Month: October 2018

Digital Resources Librarian at Allegheny College

Allegheny College is recruiting a Digital Resources Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

We are seeking an individual who understands the management and discovery of digital resources. In collaboration with LITS staff, the successful candidate will be the primary support person for the management of internally-created digital resources, including manuscripts, images, audio/video, and student/faculty research and publications. In particular, the candidate will be responsible for managing the library’s DSpace institutional repository and Allegheny’s collections in JSTOR Forum. In addition, the DRL will support the library’s Summon discovery platform, Primo VE, and the College’s open access initiative.

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European Commission’s OA Plan S: "Academic Freedom and Responsibility: Why Plan S Is Not Unethical"

Stephen Curry, has published "Academic Freedom and Responsibility: Why Plan S Is Not Unethical" in Reciprocal Space.

Here's an excerpt:

Since its announcement on 4th September the European Commission's plan to make a radical shift towards open access (OA) has caused quite a stir. Backed by eleven* national funding agencies, the plan aims to make the research that they support free to read as soon as it is published. This is a major challenge to the status quo, since the funders are effectively placing subscription journals off limits for their researchers, even if the journals allow green OA (publication of the author-accepted manuscript) after an embargo period; Plan S also specifically excludes hybrid open access except in cases where journals have an agreed schedule for flipping to OA. The plan has been welcomed as "admirably strong" by OA advocate Peter Suber, though he has also offered cautionary notes on some aspects. Others have been less enthusiastic. A central charge, from some publishers and some academics is that Plan S is an infringement of academic freedom to choose how and where your work is published and it therefore unethical.

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Scholarly Communications Specialist at British Library

The British Library is recruiting a Scholarly Communications Specialist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The British Library is redefining its role as a provider of open access services and seeks a specialist to support the development of a scholarly communications strategy to meet the needs of a global research audience. . . . Working closely with the Scholarly Communications Lead and the Repository Services Lead, the post holder will report on open access trends, evaluate emerging scholarly communications technologies and contribute to day-to-day repository workflows.

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US-Mexico-Canada Agreement: "From Copyright Term to Super Bowl Commercials: Breaking Down the Digital NAFTA Deal"

Michael Geist has published "From Copyright Term to Super Bowl Commercials: Breaking Down the Digital NAFTA Deal" in his blog.

Here's an excerpt:

Yet the major copyright change for Canada is the extension in the term of copyright beyond the international standard of life of the author plus 50 years to life of the author plus 70 years. The term of copyright was never going to hold up a major trade agreement and Canada did agree to an extension in the original TPP. However, the cost will be significant, locking down works from the public domain for decades and potentially increasing educational costs by millions of dollars. From a domestic policy perspective, the change should impact the current copyright review as term extension has been one of the top requests from rights holders and areas of concern for users. The extension shifts the copyright balance in Canada and should be factored into future reforms, including the benefits of extending fair dealing to restore the balance.

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Setting a Foundation for Assessing Content Reuse: A White Paper from the Developing a Framework for Measuring Reuse of Digital Objects Project

Elizabeth Joan Kelly et al. have self-archived "Setting a Foundation for Assessing Content Reuse: A White Paper from the Developing a Framework for Measuring Reuse of Digital Objects Project."

Here's an excerpt:

From July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, members of the Content Reuse sub-group of the Digital Library Federation (DLF)’s Assessment Interest Group (AIG) conducted the Developing a Framework for Measuring Reuse of Digital Objects project. It was sponsored by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which awarded a National Leadership/National Forum grant to support the completion of this project. This white paper (a) provides a broad overview of the Measuring Reuse project, including background information on the AIG, (b) outlines the methods used by the project team, (c) summarizes results, and (d) discusses potential next steps. It also includes a series of appendices that show project results.

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"Over-Optimization of Academic Publishing Metrics: Observing Goodhart’s Law in Action"

Michael Fire and Carlos Guestrin have self-archived "Over-Optimization of Academic Publishing Metrics: Observing Goodhart's Law in Action."

Here's an excerpt:

In this study, we analyzed over 120 million papers to examine how the academic publishing world has evolved over the last century. Our study shows that the validity of citation-based measures is being compromised and their usefulness is lessening. In particular, the number of publications has ceased to be a good metric as a result of longer author lists, shorter papers, and surging publication numbers. Citation-based metrics, such citation number and h-index, are likewise affected by the flood of papers, self-citations, and lengthy reference lists. Measures such as a journal's impact factor have also ceased to be good metrics due to the soaring numbers of papers that are published in top journals, particularly from the same pool of authors.

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Systems Librarian at University of Georgia

The University of Georgia is recruiting a Systems Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Systems Librarian is responsible to the Deputy University Librarian and Director of Library Technology for coordinating library management system and discovery application activities. The Systems Librarian also acts as a liaison between library departments (Cataloging, Acquisitions, Access Services, etc.), consortia constituencies in the University System of Georgia (USG), and GALILEO/GIL Technical Support Services, UGA Library Technology Support Group, and, when needed, EBSCO and Ex Libris support.

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The CASE Act (H.R. 3945): "Copyright and Speech Should Not Be Treated Like Traffic Tickets"

Katharine Trendacosta has published "Copyright and Speech Should Not Be Treated Like Traffic Tickets" in DeepLinks.

Here's an excerpt:

On Thursday, August 27, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the CASE Act (H.R. 3945). The CASE Act would create a “small claims” system for copyright, but not within the courts. Instead, cases would be heard by “Claims Officers” at the Copyright Office in Washington, D.C. And the Copyright Office has a history of presuming the interests of copyright holders are more valid than other legal rights and policy concerns, including the free expression values protected by fair use.

Basically every concern we had about the CASE Act last year remains: Turning over quasi-judicial power, which would include issuing damages awards of up to $15,000 per work infringed or $30,000 per proceeding, and agreements which boil down to binding injunctions, to a body with this history is unwise.

See also: Text of the bill.

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Digital Technologies Developer at Montana State University

Montana State University is recruiting a Digital Technologies Developer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Digital Technologies Developer (DTD) works as an active member of a service-oriented team that advances digital library initiatives via software development and data analysis. The DTD assists with creation and maintenance of a diverse portfolio of digital products and services that foster new forms of scholarship and provide users with enhanced digital library access.

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"APCs—Mirroring the Impact Factor or Legacy of the Subscription-Based Model?"

Nina Schönfelder has self-archived "APCs—Mirroring the Impact Factor or Legacy of the Subscription-Based Model."

Here's an excerpt:

With the ongoing open-access transformation, article processing charges (APCs) are gaining importance as the dominant business model for scientific open-access journals. This paper analyzes which factors determine the level of an APC by means of multivariate linear regression. With data from OpenAPC, APCs actually paid are explained by the following variables: (1) the "source normalized impact per paper" (SNIP), (2) whether the journal is open access or hybrid, (3) the publisher of the journal, (4) the subject area of the journal, and (5) the year. The results show that the journal's impact and the hybrid status are the most important factors for the level of APCs. However, the relationship between APC and SNIP is different for open-access journals and hybrid journals. The journal's impact is crucial for the level of APCs in open-access journals, whereas it little alters APCs for publications in hybrid-journals. This paper contributes to the emerging literature initiated by the "Pay It Forward"-study conducted at the University of California Libraries. It sets the foundations for the assessment whether the large-scale open-access transformation of scientific journals is a financially viable way for each research institution in general and universities in particular.

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