Month: June 2013

"Brief of Digital Humanities and Law Scholars as Amici Curiae in Authors Guild v. Hathitrust"

Matthew Jockers, Matthew Sag, and Jason Schultz have self-archived "Brief of Digital Humanities and Law Scholars as Amici Curiae in Authors Guild v. Hathitrust" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

This Amicus Brief was filed in the United States Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit in the case of Authors Guild v. Hathitrust on June 4, 2013. The case is on Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 11 CV 6351 (Baer, J.)

Amici are over 100 professors and scholars who teach, write, and research in computer science, the digital humanities, linguistics or law, and two associations that represent Digital Humanities scholars generally. . . .

The Court's ruling in this case on the legality of mass digitization could dramatically affect the future of work in the Digital Humanities. The Amici argue that the Court should affirm the decision of the district court below that library digitization for the purpose of text mining and similar non-expressive uses present no legally cognizable conflict with the statutory rights or interests of the copyright holders.

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Associate University Librarian for Resources and Digital Services University Library at Santa Clara University Library

The Santa Clara University Library is recruiting an Associate University Librarian for Resources and Digital Services.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Associate University Librarian (AUL) for Resources and Digital Services actively combines the responsibilities for collection development, managing a collections budget of $3.8 million, archives and special collections, digital initiatives, and technical services. . . . The AUL, working in conjunction with the library's Scholarly Communication Working Group, takes a leadership role in the university's scholarly communication initiatives including the ongoing development and growth of a new institutional repository ScholarCommons (https://scholarcommons.scu.edu).

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"First Aid Training for Those on the Front Lines: Digital Preservation Needs Survey Results 2012"

Jody L. DeRidder has published "First Aid Training for Those on the Front Lines: Digital Preservation Needs Survey Results 2012" in the latest issue of Information Technology and Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Every day history is being made and recorded in digital form. Every day, more and more digitally-captured history disappears completely or becomes inaccessible due to obsolescence of hardware, software, and formats. Although it has long been the focus of libraries and archives to retain, organize, and preserve information, these communities face a critical skills gap. Until we have in place the infrastructure, expertise and resources to distil critical information from the digital deluge and preserve it appropriately, what steps can those in the field take to help mitigate the loss of our cultural heritage? This article argues for the need for practical, accessible free or low-cost digital preservation training webinars, and reports on the results of a survey to identify the most important topics and types of materials on which to focus.

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Digital Programs Archivist at University of North Carolina at Charlotte Library

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte Library is recruiting a Digital Programs Archivist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

  • Manages an active mass digitization program, and provides leadership in the creation, management and delivery of digital content to meet the needs of the Atkins Library's constituents. This includes digitization of text, image, audio, and video formats.
  • Develops a digital program framework that includes creating policies, planning and implementing workflows, quality control, prioritizing projects and building productive partnerships with internal and external collaborators.
  • Coordinates with the Archivist for Collection Management and University Archivist for the accessioning, arrangement, and description of born-digital records and descriptive metadata for all collections

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Names John P. Wilkin as University Librarian and Dean of Libraries

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has named John P. Wilkin as its new University Librarian and Dean of Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Wilkin is an associate university librarian at the University of Michigan, where he also leads Michigan's library information technology and publishing divisions, including the University of Michigan Press. He also is the executive director of the HathiTrust Digital Library, an online repository established in 2008 to unite the digitized collections of more than 60 research libraries, including the U. of I.'s, in an effort to preserve the published cultural record.

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Current News: DigitalKoans Twitter Updates for 6/10/2013

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Informatics/Data Services Specialist and Biomedical/Research Services Specialist at University of Minnesota Health Sciences Libraries

The University of Minnesota Health Sciences Libraries are recruiting a Informatics/Data Services Specialist and Biomedical/Research Services Specialist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

  • Provide leadership and direction for the Health Sciences Libraries and the Academic Health Center around data access and management, collaborating with Library and campus partners to develop and sustain a data curation program.
  • Develop strong partnerships with faculty, students and researchers affiliated with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and the Institute of Health Informatics to understand their workflows and develop online tools, systems and services to enhance efficiencies and facilitate translational science.
  • Develop collaborative partnerships with informatics researchers across disciplines, contributing expertise in information science and linked open data to research projects that leverage, mine and integrate bibliographic data and information systems.

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Association of American Publishers: "Understanding CHORUS"

The Association of American Publishers has released "Understanding CHORUS."

Here's an excerpt:

The Clearinghouse for the Open Research of the United States (CHORUS) is a framework for a possible public-private partnership to increase public access to peer-reviewed publications that report on federally-funded research. Conceived by publishers, CHORUS would:

  • Provide a full solution for agencies to comply with the OSTP memo on public access to peer-reviewed scientific publications reporting on federally-funded research
  • Build on publishers' existing infrastructure to enhance public access to research literature, avoiding duplication of effort, minimizing cost to the government and ensuring the continued availability of the research literature
  • Serve the public by creating a streamlined, cohesive way to expand access to peer-reviewed articles reporting on federally-funded research. Reflecting the OSTP memo, CHORUS will present and preserve these as digital form, final peer-reviewed manuscripts or final published documents

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Data Curator at Databrary Project

The Databrary project is recruiting a Data Curator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Databrary project at New York University seeks a Data Curator, an information specialist who will work with researchers in developmental science to acquire and organize the content of the Databrary digital library. While its content is heterogeneous, a significant portion of the library is video material.

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AAU, APLU, and ARL: Shared Access Research Ecosystem (SHARE) Proposal

The Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and ARL have released a draft of the Shared Access Research Ecosystem (SHARE) proposal.

Here's an excerpt:

Research universities are long-lived and are mission-driven to generate, make accessible, and preserve over time new knowledge and understanding. Research universities collectively have the assets needed for a national solution for enhanced public access to federally funded research output. As the principal producers of the resources that are to be made publicly available under the new White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)[1] memorandum, and that are critical to the continuing success of higher education in the United States, universities have invested in the infrastructure, tools, and services necessary to provide effective and efficient access to their research and scholarship. The new White House directive provides a compelling reason to integrate higher education's investments to date into a system of cross-institutional digital repositories that will be known as Shared Access Research Ecosystem (SHARE).

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Current News: DigitalKoans Twitter Updates for 6/7/2013

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Technical Specialist at LOCKSS

LOCKSS is recruiting a Technical Specialist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The successful candidate will work closely with LOCKSS Program technical staff to analyze publisher Web sites and build Web crawler plugins to process the content for preservation. A LOCKSS plugin is specific to each publishing platform and determines what content will be collected and preserved. Work will be reviewed before being committed to production.

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"Repository of NSF-Funded Publications and Related Datasets: ‘Back of Envelope’ Cost Estimate for 15 Years"

Beth Plale, Inna Kouper, Kurt Seiffert, and Stacy Konkiel have self-archived "Repository of NSF-Funded Publications and Related Datasets: 'Back of Envelope' Cost Estimate for 15 Years" in IUScholarWorks.

Here's an excerpt:

The total projected cost of the data and paper repository is estimated at $167,000,000 over 15 years of operation, curating close to one million of datasets and one million papers. After 15 years and 30 PB of data accumulated and curated, we estimate the cost per gigabyte at $5.56. This $167 million cost is a direct cost in that it does not include federally allowable indirect costs return (ICR). After 15 years, it is reasonable to assume that some datasets will be compressed and rarely accessed. Others may be deemed no longer valuable, e.g., because they are replaced by more accurate results. Therefore, at some point the data growth in the repository will need to be adjusted by use of strategic preservation.

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Library Technology Development Specialist at Villanova University Library

The Villanova University Library is recruiting a Library Technology Development Specialist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Library Technology Development Specialist develops, tests, deploys and supports open source library applications, including work on discovery software, digital library infrastructure, library management systems, the library Web site and miscellaneous niche tools.

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"ARL Library Budgets after the Great Recession, 2011-13"

Charles B. Lowry has published "ARL Library Budgets after the Great Recession, 2011-13" in the latest issue of Research Library Issues: A Report from ARL, CNI, and SPARC.

Here's an excerpt:

In short, for five years ARL institutions have been in a pattern that departs from the historic expectation of increased funding intended to at least ameliorate the inflation rate for library acquisitions and the cost of operations and personnel. Like acquisitions, administrative budgets have demonstrably suffered more since 2008 than at any time in recent decades. In sum, the downturn of 2008 was followed by a progressive de-funding of library budgets that reflected what was happening in higher education institutions generally. Recent years are best characterized as highly volatile. The trends do not encourage optimism that budgets have turned the corner, and this will have consequences for the teaching and research within higher education and in the market place of scholarly communications internationally.

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Current News: DigitalKoans Twitter Updates for 6/6/2013

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Digital Repository Specialist at Purdue University Libraries

Purdue University Libraries are recruiting a Digital Repository Specialist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Purdue University Libraries seeks a highly motivated, intellectually curious, and reliable Digital Repository Specialist to support the creation of unique digital collections in Purdue University Libraries. Responsibilities of the Digital Repository Specialist will be split between the development of Human-Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) Central, (a grant-funded online resource focused on the health benefits of the human/animal bond—H/AB) and, to a lesser extent, the licensing and upload of content to the Purdue e-Pubs institutional repository.

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The Future of Creative Commons

The Creative Commons have released The Future of Creative Commons.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

During our review, we spent a lot of time asking questions and listening to our Affiliate Network members around the world. We hired some consultants to help run a process and to talk to people outside of the organization about how they viewed the role of Creative Commons. As navel-gazing goes, we gave it a solid effort. We also realized how important it is to declare our mission, vision, and priorities for action. The resulting publication, The Future of Creative Commons (2.7 MB PDF), lays out priorities for each area in which we work. These overall priorities are already guiding staff in how they use their time and set targets for each program area. They also give us a good base to measure how well we are doing.

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Manager of Digital Initiatives at New School Libraries & Archives

The New School Libraries & Archives are recruiting a Manager of Digital Initiatives.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Manager of Digital Initiatives (MDI) will oversee the TNSLA's (The New School Libraries & Archives) rapidly-expanding collections of unique digital material. Reporting to the director of the Archives & Special Collections unit, the MDI's responsibilities will include:

  • Manage TNSLA's digital materials, including digitization projects, metadata capture and creation, and preservation of special digital collections.
  • Play a lead role implementing the TNSLA's digital asset management system, Collective Access, including conducting user studies with members of the New School community.
  • Engage students with the digital collections, by working with faculty and providing reference and instruction.

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"Delayed Open Access—An Overlooked High-Impact Category of Openly Available Scientific Literature"

Mikael Laakso and Bo-Christer Björk have self-archived "Delayed Open Access—An Overlooked High-Impact Category of Openly Available Scientific Literature."

Here's an excerpt:

Delayed open access (OA) refers to scholarly articles in subscription journals made available openly on the web directly through the publisher at the expiry of a set embargo period. Though a substantial number of journals have practiced delayed OA since they started publishing e-versions, empirical studies concerning open access have often overlooked this body of literature. This study provides comprehensive quantitative measurements by identifying delayed OA journals, collecting data concerning their publication volumes, embargo lengths, and citation rates. Altogether 492 journals were identified, publishing a combined total of 111 312 articles in 2011. 77,8 % of these articles were made open access within 12 months from publication, with 85,4 % becoming available within 24 months. A journal impact factor analysis revealed that delayed OA journals have on average twice as high average citation rates compared to closed subscription journals, and three times as high as immediate OA journals. Overall the results demonstrate that delayed OA journals constitute an important segment of the openly available scholarly journal literature, both by their sheer article volume as well as by including a substantial proportion of high impact journals.

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Current News: DigitalKoans Twitter Updates for 6/5/2013

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