Month: April 2012

"’As We May Digitize’—Institutions and Documents Reconfigured"

Mats Dahlström, Joacim Hansson, and Ulrika Kjellman have published "'As We May Digitize'—Institutions and Documents Reconfigured" in the latest issue of LIBER Quarterly: The Journal of European Research Libraries.

Here's an excerpt:

This article frames digitization as a knowledge organization practice in libraries and museums. The primarily discriminatory practices of museums are compared with the non-discriminatory practices of libraries when managing their respective cultural heritage collections. . . . Two poles along a digitization strategy scale, mass digitization and critical digitization, are distinguished in the article. As memory institutions are redefined in their development of digitized document collections, e.g., by increasingly emphasizing a common trans-national rather than national cultural heritage, mass digitization and critical digitization represent alternative avenues. . . . The article re-contextualizes current digitization discourse: a) historically, by suggesting that digitization brings ancient practices back to life rather than invents entirely new ones from scratch; b) conceptually, by presenting a new label (critical digitization) for a digitization strategy that has hitherto been downplayed in digitization discourse; and c) theoretically, by exploring the relations between the values of different digitization strategies, the reconfiguration of collections as they are digitized, and the redefinition of MLA institutions through those processes.

| Digital Scholarship's Digital/Print Books | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 4/12/12

| Digital Scholarship |

University of Maine to Launch Digital Curation Graduate Certificate Program in September 2012

The University of Maine will launch a digital curation graduate certificate program in September 2012.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The Digital Curation program is a two-year graduate certificate, taught online, intended for professionals working in museums, archives, artist studios, government offices, and anywhere that people need to manage digital files. The program walks students through the phases of managing digitized or born-digital artifacts, including acquisition, representation, access, and preservation. . . .

The Digital Curation program has been developed by interdisciplinary team of ten faculty from across the campus, from departments as diverse as Art, Computer Science, History, New Media, and Spatial Engineering, as well as institutions such as Fogler Library, the Folklife Center, and Hudson Museum.

| 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 |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 4/11/12

| Digital Scholarship |

Semantic Web Programmer/Developer at Brown University Library

The Brown University Library is recruiting a Semantic Web Programmer/Developer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (job #: B01403):

The Semantic Web Programmer/Developer is responsible for data ingest planning and execution for the VIVO semantic web application. Responsible for configuration of local extensions to the application ontology (data model) and for ongoing maintenance of ontology and data.

Develop and document scripts using XML and semantic web technologies to process data and metadata from institutional databases of record, online databases of publications, and research grant information, and other sources as identified by campus stakeholders.

| Digital Scholarship |

Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: Industries in Focus

The US Commerce Department has released Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: Industries in Focus.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

While IP is used in virtually every segment of the U.S. economy, the report identifies the 75 industries that use patent, copyright, or trademark protections most extensively. These "IP-intensive industries" are the source—directly or indirectly—of 40 million jobs. That's more than a quarter of all the jobs in this country. Some of the most IP-intensive industries include: Computer and peripheral equipment, audio and video equipment manufacturing, newspaper and book publishers, Pharmaceutical and medicines, Semiconductor and other electronic components, and the Medical equipment space. . . .

The report has several important findings, including:

  • IP-intensive industries contributed $5.06 trillion to the U.S. economy or 34.8 percent of GDP in 2010.
  • 40 million jobs, or 27.7 percent of all jobs, were directly or indirectly attributable to the most IP-intensive industries in 2010.
  • Between 2010 and 2011, the economic recovery led to a 1.6 percent increase in direct employment in IP-intensive industries, faster than the 1.0 percent growth in non-IP-intensive industries.

| Digital Scholarship's Digital/Print Books | Digital Scholarship |

Web Developer at Florida State University Libraries

Florida State University Libraries are recruiting a Web Developer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The successful applicant will have programming responsibilities for the library's website and related applications as well as responsibility for the administration of the libraries' Linux VMs.

The Web Developer will work closely with internal and external stakeholders to transition the FSU Library website to a Drupal platform. The Web Developer will also work to build out Islandora modules (http://islandora.ca) as part of the development of a new digital library platform.

| Digital Scholarship |

ESIP "Interagency Data Stewardship/Principles" and "Interagency Data Stewardship/Citations/Provider Guidelines" Approved

The Federation of Earth Science Information Partners has approved its "Interagency Data Stewardship/Principles" and "Interagency Data Stewardship/Citations/Provider Guidelines."

Here's an excerpt from "Data Management and the ESIP Federation" by Ruth Duerr:

Why do I think that this was significant? Simply because it represents the first time that a large and diverse set of US Mission agencies, data centers, research groups, commercial companies, tool developers, and even individuals have come together and agreed that data stewardship is important. They saw it to be important enough to codify into standard practices for data and recognized that data citation is something that needs to become part of the culture of science and that it is past time to make that happen.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Director of Curation Services at Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research is recruiting a Director of Curation Services.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) seeks to appoint a Director of Curation Services to maintain and develop a comprehensive approach to data management and digital preservation. The holder of this position will lead a team with responsibility for policy implementation and planning across the data lifecycle, including metadata standards, repository management, digital preservation, and compliance with standards (such as Trusted Repositories Audit & Certification).

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog | Digital Scholarship |

Electronic Records Archivist at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries are recruiting an Electronic Records Archivist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the University Archivist and Head of University Archives and Records Management Services (UARMS), the Electronic Records Archivist will have a particular focus on the management, acquisition, appraisal, description, and preservation of born-digital institutional records with historical, evidential, or administrative value to the university. The Electronic Records Archivist will be responsible for supporting UNC faculty, students, and staff with information, training, and assistance in depositing digital materials into the Carolina Digital Repository (CDR), and for working with the CDR Steering Committee and with policy, programming, and other staff to define and implement repository policies, workflows, and capabilities.

| Digital Scholarship's Weblogs and Tweets | Digital Scholarship |

Librarian for Digital Humanities Research at Yale University Library

The Yale University Library is recruiting a Librarian for Digital Humanities Research.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Librarian for Digital Humanities Research will promote the advancement of the use of digital technologies and resources for humanities research, teaching, and intellectual engagement. Specific activities may include:

  • Building digital collections as scholarly or teaching resources
  • Using digital collections and analytical tools to generate new intellectual products
  • Analyzing humanities collections, data, or research processes
  • Offering digital humanities training
  • Collaborating with other Yale digital research and teaching specialists
  • Researching new digital humanities technologies and promoting them, as appropriate, to Yale faculty, students, and staff

| Reviews of Digital Scholarship Publications | Digital Scholarship |

World Bank Adopts Open Access Policy Putting Works Under Creative Commons Attribution License

The World Bank has adopted an Open Access Policy that puts its works under a CC BY 3.0 License.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Two years after opening its vast storehouse of data to the public, the World Bank is consolidating more than 2,000 books, articles, reports and research papers in a search-engine friendly Open Knowledge Repository, and allowing the public to distribute, reuse and build upon much of its work—including commercially. . . .

The repository and Creative Commons licenses are part of a new open access policy that takes effect on July 1 and will be phased in over the next year.

Read more about it at "World Bank to Introduce Open Access Policy."

| Works about Open Access by Charles W. Bailey, Jr. | Digital Scholarship |

Science Research & Data Librarian at Bates College Library

The Bates College Library is recruiting a Science Research & Data Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Bates College seeks nominations and applications for an innovative and proactive Science Research & Data Librarian. Reporting to the Associate Librarian for Research Services, this librarian shares a broad range of liaison-oriented activities with the other user-oriented professionals in the unit, including general and specialized research services, individual research consultations, group instruction, and collection development and management. This individual serves as a research partner, an instructional consultant, and a frequent point of contact to a diverse group of faculty and students on informational needs in the sciences and on issues of data management. This is an opportunity for a motivated individual to play a key role in shaping Bates College's involvement in e-science, digital data curation and standards in the science division and in other parts of the college.

| Digital Scholarship's Digital Bibliographies | Digital Scholarship |

Head of Kenan Science Information Services at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries are recruiting a Head of Kenan Science Information Services.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Leading a team of librarians, this person oversees the operation of the Kenan Science Library, provides coordination for science information services and vision for the development of new, innovative approaches to e-science and data management. Additionally, the Head of Kenan Science Information Services will collaborate with staff in the Health Sciences Library to build strong interdisciplinary science collections and services, especially those supporting data intensive and team based science involving the biomedical sciences.

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

The 2012 State of America’s Libraries: A Report from the American Library Association

American Libraries has released the The 2012 State of America’s Libraries: A Report from the American Library Association.

Here's an excerpt:

Academic libraries find themselves embracing new roles in at least two key areas:

  • Publishing. More academic libraries are entering the world of scholarly publishing by creating or expanding services. About half the respondents in a recent survey had (or were developing) library publishing services in order to support change in scholarly publication. Three quarters of the respondents indicated they published journals, while half indicated they were publishing monographs and/or conference proceedings. . . .
  • Data curation. Funding agencies including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) now have requirements that promote open access to the underlying data gathered during grant-funded research projects. . . . . Some academic libraries are already creating services that help campus researchers comply with the requirements to create the plans and to archive and share the data once it is gathered while many more are preparing to "embrace the role of data curator to remain relevant and vital to our scholars."

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010: "SEP [Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography] is compiled with utter professionalism. It reminds me of the work of the best artisans who know not only every item that leaves their workshops, but each component used to create them—providing the ideal quality control." — Péter Jacsó ONLINE 27, no. 3 (2003): 73-76. | Digital Scholarship |

The Power of Open

The Creative Commons has released The Power of Open.

Here's an excerpt:

Creative Commons began providing licenses for the open sharing of content only a decade ago. Now more than 400 million CC-licensed works are available on the Internet, from music and photos, to research findings and entire college courses. Creative Commons created the legal and technical infrastructure that allows effective sharing of knowledge, art and data by individuals, organizations and governments. More importantly, millions of creators took advantage of that infrastructure to share work that enriches the global commons for all humanity.

The Power of Open collects the stories of those creators. Some are like ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative news organization that uses CC while partnering with the world’s largest media companies. Others like nomadic filmmaker Vincent Moon use CC licensing as an essential element of a lifestyle of openness in pursuit of creativity. The breadth of uses is as great as the creativity of the individuals and organizations choosing to open their content, art and ideas to the rest of the world.

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.

Sr. Professional Research Assistant in Digital Curation at University of Colorado Boulder

The University of Colorado Boulder is recruiting a Sr. Professional Research Assistant in Digital Curation.

Here's an excerpt ad::

During his/her appointment as a digital curation researcher, the person hired will: 1) curate an original or collaborative project on campus; 2) make occasional campus presentations about the subject of digital curation and its value across disciplines; 3) conduct a graduate seminar, open to graduate students from multiple disciplines, surveying research and best practices within the field of digital curation; and 4) advise faculty and administrators on the development of curriculum in the field of digital curation.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

"Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Social Sciences and Humanities?"

College & Research Libraries has released an preprint of "Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Social Sciences and Humanities?"

Here's an excerpt:

An increasing number of higher education institutions worldwide are requiring submission of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) by graduate students and are subsequently providing open access to these works in online repositories. Faculty advisors and graduate students are concerned that such unfiltered access to their work could diminish future publishing opportunities. This study investigated social sciences, arts and humanities journal editors' and university press directors' attitudes toward ETDs. The findings indicate that manuscripts which are revisions of openly accessible ETDs are always welcome for submission or considered on a case by case basis by 82.8% of journal editors and 53.7% of university press directors polled.

| Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Discovery and Integrated Systems Coordinator at University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries

University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries are recruiting a Discovery and Integrated Systems Coordinator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The University of Massachusetts Amherst seeks candidates for the position of Discovery and Integrated Systems Coordinator. As the largest public academic research library in Massachusetts, we are a key partner in teaching, learning, and research at UMass Amherst and in the Commonwealth. By combining the latest information technology with excellent public service, the staff builds and maintains a rich information environment, facilitates access to it, and creates a place that functions as a hub of campus and community scholarly activity. The Discovery and Integrated Systems Coordinator provides creative leadership, supervision and management of various library information discovery systems and services. Works in a collaborative, team environment to support, maintain, and customize ALEPH, WorldCat Local and other discovery systems as appropriate. Tracks projects and ensures that approved services, upgrades, and enhancements are implemented in a timely manner and tested prior to release.

| Digital Scholarship's Digital Bibliographies | Digital Scholarship |

Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Open Access

UNESCO has released Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Open Access by Alma Swan.

Here's an excerpt:

The Policy Guidelines can be used by individuals as a basic text on Open Access and related policies. While we recommend that beginners to the world of Open Access should read it from cover to cover, people having some understanding of OA may like to start reading from any of the sections. Decision-makers, administrators and research managers should focus on Sections 8 and 9 that capture all relevant issues of OA policy development. At the end of this document, you will find examples of different types of OA policies (Appendix 1), and three policy templates (Appendix 2) to choose and adopt.

| Works about Open Access by Charles W. Bailey, Jr. | Digital Scholarship |

The Rise of E-reading

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released The Rise of E-reading.

Here's an excerpt:

One-fifth of American adults (21%) report that they have read an e-book in the past year, and this number increased following a gift-giving season that saw a spike in the ownership of both tablet computers and e-book reading devices such as the original Kindles and Nooks. In mid-December 2011, 17% of American adults had reported they read an e-book in the previous year; by February, 2012, the share increased to 21%.

| Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 4/5/12

| Digital Scholarship |

Journal of Digital Humanities Launched

The first issue of the Journal of Digital Humanities has been published by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media.

Here's an excerpt from the "A Community-Sourced Journal":

We're pleased to present the inaugural issue of the Journal of Digital Humanities, which represents the best of the work that was posted online by the community of digital humanities scholars and practitioners in the final three months of 2011. . . .

The works in this issue were first highlighted on the Digital Humanities Now site and its related feeds. . . .

Once highlighted as an "Editors' Choice" on Digital Humanities Now, works were eligible for inclusion in the Journal of Digital Humanities. By looking at a range of qualitative and quantitative measures of quality, from the kinds of responses a work engendered, to the breadth of the community who felt it was worth their time to examine a work, to close reading and analyses of merit by the editorial board and others, we were able to produce the final list of works. For the inaugural issue, more than 15,000 items published or shared by the digital humanities community last quarter were reviewed for Digital Humanities Now. Of these, 85 were selected as Editors' Choices, and from these 85 the ones that most influenced the community, as measured by interest, transmission, and response, have been selected for formal publication in the Journal. The digital humanities community participated further in the review process through open peer review of the pieces selected for the Journal. Authors selected for inclusion were given time to revise their work to answer criticisms and suggestions from the community and editors, prior to a round of careful editing to avoid typographical errors and other minor mistakes.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010: "SEP [Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography] is compiled with utter professionalism. It reminds me of the work of the best artisans who know not only every item that leaves their workshops, but each component used to create them—providing the ideal quality control." — Péter Jacsó ONLINE 27, no. 3 (2003): 73-76. | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 4/4/12

| Digital Scholarship |