Month: April 2012

Director, Integrated Library Systems at University of Maryland Libraries

The University of Maryland Libraries are recruiting a Director, Integrated Library Systems.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The University of Maryland Libraries are seeking a Director for the Integrated Library Systems department, to provide leadership and support to the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI) Library Consortium in the integration, operation and maintenance efforts of the consortium's software and database applications. The ILS Director serves as a senior member of the College Park Libraries Information Technology Division (ITD), reporting to the Associate Dean of Information Technology at the University of Maryland Libraries. Reorganization within the division has created a structure in which the ILS Director will focus efforts to work closely and effectively with the leadership of the USMAI. The incumbent works directly with the Council of Library Directors (CLD) of USMAI and its administrative structure. He/she provides leadership and direct supervision to a professional technical staff. The ILS director will be responsible for developing and managing budgets for approved projects and initiatives of the USMAI. The director will also be responsible for developing annual budgets for the ILS team, for presenting that budget to the CLD and for executing budgets, once they are approved by the CLD.

| Digital Scholarship |

Harvard: "Faculty Advisory Council Memorandum on Journal Pricing: Major Periodical Subscriptions Cannot Be Sustained"

Harvard University's Faculty Advisory Council on the Library has issued "Faculty Advisory Council Memorandum on Journal Pricing: Major Periodical Subscriptions Cannot Be Sustained"

Here's an excerpt:

Since the Library now must change its subscriptions and since faculty and graduate students are chief users, please consider the following options open to faculty and students (F) and the Library (L), state other options you think viable, and communicate your views:

1. Make sure that all of your own papers are accessible by submitting them to DASH in accordance with the faculty-initiated open-access policies (F).

2. Consider submitting articles to open-access journals, or to ones that have reasonable, sustainable subscription costs; move prestige to open access (F).

3. If on the editorial board of a journal involved, determine if it can be published as open access material, or independently from publishers that practice pricing described above. If not, consider resigning (F).

4. Contact professional organizations to raise these issues (F).

5. Encourage professional associations to take control of scholarly literature in their field or shift the management of their e-journals to library-friendly organizations (F).

6. Encourage colleagues to consider and to discuss these or other options (F).

7. Sign contracts that unbundle subscriptions and concentrate on higher-use journals (L).

8. Move journals to a sustainable pay per use system, (L).

9. Insist on subscription contracts in which the terms can be made public (L).

| Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography: "This work gives an outstanding overview of scholarship relating to the growing Open Access movement." — George Machovec, The Charleston Advisor 12, no. 2 (2010): 3. | Digital Scholarship |

Library Fellow for Scholarly Publishing and Licensing at MIT Libraries

The MIT Libraries are recruiting a Library Fellow for Scholarly Publishing and Licensing.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Program Manager, Office of Scholarly Publishing and Licensing (OSPL), this position will work with staff within the Libraries as well as the wider MIT community. Activities include:

  • Contribution to the work of the OSPL in the areas of copyright advocacy, intellectual property, open access, and rights retention;
  • Participation in building a repository collection of open access papers under the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy;
  • Examination and reporting on the effectiveness and impact of the Policy in the context of faculty publishing practices and publisher policies;
  • Contribution to implementing the next generation technical infrastructure for managing open access workflows.

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

"Citing Patterns in Open Access Journals: A Study of D-Lib Magazine"

Moin Ahmad and Mohammad Nazim have self-archived "Citing Patterns in Open Access Journals: A Study of D-Lib Magazine" in E-LIS.

Here's an excerpt:

The study was intended to investigate the pattern of citing references of research articles published in D-Lib Magazine during 2002-2008. A total of 4775 citations were collected from 295 articles published during the period. Articles classified as editorial materials, power point slides, book reviews, columns, reports and news items were excluded. References all articles were collected and Microsoft Office Excel 2007 was used for analyses. The aspects analysed focus on year-wise distribution of articles and cited references, types of documents cited, country and language of cited documents, file format and domain of cited references, etc.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Library Fellow for Digital Curation and Preservation at MIT Libraries

The MIT Libraries are recruiting a Library Fellow for Digital Curation and Preservation.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Head of Curation and Preservation Services, the activities of this position will span the full life-cycle of digital content management through collaboration with the Institute Archives and Special Collections, Specialized Content and Services, and structured interactions with other key units of the MIT Libraries. Activities include:

  • Engagement in a range of activities related to the long-term management of digital content types (e.g., video, web content, architectural or other design documentation, geospatial), including the development of principles of good practice, development of selection criteria, determination of archival storage rules, and definition of digital object packaging;
  • Contribution to monitoring prevailing community standards and practice for curation and preservation to enhance and extend life-cycle practice at the MIT Libraries;
  • Development of outreach materials and guides to raise awareness about the benefits and challenges of curation and preservation;
  • Initiation of an experiment to address a specific curation or preservation need.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

University of Illinois at Chicago Library Faculty Approve Open Access Policy

The University of Illinois at Chicago Library faculty have approved an open access policy.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

"An open access policy ensures the broadest possible access to the fruits of research and scholarship, and important goal of academic research libraries. We hope this action by the Library faculty will serve as a model to other college faculties at UIC," said University Librarian Mary Case.

The policy requires Library faculty to grant UIC a non-exclusive license to make copies of their articles available publicly in the UIC's open access institutional repository, INDIGO. The policy also encourages faculty to retain the copyright to their work. . . .

Drafted by the Scholarly Communication Committee, the policy also exhibits flexibility toward faculty pursuing tenure. The committee, understanding the importance for such faculty to publish in peer-reviewed journals that can require an author to sign over copyright to publish, will grant case-by-case waivers. When a faculty member must sign over copyright, he or she is encouraged to deposit a draft of their article in the UIC open access institutional repository, noted [Sandra] De Groote.

| Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography: "This bibliography is recommended for everyone interested in open access publishing." — M. Blobaum, Journal of the Medical Library Association 100, no. 1 (2012): 73. | Digital Scholarship |

Newspaper Digitization Project Librarian at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Library

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Library is recruiting a Newspaper Digitization Project Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Library seeks a knowledgeable, resourceful, and collaborative individual for the position of Newspaper Digitization Project Librarian. The Project Librarian will coordinate activities for the proposed, multi-year grant project, North Carolina Newspapers. In this project, the University Library will lead a collaborative effort with the North Carolina State Archives to digitize approximately 150 reels of microfilmed North Carolina newspapers in their entirety and make them available through the Library of Congress's Chronicling America website (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/).

Under the supervision of the grant's principal investigator at the University Library, the Project Librarian will coordinate the day-to-day operations of the North Carolina Newspapers project. The Newspaper Digitization Project Librarian will work to ensure microfilm selected for the project meets required technical specifications, and will prepare metadata on newspaper titles and reels selected for digitization. The Project Librarian will also create and maintain a database to track the movement of microfilm and digital files, and will oversee review of digital files received from digitization vendor.

| Digital Scholarship |

LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) Awarded Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant

The LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) program has been awarded a two-year grant by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

"LOCKSS was originally developed to preserve academic e-journals exactly as they were presented on publisher websites," according to Victoria Reich, Executive Director and co-founder of the LOCKSS Program. "At that time, most content was static, but with new technologies such as Web 2.0 and HTML 5, published content is increasingly dynamic and interactive. This makes long-term preservation much more challenging."

The Mellon Foundation grant will enable LOCKSS to develop new techniques for collecting dynamic digital content from modern publishing platforms, and ensuring its long-term preservation. Incorporating these techniques into future versions of the award winning, open-source LOCKSS digital preservation software will benefit the entire academic community.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Applications Analyst at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Library

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Library is recruiting an Applications Analyst.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

As a member of the Web Unit in the University Library's Systems Department, the Applications Analyst provides applications programming, Web development expertise, and technical support for the UNC Library. The primary purpose of this position is to work with content creators to meaningfully express their content in a content management system (CMS). In doing so, they will support staff in the creation and organization of information to effectively present tools, services, and information on the web.

Additionally, the Applications Analyst will perform development work on new and existing projects using a variety of programming and markup languages and other tools, including XHTML, CSS, XML, Perl, PHP, Python, JavaScript, and RDBMSs.

| Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 4/18/2012

| Digital Scholarship |

Senior Web Development and User Experience Technician at Queen’s University Library

The Queen's University Library is recruiting a Senior Web Development and User Experience Technician.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Within the framework of established policies, regulations and procedures, in consultation with the Systems Coordinator, the Division Head of Discovery Systems and other Discovery Systems staff, the incumbent provides technical expertise and support for the Library's web presence. Duties include development of new web applications and maintenance and enhancement of existing web applications from simple to complex; ensuring the smooth operation of designated Library web software systems (eg. Drupal, WordPress, DokuWiki, and in-house web applications) with appropriate documentation, back-up, maintenance and upgrades; diagnosis, research and troubleshooting of problems with the Library's web presence, escalating issues as necessary, and documenting solutions; exploring new web software systems; providing user support for web systems; assisting in development of web analytics tracking reports and in implementing analytics and usability driven web page modifications; providing back-up for other senior Discovery Systems technicians in the areas of user support, database administration, and user support.

| Digital Scholarship |

Rice University Faculty Senate Approves Open Access Policy

According to a tweet today by Geneva Henry, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Scholarship at Rice University’s Fondren Library, Rice University’s Faculty Senate has approved an open access policy.

Here's an excerpt from the Rice University Open-Access Mandate Position Paper (2/12/2012):

To assist Rice in distributing the scholarly publications, as of the date of publication, each faculty member will make available an electronic copy of his or her final version of the publication at no charge to a representative designated by the Provost's Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost's Office. The Provost's Office will make the scholarly publication available to the public in an open-access repository, the Rice Digital Scholarship Archive. Upon request, the scholarly publication will not be made available to the public for an agreed upon embargo period.

| Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography: "This work gives an outstanding overview of scholarship relating to the growing Open Access movement." — George Machovec, The Charleston Advisor 12, no. 2 (2010): 3. | Digital Scholarship |

Director, Information Technology Production Services at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library is recruiting a Director, Information Technology Production Services.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Associate University Librarian for Information Technology Planning and Policy, the successful candidate will oversee the staff, technology support, networking, infrastructure, and applications support for Library enterprise IT systems, including Infrastructure Management and Support (IMS), Workstation and Network Support (WNS), and Help Desk (HD) services.

| Digital Scholarship |

Analysis of Results from the Research Data Preservation Survey

The London School of Economics and Political Science Digital Communication Enhancement project has released Analysis of Results from the Research Data Preservation Survey.

Here's an excerpt from "Results of Researcher Survey":

The survey showed the general lack of awareness amongst LSE [London School of Economics and Political Science] researchers of digital data preservation: this isn't a criticism, if we had found a good awareness we would probably have to stop the project! We also found that there are cultural challenges to address as well as the need for more technical training if researchers are to send their research data and materials into the future with confidence.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

ALA Action Alert: Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act of 2011

The American Library Association has issued an action alert regarding the Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act of 2011.

Here's an excerpt:

Please call and ask your U.S. Representative to OPPOSE H.R. 3523, The Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 or CISPA, one of several bills to be considered in the U.S. House of Representatives during "Cybersecurity Week" starting April 23, 2012.

ALA is concerned that essentially all private electronic communications could be obtained by the government and used for many purposes—and not just for cybersecurity activities. H.R. 3523 would permit, even require ISPs and other entities to monitor all electronic communications and share personal information with the government without effective oversight just by claiming the sharing is for "cybersecurity purposes"

| Digital Scholarship |

"You’ve Signed on to the Boycott, Now What? A SPARC Guide for Campus Action"

SPARC has released "You've Signed on to the Boycott, Now What? A SPARC Guide for Campus Action."

Here's an excerpt:

In light of the recent, failed attempt to abridge access to scholarly articles via the Research Works Act (RWA), a growing number of researchers have expressed their frustration with the status quo in scholarly publishing, and are interested in learning about concrete actions that they can take to effect positive change. SPARC has prepared this resource for our members, to help you to engage your faculty and researchers, and talk with them about options for taking such action.

| Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography: "This bibliography is recommended for everyone interested in open access publishing." — M. Blobaum, Journal of the Medical Library Association 100, no. 1 (2012): 73. | Digital Scholarship |

"How Institutionalized Are Model License Use Terms: An Analysis of E-journal License Use Rights Clauses from 2000-2009"

College & Research Libraries has released "How Institutionalized Are Model License Use Terms: An Analysis of E-journal License Use Rights Clauses from 2000-2009," a preprint by Kristin R. Eschenfelder et al.

Here's an excerpt:

This paper explored the degree to [which] use terms proposed by model licenses have become institutionalized across different publishers' licenses. It examined model license use terms in four areas: downloading, scholarly sharing, interlibrary loan and electronic reserves. Data collection and analysis involved content analysis of 224 electronic journal licenses spanning 2000-2009. Analysis examined how use terms changed over time, differences between consortia and site license use terms and differences between commercial and non-commercial publisher license use terms. Results suggest that some model license use terms have become institutionalized while others have not.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Web and Digital Library Specialist at Center for Research Libraries

The Center for Research Libraries is recruiting a Web and Digital Library Specialist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Essential Duties

  • As technical lead for our Drupal content management system, responsible for full range of systems administration activities including: evaluating and implementing modules; monitoring work flows; developing site-wide theming, templates and content types.
  • Develop and update web applications with database-driven and/or XML based dynamic content.
  • Conduct interface design, integration and customization of Web applications and products acquired from third parties, including open source products

| Digital Scholarship |

NEH Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Grants

The National Endowment for the Humanities is accepting grant proposals for its Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program.

Here's an excerpt from the program guidelines:

Applications may be submitted for projects that address one or more of the following activities:

  • arranging and describing archival and manuscript collections;
  • cataloging collections of printed works, photographs, recorded sound, moving images, art, and material culture;
  • providing conservation treatment (including deacidification) for collections, leading to enhanced access;
  • digitizing collections;
  • preserving and improving access to born-digital sources;
  • developing databases, virtual collections, or other electronic resources to codify information on a subject or to provide integrated access to selected humanities materials; . . . .
  • developing tools for spatial analysis and representation of humanities data, such as atlases and geographic information systems (GIS); and
  • designing digital tools to facilitate use of humanities resources.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 4/16/12

| Digital Scholarship |

Supreme Court to Hear First-Sale Doctrine Case Next Term

The Supreme Court will hear an important first-sale doctrine case (Supap Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons) in its next term.

Here's an excerpt from the case summary:

The question presented is how these [first-sale doctrine] provisions apply to a copy that was made and legally acquired abroad and then imported into the United States. Can such a foreign-made product never be resold within the United States without the copyright owner's permission, as the Second Circuit held in this case? Can such a foreign-made product sometimes be resold within the United States without permission, but only after the owner approves an earlier sale in this country, as the Ninth Circuit held in Costco? Or can such a product always be resold without permission within the United States, so long as the copyright owner authorized the first sale abroad, as the Third Circuit has indicated?

Read more about it at "First Sale Goes to the Supreme Court, Again" and "Supreme Court Will Hear Case over Foreign Textbooks Imported and Resold in U.S."

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Research Data Curation Bibliography

Digital Scholarship has released the Research Data Curation Bibliography. It includes over 100 selected English-language articles and technical reports that are useful in understanding the curation of digital research data in academic and other research institutions.

Most sources have been published from 2000 through 2011; however, a limited number of earlier key sources are also included.

The bibliography includes links to freely available versions of included works. If such versions are unavailable, italicized links to the publishers' descriptions are provided.

It is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010: "If you're looking for a reading list that will keep you busy from now until the end of time, this is your one-stop shop for all things digital preservation."— "Digital Preservation Reading List," Preservation Services at Dartmouth College weblog, February 21, 2012. | Digital Scholarship |

Systems Librarian at Southern Connecticut State University Library

The Southern Connecticut State University Library is recruiting a Systems Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Systems Librarian provides leadership for planning, implementing, and managing library systems, digital services, and information technologies, serves on a variety of internal and external committees, maintains the library website and other library systems, and provides staff technology training. The Systems Librarian may also serve as liaison to one or more academic departments, providing subject-specific instruction, creating instructional materials and developing collections.

| Digital Scholarship |