the teaching of subjects from history to mathematics to language arts.”

Announcement: Best Paper of the Year Award for Volume 7

It gives the co-editors of the Journal of Map & Geography Libraries great pleasure to announce that the article authored by Imelda K. Moise, Ezekiel Kalipeni, and Leo C. Zulu, “Analyzing Geographical Access to HIV Sentinel Clinics in Relation to Other Health Clinics in Zambia,” has won the Best Paper of the Year Award for Volume 7 (2011). A unanimous choice of the award committee, this paper receives the award for meeting all aspects of the committee’s section criteria and, in particular, for excellent writing and thoughtfully applied analyses. The high quality of the papers appearing in the 2011 volume made the committee’s decision very difficult. By allocating two special issues to “Geographic Opportunities in Medicine,” the editors have opened new communication and collaboration possibilities between geospatial professionals and medical researchers. From research on citing health care facilities to access to maternity wards, all the authors addressed some of the most important and most difficult issues of our world. The Moise, Kalipeni, and Zulu research on HIV/AIDS in Zambia examines a particularly difficult medical and social issue. The paper presents solid data on access to health care and uses geographic information systems (GIS) as a data visualization tool. The authors’ use of geospatial data demonstrates the growing importance of GIS for understanding equitable access to health care. The authors conclude that if governmental and non-governmental organizations planning and locating HIV/AIDS clinics took geography into consideration, the accuracy and reliability of HIV/AIDS data would increase and facilities would be more equitably located. The authors situate their work through a review of previous applications of GIS and spatial analysis toward the study of health care accessibility and in prior work undertaken in Zambia. The steps in the data analysis are clearly explained and amply illustrated with maps. The authors have taken full advantage of GIS and demonstrate that better data gathering will lead to better services to combat the disease. While they applied GIS to the specific problems in Zambia, the ideas, analyses, and tools are transferable to other geographies and other issues as well. The quality of the writing was an essential factor for this award. The journal’s subscribers are diverse, yet the authors’ ability to explain their data,