Month: January 2014

Digital Library Software Engineer at Stanford University Libraries

Stanford University Libraries are recruiting a Digital Library Software Engineer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Software engineering for the Stanford Digital Library (60%)

Work with others on principally Ruby on Rails based applications and services incorporating a variety of custom and open-source software. . . .

Operations engineering (30%)

Promote robustness and sustainability by engineering for reliability and scale, from development through deployment. . . .

Community Engagement (10%)

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"Troubleshooting Public Data Archiving: Suggestions to Increase Participation"

Dominique G. Roche et al. have published "Troubleshooting Public Data Archiving: Suggestions to Increase Participation" in PLOS Biology.

Here's an excerpt:

An increasing number of publishers and funding agencies require public data archiving (PDA) in open-access databases. PDA has obvious group benefits for the scientific community, but many researchers are reluctant to share their data publicly because of real or perceived individual costs. Improving participation in PDA will require lowering costs and/or increasing benefits for primary data collectors. Small, simple changes can enhance existing measures to ensure that more scientific data are properly archived and made publicly available: (1) facilitate more flexible embargoes on archived data, (2) encourage communication between data generators and re-users, (3) disclose data re-use ethics, and (4) encourage increased recognition of publicly archived data.

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Website Administrator at Texas A&M University Libraries

Texas A&M University Libraries are recruiting a Website Administrator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

This Website Administrator position is responsible for the overall management of the Texas A&M University Libraries' websites, both web pages and applications, acts as the primary contact point for units in the Libraries that need assistance or guidance in developing web pages or deploying new applications and provides consulting, technical support, and training to content managers and creators and to technical staff and supervises two Web and Information Designers.

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SJSU School of Library and Information Science Offers Digital Curation Post-Master’s Certificate

The San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science now offers a Digital Curation Post-Master's Certificate option.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Students at the School of Library and Information Science at San José State University (SJSU) can now take courses that prepare them for a career in digital curation. The school recently added a new career pathway in digital curation for its Post-Master's Certificate program students. A similar career pathway will be available starting in fall 2014 for students enrolled in the school's Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program.

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Digital Curation News (1/30/2014) #digitalpreservation

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Web Services Librarian at Utah State University Libraries

Utah State University Libraries are recruiting a Web Services Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

This 12-month, tenure-track, entry-level faculty position with rank of Assistant Librarian reports to the Director of Library Digital and Information Technology Services and is responsible for a broad range of services and duties related to the libraries' web presence and digital content and services. In addition to providing leadership and managing the content and design of the libraries' web services, this person will take a user-centered approach to guide the library in implementing new technologies to enhance our patrons' experiences.

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"It’s the Neoliberalism, Stupid: Why Instrumentalist Arguments for Open Access, Open Data, and Open Science Are Not Enough"

The Impact of Social Science has republished Eric Kansa's "It's the Neoliberalism, Stupid: Why Instrumentalist Arguments for Open Access, Open Data, and Open Science Are Not Enough."

Here's an excerpt:

Neoliberal universities primarily serve the needs of commerce. They need to churn out technically skilled human resources (made desperate for any work by high loads of debt) and easily monetized technical advancements. . . .

How can something so wonderful and right as "openness" further promote Neoliberalism? After all, aren't we the rebels blasting at the exhaust vents of Elsevier's Death Star? But in selling openness to the heads of foundations, businesses, governments and universities, we often end up adopting the tropes of Neoliberalism. As a tactic, that's perfectly reasonable. As a long-term strategy, I think it's doomed.

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Library Digital Archivist at Florida International University Libraries

Florida International University Libraries are recruiting a Library Digital Archivist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Creates original descriptive metadata (in a variety of schemas) for internal tracking system as well as various digital library systems.

Publishes and preserves Electronic Thesis and Dissertations by performing file processing, metadata embedding, performing quality control, uploading to the Institutional Repository and the Florida Digital Archive, and act as liaison to the University Graduate School for issues related to ETDs.

Performs quality assurance checks on digitized material and metadata.

Utilizes digital library and institutional repository software to associate metadata with digital images, video and/or sound files for online display.

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Fixing the Broken Textbooks Market: How Students Respond to High Textbook Costs and Demand Alternatives

The U.S. PIRG Education Fund has released Fixing the Broken Textbooks Market: How Students Respond to High Textbook Costs and Demand Alternatives.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Today, a survey released by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund shows that 65% of student consumers have opted out of buying a college textbook due to its high price, and of those students, 94% they suffer academically.

Over the past decade, college textbook prices have increased by 82%, or at three times the rate of inflation. . . .

Open textbooks are faculty-written and peer-reviewed like traditional textbooks, but they are published under an open license, meaning they are free online, free to download, and affordable in print. 82% of survey respondents said they would do significantly better in a course if the textbook were free online and a hard copy was optional, which is exactly how open textbooks work.

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Digital Curation News (1/29/2014) #digitalpreservation

Digital Scholarship | Digital Curation News

Digital Services Librarian at College of Southern Nevada

The College of Southern Nevada Library is recruiting a Digital Services Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Under the direction of the Director of CSN Library Services and in coordination with the faculty librarians, the successful candidate will be responsible for the leadership, planning, and management of online library resources including the website and other digital content. S/he ensures interactive user engagement with library digital content and investigates new methods and tools for presenting content that support student learning and success. The librarian provides quality support and development for a variety of online services including the library's web site and provides reference/research assistance including virtual reference to students and faculty in a busy campus library environment.

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State of the Internet Report: Third Quarter, 2013

Akamai Technologies, Inc. has released the State of the Internet Report: Third Quarter, 2013.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

This report includes data gathered from across the Akamai Intelligent Platform about attack traffic, broadband adoption, mobile connectivity and other relevant topics concerning the Internet and its usage, as well as trends seen in this data over time.

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Digital Collections Librarian at Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries

Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries are recruiting a Digital Collections Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Digital Collections Systems Librarian, the Digital Collections Librarian provides innovative and sustainable solutions for the maintenance and presentation of VCU Libraries digital assets. Working in a team environment across departments, the incumbent will be responsible for supervising, evaluating and optimizing digitization procedures, including capture, presentation, and preservation. The Digital Collections Librarian will manage the Digital Production Unit, which consists of one full-time staff member and student workers. The successful candidate will efficiently leverage digital asset management, institutional repository, and publishing systems to encourage discovery and use of digital assets by both the university and the larger scholarly community.

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"Setting the Record Straight about Elsevier"

Kevin Smith has published "Setting the Record Straight about Elsevier" in Scholarly Communications @ Duke.

Here's an excerpt:

Each [article] version is a revision of the original, and the copyright is the same for all these derivatives. When copyright is transferred to a publisher, the rights in the entire set of versions, as derivatives of one another, are included in the transfer. Authors are not allowed to use their post-prints because the rights in that version are not covered in the transfer; they are allowed to use post-prints only because the right to do so, in specified situations, is licensed back to them as part of the publication agreement.

Once a copyright transfer has been signed, all of the rights that the author may still have are because of specific contractual terms, which are usually contained in the transfer document itself. In short, these agreements usually give all of the rights under copyright to the publisher and then license back very small, carefully defined slivers of those rights back to the author. One of those slivers is often, but not always, the right to use a submitted version, or post-print, in carefully limited ways.

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Digital Curation News (1/28/2014) #digitalpreservation

Digital Scholarship | Digital Curation News

Digital Resources Librarian at Arcadia University Library

The Arcadia University Library is recruiting a Digital Resources Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Digital Resources Librarian is responsible for managing the University's new Digital Repository, including soliciting exemplary student work from faculty, collaborating extensively with other University departments, and educating faculty about the benefits of open-access resources for research. He or she will also assist in implementing and providing instruction in the use of new digital technologies for library staff and Arcadia faculty.

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Dana C. Rooks to Step Down as Dean of the University of Houston Libraries

Dana C. Rooks has announced her intention to step down as Dean of the University of Houston Libraries when her successor is appointed.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

"Dana has helped shape library services in the state of Texas," [Provost Paula] Short said in the email. "She is recognized as one of the founders of TexShare, an innovative model for statewide library resource sharing. She is also one of the founders of the Texas Digital Library and currently serves as chair of its governing board." . . .

"I am pleased that upon her stepping down, she has agreed to assist me on several new initiatives in a new role in the provost office," Short said in the email.

Among her many accomplishments, Rooks was active in the UH Libraries' pioneering digital publishing program, serving as an associate editor of The Public-Access Computer Systems Review, the first open access journal in the field of library and information science, founding co-editor of Public-Access Computer Systems News, an early electronic newsletter, and moderator of PACS-L, an early LISTSERV mailing list about public-access computers in libraries.

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Senior Systems Administrator at Texas Digital Library

The Texas Digital Library is recruiting a Senior Systems Administrator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Act as leader of the TDL Systems team, overseeing the administration of systems including repositories, preservation systems, the Vireo Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Management System, and other tools supporting scholarly communication activities as key services of the Texas Digital Library. Develop an architecture for standardization, security, and back-up assurance for TDL services within the Amazon cloud for multiple client universities. Provide lead system administration for DSpace repository management. Support applications for data processing, remote database interfaces, and associated run-time environments and operate in a Linux environment at Amazon Web Service. Work with Director of Operations to design or integrate, code, test and deploy applications for support of services

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John Willinsky Gets SPARC Innovator Award

John Willinsky has received a SPARC Innovator Award.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

In the late 1990s, Willinsky founded the Public Knowledge Project and developed Open Journal Systems (OJS), a free, open source platform that allows journals to be more easily and affordably published online. The results speak for themselves—today, more than 1.5 million articles are published in journals using the OJS platform. In 2012 alone, over 5,000 journals published at least 10 articles using the software Willinsky and his team pioneered.

Because Willinsky is both a visionary and pragmatist who brings effective business teams together, SPARC honors Willinsky with its January 2014 Innovator Award.

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Digital Curation News (1/27/2014) #digitalpreservation

Digital Scholarship | Digital Curation News

Chief Technology Strategist at Harvard Library

The Harvard Library is recruiting a Chief Technology Strategist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Chief Technology Strategist (CTS) is a new senior staff position which reports directly to the Vice President for the Harvard Library. The CTS will be a member of the Library Leadership Team, and will work closely with the head of Library Technology Services (LTS). LTS is a unit of 30 staff which is part of Harvard University Information Technology, Harvard University's centralized IT organization. The Harvard Library is itself a new entity, encompassing an integrated shared services element of Access Services; Information and Technical Services; and Preservation, Conservation, and Digital Imaging, and uniting through shared vision and policy the 73 libraries of Harvard's 12 schools.

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"’Safe Harbor’ for the Innocent Infringer in the Digital Age"

Tonya M. Evans has self-archived "'Safe Harbor' for the Innocent Infringer in the Digital Age" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

The primary goal of this Article is three-fold: (1) to explore the role of the innocent infringer archetype historically and in the digital age; (2) to highlight the tension between customary and generally accepted online uses and copyright law that compromise efficient use of technology and progress of the digital technologies, the Internet, and society at large; and (3) to offer a legislative fix in the form of safe harbor for direct innocent infringers. Such an exemption seems not only more efficient but also more just in the online environment where unwitting infringement for the average copyright consumer is far easier than ever to commit, extremely difficult to police, and often causes little, if any, cognizable market harm.

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Director Digital Experience at New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is recruiting a Director Digital Experience.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Chief Library Officer of The New York Public Library, the Director, Digital Experience leads the experimentation, incubation, implementation and portfolio management of the digital user experience. . . .

As part of our service offering, the qualified candidate will have direct oversight of the NYPL innovation program (includes NYPL Labs), the vision and direction of our digital user experience, new digital product and service incubation and implementation, and digital portfolio management.

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"Pixel Dust: Illusions of Innovation in Scholarly Publishing"

Johanna Drucker has published "Pixel Dust: Illusions of Innovation in Scholarly Publishing" in the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Here's an excerpt :

In the end, no special effects, dazzling displays, augmented realities, or multimodal cross-platform designs substitute for content. Scholarship, good scholarship, the work of a lifetime commitment to working in a field—mapping its references, arguments, scholars, sources, and terrain of discourse—has no substitute.

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