Month: June 2010

Institutions from Sub-Saharan Africa and Former Soviet Republics Join World Digital Library

New institutions from Sub-Saharan Africa and the former Soviet Republics have joined the World Digital Library.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Under a $2 million grant awarded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Library of Congress has completed the first stages of a three-year effort to enable cultural institutions in sub-Saharan Africa and the countries of the former Soviet Union to join the World Digital Library (WDL), an award-winning project initiated by the Library in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) to provide free, multilingual access to important cultural and historical documents from all 193 UNESCO member states.

The WDL now has 85 partners from 55 countries. More than 10 million users from every nation in the world have visited the WDL – www.wdl.org – since its launch in April 2009.

In connection with the first official meeting of the WDL partners, to take place in Washington, DC on June 22-23, Carnegie Corporation of New York today will support a conference of directors and technical staff from libraries, archives, and museums in 11 countries of the former Soviet Union – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan — to identify important documents and collections from these countries that should be added to the WDL. The conference will identify the personnel and infrastructural needs these nations must fulfill to participate in national and international digital library projects. It will also seek to map out a strategy to ensure that the cultural richness of the Central Asian and Caucasus countries as well as Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus are reflected in the WDL. Representatives of Russian libraries already participating in the WDL will take part in the conference as observers.

Under the same Carnegie Corporation of New York grant, which was awarded in July 2009, the Library of Congress worked with the National Library of Uganda (NLU) to establish a Digital Conversion Center at the NLU in Kampala. This center, the first of its kind in Uganda and one of very few in sub-Saharan Africa, is enabling the national library to digitize documents relating to the history and culture of Uganda for inclusion on its own website and on the WDL. The items digitized are from the NLU and other cooperating institutions in Uganda. They include such documents as those that led to the first constitution of Uganda and several related to the movement for independence; early accounts of missions to Uganda; and the original of the 1898 treaty between Great Britain and the Kingdom of Buganda.

The Library of Congress and Carnegie Corporation of New York provided digitization equipment and software to Uganda’s NLU and helped the institution in Kampala recruit a dedicated digital conversion staff. That staff was trained by a five-person team from the Library of Congress in content selection, preservation, digitization and metadata creation. Gertrude Kayaga Mulindwa, Director of the National Library of Uganda, will address the WDL partner meeting on her institution’s experience in establishing the digital conversion center and the experience gained and lessons learned for capacity-building in other developing country libraries. Future activities planned under the grant include efforts to build capacity at libraries in South Africa so they, too can contribute collections to the WDL.

Open Data: Panton Principles Authors Named SPARC Innovators

The authors of the Panton Principles have been named as SPARC Innovators.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Science is based on building on, reusing, and openly criticizing the published body of scientific knowledge. For science to effectively function, and for society to reap the full benefits from scientific endeavors, it is crucial that science data be made open.

That's the belief of four leaders who have put forth a groundbreaking set of recommendations for scientists to more easily share their data—The Panton Principles—and who have been named the latest SPARC Innovators for their work.

The authors of The Panton Principles are:

  • Peter Murray-Rust, chemist at the University of Cambridge;
  • Cameron Neylon, biochemist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Didcot, England;
  • Rufus Pollock, co-founder of the Open Knowledge Foundation and Mead Fellow in Economics, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge;
  • John Wilbanks, vice president for Science, Creative Commons, San Francisco.

The authors advocate making data freely available on the Internet for anyone to download, copy, analyze, reprocess, pass to software or use for any purpose without financial, legal or technical barriers. Through the Principles, the group aimed to develop clear language that explicitly defines how a scientist's rights to his own data could be structured so others can freely reuse or build on it. The goal was to craft language simple enough that a scientist could easily follow it, and then focus on doing science rather than law.

The Panton Principles were publicly launched in February of 2010, with a Web site at www.pantonprinciples.org to spread the word and an invitation to endorse. About 100 individuals and organizations have endorsed the Principles so far.

"This is the first time we're seeing diverse viewpoints crystallize around the pragmatic idea that we have to start somewhere, agree on the basics, and set the tone," says Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). "The authors are all leading thinkers in this area—as well as producers and consumers of data. They each approached the idea of open data from different directions, yet with the same drive to open up science, and ended up on common ground."

According to Pollock, "It's commonplace that we advance by building on the work of colleagues and predecessors—standing on the shoulders of giants. In a digital age, to build on the work of others we need something very concrete: access to the data of others and the freedom to use and reuse it. That's what the Panton Principles are about."

To read the full June 2010 SPARC Innovator profile, visit http://www.arl.org/sparc/innovator.

Special Projects Librarian at Bentley University

The Bentley University Library is recruiting a Special Projects Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (posting number: FY10131224):

The Special Projects Librarian is responsible for proposing and managing a variety of new projects in the library, such as designing and implementing a digital archives collection, exploring and potentially implementing a plan for copyright-compliant off-campus streaming of videos, exploring and doing analyses of Innovative's evolving product line, piloting an e-books/e-textbooks initiative, etc.

S/he serves as a standing member of the Bentley Library User Experience (BLUE) group, working closely with the Assistant Manager of Reference to further digital and online initiatives that require a more significant time commitment than BLUE team members can reasonably be expected to make. Of course, s/he will also work closely with and rely on both full-time and student Library Services, Reference, and Technical Services staff to ensure the timely completion of projects, and keep the Library Director apprised of progress, opportunities, and obstacles to be overcome.

Presentations from Computer Forensics and Born-Digital Content in Cultural Heritage Collections Meeting

The Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities has released presentations from the Computer Forensics and Born-Digital Content in Cultural Heritage Collections meeting.

Here's an excerpt from the meeting's background document:

While such [computer forensics] activities may seem (happily) far removed from the concerns of the cultural heritage sector, the methods and tools developed by forensics experts represent a novel approach to key issues and challenges in the archives community. Libraries, special collections, and other repositories increasingly receive computer storage media (and sometimes entire computers) as part of their acquisition of "papers" from contemporary artists, writers, musicians, government officials, politicians, scholars, and other public figures. Cell phones, e-readers, and other data-rich devices will surely follow. The same forensics software that indexes a criminal suspect's hard drive allows the archivist to prepare a comprehensive manifest of the electronic files a donor has turned over for accession; the same hardware that allows the forensics specialist to create an algorithmically authenticated "image" of a file system allows the archivist to ensure the integrity of digital content once committed to an institutional repository; the same data recovery procedures that allow the specialist to discover, recover, and present as trial evidence an "erased" file may allow a scholar to reconstruct a lost or inadvertently deleted version of an electronic manuscript—and do so with enough confidence to stake reputation and career.

Systems Coordinator at Lamar University

The Mary & John Gray Library at Lamar University is recruiting a Systems Coordinator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (posting number: 0600239):

Provides management of the systems department of the library including the integrated library system (SirsiDynix Symphony), web development, and day to day management of the department including supervision of full time staff. Manages systems that support library functions including providing assistance and training to library staff in the use of the SirsiDynix ILS. This position can expect to be on call nights and weekends for systems issues. Coordinates library systems for the Gray Library serving Lamar University and the Lamar Institute of Technology and the Ron E. Lewis Library at Lamar State College-Orange. Participates in the reference rotation 2-4 hours a week. Contributes to library services and initiatives and participates in university and library committees. Shares in collection development duties.

2010 Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement

Victoria A. Espinel, U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, has released the 2010 Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement.

Here's an excerpt:

The U.S. Government supports the free flow of information and freedom of expression over the Internet. An open and accessible Internet is critical to our economy. At the same time, the Internet should not be used as a means to further criminal activity. The Administration encourages cooperative efforts within the business community to reduce Internet piracy. The Administration believes that it is essential for the private sector, including content owners, Internet service providers, advertising brokers, payment processors and search engines, to work collaboratively, consistent with the antitrust laws, to address activity that has a negative economic impact and undermines U.S. businesses, and to seek practical and efficient solutions to address infringement. This should be achieved through carefully crafted and balanced agreements. Specifically, the Administration encourages actions by the private sector to effectively address repeated acts of infringement, while preserving the norms of legitimate competition, free speech, fair process and the privacy of users. While the Administration encourages cooperative efforts within the business community to reduce Internet piracy, the Administration will pursue additional solutions to the problems associated with Internet piracy, including vigorously investigating and prosecuting criminal activity, where warranted.

OCLC Releases "WorldCat Rights and Responsibilities for the OCLC Cooperative"

OCLC has released "WorldCat Rights and Responsibilities for the OCLC Cooperative." It will be effective August 1, 2010.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The new policy outlines the rights and responsibilities associated with stewardship of the WorldCat bibliographic and holdings database by and for the OCLC cooperative, including the use and exchange of OCLC member-contributed data comprising WorldCat.

The policy was drafted by the Record Use Policy Council, a group of 12 library leaders charged by the OCLC Board of Trustees to craft a replacement for the Guidelines for Use and Transfer of OCLC Derived Records, which was developed in 1987.

In April 2010, the Record Use Policy Council submitted to the library community and to the OCLC Board a draft policy that began a two-month period of community review and discussion. More than 275 comments were gathered via e-mail, phone, meetings and letters, in an online forum, and by monitoring blogs, listservs, and Twitter. At the end of May, community input was incorporated and a policy statement was submitted to the OCLC Board, which approved the revised document during its June meeting.

"We decided to emphasize a code of good practice for members of the cooperative, based on shared values, trust and reciprocity," said Jennifer Younger, Co-Chair of the Record Use Policy Council, President-Elect, OCLC Global Council and Chair, Board of Directors, Catholic Research Resources Alliance. "The focus of the new policy is on member rights and responsibilities—instead of data ownership issues, detailed provisions or restrictions—with the general aim of fostering innovation in our ever-changing information landscape."

The policy is based on the premise that OCLC members value WorldCat as a comprehensive, timely, and accurate reflection of the consolidated holdings of those members. The policy's intent is to encourage the widespread use of WorldCat bibliographic data while also supporting the ongoing and long-term sustainability and utility of WorldCat and of WorldCat-based services such as resource sharing, cataloging, and discovery.

"The new policy supports library choice in a hybrid environment of metadata types and content standards,” said Barbara Gubbin, Co-Chair of the Record Use Policy Council and Director, Jacksonville (Florida) Public Library. "It recognizes as essential the need for OCLC members to share and reuse their data with many partners, across many systems, sites, and applications."

The Record Use Policy Council was named in September 2009 to develop this new policy by providing a broad and inclusive set of perspectives and experiences, determining the current and future information needs of the library community, and gathering and including feedback from the library community.

Systems Librarian at Flatirons Library Consortium

The Flatirons Library Consortium is recruiting a Systems Librarian. Hiring Range: $52,350-$62,820.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Under limited supervision to administer the integrated library system for the Flatirons Library Consortium (Boulder Public Library, Louisville Public Library, and Maime Doud Eisenhower Public Library). Manages the web-based events calendar and virtual reference tools, and performs related duties as required for the Boulder Public Library and the City of Boulder.

Futures Thinking for Academic Librarians: Higher Education in 2025

The Association of College and Research Libraries has released Futures Thinking for Academic Librarians: Higher Education in 2025.

Here's an excerpt:

This document presents 26 possible scenarios based on an implications assessment of current trends, which may have an impact on all types of academic and research libraries over the next 15 years. The scenarios represent themes relating to academic culture, demographics, distance education, funding, globalization, infrastructure/facilities, libraries, political climate, publishing industry, societal values, students/learning, and technology. They are organized in a “scenario space” visualization tool, reflecting the expert judgment of ACRL members as to their expectations and perceptions about the probability, impact, speed of change, and threat/opportunity potential of each scenario. Finally, the study draws out implications for academic libraries.

Digital Projects Librarian/Archivist at Digital Library of Georgia

The Digital Library of Georgia is recruiting a Digital Projects Librarian/Archivist. Salary: entry-level minimum $38,000; commensurate with experience.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Digital Projects Librarian/Archivist is responsible for metadata and authority control, student hiring and supervision, quality control, and other duties related to the development of digital resources for Digital Library of Georgia initiatives including but not limited to the federally supported Civil Rights Digital Library and the forthcoming ASERL Civil War era digital library portal being created through a partnership with 32 Southeastern research libraries. The Digital Projects Librarian/Archivist reports to the Associate Director of the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) and works as a member of the DLG's Metadata and Site Development unit.

Digital Library Software: 2009 Greenstone User and Developer Survey

Laura Sheble et al. have released the 2009 Greenstone User and Developer Survey.

Here's an excerpt:

The 2009 Greenstone User and Developer Survey was designed to gather information about the organizational and technical contexts in which organizations and individuals use Greenstone Digital Library Software. A major component of the survey focused on how support resources are used and how current resources meet user needs.

Digital Library Developer at Northeastern University

The Snell Library at Northeastern University is recruiting a Digital Library Developer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

As part of a new Digital Library Management department, the Digital Library Developer will develop and maintain the core technical infrastructure for a comprehensive digital library/repository service. The successful candidate will work closely with colleagues in the Libraries and in Information Services and will play a leading role in designing the primary architecture, workflows and applications for Northeastern's digital repository service.

Typical duties include: working with open-source and commercial applications to develop an OAIS compliant infrastructure that supports the ingestion, storage/preservation, and distribution of digital assets. The Digital Library Developer will be responsible for designing, developing, testing and deploying new technologies, tools and resources to extend and enhance digital content and services, developing application programming interfaces (APIs) to facilitate multiple submission and access pathways; and collaborating with IS colleagues to implement appropriate identity management and authentication policies.

ICOLC “Statement on the Global Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Consortial Licenses” Reissued

The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) has updated and reissued its "Statement on the Global Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Consortial Licenses."

Here's an excerpt:

The ICOLC is reissuing its Statement on the Global Economic Crisis to update information providers on the state of library and library consortia budgets in 2010. The updates below reinforce the ICOLC Statement in three substantial ways.

  1. ICOLC did not overestimate the severity of cuts to library and library consortia funding levels in its original Statement. Furthermore, we believe the worst may still be before us, as US state governments suffer the loss of stimulus funds and continued weak regional economies. All parts of the world are facing negative economic repercussions from the European debt crisis. The need for pricing restraint and options remains paramount.
  2. Fifty ICOLC member groups from around the world have participated in an anonymous survey to measure 2009 to 2010 price changes from over 30 major vendors and publishers of electronic databases and journals. This survey reveals that 38% of the price changes provided price control in the form of 1% increases or less. Seven percent (7%) of the price changes provided price reductions. We wish to commend those suppliers who have worked with libraries and consortia to contain prices. However, significant room for improvement remains. Some suppliers have done a much better job of containing prices than others. We call upon the full range of suppliers to show price restraint in 2010-2011 to enable customers to sustain as many information resource licenses as possible.
  3. We take this opportunity to highlight the added potential negative impact of exclusivity on prices, as well as access. A new Principle 3 on page 3 of this document expresses the strongly held belief of ICOLC members that, over the long-term, multiple distribution channels for licensed content provide the most affordable and suitable options for access across diverse library communities.

Library Systems Manager at Dartmouth College

The Dartmouth College Library is recruiting a Library Systems Manager.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (position number: 0005701):

The Dartmouth College Library seeks an experienced administrator of library systems to join the team responsible for the deployment and maintenance of systems that comprise the library's digital presence. Reporting to the Head of Digital Media and Library Technologies, the successful candidate will play a key role in ensuring that systems are functional, interoperable, and serve the ongoing goal of the library to support scholarly research.

This person is the primary administrator of the library's Millennium integrated library system. Responsibilities include maintaining authorizations for system access and software configuration options, supporting the integration of Millennium with library and campus systems (e.g. single sign on, Borrow Direct), responding to problems reported by staff, leading projects to implement new system functionality, recommending and coordinating server and software upgrades, working with vendors to solve problems and serving as a technical liaison between system vendors and the campus computer center.

Using Cloud for Research: A Technical Review

Xiaoyu Chen et al. have self-archived Using Cloud for Research: A Technical Review in the ECS EPrints Repository.

Here's an excerpt:

The purpose of the TeciRes project was to conduct a technical review of the current landscape within cloud computing to establish the extent to which existing solutions meet encountered and envisioned requirements for using emerging cloud technologies, in particular those which enable computing and storage cloud facilities for research in Higher Education (HE) institutions, and to make recommendations on further development, guidance, and standardisation.

"ACTA and the Specter of Graduated Response"

Annemarie Bridy has self-archived "ACTA and the Specter of Graduated Response" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

This short paper, prepared for a workshop on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and the Public Interest at American University’s Washington College of Law, considers the draft Internet provisions of ACTA in the context of concerns raised in the media that the treaty will require signatories to mandate graduated response regimes (à la France’s controversial HADOPI system) for online copyright enforcement. Although the Consolidated Text of ACTA, released in late April, confirms that mandatory graduated response is off the table for the treaty’s negotiators, the treaty in its current form both accommodates and promotes the adoption of graduated response. Moreover, opponents of graduated response should be wary of the fact that public law mechanisms – be they domestic or international – are not the only means by which graduated response can effectively become the law for Internet users. The United States and Ireland provide examples of the trend toward private ordering in the project of online copyright enforcement.

Metadata & Repository Officer at University of Salford

Information & Learning Services at the University of Salford is recruiting a Metadata & Repository Officer. Salary: £25,001-£28,983.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Metadata and Repository Officer will be responsible for making learning and research resources available, irrespective of format or media, via the Library Management System and the Digital Repository. The post holder will maintain the quality and integrity of these library systems, contribute to the formation of procedures and workflows and participate in the delivery of user support. A proactive approach and commitment to collaborative working will be essential. The culture and ethos of the post is directed towards customer service.

Presentations from the Changing Role Of Libraries in Support of Research Data Activities: A Public Symposium

The Board on Research Data and Information has released presentations from the Changing Role Of Libraries in Support of Research Data Activities: A Public Symposium.

Presentations included:

  • Deanna Marcum, Library of Congress: The Role of Libraries in Digital Data Preservation and Access—The Library of Congress Experience
  • Betsy Humphreys, National Library of Medicine: More Data, More Use, Less Lead Time: Scientific Data Activities at the National Library of Medicine
  • Joyce Ray, Institute for Museum and Library Services: Libraries in the New Research Environment
  • Karla Strieb, Association of Research Libraries: Supporting E-Science: Progress at Research Institutions and Their Libraries
  • Christine Borgman, UC, Los Angeles: Why Data Matters to Librarians—and How to Educate the Next Generation

Read more about it at "National Academies Sees Libraries as Leaders in Data Preservation."

Executive Director at OhioLINK

OhioLINK is recruiting an Executive Director.

Here's an excerpt from the ad.

The Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK), located in Columbus, Ohio, seeks nominations and applications for the position of Executive Director. OhioLINK is the premier, nationally renowned consortium of 16 public/research universities, 23 community/technical colleges, 49 private colleges and research universities, and the State Library of Ohio. OhioLink provides Ohio students, faculty, and other researchers with a wide array of online databases, electronic journals, e-books, and other electronic resources to support teaching, learning, and research. In addition, OhioLINK promotes resource sharing across its member organizations through an interlibrary delivery service that draws on the 48 million books and library material held by OhioLINK members. . . .

The Executive Director reports to the Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. (In turn, the Chancellor reports directly to the Governor of the State of Ohio.) The Executive Director works and consults with constituency organizations, advisory groups, and the management team of the other USO services provider organizations. The new Executive Director also works closely with the Library Advisory Council Coordinating Committee (LACCC) which is comprised of college and university library deans and directors from across the state.

RIAN, Ireland's National Portal for Open Access, Launched

RIAN, Ireland’s national open access portal, has been launched by the Irish Universities Association Librarians' Group.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Ireland’s new national portal for Open Access to Irish published research goes live today. RIAN – http://www.rian.ie will act as a single point of access to national research output, and contains content harvested from the institutional repositories of the seven Irish Universities and Dublin Institute of Technology. RIAN will significantly increase the visibility and impact of Irish research and will expand to harvest content from other Irish Open Access providers as the service develops.

A national network of institutional repositories will increase the exposure of national research output, and allows services, such as enhanced searching, and statistics generation, to be developed using economies of scale. RIAN will demonstrate the impact of research to potential funders, who recognise the value of wider research dissemination.

The Irish Government has identified growth in research as critical to its future as a knowledge economy. Raising the research profile is a key strategy in the Universities’ strategic plans, and the ability to showcase research output and identify institutional research strengths is extremely important in attracting new funding and high quality staff.

The development of RIAN was managed by the Irish Universities Association Librarians' Group and is supported by the Association. This three year project was equally funded by the Universities and the Irish Government’s Strategic Innovation Fund which is administered by the Higher Education Authority.

The Economics of Copyright and Digitisation: A Report on the Literature and the Need for Further Research

The Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Policy has released The Economics of Copyright and Digitisation: A Report on the Literature and the Need for Further Research.

Here's an excerpt:

The Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Policy (SABIP) has commissioned this report in order to inform its future research agenda. One task is to undertake a critical overview of the theoretical and empirical economic literature on copyright and unauthorised copying. On the basis of this literature, two further aims of this report are to: (1) identify the salient issues for copyright policy in the context of digitisation; and (2) formulate specific research questions that should be addressed in order to inform copyright policy.

Supervisory IT Specialist at the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is recruiting a Supervisory IT Specialist. Salary: $105,211-$136,771.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

  • Provides administrative and technical supervision necessary for accomplishing the work of the unit.
  • Plans and/or accomplishes a range of information technology (IT) projects.
  • Creates and/or maintains agency Internet/intranet Web site(s), including Web applications, and services including those supporting e-Government usage.
  • Performs or participates in a range of IT management activities that extend or apply to an entire organization or major components of an organization. IT management activities include strategic planning, capital planning and investment control, workforce planning, policy and standards development, resource management, knowledge management, architecture and infrastructure planning and management, auditing, and information security management. Plans, develops, tests, and implements systems and IT policy changes.
  • Researches and/or analyzes information technology (IT) problems, issues, or program requirements relative to promoting products and services to agency mission area programs.

SPARC Webcast Released: Open Access Week 2010 Kick-Off Planning Event

SPARC has released a webcast of its Open Access Week 2010 Kick-Off Planning Event.

Here's an excerpt from the event's press release:

Open Access Week (OAW) 2010 has been declared for October 18th to 24th and promises to be the biggest event of its kind so far. Already, participation promises to exceed previous years', which included hundreds of campuses and research organizations in dozens of countries.

The success of the event is due to both the progress of Open Access in the world and the efforts and commitment of individuals at institutions across the world. And, every year, participants gather to share experiences, lessons, challenges, and opportunities in using Open Access Week to create change at the local level.

Please join us June 2nd for an Open Access Week 2010 kick-off planning session to learn about this year's plans and current resources, including the new openaccessweek.org Web site. We'll also discuss how two teams worked successfully to capture the attention of policy makers, faculty, and others to advance change in 2009. Presenters will include:

  • Andrew Waller, Licensing and Negotiations Librarian, Collections Services, University of Calgary—site of the first Canadian open-access publishing fund
  • Jamaica Jones, Special Projects Librarian, National Center for Atmospheric Research – the first NSF-funded agency to adopt an open-access policy
  • Jennifer McLennan, Open Access Week Program Director and Director of Programs & Operations for SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition)