Boston Library Consortium

For Librarians

The Boston Library Consortium offers services to librarians at member libraries ranging from resource sharing and e-resource licensing to professional development and programming on issues of importance to academic and research libraries.

For Students, Scholars & Researchers

Those affiliated with the Full Member libraries of the Boston Library Consortium can take advantage of access to and borrowing of materials from these libraries.

Our Members

University of Connecticut
State Library of Massachusetts
Marine Biological Laboratory and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Brandeis University
University of New Hampshire
University of Massachusetts Boston
Tufts University
Bentley University
Boston University
Williams College
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Wellesley College
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Northeastern University
Boston College
University of Rhode Island
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

BLC at risk media project

Earlier this year, three of the BLC member libraries - Boston University , Brandeis University and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst - participated in a collection analysis with OCLC Sustainable Collection Services (SCS) to assess...

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Expanding Knowledge Webinar: Writing and Assessing Learning Outcomes for Library Instruction

The BLC is pleased to announce the September webinar in our Expanding Knowledge Webinar Series "Writing and Assessing Learning Outcomes for Library Instruction" with Dianne Brown, Social Science Research and Instruction Librarian and Jennifer Ferguson,...

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Member Events

October 30, 2018

Meeting

Resource Sharing COI Meeting -- UConn

Date: Tuesday, October 30

Time: 9:30-3

Location: UConn Homer Babbidge Library, Heritage Room 4th Floor

Parking: South Parking Garage: rates are here (it is about a 5-10 minute walk from there to the Library)

Campus Map: https://maps.uconn.edu/

November 05, 2018 to November 06, 2018

Training

IIIF Workshop: The International Image Interoperability Framework: What is it, and how can I use it?

The Boston Library Consortium is pleased to announce a two-day IIIF Workshop on November 5th and 6th. The workshop: The International Image Interoperability Framework: What is it, and how can I use it? - will be hosted at Northeastern University’s Snell Library, room 421. This workshop is open to librarians and cultural heritage practitioners from BLC member institutions.

Space is limited, please register here.

Access to image-based resources is fundamental to research, scholarship and the transmission of cultural knowledge. Digital images are a container for much of the information content in the web-based delivery of images, books, newspapers, manuscripts, maps, scrolls, single sheet collections, and archival materials. Yet much of the Internet’s image-based resources are locked up in silos, with access restricted to bespoke, locally built applications. The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) is a set of shared application programming interface (API) specifications for interoperable functionality in digital image repositories. The IIIF is comprised of and driven by a community of libraries, museums, archives, software companies, and other organizations working together to create, test, refine, implement and promote the IIIF specifications. This workshop will provide a clear and thorough understanding of what IIIF is, how it works, and how it can be applied to enhance image access and resource sharing.

“The International Image Interoperability Framework: What is it, and how can I use it?” workshop will be taught by Ben Brumfield and Sara Carlstead Brumfield of Brumfield Labs. Ben and Sara have been working with IIIF for years, participating and presenting in IIIF groups on discovery and manuscripts, and leading workshops for museums and libraries. Their technical projects include building IIIF support into FromThePage, a manuscript transcription software and developing Pontiiif, an IIIF manifest search engine.

A detailed agenda is forthcoming, please contact Patrick Yott (p.yott@northeastern.edu), Associate Dean for Digital Strategies and Services, Northeastern University Libraries with any questions.

Please bring a laptop with a browser that supports HTML 5 (see https://html5test.com/results/desktop.html for the latest browser versions). The latest version of Firefox and any of the recent versions of Chrome should be fine.

November 14, 2018 to November 15, 2018

BLC Leads Institute 2 - UMass, Amherst Hotel & Conference Center

This is the second in-person institute for the BLC Leads 2018 leadership program.

It will be held November 14-15, 2018 at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst Hotel and Conference Center.

December 05, 2018 to December 06, 2018

Symposium

Shared Print Monograph Summit

The Shared Print Monograph Summit organized by the Eastern Academic Scholars' Trust (EAST), reconvenes thinkers and practitioners in the area of shared print to explore a national solution to collective collection management, preservation, and access. The event is by invitation only.

December 07, 2018

Meeting

BLC Board Meeting - Bentley University