Month: September 2012

"LOCKSS Boxes in the Cloud"

David S. H. Rosenthal and Daniel L. Vargas have self-archived "LOCKSS Boxes in the Cloud" at the LOCKSS website.

Here's an excerpt:

The 30-year history of raw disk costs shows a drop of at least 30% per year. The history of cloud storage costs from commercial providers shows that they drop at most 3% per year. Until there is a radical change in one or other of these cost curves it clear that cloud storage is not even close to cost-competitive with local disk storage for long-term preservation purposes in general, and LOCKSS boxes in particular.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Web Services Librarian at Washington State University Libraries

Washington State University Libraries are recruiting a Web Services Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (position number:42214):

The librarian will lead the Libraries' effort to enhance its virtual spaces, across all devices used to access services. The Web Services Librarian will provide leadership in ongoing efforts to define the goals of the Libraries' virtual presence and to provide online services that match these goals. This tenure track position is based in the Systems Department.

| Digital Scholarship |

Digital Archivist at University of Tennessee, Chattanooga’s Lupton Library

The University of Tennessee, Chattanooga's Lupton Library is recruiting a Digital Archivist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, the Digital Archivist plays a leadership role in the development, planning, promotion, delivery, and evaluation of digital initiatives involving Special Collections materials and services.

| Digital Scholarship |

"Understanding and Making Use of Academic Authors’ Open Access Rights"

David R. Hansen has published "Understanding and Making Use of Academic Authors' Open Access Rights" in the latest issue of the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication.

Here's an excerpt:

METHODS To understand the scope of author-retained rights (including the right to purchase hybrid or other open access options) at some sample universities, author-rights data through the SHERPA/RoMEO API was combined with individual article citations (from Thomson Reuters' Web of Science) for works published over a one-year period (2011) and authored by individuals affiliated with five major U.S. research universities. RESULTS Authors retain significant rights in the articles that they create. Of the 29,322 unique articles authored over the one year period at the five universities, 28.83 percent could be archived in final PDF form and 87.95 percent could be archived as the post-print version. Nearly 43.47 percent also provided authors the choice of purchasing a hybrid paid open access option. DISCUSSION A significant percentage of current published output could be archived with little or no author intervention. With prior approval through an open access policy or otherwise, article manuscripts or final PDFs can be obtained and archived by library staff, and hybrid paid-OA options could be negotiated and exploited by library administrators.

| Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog (September 23, 2012)

The latest monthly update of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog is now available. It provides information about selected new works related to scholarly electronic publishing, such as books, e-prints, journal articles, technical reports, and white papers.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

"Academic Libraries as Data Quality Hubs"

Michael Joseph Giarlo has self-archived a preprint of "Academic Libraries as Data Quality Hubs" in ScholarSphere.

Here's an excerpt:

This position paper argues that academic libraries have a critical role to play serving as data quality hubs on campus, based on the need for increased data quality for "e-science" and on academic libraries' record of providing digital curation and preservation services. Scientific data are shown to be sufficiently at risk to demonstrate a clear niche for such services to be provided. Data quality measurements are defined, and digital curation processes are explained and mapped to these measurements in order to establish that academic libraries already have sufficient competencies "in-house" to provide data quality services. Opportunities for improvement and challenges are identified as areas that are fruitful for future research and exploration.

| Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works | Digital Scholarship |

Important Changes for Users and Participants of the Open Access Tracking Project

The Open Access Tracking Project is migrating to TagTeam.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) is moving to TagTeam.

If you previously subscribed to OATP feeds as a reader, or helped build OATP feeds as a tagger, this page explains how to continue with the TagTeam version of the project. If you haven't previously participated in OATP, this page explains how to get started.

  • As a reader, you should stop subscribing to the Connotea versions of the OATP feeds and start subscribing to the TagTeam versions. Starting September 17, 2012, only the TagTeam versions will be comprehensive.
  • As a tagger, you may continue to tag at Connotea if you wish. But you are now free to tag for OATP from other tagging platforms as well. Either way, you'll have to tell TagTeam to follow your OATP tagging activity.

| Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Digital Collections and Applications Developer at University of Nebraska at Omaha Library

The University of Nebraska at Omaha Library is recruiting a Digital Collections and Applications Developer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Administrate & maintain the institutional repository, Digital Commons @ UNO, and other digital collections: manage daily operation of the institutional repository, including negotiating with publishers & other repositories to include materials in the IR; Collaborate with subject specialists to promote and market the repository; Collect & process research & scholarly publications deposits from faculty across campus; manage related projects and IR initiatives; Collaborate with library staff & stakeholders to establish, implement & maintain IR guidelines & metadata standards; establish, document and analyze policies, procedures and workflows for the IR; investigate & implement ways to populate the IR and other digital collections with content; actively cultivate communication with IR stakeholders & content providers; coordinate and provide training in support of IR; supervise students working on IR or other digitization projects; develop web applications to deliver library resources & services to users; develop and deploy new or improved interfaces to digital collections & e-resources; develop or assist with usability studies & evaluations to understand stakeholder needs and improve access to library resources & services.

| Digital Scholarship |

"The Data Conservancy Instance: Infrastructure and Organizational Services for Research Data Curation"

Matthew S. Mayernik, G. Sayeed Choudhury, Tim DiLauro, Elliot Metsger, Barbara Pralle, Mike Rippin, and Ruth Duerr have published "The Data Conservancy Instance: Infrastructure and Organizational Services for Research Data Curation" in the latest issue of D-LIB Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

Digital research data can only be managed and preserved over time through a sustained institutional commitment. Research data curation is a multi-faceted issue, requiring technologies, organizational structures, and human knowledge and skills to come together in complementary ways. This article provides a high-level description of the Data Conservancy Instance, an implementation of infrastructure and organizational services for data collection, storage, preservation, archiving, curation, and sharing. While comparable to institutional repository systems and disciplinary data repositories in some aspects, the DC Instance is distinguished by featuring a data-centric architecture, discipline-agnostic data model, and a data feature extraction framework that facilitates data integration and cross-disciplinary queries. The Data Conservancy Instance is intended to support, and be supported by, a skilled data curation staff, and to facilitate technical, financial, and human sustainability of organizational data curation services. The Johns Hopkins University Data Management Services (JHU DMS) are described as an example of how the Data Conservancy Instance can be deployed.

| Digital Curation Resource Guide | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 9/13/12

| Digital Scholarship |

Digital Public Library of America Gets $250,000 Grant from IMLS for Digital Hubs Pilot Program

The Digital Public Library of America has been awarded a $250,000 grant by IMLS for its Digital Hubs Pilot Program.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced today a $250,000 grant to support the development of the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). The National Leadership Grant for Libraries in the Advancing Digital Resources category will help fund the launch of the DPLA's Digital Hubs Pilot Program, a project that will take the first steps to bring together existing U.S. digital library infrastructure into a sustainable national digital library system. . . .

Under the Digital Hubs Pilot Program, the DPLA will partner with existing statewide digital library projects (service hubs) and existing large content repositories (content hubs) to define, test, and implement digital services and participation agreements. Led by DPLA Director for Content Emily Gore, the Hubs Program will establish foundational sites in the DPLA, a distributed national network of connected service and content hubs.

This grant specifically will support the planning and implementation of a regional service hub pilot at the Mountain West Digital Library, including the set up and coordinated rollout of regional digital services, such as digitization services, metadata consultation, data aggregation, repository services, and community programming, as well as related workshops and meetings.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

European Parliament Passes Orphan Works Bill

The European Parliament has passed an orphan works bill.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Under the new rules, a work would be deemed to be "orphan" if a "diligent" search made in good faith failed to identify or locate the copyright holder. The legislation lays down criteria for carrying out such searches.

Works granted orphan status would be then be made public, for non-profit purposes only, through digitisation. A work deemed to be "orphan" in any one Member State would then qualify as "orphan" throughout the EU. This would apply to any audiovisual or printed material, including a photograph or an illustration embedded in a book, published or broadcast in any EU country.

MEPs agreed that the right holder should be entitled to put an end to the orphan status of a work at any time and claim appropriate compensation for the use made of it.

They nonetheless inserted a provision to protect public institutions from the risk of having to pay large sums to authors who show up later.

| Digital Scholarship's Digital/Print Books | Digital Scholarship |

Digital Archivist at Barnard College Library and Academic Information Services

Barnard College Library and Academic Information Services is recruiting a Digital Archivist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Under the direction of the Associate Director, Research & Instructional Services (RIS) and serving within the RIS division of the Barnard Library and Academic Information Services (BLAIS) department, the Digital Archivist will conceive, develop and implement technology related projects for the Barnard College Archives, in addition to providing support for collecting, organizing, maintaining, curating, and making accessible media materials, records and other primary sources relating to Barnard College and its alumnae.

| Digital Scholarship |

Software Engineer, Library Technology Services at Harvard University IT Library Technology Services

Harvard University IT Library Technology Services is recruiting a Software Engineer, Library Technology Services.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Harvard University IT Library Technology Services is seeking a highly skilled software developer to design and develop digital repository and ancillary software for the Harvard Library Digital Repository Service and associated library web applications and web services for managing digital assets and for delivering them to users. May also develop software for interfacing with and supporting library data management and discovery applications. Developed software must be of high quality and reliability, supporting long term digital preservation and public access for critical library digital content that is accessed by thousands of users on a daily basis.

| Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 9/12/2012

| Digital Scholarship |

"Developing Humanities Collections in the Digital Age: Exploring Humanities Faculty Engagement with Electronic and Print Resources"

College & Research Libraries has released an eprint of "Developing Humanities Collections in the Digital Age: Exploring Humanities Faculty Engagement with Electronic and Print Resources."

Here's an excerpt:

This article is based on quantitative and qualitative research examining humanities scholars' understandings of the advantages and disadvantages of print versus electronic information resources. It explores how humanities' faculty members at [removed for review] use print and electronic resources, as well as how they perceive these different formats. It was carried out with the goal of assisting the authors and other librarians in choosing between electronic and print formats when performing collection development responsibilities.

| Reviews of Digital Scholarship Publications | Digital Scholarship |

Budapest Open Access Initiative Issues Recommendations for Next Ten Years of Open Access Development

The Budapest Open Access Initiative has issued recommendations for the next ten years of open access development.

Here's an excerpt:

Ten years ago the Budapest Open Access Initiative launched a worldwide campaign for open access (OA) to all new peer-reviewed research. It didn't invent the idea of OA. On the contrary, it deliberately drew together existing projects to explore how they might "work together to achieve broader, deeper, and faster success." But the BOAI was the first initiative to use the term "open access" for this purpose, the first to articulate a public definition, the first to propose complementary strategies for realizing OA, the first to generalize the call for OA to all disciplines and countries, and the first to be accompanied by significant funding. . . .

The problems that previously held up the adoption and implementation of OA are solved, and the solutions are spreading. But until OA spreads further, the problems for which OA is a solution will remain largely unsolved. In this statement, we reaffirm the ends and means of the original BOAI, and recommit ourselves to make progress. But in addition, we specifically set the new goal that within the next ten years, OA will become the default method for distributing new peer-reviewed research in every field and country.

| Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Metadata Librarian at William & Anita Newman Library of Baruch College

The William & Anita Newman Library of Baruch College is recruiting a Metadata Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (job ID: 6525):

The successful candidate will be responsible for the creation and application of metadata across a wide range of materials, including digital and physical collections. The position reports to the Head of Collection Management, but requires close collaboration with the College Archivist, Head of Cataloging, IT staff, and units of the College that produce digital assets. The Metadata Librarian has a leadership role in the development of the College's institutional repository, Digital Media Library, and other digital collections. This position is also responsible for managing the batch loading and updating of MARC records for e-books in the catalog, helping to troubleshoot access problems with electronic resources, and advising staff and faculty on metadata standards and appropriate schema.

| Digital Scholarship |

Librarian, Virtual Services at New York Institute of Technology Libraries

The New York Institute of Technology Libraries are recruiting a Librarian, Virtual Services.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

NYIT seeks a Virtual Services Librarian to coordinate the development of the library's web content division including: next-generation research guides, innovative tutorials, virtual tours, interactive web-based forms, integration of social networking platforms, and other initiatives to further develop our state-of-the-art online library services and resources. The successful candidate will train other librarians new and existing technologies, pedagogical techniques, and learning strategies; work with patrons and understand user needs and incorporate them into web services; design, implement and maintain an effective library website within a CMS framework; work with the library's Web Committee and serve as a point of contact for uniformity, consistency and development of website standards and policies.

| Digital Scholarship |

Digital Preservation: Swatting the Long Tail of Digital Media: A Call for Collaboration

OCLC Research has released Swatting the Long Tail of Digital Media: A Call for Collaboration.

Here's an excerpt:

It is difficult to do much with digital media unless you can read its content and transfer that content to more stable media. Few institutions can be expected to manage all media types. In order to make real progress in preserving and providing access to born-digital content, libraries and archives need to leverage specialized resources and expertise across the community. In this paper I posit the need for SWAT (software and workstations for antiquated technology) sites: organizations or institutions that are willing to put their expertise to use for the benefit of the broader community by providing specialized services to institutions with limited resources.

| Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works | Digital Scholarship |

Systems Integration Specialist at SWITCH Library Consortium

The SWITCH Library Consortium is recruiting a Systems Integration Specialist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Systems Integration Specialist provides overall technical support and operation of all consortium systems to keep them at peak operating effectiveness and reliability. In addition, the Systems Integration Specialist acts as technical consultant to member libraries and collaborator to member institutions in their development and use of library related information technologies.

| Digital Scholarship |

Desktop Operations Manager at University of Pennsylvania Library

The University of Pennsylvania Library is recruiting a Desktop Operations Manager.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Desktop Operations Manager, under the general direction of the Operations Manager, ensures the successful operations of public and staff desktop computing in the Penn Libraries. This position directly supervises four desktop technicians that support over 1500 computing devices throughout the Libraries, including desktop, laptop, & mobile devices, printers and print servers, scanners, and media systems.

| Digital Scholarship |