Year: 2010

Library of Congress to Archive All Public Tweets Since March 2006

The Library of Congress has tweeted that it will to archive all public tweets made since March 2006.

Here's an excerpt from the blog announcement:

Have you ever sent out a "tweet" on the popular Twitter social media service? Congratulations: Your 140 characters or less will now be housed in the Library of Congress.

That’s right. Every public tweet, ever, since Twitter’s inception in March 2006, will be archived digitally at the Library of Congress. That’s a LOT of tweets, by the way: Twitter processes more than 50 million tweets every day, with the total numbering in the billions.

We thought it fitting to give the initial heads-up to the Twitter community itself via our own feed @librarycongress. (By the way, out of sheer coincidence, the announcement comes on the same day our own number of feed—followers has surpassed 50,000. I love serendipity!)

We will also be putting out a press release later with even more details and quotes. Expect to see an emphasis on the scholarly and research implications of the acquisition. I'm no Ph.D., but it boggles my mind to think what we might be able to learn about ourselves and the world around us from this wealth of data. And I'm certain we'll learn things that none of us now can even possibly conceive.

Aaron Ludwig Wins Sparky Awards Peoples' Choice prize

Aaron Ludwig, a sophomore animation student at Brigham Young University, has won the first Sparky Awards Peoples' Choice prize.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Aaron Ludwig, a sophomore animation student at Brigham Young University, has won the first-ever Sparky Awards Peoples’ Choice prize for his short film, "Clueless Discovery." The video was voted the best by students and others everywhere in an open online vote held earlier this Spring.

Organized by SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and adopted by campuses everywhere, the Sparky Awards contest calls on entrants to creatively illustrate in a short video the value of openly sharing ideas. "Clueless Discovery" is a clear presentation of how failing to share information and "reinventing the wheel" not only hampers progress, but can be harmful. The clip is online at http://vimeo.com/6223728.

ALA: The State of America's Libraries, 2010

The American Library Association has released The State of America's Libraries, 2010.

Here's an excerpt:

Academic libraries are experiencing increased use, both physical and virtual. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reported that during a typical week in fiscal 2008, U.S. academic libraries had more than 20.3 million visits (1.5 million more than in fiscal 2006), answered more than 1.1 million reference questions, and made more than 498,000 presentations to groups. Seventy-two percent of academic libraries reported providing library reference service by e-mail or the Web.

Almost 95 percent of students use their academic library's website at least once a week, according to a study on students and technology by the Educause Center for Applied Research, and the proportion of students who reported using the library's website daily increased from 7.1 percent in 2006 to 16.9 percent in 2009. Project Information Literacy found that nine out of 10 college students surveyed turned to libraries "for online scholarly research databases . . . for conducting course-related research, valuing the resources for credible content, in-depth information, and the ability to meet instructors' expectations."

Not surprisingly, more and more academic-library resources now start with an 'e-'. Although in 2008 academic libraries added 24 million books, serial back files, and other paper materials including government documents, 3.4 million current serial subscriptions, and 3.4 million audiovisual materials units, the shift to e-resources continues to accelerate. Academic libraries added 20 million e-books in 2008, bringing the total to about 102.5 million—a breathtaking two-year increase of 59.4 percent from the 64.3 million held in fiscal 2006, according to the NCES. Electronic reference sources and aggregation services also rose sharply . . . as did expenses: Academic libraries' expenditures for electronic serial subscriptions increased to $1 billion in fiscal 2008 from $691.6 million in 2006, according to the ALA Office of Research and Statistics.

U.S. Book Sales Fell 1.8% in 2009

The Association of American Publishers reports that U.S. book sales fell 1.8% in 2009.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has today released its annual estimate of total book sales in the United States. The report, which uses data from the Bureau of the Census as well as sales data from eighty-six publishers inclusive of all major book publishing media market holders, estimates that U.S. publishers had net sales of $23.9 billion in 2009, down from $24.3 billion in 2008, representing a 1.8% decrease. In the last seven years the industry had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.1%.

Trade sales of adult and juvenile books were steady at $8.1 billion in 2009, CAGR fell to 1.8 percent. Adult Hardbound books showed healthy growth of 6.9%, $2.6 billion in 2009, however paperbound books for adult fell 5.2% to $2.2 billion. Hardbound books in the children and young adult category fell 5.0% to $1.7 billion while their paperbound equivalent grew 2.2% to $1.5 billion. . . .

Mass Market paperbacks decreased 4.0% and brought the category CAGR to -2.2%. Total sales were $1.0 billion in 2009. . . .

Educational sales in the Elementary and High School (El-Hi) category, those books produced for K-12 education, fell 13.8% to $5.2 billion in 2009, and CAGR for this category was -1.4%. The Higher Education category, which includes sales of college textbooks reached $4.3 billion this year up 12.9% on 2008. This brought the CAGR for college textbooks to 5.0%.

Virtual Services Manager at Richland County Public Library

Richland County Public Library is recruiting a Virtual Services Manager. Salary: $2,234.25 biweekly (may be negotiable, depending upon qualifications and experience).

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

  • Management, supervision, and administration of the Virtual Services Department, the Virtual Branch, and the Library website.
  • Coordination with the Technology Department and others, for the overall delivery of the RCPL digital customer experience within the Library website, online catalog, intranet, and external web applications.
  • Leadership of Virtual Services Department team in effective management of operations. Liaison and coordination with all other departments as needed, especially including but not limited to the Technology Department, to address strategic and operational details.

Integrated Digital Services Librarian at University of Baltimore

The University of Baltimore's Langsdale Library is recruiting an Integrated Digital Services Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Integrated Digital Services Librarian will be responsible for Langsdale's integrated library system (ILS) and related services and will serve as the library webmaster. He or she will lead the collaborative design and development of the library's web-based services and technology planning, including the implementation of the next-generation ILS (a University System of Maryland consortial system). He/she will support technology applications in all library departments, including interlibrary loan, course reserves and digital collections. He/she will maintain an in-depth understanding of technological trends and developments affecting academic libraries through a commitment to ongoing professional development. He/she will work collaboratively and creatively with librarians from Langsdale and the UB Law Library, IT staff, and the University Webmaster.

"Data Curation and Libraries: Short-Term Developments, Long-Term Prospects"

Anna Gold has self-archived "Data Curation and Libraries: Short-Term Developments, Long-Term Prospects" in DigitalCommons@CalPoly.

Here's an excerpt:

This paper was prepared as background for a talk given at AGU 2009 on "Data & Libraries." It summarizes the developments and events from late 2006 through early 2010 that are shaping library roles in scientific data curation while underscoring the range, complexity, and varying granularity of systems, actions, and efforts involved. The main conclusions are: (1) leaders of major research libraries have committed their institutions to support data curation. (2) The library profession has demonstrated significant conceptual progress in characterizing and understanding data curation both in theory and in practice. (3) There has been progress since 2006 in legitimizing library roles in data curation through formal education and certification programs as well as by integrating data curation into established library services and systems. Certain questions remain unresolved: how will data taxonomies or ontology, schemas or data models and their databases fit into data curation practices? Librarians, however, can draw on a growing body of experience and the support of a community of practice as they contribute to data curation, while researchers and those who fund research can turn with growing confidence to libraries and librarians for data curation support.

Project Manager, Kuali Open Library Environment at Indiana University

Indiana University is recruiting a Project Manager, Kuali Open Library Environment.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Provides leadership for the planning, software development, implementation, maintenance, and documentation of all aspects of the Kuali OLE (Open Library Environment) software initiative. Manages the joint operations positions funded by the Kuali OLE Partnership for development of the software deliverable along with supervision of a long-term software development contract with an external vendor. Creates and manages comprehensive, realistic project schedules and plans and provides specialized IT services in the management, coordination, scheduling, and delivery of large and/or complex, technology-based specialized software development projects. Communicates regularly and effectively with stakeholders, technical staff, senior-level management, and customers. Develops software development RFP for this project. This is a jointly funded community software project of the Kuali Foundation, the Kuali OLE Board, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and has a two-year timeline with opportunities for extension.

The JISC MOSAIC Project: Making Our Scholarly Activity Information Count; Final Report

JISC has released The JISC MOSAIC Project: Making Our Scholarly Activity Information Count; Final Report.

Here's an excerpt:

The project was tasked to investigate the possibilities for exploiting the user activity and resource use data that might currently or potentially be made available through Higher Education systems to benefit libraries, national services and their users. The project generated seven demonstrators, worked with a variety of real library datasets and organised a series of six practitioner and user workshops. In so doing, it gathered a great deal of intelligence about the potential, both possibilities and pitfalls, for individual universities and national services.

Read more about it at Making Our Shared Activity Information Count (MOSAIC).

IT Specialist (PLCY/PLNG) at the Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is recruiting an IT Specialist (PLCY/PLNG). Salary: $105,211-$155,500.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

This position is located in Office of Chief Information Officer. The employee provides managing the Smithsonian digitization programs providing oversight of programs, leading the implementation of the pan-Institutional Digitalization Strategic Plan, and promotes digitization activities. . . .

  • Leads development, implementation and ongoing assessment of an integrated, pan-Institutional Digitization Strategic Plan, and coordinates with units in the development of unit digitization plans that align with Plan.
  • Oversees and coordinates the formation and work of technical working groups, developing core digital file and metadata standards for the various types of digital data to facilitate pan-Institutional access to Smithsonian collections and research. Supervises program office staff, and chairs the Digitization Program Advisory Committee.
  • Provides leadership and direction to OCIO in defining the technical requirements of a Trusted Digital Repository and leadership and guidance to units in determining appropriate content and data content management plans.
  • Provides expert advice to Smithsonian leadership, Smithsonian and unit senior management in the planning, prioritization, development, and execution of Institution-wide and unit-based program elements.
  • Provides central, internal communication and coordination on matters of funding, training, contracts, internal networking tools, and pan-Institutional exchange of information regarding digitization efforts.

A Primer on Codecs for Moving Image and Sound Archives: 10 Recommendations for Codec Selection and Management

AudioVisual Preservation Solutions has released A Primer on Codecs for Moving Image and Sound Archives: 10 Recommendations for Codec Selection and Management.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

One area of great concern for the integrity and persistence of digital audio and video files is the selection of file formats and codecs… Though this is also an area where there is a great lack of certainty and clarity on the issue.

This paper by Chris Lacinak lays out a clear explanation of what codecs are, how they are used, and what their selection and application means to archives. Also provided are 10 recommendations that will help you in the selection and management of codecs in an archival setting.

Google Books Bibliography, Version 6

Version 6 of the Google Books Bibliography is now available from Digital Scholarship.

This bibliography presents over 310 selected English-language articles and other works that are useful in understanding Google Books. It primarily focuses on the evolution of Google Books and the legal, library, and social issues associated with it. Where possible, links are provided to works that are freely available on the Internet, including e-prints in disciplinary archives and institutional repositories. Note that e-prints and published articles may not be identical.

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

  • Digital Scholarship 2009: 504-page paperback that includes four bibliographies: the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography: 2009 Annual Edition, the Institutional Repository Bibliography, the Electronic Theses and Dissertations Bibliography, and the Google Book Search Bibliography.
  • Institutional Repository Bibliography, Version 2: Includes over 700 selected English-language articles and other works that are useful in understanding institutional repositories.
  • Electronic Theses and Dissertations Bibliography, Version 4: Includes over 130 selected English-language articles and other works that are useful in understanding electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs).

ARL Goes Social, Now on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube

The Association of Research Libraries has begun to use a variety of social media tools, including blogs, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement :

Twitter Twitter: Follow @ARLnews on Twitter for general news from ARL, including announcements of new activities, resources, and events. Follow @ARLpolicy on Twitter for tweets from ARL’s Public Policies program covering such issues as copyright & IP, federally funded research, the FDLP, and Net neutrality. Please use the Twitter hashtag #ARL10spr in any tweets about the upcoming Membership Meeting in Seattle.

Facebook Facebook: Become a fan of ARL on Facebook to get our latest news and tell us what’s on your mind.

YouTube YouTube: Watch our archived webcasts on our YouTube channel.

Flickr Flickr: View photos from recent ARL events on our Flickr photostream.

Tumblr Blogs: Learn about public policy issues that impact the research library community on the Policy Notes Blog. . . . Also join the discussion of library service assessment, evaluation, and improvement on the Library Assessment Blog.

"Ramping It Up: 10 Lessons Learned in Mass Digitisation"

Rose Holley, Manager of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program at the National Library of Australia, has self-archived "Ramping It Up: 10 Lessons Learned in Mass Digitisation" in E-LIS.

Here's an excerpt:

In 2007 the National Library of Australia (NLA) began a large-scale newspaper digitisation program that aimed to digitise one million pages (10 million articles) per year, with a view to increasing the volume over time and ramping up digitisation to include books and journals as well as newspapers. By the end of 2009 the NLA had learnt 10 key lessons about ramping up its digitisation activities into a mass-scale operation.

Digital Services Librarian at Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences

The R. A. Williams Library of the Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences is recruiting a Digital Services Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Provides leadership, planning, implementation, and maintenance for the Library in all things digital, including but not limited to the Library’s web presence, digitization initiatives, integrated library systems, and cooperative library-related ventures with other departments at FHCHS. . . .

  • Collaborates with other library personnel to develop and maintain the Library’s electronic services
  • Maintains the Library’s website (involves web page technical support and troubleshooting)
  • Works with stakeholders to determine the content and layout of the library website (page design, overall navigation, and usability)
  • Designs web forms to support library services
  • Assists as needed in maintaining library systems, such as EZproxy
  • Functions as systems administrator for the library ILS, SirsiDynix Symphony
  • Investigates emerging technologies and communicates developments to library personnel and other stakeholders. Develops technology recommendations and strategies for integration into the library strategic plan
  • Provides leadership, vision, planning, and management of the library special collections and archives, including development, preservation, organization, promotion, and digitization of the collections
  • Will plan and implement content creation in CONTENTdm
  • Writes grants and obtains funding for special collections/archives digitization projects

Head of Digital Library Initiatives at Temple University

The Temple University Libraries are recruiting a Head of Digital Library Initiatives.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (job number: TU-13131):

The Head of Digital Library Initiatives will aggressively expand the digital library program at Temple, providing vision and leadership in the creation and delivery of digital content. The incumbent will work closely and collaboratively with senior administrators, special collections, technical services, computing staff, and others to ensure fast-paced development of digital library initiatives which respond to the needs of Temple’s community and align with collections and preservation priorities. Responsibilities include: digitization of special collections and other library materials in text, image, and video formats; developing digital repository systems to preserve and make accessible the intellectual output of Temple University; implementing discovery tools related to these initiatives; hiring additional information technologist staff, and supervising full-time staff, as well as student assistants; planning, prioritizing, and coordinating or managing digitization production; investigating and establishing appropriate standards (technical, metadata, etc.) and quality control procedures; coordinating the library’s web services; maintaining awareness and developing in-depth knowledge of new technology, relevant national standards and best practices, assessing and integrating these into library practices for best results as appropriate.

Last Week’s DigitalKoans Tweets 2010-04-11

Omeka 1.2 Released

The Center for History and New Media at George Mason University has released Omeka 1.2.

Here's an excerpt from the download page

Omeka version 1.2 includes following features and plug-ins:

  • Four themes that are easy to adapt with simple CSS changes and theme configuration
  • Exhibit Builder plugin with 12 page layouts and 5 exhibit themes
  • Tagging for items and exhibits
  • RSS feeds for items
  • COinS plug-in making items readable by Zotero
  • SimplePages plugin for easily making static pages

Here's a brief description of Omeka from Omeka: Serious Web Publishing.

Omeka is a free, flexible, and open source web-publishing platform for the display of library, museum, archives, and scholarly collections and exhibitions. Its "five-minute setup" makes launching an online exhibition as easy as launching a blog. Omeka is designed with non-IT specialists in mind, allowing users to focus on content and interpretation rather than programming. It brings Web 2.0 technologies and approaches to academic and cultural websites to foster user interaction and participation. It makes top-shelf design easy with a simple and flexible templating system. Its robust open-source developer and user communities underwrite Omeka’s stability and sustainability.

Read more about it at "Configurable Themes in 1.2."

Digitization Workflow Engineer at Stanford University

The Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources are recruiting a Digitization Workflow Engineer (fixed term for 12 months).

Here's an excerpt from the ad (job ID:37588):

Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR) have an ongoing program to produce and archive digital reproductions of library materials. Digital Library Systems and Services (DLSS) manages and operates several labs dedicated to digitization of print, audio and video materials, and is building a digital library infrastructure to preserve and provide access to these digitized materials.

Under the supervision of the Manager of Web Application Development in DLSS, the Digitization Workflow Engineer will be responsible for building and implementing systems that help manage the lifecycle of digitized objects. This lifecycle begins with the object's selection for digitization, and ends with its publication on the World Wide Web and preservation in the Stanford Digital Repository. Other steps include metadata creation, digitization, quality control, file cleanup, derivative creation and file validation. The workflow systems implemented by the Engineer will focus on digitization processes and preparation of files for online access and preservation systems.

This is primarily an engineering position, with responsibility for building and implementing automated and manual tools and interfaces to support the digitization labs. The workflow engineer will work closely with the lab managers, the QA specialist, project managers and project coordinators to build tools and systems that support individual projects and ongoing digitization activities. The workflow engineer will also work closely with the DLSS architect and other DLSS software developers to use, extend and integrate with the existing digital library infrastructure and related services.

"Digital Repositories at a Crossroads: Achieving Sustainable Success through Campus-wide Engagement"

Jean-Gabriel Bankier and Courtney Smith, both of Berkeley Electronic Press, have self-archived "Digital Repositories at a Crossroads: Achieving Sustainable Success through Campus-wide Engagement" in SelectedWorks.

Here's an excerpt:

Repository initiatives were, at the outset, driven by two noble desires: to remove barriers to access; and, to begin to address the scholarly communications crisis. For universities across the globe, this specifically meant a focus on collecting peer reviewed journal articles. As we discovered together, neither faculty nor other campus constituents were impelled to invest or take ownership in the endeavor and the failure rate among digital repositories was very high.

Over the past few years a new model for the institutional repository has begun to emerge. To guarantee the long-term viability of the institutional repository (IR), the IR must be made integral to units on campus beyond the library. By working closely with Senior Administrators (like Provosts, Deans, and Department Heads), as well as faculty and students, librarians are offering valuable, targeted services that meet constituents’ needs and fulfill the goals of the repository. With this approach, the scope and value of the IR transcend a limited administrative or library function to fundamentally change the role of the library on campus.

Digital Library Application Developer at Princeton Theological Seminary

The Princeton Theological Seminary Library is recruiting a Digital Library Application Developer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Princeton Theological Seminary Library is seeking a Digital Library Application Developer to join a small team of content and technical specialists building web-based digital collections of religious texts. The position reports to the Curator of Special Collections and is primarily responsible for developing XML-based applications in XQuery and XSLT on a MarkLogic Content Server.