Year: 2013

Report on Research Libraries Readiness for Sustainable Digital Preservation

APARSEN has released the Business Preparedness Report.

Here's an excerpt:

This report presents the results of a European-wide online survey for assessing the preparedness of research libraries (as represented by the members of LIBER) in regard to economically-sustainable digital preservation. The survey investigated the preparedness in accordance to the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Task Force and the results have been mapped to these recommendations to identify Implementation Gaps. The further analyses of these Gaps will allow key stakeholders to intervene in a prioritized way and to facilitate progress of digital preservation to become an economically sustainable practice.

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Digitization Supervisor/Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage Coordinator at Enoch Pratt Free Library

The Enoch Pratt Free Library is recruiting a Digitization Supervisor/Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage Coordinator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Under the supervision of the Web Manager, the Digitization Supervisor / Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage Coordinator is responsible for planning, directing, and implementing digitization projects for both the Enoch Pratt Free Library/State Library Resource Center and the Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage Program, including the oversight of staff, policy, and workflow. Manages the continued growth and development of current projects and implements new projects as they arise, including identifying and evaluating potential digitization projects; selecting materials for digitization; resolving intellectual property and privacy issues; overseeing the scanning of materials and creation of descriptive metadata; and publishing of digital collections to the web using appropriate software and technologies.

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Report on Cost Parameters for Digital Repositories

APARSEN has released the Report on Cost Parameters for Digital Repositories.

Here's an excerpt:

The purpose of this report is to present our analysis of published cost models. A review of cost parameters for the selected models focused on how cost parameters mapped to the International Standard for Trusted Repositories (ISO 16363) which enabled us to assess the areas of; Organisational Infrastructure, Digital Object Management and Infrastructure and Security Risk Management. The purpose was to assess whether cost models were measuring, through their parameters, the relevant activities for a trusted digital repository.

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Current News: DigitalKoans Twitter Updates for 3/25/2013

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"Researcher, Beware!"

Jan Erik Frantsvåg has published "Researcher, Beware!" in the latest issue of ScieCom info (note: PDFs are in English).

Here's an excerpt:

The Wellcome Trust has not only showed themselves willing to fund OA, they also demand something in return for their funding. Authors are not allowed to use articles that should have been OA, but aren't, in their list of publication when applying for new grants. If the Trust find papers in reports, that do not comply with the OA policy, funding will be withheld. Non-compliant papers will also result in funding renewals or new grants being held back. . . .

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced chances to their procedures regarding OA compliance. If non-compliant papers are found in project reports, further payments will be withheld pending evidence of compliance or a satisfactory explanation. . . .

The European Union is rewriting their OA policy for Horizon 2010. In Framework Program 7 (FP7), a Special Clause 39, demanding Open Access, was attached to about 20 per cent of funds. In Horizon 2020 all funds will have an OA obligation attached. And while the OA obligation in FP7 had a "best effort" clause in it (enabling you to be let off the hook, if you could document that you had asked for, but been denied, permission to self-archive), Horizon 2020 leaves no escape. If you don't comply, you have not fulfilled your contract. This will lead to funds being withheld.

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Director, Scholarly Communications and Copyright at Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries

Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries are recruiting a Director, Scholarly Communications and Copyright.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The successful candidate for this newly created position will lead the Libraries' developing programs to expand the university community's awareness of issues related to copyright, author's rights, mainstream and alternative publishing and emerging scholarly expression, and confident assertion of fair use and author rights in the use of digital and print materials for teaching and research. The Director will support staff throughout the library system engaged in teaching, supporting research, and developing digital publication and digital preservation programs.

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Head of Scholars’ Lab Graduate Programs at University of Virginia Library

The University of Virginia Library is recruiting a Head of Scholars' Lab Graduate Programs.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The University of Virginia Library seeks an experienced, versatile digital scholar and administrator to lead programs for graduate students in our internationally-recognized Scholars' Lab, home of the Praxis Program and a vibrant community of Graduate Fellows in Digital Humanities. . . .

Primary Responsibilities: Mentoring, managing day-to-day operations, and coordinating staff support for both team-based and individual graduate fellowship programs at UVa Library. Developing intellectual programming in the digital humanities for the Scholars' Lab and building community among emerging scholars at U.Va. Fostering collaboration on humanities training and research support with internal and external partners.

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University of Rhode Island Adopts Open Access Policy

The University of Rhode Island has adopted an open access policy.

This year, Amherst College, the College of Wooster, Connecticut College, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Library Faculty, and Wellesley College have all adopted open access policies.

(See Peter Suber's Google+ announcements of these policies.)

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Entire Editorial Board of Journal of Library Administration Resigns

There have been several reports stating that the editorial board of the Journal of Library Administration has resigned. The Journal of Library Administration is published by Taylor & Francis, which publishes a number of library and information science journals.

Here's an excerpt from Brian Mathews's "So I'm Editing This Journal Issue and . . ." in which he quotes an e-mail from Damon Jaggars:

"The Board believes that the licensing terms in the Taylor & Francis author agreement are too restrictive and out-of-step with the expectations of authors in the LIS community."

"A large and growing number of current and potential authors to JLA have pushed back on the licensing terms included in the Taylor & Francis author agreement. Several authors have refused to publish with the journal under the current licensing terms."

"Authors find the author agreement unclear and too restrictive and have repeatedly requested some form of Creative Commons license in its place."

"After much discussion, the only alternative presented by Taylor & Francis tied a less restrictive license to a $2995 per article fee to be paid by the author. As you know, this is not a viable licensing option for authors from the LIS community who are generally not conducting research under large grants."

"Thus, the Board came to the conclusion that it is not possible to produce a quality journal under the current licensing terms offered by Taylor & Francis and chose to collectively resign."

The Editorial Board members are:

Damon Jaggars (Editor)
Kristin Antelman
Chris Bourg
Lisa German
Fred M. Heath
Paula T. Kaufman
Deanna B. Marcum
Sarah C. Michalak
James G. Neal
Ann J. Wolpert
Makoto Nakamoto
Stephen Town

Read more about it at "Editorial Board Resigns from T&F Journal to Protest Restrictive Licensing," "The Journal of Library Administration," and "My Short Stint on the JLA Editorial Board."

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Current News: DigitalCurationNews Twitter Updates for 3/22/2013

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Scholarly Communication Librarian at Butler University Libraries

Butler University Libraries are recruiting a Scholarly Communication Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Scholarly Communication Librarian position provides leadership for scholarly communication and digitization initiatives at Butler University Libraries. Scholarly communication is a strategic priority for Butler Libraries, and this position is responsible for managing and developing the library's institutional repository (digital commons via bePress), digital publishing initiatives, and digitization projects. The librarian in this position leads education and outreach to faculty and provides guidance to library colleagues and others on issues relevant to the dynamic scholarly publishing landscape, including author rights, open access (OA) publishing, and alternative publishing trends related to tenure and promotion. The position also serves as the Library's primary resource on copyright compliance, fair use, and other copyright issues that pertain to library collections and services.

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What EDINA Does: A Community Report

EDINA has released What EDINA Does: A Community Report.

Here's an excerpt:

Universities and colleges across the UK making use of our services enjoy high quality online support documentation and helpful case studies. Flagship services include JISC MediaHub, Digimap Collections, and SUNCAT (with respective focus on multimedia, geo-spatial data and mapping for teaching and research, and the scholarly statement made in journals). . . .

What follows in this booklet also acts as a showcase for our current project activities; the key investments for present and future services. These include innovation to support use on the 'mobile Internet', both mobility and multi-platform delivery and interaction, as part of the national and international development of the 'spatial data infrastructure', including leadership in the citizen observatory (COBWEB) project funded by the EU. There is also significant contribution to the wider definition of digital infrastructure, geared to ensure ease and continuity of access, both for discovery and for stewardship (preservation) of the digital resources that research and education require, such as The Keepers Registry (for e-journals) and now the UK RepositoryNet+ initiative and its service components to assist universities and research institutes with the Open Access agenda and research reporting. More about the product of our research and development project activity is found in the project archive pages of our website.

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Director of Research Data Management at Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries

Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries are recruiting a Director of Research Data Management.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Director of the Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences and Associate University Librarian, the Director of Research Data Management will lead a developing, cross-campus team being formed to integrate the VCU Libraries, its services and its resources with the VCU research enterprise. Responsibilities include:

  • Developing a framework for knowledge-based research data services for the lifespan of research data to the VCU community.
  • Serving as a consultant to researchers on research data issues, providing access to research data, and working with digital research tools such as DMPTool to manage, curate and archive research data.
  • Leading the ongoing assessment of researcher data support needs across VCUin collaboration with the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, the VCU Office of Research, and VCU Libraries colleagues.
  • Identifying new data management tools and initiatives; maintaining and promoting existing tools to the VCU research community.

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Implementing an Open Data Policy: A Primer for Research Funders

SPARC has released Implementing an Open Data Policy: A Primer for Research Funders.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

This primer addresses key issues that these organizations encounter when considering the adoption and implementation of an open data policy. The guide covers big-picture topics such as how to decide on the range of activities an open data policy should cover. It also delves into areas of very specific concern, such as options for where data can be deposited, and how privacy and other concerns can be managed.

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Current News: DigitalKoans Twitter Updates for 3/21/13

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Current News: DigitalCurationNews Twitter Updates for 3/21/13

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Manager, Discovery Systems at Drexel University Libraries

Drexel University Libraries are recruiting a Manager, Discovery Systems.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Manager, Discovery Systems leads the Drexel University Libraries program of Discovery Systems, focusing on thoughtful and proactive integration and development of the Libraries' patron facing discovery systems. In this role, the Manager will be a key leader in the Libraries efforts to develop and deliver new discovery services to the University community as part of the Libraries contribution to build campus data curation and digital content. The Manager will have responsibility for Libraries' website, integrated library system, and library technology & systems infrastructure. Currently the Manager reports to the Director, Library Academic Partnerships

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"The Orphan Works Chimera and How to Defeat It: A View From the Atlantic"

Stef van Gompel has published "The Orphan Works Chimera and How to Defeat It: A View From the Atlantic" in a special issue of the Berkeley Technology Law Journal about orphan works.

Here's an excerpt:

This Article consists of three parts. Employing the metaphor of the Chimera, Part II systematically introduces the different ways in which the problem of orphan works manifests itself and describes the legal uncertainty that the different categories of users of orphan works experience. Next, Part III suggests addressing the orphan works problem by adopting a multifaceted approach that would provide adequate relief for the different categories of users of orphan works. Part IV concludes.

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Senior Director, Digital Initiatives at McGill University Library

The McGill University Library is recruiting a Senior Director, Digital Initiatives. Duration: "Initial three-year appointment with possibility for renewal."

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Trenholme Dean of Libraries, the Senior Director, Digital Initiatives will work collaboratively with university faculty and administration to develop and advance digital initiative programs including web-based services, information technologies, programs supporting the integration of digital collections, and digital library services. The Senior Director, Digital Initiatives supervises 14 staff, including librarians and IT professionals.

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"Private Digital Libraries and Orphan Works"

Randal C. Picker has published "Private Digital Libraries and Orphan Works" in a special issue of the Berkeley Technology Law Journal about orphan works.

Here's an excerpt:

This Article is divided into three substantive parts. In Part II, this Article considers some of the characteristics that will matter for the competition between public and private digital libraries and offer a brief discussion of the emerging private digital libraries. Google's Book Search project is probably the most prominent example, but Amazon has an important initiative as well and there are many smaller examples. In Part III, this Article considers the current library exemptions in U.S. copyright law, with particular emphasis on § 108. . . .

In Part IV, this Article turns to the shape of a potential statutory licensing regime for orphan works.

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Digital Communications Librarian at University of California, Merced Library

The University of California, Merced Library is recruiting a Digital Communications Librarian .

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The goal of the Digital Communications librarian is to provide a highly usable, relevant, and innovative digital presence in order to effectively connect library users with available library resources and services.

  • Develops a well coordinated digital communications strategy that is valuable to users and feasible to implement, maintain, and evaluate
  • Creates online services which are engaging and accessible for users through evaluating, selecting, and implementing effective technology based solutions
  • Leads the development, maintenance, and ongoing improvement of the library's digital presence including its web presence, mobile site, social networking profiles, digital signage, and electronic communications
  • Leads the library web team to direct website development through gathering input, identifying issues, and pursuing initiatives
  • Contributes design, programming, and information architecture expertise to digital and online projects

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"Beyond TEI: Returning the Text to the Reader"

Christian Wittern has published "Beyond TEI: Returning the Text to the Reader" in the latest issue of the Journal of the Text Encoding Initiative.

Here's an excerpt:

Much research and effort has been invested in creating a versatile format for digital texts and the TEI is now widely used in many communities. Much less consolidated thought has been spend to publish and distribute digital texts in ways that are most useful to scholars. To remedy this situation, this paper proposes new, additional publication forms for digital texts through distributed version control systems. This will allow publication and maintainence of several different versions of a text. In some respects, this will be similar to publishing a college or paperback edition of the text established in a critical edition. In addition to this, the user of a text published through such a system can subscribe to later changes or corrections of an edition. The architectural model proposed in this paper tries to contribute to a fundamental protocol that could form the base for applications serving the long-term needs of research and scholarship.

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Digital Production Coordinator at University of Richmond Library

The University of Richmond Library is recruiting a Digital Production Coordinator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Digital Production Coordinator works with faculty and staff on digitization projects through the University of Richmond's Library Discovery, Technology, and Publishing department, and leads the daily scanning and photography operations within the department. The Digital Production Coordinator is responsible for the creation of high-quality digital representations of University holdings and other materials for inclusion in digital library collections, faculty publications and presentations, and for classroom use.

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Digital Music Consumption on the Internet: Evidence from Clickstream Data

The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies. has released Digital Music Consumption on the Internet: Evidence from Clickstream Data.

Here's an excerpt:

This paper analyses the behaviour of digital music consumers on the Internet. Using clickstream data on a panel of more than 16,000 European consumers, we estimate the effects of illegal downloading and legal streaming on the legal purchases of digital music. Our results suggest that Internet users do not view illegal downloading as a substitute for legal digital music. Although positive and significant, our estimated elasticities are essentially zero: a 10% increase in clicks on illegal downloading websites leads to a 0.2% increase in clicks on legal purchase websites. Online music streaming services are found to have a somewhat larger (but still small) effect on the purchases of digital sound recordings, suggesting complementarities between these two modes of music consumption. According to our results, a 10% increase in clicks on legal streaming websites leads to up to a 0.7% increase in clicks on legal digital purchase websites. We find important cross country differences in these effects.

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