Year: 2012

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 |

"’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 |