Month: February 2013

Digital Library Software Engineer at the University of California Curation Center

The University of California Curation Center is recruiting a Digital Library Software Engineer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Digital library software engineer at the University of California Curation Center (UC3) for a one year term, with the possibility for extension. . . .

Reporting to the UC3 development manager, and working with the UC3 team of managers, analysts, and developers, the incumbent will be responsible for the full range of agile software development activities: refining functional requirements from use cases; developing UI and data model designs and technical specifications; implementation of those specifications; testing and documenting the resulting codebase; and deployment of operational systems in a production environment.

| Digital Scholarship |

EFF and Public Knowlege’s Comments on Copyright Office’s Orphan Works Inquiry

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge have released their comments on the Notice of Inquiry by the Copyright Office for comments regarding orphan works, Docket No. 2012-12.

Here's an excerpt:

A range of options, none of them exclusive, can alleviate the problems created by the prevalence of orphan works. Even in the absence of more systemic change that can stem the growing number of works whose copyright information disappears into obscurity, the application of fair use and legislative work on damages reduction (both for orphan works specifically and for good faith fair uses generally) can allow a variety of users to bring a variety of works to the public. Mass digitization projects promise to be a part of that process, and should be able to proceed in many cases under current law. However, more ambitious plans for broader, publicly available MDPs could be incentivized to serve the public interest with additional damages limitations, attended by public interest conditions. We

| Google Books Bibliography (XHTML website; over 320 entries) | Digital Scholarship |

Data Services Manager at Penn State University

Penn State University is recruiting a Data Services Manager.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Digital Library Technologies (DLT), a unit within Information Technology Services at Penn State University, is seeking a Data Services Manager to lead the development of new data services to support teaching, research and outreach at Penn State. The Data Services Manager will be responsible for the development of services to support data throughout its lifecycle, including long-term archival data storage, preservation, and management, the management of restricted data, and database hosting. The Data Services Manager will collaborate with diverse constituencies at Penn State (ITS, the IT Leadership Council, the University Libraries, and researchers/faculty) and with our peers nationally, to design, develop, and implement sustainable data services that meet existing and emerging needs.

| Digital Scholarship |

Model Language for Research Data Management Policies

The Association of Southeastern Research Libraries and the Southeastern Universities Research Association have released Model Language for Research Data Management Policies.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) and the Southeast Universities Research Association (SURA) have endorsed language to assist their member institutions in drafting sound policies to govern the uses and management of research data generated by university faculty and staff. . . .

Over the past few years, many major research funding agencies have started requiring a comprehensive data management plan as part of all new funding proposals. Additionally, researchers are seeking to re-use existing data sets to determine the replicability of results and reduce duplication of effort. The ASERL-SURA model draws upon the work of a variety of sources, including the University of Cambridge, Monash University, the Council on Government Relations, the National Science Board, and the National Science Foundation.

| Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 2 (XHTML website; over 200 entries) | Digital Scholarship |

Director of Library Information Technology at California State University Northridge Library

California State University Northridge Library is recruiting a Director of Library Information Technology.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (job ID: 2435):

Under the general direction of the Dean, the Director of Library Information Technology is responsible for the planning and implementation of all systems and technology. This position provides creative vision and expertise in strategic technology planning to enhance operational effectiveness and improve access to library resources. This position also supervises employees who are responsible for creation and maintenance of the Library's web presence; the campus Institutional Repository; repair and maintenance of IT equipment; and staffing open computer labs.

| Digital Scholarship |

2013 Digging into Data Challenge Grants

JISC has announced the 2013 Digging into Data Challenge grant program.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Today, the third round of the Digging into Data Challenge, a grant competition designed to help develop digital research in the humanities and social sciences launches in Canada, the Netherlands, the UK and the United States. . . .

During the first two rounds of the Challenge, held in 2009 and 2011, nearly 150 teams, representing universities from across Canada, the Netherlands, the US, and the UK, competed to demonstrate how innovative research methods could be used to address questions in the humanities and social sciences. Twenty-two of those teams were awarded grants during those earlier rounds, each of them demonstrating new methods for analysing vast digital resources used for humanities and social science research, like digital books, survey data, economic data, newspapers, music, and other scholarly, scientific, and cultural heritage resources that are now being digitised on a huge scale.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the earlier rounds, two additional funders have joined for round three, enabling this competition to have a world-wide reach into many different scholarly and scientific domains.

| Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 2 (XHTML website; over 200 entries) | Digital Scholarship |

Associate Director for Creation and Curation Services at Case Western Reserve University Library

The Case Western Reserve University Library is recruiting an Associate Director for Creation and Curation Services.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Kelvin Smith Library (KSL) seeks imaginative, collaborative and dynamic candidates to provide visionary and strategic leadership to advance our cutting-edge initiatives in digital and scholarly resources. The ADCC leads two teams: The Digital Learning and Scholarship Team designs and manages all of KSL's technology-related services, and the Scholarly Resources and Special Collections Team (SRSC) manages the library's rare book, manuscript, and archival collections, and analog and digital preservation. Strategic opportunities include reimagining the library's services for e-research and digital scholarship, and developing an exciting new vision for special collections in the 21st century.

| Digital Scholarship |

"Open Access, Library and Publisher Competition, and the Evolution of General Commerce"

Andrew Odlyzko has self-archived "Open Access, Library and Publisher Competition, and the Evolution of General Commerce."

Here's an excerpt:

Discussions of the economics of scholarly communication are usually devoted to Open Access, rising journal prices, publisher profits, and boycotts. That ignores what seems a much more important development in this market. Publishers, through the oft-reviled "Big Deal" packages, are providing much greater and more egalitarian access to the journal literature, an approximation to true Open Access. In the process they are also marginalizing libraries, and obtaining a greater share of the resources going into scholarly communication. This is enabling a continuation of publisher profits as well as of what for decades has been called "unsustainable journal price escalation." It is also inhibiting the spread of Open Access, and potentially leading to an oligopoly of publishers controlling distribution through large-scale licensing.

| Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography (paperback, PDF file, and XHTML website; over 1,100 entries) | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 2/5/2013

| Digital Scholarship |

Web and User Interface Librarian at Wayne State University Libraries

Wayne State University Libraries are recruiting a Web and User Interface Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (posting number: 039084):

The Web and User Interface Librarian works in the Discovery Services Team under the supervision of the Associate Director for Discovery Services. This position will collaborate with a wide range of library units to develop the next generation of fully integrated and engaging online library experiences.

| Digital Scholarship |

ResourceSync Framework Specification—Beta Draft

NISO and the Open Archives Initiative have released ResourceSync Framework Specification—Beta Draft.

Here's an excerpt:

This ResourceSync specification describes a synchronization framework for the web consisting of various capabilities that allow third party systems to remain synchronized with a server's evolving resources. The capabilities can be combined in a modular manner to meet local or community requirements. The specification also describes how a server can advertise the synchronization capabilities it supports and how third party systems can discover this information. The specification repurposes the document formats defined by the Sitemap protocol and introduces extensions for them.

| A Look Back at 22 Years as an Open Access Publisher | Digital Scholarship |

DigiCenter Manager at Furman University Library

The Furman University Library is recruiting a DigiCenter Manager.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Assistant Director for Discovery Services, the DigiCenter Manager is responsible for planning and managing the digitization of analog materials, developing and implementing metadata standards, maintaining the Library's digital repository software: LUNA, and supervising the DigiCenter Specialist (a full-time staff position) and 5-6 student assistants.

| Digital Scholarship |

Recommended Practices for Online Supplemental Journal Article Materials

NISO has released Recommended Practices for Online Supplemental Journal Article Materials.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and the National Federation for Advanced Information Services (NFAIS) have published a new Recommended Practice on Online Supplemental Journal Article Materials (NISO RP-15-2013). Supplemental materials are increasingly being added to journal articles, but until now there has been no recognized set of practices to guide in the selection, delivery, discovery, and preservation of these materials. To address this gap, NISO and NFAIS jointly sponsored an initiative to establish best practices that would provide guidance to publishers and authors for management of supplemental materials and would address related problems for librarians, abstracting and indexing services, and repository administrators. The Supplemental Materials project involved two teams working in tandem: one to address business practices and one to focus on technical issues. This new publication is the combined outcome of the two groups' work.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 ( paperback and PDF file; over 3,800 entries) | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 2/4/2013

  • Law and Politics in the GSU Case, http://t.co/Qy3cj9ps
  • Rebooting Computer Crime Law Part 1: No Prison Time For Violating Terms of Service, https://t.co/Y44G86el
  • Video: PressForward Project & Scholarly Communication on the Open Web (Cohen & Troyano), http://t.co/qwhCR9YP
  • RIAA Set For Historic 10,000,000th Google URL Takedown, http://t.co/2noJ0VxB
  • For New Ideas in Scholarly Publishing, Look to the Library, http://t.co/G0ZfQTbZ

| Digital Scholarship |

Research Data Librarian at American University Library

The American University Library is recruiting a Research Data Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Research Data Librarian serves in a leadership role in developing a comprehensive data management program in support of American University Library's research data management enterprise. Reporting to the Director, Research, Teaching and Learning, this newly established research data librarian collaborates with faculty, graduate students, academic units and research centers; and the Office of Information Technology staff to develop a campus-wide data program to assist in managing, describing, preserving and making research data available and accessible to appropriate audiences. The Research Data Librarian participates in the Library's efforts to assist faculty and students to investigate to evaluate and to support researchers' data practices, processes, technologies, data management, storage, and retrieval practices including those required by funding agencies.

| Digital Scholarship |

"Orphan Works and the Search for Rightsholders: Who Participates in a ‘Diligent Search’ under Present and Proposed Regimes?"

David R. Hansen, Gwen Hinze, and Jennifer Urban have self-archived "Orphan Works and the Search for Rightsholders: Who Participates in a 'Diligent Search' under Present and Proposed Regimes?" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

Regardless of the specific formulation, the search for rightsholders (or conversely, the confirmation that no rightsholder can be located) is an integral component of almost every orphan works proposal. This paper examines in detail the core schemes for identifying rightsholders among the leading orphan works regimes and proposals. Although these schemes differ across many variables, three factors predominate: (1) who is expected to participate in the search process, (2) the nature and extent of the required search generally; and (3) specifically what types of resources, tools, registries or other information-sharing mechanisms are required or allowed.

This paper compares existing proposals' approaches with respect to the first factor: who participates in a search? A subsequent paper will focus on the second and third factors.

| Digital Scholarship Overview | Digital Scholarship |

Development and Production Administrator at University of California Curation Center

The University of California Curation Center is recruiting a Development and Production Administrator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to a UC3 associate director, the incumbent will be responsible for the high-availability architectural design, operational support, and application-level administration of this infrastructure and will liaise with the UC3 Service Managers and Technical Leads for application monitoring and machine deployment, and the central CDL Infrastructure and Application Services (IAS) group for package administration and backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity planning, and will represent UC3 during weekly IAS/ITS planning and review meetings.

| Digital Scholarship |

Surprise Brief by Justice Department in Georgia State University E-Reserves Case

The Justice Department has filed a brief in the Cambridge University Press et al. v. Patton et al. case by for a 21-day extension in which to "to file any amicus brief in support of appellants or in support of neither party."

Here's an excerpt from "Obama Administration Considers Joining Publishers in Fight to Stamp out Fair Use at Universities":

In digging into this, we've heard from a few sources that it's actually the US Copyright Office that has asked the DOJ to weigh in on the side of the publishers and against the interests of public universities and students.

Read more about it at "Publishers and Library Groups Spar in Appeal to Ruling on Electronic Course Reserves," "Unwelcome Intervention?," and "U.S. Attorneys May Weigh in On GSU E-Reserves Case."

| Google Books Bibliography (XHTML website; over 320 entries) | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 2/3/2013

| Digital Scholarship |

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog (January 31, 2013)

The latest monthly update of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog is now available. It provides information about selected new works related to scholarly electronic publishing, such as books, e-prints, journal articles, technical reports, and white papers.

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