University Librarian and Dean of Libraries at Simon Fraser University


In alignment with What’s Next: The SFU Strategy (https://tinyurl.com/yc3z9k87) and SFU Library’s Strategic Plan (https://tinyurl.com/mr33r3fk) the Dean will lead the continued transformation of the library; will sustain, support and grow library initiatives; and will be committed to furthering decolonization and reconciliation (per the statement at (https://tinyurl.com/55284ns4), diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. As an accomplished librarian with strong experience in post-secondary and academic environments, the Dean will lead through collaboration and relationship building to advance the mission and mandate of SFU and SFU Library. Reporting to the Provost and Vice-President Academic and working closely with the Office of the Vice-President Research and International as an active partner in the life cycle of research and scholarship, the successful candidate serves as a member of SFU’s senior administration with shared responsibility for the overall strategic leadership and management of the institution. Building on the strong foundation that SFU has established in academic and research excellence,

https://tinyurl.com/mryakkd9

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"Fair Use Rights to Conduct Text and Data Mining and Use Artificial Intelligence Tools Are Essential for UC Research and Teaching"


The UC Libraries invest more than $60 million each year licensing systemwide electronic content needed by scholars for these and other studies. (Indeed, the $60 million figure represents license agreements made at the UC systemwide and multi-campus levels. But each individual campus also licenses electronic resources, adding millions more in total expenditures.) Our libraries secure campus access to a broad range of digital resources including books, scientific journals, databases, multimedia resources, and other materials. In doing so, the UC Libraries must negotiate licensing terms that ensure scholars can make both lawful and comprehensive use of the materials the libraries have procured. Increasingly, however, publishers and vendors are presenting libraries with content license agreements that attempt to preclude, or charge additional and unsupportable fees for, fair uses like training AI tools in the course of conducting TDM. . . .

If the UC Libraries are unable to protect these fair uses, UC scholars will be at the mercy of publishers aggregating and controlling what may be done with the scholarly record. Further, UC scholars’ pursuit of knowledge will be disproportionately stymied relative to academic colleagues in other global regions, given that a large proportion of other countries preclude contractual override of research exceptions.

Indeed, in more than forty countries—including all those within the European Union (EU)—publishers are prohibited from using contracts to abrogate exceptions to copyright in non-profit scholarly and educational contexts. Article 3 of the EU’s Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market preserves the right for scholars within research organizations and cultural heritage institutions (like those researchers at UC) to conduct TDM for scientific research, and further proscribes publishers from invalidating this exception by license agreements (see Article 7). Moreover, under AI regulations recently adopted by the European Parliament, copyright owners may not opt out of having their works used in conjunction with artificial intelligence tools in TDM research—meaning copyrighted works must remain available for scientific research that is reliant on AI training, and publishers cannot override these AI training rights through contract. Publishers are thus obligated to—and do—preserve fair use-equivalent research exceptions for TDM and AI within the EU, and can do so in the United States, too. . . .

In all events, adaptable licensing language can address publishers’ concerns by reiterating that the licensed products may be used with AI tools only to the extent that doing so would not: i. create a competing or commercial product or service for use by third parties; ii. unreasonably disrupt the functionality of the subscribed products; or iii. reproduce or redistribute the subscribed products for third parties. In addition, license agreements can require commercially reasonable security measures (as also required in the EU) to extinguish the risk of content dissemination beyond permitted uses. In sum, these licensing terms can replicate the research rights that are unequivocally reserved for scholars elsewhere.

https://tinyurl.com/4fvpdz35

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"Supporting Open Access Monographs: Penn State University Libraries’ Participation in the TOME Initiative"


In 2017, Penn State pledged to participate in the then newly established Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem (TOME) Initiative. TOME was launched by the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) as a five-year pilot with two main types of participants: colleges and universities and university presses. Penn State was one of the first universities to commit funds to participate in TOME, which was designed to support peer-reviewed, open access monographs in the humanities and social sciences. Each participating university committed $225,000 total for the five-year pilot, split out into $45,000 per academic year to support three grants of $15,000 per monograph. This number was established based on the recommendation from the Ithaka S+R Report "The Costs of Publishing Monographs."

https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.85.3.66

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"Using AI/Machine Learning to Extract Data from Japanese American Confinement Records"


Purpose: This paper examines the use of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning to extract a more comprehensive data set from a structured “standardized” form used to document Japanese American incarcerees during World War II.

Setting/Participants/Resources: The Bancroft Library partnered with Densho, a community memory organization, and Doxie.AI to complete this work.

Brief Description: The project digitized the complete set of Form WRA-26 "individual record"’ for more than 110,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated in War Relocation Authority camps during WWII. The library utilized AI/machine learning to automate text extraction from over 220,000 images of a structured "standardized" form; our goal was to improve upon and collect information not previously recorded in the Japanese American Internee Data file held by the National Archives and Records Administration. The project team worked with technical, academic, legal, and community partners to address ethical and logistical issues raised by the data extraction process, and to assess appropriate access options for the dataset(s) and digitized records.

https://doi.org/10.7191/jeslib.850

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"A Descriptive Analysis of AI Guides in Academic Libraries"


The purpose of this work is to do an exploratory descriptive analysis of topics included in Artificial Intelligence (AI) electronic library guides of academic libraries. AI library guides from members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) are chosen for selection. Of the 48 libraries randomly selected, 25 have AI guides. Data collected was subject to a content analysis process which included the use of terms co-occurrence using the VOSviewer software. The results show three clusters of terms, which are complemented with the discussion of materials found in the guides.

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/8033/

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"Christina H. Gola Named Interim Dean of University of Houston Libraries"


University of Houston (UH) has appointed Christina H. Gola interim dean of UH Libraries. . . . Prior to this appointment, Gola served as the associate dean for Organizational Development, Learning, and Talent (ODLT). She has worked with UH Libraries for 15 years and was promoted to full librarian in 2021. Gola is leading the “Reimagined Libraries” endeavor, which focuses on enhancing spaces and leveraging campus partnerships for the benefit of students and scholars.

http://tinyurl.com/m33w5x6v

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Vice Provost for Libraries & University Librarian at University of Missouri


The next Vice Provost will be joining the institution during a period of incredible growth and opportunities. During the past three years, the University of Missouri has achieved historic highs in student success (retention, graduation, and placement rates), research expenditures, state appropriations and alumni support. The next Vice Provost will have the opportunity to support these areas of excellence by enhancing the opportunities, activities, and initiatives of MU Libraries and acting as an advocate and catalyst for an integrated libraries vision for one of the most comprehensive universities in the United States.

http://tinyurl.com/5abcfef6

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"Realities of Academic Data Sharing (RADS) Initiative Releases Reports on Expenses of Making Data Publicly Accessible, Project Methodology"


This report presents data on the average yearly cost of DMS activities for institutional units, as well as direct DMS expenses incurred by researchers per funded research project. These expenses were then analyzed together, showing an average combined overall cost of $2,500,000 (with total institutional expenses ranging from approximately $800,000 to over $6,000,000).

http://tinyurl.com/5xsw32we

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"The University of North Carolina Selects Ex Libris Library Solutions"


As part of its transition to Ex Libris library platforms, UNC will implement:

  • Alma and Primo
  • Leganto, Ex Libris’ course resource management system
  • Library Mobile, Ex Libris’ integrated mobile library app and
  • Rapido, Ex Libris’ interlibrary loan system

http://tinyurl.com/rvumvpeh

More from UNC:

Who:

Appalachian State, UNC Asheville, UNC Charlotte, Fayetteville State, NC Central, NC State, NC A&T, UNC Pembroke, UNC School of the Arts, Western Carolina, UNC Wilmington, and Winston-Salem State.

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"Athena Jackson Named UCLA University Librarian"


Athena N. Jackson has been named UCLA’s Norman and Armena Powell University Librarian. Her appointment will begin March 1.

Jackson, the former director of special collections at UCLA Library, has served since 2021 as dean of libraries at the University of Houston, where she holds the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Chair. . . .

At the University of Houston, Jackson was responsible for oversight of the library’s administrative activities, a team of more than 125 and an annual budget of $21 million, providing programmatic and strategic leadership while playing a critical role in development activities. She was also active in open-scholarship dialogues at state and national levels, drawing on her rich background in rare and archival collections.

http://tinyurl.com/2u3j67p7

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"UC Berkeley Chooses Suzanne Wones as New University Librarian"


UC Berkeley has chosen a new University Librarian, Suzanne L. Wones, who is associate university librarian for discovery and access at Harvard Library. Wones, with 20 years’ experience as a leader in academic libraries, will start her new post July 1, following University Librarian Jeffrey MacKie-Mason’s retirement.

Berkeley’s commitment to open access— the free, immediate, online availability of research published in journals and books — attracted Wones to the position, as well as the many other ways the campus strives to remedy global inequities.

http://tinyurl.com/c58xn7c6

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H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and Director of Libraries at University of Pennsylvania


The Director will be a visionary, collegial, entrepreneurial, and courageous leader who will nurture, sustain, and extend the record of strength established by Penn Libraries and its personnel. This is a liminal moment for the University and the Libraries: a new university strategic framework, In Principle and Practice, was released in Fall 2023 and sets forth a vision of an institution anchored in the campus, local, and global communities; interwoven and interconnected; inventive in confronting society’s great challenges and opportunities; and engaged in service and collaboration. The Libraries themselves are in the midst of a strategic plan for building technical, structural, and human capacity, which includes a digital strategic plan that presents a broad vision to plan, implement, scale, and sustain digital technologies and practices.

http://tinyurl.com/zyc7cxvj

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"ARL Statistics 2022 Publications Describe Resources, Services of Member Libraries"


These three publications present information describing the collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities of 123 of the Association’s 126 member libraries in 2022. Of these 123 members, 118 are university libraries (16 in Canada and 102 in the US); the remaining 5 are governmental, nonprofit, and public research libraries in the US. The law and health sciences publications focus on the 72 law libraries and 57 medical libraries among the Association’s membership that completed the law and health sciences surveys.

https://tinyurl.com/mrxaej4e

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"ARL Annual Salary Survey 2022 Reports Data on Professional Positions in Member Libraries"


The median salary for professionals in US ARL university libraries in 2022 was $80,454, an increase of 4.0% over the 2021 median salary of $77,353. The US CPI rose 8.5% during the same period. The Canadian CPI rose 7.6%, and median salaries in Canadian university libraries increased 1.9% from $105,431 (Canadian dollars) to $107,426 (Canadian dollars). The median salary for US federal, nonprofit, and public ARL libraries decreased by 11.3 from $90,197 in 2021 to $80,009 in 2022.

https://tinyurl.com/bdzjh3ex

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NYU: "From Silos to Community: The Path to a Holistic Digital Preservation Policy"


While New York University Libraries has a long history of and commitment to digital collecting and preservation efforts, the institution did not have any policies governing the services and activities of digital preservation prior to 2022. This paper details the creation of a holistic digital preservation policy statement, with contributors from across ten functional units at NYU Libraries. The policy was grounded in the Libraries’ mission and values–including deep commitments to inclusion, diversity, belonging, equity, and accessibility–and drew on themes crafted by all members of the group to ensure their work was represented in the statement. The success of the policy group was rooted in its intentional formation and processes that acknowledged the distributed nature of digital preservation and emphasized the creation of a community of practice. Further, it laid the foundation for a more complete suite of preservation policies and forward-looking conversations about how to enact ethical and sustainable stewardship in digital collecting, access, and preservation practices

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/128309

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"New Vice Provost for UW–Madison Libraries Chosen"


Erla P. Heyns, associate professor and associate dean for learning at Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies in West Lafayette, Ind., has been selected as the next university librarian and vice provost for University Libraries. She will join the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus on Jan. 1, 2024. Heyns has been with Purdue University since 2016. Previously, she was at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, serving as the director of the Flower/Sprecher Veterinary Library and the coordinator for the engineering, math and physical sciences libraries. Before that, she was the head of Indiana University’s Health, Physical Education and Recreation Library.

https://tinyurl.com/44met6bt

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Paywall: "Trends in Research Impact Librarianship: Developing a New Program and Services"


Research impact librarianship is an area within the profession that continues to grow out of need for dedicated expertise of bibliometrics and other various assessment measures.. . . The Libraries at the University of Houston is in the midst of creating a research visibility and impact program born out of an initiative to elevate the university’s level of prestige and impact by developing personnel, programs, and practices to support research visibility and impact across the institution. This article discusses the University of Houston Libraries’ process and progress toward formalizing research impact services.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2023.2262364

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"UC Berkeley Library to Copyright Office: Protect Fair Uses in AI Training for Research and Education"


If the Copyright Office were to enable rightsholders to opt-out of training AI for research and teaching fair uses, then academic institutions and scholars would face even greater hurdles in licensing content for research purposes. It would be operationally difficult for academic publishers and content aggregators to amass and license the "leftover" body of copyrighted works that remain eligible for AI training. Costs associated with publishers’ efforts in compiling "AI-training-eligible" content would be passed along as additional fees charged to academic libraries, who are already financially constrained to preserve TDM and other fair uses for scholars. In addition, rightsholders might opt out of allowing their work to be used for AI training fair uses, and then turn around and charge AI usage fees to scholars (or libraries)—essentially licensing back fair uses for research. These scenarios would impede scholarship by or for research teams who lack grant or institutional funds to cover these additional expenses; penalize research in or about underfunded disciplines or geographical regions; and result in bias as to the topics and regions studied.

https://tinyurl.com/5cd2vc85

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Paywall: "Implementing a Rules-Based Chatbot for Reference Service at a Large University Library"


While some chatbots or virtual assistants generate automatic and custom responses to user input, this paper explores the implementation of a rules-based chatbot, where all responses have been input and configured by library staff. Details are provided to describe the process before, during, and after the initial implementation with data and observations from the pilot in mid-2023.

https://doi.org/10.1080/19322909.2023.2268832

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"USC Press and University Libraries Launch Open-Access Publishing Platform"


The University of South Carolina Press and University Libraries are embarking on a new collaborative venture: Open Carolina, an open-access publishing platform. . . .

Many ventures into open scholarly resources are planned as temporary pilot operations because they are funded by time-limited grant pools. Thanks to consistent funding from the Libraries, Open Carolina has a sustainable model that will allow scholars with limited publishing funds to share their research via the platform, partially or totally foregoing associated fees. In its inaugural year, the Libraries aim to fund four full-length books and support is in place to make the program sustainable for years to come and allow Open Carolina to grow steadily.

Open Carolina will offer opportunities to a wide range of scholars and researchers regardless of university affiliation.

https://tinyurl.com/yn7zd3ta

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University Librarian at University of California, Berkeley


Comprising 22 libraries, the UC Berkeley Library has one of the world’s most comprehensive academic research collections, from the trove of primary documents chronicling the West at Bancroft Library, to the collaborative and innovative spaces at the Moffitt Library, to the vast and unparalleled collections at Doe Library — a beacon of information standing in the shadow of the iconic Campanile. Together, these libraries help sustain UC Berkeley as a leading producer of knowledge. The Library holds more than 13 million volumes in its world-renowned collections. Materials include paintings, lithographs, papyri, audio and video recordings, and ephemera such as leaflets from the Free Speech Movement, a note from Helen Keller to Mark Twain in honor of his 70th birthday, and vintage costumes worn by Berkeley’s beloved mascot, Oski. The Center for Connected Learning, a "collider space" where students will have access to one-stop consultation on retrieval, evaluation, and use of advanced information resources and will acquire skills required for 21st century information literacy will soon be open in Moffitt Library.

https://tinyurl.com/3368pf5k

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Washington University Libraries: "New Grant to Preserve Born-Digital Poetry"


The Washington University Libraries were awarded a two-year grant by the Mellon Foundation to support an exploration of essential questions surrounding the acquisition, discoverability, preservation, and use of born-digital poetry collections. The $250,000 award will enable the University Libraries to develop online resources and systems to process, preserve, and steward the collections of a new generation of digital-native poets. . . .

The first of its kind to focus on issues of acquisition, preservation, and wider access to born-digital materials, the project will process a wide range of digital materials from the archive of poet and academic Mary Jo Bang. Consequently, the project will eventually make it possible for students and researchers to access born-digital collections and gain a better understanding and insight into the unprecedented ways in which poetry is created in a digital era. The project also aims to lay the foundation for new benchmarks and guidelines on preservation and access to born-digital archives at libraries and museums and for personal poetry archives.

https://tinyurl.com/3baahaj5

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"USC Appoints Alumna Melissa Just as New Dean of Libraries"


Library veteran Melissa Just has been named USC’s new dean of libraries, effective Nov. 27. Just — a Trojan who received her doctoral degree from the USC Rossier School of Education in 2007 and spent several years early in her career at USC Libraries — has worked in academic libraries for nearly three decades.

Just, who will hold the Valerie and Ronald Sugar Dean’s Chair of the USC Libraries, joins the university following 6½ years as library dean at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada. In that role, she oversaw the strategic, fiscal and operational success of a library system serving 26,000 students and 1,000 faculty across 17 colleges, schools and professional programs.

https://tinyurl.com/37mb2cz4

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"Wayne State Names Paul Bracke Dean of School of Information Sciences and University Libraries"


Paul Bracke has been selected to serve as the next dean of the Wayne State University School of Information Sciences (SIS) and University Libraries. . . . Bracke will join Wayne State on Oct. 16, 2023.

Bracke is currently dean of the Foley Center Library, the primary library for Gonzaga University’s Spokane, Washington, campus, a position he has held since 2016. For the last two years, he has also served as associate provost for the Institute for Research and Interdisciplinary Initiatives. . . .

Bracke was previously an associate dean at the Purdue University Libraries. At Purdue, he provided leadership in technology, digitization, research services and assessment and developed internationally recognized research support services, including data management services and institutional and data repositories. He also directed projects that explored the intersections of digitization and open access publishing and of digitization and scholarly workflows in the social sciences.

https://tinyurl.com/2b5379yc

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