Month: March 2010

HighWire Press 2009 Librarian eBook Survey

HighWire Press has released HighWire Press 2009 Librarian eBook Survey.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The survey was conducted as part of HighWire's ongoing exploration of the fast-growing scholarly ebook market. The results and accompanying analysis draw together the input of 138 librarians from 13 countries. The responses underscore the significant growth librarians expect in ebook acquisitions and point to their current preferences and possible trends in this evolving area.

The survey data was analyzed by Michael Newman, Stanford University’s Head Biology Librarian, and the report presents his perspective on what his librarian colleagues had to say about ebooks. The report espouses some familiar and consistent themes:

  • Simplicity and ease of use seem more important than sophisticated end-user features.
  • Users tend to discover ebooks through both the library catalog and search engines.
  • While users prefer PDFs, format preference will likely change as technology changes.
  • DRM seems to hinder ebook use for library patrons; ability to print is essential.
  • The most popular business model for librarians is purchase with perpetual access.

Librarian for Digital Technologies and Learning at NCSU

The North Carolina State University Libraries are recruiting a Librarian for Digital Technologies and Learning.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (position number: 03603):

The Librarian for Digital Technologies and Learning provides research and instructional support and reference service for the NCSU Libraries' clientele. He or she collaborates with faculty members, other librarians, and instructional technologists to explore, develop, promote, and assess innovative online tools and services, including those targeting off-campus learners. With the Instructional Services Librarian and others, this position supports the creation of course- and curriculum-integrated web resources and identifies new and creative ways to enhance student learning and research skills. He or she participates in departmental and library planning; and serves on library-wide committees, task forces, and teams. NCSU Librarians are expected to be active professionally and to contribute to developments in the field. Reports to the Principal Librarian for Digital Technologies and Learning.

"GBS March Madness: Paths Forward for the Google Books Settlement"

The American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries, and the Association of College and Research Libraries have released "GBS March Madness: Paths Forward for the Google Books Settlement."

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

This diagram, developed by Jonathan Band, explores the many possible routes and outcomes of the Google Books Settlement, including avenues into the litigation and appeals process.

Now that the fairness hearing on the Google Books Settlement has occurred, it is up to Judge Chin to decide whether the amended settlement agreement (ASA), submitted to the Court by Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers, is "fair, reasonable, and adequate." As the diagram shows, however, Judge Chin’s decision is only the next step in a very complex legal proceeding that could take a dozen more turns before reaching resolution. Despite the complexity of the diagram, it does not reflect every possible twist in the case, nor does it address the substantive reasons why a certain outcome may occur or the impact of Congressional intervention through legislation. As Band states, "the precise way forward is more difficult to predict than the NCAA tournament. And although the next step in the GBS saga may occur this March, many more NCAA tournaments will come and go before the buzzer sounds on this dispute."

Systems and Electronic Services Librarian at Lebanon Valley College

The Lebanon Valley College Bishop Library is recruiting a Systems and Electronic Services Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Under direction of the Director of the Library, the Systems and Electronic Services Librarian provides oversight and leadership in the planning, implementation, integration, and maintenance of a broad range of library electronic services including the integrated library system (SirsiDynix Symphony), the Serials Solutions Knowledge base and 360 Suite, EZProxy, access to electronic databases, serials subscriptions and packages, and other third-party applications. The Systems and Electronic Services Librarian participates in the design and maintenance of the library web presence and also assists students, faculty, staff, and other library users with electronic systems and services and participates in reference service and library instruction.

SPARC: Campus-Based Open-Access Publishing Funds

SPARC has released Campus-Based Open-Access Publishing Funds.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) has released a new guide and supporting Web resource exploring campus-based open-access publishing funds. Authored by SPARC Consultant Greg Tananbaum, these timely new resources survey the current North American landscape of open-access funds and explore key emerging questions on how such funds are considered and developed on college and university campuses.

Open-access funds are resources created to address article-processing fees (APCs) that may be associated with publishing in an open-access journal. These fees are a source of revenue for many open-access publishers (including the Public Library of Science, Hindawi, and the Optical Society of America), as well as for subscription-based publishers experimenting with "open choice" or "hybrid" options, where individual articles are made freely available with the upon payment of an APC.

The new guide, "Open-access publishing funds: A practical guide to design and implementation," and Web resource contain a wealth of background information to inform libraries, authors, administrators and interested others on the practical considerations surrounding open-access funds. The site features up-to-date information on:

  • Active open-access funds (at the University of California at Berkeley, University of Calgary, and several other institutions);
  • FAQ for authors, administrators, and publishers;
  • Considerations in evaluating the launch of a fund;
  • Key policy decisions;
  • Implementation tools;
  • Resource allocation;
  • Fund promotion and reporting and more.

To ensure that this resource stays current, readers are invited to contribute their experiences through the online commenting and discussion features that are available.

Applications Programmer/Analyst Associate at University of Michigan

The University of Michigan Library is recruiting an Applications Programmer/Analyst Associate (or Applications Programmer/Analyst Intermediate depending on qualifications). Salary range: $40,000-$60,000. Three-year term appointment (with the possibility of renewal).

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

DLPS [Digital Library Production Service] is looking for a talented, resourceful programmer to develop, maintain, document, and monitor software systems. Primary focus will be placed on developing highly reliable software tools for routine data processing on a large scale. Specific processing tasks include file format conversion, metadata insertion, transformation, validation, and transfer. Work includes assessing needs and specifying software requirements. Development of web interfaces for process management may be needed as well. Other tasks will vary but include, for example, preparing documentation and the development of digital library access systems, for example, DLXS (http://www.dlxs.org).

Unintended Consequences: 12 Years Under the DMCA

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released Unintended Consequences: 12 Years Under the DMCA.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

EFF today released Unintended Consequences: 12 Years Under the DMCA. This is the sixth update to the report, which aims to catalog all the reported instances where the DMCA's ban on tampering with DRM have been abused to stymie fair use, free speech, and competition, rather than to attack "piracy."

Congress enacted the DMCA's ban on bypassing DRM at the urging of entertainment industry lobbyists who argued that DRM backed by law would quell digital copyright infringement. Of course, 12 years later, that exactly hasn't worked out. Nor is it likely to ever work out. But lots of industries have recognized that these provisions of the DMCA are good for other things—like impeding scientific research and legitimate competition. The Unintended Consequences report collects these stories, including oldies like Lexmark's effort to block toner cartridge refilling and new cases like the lawsuit against RealDVD.

Other new additions to the report include Apple's use of the DMCA to lock iPhone owners to Apple's own App Store for software, Apple's DMCA threats against Bluwiki for hosting discussions about iPod interoperability, and Texas Instruments' use of the DMCA to threaten calculator hobbyists trying to write their own operating systems.

Programmer/Analyst, Digital Library Tools at Indiana University

The Indiana University Libraries are recruiting a Programmer/Analyst, Digital Library Tools.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Participates in the development and management of IU’s digital repository system (based on the Fedora open source software platform) and associated software tools for ingestion, management, and delivery of digital library content. Designs, evaluates, programs, and implements Web-based software tools supporting access to and ingestion of digital library collections. Works with other Digital Library Programs and IU staff to define requirements for tools to support delivery of image, text, audio, video, and data collections; evaluates potential commercial and open-source solutions; designs and tests user interfaces; designs, codes, and tests software; and defines and implements interfaces with other IU systems.

DSpace 1.6 Released

DuraSpace has released DSpace 1.6.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Community-requested features in the new release include an enhanced statistics package which provides more information about how your repository is being used, an embargo facility so items can be kept dark for a period of time, and a batch metadata editing tool which can be used to change, add, find/replace metadata as well as facilitate mass moves, re-order values or add new items in bulk. And there’s more such as authority control which contains an integration with the Sherpa Romeo Service for publisher names, as well as the Library of Congress Nameservice. Other new features include:

  • Delegated administration
  • OpenSearch
  • Command launcher
  • OAI-PMH harvesting of items from remote repositories
  • Configurable OAI-PMH dublin core output
  • Move item functionality in XMLUI
  • If-Modified-Since / Last-Modified header support in XMLUI
  • Change to logging behaviour to ensure better log retention and management
  • Update to the latest handle server library
  • Ability to perform batch imports and exports from zip files of items
  • New test scripts to test database and email settings
  • Ability to set legal jurisdiction in creative commons licensing

Duke University Draft Open Access Policy

Duke University's Digital Futures Task Force has written a "Draft Discussion Document for Duke Open Access Policy" for consideration.

Here's an excerpt:

Each Faculty member grants to Duke University permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to reproduce and distribute those articles for the purpose of open dissemination. In legal terms, each Faculty member grants to Duke University a nonexclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do so, provided that the articles are not sold. The Duke faculty author remains the copyright owner unless that author chooses to transfer the copyright to a publisher.

The policy will apply to all scholarly articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Provost or Provost's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article or delay access for a specified period of time upon written request by a Faculty member.

To assist the University in distributing the scholarly articles, each faculty member will make available, as of the date of publication or upon request, an electronic copy of the final author’s version of the article at no charge to a designated representative of the Provost’s Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost's Office. The Provost's Office will make the article available to the public in Duke’s open-access repository. In cases where the Duke license has been waived or an embargo period has been mutually agreed, the article may be archived in a Duke repository without open access for the period of the embargo, or permanently in cases of waiver.

Read more about it at "Information Wants to Be Sustainable."

Digital Services Specialist at University of Bridgeport

The University of Bridgeport is recruiting a Digital Services Specialist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

This position resides within a combined Wahlstrom Library, Office of Information Technology, Projects Office, and Media Services organization that reports to the AVP Information Technology and CIO. The Associate University Librarian provides key direction on library matters. The Digital Services Specialist collaborates closely with academic faculty and administrative staff to manage lifecycle development, storage and use of digital content.

Responsibilities include researching emergent applications, implementing technologies, assessment, and instruction for University students, faculty and staff in new technology, tools and resources for digitally-mediated or digitally-delivered content services. This includes working with the ExLibris software suite of Primo, Metalib, sfx; maintaining the Library Web interfaces; working with the University Web Manager to develop content management schema for the University Web, Datatel Portal, Datatel Active Admissions, digital signage; technology support for Information Literacy initiatives, including use of the Blackboard CMS, podcasting, and Wimba; developing a new institutional repository service; the integration of handheld devices into the library service environment; overall Web content management; collaborating with the Library metadata specialist on online knowledge base development, will also work closely with library staff, and support library functions as needed.

"The Amended Google Books Settlement is Still Exclusive"

James Grimmelmann has self-archived "The Amended Google Books Settlement is Still Exclusive" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

This brief essay argues that the proposed settlement in the Google Books case, although formally non-exclusive, would have the practical effect of giving Google an exclusive license to a large number of books. The settlement itself does not create mechanisms for Google's competitors to obtain licenses to orphan books and competitors are unlikely to be able to obtain similar settlements of their own. Recent amendments to the settlement do not change this conclusion.

Integrated Library System (ILS) Coordinator at University of Massachusetts

The University of Massachusetts is recruiting an Integrated Library System (ILS) Coordinator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Director of Libraries and the Five Colleges Librarians Council through the Director of Libraries, this position leads the management and ongoing utilization of the Five Colleges Libraries Aleph integrated library system, related projects and auxiliary services. Working with the UMass Amherst Libraries ILS Unit and Systems & Web Management Department staff, the primary Aleph contact(s) at each of the member libraries, the Aleph Advisory Group, and the Five Colleges functional committees, the Coordinator facilitates communication and project efforts among the libraries and within the shared Aleph system including maintaining common configuration tables, troubleshooting problem reports, writing custom reports, coordinating software patches and upgrades, and providing training and documentation to library staff. This position serves as the information conduit between vendors and the Five Colleges Libraries, including advocacy, possible enhancements, special ILS-related projects, and auxiliary services. The incumbent is expected to maintain a broad and detailed mastery of Aleph and other core applications while contributing to and advancing the collaborative vision of the Five Colleges Libraries.

University of Kansas Adopts Revised Open Access Policy

The University of Kansas has adopted a revised open access policy.

Here's the policy:

The faculty of the University of Kansas (KU) is committed to sharing the intellectual fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible and lowering barriers to its access. In recognition of that commitment and responsibility, the KU faculty is determined to take advantage of new technologies to increase access to its work by the citizens of Kansas and scholars, educators, and policymakers worldwide. In support of greater openness in scholarly endeavors, the KU faculty agrees to the following:

Each faculty member grants to KU permission to make scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles to which he or she made substantial intellectual contributions publicly available in the KU open access institutional repository, and to exercise the copyright in those articles. In legal terms, the permission granted by each faculty member is a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do the same, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit. This license in no way irrevocably interferes with the rights of the KU faculty author as the copyright holder of the work.

The policy will apply to all scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles authored or co-authored while a faculty member of KU. To assist in the open distribution of the articles, faculty members will provide bibliographic information and an electronic copy of each article within 30 days of publication to the Provost’s Designate. The license granted to KU regarding an article will be waived by the Provost's Designate at the sole discretion of the faculty member upon written/electronic notification. The Provost's office will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its application, and recommending changes as necessary. This policy will be reviewed by Faculty Governance, in concert with the Provost's office, every three years, and a report presented to Faculty Governance. A broadly representative Open Access Advisory Board made up of faculty, representatives from faculty governance, and the Provost’s office will provide additional guidance and oversight in policy implementation.

Read more about it at KU Open Access Policy, "KU Pushes to Increase Public Access to Published Research," and "Open Access Policy Announcement" [original policy].

Sustainable Economics for a Digital Planet: Ensuring Long-term Access to Digital Information

The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access has released Sustainable Economics for a Digital Planet: Ensuring Long-term Access to Digital Information.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

While much has been written on the digital preservation issue as a technical challenge, the Blue Ribbon Task Force report focuses on the economic aspect; i.e. how stewards of valuable, digitally-based information can pay for preservation over the longer term. The report provides general principles and actions to support long-term economic sustainability; context-specific recommendations tailored to specific scenarios analyzed in the report; and an agenda for priority actions and next steps, organized according to the type of decision maker best suited to carry that action forward. Moreover, the report is intended to serve as a foundation for further study in this critical area. . . .

Value, Incentives, and Roles & Responsibilities

The report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force focuses on four distinct scenarios, each having ever-increasing amounts of preservation-worthy digital assets in which there is a public interest in long-term preservation: scholarly discourse, research data, commercially-owned cultural content (such as digital movies and music), and collectively-produced Web content (such as blogs).

"Valuable digital information spans the spectrum from official e-documents to some YouTube videos. No one economic model will cost-effectively support them all, but all require cost-effective economic models," said Berman, who was director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego, before joining Rensselaer last year.

The report categorizes the economics of digital preservation into three "necessary conditions" closely aligned with the needs of stakeholders: recognizing the value of data and selecting materials for longer-term preservation; providing incentives for decision makers to preserve data directly or provide preservation services for others; and articulating the roles and responsibilities among those involved in the preservation process. The report further aligns those conditions with the basic economic principle of supply and demand, and warns that without well-articulated demand for access to preserved digital assets, there will be no supply of preservation services.

"Addressing the issues of value, incentives, and roles and responsibilities helps us understand who benefits from long-term access to digital materials, who should be responsible for preservation, and who should pay for it," said Brian Lavoie, research scientist at OCLC and Task Force co-chair. "Neglecting to account for any of these conditions significantly reduces the prospects of achieving sustainable digital preservation activities over the long run."

Task Force Recommendations The Blue Ribbon panel report cites several specific recommendations for decision makers and stakeholders to consider as they seek economically sustainable preservation practices for digital information. While the report covers these recommendations in detail, below is a summary listing key areas of priority for near-term action:

Organizational Action

  • develop public-private partnerships, similar to ones formed by the Library of Congress
  • ensure that organizations have access to skilled personnel, from domain experts to legal and business specialists
  • create and sustain secure chains of stewardship between organizations over the long term
  • achieve economies of scale and scope wherever possible

Technical Action

  • build capacity to support stewardship in all areas
  • lower the costs of preservation overall
  • determine the optimal level of technical curation needed to create a flexible strategy for all types of digital material

Public Policy Action

  • modify copyright laws to enable digital preservation
  • create incentives and requirements for private entities to preserve on behalf of the public (financial incentives, handoff requirements)
  • sponsor public-private partnerships
  • clarify rights issues associated with Web-based materials

Education and Public Outreach Action

  • promote education and training for 21st century digital preservation (domain-specific skills, curatorial best practices, core competencies in relevant science, technology, engineering, and mathematics knowledge)
  • raise awareness of the urgency to take timely preservation actions

The report concluded that sustainable preservation strategies are not built all at once, nor are they static.

"The environment in which digital preservation takes place can be very dynamic," said OCLC's Brian Lavoie. "Priorities change, policies change, stakeholders change. A key element of a robust sustainability strategy is to anticipate the effect of these changes and take steps to minimize the risk that long-term preservation goals will be impacted by short-term disruptions in resources, incentives, and other economic factors. If we can do this, we will have gone a long way toward ensuring that society's valuable digital content does indeed survive."

About the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access was launched in late 2007 by the National Science Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in partnership with the Library of Congress, the Joint Information Systems Committee of the United Kingdom, the Council on Library and Information Resources, and the National Archives and Records Administration. The Task Force was commissioned to explore the economic sustainability challenge of digital preservation and access. An Interim report discussing the economic context for preservation, Sustaining the Digital Investment: Issues and Challenges of Economically Sustainable Digital Preservation, is available at the Task Force website. Please visit the website for more information about the Task Force and its upcoming symposium, called A National Conversation on the Economic Sustainability of Digital Information, to take place April 1, 2010 in Washington D.C. A similar symposium will be held in the United Kingdom on May 6, 2010, at the Wellcome Collection Conference Centre, in London. Space is limited so early registration is advised. More information is available online.

Grateful Dead Archive Project Manager at UC Santa Cruz

The University of California at Santa Cruz University Library is recruiting a Grateful Dead Archive Project Manager. Salary Range: $5,000-$9,000/monthly.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the University Librarian, the incumbent provides management of the entire Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant funded project, Virtual Terrapin Station: Blending Traditional and Socially Created Archives for Research, Teaching, and Cultural Enrichment. The Project Manager will be a member of the Grateful Dead Archive team and will be directly responsible for the planning, coordination, design, and execution of the archive exhibition website and community web publishing platform. The Project Manager will oversee communication with the IMLS (the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a grant-making federal agency) including interim and final reports. The Grateful Dead Archive is a multimillion dollar collection that has sparked international interest. This position is responsible for overseeing the creation and implementation of the "Virtual Terrapin Station" that will incorporate digitized content from the archive plus materials contributed from the Deadhead community. Specific responsibilities include the development of a detailed project plan to design the website, digitize material for it, build a rights tracking function, and oversee the development of software to enable the exchange of information between library systems. The Project Manager has responsibility for the timely and successful distribution of over $1.4 million dollars comprised of the original IMLS grant and matching Library funds according to strict rules and deadlines per the general terms and conditions of the grant.

Under general direction of the University Librarian, the Project Manager formulates policy for the project administration and establishes the methods used to attain the goals of the technology project

University of Rochester's IR+ Institutional Repository Software

The University of Rochester Libraries' IR+ institutional repository software has been overviewed in a recent Inside Higher Ed article ("Encouraging Open Access") and a University of Rochester press release.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Created by a team at the University's River Campus Libraries, UR Research (https://urresearch.rochester.edu/home.action) is a one-stop Web site for managing the academic workflow. The suite of online tools meets an array of research needs, from authoring manuscripts to showcasing work to storing digital materials securely and when needed, permanently.

The system is designed to give researchers the incentive they need to upload their work to Web-based archives. "It's a win-win relationship," explains Suzanne Bell, the librarian charged with introducing the system to the University community. "Researchers get the tailor-made functions and online storage they need, Internet users get free and open access to academic research and priceless collections." For libraries, the program was designed as open-source software available for download to other institutions at no cost.

"It's a cyber work space that's collaborative," says Natalie Klein, a doctoral candidate in brain and cognitive sciences who quickly became enamored with the site after its recent launch. Klein particularly likes the ability to create and share documents in virtually any format. As a psycholinguist, her research data is quantitative and requires specialized text formatting, coding that is typically stripped when using popular online text sharing programs like Google Documents.

Klein also loves the user control built into the program, allowing her to create a customized researcher page and to easily post and update her CV and research. "I can upload documents myself instead of harassing a Web developer," she points out. "And the support has been great. I can't get that with Google Documents or even my department's Web site."

Doug Guiffrida, associate professor of counseling and human development in the Warner School of Education, agrees. The library's support team has always been "fantastic," he says. "They have made using this super easy."

Guiffrida uses the online archiving system to keep his work organized in one place and available for search engines and the public, who are free to download documents from the system. (Users also may have private work areas that cannot be searched or viewed by the public.) When a colleague asks for a paper, Guiffrida emails the UR Research link; when he gives a presentation, he posts the PowerPoint file on the system and shares the URL, a more earth friendly practice than printing out stacks of handouts, he points out. Even in his own office, Guiffrida says, "I actually use it instead of keeping hard copies around, if I need to look at something that I've written. I'm kind of a minimalist." And, unlike most departmental Web sites, the system tracks how often files are downloaded. "It's nice to see what people are reading and what they are ignoring," says Guiffrida.

An early adopter of UR Research, Guiffrida first began using the system when it was originally introduced in 2003 as simply a digital repository, a place for scholars to preserve and make available online preprints, dissertations, working papers, photographs, research data, music scores, and other work. But five years after its launch, only 6,500 documents had been entered into UR Research, says Nathan Sarr, the library's senior software engineer who designed the expanded system.

So the development team went back to the drawing board to find out what was wrong. Under the leadership of Susan Gibbons, Vice Provost and Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of River Campus Libraries; David Lindahl, software development director; and Nancy Fried Foster, director of anthropological research, they conducted an anthropological study of faculty members and a second study of graduate students. What they discovered was that researchers needed software for working collaboratively with their colleagues, whether down the hall or across the globe. They needed online tools for sharing different versions of manuscripts in a safe and secure environment. And they needed a place to showcase their research. Graduate students, in particular, needed safe storage for their theses and the ever growing mounds of digital data from research. And all researchers, juggling demanding schedules, needed a system that saved time and was easy to use.

"We saw there was a disconnect between the repository and faculty needs," says Gibbons. "Then we set out to build a system that addressed all of the misalignments we found. Every significant feature of this system can be traced back to a finding of our faculty and/or grad student research."

"What's novel about this system is that it has been built around user needs," adds Mike Bell, assistant dean for information technology. "Most other repositories have been focused on systems architecture and public access, not on what is most important to contributors."

Technology Director/Lead Software Engineer, Digital Antiquity at Arizona State University

Arizona State University is recruiting a Technology Director/Lead Software Engineer, Digital Antiquity. Salary range: $75,000-$90,000

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Digital Antiquity, a national initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, seeks a Technology Director / Lead Software Engineer to lead the technical development of a start-up national digital repository for archaeological documents and data. This exciting cyberinfrastructure initiative provides an excellent career opportunity in informatics and software development in the stimulating environment of a major research university.

The repository, the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR), has a conceptual design focusing on preservation and access with user-initiated ingest of data, documents, and associated metadata. The repository has been developed through planning grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Mellon Foundation. Key components have been prototyped with substantial funding from NSF.

We seek an individual with expertise in data management and software development. The individual must have experience in project management that will enable her or him to lead the technical development of a state-of-the-art, sustainable digital repository. The project presents challenges related to heterogeneous data and knowledge management; user-centric information system design; scalable and sustainable system design and engineering; and access control and rights management.

Under the general direction of Digital Antiquity’s Executive Director and Board of Directors, the Digital Antiquity Technology Director/Lead Software Engineer will guide the transition from prototype to the full implementation of a trusted digital repository. The incumbent will supervise the software team, manage the development process, and contribute to the effective functioning of the user support staff. The candidate should be committed to the success of the project and must have inter-disciplinary communications skills to work effectively with domain experts to ensure that the repository is highly responsive to user needs.

Kevin Ashley Named as Director of the Digital Curation Centre

Kevin Ashley has been named as the Director of the Digital Curation Centre.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

As the DCC begins its third phase today, I [Chris Rusbridge] am delighted to announce the appointment of our new Director, Kevin Ashley, who will succeed me upon my retirement in April 2010.

Kevin Ashley has been Head of Digital Archives at the University of London Computer Centre (ULCC) since 1997, during which time his multi-disciplinary group has provided services related to the preservation and reusability of digital resources on behalf of other organisations, as well as conducting research, development and training. The group has operated the National Digital Archive of Datasets for The National Archives of the UK for over twelve years, delivering customised digital repository services to a range of organisations. As a member of the JISC's Infrastructure and Resources Committee, the Advisory Council for ERPANET, plus several advisory boards for data and archives projects and services, Kevin has contributed widely to the research information community. As a firm and trusted proponent of the DCC we look forward to his energetic leadership in this new phase of our evolution.

Read more about it at "New Director of Digital Curation Centre Appointed."

Harvard Business School Adopts Open Access Policy

The Harvard Business School has adopted an open access policy.

Here's the policy:

The Faculty of the Harvard Business School is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available articles that he or she has prepared for journal peer review and to exercise the copyright in those articles. More specifically, each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of these articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do the same, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit. The policy will apply to all such articles authored or co-authored while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy.

Since the policy will apply only to articles prepared for peer review, it thus does not apply to Harvard Business School Cases and Notes, or to articles written for the Harvard Business Review or other publications that are not peer-reviewed. The Dean or the Dean's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article upon express direction by a Faculty member.

Each Faculty member will provide an electronic copy of the author's final version of each article to the Division of Research and Faculty Development (DRFD) no later than the date of its publication. DRFD will submit the article to the Harvard University open access repository; the Provost's Office may make it available to the public.

The Office of the Dean will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty from time to time. Effects of the policy will be continuously monitored, and after three years it will be reviewed and a report presented to the Faculty.

Read more about it at "Harvard Business School Approves Open-Access Policy."

Director, Online Library Environment at University of Virginia Library

The University of Virginia Library is recruiting a Director, Online Library Environment.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (posting number: 0602481):

The University of Virginia Library seeks a creative and flexible leader for the position of Director of our "online library environment," a comprehensive suite of tools and services to provide access to the Library's physical and digital collections. We seek candidates who are interested in pursuing solutions that provide faculty and students a cohesive, innovative environment for accessing information used in research, teaching, and learning. To find out more, please visit: http://www.lib.virginia.edu. . . .

The Director of the online library environment is responsible for leading the investigation and implementation of emerging information technologies as well as managing the daily operations for the Library's access and delivery applications. The Director will head a newly formed department of technologists and librarians in carrying out this activity. She or he will have oversight of all aspects of the Library's Integrated System (ILS Sirsi/Dynix Unicorn) and will lead development of an information architecture that provides a cohesive access and delivery environment. She or he will investigate new ways to provide access & delivery and workflow services traditionally provided by an ILS and seek to develop gateways to other information resources such as the Library's electronic resources and institutional repositories.

Health Research Board Ireland and Telethon Italy Adopt Mandatory Open Access Policies

Two funding agencies, Health Research Board Ireland and Telethon Italy, have adopted open access mandates that require publications resulting from their funded research to be deposited in UK PubMed Central.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Today, this aim takes a step closer as four European research-funding organisations—the Health Research Board Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland, Telethon Italy and the Austrian Science Fund—have agreed to participate in UKPMC. The funders will mandate that all biomedical research outputs that arise from their funding are made freely available—typically within six months of publication—from the UKPMC repository.

(The Austrian Science Fund and Science Foundation Ireland had prior open access mandates.)

Director of Library Information Systems at University of Illinois at Springfield

The Norris L. Brookens Library at the University of Illinois at Springfield is recruiting a Director of Library Information Systems. Salary range: $45,000-$60,000.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Serves as administrator for all library information systems. Researches, evaluates, and implements new technologies to enhance and extend library services in innovative, user-centered, and cost-effective ways. This includes conducting research into current, new and emerging trends (may require travel to other educational institutions for demonstrations, etc.), making recommendations to the appropriate personnel and specifying new technologies to be purchased by the library. Develops implementation strategies for new systems and phase out strategies for obsolete technologies.

Provides leadership, plans and delivers excellent web-based library services for the students, faculty and staff of UIS, including creation and administration of dynamically driven web content, online forms and search and retrieval interfaces for the library’s web site. Collaborating with members of the Web Team, assures the quality, accessibility, and currency of the site, as well as consistency with the UIS web site.

University of Virginia Adopts Voluntary Open Access Policy

The University of Virginia has adopted a voluntary open access policy.

Here's an excerpt from "Faculty Senate Approves Open Access, Authors' Rights Resolution":

The Open Access policy was a revision of a resolution on scholarly publications that was brought to the Faculty Senate last November, Task Force Chair Brian Pusser said. Originally, the resolution said participation would be mandatory by default but that faculty members could sign a waiver to opt out of it. The policy then was revised so that faculty members simply could decide if they wanted to contribute to the repository, Pusser said.

For background see: Faculty Senate Task Force on Scholarly Publications and Authors' Rights and "U.Va. Faculty Senate Weighs Access to Scholarly Articles."