Year: 2009

Stevan Harnad on "Integrating Universities' Thesis and Research Deposit Mandates"

Stevan Harnad has self-archived the text of his "Integrating Universities' Thesis and Research Deposit Mandates" presentation in the ECS EPrints Repository.

Here's an excerpt:

A growing number of universities are beginning to require the digital deposit of their thesis and dissertation output in their institutional repositories. At the same time, a growing number of universities as well as research funders are beginning to mandate that all refereed research must be deposited too. This makes for a timely synergy between the practices of the younger and older generation of researchers as the Open Access era unfolds. It also maximizes the uptake, usage and impact of university research input at all stages, as well as providing rich and powerful new metrics to monitor and reward research productivity and impact. It is important to integrate universities' ETD and research output repositories, mandates and metrics as well as to provide the mechanism for those deposits that may need to be made Closed Access rather than Open Access: Repositories need to implement the "email eprint request" Button for all Closed Access Deposits. Any would-be user webwide, having reached the metadata of a Closed Access Deposit can, with one click, request an eprint for research purposes; the author instantly receives an automatic email and can then, again with one click, authorize the automatic emailing of one copy to the user by the repository software. This feature is important for fulfilling immediate research usage needs during any journal-article embargo period, and it also gives the authors of dissertations they hope to publish as books a way to control who has access to the dissertation. Digital dissertations will also benefit from the reference-linking and book-citation metrics that will be provided by harvesters of the distributed institutional repository metadata (which will also include the metadata and reference lists of all university book output). Dissertation downloads as well as eprint-requests will also provide useful new research impact metrics

Open Journal Systems 2.3 Released

The Public Knowledge Project has released Open Journal Systems 2.3.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

OJS 2.3.0 introduces a major rewrite of core aspects of PKP applications that reconciles common code (e.g. shared between OJS, OCS, and the Harvester) into a separate library called the PKP Web Application Library (WAL). Many parts of the system have been changed in a way that is transparent to users but that will vastly improve maintainability and the ease with which PKP can deploy fixes and new features across multiple applications. Wherever possible, this has been done in a way that minimizes code breakage e.g. for modified installs of OJS and custom plugins.

Read more about it at "OJS 2.3: What's New."

"Getting Started with Fedora"

Fedora Commons has released "Getting Started with Fedora."

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The "Getting Started with Fedora" Guide is designed to offer new users, or potential users, a basic understanding of the Fedora architecture and the core repository management software, along with some general ideas about how to use it. Whether you want to adopt one of the existing Fedora-based solutions or develop you own, this general introduction should be useful to you.

Google Books Settlement Status Conference Reports

Kenneth Crews and James Grimmelmann have posted blog reports about the Google Books Settlement status conference on October 7th. An amended agreement is anticipated to be filed by November 9th.

Here's an excerpt from the Grimmelmann's post:

Judge Chin is trying to move this case, and his overall attitude seemed to be that he wants as clean a record as possible, and soon, so that he can act on it. That would incline me to think that he is hoping to be able to approve the settlement, or at the least to kick some of the legal issues upstairs to the Second Circuit for its guidance.

Read more about it at "Amended Google Deal Targeted for November 9."

Health Care Debate Sidelines Federal Research Public Access Act

In "Open Access Bill Stalls in Congress," Bob Grant reports on the status of the Federal Research Public Access Act in the Senate.

Here's an excerpt:

Congressional staffers in the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) of 2009 (S.1373) lingers, have been forced to shift their attentions to health care and away from the bill. "They're definitely swamped," Heather Joseph, executive director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, told The Scientist. Joseph added that movement on FRPAA is not expected "until after health care gets sorted out."

You can send an e-mail supporting the bill to your Senator using the Alliance for Taxpayer Access Web form.

Embedding Repositories in Research Management Systems: Final Report

JISC has released Embedding Repositories in Research Management Systems: Final Report. (See JISC's "Research Information Management" page for more information on research management systems.)

Here's an excerpt:

The main finding from our research is the variety of disparate "systems" (i.e. both technology and process) in use. Management information is derived from many different systems and processes: HR; student administration (e.g. SITS); finance; research support; and information services/library.

A number of universities use business intelligence software such as Cognos or Oracle Discoverer for monitoring activity and performance, and for resource allocation and forecasting. However, some rely on tools as simple as a series of complex interlinked spreadsheets.

The role of institutional repositories is still small. IRs are near-universal, but mainly lack critical mass of content. Publications and research expertise databases are widespread and are the main research assessment management tool for many HEIs: few of these connect to the IR, although in a small number of cases the two are linked.

We could find no implementations of a research management system with embedded repository; further, where both RMS and IRs do exist within the same HEI they are not well-integrated.

Georgia Tech Library Awarded $857,005 Grant to Build Statewide Digital Repository

The Georgia Institute of Technology Library and Information Center has been awarded a $857,005 grant for its "The GALILEO Knowledge Repository (GKR): Advancing the Access and Management of Scholarly Digital Content" project.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Georgia Tech, in partnership with the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, the Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Southern University, Valdosta State University, Albany State University, North Georgia College and State University, and the College of Coastal Georgia, will build a statewide digital repository to provide access to scholarly works and research information. The principal investigator on the grant is Tyler Walters, Associate Director for Technology and Resource Services, the Georgia Institute of Technology Library and Information Center; the co-PI is P. Toby Graham, Director, Digital Library of Georgia, University of Georgia Libraries.

The scholarly works and research information to be held by the GKR are materials such as:

Annual Reports; Audio/Video Recordings; Conference Papers; Electronic Theses and Dissertations; Instructional Materials; Lecture Series and Symposia Materials; Newsletters; Pre-Prints/Post-Prints; Proceedings; Research and Technical Reports; Web Sites; White Papers; and Working Papers.

The GKR program has five activities that it will complete during the grant:

  1. Conduct a survey and focus groups of the USG librarians' and faculty's usage and perceptions of digital repositories.
  2. Establish a service to host individual repositories for four participating USG institutions (Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Southern University, Albany State University, College of Coastal Georgia)
  3. Build a central, searchable web site and database from all eight GKR-related digital repositories, featuring the GKR-developed repository collection mapping tool. This will be done by harvesting database records from all eight GKR-related digital repositories (the four hosted repositories mentioned above, plus existing repositories at Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Georgia State University, and Valdosta State University).
  4. Establish repository-related services for the GKR partners: copyright assistance, digitization, content submission into their repository, and digital preservation
  5. Design and offer to a nationwide audience a symposium and workshop on managing statewide and consortial repositories. The goal of the training program is to increase the number of digital repositories operating in the U.S. and the number of information professionals with the knowledge and skills to manage repositories consortially.

Swedish Research Council Adopts Open Access Mandate

The Swedish Research Council has adopted an open access mandate. The Swedish Research Council is "a government agency that provides funding for basic research of the highest scientific quality in all disciplinary domains. Besides research funding, the agency works with strategy, analysis, and research communication."

Here's an excerpt from the announcement (translation from the Swedish by Ingegerd Rabow):

The Swedish Research Council requires free access to research results.

In order to receive research grants the Research council requires now that researchers publish their material freely accessible to all.. . .

Researchers are required to guarantee that everything published shall be freely available according to Open Access not later than six months after publication.

The Council's decision regarding Open Access has been taken in close cooperation with SUHF, the Association of Swedish Higher Education. To promote free dissemination of research results is not and isolated Swedish occurrence, The so called Berlin Declaration aiming to implement Open Access has been signed by several large, mainly European research funders.

The Open Access-mandate covers so far only refereed journal articles and conference reports, not monographs and book chapters. The mandate will be included in the new grant conditions from 2010.

No Contract Awarded for GPO Mass Digitization of All Federal Publications

The U.S. Government Printing Office has been unable to award a contract for the digitization of all Federal publications.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

In 2004, GPO proposed digitizing all retrospective Federal publications back to the earliest days of the Federal Government. Following the conduct of a pilot project in 2006 and its evaluation in 2007, we issued an RFP in 2008 for a cooperative relationship with a public or private sector participant or participants where the uncompressed, unaltered files created as a result of the conversion process would be delivered to GPO at no cost to the Government, for ingest into GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys). Unfortunately, we were unable to make an award for this RFP in the allocated timeframe.

We are very disappointed in this setback, but are currently developing new digitization alternatives. In addition to our longstanding goal of serving as one of the repositories for electronic files through the submission of material to FDsys, our focus for digitization will be on coordinating projects among institutions, assisting in the establishment and implementation of preservation guidelines, maintaining a registry of digitization projects, and ensuring that there is appropriate bibliographic metadata for the titles in the collection.

University of Illinois' IDEALS Repository Tops One Million Downloads

The University of Illinois' IDEALS institutional repository has topped one million downloads.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (IDEALS), a digital repository for research and scholarship developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has surpassed its one-millionth download.

The service, offered through the University Library and Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services (CITES), is sponsored by the Office of the Provost at Illinois and was launched in 2006. The campus institutional repository includes articles, working papers, preprints, technical reports, conference papers and, data sets in various digital formats provided by University faculty, staff, and graduate students. Although central to the University of Illinois, anyone can access and benefit from IDEALS collections and services. "Today, over 12,000 items have been uploaded into IDEALS," said Sarah Shreeves, associate professor and IDEALS coordinator. "The success of this service has surpassed what anyone envisioned two and a half years ago, and we hope that others in the Illinois community will take advantage of its services."

The mission of IDEALS is to preserve and provide persistent and reliable access to digital research and scholarship in order to give these works the greatest possible recognition and distribution. IDEALS endeavors to ensure that its materials appear in search engines such as Google, Google Scholar, and Bing and that the majority of the research is openly available for anyone to access. As a result of its efforts to disseminate research produced at the University of Illinois, IDEALS was recently ranked in the top 10 of institutional repositories worldwide. "I am delighted with the exposure that IDEALS has provided us with. Whenever we place a thesis or a report, the downloads start and never stop. We get many comments back from readers and researchers who have seen our work only on IDEALS," said Amr Elnashai, head, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

IDEALS contains a wealth of diverse information, from a Mid-America Earthquake Center report on the Kashmir Earthquake of 2005 to the Ethnography of the University Initiative’s publications and presentations, including campus folklore and cultural perceptions. "I appreciate that my thesis is archived in a stable location for reliable long-term access. The document is now freely available to anyone in the world, yet I retain the copyright," said David P. Hruska, an Illinois graduate. "Furthermore, my thesis is now displayed in search results returned by Google Scholar, improving the dissemination of my research."

Dean of University Libraries Candidates Interview at Indiana University

Candidates for the Ruth Lilly Dean of University Libraries position at Indiana University are interviewing this week. The candidates are Brenda Johnson (Dean of University Libraries at the University of California, Santa Barbara) and Diane Parr Walker (Deputy University Librarian at the University of Virginia).

Read more about it at "Library Dean Candidates Visit Today."

Deputy Director at UKOLN

UKOLN is recruiting a Deputy Director.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

UKOLN is a centre of expertise in digital information management based at the University of Bath, providing advice and services to the library, information, education and cultural heritage communities.

We are seeking to recruit a Deputy Director to provide outstanding leadership and strategic direction to all technical activity within UKOLN, to assure our position at the forefront of innovative Digital Library (DL) developments. This is a key senior post within the UKOLN organisation and will be based at the University of Bath.

The post requires vision, strategic insight and innovation associated with the implementation and development of DLs within the education, research or cultural heritage sectors. Applicants should have extensive and in-depth technical knowledge of DLs and associated interoperability issues, knowledge of emerging Web technologies and an understanding of their potential for education and research. An established international reputation in the DL arena, together with a track record for leading and shaping innovative activities, is highly desirable.

The post also requires significant experience of securing funding awards and income generation. Applicants will have extensive experience of leading teams, directing multiple projects to a successful outcome/completion and be outstanding communicators with well-developed influencing and negotiating skills and a proven ability to produce high quality reports, papers and presentations.

SWORD PHP Library Version 0.9

The SWORD PHP library version 0.9 has been released. SWORD is "a lightweight protocol for depositing content from one location to another. It stands for Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit and is a profile of the Atom Publishing Protocol (known as APP or ATOMPUB)."

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

  • Changed swordappservicedocument to build the servcedocument from the xml response rather than having the swordappclient do the work. This allows the service document to be parsed at a later time.
  • Changed the swordappclient deposit method to stream the file being deposited straight from disk rather than via memory to avoid using excessive memory and potentially exceeding the PHP memory limit. I’ve successfully tested this against DSpace with deposits of 600MB CD images.
  • Added some validation to the SWAP/METS packager to allow it to cope with filenames and metadata containing ampersands

Gawronski v. Amazon.com: Amazon's New Kindle Deletion Rules

As a result of the settlement of the Gawronski et al. v. Amazon.com Inc et al. case (about the deletion of George Orwell e-books), Amazon.com will comply with new rules regarding deletion of digital works on Kindles.

Here's an excerpt:

For copies of Works purchased pursuant to TOS granting "the non-exclusive right to keep a permanent copy" of each purchased Work and to "view, use and display [such Works] an unlimited number of times, solely on the [Devices] . . . and solely for [the purchasers'] personal, non-commercial use," Amazon will not remotely delete or modify such Works from Devices purchased and being used in the United States unless (a) the user consents to such deletion or modification; (b) the user requests a refund for the Work or otherwise fails to pay for the Work (e.g., if a credit or debit card issuer declines to remit payment); (c) a judicial or regulatory order requires such deletion or modification; or (d) deletion or modification is reasonably necessary to protect the consumer or the operation of a Device or network through which the Device communicates (e.g., to remove harmful code embedded within a copy of a Work downloaded to a Device). This paragraph does not apply to (a) applications (whether developed or offered by Amazon or by third parties), software or other code; (b) transient content such as blogs; or (c) content that the publisher intends to be updated and replaced with newer content as newer content becomes available. With respect to newspaper and magazine subscriptions, nothing in this paragraph prohibits the current operational practice pursuant to which older issues are automatically deleted from the Device to make room for newer issues, absent affirmative action by the Device user to save older issues.

Read more about it at "Amazon Settles Kindle '1984' Lawsuit" and "Amazon.com to Pay $150,000 to Settle Suit Challenging Take-Back of 1984."

Vernor v. Autodesk: First Sale Doctrine Covers Licensed Software

U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Jones has ruled that resale of licensed software from Autodesk is not a copyright violation.

Here's an excerpt:

The legislative history of § 109 and § 117 informs the court's decision in several respects. First, as the court noted, it suggests that "owner" not only had the same meaning when both sections were enacted, but that the meaning was that ascribed to the term in decisions like Wise. Congress did not amend the term "owner" when amending the statutes. Second, the legislative history reveals not only that Congress has modified § 117 and § 109 to specifically address computer software, but that when it does so, its modifications are not subtle. This makes it even more improbable that Congress ascribes two different meanings to "owner." Third, the legislative history shows that despite incentive and opportunity to modify the term "owner," Congress has not done so. . . .

Autodesk's claim that Mr. Vernor promotes piracy is unconvincing. Mr. Vernor's sales of AutoCAD packages promote piracy no more so than Autodesk's sales of the same packages. Piracy depends on the number of people willing to engage in piracy, and a pirate is presumably just as happy to unlawfully duplicate software purchased directly from Autodesk as he is to copy software purchased from a reseller like Mr. Vernor. The court notes, moreover, that even if CTA had never opened its AutoCAD packages, never installed the software on its computer, and thus never raised the possibility of piracy, Autodesk would still take the position that CTA's resale of those packages was a copyright violation.

Read more about it at "It's Still A Duck: Court Re-Affirms That First Sale Doctrine Can Apply to 'Licensed' Software."

Librarian (Systems) at the National Agricultural Library

The National Agricultural Library is recruiting a Librarian (Systems).

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The duties that the incumbent performs involve tasks that require a full professional knowledge of theories, objectives, principles, and techniques of librarianship with an emphasis on library automation.

Duties include the following:

Tests and evaluates new or updated databases, software modifications, or changes to Technical Services Division and/or other Library automated systems as needed. Refines and improves systems based on testing and user input.

Manages the overall operations of the automated processing system for acquisitions.

Develops plans or contract actions for automation projects including file conversions, special file maintenance activities, electronic data interchange, etc.

Creates SQL queries and reports to identify management information, solve workflow issues, provide quality control, and support management decisions.

Prepares, reviews, or oversees the preparation and review of system requirements and writes functional specifications for system development projects within the Technical Services Division, or the Library as a whole.

Applies advanced knowledge and expertise of Integrated Library Systems (ILS), report writing, online files and processing procedures, system analysis techniques and bibliographic and holdings control standards to the solution of technical processing problems to improve operating efficiency within the branch. Makes recommendations to senior management for modifications that improve efficiency of operations and/or the quality of products.

Coordinates training or trains division personnel, contractors and library staff from NAL and outside agencies in the use of technical processing systems.

Serves as a microcomputer support coordinator in providing assistance to Branch staff using microcomputer software and hardware.

SWORD2 Project Final Report

JISC has released SWORD2 Project Final Report.

Here's an excerpt:

The SWORD vision is about 'lowering the barriers to deposit', primarily for depositing content into repositories, and additionally, for depositing into any system which may wish to receive content from remote sources. The SWORD protocol defines a standard mechanism for depositing into repositories and other systems. The project and protocol were developed because there was previously no standardised way of doing this. A standard deposit interface allows repository services to be built that can offer functionality such as deposit from multiple locations, e.g. disparate repositories, desktop drag'n'drop tools, or from within standard office applications. SWORD can also facilitate deposit to multiple repositories, increasingly important for depositors who wish to deposit to funder, institutional or subject repositories. There are many other possibilities, including migration of content between repositories and transfer to preservation services. In addition to refining the existing SWORD application profile, the SWORD2 project has developed a number of tools and services to demonstrate these possibilities. It has also been pro-active in promoting SWORD and encouraging uptake within other repositories, services and tools, notably with its adoption into the Microsoft Article Authoring Add-in for Word 2007 and with the new Microsoft Zentity repository system .

The core aims of the project were to update the SWORD Protocol, the SWORD repository code libraries in the DSpace, Fedora, EPrints and Intrallect repositories, and the existing reference demonstrators. A Facebook application and validator have also been developed. Advocacy efforts include an e-learning case study, a briefing paper, a new SWORD website, and a range of additional dissemination activities, including conference papers, presentations, demonstrations and workshops at a number of national and international conferences and meetings.

University of Maryland: "What's the Opposite of a Pyrrhic Victory?: Lessons Learned from an Open Access Defeat"

In "What's the Opposite of a Pyrrhic Victory?: Lessons Learned from an Open Access Defeat," Tim Hackman examines the defeat of an open access resolution at the University of Maryland.

Here's an excerpt:

The "Faculty Voice"; article on open access published in March 2009 had been the first of its kind at UM, and discussion and drafting of the resolution had taken place mostly behind closed doors within the Faculty Affairs Committee, without involving the rest of the Senate. A handful of interested departments (almost all of them in the sciences) had met with representatives from the libraries to discuss scholarly communication and open access, but the majority of faculty members had no direct contact with someone who could explain the issue and its importance and answer specific questions. It was hoped that the faculty newsletter article would help in this regard, but it was a case of too little too late. The lesson then is don't assume faculty understand the situation or sympathize with the library's point of view.

Yale: "Digitization Project Derailed"

In "Digitization Project Derailed," Carol Hsin discusses the status of digitization efforts at the Yale University Library. (Thanks to ResourceShelf.)

Here's an excerpt:

Four months after Microsoft abruptly terminated its multi-million dollar book digitization deal with the University, Yale officials said they will have to wait for donations or grants to come in before they start another major book scanning project.

Peter Suber on "Ten Challenges for Open-Access Journals"

Peter Suber has published "Ten Challenges for Open-Access Journals" in the latest issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter.

Here's an excerpt:

I start with three disparities:  the gap between journal performance and what prevailing metrics say about journal performance (#1); the gap between the vision of OA embodied in the Budapest, Bethesda, and Berlin statements and the access policies at 85% of OA journals (#2); and the gap between a journal's quality and its prestige, even when the quality is high (#3).  Then I move on to seven kinds of doubt:  doubts about quality (#4), preservation (#5), honesty (#6), publication fees (#7), sustainability (#8), redirection (#9), and strategy (#10).

Digital Initiatives and Scholarly Communications Librarian at West Virginia University

The West Virginia University Libraries are recruiting a Digital Initiatives and Scholarly Communications Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Digital Initiatives and Scholarly Communications Librarian works with librarian colleagues to develop policies and procedures for the management of digital content and metadata for varied digital projects, conducts outreach to inform the campus and the state about digital initiatives, and maintains the Libraries’ open access informational web pages. The Librarian will assist with a growing collection of digital exhibits, book digitization projects, and a well-established institutional repository, WVU Scholar. The Libraries currently work with DLXS, DigiTool, and ExLibris/Voyager. The Librarian will work with the Provosts Office and the Office of Information Technology to coordinate institutional repository policy and procedures governing submission, use, access, and preservation. This position reports to the Head of the Cataloging Department.

Walt Crawford on Open Access

Walt Crawford has dedicated an entire 34-page issue of Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large to a "Library Access to Scholarship" article on open access.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

A year’s worth of source material and commentary, organized into:
Mandates, Policies and Compacts
The Colors of OA
Numbers
Scandal!
Framing and Mysteries
The Problem(s) with Green OA
Quality, Value and Progress
Miscellany
Conclusion

Chances are, this is the last hurrah for Library Access to Scholarship and my semi-active independent commentary on open access.

Let's hope that Walt changes his mind about discontinuing "Library Access to Scholarship," which has always been interesting, thought-provoking, and informative reading.

E-Book Collections, SPEC Kit 313

The Association of Research Libraries has published E-Book Collections, SPEC Kit 313. The table of contents and executive summary are freely available.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published E-book Collections, SPEC Kit 313, which examines the current use of e-books in ARL member libraries; their plans for implementing, increasing, or decreasing access to e-books; purchasing, cataloging, and collection management issues; and issues in marketing to and in usage by library clientele. . . .

According to survey responses, most institutions entered the e-book arena as part of a consortium which purchased an e-book package. The earliest forays occurred in the 1990s but the majority of libraries started e-book collections between 1999 and 2004. Purchasing at the collection level allowed libraries to acquire a mass of titles with a common interface, reducing some of the transition pains to the new format. The downside of collections is that libraries find they are often saddled with titles they would not have selected in print; also, each collection might have a different interface, adding to user frustration.

Those libraries reporting success with individually selected e-book titles cope with other problems: lag time between print and electronic publication (with electronic the lagging format), restrictive digital rights management, loss of access by ILL, and limited printing top the list of concerns. However, responses indicate a preference for title-by-title selection as a more efficient use of funds.

This SPEC Kit includes documentation from respondents in the form of collection development policies, e-book collection Web pages, e-book promotional materials, training materials for staff and users, and e-book reader loan policies.