Month: January 2009

NetLibrary to Offer Five E-Book Collections for Sony’s Reader Digital Book

OCLC's NetLibrary will offer five Sony Reader Mobile Collections for Sony’s Reader Digital Book.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The program includes a Reader model PRS-505, a collection of titles from leading publishers and all required licenses. Using the library’s PC, librarians can download a mobile collection title or titles from the NetLibrary site to the Reader as necessary.

Libraries that purchase Mobile Collections will be able to offer their patrons the ability to check out Readers for onsite or offsite use, depending on the policy established by each library. Collections, selected by NetLibrary’s collections librarian, include Career Development and Business Self Help (30 titles), Management and Leadership (22 titles), Popular Fiction (29 titles), Romance (19 titles) and Young Adult Fiction (24 titles).

"Google & the Future of Books"

Robert Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor at Harvard University, has published "Google & the Future of Books" in the The New York Review of Books.

Here's an excerpt:

As an unintended consequence [of the Google Book Settlement], Google will enjoy what can only be called a monopoly—a monopoly of a new kind, not of railroads or steel but of access to information. Google has no serious competitors. Microsoft dropped its major program to digitize books several months ago, and other enterprises like the Open Knowledge Commons (formerly the Open Content Alliance) and the Internet Archive are minute and ineffective in comparison with Google. Google alone has the wealth to digitize on a massive scale. And having settled with the authors and publishers, it can exploit its financial power from within a protective legal barrier; for the class action suit covers the entire class of authors and publishers. No new entrepreneurs will be able to digitize books within that fenced-off territory, even if they could afford it, because they would have to fight the copyright battles all over again. If the settlement is upheld by the court, only Google will be protected from copyright liability.

Like Deja Vu All Over Again: Microsoft's New MSN Mobile Music Service Includes DRM

Microsoft's new MSN Mobile Music service, which has been introduced in the UK, includes DRM protection.

In "Q&A: Microsoft Defends Return to DRM," Microsoft's Hugh Griffiths answers questions about this development.

Read more about it at "MSN Mobile Music Service Launches with Added DRM and Device Locking."

Clarifications about the Michigan/OCLC OAIster Deal

Dorothea Salo has posted "The Straight Story on OAIster and Its Move" on Caveat Lector in which the University of Michigan Library's Katrina Hagedorn answers questions about the future of OAIster.

Here's an excerpt:

Q. Once oaister.org ceases to exist, there will be no way to search the harvested records for free except through worldcat.org, is that right?

A. I think those details haven’t been hammered out yet. Worldcat.org is one choice, yes. There will be likely be other products and services, and it’s likely you’ll be able to limit to just oaister records (for what that’s worth).

What We’ve Learned from the RLG Partners Metadata Creation Workflows Survey

OCLC has released What We’ve Learned from the RLG Partners Metadata Creation Workflows Survey.

Here's an excerpt:

We are reassured that libraries are exposing their data in multiple ways. Although the catalog is the first method of exposure (76%) and other methods of local exposure rate high such as the institution’s Web site (67%) and the institution’s digital repository (68%), a relatively high percentage exposes metadata through union catalogs (63%), crawlers like Google, Yahoo, MSN (56%), and OAI-PMH harvesters (48%). Small percentages expose data to SRU/SRW queries (5%), Flickr (10%), and YouTube (2%). We wonder whether these percentages will increase over the next few years.

Digital Library Jobs: Manager, Digital Services and Technology Planning Unit

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Library is recruiting a Manager, Digital Services and Technology Planning Unit.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Library's Digital Services and Technology Planning (DSTP) Manager leads the development of an integrated, digital infrastructure necessary to support the Library's expanding collection of electronic resources and services. The DSTP Manager provides the vision and leadership to define and develop an innovative infrastructure that eliminates barriers to the Library's collection and optimizes the resources and services offered by the Library. The DSTP Manager will plan, manage, develop and support all library web applications and emerging technologies and lead digital initiatives across library departments. This individual reports to the Deputy Director and Library Director. The DSTP Manager is expected to collaborate regularly with staff from other Library departments, including the Manager of the Information Systems Unit who has responsibility for the Library's technical infrastructure.

Archival Management Software: A Report for the Council on Library and Information Resources

The Council on Library and Information Resources has published Archival Management Software: A Report for the Council on Library and Information Resources by Lisa Spiro, Director of the Digital Media Center at Rice University.

Here's an excerpt from the report's Web page:

With generous support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Council on Library and Information Resources has launched a multiyear program that addresses the challenge of cataloging hidden collections—those materials held in special collections, archives, and other restricted or relatively inaccessible settings. The program has two major dimensions: first, to identify hidden collections of potential value to scholars; and second, to address the thorny issue of cataloging such materials efficiently, effectively, and in such a way that the catalog records are available to scholars through the Web. In this paper, Lisa Spiro describes and analyzes some of the major technologies that are available to librarians, curators, and archivists and the implications of deploying these systems for existing workflows.

Campus-based Publishing Partnerships: A Guide to Critical Issues

SPARC has published Campus-based Publishing Partnerships: A Guide to Critical Issues.

Here's an excerpt from the report's Web page:

SPARC’s Campus-based Publishing Partnerships: A Guide to Critical Issues addresses issues relevant to building sound and balanced partnerships, including:

  • Establishing governance and administrative structures;
  • Identifying funding models that accommodate the objectives of both libraries and presses;
  • Defining a partnership’s objectives to align the missions of the library and the press;
  • Determining what services to provide; and
  • Demonstrating the value of the collaboration.

Also see SPARC's new Campus-based Publishing Resource Center.

Digital Library Jobs: Special Collections Digital Initiatives Librarian at Mississippi

The University of Mississippi Libraries are recruiting a Special Collections Digital Initiatives Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reports to the Head of Special Collections and coordinates selected digital initiatives projects regarding the overall management (production, capture, access, and preservation) of the digital intellectual output and digital conversion of Special Collections materials. . . .

The work includes: establishing operating procedures, and overseeing the technical details of production processes needed to establish and maintain a digital initiatives operation; designing and supervising workflow processes; managing standards usage compliance; encoding metadata; collaborating with other librarians, including metadata cataloging; converting textual, image, audio, and video materials into digital form; and migrating digital resources into new formats. Experience with management and preservation of electronic and born digital records. The successful candidate will also be involved with providing Special Collections reference service, presenting workshops, and training for patrons, and planning for Special Collections exhibitions.

University of Michigan and OCLC Form OAIster Partnership

The University of Michigan and OCLC will jointly support the OAIster search engine for open access documents.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Launched in 2002 with grant support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, OAIster was developed to test the feasibility of building a portal to open archive collections using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). OAIster has since grown to become one of the largest aggregations of records pointing to open archive collections in the world with over 19 million records contributed by over 1,000 organizations worldwide.

Under the partnership, OAIster.org will continue to function as the public interface to OAIster collections, through funding provided by OCLC to the University of Michigan. Later in 2009, metadata harvesting operations will transfer from the University of Michigan to OCLC. . . .

Starting in late January 2009, while OAIster continues to be freely available at the www.oaister.org Web site, OCLC will host a version of OAIster on OCLC's FirstSearch platform and make it available through subscriptions to the FirstSearch Base Package at no additional charge.

Digital Curation Centre Releases "Archiving Web Resources"

The Digital Curation Centre has released "Archiving Web Resources," as part of its DCC Digital Curation Manual.

Here's the abstract:

The World Wide Web is among the most important information resources, and is certainly the most voluminous. In a relatively short time, it has become a vital medium for a range of academic and commercial publishers. However, until recently, little effort has been directed towards ensuring the long term preservation of the digital assets that reside on-line. The web's dynamic nature makes it prone to frequent changes, and without a means for capture and preservation it's likely that vast quantities of content will be lost forever. Since the web is home to a vast range of materials with widely varying characteristics in terms of formats, scale and behaviour there are inevitable issues that must be overcome to facilitate their collection, management and preservation.

Digital Library Jobs: Digital Collections Curator at Penn State

The Pennsylvania State University Libraries are recruiting a Digital Collections Curator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Responsibilities will include:

  • Lead development of an inclusive, user-focused agenda for digital scholarly content stewardship.
  • Investigate, recommend, and develop plans for user-focused and repository- based services to effectively manage the sustainable creation, collection and distribution of high-value digital scholarly content.
  • Manage a broad set of existing digital collections and repository content, including: reformatted materials (images, books, newspapers, manuscripts, etc), publication related content (journals, conference proceedings, monographs, hybrid formats, post & pre-prints, working papers, etc), as well as the potential and emerging needs for data collections in a wide array of disciplines.
  • Research and develop in-depth knowledge of new and emerging technologies, relevant national standards, and best practices, in order to assess and promote their integration into local operations as appropriate.
  • Serve on standing working groups and committees related to web functionality and digital content creation and management.
  • Communicate effectively with internal stakeholders in the areas of collections & public services, technical services, information technologies, and scholarly communications.
  • Promote and report on Penn State’s activities through conference and workshop presentations, written publications.
  • Represent Penn State in relevant professional contexts and engage with national and consortial peers to identify and/or carry out mutually beneficial partnerships.

University of California Affiliated Authors Will Be Able to Publish Using Springer Open Choice as Part of Journals License

Under the terms of the journals license negotiated by the California Digital Library for the University of California Libraries, UC-affiliated authors will be able to publish in Springer journals using the Springer Open Choice option without paying additional publication fees. (Thanks to Open Access News.)

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

There will be no separate per-article charges, since costs have been factored into the overall license. Articles will be released under a license compatible with the Creative Commons (by-nc: Attribution, Non-commercial) license. In addition to access via the Springer platform, final published articles will also be deposited in the California Digital Library's eScholarship Repository.

The University of California-Springer agreement is the first large-scale open access experiment of its type undertaken with a major commercial publisher in North America.

"UC faculty members have told us that they want open access publishing options in order to increase the impact of their published work and eliminate barriers to educational and research use," said Ivy Anderson, director of collections for the California Digital Library, which licenses content on behalf of the University of California libraries. "Just as importantly, they want these options in the journals in which they routinely publish, without disrupting their normal research activity. The CDL agreement with Springer supports the transformation that our faculty seeks, while continuing the libraries' crucial role in facilitating access to research information. Springer is a leader among commercial publishers in open access experimentation, making it a natural partner for the University of California in this endeavor."

COPA, RIP

The Supreme Court has refused to hear a government appeal of Mukasey v. A.C.L.U., a case about the constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA). This action effectively kills COPA after a very long legal battle.

Read more about it at "After 10 Years, an Infamous Internet-Censorship Act is Finally Dead," "Supreme Court Deals Death Blow to Antiporn Law," and "Ten Years of Futility: COPA Finally, Truly Dead."

Scholarly Information Practices in the Online Environment: Themes from the Literature and Implications for Library Service Development

OCLC Research has released Scholarly Information Practices in the Online Environment: Themes from the Literature and Implications for Library Service Development

Here's an excerpt:

Research libraries exist to support scholarly work. In recent years, the literature on scholarly practices and information use has been growing, and research libraries should be prospering from this increased base of knowledge. Unfortunately, the profession has no effective means for systematically monitoring or synthesizing the published results. This review begins to address the problem by reporting on the state of knowledge on scholarly information behavior, focusing on the information activities involved in the research process and how they differ among disciplines. It provides an empirical basis for identifying promising directions and setting priorities for development of digital information services to support and advance scholarship.

Free: All About Repositories Webinar Series

The DSpace Foundation, the Fedora Commons, Sun Microsystems, and SPARC are offering a free All About Repositories Webinar Series.

Here's an excerpt from the press release (see it for a list of the first webinars):

Got a repository? Would you like to understand more about what repositories are and how they operate? This spring DSpace Foundation, Fedora Commons, Sun Microsystems and SPARC (The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition) will offer a free About Repositories Webinar Series to provide professional learning opportunities for repository managers, developers, curators and decision makers. The seminar series will kick off on Feb. 18 at 9:00 a.m. PT with DSpace and Fedora: A Collaboration Update presented by Michele Kimpton, Executive Director, DSpace Foundation, and Sandy Payette, Executive Director Fedora Commons.

Each month a new topic or issue of interest to repository communities will be presented in a one-hour online format. All About Repositories Webinar Series will be web cast for synchronous event access, and will also be made available through DSpace, Fedora, Sun and SPARC web sites as an open educational reference for repository users and developers.

Future web seminars will focus on topics such as web services, and will take an in-depth look at some of the top implementations from the Innovation Fair held at the November 2008 SPARC repositories meeting. . . .

Pre-registration is required for all seminars at http://www.education-webevents.com/.

Presentations from the CNI Fall 2008 Task Force Meeting

Presentations, handouts, and project links are available for project briefings at the CNI Fall 2008 Task Force Meeting.

Here is a selection of presentations:

EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and New Media Consortium Horizon Report: 2009 Edition

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and New Media Consortium have released the The Horizon Report: 2009 Edition.

Here's the abstract:

The annual Horizon Report is a collaborative effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). Each year, the report identifies and describes six areas of emerging technology likely to have a significant impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression in higher education within three adoption horizons: a year or less, two to three years, and four to five years.

The areas of emerging technology cited for 2009 are:

  • Mobiles (i.e., mobile devices)
  • Cloud computing
  • Geo-everything (i.e., geo-tagging)
  • The personal web
  • Semantic-aware applications
  • Smart objects

Each section of the report provides live Web links to examples and additional readings.

Grants: Digging into Data Challenge from JISC, NEH, NSF, and SSHRC

The Joint Information Systems Committee, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council have announced The Digging into Data Challenge.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Digging into Data Challenge encourages humanities and social science research using large-scale data analysis, challenging scholars to develop international partnerships and explore vast digital resources, including electronic repositories of books, newspapers, and photographs to identify new opportunities for scholarship.

Applicants will form international teams from at least two of the participating countries. Winning teams will receive grants from two or more of the funding agencies and, one year later, will be invited to present their work at a special conference. These teams, which may be composed of scholars and scientists, will be asked to demonstrate how data mining and data analysis tools currently used in the sciences can improve humanities and social science scholarship. The hope of this competition is that these projects will serve as exemplars to the field and encourage new, international partnerships among scholars, computer scientists, information scientists, librarians, and others. . . .

In order to apply, interested applicants must first submit a letter of intent by March 15, 2009. Final applications will be due July 15, 2009.

Final Version Released: An Ecological Approach to Repository and Service Interactions

John Robertson of JISC CETIS has announced that the final version (1.5) of An Ecological Approach to Repository and Service Interactions has been released.

Here's an excerpt:

Ecology is the study of systems that are complex, dynamic, and full of interacting entities and processes. Although the nature of these interactions and processes may be highly detailed, a higher level view of them is accessible by and intuitive to non-specialists. We think that ecology, and examples of the ecosystems it studies, may offer a useful analogy to inform the task of understanding and articulating the interactions between users, repositories, and services and the information environments in which they take place. This report outlines some concepts from ecology that may be useful and suggests some definitions for a common conversation about the use of this metaphor. It concludes by examining how this approach relates to other initiatives currently ongoing in the JISC Information Environment.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Bibliography, Version 3

The Electronic Theses and Dissertations Bibliography, Version 3 is now available from Digital Scholarship.

This bibliography presents selected English-language articles, conference papers, and other printed and electronic sources that are useful in understanding electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). Where possible, links are provided to sources that are freely available on the Internet, including e-prints in disciplinary archives and institutional repositories.

Important Reminder: "New URLs for Digital Scholarship FeedBurner Feeds."

Load Testing DSpace

In "DSpace at a Third of a Million Items," Stuart Lewis reports on a load test of DSpace.

Here's an excerpt:

  • On average deposits into an empty repository took about one and a half seconds.
  • On average deposits into a repository with three hundred thousand items took about seven seconds.
  • If this linear looking relationship between number of deposits and speed of deposit were to continue at the same rate, an average deposit into a repository containing one million items would take about 19 to 20 seconds.
  • Extrapolate this to work out throughput per day, and that is about 10MB deposited every 20 seconds, 30MB per minute, or 43GB of data per day.