Month: May 2010

Digital Curation and Preservation Policies in Scottish HEIs: Survey Results

The Digital Curation Centre has released Digital Curation and Preservation Policies in Scottish HEIs: Survey Results.

Here's an excerpt:

The survey showed that repositories are still relatively young, and that preservation is not yet the highest priority for them. The situation with preservation policies also reflects the early stage of repository development, where the need to apply explicit curation policies is only beginning to be acknowledged.

The survey did not identify any institution level preservation policies, but given the heterogeneity of digital information across any higher education institution, it is not surprising that institution-wide preservation policies have yet to be formulated. Repository level policies were found to be in place at four institutions that also reported to be offering preservation services.

The survey reported a very low level of awareness of both existing preservation policies and digital preservation issues in general, especially amongst administrative and research staff. Enforcing preservation policies and making them effective are challenges that all HEIs face; at the same time, this formative period could be considered an opportunity for the ERIS project to develop supporting tools and guidance, especially since the prospect of additional guidance and the possibility of centralised services for preservation were welcomed by the respondents.

Visiting Research Programmer for Scholarly Communications and Repository Services at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is recruiting a Visiting Research Programmer for Scholarly Communications and Repository Services (full-time, temporary academic professional appointment with possible renewal up to 3 years; may become permanent at a later date).

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Library is moving forward to implement a library-wide repository to preserve and manage created and acquired digital content and to expand its scholarly communication services to campus. Led by the Scholarly Communications and Repository Technical Team with close collaboration with key stakeholders within the Library and across campus, this effort will result in a scalable preservation repository, defined interactions with external partners such as the Hathi Trust, and the infrastructure necessary for sustained scholarly communication services, such as an institutional bibliography and scholarship portal, data curation tools, and researcher profiles.

As a member of this team, the Visiting Research Programmer for Scholarly Communication and Repository Services (SCRS) reports to the Technical Architect for Scholarly Communication and Repositories Services (TA) and participates fully in the planning and implementation of the repository effort and in particular to the development of technical services and applications to support the scholarly communication services of the Library. The successful candidate will be responsible for providing programming, database design, implementation and support, customization, and continued assessment of the technical infrastructure for all components related to scholarly communication services. These would include development of the repository itself. The SCRS Research Programmer works with staff from the Library and other key campus personnel to translate user needs into technical requirements and implement these in concert with the development of the repository. The SCRS Research Programmer explores, adapts, and implements emerging technologies to support efforts such as analysis of publication patterns on campus, understanding impact of research done at Illinois, and understanding collaboration patterns across campus. The SCRS Research Programmer works closely with the Scholarly Commons coordinator, the IDEALS coordinator, and the Head of Grainger to provide support to existing services, such as IDEALS, the campus repository, and the electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) service.

Specific activities include: 1) implementation and support of a planned digital repository to provide sustained access and preservation services to millions of digital files in the University Library’s growing digital research collections; and 2) the development of software applications that support the research and scholarly communications services that are being developed and refined through a collaboration of librarians involved in the current IDEALS Scholarly Communications Program, the Scholarly Commons in the Main Library, and the Grainger Engineering Library’s Digital Library Initiative. Several applications already exist in pilot mode, but they will require concentrated and sustained technical effort to make them production-level systems that can support campus-wide use. These include the Electronic Theses and Dissertations Deposit service (ETD’s), in collaboration with the Graduate College; the BibApp research connections software system; the Researcher Profiles system that enables the Library to create customized research information portals for research groups; and the Hub and Spoke toolkit for creating digital preservation packages for repository ingest. This position is vital to the Library’s nascent efforts to support the ongoing curation of researcher-created datasets throughout the campus and to help fulfill campus obligations to emerging federal agency requirements for data management, curation, and open access.

Cynthia S. Arato's Analysis of the Google Books Settlement

Cynthia S. Arato, a Partner at Macht, Shapiro, Arato & Isserles, has sent an eighteen-page memo on the Google Books Settlement to the Open Book Alliance that summarizes "the objections and argument that we lodged against the proposed settlement of the 'Google Books' lawsuit on behalf of leading foreign publishing and authors' associations, foreign publishers, and foreign authors."

Here's an excerpt:

Numerous provisions of the proposed Google Books settlement would, if approved, violate the treaty obligations of the U.S. For this reason, and because of its myriad other defects, the settlement should not be approved by the court. If the settlement is approved, it may give rise to legal action against the U.S. before an international tribunal and will certainly expose the U.S. to diplomatic stress.

Copyright for Creativity—A Declaration for Europe

A coalition of organizations, including the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the German Library Association (GLA), the Stichting LIBER Foundation (LIBER), the Special Libraries Association (SLA), and others, has released Copyright for Creativity—A Declaration for Europe.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Copyright is based on both protection of creative works and exceptions to that protection, which allow for businesses and creators to innovate, make creative reuses of content, and to build on the work of others. For example, copyright protects a novelist’s rights over her novel, while an exception recognising parody would allow another writer to create a new work of parody based on the original. While copyright protects an academic’s published research, exceptions allow for others to cite, copy in-part, and quote from that research. A balance is therefore struck between the need to protect creators’ rights, and the public benefit that can be realised through reuses, references, and other derivations of the work being created.

These exceptions are key to enabling legitimate reuses and innovation, and the activity of a number of socially and economically important stakeholders depends on them. While the public debate and political agenda around copyright focuses heavily on measures to protect ownership of creative works, the Copyright for Creativity declaration sets out a positive agenda by identifying a set of objectives that need to be achieved if copyright is to fully drive digital competitiveness, creativity and innovation.

Among its recommendations, the declaration calls for European copyright law to act as a spur to innovation, support education and research, facilitate digital preservation and archiving, and harmonise exceptions further across the EU. Also accompanying the declaration are clear examples of the shortcomings of the existing copyright regime; these examples illustrate the application of copyright exceptions in everyday life and their benefit to everyone.

Today’s declaration is only a start, as the coalition expects many more signatories to join after the launch. Given that Members of the European Parliament already support the declaration, the coalition also expects it to serve as a basis for a much needed debate on copyright and the way to ensure that it best serves the interest of creators, innovators and users alike.

Information Technology (IT) Operations Manager at Boston Public Library

Boston Public Library is recruiting an Information Technology (IT) Operations Manager.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (job ID: 338231):

The Information Technology (IT) Operations Manager is responsible for developing, updating, overseeing and directing help desk and technical support operations, to ensure a functioning and optimal end user computing experience across the Boston Public Library's branch library locations, the central library and its departments, across both internal and public computing programs and services, and encompassing both online and onsite locations as needed.

The IT Operations Manager directly manages the help desk and technical support staff. The IT Operations Manager will act internally and externally for the IT department as the deputy CTO as needed and on tasks and projects as assigned. This role will work closely and collaboratively with the Network, Server, Web Services and Applications Managers to ensure a well coordinated delivery of IT services to internal and external customers. This role is responsible for department scheduling, oversees personnel, and participates in strategic and budgetary planning procedures. This is both a hands-on technical and managerial position.

The IT Operations Manager is responsible for maintaining the IT inventory for, procuring, supporting and delivering maintenance for: IT equipment and software licenses. They maintain vendor relationships with key service providers that support and provide technology for the end user computing environments.

This role is responsible for the optimal operation of all client devices and end user computing environments hardware, peripherals, operating systems and user applications as well as those server applications and systems which directly support and help manage the end user computing environment. It is also responsible for escalation management and help desk systems administration

Users' Trust in Information Resources in the Web Environment: A Status Report

JISC has released Users' Trust in Information Resources in the Web Environment: A Status Report.

Here's an excerpt:

This study brings together the e-commerce, e-health and information trust literature to provide a broader picture of what is already known around issues of trust in the use of Web resources within Higher Education (HE). Herring (2005) believes the first aspect of teaching information seeking skills is to teach students how to evaluate the information they have found; he believes that "Information literacy is now regarded by governments across the world as a core educational and life skill, and schools have a key role to play in developing their student's information literacy" (Herring 2005: 91). The JISC JUBILEE project found that "Most students do not evaluate the information they retrieve electronically" (Banwell et al 2003). Rowlands et al (2008) found that young people are "unable to construct effective searches and evaluate the results. . . due to their lack of knowledge of the kinds of information content that exists." If there is an inability or lack of perceived need to evaluate Web resources, how are choices made relating to trust." Young people feel at ease in many virtual environments but this does not necessarily mean they are equally at ease in all virtual worlds, they are, however, acutely aware of the limitations and potential pitfalls surrounding internet use. Rather than being discouraged from over-dependence on the internet, what learners need are the tools to allow them to use the internet to their best advantages. These tools are not ICT skills, navigating a keyboard is vastly different from navigating the choppy waters of cyberspace (Pickard 2008). A key dimension of trust is the belief in ability; the expertise, skills or technical ability that another has in a certain area (Ridings & Gefen 2005). This aspect of the study focuses on identifying and assessing evidence to examine the choices individuals make based on trust and confidence within the Web environment.

Knowledge Integration & Emerging Technologies Librarian at Penn State Hershey

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The George T. Harrell Health Sciences Library at The Pennsylvania State University, Hershey Campus, seeks a Librarian for Knowledge Integration & Emerging Technologies. Reporting to the Director, the incumbent will create and articulate an evolving technology strategy to support the ongoing transition from a print to a predominately digital library. The Harrell Health Sciences Library supports the education, research, clinical, and community outreach missions of Penn State Hershey; the medical campus of Penn State University. This is a faculty position, may be multi-year contract or tenure track based on qualifications, experience, and preference.

The Librarian for Knowledge Integration & Emerging Technologies will be responsible for providing leadership and expertise in designing, developing and supporting the library’s virtual presence. The librarian will lead the library’s web team and manage the Harrell HSL website within a CMS framework; identify initiatives and projects that enhance and further develop state-of the-art online library services and resources that simplify the workflow of clinicians, researchers and students; and collaborate with the IT departments, both on the Hershey campus and with University Libraries, to further develop and implement web based resources and services, and integrate relevant existing systems. Critical skills include demonstrated knowledge of advances in the application of information technologies to deliver content, the ability to function effectively in a team environment, and a facility for cross-departmental communications.

Planets Releases 7 Digital Preservation Training Videos and Related Materials

Planets (Preservation and Long-term Access through NETworked Services) has released seven training videos, an annotated reading list, and a set of technical summaries about digital preservation.

Here's a list of the digital videos:

  • Introduction to Digital Preservation: Why Preserve? How to Preserve?
  • The Preservation Action Cycle: Introduction to Planets
  • How to Preserve?
  • Tools: How to Understand Files
  • Testbed: A Controlled Environment for Experimentation and Evaluation in Digital Preservation
  • Digital Preservation: How to Plan: Preservation Planning with Plato
  • Tools: How to Integrate the Components of Digital Preservation

Last Week’s DigitalKoans Tweets 2010-05-09

Queen's University Librarians and Archivists Pass Open Access Policy

Librarians and archivists at Queen's University have adopted an open access policy.

Here's the policy:

Librarians and archivists at Queen's University recognize the importance of open access to content creators and researchers in fostering new ideas, creating knowledge and ensuring that it is available as widely as possible. In keeping with our long-standing support of the Open Access movement, Queen's librarians and archivists move to adopt a policy which would ensure our research is disseminated as widely as possible and available in perpetuity through deposit in Queen's institutional repository, QSpace.

Policy Statement

Academic librarians and archivists at Queen's University [1] commit to making the best possible effort to publish in venues providing unrestricted public access to their works. They will endeavour to secure the right to self-archive their published materials, and will deposit these works in QSpace.

The Queen's University academic librarian and archivist complement grant Queen's University Libraries the non-exclusive right to make their scholarly publications accessible through self-archiving in the QSpace institutional repository subject to copyright restrictions.

Guidelines

This policy applies to all scholarly and professional work produced as a member of Queen's University academic staff produced as of the date of the adoption of this policy. Retrospective deposit is encouraged. Co-authored works should be included with the permission of the other author(s).

Examples of works include:

  • Scholarly and professional articles
  • Substantive presentations, including slides and text
  • Books/book chapters
  • Reports
  • Substantive pedagogical materials such as online tutorials

Works should be deposited in QSpace as soon as is possible, recognizing that some publishers may impose an embargo period.

This policy is effective as of 01/01/2010 and will be assessed a year after implementation.

[1] As defined by Collective Agreement 2008-2011, Article 25.1.5.

Applications Programmer for Digital Scholarly Publishing at University of Michigan

The University of Michigan Library's Scholarly Publishing Office is recruiting an Applications Programmer for Digital Scholarly Publishing. Two-year appointment with the possibility for renewal. Salary: $40,000-$50,000.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Scholarly Publishing Office (SPO) seeks an Application Developer to design and code the business and application logic for a variety of software systems in support of digital scholarly publishing. This position will work in a team with a Database Developer and an Interface Developer to create new applications for web delivery of content, and office productivity tools to enhance production workflow, as well as maintaining and improving existing systems.

Duties will center on two main areas of work: designing, building, and migrating content into a new online publishing platform for our journal and monograph collections; and collaborative projects with the University of Michigan Press to create enhanced digital versions of their books and community-based tools.

SPO is a unit of the MPublishing division of the University of Michigan Library. SPO is a highly collaborative environment that emphasizes team goals, and our programmer team has the opportunity to work with a variety of other technical units in the Library: Core Services and the Digital Library Production Service (DLPS) and their work on the Hathi Trust. We also collaborate with the other divisions within MPublishing: the Deep Blue institutional repository, the Copyright Office, the Text Creation Partnership, and the University of Michigan Press. To learn more about SPO, visit http://www.lib.umich.edu/spo/.

Review of the State of the Art of the Digital Curation of Research Data

Alex Ball has deposited Review of the State of the Art of the Digital Curation of Research Data in Opus.

Here's an excerpt :

The aim of this report is to present the state of the art of the digital curation of research data, in terms of both theoretical understanding and practical application, and note points of particular interest to the ERIM Project. The report begins by reviewing the concepts of data curation and digital curation, and then exploring the terminologies currently in use for describing digital repositories and data lifecycles. Some parallels are also drawn between digital curation practice and design and engineering practice. Existing guidance on data curation from research funders, established data centres and the Digital Curation Centre is summarized in section 3. A review of some important standards and tools that have been developed to assist in research data management and digital repository management is presented in section 4. Finally, a short case study of implementing a new data management plan is presented in section 5, followed by some conclusions and recommendations in section 6.

Metadata Specialist at Mount Holyoke College

The Mount Holyoke College Library is recruiting a Metadata Specialist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (posting number: 0444):

Reporting to the Head of Digital Assets and Preservation Services, the Metadata Specialist provides and maintains descriptive, technical, and structural metadata for digital content; supporting the Digital Assets and Preservation Services department responsible for the collaborative planning, implementation, integration, integrity, and continuous evaluation of the College's digital repository, including all policies, standards, and workflows. . . .

Provides and maintains descriptive, technical, and structural metadata for digital content (including but not limited to research data, sound, video, images, text, teaching materials), acquired or created by Mount Holyoke College; evaluates and maintains quality control of metadata operations; maintains documentation on best practices and tracks developments on standards of all types (descriptive, technical, preservation, and administrative) to recommend and design appropriate metadata schema for discovery and access.

Keeps abreast of new trends, tools, opportunities, and campus needs. Contributes to a continuous process of assessment to ensure the Digital Assets and Preservation Department's success in advancing the College's evolving goals in light of pedagogical, information, and technology changes. Assists the Department Head and works collaboratively with key members of LITS staff (Networking/Web Team, Research and Instruction, etc.) in identifying, planning, and implementing the best repository and/or discovery tool solutions for Mount Holyoke. Advises the Department Head and related LITS staff on metadata best practices as related to digital preservation.

Internet Archive Makes over a Million DAISY Standard Digital Books Freely Available to Blind, Dyslexic, and Visually Impaired Users

The Internet Archive has made over one million digital books in the DAISY Standard for Digital Talking Books freely available to blind, dyslexic, and other visually impaired users.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

More than doubling the number of books available to print disabled people of all ages, today the Internet Archive launched a new service that brings free access to more than 1 million books — from classic 19th century fiction and current novels to technical guides and research materials — now available in the specially designed format to support those who are blind, dyslexic or are otherwise visually impaired. . . .

The 1 million+ books in the Internet Archive’s library for print disabled, are scanned from hard copy books then digitized into DAISY — a specialized format used by blind or other persons with disabilities, for easy navigation. Files are downloaded to devices that translate the text and read the books aloud for the user to enjoy. To access books visit: http://openlibrary.org/subjects/accessible_book. . . .

Older books are available from the Internet Archive’s unencrypted DAISY library and modern books can be accessed by "qualified users" through their NLS key — an encrypted code provided by the Library of Congress' National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), that is dedicated to providing materials to the print disabled. Currently, over 800,000 people in the US are registered with the Library of Congress as being print disabled.

As of today, the Internet Archive offers over one million books for print disabled people. Other large libraries for the print disabled including NLS, Bookshare.org, and Reading for the Blind & Dyslexic.. . .

Most of the older books have been scanned from library collections, with newer books having been donated to the Internet Archive by companies such as the online bookseller Alibris, libraries and individuals.

The print disabled collection of books are now available through the Archive’s new Open Library site (www.openlibrary.org), which serves as a gateway to information about millions of hardcopy books and more than 1 million electronic books.

To access all books, a United States resident with print disabilities must register with the Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/nls/signup.html.

Presentations from the CNI Spring 2010 Task Force Meeting

Presentations and handouts from the CNI Spring 20010 Task Force Meeting are now available.

Here are a few example presentations:

Video Archive Project Manager at Yale

The Yale University Library is recruiting a Video Archive Project Manager, Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies (3-year appointment) Salary: $48,000-$68,000.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (STARS no.: 9459BR):

Reporting to the Fortunoff Video Archive Archivist, the Video Archive Project Manager will join a dynamic group of archivists, information technology personnel, and vendors to assist in designing a plan for the digital migration of more than 12,000 legacy videotapes. Applying leadership, strategic thinking, and decision-making skills, the Video Archive Project Manager will implement the plan and manage timely completion of the migration project to preserve and provide improved access to the testimonies. . . .

  1. Participates in design of plan to migrate legacy videotapes (U-Matic, Betacam, and other formats in both NTSC and PAL standards) to preservation digital files (losslessly compressed MJPEG2K) on data tape library system (LTO5), and digital access files (mezzanine files – probably H.264), and streaming files (probably DV) on spinning disk storage (likely Isilon storage).
  2. Provides technical support for implementing migration plan in a complex video digital migration facility, including installation, trouble shooting, and maintenance of electronic and mechanical audio-video production equipment and technology distributions systems.
  3. Implements, supervises, and documents the day-to-day migration workflow for retrieval of legacy videotapes, inspection and cleaning, digitization, quality assurance, transmission of data files and metadata to permanent file locations, and return of legacy tapes to Library Shelving Facility. Troubleshoots and modifies workflow as needed to result in successful migration within project deadlines. Ensures adherence to productions schedules and quality standards.
  4. Partners with appropriate department and library colleagues and university offices and staff (Information Technology Services, Office of Digital Assets and Infrastructure) to develop institutional standards and best practices campus-wide for audio-video digital migration.

Ensuring That 'E' Doesn't Mean Ephemeral: A Practical Guide to E-Journal Archiving Solutions

JISC has released Ensuring That 'E' Doesn't Mean Ephemeral: A Practical Guide to E-Journal Archiving Solutions, which discusses CLOCKSS, Portico, and the UK LOCKSS Alliance.

Here's an excerpt:

This booklet provides a starting point for institutions interested in investigating e-archiving options. It gives a practical guide to the solutions offered by three of the main long-term preservation schemes and provides an overview of the distinguishing features of each solution.

Head of Emerging Technologies and Services at Oregon State University

The Oregon State University Libraries are recruiting a Head of Emerging Technologies and Services.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Head of Emerging Technologies and Services is a key administrative position at the OSU Libraries. As the primary technology architect and planner for the OSU Libraries, the Head of ETS uses his/her knowledge of current and emerging information technologies, protocols, and concepts to keep core application systems effective, evolving and nimble. He/she will position ETS to take advantage of innovative technical opportunities and inform the OSU Libraries' management and staff of new technology options. The Head of ETS sets the technology infrastructure directions and ensures that the library maintains reliable, scalable, and sustainable server and networking infrastructure, vibrant web services, and expanding digital initiatives. The Head of ETS represents the Libraries on information technology groups on the OSU campus and externally, is expected to establish and maintain effective partnerships and collaborations, and serves as the primary spokesperson on issues and policies related to information technology for the OSU Libraries.

The Fate of the Semantic Web

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released The Fate of the Semantic Web.

Here's an excerpt:

Some 895 experts responded to the invitation of the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center to predict the likely progress toward achieving the goals of the semantic web by the year 2020. Asked to think about the likelihood that Berners-Lee and his allies will realize their vision, often called Web 3.0, these technology experts and stakeholders were divided and often contentious.

Some 47% agreed with the statement:

"By 2020, the semantic web envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee will not be as fully effective as its creators hoped and average users will not have noticed much of a difference."

Some 41% agreed with the opposite statement, which posited:

"By 2020, the semantic web envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee and his allies will have been achieved to a significant degree and have clearly made a difference to average internet users."

Experts generally agreed that progress will continue to be made in making the web more useful and information retrieval and assessment more meaningful. They recognized the fact that there are already elements and programs of the semantic web in place that are helping people more easily navigate their lives. While many survey participants noted that current and emerging technologies are being leveraged toward positive web evolution in regard to linking data, there was no consensus on the technical mechanisms and human actions that might lead to the next wave of improvements—nor how extensive the changes might be.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Faculty Senate Passes Resolution Supporting Institutional Repository

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Faculty Senate has passed a resolution supporting DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The repository contains more than 40,000 documents, and more than 500 faculty members have deposited documents in it.

Here's the resolution:

Resolution on Digital Commons Institutional Repository

The Research Council to the Faculty Senate:

Whereas — Many members of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty from every college have taken advantage of services offered by the Libraries to create and populate a very successful institutional repository, the UNL Digital Commons, now containing more than 27,000 open-access items of faculty and student research, including articles, original monographs, and journals, as well as more than 11,000 dissertations, and

whereas — this repository is one of the largest academic institutional repositories in the United States, is accessed from more than 150 countries, and is indexed by Google and other major search engines, and

whereas — online open-access electronic dissemination of scholarship is an extremely effective way to enhance the visibility, recognition, and reach of faculty research,

be it resolved — that the participating faculty are to be congratulated for their support and use of the institutional repository and that all faculty are to be encouraged to take advantage of these services.

Read more about it at "University of Nebraska-Lincoln Faculty Senate Endorses Open Access."

Senior Systems Librarian at North Dakota State University

The North Dakota State University is recruiting a Senior Systems Librarian. Salary: $60,000+.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Senior Systems Librarian manages the day to day operations of the Systems Office; implements and operates the Libraries' information systems; liaises with Information Technology Services; and liaises with external groups associated with library information systems issues.

This position is responsible for collection development, and acts as liaison to academic departments in assigned subject areas. Also provides general specialized reference and instruction/information literacy services to the NDSU community and other constituencies.

Digital Video of Copyright, Content and Class Action Lawsuits: A Debate on the Google Book Search Settlement Meeting

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation has released a digital video of its Copyright, Content and Class Action Lawsuits: A Debate on the Google Book Search Settlement meeting.

Participants included:

  • Daniel Castro, Senior Analyst, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
  • Allan Adler, Vice President of Government Affairs, Association of American Publishers,
  • Peter Brantley, Director of Access, Internet Archive
  • Dan Clancy, Engineering Director, Google Book Search
  • Alan Inouye, Director, Office for Information Policy, American Library Association

Community Digitization Librarian/Archivist at University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia Library is recruiting a Community Digitization Librarian/Archivist (two-year appointment).

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

We are seeking a two-year term professional librarian/archivist to coordinate the activities of the multi-sector BC Digitization Coalition. Working closely with Coalition members and stakeholders around the province, the Community Digitization Librarian/Archivist works to implement the goals identified at the BC Digitization Symposium around the development of a digitization strategy for BC. This position will advise libraries, archives, museums, historical societies and other cultural agencies on best practices around digitization projects and developing in-house digitization expertise. The incumbent will develop a central database of projects and will help to advocate and promote digitization as a strategy for the preservation and promotion of British Columbia's unique history and culture. Additionally, the Community Digitization Librarian/Archivist will be responsible for the administration of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre's (IKBLC) British Columbia History Digitization Program (BCHDP) and of IKBLC community digitization initiatives. This position will report to the Assistant Director, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

A detailed job description can be viewed at here and we welcome you to view the UBC Library Strategic Plan 2010–2015 www.library.ubc.ca/strategicplan/.   For more details on IKBLC, please visit http://www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/.  To learn more about the BC Digitization Coalition please visit http://wbtw.ca/.

Concordia University Senate Approves Open Access Policy

The Concordia University Senate has passed an open access policy. Concordia University has a "student body of almost 44,000 undergraduate, graduate and continuing education students from more than 150 countries, studying in over 500 programs."

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Concordia University’s academic community has passed a landmark Senate Resolution on Open Access that encourages all of its faculty and students to make their peer-reviewed research and creative output freely accessible via the internet. Concordia is the first major university in Canada where faculty have given their overwhelming support to a concerted effort to make the full results of their research universally available. . . .

Gerald Beasley, Concordia’s University Librarian, was instrumental in the campus-wide dialogue on open access that began more than a year ago. "I am delighted that Senate voted to support the recommendations of all four Faculty Councils and the Council of the School of Graduate Studies. There are only a handful of precedents in North America for the kind of leadership that Concordia faculty have demonstrated by their determination to make publicly-funded research available to all rather than just the minority able to afford the rapidly rising subscription costs of scholarly databases, books and journals."

This past year, Concordia launched Spectrum, an open access digital repository that continues to grow beyond its initial 6,000 dissertations submitted at Concordia, and at its predecessors Sir George Williams University and Loyola College. The Senate Resolution encourages all of Concordia's researchers to deposit their research and creative work in Spectrum.

Here's the policy:

Whereas

Open access makes the results of publicly funded academic research and creative work accessible to everyone via the internet and succeeds by supplementing but not replacing peer-reviewed journals and other established publishing venues, and

whereas Concordia University wishes to take a leadership role in Canada and exemplify social responsibility by supporting the principles of open access and has recently launched Spectrum, an open access repository freely available to receive the refereed academic research output and creative work voluntarily deposited by Concordia faculty and others, with assistance from librarians and other library staff as required, thereby satisfying the requirements of a number of funding agencies in Canada and elsewhere without affecting the intellectual property rights, responsibilities and academic freedom of faculty members;

It was resolved that Senate recommends that Concordia University:

– from now on encourages all its faculty members to deposit an electronic copy of their refereed research output and creative work in Spectrum, along with nonexclusive permission to preserve and freely disseminate it; and

– furthermore, in the specific case of any scholarly article accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, from now on requires all faculty members to deposit an electronic copy in Spectrum along with non-exclusive permission to preserve and freely disseminate it. This requirement is not binding in cases where publishers, co-authors or other rights holders disallow such a deposit. Faculty members may also, without prejudice, opt out of the requirement by notifying the University Librarian in writing that their work has appeared, or will appear in another Open Access format; or by citing other factors that currently discourage them from depositing their work in an Open Access repository

NEH Preservation and Access Research and Development Grants Available

The National Endowment for the Humanities' Division of Preservation and Access is accepting applications for Preservation and Access Research and Development grants, with the maximum grant award being $350,000 for up to three years.

Here's an excerpt:

Preservation and Access Research and Development grants support projects that address major challenges in preserving or providing access to humanities collections and resources. These challenges include the need to find better ways to preserve materials of critical importance to the nation’s cultural heritage—from fragile artifacts and manuscripts to analog recordings and digital assets subject to technological obsolescence—and to develop advanced modes of searching, discovering, and using such materials. . . .

Eligible projects include

  • the development of technical standards, best practices, and tools for preserving and creating access to humanities collections;
  • the exploration of more effective scientific and technical methods of preserving humanities collections;
  • the development of automated procedures and computational tools to integrate, analyze, and repurpose humanities data in disparate online resources; and
  • the investigation and testing of new ways of providing digital access to humanities materials that are not easily digitized using current methods.

NEH especially encourages applications that address the following topics:

  • Digital Preservation: how to preserve digital humanities materials, including born-digital materials, for which there is no analog counterpart;
  • Recorded Sound and Moving Image Collections: how to preserve and increase access to the record of the twentieth century contained in these formats; and
  • Preventive Conservation: how to protect and slow the deterioration of humanities collections through the use of sustainable preservation strategies.