Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography, Version One

Version one of the Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography is now available from Digital Scholarship.

This bibliography presents over 360 selected English-language articles, books, and technical reports that are useful in understanding digital curation and preservation. Most sources have been published between 2000 and the present; however, a limited number of key sources published prior to 2000 are also included. Where possible, links are provided to sources that are freely available on the Internet, including e-prints for published articles in disciplinary archives and institutional repositories. Note that e-prints and published articles may not be identical. (See the scope note for further details.)

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

Systems & Emerging Technologies Librarian at Mount Aloysius College

The Mount Aloysius College Library is recruiting a Systems & Emerging Technologies Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

This 12 month position is responsible for managing the Library’s automation system, overseeing system upgrades, routine operation questions, problem reporting, and system reporting functions; also oversees setup, customization, and interlinking of library databases; maintains and updates the Library Web site; provides reference service including elementary IT support to students; and serves as faculty liaison providing information literacy instruction to Allied Health, Nursing, and Science disciplines. Position is required to teach one course per year and serve on College committees as appropriate. Some evening and weekend work required.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations: OpenETD Software Released

The Rutgers University Libraries have released OpenETD.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Rutgers University Libraries are pleased to announce the availability of OpenETD, a web-based software application for managing the submission, approval, and distribution of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). OpenETD is the open source release of the Rutgers University Libraries. RUetd application and will be maintained on the RUetd annual release schedule. Releases will include fixes for known problems and recommendations for enhancements received from internal projects and the user community at large.

OpenETD can be used as either a standalone ETD submission system, or it can be implemented as a component of an institutional repository by using its METS/XML export functionality. Using the METS/XML export functionality, native to OpenETD, implementers can export acquired ETDs to their local institutional repositories for preservation and presentation purposes.

Features of OpenETD include:

  • UTF-8 Compliant

    UTF-8 compliance ensures that diacritics, foreign languages, mathematical symbols, and other characters will be preserved in the metadata and abstract.

  • Support of multiple graduate schools

    Large universities often have several graduate schools. OpenETD provides a centralized system for managing submissions from a System Administrator perspective while also limiting Reviewers' access to only their schools. OpenETD also allows schools to have their own unique degree types, program/curriculums, and submission terms and policies and embargo period(s).

  • Site configuration

    Configurable unique title, logo, color scheme and footer information for the entire university or for each graduate school.

  • Local or Centralized Authentication

    Configurable authentication module to use a centralized LDAP system or local system, or both. LDAP support is limited in release 1.1-beta of the software.

  • Support of supplementary files.

    The ETDs often have supporting materials, all with unique metadata. Restrictions may be applied to acceptable filetypes.

  • Automated Margin and Page Number Validator

    No more rulers! Reviewers can check margins and page numbers on PDF documents with this handy tool.

  • Email Notification System

    Users are notified when the status of their paper changes. Reviewers are notified upon submission and resubmission. Email notifications may be turned off.

  • Graduation Report

    Generate an Excel compatible report of all students with accepted papers for a given semester. This is useful for graduation role call, or the printing of name tags, letters, etc.

  • Semi-Automated Export to ProQuest/UMI

    Export tools generate metadata and zip files of "accepted" ETDs for easy FTP upload to ProQuest's ETD processing facility.

  • Export in METS/XML

    Export tools allow for the generation of METS/XML from submitted papers.

Library Programmer at Brown University

The Brown University Library is recruiting a Library Programmer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The incumbent explores and develops opportunities to integrate library resources and services into the University's course management system, online learning, and other campus initiatives. The incumbent creates and integrates web-based personalization tools including applet development (mobile applications, Google Gadgets, etc.). The incumbent gathers, reports, and evaluates web statistics and data. The Programmer provides technical support for content management systems such as Drupal and web publishing applications such as WordPress.

University of Ottawa Becomes 125th ARL Member

The University of Ottawa has become a member of the Association of Research Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the press release :

At its 2010 Spring Membership Meeting held April 28-30, 2010, in Seattle, WA, the membership of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) voted to invite the University of Ottawa Library to join as its 125th member. Leslie Weir, University Librarian, accepted the invitation.

"This membership is significant as it is a reflection of the importance that the University of Ottawa has placed on research, making it the centrepiece of its academic programs," said Weir. "Scholarly communication is undergoing fundamental changes, and ARL is instrumental in advocating for and developing sustainable, viable models that meet the needs of the research community."

"It is with pride and a great sense of commitment that our Library becomes a member of the Association of Research Libraries," says Allan Rock, president of the University of Ottawa. "As Canada’s university, we understand that supporting our library is critical to our institution’s success in research and learning."

The vote of membership followed a multi-year review process of the uOttawa Library that considered both qualitative and quantitative documentation and involved site visits. The review also examined the breadth and depth of collections, uniqueness of research resources, services to the Library’s community, potential contributions to scholarship, and leadership in the library and information science profession. The review committee noted in particular the sustained growth of the institution and its support for the Library over the past decade.

"The Association of Research Libraries welcomes the University of Ottawa Library as our newest member and looks forward to working with them on addressing the many significant common issues currently facing the global research library community," said Brinley Franklin, ARL president. Charles B. Lowry, executive director of ARL, added, "ARL is delighted the University of Ottawa accepted our invitation to become a member of our association. The unique position it brings to membership in terms of location and language are of benefit to the Association and to the students, the faculty, and their scholarly colleagues and researchers throughout North America."

The University of Ottawa is a cosmopolitan community of over 40,000 students, faculty and staff who live, work, and study in both English and French in the heart of Canada's capital. As one of Canada’s top research-intensive universities, it is committed to excellence and encourages an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge creation. The Library brings together people, expertise, and knowledge resources in physical and virtual environments that foster research, teaching, and learning in both official languages. As a valued partner in the University community, the Library builds and preserves collections and facilitates the discovery and use of knowledge resources both within and beyond its walls through innovative services and technologies. For more information about the Library, visit http://www.biblio.uottawa.ca/index-e.php.

Last Week’s DigitalKoans Tweets 2010-05-16

"Catching Up with the RIAA"

Walt Crawford has published "Catching Up with the RIAA" in Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large.

Here's an excerpt:

Briefly, Jammie Thomas was the defendant in the first case where an RIAA filesharing infringement suit actually went to a jury—despite RIAA's best efforts to avoid that happening. Thomas seemed like a sympathetic defendant: Single mother, Native American. But her IP address was attached to a KaZaA account offering more than 1,700 recordings with a user name she'd apparently used for years on several different accounts…and shortly after receiving a settlement letter from RIAA, Thomas had Best Buy replace the hard drive in her PC. And, under questioning, said it had been replaced a year earlier. To make a long story short—up to October 2007, at least—the jury found her guilty, not surprising given the evidence in the case. The judgment was for $220,000. She appealed the decision, in part based on a claimed flaw in the jury instructions. That's where things stood at the time of the earlier article.

Court activities can sometimes seem to be in very slow motion. Most of this article brings things up to date on the Thomas case—and, so you're not too surprised, it's not over yet. (There's other stuff about RIAA and copyright at the end of the article—but the Jammie Thomas saga is fascinating.)

Assistant Dean for Technical Services and Library Systems at College of Charleston

The College of Charleston Library is recruiting an Assistant Dean for Technical Services and Library Systems.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The College of Charleston Libraries seek an innovative leader to serve as the Assistant Dean for Technical Services and Library Systems. The successful candidate should have several years of progressively responsible experience managing a collection development or cataloging department as well as experience managing library systems. The library seeks a leader with a keen sense of the evolving role of academic libraries. The position requires someone with strong analytical, budgeting and decision making skills, and an ability to achieve results by motivating staff and colleagues. A record of professional participation, knowledge of issues and trends, and the ability to represent the library at all levels is essential. A member of the senior management team, the Assistant Dean reports to the Dean of Libraries.

Linda Phillips Named Interim Dean of the University of Tennessee Libraries

Linda Phillips, Head of Scholarly Communication at the University of Tennessee Libraries, has been named the Interim Dean of that library effective 7/1/10.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

"Linda has given exemplary service to the University Libraries in a variety of roles including, most recently, as a leader in the Libraries initiatives on open access and other developing trends in scholarly communications," said UT Knoxville Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Susan Martin. "She brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to this critical position. I am grateful for her willingness to serve."

Phillips, an Alumni Distinguished Service Professor, is currently head of scholarly communication for the libraries. She came to UT from Ohio State University's Agricultural Technical Institute Library in 1977. Her work encompasses the creation of local digital collections, including digitization of library holdings; the launch of Newfound Press, the libraries' peer-reviewed digital imprint; and leading community outreach efforts about the libraries' scholarly and economic impact on society.

Phillips succeeds Barbara Dewey, who is leaving to become the dean of university libraries and scholarly communications at Penn State.

The search for a permanent dean will be under way shortly. Douglas Blaze, dean of the College of Law, will lead the effort.

Emerging Technologies Librarian at University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley's Marian Koshland Bioscience and Natural Resources Library is recruiting an Emerging Technologies Librarian. Salary: $48,029 to $56,496 depending upon qualifications.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Develops and adapts technologically innovative services to meet the information needs of the campus life sciences research community. In coordination with the Head Librarian and the Head, Information Services, the Emerging Technologies Librarian is responsible for developing a program of web-based bibliographic instruction for the biological and natural resources. Coordinates the development and maintenance of the Bioscience and Natural Resources Library web site. Trains library staff in innovative uses of software. Administers Macintosh computer classroom, including investigation of Macintosh software products.

Open-Access Funds: Design and Implementation on Campus Webcast Available

SPARC has released a webcast about Open-Access Funds: Design and Implementation on Campus.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

SPARC consultant and author of a set of new SPARC resources, Greg Tananbaum, joined us to explore why institutions are launching open-access funds, what practical and policy issues go into such a decision, how faculty and administration have reacted to these funds, what the results to date have been, and what SPARC is doing to evaluate and track the impact of these funds. Members of the advisory group that helped to develop the guide and SPARC resource, and whose experience in operating funds on their campuses has been an essential resource for others in the space, were also available to field questions.

Draft of University of North Texas Policy on Open Access to Scholarly Works Released

The UNT Open Access Policy Committee has released its draft "University of North Texas Policy on Open Access to Scholarly Works."

Here's an excerpt:

In support of long-term stewardship and preservation of UNT faculty members’ scholarly works in digital form, the UNT community members agree to the following:

  • Each UNT community member deposits a final version of his/her scholarly works in to which he or she made substantial intellectual contributions in the UNT Libraries Scholarly Works repository.
  • Some scholarly works may have access constraints that limit or preclude access to individual works.
  • The Provost’s Designate will work with community members who deposit works into repository to ensure an appropriate level of access to individual scholarly works.
  • UNT Libraries will be responsible for the secure storage (including appropriate access constraints), stewardship, and preservation of all deposited scholarly works.

In support of greater access to scholarly works, the UNT community members agree to the following for peer-reviewed, accepted-for-publication, journal articles:

  • Immediate Deposit: Each UNT community member deposits an electronic copy of his/her final edited version after peer review and acceptance of each article, no later than the date of its publication. Deposit is made into the UNT Libraries Scholarly Works repository. The author is encouraged to make the deposit available to the public by setting access to the deposit as Open Access Immediately Upon Deposit.
  • Optional Delayed Open Access: Upon express direction by a UNT community member for an individual article, the Provost or Provost’s designate will adjust the Open Access Immediately Upon Deposit requirement to align with publishers’ policies regarding open access of self-archived works or the wishes of the community member
  • Licensing: Where not prohibited by a publisher, each UNT community member grants to UNT permission to make scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles to which he or she made substantial intellectual contributions publicly available in the UNT Libraries Scholarly Works repository for the purpose of open dissemination. Each UNT community member grants to UNT a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do so, provided that the articles are not sold. The Provost or Provost's designate will waive application of the license for a particular article upon express direction by a community member.
  • Who Deposits: In the case of multiple authors from multiple institutions, where a UNT community member has made substantial intellectual contributions to the article, the UNT community member will deposit a copy of the article. In the case of multiple UNT authors, and where the lead author is from UNT, the lead author (or designate) will deposit a copy of the article.

To ensure this policy is effective, the following apply:

  • 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 the Faculty Senate, in concert with the Provost’s office, every three years, and a report presented to the Faculty Senate.

Library Applications Programmer at Swarthmore College

The Swarthmore College Library is recruiting a Library Applications Programmer. Salary: minimum of $3,651/month.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

This position works in a team-oriented environment to administer, support and enhance the library technology infrastructure of the Tri-College Libraries Consortium (Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore Colleges). The incumbent will be responsible for designing, implementing and testing the Tri-College Libraries' digital services, including integration of information search and retrieval across multiple applications; developing tools for digital content creation, access, and delivery; and administrative tools for library staff. The incumbent will supervise a systems-oriented intern position. Along with the intern, the incumbent will support core information systems for the Tri-College Libraries, including the integrated library system, inter-library loan/document delivery software and systems, digital asset management systems, institutional repositories, and other centrally-served technologies. The position will also actively explore new library technologies and tools for possible use by the Consortium.

"100 Million Hours of Audiovisual Content: Digital Preservation and Access in the PrestoPRIME Project"

Matthew Addis et al. have self-archived "100 Million Hours of Audiovisual Content: Digital Preservation and Access in the PrestoPRIME Project" in the ECS EPrints Repository.

Here's an excerpt:

We report the preliminary results of PrestoPRIME, an EU FP7 integrated project, including audiovisual (AV) archives, academics and industrial partners, focused on long-term digital preservation of AV media objects and on ways to increase access by integrating media archives with European on-line digital libraries, specifically Europeana. Project outcomes will result in tools and services to ensure the permanence of digital AV content in archives, libraries, museums and other collections, enabling long-term future access in dynamically changing contexts. PrestoPRIME has a special focus on digital preservation in broadcast environments, where very large files of digital video must be preserved at high quality (suitable for future re-use in an AV production environment) in affordable distributed and federated archives. The adoption of standard solutions for digital preservation processes (metadata representation, content storage, digital rights government, search and access) enables the interoperability of the proposed preservation framework and guidelines. OAIS model was chosen for the reference architecture, METS is adopted as wrapper for metadata representation, while relevant standards (e.g. W3C, ISO/IEC and others) are used for content and rights description. Project outcomes will be delivered through a European networked Competence Centre, to gather knowledge and deliver advanced digital preservation advice and services in conjunction with Europeana and other initiatives.

Head of Information Systems at SUNY New Paltz

The SUNY New Paltz Library is recruiting a Head of Information Systems.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Dean of the Library, the incumbent will train and supervise computer support staff in installing and maintaining library hardware and software, work collaboratively with library colleagues in planning and promoting new technologies, build partnerships with other IT staff on campus, communicate with vendors, and represent the library effectively on campus- and SUNY-wide technological initiatives. He or she will also participate in reference service and the library liaison program as a member of the Library Faculty.

This is a two-year appointment, renewable, tenure track position, which will be filled at the Senior Assistant Librarian or Associate Librarian level depending on qualifications and experience. Salary is commensurable with experience and qualifications.

The Digital Divide: Assessing Organizations' Preparations for Digital Preservation

Plants has released The Digital Divide: Assessing Organizations' Preparations for Digital Preservation.

Here's an excerpt:

  • The volume of digital content that organizations expect to archive will increase 25-fold over the next ten years.
  • While seventy per cent of organizations hold less than 20 terabytes (TB) of data now, by 2019 seventy per cent of organizations expect to hold over 100TB.
  • Digital information comes in a range of types, and while over 80% of organizations already need to preserve documents and images, by 2019 over 70% will need to preserve databases, websites, audio and video files as well.
  • Only 27% of organizations think that they have complete control over the file formats that they will accept and store in their digital archives. Since the choice of format affects how easy it is to preserve digital content, producers need to be more involved in digital preservation.
  • The digital preservation message has spread far and wide: 93% of respondents indicated that their organisation is aware of the challenges of managing digital information for the long-term.
  • Organizations are taking account of digital preservation: 76% include it in their operational planning, 71% in their business continuity planning and 62% in their financial planning.
  • By setting out a digital preservation policy, 48% of organizations are actively planning how to tackle digital preservation.
  • Organizations are only starting to commit to funding digital preservation, as just 47% have allocated a budget to it.

Read more about it at Survey Analysis Report.

Directory of Open Access Journals Tops 5,000 Journal Records

The Directory of Open Access Journals now contains records for more than 5,000 journals.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Directory of Open Access Journals reaches new milestones—now 7 years of operation, now more than 5,000 journals, now more than 2,000 journals searchable on article level, very soon more than 400,000 articles searchable! . . .

Head, Digital User Experience Department at Indiana University

The Indiana University Libraries are recruiting a Head, Digital User Experience Department.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Head of the Digital User Experience Department will be charged with the development of a holistic vision for the user's experience and implementation of a comprehensive digital strategy and operational plans for the IU Libraries Bloomington web presence. This position oversees the development of content, design, and integration of online library services with campus online environments including the course management system (Oncourse) and campus administrative portals (i.e., OneStart). Reporting to the Associate Dean for Library Academic Services, this position will lead a department of 1 librarian and 1 professional staff member as well as coordinate the work activities of 1.5 developers. Responsibilities will include effective integration of discovery tools for electronic resources; development of integrated resources in a variety of environments based on the principles of user-centered design; oversight of the web publishing infrastructure and ensuring compliance with the University and industry standards for security, privacy, and accessibility; implementation of transformative technologies (such as Web 2.0); ongoing user testing and redesign; and other assessments of the web-based services. The Head of the Digital User Experience Department will also serve as an active member of one of the Libraries' Discipline Focused Working Groups (Area Studies, Arts and Humanities, Sciences, or Social Sciences). The successful candidate must be able to selectively and strategically implement technology trends and solutions, have demonstrated experience with learning technologies, and possess a strong understanding of information technology environments in higher education. This position will work closely with Library Technologies and Digital Libraries and be a liaison to appropriate divisions within University Information Technology Services.

Open Harvester Systems 2.3.0 Released

The Public Knowledge Project has released Open Harvester Systems 2.3.0.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

This is a major rewrite of numerous parts of the Harvester code, including metadata storage and indexing. It increases indexing flexibility to support plugin-based indexing, including Lucene/SOLR support. It also adds OAI Data Provider support, including the potential to convert between metadata formats (currently from various formats into Dublin Core).

Director of Digital Technologies at Brown University

The Brown University Library is recruiting a Director of Digital Technologies.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (job number: B01159):

The Director of Digital Technologies provides leadership, vision, and strategic direction for the Brown University Library in the development, delivery and integration of new and existing systems and technology services and digital initiatives across the libraries. S/he oversees the management of the department's three units: Integrated Technology Services, Systems and Technical Support and the Center for Digital Scholarship and will actively seek partnerships with other Library departments and organizations external to the Library. The incumbent will stay abreast of emerging developments, issues and trends and will be a leading force in the introduction and application of new technologies that improve, enhance and extend Library services.

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations Now Has More Than 1 Million ETD Records

The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations now contains records for over one million electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs).

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The NDLTD, OCLC (Online Computer Library Center), VTLS and Scirus maintain and provide access related to the NDLTD Union Catalog of ETDs available in institutional repositories around the globe.

The NDLTD is an international non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the creation, dissemination, use, adoption, and preservation of digital theses and dissertations. The NDLTD assists students and universities in using electronic publishing and digital libraries to more effectively share knowledge in order to unlock potential benefits worldwide. The NDLTD also promotes student efforts to transform the genre of the print dissertation through the use of innovative software to create cutting edge hypertext/multimedia ETDs.

The NDLTD is comprised of many individual member institutions and consortia, each of which has or plans to put in place a process for archiving and distributing ETDs; others are welcome to join if they have similar interest. The Union Catalog Project is an attempt to make these individual collections appear as one seamless digital library of ETDs to students and researchers seeking out theses and dissertations.

In 1997 the first ETD program requirement was instituted at Virginia Tech. Over the course of thirteen years ETD programs have now been implemented in thousands of colleges and universities around the world. The one millionth ETD milestone indicates that ETD implementation is beginning to reach a critical mass. Indeed, in January, the count exceeded 800K records, while as of April 19, the record count reached 1.6 million, though there may be some duplicate records.

In the higher-GDP countries, institutions are rapidly adopting ETDs on a per-institutional or state-wide basis. Many lower-GDP countries are adopting ETDs at a national level as one means of jump-starting and disseminating research and development activities. The NDLTD anticipates that the number of ETDs worldwide will increase rapidly as more schools in every region around the globe implement ETD programs.. . .

Many institutions around the world are represented in the NDLTD Union Catalog. Universities can participate by implementing the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) to contribute metadata records to the union catalog. The NDLTD provides free resources to implement OAI-PMH in an institutional repository.

San José State University Academic Senate Passes Resolution Supporting Open Access

The San José State University Academic Senate has passed "SS-S10-2, Sense of the Senate Resolution, Support for Open Access to Scholarly Work and Research."

Here's an excerpt:

Resolved: that the San José State University Academic Senate support the principle of open access to scholarly work and research, and

Resolved: that the San José State University Academic Senate support new models for scholarly publishing that will promote open access and are consistent with standards for peer review and scholarly excellence, and

Resolved: that the San José State University Academic Senate encourage the university to promote the use of the institutional repository—and other new and existing infrastructures—for the dissemination of knowledge created at SJSU to the local, state and global community.

Resolved: that the Academic Senate of San José State University continues to affirm the rights of faculty to publish in the publications of their choice.

Resolved: that the Academic Senate encourage the university to promote the use of the institutional repository and to develop a formal organizational process that shall clearly indicate:

  1. which academic unit (such as the Library) will manage acquisition and maintenance of open access material and issue communications regarding the use of the open access repository;
  2. the scope of the term "faculty" in relation to the open access archive;
  3. the procedure for notifying the faculty how to submit material into the repository;
  4. the nature of the material to be included in the repository;
  5. a procedure for identifying the costs of maintaining the repository and allocating funds to maintain the repository;
  6. a unit outside of the repository unit (such as the Provost Office) responsible for monitoring the progress of the repository and for resolving conflicts or uncertainties regarding the operation of the repository.

Visiting Research Programmer for Visual Resource Access and Management—Library Scholarly Commons 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 Visual Resource Access and Management—Library Scholarly Commons (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:

In this position the Library seeks a professional with a strong background in technical development in a digital library environment or with Web-based applications involving the manipulation, organization and delivery of digital image content. Candidates should have a firm grasp of the principles of information organization and management. The focus of responsibility for the person who steps into this role will be to provide technical and program support for the development of campus-wide digital visual resource collections in support of the learning and research activities of campus academic units. The Visiting Research Programmer for Visual Resource Access and Management will report to the Library's lead research programmer for digital repository development and will work closely with the head of Digital Content Creation and with Library staff involved with metadata creation. The Visiting Research Programmer for Visual Resource Access and Management will collaborate with staff in the Office of Library Information Technology Planning and Policy responsible for workstation maintenance and server system administration and will be a member of the Library's Digital Content Access team which draws members from multiple Library organizational units., The Visiting Research Programmer for Visual Resource Access and Management will develop and support the information processing and digital object workflows needed to make digitized library content accessible through – and integrated with—public search systems as well as digital content access management systems, including ContentDM and ARTstor. The University of Illinois Library is a development partner, along with eight other academic institutions, in the ArtStor Shared Shelf visual resource cataloging and management system. Working with a team of librarians, curators, and faculty, the Research Programmer for Visual Resource Access and Management will be responsible for ingest of local and commercially-licensed digital content into ArtStor, and help represent the Library at ARTstor shared-shelf development meetings. This position may interact with users or groups in the Library’s Scholarly Commons, a new library space for faculty and graduate students to explore the use of technology in their research and teaching. Further interactions may involve the College of FAA Visual Resources Curator and the librarians and staff of the Ricker Library of Architecture and Art.

Incumbent will have primary technical responsibility for the Library's CONTENTdm implementation, which currently provides access to about 20 locally digitized collections and more than 25,000 digital images. The Library's CONTENTdm implementation is under active development and extension with new collections being added or in development and with new software being integrated alongside CONTENTdm to extend its functionality. While the primary focus of this position is on digital visual resources, the incumbent also may be called on to provide technical support for making available Library digitized text resources (e.g., Project Unica, Harry Partch Archive) through the development, running, and troubleshooting of content processing scripts.

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.