Month: February 2010

The Future of Research and the Research Library

Denmark's Electronic Research Library has released The Future of Research and the Research Library.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The report sets up a number of challenges and scenarios for the future of the research library. The libraries must take some strategic future choices. Should the library maintain its traditional role or should it become a knowledge center for research and learning?

For a long time Denmark's Electronic Research Library, DEFF, has wished to make a study of the future library service of researchers and scientists. By engaging The Lime Guild this job was done throughout 2009. The Lime Guild has done several analyses, which have had the purpose to predict future scenarios for the research libraries in relation to the development within the research system and to the future demands of the researchers.

An essential part of conducting this study was to do interviews with interested parties and the main stakeholders in DEFF. This group of people includes both vice-chancellors and deans at universities, library directors of development and also representatives from DEFF's steering committee and liaison group. Also key international experts have contributed generously to the study.

The Online Guide to Open Access Journals Publishing

Co-Action Publishing and Lund University Libraries have released The Online Guide to Open Access Journals Publishing.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The online guide is directed to small independent teams and provides practical information on planning, setting up, launching, publishing and managing an open access scholarly journal. Users can take advantage of additional resources in the form of links to related information, samples of applied practices and downloadable tools that can be adapted. The guide seeks to be interactive, allowing users to share their own best practices, tips and suggestions through a comment field. Although the guide contains some information that is specific to the Nordic region, most of its content can be applied internationally.

Scholarly Communication Librarian at NYU

New York University's Bobs Library is recruiting a Scholarly Communication Librarian (three-year position with possibility of extension).

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Scholarly Communication Librarian plays the central role in advising NYU faculty, students, librarians and information technologists about use, ownership and options for sharing of copyrighted materials in all information formats. Reporting to the Libraries Director of Public Services, this position works closely with a range of programs across the Division and NYU ITS .du Services. Work on the open courseware pilot will be coordinated by the Director of Academic Technologies in NYU ITS.

Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research Establishes €2.5 Million Open Access Budget

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has established a €2.5 million open access budget. The NWO is "the largest financer of scientific innovation in the Netherlands and operates as an intermediary between researchers, (international) science centres and society."

Here's an excerpt from the press release :

Open Access—meaning free access to scientific and scholarly information—is winning ground, and more and more information is becoming freely accessible to the public. The parties concerned—including publishers—are increasingly accepting Open Access as the norm. At the Open Access seminar organised by SURF in Amsterdam, Prof. Jos Engelen, chairman of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), announced that his organisation would be providing a special Open Access budget of EUR 2.5m.

In "Nederland 'Open Access-Land'" (in Dutch), it is stated that the NWO will also establish a €2.5 million contingency fund and that researchers will apply for €5,000 project grants for open access publications.

The above press release also states that:

The Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) has reached agreement with Springer that in 2010 all articles by Dutch researchers in Springer journals will be made available Open Access, subject to the author agreeing.

Librarian I at Wayne State University Libraries

The Wayne State University Libraries are recruiting a Librarian I.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (posting #036253):

Serve as project manager for digitization projects, coordinating digitization plans and responsibilities with partners, and communicating with faculty to understand and integrate their research and teaching goals.

Provide operational planning and day-to-day management of the Library System's digital collections.

Oversee converting textual, image, audio, and video materials into digital form; and migration of digital objects into new formats.

Department of Justice Files Statement about Amended Google Book Search Settlement

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a statement of interest about the amended Google Book Search settlement with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Department of Justice today advised the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that despite the substantial progress reflected in the proposed amended settlement agreement in The Authors Guild Inc. et al. v. Google Inc., class certification, copyright and antitrust issues remain. The department also said that the United States remains committed to working with the parties on issues concerning the scope and content of the settlement.

In its statement of interest filed with the court today, the department stated, "Although the United States believes the parties have approached this effort in good faith and the amended settlement agreement is more circumscribed in its sweep than the original proposed settlement, the amended settlement agreement suffers from the same core problem as the original agreement: it is an attempt to use the class action mechanism to implement forward-looking business arrangements that go far beyond the dispute before the court in this litigation."

On Sept. 18, 2009, the department submitted views to the court on the original proposed settlement agreement. At that time, the department proposed that the parties consider changes to the agreement that might help address the United States' concerns, including imposing limitations on the most open-ended provisions for future licensing, eliminating potential conflicts among class members, providing additional protections for unknown rights holders, addressing the concerns of foreign authors and publishers, eliminating the joint-pricing mechanisms among publishers and authors, and providing a mechanism by which Google's competitors can gain comparable access.

In today's filing, the department recognized that the parties made substantial progress on a number of these issues. For example, the proposed amended settlement agreement eliminates certain open-ended provisions that would have allowed Google to engage in certain unspecified future uses, appoints a fiduciary to protect rightsholders of unclaimed works, reduces the number of foreign works in the settlement class, and eliminates the most-favored nation provision that would have guaranteed Google optimal license terms into the future. However, the changes do not fully resolve the United States' concerns. The department also said that the amended settlement agreement still confers significant and possibly anticompetitive advantages on Google as a single entity, thereby enabling the company to be the only competitor in the digital marketplace with the rights to distribute and otherwise exploit a vast array of works in multiple formats.

The department continues to believe that a properly structured settlement agreement in this case offers the potential for important societal benefits. The department stated that it is committed to continuing to work with the parties and other stakeholders to help develop solutions through which copyright holders could allow for digital use of their works by Google and others, whether through legislative or market-based activities.

Read more about it at "Department of Justice Criticizes Amended Google Settlement over Copyright, Antitrust Issues"; "DOJ: Google Book Settlement Better, but Not Yet Good"; an "DOJ on Amended Google Books Settlement: Better, but Still Opposed."

Stanford University Signs Amended Google Book Search Settlement Agreement

Stanford University has signed the amended Google Book Search settlement agreement.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Stanford’s expanded agreement, which establishes it as a Fully Participating Library under the terms of the amended settlement agreement, is a milestone in Stanford’s commitment to the program and to the provision of public access to millions of its books. . . .

University Librarian Michael A. Keller said, "We are highly supportive of the amended settlement, which offers an enormous public good, making the full text of millions of books available to the American public."

Keller added that another effect of the settlement is to respect the rights and prerogatives of authors and publishers at the same time as it increases public access. "The settlement creates a working partnership among authors, publishers, libraries and Google that will usher in a revolutionary change in access to books on library shelves, even beyond the incredibly powerful vision that Google Books first developed. It’s no longer just about finding books of potential interest; it makes them vastly more readily readable. The agreement also compensates authors and publishers for the use of works that, by virtue of being out of print, would not have earned the rightsholders any income—a novel and, for most authors, a most welcome innovation."

Over the past five years, Google has scanned over 1.7 million books owned by Stanford, and plans to scan millions more. More than two dozen other major libraries around the world are now involved in this project.

IT Spec II at University of Virginia Library

The University of Virginia Library is recruiting an IT Spec II (two-year position). Salary range: $56,865-$99,514.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (posting #0604984 ):

The University of Virginia Library seeks a talented and dynamic individual to serve as a web applications developer for a two-year grant funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This position will work closely with a cohort of Digital Archivists from partner institutions (national and international) on an innovative initiative entitled: Born Digital Collections: An Inter-Institutional Model for Stewardship (AIMS); these archivists will provide the use cases for AIMS. This two-year, grant-funded position will develop web applications and execute the functional requirements for processing and receiving digitally born materials into the Library's managed content environment. The position will work under the guidance of the UVa library's Chief Architect for the Online Library Environment to ensure the timely and proper integration of technology related to Hydra (http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/innovation/hydra/), a next-generation, web-based repository-aware application services environment for managing, preserving, and delivering digital content. For specific skills and duties, please see the job description.

International Internet Preservation Consortium Launches Web Archives Registry

The International Internet Preservation Consortium has launched a web archives registry.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The registry offers a single point of access to a comprehensive overview of member web archiving efforts and outputs. Twenty-one archives from around the world are currently included; updates will be added as additional archives are made accessible by IIPC members.

In addition to a detailed description of each web archive, the following information is included:

  • Collecting institution
  • Start date
  • Archive interface language(s)
  • Access methods (URL search, keyword search, full text search, thematic, etc.)
  • Harvesting methods (National domain, event, thematic, etc.)
  • Access restrictions

The registry was put in place by the IIPC Access Working Group, which focuses on initiatives, procedures and tools required to provide immediate and future to access archived web material. The registry will also provide a basis for IIPC to explore integrated access and search in the future.

VIVOweb Pilot Coordinator at Indiana University Digital Library Program

The Indiana University Digital Library Program is recruiting a VIVOweb Pilot Coordinator (two-year position, with potential for renewal). (VIVOweb.)

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Performs project management and coordination as part of the VIVOweb project at Indiana University. Coordinates the setup, operation, and promotion of a pilot instance of the VIVOweb researcher information system at IU. Manages communication with internal data providers and pilot departments, schools, and centers. Works with the Digital Library Project Programmer and other IU staff to develop requirements for data importing mechanisms and for the core VIVOweb software. Communicates requirements for the core software to VIVOweb development leads at Indiana University, Cornell University, and the University of Florida. Maintains communication between the IU implementation team and implementation teams at other VIVOweb participant institutions. Develops user and technical documentation and conduct user training.

Hong Kong University Institutional Repository Uses Scopus API for Researcher Citation Data

Researcher pages in Hong Kong University's institutional repository will be updated with citation data generated by Elsevier's Scopus API.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Scopus API offers users the opportunity to creatively interact with Scopus data by building mashups. It also allows access and usage of Scopus data inside and outside of the traditional library domain through applications based on the API. The API returns Scopus data in a format that easily integrates into an application or a web site. The majority of Scopus data is already available through the API, which can currently be used to request very specific information about article references, citations and affiliations.

HKU is the first institution to show Scopus h-index, and counts of citations, documents, and co-authors for each current HKU author across the institution, in its local institutional repository, The HKU Scholars Hub (The Hub). These details are shown on The Hub ResearcherPages, an expert profiling system which showcases the research of each current HKU author. HKU uses the Scopus API to build these pages, and update them in real time.

The Scopus search API draws on live data from Scopus, the world's largest abstract and citation database. By using the API, HKU is able to populate The Hub with real-time Scopus information, increasing accuracy and enriching data with valuable citation information. The API also enables HKU to highlight its overall performance and automate the process of keeping faculty publication lists up to date through continuous electronic tracking of individual researcher output. Research metrics cumulated by paper, and by author, are brought seamlessly into The Hub and displayed on appropriate records. This flexibility is a result of a recent enhancement to the Scopus API which allows for easier and more scalable ways of implementing citation counts to instantly enrich the content available on a given platform. . . .

HKU plans to further enhance ResearcherPages to display other output and citation details and expects there will be new opportunities to leverage the results in key activities such as the grant application process. HKU is also using the additional bibliometric data from Scopus and others to prepare for an impending Research Assessment Exercise.

"Building a Sustainable Framework for Open Access to Research Data through Information and Communication Technologies"

Gideon Emcee Christian has self-archived "Building a Sustainable Framework for Open Access to Research Data through Information and Communication Technologies" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

The growth in information and communication technology (ICT) has brought about increased pace in information and knowledge exchange. This increased pace is being fueled in large part by the open exchange of information. The pressure for open access to research data is gaining momentum in virtually every field of human endeavour. Data is the life blood of science and quite unsurprisingly data repositories are rapidly becoming an essential component of the infrastructure of the global science system. Improved access to data will transform the way research is conducted. It will create new opportunities and avenues for improved efficiency in dealing with social, economic and scientific challenges facing humanity.

Despite the admitted benefits of open access to research data, the concept is still weighed down by series of factors both legal and ethical which must be resolved in other to derive the maximum benefits arising from open access to data. The resolution of these issues will require the development of a sustainable framework to facilitate access to and use of research data by researchers, academics institutions, private individuals and other users. This research paper examines the legal and ethical issues affecting open access to research data. The research also examined various frameworks for enhancing open access to research data. Such frameworks include the open data contract, open content licenses as well as open data commons.

Web Services Librarian at SUNY Potsdam

The SUNY Potsdam College Libraries are recruiting a Web Services Librarian. Salary: $45,000.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (posting #0600117):

In this environment, the Web Services Librarian will manage the College Libraries' website, promote innovation and responsiveness in the Libraries' web design, coordinate all decision-making regarding the site, and maintain positive and collaborative working relationships with other campus technology staff. The Web Services Librarian will also have responsibility for staff-side maintenance of the Libraries' online information resources, which currently include research databases on multiple platforms, products in the SerialsSolutions suite, LibGuides, QuestionPoint, and others. As a holistic member of the library staff working in a team environment, secondary responsibilities of the Web Services Librarian may include reference, instruction, archives, and/or collection development. Specific work assignments will depend upon the strengths and interests of a successful candidate and the evolving needs of the institution.

EasyDeposit, Toolkit for Creating SWORD Deposit Interfaces, Released

Stuart Lewis has released EasyDeposit, a toolkit for creating SWORD deposit interfaces.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

EasyDeposit allows you to create customised SWORD deposit interfaces by configuring a set of 'steps'. A typical flow of steps may be: login, select a repository, enter some metadata, upload a file, verify the information is correct, perform the deposit, send a confirmation email. Alternatively a deposit flow may just require a file to be uploaded and a title entered. A configuration file is used to list the steps you require.

EasyDeposit makes use of the CodeIgniter MVC PHP framework. This means each 'step' is made up of two files: a 'controller' which looks after the validation and processing of any data entered, and a 'view' which controls the web page that a user sees. This separation of concerns makes it easy for web programmers to edit the controllers, and web designers to tinker with the look and feel of the interface in the views.

Mellon Digital Initiatives Coordinator at Five Colleges of Ohio

The Five Colleges of Ohio are recruiting a Mellon Digital Initiatives Coordinator (two-year position).

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Five Colleges of Ohio consortium seeks nominations and applications for the position of Mellon Digital Initiatives Coordinator, a challenging and wide-ranging position with responsibilities to help lead the consortium in developing a collaborative infrastructure for our digital initiatives. This full-time, two-year position, funded as part of the Next-Generation Library project supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will report to the NGL Project Director and the NGL Technical Infrastructure committee chair. To read about the grant, go here: http://www.ohio5.org/announcements.htm The Mellon Digital Initiatives Coordinator will work closely with a NGL Infrastructure Committee and NGL Steering Committee in carrying out the goals of the grant, including: training and coordination of professional development opportunities for staff in digitization technologies, metadata creation, and digital project workflow management; recommending appropriate software and hardware purchases to support digitization projects; designing model workflows and documentation for local and consortial digitization projects; and working in collaboration with other project staff to customize existing digital collections and collection interfaces. The Mellon Digital Initiatives Coordinator will also collaborate with consortial staff to develop a NGL project web space to facilitate staff communication, project documentation, and training. The site will also serve as a public portal to showcase digital collections, project best practices, and pedagogical applications utilizing the collections. The home-base office for the position could be at any of the consortial colleges, although Oberlin College is the preferred location. Frequent travel to other consortial sites and extensive use of web-based communications, ensuring that all five campuses receive the support they need, will be essential parts of the position.

Wake Forest University Library Faculty Adopt Open Access Policy

The library faculty of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University have unanimously adopted an open access policy.

Here's an excerpt from the policy:

Each faculty member grants Wake Forest University the right to archive and make publicly available the full text of the author’s final version of scholarly works via the University’s open access institutional repository. This provides the University the nonexclusive, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free license to preserve and redistribute the work. When publisher agreements do not automatically grant permission to archive the author’s final version, the faculty commit to negotiating for such rights. Faculty members will submit an electronic version of the author’s final version in an appropriate format as soon as possible, respecting some publishers’ requests for embargo.

Furthermore, the faculty endeavor to publish their scholarship in open access venues when possible, or alternately to seek the right to archive the final published version in lieu of the author's final version.

This policy will apply to all scholarship created while a member of the WFU faculty, excluding works previously accepted for publication and works for which authors entered into incompatible licensing or assignment agreements prior to the adoption of this policy, and excepting books and book chapters as necessary. The Dean of the Library will waive the application of the policy for future scholarship upon written notification from the author, who informs the Dean of the reason.

Read more about it at "ZSR Library Faculty Adopt Open Access Policy."

"The Long and Winding Road to the Google Books Settlement"

Jonathan Band has published "The Long and Winding Road to the Google Books Settlement" in The John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law.

Here's an excerpt:

In its Library Project, Google is scanning millions of books from the world's leading research libraries to include in a searchable database. This scanning has occurred without the copyright owners' authorization, leading to the class action copyright infringement lawsuit, Authors Guild v. Google, Inc. The central legal issue in the litigation is whether copyright law's fair use doctrine provides Google with a defense against the authors' claims. Ultimately, the parties reached a settlement. The proposed Settlement Agreement is an extremely complex document which, if approved by the court, will govern the future of the Google Library Project. It creates a mechanism that allows Google to scan and display the full text of millions of books. In exchange, Google will pay fees to each book's rightsholder. The proposed settlement has precipitated a heated public debate over competition concerns, privacy, intellectual freedom, and the rights of authors and publishers. This article traces the history of the Google Library Project and discusses in-depth the original Google Library Project, the litigation, the original Settlement Agreement, debate concerning the approval of the Settlement Agreement, and the Amended Settlement Agreement.

Web Services Librarian at University of Colorado, Denver

The University of Colorado, Denver Medical Library is recruiting a Web Services Librarian. Salary: $48,000 minimum based on qualifications and experience.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (posting number 807432):

The successful candidate will coordinate, develop and maintain electronic resources for the library. These resources include web resources provided by vendors, the library's web site, the library's intranet, and other electronic resources as required. The WSL works closely with the rest of the IT Unit to administer the library web server(s), and serves as administrator and coordinator for the web interface to the library's web OPAC. The WSL leads the library's internal advisory Web Committee. In addition, the WSL works with the library's Access Services and Information, Research & Outreach departments in troubleshooting end-user access to web resources. Supervision: Reporting to the library's Head of Information Technology, the WSL supervises one IT staff position, the Web Applications Developer.

Paula T. Kaufman Named 2010 Hugh C. Atkinson Award Winner

Paula T. Kaufman, Juanita J. and Robert E. Simpson Dean of Libraries and University Librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has won the 2010 Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award, which is sponsored by ACRL, ALCTS, LLAMA, and LITA.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Named in honor of one of the pioneers of library automation, the Atkinson Award recognizes an academic librarian who has made significant contributions in the area of library automation or management and has made notable improvements in library services or research. . . .

Kaufman has held a variety of positions over the course of her career. In addition to serving as head of the Business and Economics Library and director of the Library Services group at Columbia University, she was acting head of the East Asian Library in 1982 and acting vice-president for information technology and university librarian from 1987-88. During her tenure at Columbia, Kaufman was involved in the development of the university's Scholarly Information Center, a merger of the library and academic information technology. In 1987, Kaufman resisted the FBI's request to report on the reading habits of Columbia library patrons with last names or accents from "hostile countries." Her actions were instrumental in making the FBI's Library Awareness Program public. Kaufman additionally served as dean of libraries at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville from 1988-99.

In her current position at UIUC, Kaufman has worked with the library faculty and staff to re-envision the future, form new alliances and cultivate an environment of creative problem solving. Under her direction, the library launched a highly successful capital campaign, established a formal preservation and conservation program, led the state of Illinois in digitizing collections, celebrated the library's 11 millionth volume and addressed the issues of how to support scholarship and teaching in the digital age through developing new models to deliver 21st-century services. In 2006, the provost of the University of Illinois tapped Kaufman to serve as the university's interim chief information officer. In this assignment, she increased communication among technology staff and reconnected the information technology department with the rest of the campus through focusing on its service mission.

She has additionally played key roles in governance and policymaking at a number of organizations, including serving on or leading the boards of directors of the Center for Research Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, the Council of Library and Information Resources, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the Digital Library Federation and the Society for Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.

Kaufman received her AB in Economics from Smith College, MBA from the University of New Haven and MS in Library Service from the School of Library Service at Columbia University.

Associate University Librarian for Digital Initiatives & Information Technology at UCLA

The UCLA Library is recruiting an Associate University Librarian for Digital Initiatives & Information Technology.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (requisition number: 14178):

Reporting to the University Librarian, the Associate University Librarian for Digital Initiatives & Information Technology is a senior administrator in the UCLA Library. The AUL has leadership, management, and policy and planning responsibilities for all digital initiatives and information technology services and operations and direct supervisory responsibility for four enterprise-wide departments dedicated to digital initiatives and information technology [Digital Library Program (DLP), Library Computing Services (LCS), Library Information Technology (LIT), and Library Web Services (LWS)] and has responsibility for oversight of services, operations, and programmatic initiatives of multiple Research Commons within the UCLA Library System. As the primary technology architect and planner for the Library, the incumbent uses his/her knowledge of current and emerging information technologies, protocols, and concepts to keep core application systems effective, evolving and nimble; to take advantage of innovative technical opportunities; to inform the Library management and staff of new technology options; to set strategic technology infrastructure directions and to ensure that the Library maintains a reliable, scalable, and sustainable server and networking infrastructure, robust public and staff computing services, vibrant web services, and expanding digital initiatives. Represents the Library on information technology groups on the UCLA campus, within the UC System, and externally, is expected to establish and maintain effective partnerships and collaborations, and serves as the primary spokesperson on issues and policies related to digital initiatives and information technology for the UCLA Library.

PEER Behavioural Research: Authors and Users vis-à-vis Journals and Repositories; Baseline Report

The Publishing and the Ecology of European Research (PEER) project has released PEER Behavioural Research: Authors and Users vis-à-vis Journals and Repositories; Baseline Report.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The PEER Behavioural Research Team from Loughborough University (Department of Information Science & LISU) has completed its behavioural baseline report, which is based on an electronic survey of authors (and authors as users) with more than 3000 European researchers and a series of focus groups covering the Medical sciences; Social sciences, humanities & arts; Life sciences; and Physical sciences & mathematics. The objectives of the Behavioural Research within PEER are to:

  • Track trends and explain patterns of author and user behaviour in the context of so called Green Open Access.
  • Understand the role repositories play for authors in the context of journal publishing.
  • Understand the role repositories play for users in context of accessing journal articles.

The baseline report outlines findings from the first phase of the research and identifies the key themes to emerge. It also identifies priorities for further analysis and future work. Some interesting points to emerge from the first phase of research that may be of interest to a number of stakeholders in the scholarly communication system include:

  • An individual's attitude towards open access repositories may change dependant on whether they are an author or a reader; readers being interested in the quality of the articles but authors also focused on the reputation of the repository itself
  • Reaching the target audience is the overwhelming motivation for scholars to disseminate their research results and this strongly influences their choice of journal and/or repository
  • Researchers in certain disciplines may lack confidence in making preprints available, and to some extent this is not only a matter of confidence in the quality of a text but also due to differences in work organisation across research cultures (e.g. strong internal peer review of manuscripts versus reliance on journals for peer review). Other factors are likely to include career stage and centrality of research to the parent discipline
  • Value-added services, such as download statistics and alert services, would contribute to the perceived usefulness of repositories and could help them gain popularity in what is an increasingly competitive information landscape
  • Readers often need to go through a variety of processes to access all the articles that they require and widespread open access may reduce the need for this time consuming practice.

Harvard University Library OIS Releases File Information Tool Set Version 0.3.1

Harvard University Library's Office for Information Systems has released File Information Tool Set version 0.3.1.

Here's an excerpt from the user guide:

The File Information Tool Set (FITS) identifies, validates and extracts technical metadata for a wide range of file formats. It acts as a wrapper, invoking and managing the output from several other open source tools. Output from these tools are converted into a common format, compared to one another and consolidated into a single XML output file. FITS is written in Java and is compatible with Java 1.5 or higher. The external tools currently used are:

Digital Repository Services Librarian at George Mason University

The George Mason University Libraries are recruiting a Digital Repository Services Librarian. Salary: Librarian I: up to $55,000; Librarian II: up to $60,000.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (position number FA463z):

This position serves as head of the MARS (Mason Archival Repository Service) program at Mason. Duties include managing the service, handling associated technology and related administrative workflows, and leading audience-building efforts of University Libraries in support of the service. MARS employs DSpace to satisfy digital archiving needs as well as more traditional IR services.

OCLC Makes New OAIster Interfaces Available

OCLC has made basic and advanced OAIster search interfaces available. Access is free.

OAIster is a database of over 23 million records from OAI-PMH-compliant digital repositories, which was originally developed by the University of Michigan Library. Initially, OCLC made OAIster available only as part of WorldCat and as a FirstSearch database (these access points remain). (Thanks to ResourceShelf.)

Read more about it at "OCLC Makes OAIster Records Available through WorldCat.org," "OCLC makes OAIster Records Available through WorldCat.org to Ensure Long-Term Public Access to Digital Resources," and "University of Michigan and OCLC Form Partnership to Ensure Long-Term Access to OAIster Database."