Month: September 2010

Executive Director of CLOCKSS

CLOCKSS is recruiting an Executive Director.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

CLOCKSS is a global nonprofit, community-governed archive that preserves digital scholarly materials for the very long term through a geo-physical and geo-political distributed network of archive nodes. . . .

• Operations: Manage all aspects of CLOCKSS operations – marketing, strategy, board relations, finances, and part-time staff. Prepare annual plan with objectives, a budget and financial projections.

• Member development and growth: CLOCKSS receives contributions from participating publishers and libraries. Recruit new publishers and libraries to meet financial targets for growth. Make sure that the archive responds to the needs of the scholarly community as it relates to archiving scholarly content. Create a valuable community and services to participants.

• Marketing: Provide a vision and voice that establishes CLOCKSS as a valuable and unique international scholarly archive. Create outreach and campaigns to the community to attract and follow up with new participating publishers and libraries.

• Board coordination: build consensus and report activities on a regular basis.

• Staff: manage several part-time staff members and coordinate activities with our Stanford technology partners. To meet program needs, hire new employees as resources allow.

• Leadership: Raise the profile of CLOCKSS by speaking at conferences and seminars and writing articles. Keep up-to-date with developments in scholarly publishing and issues facing academic libraries. Form strategic alliances with other groups in the scholarly communications arena.

• Fundraising: In addition to participation fees, CLOCKSS seeks to build an endowment for long-term stability. Explore foundation and individual donor funding and launch an endowment campaign over the next two to three years.

Preserving Virtual Worlds Final Report

Jerome McDonough et al. have self-archived Preserving Virtual Worlds Final Report in IDEALS.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The report includes findings from the entire project team on issues relating to the preservation of video games and interaction fiction, including issues around library & archival collection development/management, bibliographic description, copyright & intellectual property, preservation strategies, metadata & packaging, and next steps for both the professional and research community with regards to these complex and important resources.

Head of Library Technologies and Systems at University of South Carolina

The University of South Carolina Libraries are recruiting a Head of Library Technologies and Systems.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (requisition number: 002874):

This position oversees library technology projects and systems, and works with system vendors, programmers, librarians, faculty, students and staff, University Technology Services, and public end-users to develop, evaluate, implement, and support a variety of systems. Services and systems currently include: the Libraries' Integrated Library System (Innovative Interfaces' Millennium and Encore systems), the Libraries' multiple Web sites, Media Production Development, Technology Lounge and library computing areas, servers, and interfaces; major applications include interlibrary loan (OCLC ILLIAD), Innovative Interfaces' Integrated Library Systems (ILS), USC Digital Collections (CONTENTdm), Institutional Repository (Digital Commons), and provision of staff and public computing applications.

The CUNY Digital Humanities Resource Guide

The CUNY Digital Humanities Initiative has released The CUNY Digital Humanities Resource Guide.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Presenting a well-researched and annotated view of the field, the guide will serve as a broad introduction to DH for newcomers by offering a balanced archive of best practices, ongoing projects, and disciplinary debates.

The guide covers a wide range of subjects, including Defining the Digital Humanities, Hot Topics, Sample Projects, DH Syllabi, and Conferences and Events. Check out the Table of Contents for the full range of topics.

Daily Tweets 2010-09-22

Systems Librarian at Grinnell College

The Grinnell College Libraries are recruiting a Systems Librarian. Salary: $52,000 or higher.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

As a member of the Libraries’ Technology Team and the College’s Academic Technology Development Team, the Systems Librarian will share leadership and responsibility for planning, developing, integrating, implementing, and maintaining the digital systems and services through which the Libraries support users in finding and using information. The Systems Librarian’s primary focus will include (but will not be limited to) the Libraries’ integrated management system (currently Innovative Interfaces), interlibrary services system, and digital repository systems. Together with the Library Systems Support Specialist (whom the Systems Librarian supervises) the Systems Librarian also serves as the primary technology liaison with the Libraries’ cataloging, acquisition, circulation, reserve, and interlibrary/document delivery services, to ensure excellent service to users and operational efficiency in these operations. In consultation with Information Technology Services, the Archivist of the College, the Catalog Librarian, and others, the Systems Librarian will also take primary technology responsibility for the Libraries’ digital content initiatives through research and policy-development on standards, repositories, and storage and preservation strategies.

"In Search of Copyright’s Lost Ark: Interpreting the Right to Distribute in the Internet Age"

Peter S. Menell has self-archived "In Search of Copyright’s Lost Ark: Interpreting the Right to Distribute in the Internet Age" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

Drawing upon the historical development of copyright law and the legislative history of the Copyright Act of 1976, this article explains why Congress selected the term "distribute" in its last omnibus revision of copyright law, shows unequivocally that Congress intended to encompass broadly the 1909 Act rights to "publish" and "vend" within the right to distribute, and rejects the position that Congress required proof of "actual distribution" to prove violation of the distribution right. This critical legislative history has been notably absent from treatise accounts and briefing on the liability standard in the file sharing cases, leaving courts without a compass to navigate this statutory terrain. This article traces the origins of the key legislative terms to elucidate the scope of the distribution right in the Internet age.

Department Head, Digital, Access, and Technology Services at Western Carolina University

The Western Carolina University's Hunter Library is recruiting a Department Head, Digital, Access, and Technology Services.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Western Carolina University's Hunter Library seeks an enthusiastic and highly qualified librarian to develop and lead its new Digital, Access, and Technology Services department. The Department of Digital, Access, and Technology Services is comprised of Access Services (circulation, curriculum materials center, and interlibrary loan) with a staff of 13, Systems, with a staff of 3, and a current grant-supported digital projects staff of 3. This new department will have responsibility for leading the design, development, and ongoing implementation of library digital, access, and technology service operations. As part of the library-wide learning mission, the department will facilitate the discovery, delivery, and use of intellectual content. Specific program responsibilities include: managing access services, library technology infrastructure and systems (hardware and software), digital library development (e.g., Craft Revival Project), digital repository services, library web design and architecture, digital media technology, technology services related to a notion of library as information/learning commons; and facilitating digital scholarship and publishing as it may relate to university-produced research.

Daily Tweets 2010-09-21

Unified Digital Format Registry Developer at California Digital Library

The California Digital Library is recruiting a Unified Digital Format Registry Developer. Salary: $55,300-$109,500.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Unified Digital Format Registry project (UDFR, http://www.udfr.org/) is developing a reliable, sustainable, and publicly available knowledge base of file format representation information for use by the international digital curation, preservation, and repository communities. The project seeks to consolidate the functionality and data holdings of the existing PRONOM (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/PRONOM) and GDFR (Global Digital Format Registry, http://www.gdfr.info/) registries into a common, community-supported system. Properly managing information about the formats used to represent content lies at the core of curation and preservation activities.. . .

The incumbent will be responsible for implementing the UDFR system, and is expected to provide innovative thinking and technical expertise while drawing on the body of useful experience from the PRONOM and GDFR projects and the UDFR consortium. The developer will consult regularly with UC3 staff and will work under the supervision of the project architect. The final open source system must be flexible, scalable, reliable, sustainable, and consistent with best practices and advances in web-based information services, service-oriented architectures, information preservation, and semantic web technologies. The initial knowledge base of the production UDFR will be based on a full export from PRONOM.

2010 Horizon Report: Museum Edition

The Edward and Betty Marcus Institute for Digital Education in the Arts has released 2010 Horizon Report: Museum Edition.

Here's an excerpt:

The highest ranked of those trends had significant agreement among the Advisory Board members, who considered them to be key drivers of museum technology adoptions for the period 2010 through 2014. They are listed here in the order in which the Advisory Board ranked them.

  • "Rich" media—images, videos, audio, augmented reality, and animations—are becoming increasingly valuable assets in digital interpretation. Museums understand the value in capturing high-quality media documentation related to their collections at every opportunity. Working more closely than ever with educators and researchers, museums are embracing opportunities for multimodal learning both online and in the galleries. High-quality media like images, videos, audio clips, augmented reality, and animations are no longer seen as afterthoughts in interpretation but increasingly as necessary components of an interpretive plan. This trend is beneficial to museum professionals and visitors alike as it encourages a deeper understanding of objects, ideas, and audiences.
  • Digitization and cataloguing projects will continue to require a significant share of museum resources. Museums are distinguished by the content they keep and interpret. There is an increasing understanding among museum professionals that visitors expect to be able to readily access accurate and interesting information, and especially high-quality media. This requires museums to plan strategically for the digitization and cataloging of collections. These projects frequently require hard choices in the allocation of money, personnel, and time, but are not likely to diminish in importance in the foreseeable future.
  • Increasingly, museum visitors (and staff) expect to be able to work, learn, study, and connect with their social networks in all places and at all times using whichever device they choose. Wireless network access, mobile networks, and personal portable networks have made it easy to remain connected almost anywhere. Museum audiences have become accustomed to easy access to the network in other parts of their lives, and grow increasingly impatient with places where it is not possible (or where it is prohibitively expensive) to be connected using the device of their choosing.
  • The abundance of resources and relationships offered by open content repositories and social networks is challenging us to revisit our roles as educators. Access to educational materials of all kinds has never been as easy or as open as it is today. The model of the museum curator or educator standing in front of an object interpreting meaning for a passive audience is no longer realistic in a world accustomed to instant access to virtually any kind of information. More important to today’s audiences is advice on how to find, interpret, and make their own connections with collections and ideas.

Technical Library Applications Integration & Support at Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories are recruiting a Technical Library Applications Integration & Support specialist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The selected candidate will work closely with the Library Digital Projects Librarian, Library staff and management to contribute to providing innovative technologies in the delivery of information and to ensure that Library applications meet the information needs of the Laboratories. Representative tasks include responding to and troubleshooting technical issues, installing and deploying existing application upgrades and supporting the Digital Projects Librarian and Library staff in investigating, exploring, developing and deploying Library technologies. The successful candidate will be self-directed, independently motivated and have an aptitude for integrating and supporting new technologies, maintaining and improving legacy systems.

"Almost Halfway There: An Analysis of the Open Access Behaviors of Academic Librarians"

College & Research Libraries has released a preprint of Holly Mercer's forthcoming article "Almost Halfway There: An Analysis of the Open Access Behaviors of Academic Librarians."

Here's an excerpt:

Academic librarians are increasingly expected to advocate for scholarly communications reforms such as open access to scholarly publications, yet librarians do not always practice what they reach. Previous research examined librarian attitudes toward open access, whereas this article presents results of a study of open access publishing and self-archiving behaviors of academic librarians. Following an analysis of open access to library and information science literature in 2008, several strategies to encourage academic librarians to continue embrace open access behaviors are discussed.

Daily Tweets 2010-09-20

Digital Repository Deposit: SWORD Course Videos

The SWORD (Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit) project has released a series of tutorial videos.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

  1. An Introduction to SWORD: Gives an overview of SWORD, the rationale behind its creation, and details of the first three funded SWORD projects
  2. SWORD Use Cases: Provides an introduction to use cases, and examines some of the use cases that SWORD can be used for
  3. How SWORD Works: A high level overview of the SWORD protocol, lightly touching on a few technical details in order to explain how it works
  4. SWORD Clients: The reasons for needing SWORD clients are shown, followed by a tour of some of the current SWORD clients
  5. Create Your Own SWORD Client: An overview of the EasyDeposit SWORD client creation toolkit, including the chance to try it out

"Research Data: Who Will Share What, with Whom, When, and Why?"

Christine L. Borgman has self-archived "Research Data: Who Will Share What, with Whom, When, and Why?" in SelectedWorks.

Here's an excerpt:

The deluge of scientific research data has excited the general public, as well as the scientific community, with the possibilities for better understanding of scientific problems, from climate to culture. For data to be available, researchers must be willing and able to share them. The policies of governments, funding agencies, journals, and university tenure and promotion committees also influence how, when, and whether research data are shared. Data are complex objects. Their purposes and the methods by which they are produced vary widely across scientific fields, as do the criteria for sharing them. To address these challenges, it is necessary to examine the arguments for sharing data and how those arguments match the motivations and interests of the scientific community and the public. Four arguments are examined: to make the results of publicly funded data available to the public, to enable others to ask new questions of extant data, to advance the state of science, and to reproduce research. Libraries need to consider their role in the face of each of these arguments, and what expertise and systems they require for data curation.

"Keeping Research Data Safe Factsheet"

Charles Beagrie Limited has released the "Keeping Research Data Safe Factsheet."

Here's an excerpt:

This factsheet illustrates for institutions, researchers, and funders some of the key findings and recommendations from the JISC-funded Keeping Research Data Safe (KRDS1) and Keeping Research Data Safe 2 (KRDS2) projects.

Systems/Emerging Technologies Librarian at Wesleyan University

The Wesleyan University Library is recruiting a Systems/Emerging Technologies Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (job posting number: 8000177):

Reporting to the University Librarian, this position provides dynamic leadership in the design, implementation and maintenance of user-centered library technology services at Wesleyan University Library and in the CTW Consortium, with partners Connecticut College and Trinity College. The person in this position will work collaboratively with a variety of library, campus, consortial and other partners to maintain and upgrade existing library systems and to develop new applications.

British Library: 2020 Vision

The British Library has released 2020 Vision.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

2020 Vision is our 10-year vision, following 12 months of extensive and wide-ranging research and consultation. In today’s climate of significant technological change, it highlights what are likely to be the key trends and opportunities over the next decade, and indicates how we will develop as an organisation to increase access to the world’s knowledge base for our users.

Daily Tweets 2010-09-17

Digital Services Librarian at Texas Christian University

The Mary Couts Burnett Library at Texas Christian University is recruiting a Digital Services Librarian. Salary: $51,000 to $53,000.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Mary Couts Burnett Library at Texas Christian University has an opening for a Digital Services Librarian. This is a new position with responsibility for implementation and maintenance of software and other technology used in support of the library’s local digital collections. These will eventually include repositories of digital images related to various university archives, a repository of student theses and dissertations, and a repository of faculty publications and research. Duties include providing documentation and support to staff, faculty and students who input files into the repository; maintaining interfaces between our local repository and national / international archival gateways and search engines; and planning for long-term preservation and access to digital content in the repository. In addition to maintaining third-party software, the DSL will create web interfaces, SQL-based databases, and scripts as necessary to support repository functions.

Additional responsibilities include troubleshooting, maintaining and managing upgrades for the library online reserves and interlibrary loan systems; configuring and providing staff support for the wiki software used to store and organize internal policies and procedures documents, and proposing and implementing new services as needed. Occasional night or weekend work may be required when upgrading systems.

Alliance for Taxpayer Access Issues Call to Action for Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA)

The Alliance for Taxpayer Access has issued a call to action for the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA).

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

All supporters of public access – universities and colleges, researchers, libraries, campus administrators, patient advocates, publishers, consumers, individuals, and others – are asked to ACT NOW to support The Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA). See below for actions you can take.

Now before both the House of Representatives and the Senate, FRPAA would require those agencies with annual extramural research budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with online access to research manuscripts stemming from such funding no later than six months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The bill gives individual agencies flexibility in choosing the location of the digital repository to house this content, as long as the repositories meet conditions for interoperability and public accessibility, and have provisions for long-term archiving.

The bill specifically covers unclassified research funded by agencies including: Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation.

FRPAA reflects the growing trend among funding agencies – and college and university campuses – to leverage their investment in the conduct of research by maximizing the dissemination of results.  It follows the successful path forged by the NIH’s Public Access Policy, as well as by private funders like the Wellcome Trust and campuses such as Harvard, MIT, and the University of Kansas. The bill also reflects the Administration’s recent expression of interest in the potential implementation of public access policies across U.S. science and technology agencies – as indicated by the call for public comment issued by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, which closed in January.

Detailed information about the Federal Research Public Access Act is available at http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/frpaa.

Here’s how you can help support this legislation:

  1. Send thanks to the Bill’s sponsors, also through the ATA Action Center.
  2. Ask your representatives in Congress to co-sponsor H.R.5037 or S.1373. Act now through the ATA Legislative Action Center.
  3. Express your organization’s support to Congress for public access to taxpayer-funded research and for this bill. Send a copy of your letter to sparc [at] arl [dot] org.
  4. Issue a public statement of support from your organization and share it widely with members, colleagues, and the media. Send a copy to sparc [at] arl [dot] org to be featured on the FRPAA Web site.
  5. Share news about this bill with friends and colleagues.
  6. Post the "I support taxpayer access" banner on your Web site.
  7. See the ATA Web site at http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/frpaa for more ways you can support public access to publicly funded research and this bill.

You can use the Legislative Action Center (item 1 above) to oppose H.R.801 (Fair Copyright in Research Works Act), a bill to repeal the NIH public access policy.

Systems and Digital Resources Librarian at Columbia University

The Arthur W. Diamond Law Library of Columbia University is recruiting a Systems and Digital Resources Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Arthur W. Diamond Law Library of Columbia University invites applications and nominations for the position of Systems and Digital Resources Librarian. This position has primary responsibility for leading the selection, migration and implementation of a new, preferably open source, library system while managing the effective use of the library's current electronic resources, services and systems.

Reporting to the Head of Technical Services, the Systems and Digital Resources Librarian will:

  • Lead the selection, migration and implementation of a new library system.
  • Ensure the effective administration, coordination and provision of support for all aspects of existing library automation and operating technology.
  • Continue development and implementation of policies and procedures to ensure accurate acquisitions and monitoring of electronic resources.
  • Coordinate the continued development and maintenance of a library website that responds to the needs of library patrons for the dynamic delivery of library content and services.
  • Educate and assist the Law Library staff in implementing appropriate technology to enhance fulfillment of its mission

Open to All? Case Studies of Openness in Research

The Research Information Network and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts have released Open to All? Case Studies of Openness in Research.

Here's an excerpt:

Academic bodies, including funders and groups of researchers, have set out statements in support of various levels of openness in research. Such statements often focus upon two key dimensions: what is made open, and how; and to whom is it made open, and under what conditions? This study set out to consider the practice of six research groups from a range of disciplines in order to better understand how principles of openness are translated into practice.

The study consists of interviews with 18 researchers working across 6 UK research institutions. The aim was to identify a range of practices, not to draw conclusions that could be generalised to an entire population. Research teams were therefore selected to represent not only convinced advocates of openness, but also individuals or groups which are more selective about what they share and perhaps more sceptical of the open agenda. Each team included a senior researcher at PI level along with some of their more junior colleagues. Interviews were structured to uncover researchers’ levels of openness at various stages of the research lifecycle.