March 2023 – Page 2 – DigitalKoans

Academic Library as Scholarly Publisher Bibliography, Version 3

Digital Scholarship has released the Academic Library as Scholarly Publisher Bibliography, version 3. This bibliography includes over 300 selected English-language articles, books, and technical reports about academic libraries’ digital publishing programs from 1989 though 2022. While academic libraries have published a variety of digital publications during this period, this bibliography primarily covers the open access publishing of scholarly books, journals, and other serials. It provides a brief narrative overview of the early development of these publishing efforts. It covers the establishment of new university presses by academic libraries, especially all-digital open access presses, and the merger or cooperative efforts of libraries and university presses. It also covers the technical publishing infrastructures used by library publishing programs. It includes full abstracts for works under certain Creative Commons Licenses. It is available as a website and a PDF file (52 pages). It includes a Google Translate link.

The bibliography has the following major sections:

https://digital-scholarship.org/alsp/alsp.htm

Digital Scholarship’s website bibliographies have been reformatted as single-page files and a PDF file designed for printing has been made available for each one. They include a Google Translate link.

"In a Swift Decision, Judge Eviscerates Internet Archive’s Scanning and Lending Program"

"At bottom, IA’s fair use defense rests on the notion that lawfully acquiring a copyrighted print book entitles the recipient to make an unauthorized copy and distribute it in place of the print book, so long as it does not simultaneously lend the print book," Koeltl wrote in a March 24 opinion granting the publisher plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and denying the Internet Archive’s cross-motion. "But no case or legal principle supports that notion. Every authority points in the other direction."

https://cutt.ly/54AdZfY

Digital Technologies Librarian at Whittier College

Creates, reviews, and edits descriptive metadata for digital collections and research assets.

Develops, evaluates, and implements metadata policies and standards for library collections.

Provides support for and guidance on the library’s institutional repository, including project development and management.

Digitizes and deposits materials into the institutional repository system.

Ensures quality control of digitized assets and metadata.

http://bit.ly/40evyVO

Millions of Digitized Books May Be Destroyed: "Press Conference Statement: Brewster Kahle, Internet Archive"

Here’s what’s at stake in this case: hundreds of libraries contributed millions of books to the Internet Archive for preservation in addition to those books we have purchased. Thousands of donors provided the funds to digitize them.

The publishers are now demanding that those millions of digitized books, not only be made inaccessible, but be destroyed.

This is horrendous. Let me say it again—the publishers are demanding that millions of digitized books be destroyed.

And if they succeed in destroying our books or even making many of them inaccessible, there will be a chilling effect on the hundreds of other libraries that lend digitized books as we do.

This could be the burning of the Library of Alexandria moment—millions of books from our community’s libraries mdash;gone.

http://bit.ly/3JHMjli

Systems Administrator at Michigan State University

Reporting to the Library Systems Manager III, the Systems Administrator will be responsible for Linux server administration, which includes the provision, configuring and deployment of Linux server environments; application administration, which includes configuring, deployment, and maintaining of server-based applications, as well as providing support for and troubleshooting system hardware and software issues; and customer support.

http://bit.ly/3z2aK83

"Guest Post — Open Access for Monographs Is Here. But Are We Ready for It?"

For our next step at UNC Press, we have been helping to develop a new initiative that is essentially a compromise between the legacy model of university press publishing and a fully -funded OA model. Path to Open is a concept modeled on the NEH Fellowship Open Book Program which provides for a three-year embargo period during which presses can participate in conventional cost-recovery activities, including selling print and consumer (e.g., Kindle) eBooks. During this time, JSTOR will be offering the digital versions of these titles to academic libraries and institutions in an exclusive subscription collection. JSTOR will pay presses an estimated $5,000 for each title put into the program.

http://bit.ly/3K4wO88

Metadata Librarian for Science and Geospatial Data at New York University

The Metadata Librarian for Science and Geospatial Data will develop metadata application guidelines and templates to optimize resource discovery and access, create and maintain schemas for geospatial data to support digital scholarship and open scholarship projects, consult with domain experts to strategically enhance metadata and increase interoperability across institutional repositories, and create baseline conditions to support openness and friction-free environments that allow the public to find and take advantage of new knowledge.

https://apply.interfolio.com/110768

"Octopus and Research Equals Aim to Break the Publishing Mould"

Instead of fully fledged manuscripts, Octopus and ResearchEquals allow researchers to publish individual units of research—from research questions and hypotheses to code, multimedia and presentations. The concept is called modular publishing, and both sites hope to push academics to think beyond conventional publications as the primary unit of scholarly research by breaking the research cycle into pieces.

https://bit.ly/3Zc7IbR

Systems Librarian at Stevenson University

The Systems Librarian is responsible for the management, day-to-day operation, maintenance, testing, troubleshooting and implementation of library systems, which currently include Koha, Ebsco EDS, SpringShare, OCLC, and others. This position requires strong interpersonal skills and a customer service orientation to facilitate working with departments across the University and outside vendors. This position works as a member of the team to support the overall operations of the University Library.

https://stevenson.peopleadmin.com/postings/8258

"Springer Nature Makes Data Sharing Easier with Single Data Policy across All Journals and Books"

Springer Nature has taken a further step forwards in its commitment to open science by requiring mandatory data availability statements (DAS) across its journals portfolio, and introducing its first unified data policy across the books portfolio.

Despite researchers’ support for open data sharing, less than 40% of authors actively make their data available. Researchers tell us this can be down to practical challenges, including a lack of clarity about what is required. Increasingly, governments, funders and research institutes are adopting data sharing requirements in their policies. Encouraging data sharing across all publishing formats recognises this growing need for clearer, more accessible, actionable and measurable data policies. As a longstanding supporter of Open Research, Springer Nature is Introducing DAS as standard for its journal portfolio to promote greater transparency and reproducibility. Adopting a unified policy for books for the first time, is a further exciting step towards encouraging open research practices across all publications and driving forward open science for all.

http://bit.ly/3FNihv9

Study on the Readiness of Research Data and Literature Repositories to Facilitate Compliance With the Open Science Horizon Europe MGA Requirement

In this study we analysed 220 repositories and, via a structured methodology, we identified 165 trusted repositories and tested their readiness to facilitate the compliance with the HE MGA Open Science requirements.

We show that it is not straightforward to assess whether a given repository is suitable to facilitate compliance with the HE MGA requirements. This is mainly due to varying interpretations of definitions and requirements, whether information on repository specifications is publicly available, and the high level of technical expertise needed to assess all requirements.

We highlight that repository registries, such as FAIRsharing, re3data or the CoreTrustSeal (CTS) website, are not sufficient on their own to assess the readiness of repositories to facilitate compliance with the HE MGA requirements, as the definition of what constitutes a trusted repository is subtle and varied and needs to be carefully interpreted and applied to repositories. This is also the case for related concepts such as community endorsement or for policy requirements in terms of preservation, curation and security of the repository contents.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7728016

Systems & Open Infrastructure Librarian at Illinois Institute of Technology

The Systems & Open Infrastructure Librarian is responsible for implementing, maintaining, supporting, and enhancing a wide range of technologies and systems to provide innovative library services and ensure access to the library’s extensive range of online information resources and digital collections. This position supports library staff and local and remote library users in the use of existing information technology as well as the adoption of new and emerging technology.

https://iit7.peopleadmin.com/postings/9522

"The Rapid Growth of Mega-Journals: Threats and Opportunities"

Mega-journals, those that publish large numbers of articles per year,¹ are growing rapidly across science and especially in biomedicine. Although 11 Scopus-indexed journals published more than 2000 biomedical full papers (articles or reviews) in 2015 and accounted for 6% of that year’s literature, in 2022 there were 55 journals publishing more than 2000 full articles, totaling more than 300 000 articles (almost a quarter of the biomedical literature that year). In 2015, 2 biomedical research journals (PLoS One and Scientific Reports) published more than 3500 full articles. In 2022, there were 26 such prolific journals (Table). The accelerating growth of mega-journals creates both threats and opportunities for biomedical science.

http://bit.ly/3nfZhio

Head of Systems at Fairfield University

This position is primarily responsible for coordinating the usage, development, support, and maintenance of the Library’s discovery and systems infrastructure, including the Integrated Library System (Alma/Primo), DigitalCommons@Fairfield (the institutional repository), EZProxy, OCLC ILLiad resource sharing software and other discovery tools.

https://bit.ly/3n4byGK

"Nothing about Us without Us: the Roles of Diverse Stakeholders in Scientific Publishing"

Publisher codes of ethics, and how they are enforced, should occupy a larger part of the discourse around scientific ethics and, in turn, influence where scientists choose to publish. The current editorial policies of many major scientific journals describe how journals enforce the code of ethics for scientists, not the rules that govern the publishing process itself. Why should scientists ask their journals to publish an editorial policy akin to a newsroom operations ethics policy (https://www.washingtonpost.com/policies-and-standards/)? Publishers play a pivotal role in filtering stories. Through their definitions and weighting of significance/impact/novelty, scientific editors select the stories that get sent out for peer review, pick the peer reviewers, and arbitrate the peer review process. In addition, while scientific institutions are responsible for adjudicating charges of scientific misconduct, journals are responsible for managing retractions. Thus, journals determine who gets published (and when) and set the pace of retractions. In other words, they play multiple roles in scientific governance. Finally, biased publishing outcomes—where a group is underrepresented in the pool of published authors relative to the pool of eligible authors—have been documented at the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) (1) and other journals. . . .

In the face of biased publishing outcomes, what should we expect of our publishers? Research is often conducted using money from federally funded grants. The publication fees we pay, if not taken from federal grant funding, are in some way supported by it. As a consequence, we can expect that publishers will meet their responsibility, not just to us, but also to the taxpayers of ensuring fairness in what gets reported. If publishers were to make transparent the principles that guide their decisions, then scientists could use these new policies (and accountability for them) to determine where to publish, rather than using impact factor as a single guiding light.

Systems and Web Services Librarian at Our Lady of the Lake University

Design, develop, and maintain the library website using the library’s content management system (Springhare).

Lead ongoing usability testing on the library website. Work with library management, students, faculty and other stakeholders to coordinate and administer tests, analyze feedback, incorporate changes to the library website and communicate results.

Ensure the library’s web-based content adheres to web accessibility standards.

Administer online databases and associated middleware (EZ Proxy, OCLC Knowledge Base, Tipasa, etc.).

Troubleshoot and resolve complex connectivity issues: authentication, database and e-journal changes, subscription platform changes, network and IP issues, etc.

https://bit.ly/3Jzcniu

"Google’s Bard Chatbot Doesn’t Love Me — But It’s Still Pretty Weird"

As far as I can tell, it’s also a noticeably worse tool than Bing, at least when it comes to surfacing useful information from around the internet. Bard is wrong a lot. And when it’s right, it’s often in the dullest way possible. Bard wrote me a heck of a Taylor Swift-style breakup song about dumping my cat, but it’s not much of a productivity tool. And it’s definitely not a search engine.

http://bit.ly/3JXVob1

Web & Social Media Archivist at Smithsonian Institution

This is a specialist archivist position that will focus on establishing a new digital collection documenting the experiences of American women, through web and social media archiving.

https://www.usajobs.gov/job/713941300

"At Hearing, Judge Appears Skeptical of Internet Archive’s Scanning and Lending Program"

Over the course of a 90-minute hearing on the parties’ cross motions for summary judgment, Koeltl appeared skeptical that there was sufficient basis in law to support the Internet Archive’s scanning and lending of print library books under a legally untested protocol known as controlled digital lending, and unconvinced that the case is fundamentally about the future of library lending, as Internet Archive attorneys have argued.

http://bit.ly/3FFjVyS

Programmer Analyst at University of Alberta [DMP Assistant Service]

University of Alberta Library is seeking to hire up to two Programmer Analysts to support the ongoing development and implementation of DMP Assistant, a national bilingual web-based research data management (RDM) planning service provided through the Digital Research Alliance of Canada. . . . Hosted by University of Alberta Library, DMP Assistant is a freely available tool that assists researchers in preparing detailed high-quality data management plans (DMPs) both to support their research and meet institution and funder requirements, including those set forth by the Canadian Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy. . . . Almost all of the code we develop is open-source (the only exceptions are where there are security reasons for keeping it closed).

https://careers.ualberta.ca/Competition/S101750748/

"AI and Copyright: Human Artistry Campaign Launches to Support Musicians"

The fast rise of AI technology has opened up a world of brain-busting questions about copyright and creators’ rights. . . . A new coalition to meet those challenges called the Human Artistry Campaign was announced at the South by Southwest conference on Thursday, with support from more than 40 organizations, including the Recording Academy, the National Music Publishers Association, the Recording Industry of America and many others.

bit.ly/402Nt1G

Electronic Resources and Discovery Librarian at Dickinson College

Provides leadership, vision and expertise for electronic resources, serials, and discovery systems and initiatives that support faculty, student, and staff research. Responsible for management of the life cycle of e-resources that are purchased, subscribed to, and licensed for short-term use.

https://jobs.dickinson.edu/postings/6760

Paywall: "What Is Data Stewardship? Towards a Comprehensive Understanding;"

Data stewardship is a term that is understood in heterogenous ways. . . . Following on from these different understandings and from recent developments to include ever more stakeholders in data stewardship, we propose a comprehensive understanding of data stewardship. According to this comprehensive understanding, data stewardship includes responsibilities towards all pertinent stakeholders and to equally consider and respect their legitimate rights and interests in order to build and maintain an efficient, trusted and fair data ecosystem. We also point out some of the practical challenges implied in such a comprehensive understanding.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2023.104337

Handbook on Comparative E-lending Policies in Europe

This Handbook overhauls current stereotypes about e-lending. The studies and investigations quoted in the Handbook demonstrate that e-lending in libraries is a formidable instrument for promoting e-books.Results may be short of sensational: when promoted by libraries, an individual title may see a 818% growth in e-book sales and 201% growth in print sales.

The number of e-lending transactions, measured in relation to the number of inhabitants, also shows that the market for e-loan transactions is now dramatically low and has to make great strides for the benefit of all actors in the e-book value chain.

The number of e-lending transactions, measured in relation to the number of inhabitants, also shows that the market for e-loan transactions is now dramatically low and has to make great strides for the benefit of all actors in the e-book value chain. It is now from 10 to 100 times lower than the number of book loans and in some cases, like in France, 400 times less.

bit.ly/3JuFwew

Digital Collections Librarian at Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) is hiring a Digital Collections Librarian. This position is responsible for overseeing and providing access to the Digital collection. The ideal candidate is highly organized, knowledgeable of collections management best practices in the digital collection field, and passionate about being a resource to researchers and patrons.

bit.ly/3LyvUlG