Special Issue of The African Journal of Information and Communication on Scholarly Communication and Opening Access to Knowledge

The African Journal of Information and Communication has published a special issue on scholarly communication and opening access to knowledge.

Here's a selection of articles:

Chief Information Officer at the National Archives and Records Administration

The National Archives and Records Administration is recruiting a Chief Information Officer. Salary range: $119,554-$165,300.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Serves as Chief Information Officer and Assistant Archivist for Information Services. Directs staff activities involving agency-wide policy analysis, strategic planning, business process engineering, customer satisfaction, information resources management, agency-wide issuances, and internal records management.

– Establishes goals and objectives for the organization; organizes the work, allocates resources, and establishes priorities for its completion. Monitors progress of assigned projects and adjusts priorities and resources as necessary.

– Develops and manages a strategic IT plan which is fully integrated with NARA's Strategic Plan and enables NARA to fulfill its mission of providing ready access to essential evidence.

– Formulates and carries out agency-wide policies, programs, and research with an emphasis on the implications of new technologies for archives and records management. Advises the Archivist and other senior NARA officials on policies crucial to the effective performance of agency programs, particularly in the areas of archival and information management. Proposals focus on implementing Presidential initiatives to streamline operations, reduce regulatory burdens, and improve customer service.

– Directs the assessment and evaluation of agency-wide, inter-office, and office programs. Ascertains the effectiveness of current program approaches and techniques; evaluates the cost effectiveness of current work flow and operating procedures; and recommends the most effective method for applying sound archival and information management concepts. Assessments and evaluations focus on the extent to which NARA's mission is accomplished and the level of service provided to NARA's customers. Consults with technical staffs to develop and refine specific operating and policy proposals and resolve areas of conflict and disagreement to achieve consensus. Identifies resources needed to effect actions and establishes specific implementation plans. Identifies priorities for executive/legislative action.

– Provides executive-level consultation on existing and potential problems by conducting one-time or recurring studies of major programs and issues. Studies are highly complex, require a multi-disciplinary approach to solutions, and broad experience in archival management to define the issues and conduct the studies. Identifies existing or potential problems and determines feasible alternatives to correct deficiencies. Reports contain clearly defined, archivally sound, and practical methods of improvement.

– Analyzes and refines studies by internal work groups, legislative oversight committees, constituent groups, etc., recommending fundamental changes in the organization and operation of the agency, its resources, legal and regulatory bases, relationships with external organizations, and other factors which determine how the agency defines and carries out its mission. Directs additional studies by agency staff and external resources to validate findings and recommendations and ensure a sound basis for action.

– Represents the Archivist in contacts to solicit the continuing support of external constituencies for agency reinvention/restructuring actions. Makes formal presentations to the Archivist, senior management officials, employee organizations, OMB/Congressional staffs, and external organizations. Explains benefits of planned changes, analyzes comments and recommendations, resolves differences, and maintains positive contact during implementation and follow-up stages.

– Develops, mentors and leads a staff of IT professionals to effectively integrate their talents and capabilities to meet the current and future IT needs of NARA and its customers.

Wellcome Trust Approves £3.9 Million Budget for Creation of Wellcome Digital Library

The Wellcome Trust has approved a £3.9 million budget for the creation of the Wellcome Digital Library.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The Wellcome Library today announces the launch of an ambitious digitisation project, to provide free, online access to its collections, including archives and papers from Nobel prize-winning scientists Francis Crick, Fred Sanger and Peter Medawar. . . .

The Wellcome Trust has approved a budget of £3.9 million to begin a two-year pilot project on the theme of Modern Genetics and its Foundations. Drawing on the Wellcome Library's internationally renowned collections, content will include 1400 books on genetics and heredity published between 1850 and 1990, along with important archives including the papers of Francis Crick and his original drawings of the proposed structure of DNA. . . .

In addition to content from the Wellcome Library, up to £1 million of the fund will be used to support digitisation of relevant material from partner institutions in the UK and overseas.

Users will be able to access the repository following completion of the pilot phase of digitisation, slated for completion in September 2012.

Daily Tweets 2010-08-24

Daily Tweets 8/23/10

IT Specialist at National Agricultural Library

The National Agricultural Library is recruiting an IT Specialist. Salary range: $74,872-$97,333.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The major duties of this position include the following:

– Creates and enhances existing programs to support NAL's catalog and digital collections using object-oriented PERL. Experience in working with library systems and industry standard metadata formats, and bibliographic databases a plus. Tasks include monitoring programs and databases in support of NAL's catalog and digital collections. Acts as technical contact to the NAL's System Librarians.

– Provides guidance in determining the most appropriate methods for delivering information in using new developments and technologies, such as library and web-enabled applications;

– Develops, designs, and maintains the NAL Web sites and Intranet using current methodologies ensuring that features, modules and pages conform to the USDA and NAL Web Style guides and accepted style and policies.

– Develops interfaces to Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) such as MySQL, Oracle, and SQL Server.

– Builds and implements Web-enabled databases using current methodologies related to such areas as information management; digitization of print materials; and/or archiving and dissemination of digital documents.

NSF Program Solicitation: Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections

The NSF has issued a program solicitation for Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections. Total amount available across all awards: $10,000,000. Full proposal deadline: December 10, 2010.

Here's an excerpt:

This program seeks to create a national resource of digital data documenting existing biological collections and to advance scientific knowledge by improving access to digitized information (including images) residing in vouchered scientific collections across the United States. The information associated with various collections of organisms, such as geographic distribution, environmental habitat data, phenology, information about associated organisms, collector field notes, tissues and molecular data extracted from the specimens, etc. is a rich resource for providing the baseline from which to further biodiversity research and provide critical information about existing gaps in our knowledge of life on earth. The national resource will be structured at three levels: a national hub, thematic networks based on collaborative groups of collections, and the physical collections. This resource will build upon a sizable existing national investment in curation of the physical objects in scientific collections and contribute vitally to scientific research and technology interests in the United States. It will be an invaluable tool in understanding the biodiversity and societal consequences of climate change, species invasions, natural disasters, the spread of disease vectors and agricultural pests, and other biological issues.

Digitization in the Real World: Lessons Learned from Small to Medium-Sized Digitization Projects

Chapters from Digitization in the Real World: Lessons Learned from Small to Medium-Sized Digitization Projects, which was published by the Metropolitan New York Library Council, are being made available from the book's blog in a series of posts.

Read more about it at "Collect Them All: Four Chapters from Digitization in the Real World Available For Free, Thirty More Coming Soon."

Harvard Library Lab Established

With the approval of the University Library Council, Harvard has established the Harvard Library Lab. It is managed by Harvard University Library's Office for Scholarly Communication.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Harvard's Library Lab is designed to promote the development of projects in all areas of library activity and to leverage the entrepreneurial aspirations of people throughout the library system and beyond. Proposals from faculty and students from anywhere in the University will also be welcomed and the Lab will encourage collaboration with projects being developed at MIT. The Lab offers infrastructure and financial support for projects and establishes a venue for cooperation across projects. Projects will be able to avail themselves of technical staff to augment the home department's staff, as well as support for release time, equipment, or outsourced services.

Read more about it at "Harvard Library Lab."

Version 1, Open Access Journals Bibliography

Version one of the Open Access Journals Bibliography is now available from Digital Scholarship. Open access journals publish articles (typically peer-reviewed articles) that are free of charge and, depending on the journal, may be able to be reused under an open license (e.g., a Creative Commons license). This bibliography presents selected English-language scholarly works that are useful in understanding open access journals. It does not cover works about e-prints or works that include open access journals in a treatment of diverse types of research materials. Most sources have been published from 1999 to the present; however, a few key sources published prior to 1999 are also included. The bibliography primarily includes books and published journal articles. A limited number of magazine articles and technical reports that are deemed to be of exceptional interest are also included. The bibliography includes links to freely available versions of included works.

The following recent Digital Scholarship publications may also be of interest:

  1. Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography, version 78
  2. Digital Scholarship 2009 (paperback and open access PDF file)
  3. Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography: 2008 Annual Edition (paperback, Kindle version, and open access PDF file)
  4. Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography, version 1

DigitalKoans Changes

I'm working on several major projects, including a new book-length bibliography on open access (a follow-up to my 2005 Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals). DigitalKoans posts will become a bit more selective; however, tweets are likely to remain at about the same level. Tweet summaries will now appear in DigitalKoans on a daily basis.

Recap of Digital Library and Library IT Jobs 7/20/10-8/20/10

In case you missed the tweets, here are jobs from 7/20/10-8/20/10 during the DigitalKoans blog hiatus.

"Acknowledged Goods: Cultural Studies and the Politics of Academic Journal Publishing"

Ted Striphas has self-archived "Acknowledged Goods: Cultural Studies and the Politics of Academic Journal Publishing" in IU ScholarWorks.

Here's an excerpt:

This essay explores the changing context of academic journal publishing and cultural studies' envelopment within it. It does so by exploring five major trends affecting scholarly communication today: alienation, proliferation, consolidation, pricing, and digitization. More specifically, it investigates how recent changes in the political economy of academic journal publishing have impinged on cultural studies' capacity to transmit the knowledge it produces, thereby dampening the field's political potential. It also reflects on how cultural studies' alienation from the conditions of its production has resulted in the field's growing involvement with interests that are at odds with its political proclivities.

Library Technology Services Coordinator at Seattle Pacific University

The Seattle Pacific University Library is recruiting a Library Technology Services Coordinator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

  • Provides support services for technology used by library patrons and staff.
  • Manages the computer hardware and equipment in the library labs and classroom.
  • Hires, trains, schedules and supervises student employees.
  • Understands and implements library policies, procedures and operations, and the role of technology within the library.
  • Provides or assists with training and technology services to library patrons and staff. Installs and maintains computer hardware and software within the library, and especially for lab pool computers.
  • Identifies, obtains and manages end-user technology software and returnables, with special attention to the "Learning Commons" area on the library Lower Level.
  • Investigates, purchases and implements hardware and software products and services as directed.
  • Is the contact person between the library and CIS, ITS, University Services, and the other lab pool coordinators on common issues related to library technology.

University Investment in the Library, Phase II: An International Study of the Library’s Value to the Grants Process

Elsevier has released University Investment in the Library, Phase II: An International Study of the Library's Value to the Grants Process by Carol Tenopir (with other contributors).

Here's an excerpt:

The results demonstrate the value of the library to the institution in improving grant proposal and report writing and in helping to attract grant income. Library e-collections especially play a vital role in all aspects of grants, from proposal writing to final reports. The study across countries also shows how some specific factors within an institution (such as subject focus) or factors within a country (such as sources for grants funding) can influence the ROI for grants income. This report continues the ongoing discussion of ROI and academic libraries.

Last Week’s DigitalKoans Tweets 2010-08-22

Last Week’s DigitalKoans Tweets 2010-08-15

Last Week’s DigitalKoans Tweets 2010-08-08

Last Week’s DigitalKoans Tweets 2010-08-01