Year: 2014

Digital Curation News (1/22/2014) #digitalpreservation

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Linked Data Technologist at Stanford University Libraries

Stanford University Libraries are recruiting a Linked Data Technologist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The primary duty of the Linked Data Technologist will be the transformation of metadata from multiple metadata schemas into approved RDF models for ingestion into appropriate data stores (triple store, etc.). More specific duties include the automated remediation and augmentation of ingested metadata to meet the model's standard including both the development of various mechanisms for data manipulation and the processing itself, as well as the identification and scoping of both local and external sources of metadata that can be remediated through semi-automated means. Candidate metadata will need to be analyzed for technical conformance to its metadata schema so that conversion to RDF can take place accurately. The incumbent will also be responsible for the investigation and selection of key technologies to meet program objectives and the combination, integration, and tracking of provenance of ingested metadata.

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"E-Book Monopolies and the Law"

Angela Daly has self-archived "E-Book Monopolies and the Law" in SSRN

Here's an excerpt:

This article will examine the legality of the digital rights management ("DRM") measures used by the major e-book publishers and device manufacturers in the United States, European Union and Australia not only to enforce their intellectual property rights but also to create monopolistic content silos, restrict interoperability and affect the ability for users to use the content they have bought in the way they wish. The analysis will then proceed to the recent competition investigations in the US and EU over price-fixing in e-book markets, and the current litigation against Amazon in the US for an alleged abuse of its dominant position. A final point will be made on possible responses in Australia to these issues taking into account the jurisprudence on DRM in other scenarios.

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Lead Systems Architect/Engineer at New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is recruiting a Lead Systems Architect/Engineer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

With the support of the federal government and a broad coalition of library partners, The New York Public Library is building a small, empowered product team to develop a mobile platform for ebook lending and reading that could serve as model for public libraries across North America. The ideal candidate is that rare intersection of software super geek (Google keeps calling you) and social do-gooder seeking to improve public access to knowledge and information. If you're game to help re-imagine the public library eBook experience, then make that vision real (and scaleable), then we want you.

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A Workflow Model for Curating Research Data in the University of Minnesota Libraries: Report from the 2013 Data Curation Pilot

Lisa R. Johnston has self-archived A Workflow Model for Curating Research Data in the University of Minnesota Libraries: Report from the 2013 Data Curation Pilot.

Here's an excerpt:

The 2013 Data Curation Project set out to test and expand the University Libraries' programmatic and technical capacities to support research data management needs on campus by establishing a fixed-term data curation pilot. This pilot utilized our current suite of services and expertise in the University with the objective of developing a model workflow for curating a variety of types of research data in the Libraries. Specifically, in eight months, this project resulted in 1) a data curation workflow utilizing existing university resources; 2) five pilot research datasets that were solicited, selected, and curated for discovery and reuse in the libraries' digital repository, the University Digital Conservancy, at the persistent URL, http://purl.umn.edu/160292; and 3) and a summary report describing the successes and shortcomings of this approach. This report summarizes the steps taken to curate the datasets in the pilot, faculty needs and reactions to the result, and in addition to the specific dataset treatments, an overall data curation workflow is presented that outlines the steps needed for any dataset. A discussion of this process provides some useful lessons learned. As a result of this project, the University Libraries now hold a more realistic sense of the overall capacities and expertise needed to develop a sustainable data curation service model. Additionally, the Libraries are better prepared to fine-tune and implement selected recommendations from previous assessments and committee reports.

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Librarian—Archives & Repository at Stephen F. Austin State University Library

The Stephen F. Austin State University Library is recruiting a Librarian—Archives & Repository.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

This is a professional, faculty position responsible for coordinating the processing and digitization of university archival materials for inclusion in the digital repository. Responsible for maintaining and updating the Records Retention Schedule in accordance with established standards. Responsible for keeping university departments aware of changes in retention periods for the records of the university.

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"Unix Commands and Batch Processing for the Reluctant Librarian or Archivist"

Anthony Cocciolo has published "Unix Commands and Batch Processing for the Reluctant Librarian or Archivist" in the Code4Lib Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

The Unix environment offers librarians and archivists high-quality tools for quickly transforming born-digital and digitized assets, such as resizing videos, creating access copies of digitized photos, and making fair-use reproductions of audio recordings. These tools, such as ffmpeg, lame, sox, and ImageMagick, can apply one or more manipulations to digital assets without the need to manually process individual items, which can be error prone, time consuming, and tedious. This article will provide information on getting started in using the Unix environment to take advantage of these tools for batch processing.

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Software Developer at George Washington University Libraries

The George Washington University Libraries are recruiting a Software Developer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The individual to fills the Software Developer position will:

  • Lead development or be in a supporting role in a wide range of collaborative software projects, from backend to frontend, using multiple languages and frameworks, with scopes big and small, on short deadlines and for ongoing projects.
  • Manage and support the full software lifecycle from requirements to implementation, production support, enhancement, and maintenance.
  • Implement and support craftsmanlike practices to help our team work reliably and efficiently together, whether it's code style, testing, managing issues and iterations, deployment strategies, or documentation.

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"Do Altmetrics Correlate with Citations? Extensive Comparison of Altmetric Indicators with Citations from a Multidisciplinary Perspective"

Rodrigo Costas, Zohreh Zahedi, Paul Wouters have self-archived "Do Altmetrics Correlate with Citations? Extensive Comparison of Altmetric Indicators with Citations from a Multidisciplinary Perspective" in arXiv.org.

Here's an excerpt:

An extensive analysis of the presence of different altmetric indicators provided by Altmetric.com across scientific fields is presented, particularly focusing on their relationship with citations. Our results confirm that the presence and density of social media altmetric counts are still very low and not very frequent among scientific publications, with 15%-24% of the publications presenting some altmetric activity and concentrating in the most recent publications, although their presence is increasing over time. Publications from the social sciences, humanities and the medical and life sciences show the highest presence of altmetrics, indicating their potential value and interest for these fields. The analysis of the relationships between altmetrics and citations confirms previous claims of positive correlations but relatively weak, thus supporting the idea that altmetrics do not reflect the same concept of impact as citations. Also, altmetric counts do not always present a better filtering of highly cited publications than journal citation scores. Altmetrics scores (particularly mentions in blogs) are able to identify highly cited publications with higher levels of precision than journal citation scores (JCS), but they have a lower level of recall. The value of altmetrics as a complementary tool of citation analysis is highlighted, although more research is suggested to disentangle the potential meaning and value of altmetric indicators for research evaluation.

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Digital Curation News (1/20/2014) #digitalpreservation

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Web/Database Development Librarian at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Health Sciences Library

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Health Sciences Library is recruiting a Web/Database Development Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Head of the Web Development Group, the individual in this position works collaboratively with the AHEC ILS Network Director and the Director of the AHEC Digital Library to plan, design, support, and implement new technologies and procedures for all AHEC library programs and other clinical support programs. Expected services include: development and maintenance of ADL architecture using SQL, ColdFusion, PHP, and other appropriate software applications; development of specifications and plans for new version releases and updates; creation of primary responsibility for ADL technical troubleshooting; conducting usability testing on ADL, in conjunction with HSL's Web Developer Group; working with University Libraries Proxy Services to ensure smooth, easy ADL remote access, campus proxy transition and compliance, and other technical troubleshooting efforts; supporting cross-platform federated search and open url access, and working with member institutions in establishing institution-wide ADL access.

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Safe to Be Open: Study on the Protection of Research Data and Recommendation for Access And Usage

OpenAIRE has released Safe to Be Open: Study on the Protection of Research Data and Recommendation for Access And Usage.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

This study addresses the most important legal issues when implementing an open access e-infrastructure for research data. It examines the legal requirements for different kinds of usage of research data in an open access infrastructure, such as OpenAIREplus, which links them to publications. The existing legal framework regarding potentially relevant intellectual property (IP) rights is analysed from the general European perspective as well as from that of selected EU Member States. Various examples and usage scenarios are used to explain the scope of protection of the potentially relevant IP rights. In addition different licence models are analysed in order to identify the licence that is best suited to the aim of open access, especially in the context of the infrastructure of OpenAIREplus. Based on the outcomes of these analyses, some recommendations to the European legislator as well as data- and e-infrastructure providers are given on improving the rights situation in relation to research data.

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Systems Librarian at Tulane University’s Howard-Tilton Memorial Library

Tulane University's Howard-Tilton Memorial Library is recruiting a Systems Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Systems Librarian is an innovative and service-oriented librarian with shared responsibility for the library integrated library system (Voyager), resource discovery tool (Primo), OpenURL link resolver (SFX), proxy authentication (EzProxy), digital repositories and interlibrary loan {ILLiad) systems, including but not limited to monitoring systems and ensure optimal performance, enabling data integration across distributed and heterogeneous local and external data sources, promptly reporting issues/problems to vender and follow-through until resolved, and providing statistical, usage and collection reports in support of decision making for library collections and services. As a systems liaison to library departments, participate in selected working groups to improve systems and services. Additionally, the librarian will assist with oversight for staff computers/equipment, including but not limited to ordering, deploying, recycling, troubleshooting problems and maintaining accurate inventory for equipment and software licensing. This position reports to the Senior Systems Librarian.

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"Have Digital Repositories Come of Age? The Views of Library Directors"

David Nicholas et al. have published "Have Digital Repositories Come of Age? The Views of Library Directors" in Webology.

Here's an excerpt:

This survey of approximately 150 repositories assessed the achievements, impact, and success of digital repositories. Results show that while the size and use of repositories has been relatively modest, almost half of all institutions either have, or are planning, a repository mandate requiring deposit and small gains have been made in raising the profile of the library within the institution. Repositories, then, have made a good deal of progress, but they have not quite come of age.

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Congress Madates Open Access for Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies

The passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 mandates open access for federal agencies under the Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Senate subcommittee with research budgets of $100 million or more.

Here's an excerpt from the bill:

SEC. 527. Each Federal agency, or in the case of an agency with multiple bureaus, each bureau (or operating division) funded under this Act that has research and development expenditures in excess of $100,000,000 per year shall develop a Federal research public access policy that provides for—

  • the submission to the agency, agency bureau, or designated entity acting on behalf of the agency, a machine-readable version of the author's final peer-reviewed manuscripts that have been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals describing research supported, in whole or in part, from funding by the Federal Government;
  • free online public access to such final peer-reviewed manuscripts or published versions not later than 12 months after the official date of publication; and
  • compliance with all relevant copyright laws.

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Dryad Librarian at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is recruiting a Dryad Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Dryad (http: datadryad.org) is a curated general-purpose repository that makes the data underlying scientific publications discoverable, freely reusable, and citable. The Dryad team works with stakeholders from journals and scientific societies to develop data sharing policies and ensure the long-term sustainability of the repository. The Dryad project is seeking a detail-oriented person with good analytical and communication skills. This position performs a variety of curatorial and metadata-specific tasks, manages assistant curators, collaborates with Dryad development team members to improve curatorial procedures, and advises on future design and testing of repository system functionalities.

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Keeping Up With… Altmetrics

ACRL has released Keeping Up With… Altmetrics.

Here's an excerpt:

Into this setting, enter altmetrics. Altmetrics is an emerging category of impact measurement premised upon the value of "alternative metrics," or metrics based distinctly on the opportunities offered by the 21st century digital environment. Originally defined in contrast to the more established field of bibliometrics, altmetrics is fast becoming a fluid area of research and practice, in which various alternative and traditional measures of personal and scholarly impact can be explored and compared simultaneously.

In this Keeping Up With… edition, we look at key points in the rapid development of altmetrics, from its 2010 origins to its more recent relevance to librarians and administrators.

If you are interested in altmetrics, also check out the Altmetrics Bibliography.

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Senior Technical Manager at New York University Libraries

The New York University Libraries are recruiting a Senior Technical Manager.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Senior Technical Manager for Emerging Information Technologies for Libraries Information Technology Services (LITS) reports to the Director of Libraries Information Technology Services and is a key member of the Libraries IT Services management team. The Senior Technical Manager will also serve as a project coordinator on selected minor projects and project manager on larger IT projects that involve IT staff and other departments in the Division of Libraries. The Senior Technical Manager will also manage special projects involving data gathering, analysis and research on current and emerging Library discovery systems and the technologies that support them, technology tools and solutions relevant to supporting the operations and functions of a large academic research library.

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E-Reading Rises as Device Ownership Jumps

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released E-Reading Rises as Device Ownership Jumps.

Here's an excerpt:

The percentage of adults who read an e-book in the past year has risen to 28%, up from 23% at the end of 2012. At the same time, about seven in ten Americans reported reading a book in print, up four percentage points after a slight dip in 2012, and 14% of adults listened to an audiobook.

Though e-books are rising in popularity, print remains the foundation of Americans' reading habits. Most people who read e-books also read print books, and just 4% of readers are "e-book only." Audiobook listeners have the most diverse reading habits overall, while fewer print readers consume books in other formats.

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Digital Curation News (1/16/2014) #digitalpreservation

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IT Administrator II—Digital Initiatives at University of Tennessee Libraries

The University of Tennessee Libraries are recruiting an IT Administrator II—Digital Initiatives.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

This position will be a member of the Digital Initiatives department within the University of Tennessee Libraries. It will report to the Associate Professor and Head, Digital Initiatives and will work both independently and collaboratively to analyze and develop specifications for complex library information systems and software using accepted systems analysis and programming techniques and procedures. In consultation with librarians and other library and university analysts, programmers, systems administrators, technical support staff, vendors, and end users, these system specifications will be utilized to customize, enhance, and extend library information system and software functionality.

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Press and Library Collaboration Survey

The AAUP Library Relations Committee has released the Press and Library Collaboration Survey.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The Library Relations Committee of the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) today issued a number of broad conclusions and recommendations for successful collaboration between presses and libraries. These conclusions are the product of extensive surveying and interviews with member institutions of both AAUP and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), conducted through 2012-2013.

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Lead Software Engineer at OCLC

OCLC is recruiting a Lead Software Engineer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

We have an immediate opening for a Lead Software Engineer to design and develop software solutions in a Hadoop cluster environment, with strong focus on support for Digital Repositories of historic documents, photographs, media, and Institutional Repositories of current theses, dissertations, and research documents and data. You will be challenged to design and develop large-scale, highly performant applications and services leveraging a wide variety of open source and commercial technologies.

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