Month: May 2012

Benefits of Open Access to Scholarly Research for Voluntary and Charitable Sector Organisations

JISC has released Benefits of Open Access to Scholarly Research for Voluntary and Charitable Sector Organisations.

Here's an excerpt:

We have learned in this study that the voluntary and charitable sector has an appetite and need for scholarly research that it cannot currently satisfy. The organisations contributing to the study have described the importance of research to the voluntary and charitable sector's commitment to playing its very distinctive role in the most effective way it can. In scoping interviews, case studies and survey responses, VCOs have identified a consistent set of barriers to accessing research. They have shown too that they are creative and resourceful, finding ways to overcome these barriers some of which might place them on or over the border of copyright infringement. We do not think that VCOs should be put in the position of having to choose between what is legally permitted and what they feel is ethically required of them in order to fulfil their charitable objectives. We think too that if the VCS is being asked to expand its role and play an increasing part in delivering public services, then access to research is essential. In this final chapter, we provide some recommendations which, we hope, will go some way to widening the voluntary and charitable sector's access to scholarly research outputs.

| Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals: This is an excellent resource for its extensive background documentation of the open access arguments and issues. — Ann Jensen, Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, no. 43 (2005) | Digital Scholarship |

Benefits of Open Access to Scholarly Research to the Public Sector

JISC has released Benefits of Open Access to Scholarly Research to the Public Sector.

Here's an excerpt:

The total cost to the public sector of accessing journal papers is around £135 million per annum. The savings that accrue from the availability of Open Access articles (using both Green and Gold routes) amount to £28.6 million (£26 million in access fees and £2.6 million in time savings).

Extending the number or articles available through Open Access further increases the potential for savings. Each extra 5% of journal papers accessed via Open Access would save the public sector £1.7 million, even if no subscription fees were to be saved. Increasing the number of journal papers accessed through Open Access to 25% would save the public sector an extra £29 million.

| 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 |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 5/2/12

| Digital Scholarship |

Digital Library Infrastructure Lead at University of Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Libraries

The University of Notre Dame's Hesburgh Libraries are recruiting a Digital Library Infrastructure Lead.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Digital Library Services Department Head, we are seeking a senior candidate with strong software development and leadership skills to lead and implement automated services to support digital initiatives for both the Hesburgh Libraries and the wider campus community. Collaborating with the Digital Library Services Department Head and Digital Library Applications Lead, the incumbent will lead digital library infrastructure design to ensure access, discovery, security, data integrity, and preservation of unique library collections, campus research data, and conference event data. The incumbent will lead creation of complex software services to automate capture of metadata, archive data files, transform image and video files, automate digitization, and aggregate information from multiple sources.

| Digital Scholarship |

Report on Peer Review of Digital Repositories

The Alliance for Permanent Access to the Records of Science Network has released the Report on Peer Review of Digital Repositories.

Here's an excerpt:

This document reports on the work which has been undertaken in support of the European Framework for Audit and Certification of Digital Repositories which was initiated by the European Commission's unit which funds APARSEN. . . .

The main part of this report provides details of the test audits which were carried out, the problems encountered and the lessons learned. The European repositories were the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (DNB), Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS), UK Data Archive (UKDA), Centre Informatique National de l'Enseignement Supérieur: Département Archivage et Diffusion (CINES-DAD) and in addition, in the USA, the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) at the Center for Earth Science Information, the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) and the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (KDLA).

| Institutional Repository and ETD Bibliography 2011 | Digital Scholarship |

Digital Projects Librarian at Amherst College Library

The Amherst College Library is recruiting a Digital Projects Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Coordinates digital reformatting operations that preserve and improve access to library and archival collections in all formats and that conform to digital library standards and best practices. Contributes to the development and implementation of digital projects.

| Digital Scholarship |

Report on Peer Review of Research Data in Scholarly Communication

The Alliance for Permanent Access to the Records of Science Network has released the Report on Peer Review of Research Data in Scholarly Communication.

Here's an excerpt:

This report documents ideas, attitudes, developments and discussion concerning quality assurance of research data. The focus is on action taken by scientists, e-infrastructure providers and scientific journals. Their measures are documented and categorized. Future fields of research are to be described based on this work.

| 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 5/1/12

| Digital Scholarship |

Digital Library Software Engineer at Harvard Library

The Harvard Library is recruiting a Digital Library Software Engineer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (auto req ID: 26614BR):

The Harvard Office for Scholarly Communication (OSC) oversees the mechanisms by which the fruits of scholarship are communicated within and without the University, with a special aim to increase the availability of the scholarly output of the University and maximize the efficiency with which scholarly materials are made available to members of the Harvard community and beyond. The OSC department of the Harvard Library seeks a programmer/analyst for development and support of the DASH open access digital scholarship repository. This is a unique opportunity to serve as the technical lead on a project to collect and share the University's research with the world. Please note: This is a one year term appointment with possibility of renewal depending on funding and performance.

| Digital Scholarship |

"Fully Digital: Policy and Process Implications for the AAS"

Chris Biemesderfer has self-archived "Fully Digital: Policy and Process Implications for the AAS" in arXiv.org.

Here's an excerpt:

In the near term, we anticipate that enterprise-scale printing will be phased out in the next 2-3 years, as the library subscribers to the journals stop acquiring the print products. We are going to be looking to web-to-print solutions so that customized print products can be specified by the customers themselves, thus allowing the AAS to focus on the larger issues of professional scholarly communication. In the meantime, we are thinking about a business model for the Society that offers only online subscriptions, and we are preparing to charge authors in 2011 based on the quantities of digital material that are submitted, rather than based on the number of typeset pages of the authors' text.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Digital Preservation Archivist at MIT Lincoln Laboratory

The MIT Lincoln Laboratory is recruiting a Digital Preservation Archivist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Under the direction of the Archivist and the Knowledge Service Sector Manager, the Digital Preservation Archivist will define and apply the methodology and standards of archival best practices to born-digital and digitized archival collections; determine specifications for a digital repository and associated tools that meet the management, access, and preservation needs of Laboratory Archives collections; and enhance processes for acquisition, description, access, preservation, and future migration of assets. This individual will develop plans, specifications, procedures, and manuals to support the collection and management of digital archival content. Will serve as the primary adviser to the Knowledge Services and Archives teams on digital preservation issues, including maintaining current awareness of new technologies and initiatives in the field.

| Digital Scholarship |

Preserving Moving Pictures and Sound

The Digital Preservation Coalition has released Preserving Moving Pictures and Sound by Richard Wright.

Here's an excerpt:

The status and technology needs of moving picture and sound materials will be examined. The scope of the report includes analogue material on physical carriers such as film, audiotape and videotape (and so stored on shelves); digital material on physical carriers such as CD, DVD, digital videotape and digital audio tape (also stored on shelves); and finally, digital content in files and so held on some form of mass storage. While the focus is on professional collections in institutions, companies or other organizations, the information will be relevant to personal holdings.

| Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |