Month: October 2011

Digital Public Library of America Receives $5 Million in Funding

The Digital Public Library of America has received $5 Million in funding.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Sloan Foundation and Arcadia Fund today announced a major contribution for the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) in the form of combined $5 million in funding. The DPLA Steering Committee is leading the first concrete steps toward the realization of a large-scale digital public library that will make the cultural and scientific record available to all.

Doron Weber, Vice President, Programs at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and Peter Baldwin, Chair of the Donor Board at the Arcadia Fund, made the announcement at the DPLA plenary meeting today in Washington, DC. The funding—split equally between Sloan and Arcadia—will support an intense two-year grassroots process to build a realistic and detailed workplan for a national digital library, the development of a functional technical prototype, and targeted content digitization efforts. Sloan has previously committed one million dollars towards the establishment of a DPLA Secretariat at the Berkman Center and to support the legal workstream of the DPLA initiative by developing solutions to copyright law obstacles facing public digital library initiatives.

| New: E-science and Academic Libraries Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Bibliographies about Open Access from Digital Scholarship

Below is a list of digital/paperback books and digital bibliographies from Digital Scholarship that cover open access topics. They are all under a Creative Commons license (typically the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License). The digital versions are open access.

  • Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 (July 2011): This selective bibliography presents over 600 English-language articles, books, technical reports, and other works that are useful in understanding institutional repositories and ETDs. This selective bibliography covers IR country and regional surveys, multiple-institution repositories, specific IRs, IR digital preservation issues, IR library issues, IR metadata strategies, institutional open access mandates and policies, IR R&D projects, IR research studies, IR open source software, and electronic theses and dissertations. Available as a paperback (96 pages, $9.95, ISBN-10: 146377429X) and an open access PDF file.
  • Institutional Repository Bibliography (June 2011): This selective bibliography presents over 460 articles, books, technical reports, and other scholarly textual sources that are useful in understanding institutional repositories. Available as an XHTML website with live links. Updated periodically. (Table of contents.)
  • Electronic Theses and Dissertations Bibliography (November 2010): This selective bibliography presents over 150 articles, books, conference papers, technical reports, unpublished e-prints and other scholarly textual sources that are useful in understanding electronic theses and dissertations. Available as an XHTML website with live links. Updated periodically.
  • Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography (September 2010): This selective bibliography presents over 1,100 journal articles, books, and other textual works about the open access movement. Available as a paperback (180 pages, $15.95, ISBN-10: 1453780815), an open access PDF file, and an XTHML website. "An outstanding overview of scholarship relating to the growing Open Access movement." — The Charleston Advisor (Reviews)
  • Open Access Journals Bibliography (August 2010): This selective bibliography presents over 210 books and articles that are useful in understanding open access journals. Available as an XHTML website with live links. (Table of contents.)
  • Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals (February 2005): This selective bibliography provides an overview of open access concepts, and it presents over 1,300 books, conference papers (including some digital video presentations), debates, editorials, e-prints, journal and magazine articles, news articles, technical reports, and other printed and electronic sources that are useful in understanding the open access movement's efforts to provide free access to and unfettered use of scholarly literature. Available as a paperback (published by the Association of Research Libraries, 130 pages, $45.00, ISBN-10: 1594076707s), an open access PDF file, and an XHTML website. (Table of contents) "This title is a major contribution to the study of the open access movement in general, as well as its emergence in the early twenty-first century." — Library Resources and Technical Services (Reviews)

Also, the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography and the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 cover open access topics as part of broader coverage of scholarly communication issues.

| New: E-science and Academic Libraries Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

It’s Open Access Week 2011

Open Access Week 2011 starts on Monday, October 24.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Every year, research funders, academic institutions, libraries research organizations, non-profits, businesses, and others use Open Access Week as a valuable platform to convene community events as well as to announce significant action on Open Access. The Week has served as a launching pad for new open-access publication funds, open-access policies, and papers reporting on the societal and economic benefits of OA.

This year, programs highlighting publishing and rights management choices for faculty authors, use of new media, and opportunities created by re-mixing and re-using scholarly materials are on tap. Open Educational Resources are another key topic, as is open-source technology. Campuses will be presenting a sweeping range of events, from the Harvard University-sponsored "Yana" an open-source template for scholarly journals to develop mobile applications to the University of Utah event diving into new media, fair use, and pop culture. . . .

Participation in this highly successful event continues to grow. This year, there are over 2,000 individuals in more than 110 countries registered in the Open Access Week social network at openaccessweek.org. Participation remains strong throughout Europe and North America and will be complemented by new activities in regions as diverse as Algeria, Gambia, Iceland, Iraq, and Sudan. The global nature of this event is captured nicely by the interactive Open Access Week member map, available on the Web site.

To help support local programming, SPARC provides a suite of resources, including a video series featuring leading voices in research and digital technology. This year's feature is Brewster Kahle, founder and Chairman of the Internet Archive. Kahle suggests the time is ripe for Open Access; now that the "plumbing" of the Internet is in place, "We have to move beyond the mainframe model and the subscription or the license model," he says. "It has to be so that things are. . .shared widely." The video may be viewed and downloaded at http://blip.tv/sparc-north-america/sparc-2011-oaweek-guest-brewster-kahle-founder-of-the-internet-archive-5660098.

| New: E-science and Academic Libraries Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 10/20/11

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog | Digital Scholarship |

Digital Scholarship |

Library Technology Coordinator at the University of La Verne Library

The University of La Verne Library is recruiting a Library Technology Coordinator. Required degree: "ALA accredited master's degree in Library Science."

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The responsibilities of this position include administering and providing technical support for all aspects of library technology including the Innovative Interfaces Millennium integrated library system; design, operation and maintenance of specialized library systems, electronic resources, proxy server, mobile apps, OPAC, LINK+, ILLIAD, ERM, OCLC, link resolver, research databases, library intranet, etc.; assisting the University Librarian with technology planning and project implementation; serving as primary liaison with the university's Office of Information Technology to coordinate the maintenance of computer labs, staff computers, smart classrooms, peripherals, library wireless and other instructional equipment; supervising one full-time staff member (Electronic Services Technician); serving as backup for library website maintenance; serving as technical support liaison to database and online service providers; extracting and compiling a wide range of statistical data related to software, hardware and online resource usage on a monthly basis; providing database or technology consultation to library users using multiple formats (in-person, e-mail, phone, and chat); developing, promoting, and delivering effective training, instruction, seminars and workshops; maintaining a program of professional development.

| New: E-science and Academic Libraries Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Cite Datasets and Link to Publications

The Digital Curation Centre has released Cite Datasets and Link to Publications.

Here's an excerpt:

This guide will help you create links between your academic publications and the underlying datasets, so that anyone viewing the publication will be able to locate the dataset and vice versa. It provides a working knowledge of the issues and challenges involved, and of how current approaches seek to address them. This guide should interest researchers and principal investigators working on data-led research, as well as the data repositories with which they work.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Science Data Librarian at Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources

The Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources are recruiting a Science Data Librarian. Required degree: "A degree in engineering or the sciences is required."

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The person in this position will work with faculty, staff, students and SULAIR colleagues to collect, manage, curate, provide access to and assist in the analysis of science and engineering data. The Librarian will help with the active management of scientific content acquired by the libraries, and produced and used by Stanford researchers, in order to enhance its preservation and access now and into the future. This position provides an opportunity for a self-motivated entrepreneur to help develop a new program at one of the world's leading research institutions.

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Florida State University Adopts Open Access Resolution

The Florida State University Faculty Senate has adopted an open access resolution.

Here's an excerpt:

The Faculty Senate of The Florida State University, consistent with the University's mission to "preserve, expand and disseminate knowledge" and to provide broad access to institutional resources and services, endorses the storage and preservation of scholarly publications in The Florida State University's open access institutional repository.

This resolution aims to extend the university's mission into the digital age. Its goals are to remove access barriers to publicly-funded scholarship, to centralize the University's intellectual output while maintaining quality filters and supporting established publishing opportunities, and to support faculty who wish to pursue open access publishing whenever consistent with their professional goals.

Resolution Implementation

Implementation of this resolution is dependent on the foundation and development of infrastructure, including a university library-supported institutional repository and Scholarly Communications staff who will coordinate and facilitate the digital collection process for faculty. The Faculty Senate calls upon the Faculty Senate Library Committee and the Florida State University Libraries to explore and address the implementation of this resolution, including the needs to:

  • protect authors' intellectual property
  • maintain Florida State University standards for Promotion and Tenure
  • promote quality and prestige in scholarly publishing
  • develop policies and procedures for the governance of this resolution
  • explore scholarship publishing in emerging platforms and digital contexts

Read more about it at "Open Access at FSU."

| Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 10/19/11

| New: E-science and Academic Libraries Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Special and Digital Collections Librarian at John Spoor Broome Library of the California State University Channel Islands

The John Spoor Broome Library of the California State University Channel Islands is recruiting a Special and Digital Collections Librarian. Required degree: "A MLS from an accredited institution in Library Science or a related field."

Here's an excerpt from the ad (requisition number: 050569):

Working closely with Collection Development and Technical Services, the Special and Digital Collections Librarian:

  • Provides visionary leadership in the area of special and digital collections by making recommendations on how best to develop, preserve, and assess the use of digital and special collections;
  • Employees the latest research, methodologies, standards, and software to create, provide for the long-term preservation of, maintain access to, and assess the use of unique collections across existing formats and considering future formats;
  • Provides expertise to others in the creation of digital and special collections;
  • Participates in grant writing and training initiatives;
  • Assesses the usability of the library's digital collections, systems, and library technology with an eye to curriculum integration and continuous improvement;

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Negative and Slide Digitization: "Establishing Spatial Resolution Requirements for Digitizing Transmissive Content: A Use Case Approach"

Image Science Associates has released "Establishing Spatial Resolution Requirements for Digitizing Transmissive Content: A Use Case Approach." This study was conducted for the Still Image Working Group of the Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative.

Here's an excerpt:

Guidelines for the digital conversion of transmissive content (negatives and positive slides) in the cultural heritage community have lagged behind those for print content. The primary reasons for this are twofold. Unlike print material, transmissive content is generally an intermediate format (as with negatives) or requires a viewing mechanism (such as a projector). In either case, there is no standard for the viewing of the object. The second challenge for digitization of transmissive content is, in large part, a result of the ambiguity of the visual output for slides or negatives.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

E-Sciences Librarian for Engineering at University of Kansas Libraries

The University of Kansas Libraries are recruiting an E-Sciences Librarian for Engineering. Required degree: "ALA-accredited master's degree in library and/or information studies."

Here's an excerpt from the ad (position number: 00007857):

The KU Libraries' E-sciences Librarian for Engineering strengthens the libraries' partnership with the School of Engineering (SOE) and the scientific research community. Working with a team of science librarians on the KU/Lawrence, and KU Medical campus, s/he develops and facilitates access to rich and robust scholarly knowledge products. Through active collaboration and consultation, this position is a key liaison to the SOE supporting the research and educational vision of the School and embedding information literacy into the curriculum.

At a university level, the E-Science Librarian works as part of campus collaborations vested in existing and emerging research services and critical support for the management, sharing, and effective use of scientific knowledge products. These services will span the lifecycle of scientific research and help insure appropriate levels of fluency in the use of engineering and scientific resources. This individual will actively partner in campus research data management initiatives, including planning, curation, and dissemination projects to manage the lifecycle of KU's scientific data. The E-Sciences Librarian is equally responsible for providing both general and specialized reference, research and instructional services to faculty, staff and students in Engineering and related areas.

The E-Science Librarian reports to the Head of Data Initiatives and Maps as part of the KU Libraries' Center for Digital Scholarship. S/he will work closely with the Spahr Engineering Library branch services manager who is responsible for day-to-day operations including circulation, stacks management, service desk, and facilities.

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

"Getting Started in the Digital Humanities"

Lisa Spiro has published "Getting Started in the Digital Humanities" in her Digital Scholarship in the Humanities blog. This useful post is very detailed.

Here's an excerpt:

Last week I presented at the Great Lakes College Association's New Directions workshop on digital humanities (DH), where I tried to answer the question "Why the digital humanities?" But I discovered that an equally important question is "How do you do the digital humanities"? Although participants seemed to be excited about the potential of digital humanities, some weren't sure how to get started and where to go for support and training.

Building on the slides I presented at the workshop, I'd like to offer some ideas for how a newcomer might get acquainted with the community and dive into DH work. I should emphasize that many in the DH community are to some extent self-taught and/or gained their knowledge through work on projects rather than through formal training.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Emerging Technologies Librarian, Science Libraries at Carnegie Mellon University Libraries

The Carnegie Mellon University Libraries are recruiting an Emerging Technologies Librarian, Science Libraries. Required degree: "MLS/MLIS from an ALA-accredited institution required."

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Carnegie Mellon University Libraries is seeking an Emerging Technologies Librarian to work in special collaboration with library faculty, administrators, and the greater University community in support of the Libraries' new initiatives. An energetic, service-oriented individual is desired who will be able to engage as a member of the Science Libraries team, paying particular attention to emerging trends, with a key role in analyzing data services needs as they relate to data sets and their management. The incumbent will play an active role in supporting the Libraries' reference and instruction functions, including as a liaison to the School of Computer Science (SCS), one of the top-ranked computer science schools in the world.

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Pew Research Center Gets $1.4 Million Grant to Study Role of Public Libraries and Library Users in the Digital Age

The Pew Research Center has been awarded a three-year $1.4 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study role of public libraries and library users in the digital age.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Through national surveys, a series of focus groups in a diverse mix of communities, and special surveys of library patrons, the Pew Internet Project will examine how library users' habits and tastes are changing in the age of e-books, widespread mobile connectivity and the existence of vast digital collections. . . .

"Few institutions have been more challenged by the rise of the internet and mobile connectivity than the local library," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project. "Many libraries have responded with innovations and sweeping overhauls in the way they deliver on their missions. With the Gates Foundation's support, the Pew Internet Project will provide an in-depth, data-driven analysis of how libraries are responding to technology trends, and how communities' expectations are changing at a time when library functions are in flux."

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Digital Initiatives/Subject Specialist Librarian at University of New Orleans Library

The Earl K. Long Library at the University Of New Orleans is recruiting a Digital Initiatives/Subject Specialist Librarian. Required degree: "ALA accredited MLS degree." Salary: "starting at $44,000."

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Responsible for providing expert knowledge and leadership in technical planning, implementation, project management and support of the Library's digital collection initiatives. Serves as an enthusiastic and dynamic liaison to the campus community in promotion and development of the library's institutional repositories. Serves as subject specialist in one or more assigned subject areas, assuming overall responsibility for the development of the collection, reference, instruction, and outreach services in those subject areas.

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

E-science and Academic Libraries Bibliography

Digital Scholarship has released the E-science and Academic Libraries Bibliography. It includes English-language articles, books, editorials, and technical reports that are useful in understanding the broad role of academic libraries in e-science efforts. The scope of this brief selective bibliography is narrow, and it does not cover data curation and research data management issues in libraries in general. Most sources have been published from 2007 through October 18, 2011; however, a limited number of key sources published prior to 2007 are also included. The bibliography includes links to freely available versions of included works, such as e-prints and open access articles.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 10/17/11

| Google Books Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Open Online Research Data Management Course for Ph.D Students

The Research Data MANTRA project has released a freely available online research data management course for Ph.D students. The course is under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 UK: Scotland License.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement :

The JISC-funded Research Data MANTRA project has produced a course for postgraduate students and early career researchers who work with data and would like to learn more about how to manage it effectively. Course content is geared towards the geosciences, social and political sciences and clinical psychology; however, many of the issues covered apply equally to all research disciplines.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Metadata Librarian at North Carolina State University Libraries

The North Carolina State University Libraries are recruiting a Metadata Librarian. Required degree: "ALA-accredited MLS or equivalent advanced degree in library or information science."

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

he NCSU Libraries invites applications and nominations for the position of Metadata Librarian to lead the metadata and data quality section in the Metadata and Cataloging Department. The incumbent will play a leadership role in library-wide non-MARC metadata projects and will lead projects in data management and workflow optimization. This position offers the opportunity to join a department that is committed to developing user-centered, transformative approaches to cataloging in a changing landscape of bibliographic control. The department is actively moving from workflows that emphasize item-by-item cataloging toward metadata creation processes that facilitate large-scale access to our collections and prioritize the discovery of hidden collections.

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Digital Initiatives Librarian at Montana State University Libraries

The Montana State University Libraries are recruiting a Digital Initiatives Librarian. Required degree: "ALA-accredited MLS, MIS, or equivalent." Salary: $43,000.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Facilitate the development of the Library's overall web-based and digital services programs. Act as lead worker for specific projects and working groups as needed. Train and work directly with library staff to help make them more effective content contributors. Maintain ongoing development of the Libraries' web services and digital projects. Incorporate appropriate design principles, information architectures, coding standards, and emerging technologies into the Libraries' various open source web-based systems and projects. Contribute to processes that deliver library content to external discovery and delivery mechanisms, such as: APIs and RESTful web services, search engine optimization, mobile application development, OAI harvesters, and integration with campus learning management systems and social sites. Anticipate web trends, investigate their application in academic libraries, and help to develop new web-based and digital services.

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

"HathiTrust’s Past, Present, and Future"

The HathiTrust has released "HathiTrust's Past, Present, and Future" by John Wilkin.

Here's an excerpt:

My plan today is to talk about HathiTrust's past, present and future. Don't worry—I won't do a history of HathiTrust. My discussion of the "past" will be primarily about the organization's early accomplishments, and begins with a review of our Short- and Long-Term Functional Objects. I'll then talk briefly about a few things in the HathiTrust pipeline, and finally conclude with an overview of some of the larger changes that have taken place since 2008. A point I'd like to emphasize now and throughout is that this is a "libraries writ large" success story. What has happened is something that we accomplished collectively. This is not a story of an external organization—Google, a government agency, or some external champion—doing something for us. This is our story, and one that we need to understand and celebrate.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Copy(write): Intellectual Property in the Writing Classroom

The WAC Clearinghouse has released Copy(write): Intellectual Property in the Writing Classroom as an open access book under a under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Here's an excerpt:

The book is divided into three topic areas: Part I focuses on the law and legal landscape; Part II focuses on the tools and resources available to researchers and teachers; and Part III focuses on pedagogical practices and approaches for addressing intellectual property in the writing classroom. Each part concludes with a response by a notable scholar who helps highlight connections among the chapters and identifies enduring questions and future directions for scholarship and action.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Head, Systems Development Department at Old Dominion University Libraries

Old Dominion University Libraries are recruiting a Head, Systems Development Department. Required required: "ALA accredited MLS."

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The successful candidate would provide departmental leadership and management and would develop, implement, and support all information systems for the ODU Libraries. This includes planning for new technology, managing ongoing projects, directing daily technical operations, and participating on the technology management team for the 24/5 Learning Commons. As a member of the Library Management Team, this position also plays a key role in library-wide planning, policy making, and the development, evaluation, and assessment of library services and resources.

| New: Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Best Practices for TEI in Libraries: A Guide for Mass Digitization, Automated Workflows, and Promotion of Interoperability with XML Using the TEI

The TEI Special Interest Group on Libraries has released version three of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries: A Guide for Mass Digitization, Automated Workflows, and Promotion of Interoperability with XML Using the TEI.

Here's an excerpt from:

There are many different library text digitization projects, serving a variety of purposes. With this in mind, these Best Practices are meant to be as inclusive as possible by specifying five encoding levels. These levels are meant to allow for a range of practice, from wholly automated text creation and encoding, to encoding that requires expert content knowledge, analysis, and editing. The encoding levels are not strictly cumulative: while higher levels tend to build upon lower levels by including more elements, higher levels are not supersets because some elements used at lower levels are not used at higher levels—often because more specific elements replace generic elements.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |