April 2023 – Page 3 – DigitalKoans

The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities: "Europe’s Academic Publishing System Must Become Sustainable and Equitable"

The Guild expresses its concerns over the current financial unsustainability of the academic publishing system in Europe. The rise of open-access models requiring article-processing charges (APCs) has worsened the issue, contributing to inequalities and dissuading researchers from publishing their work in the most appropriate outlets.

In response, The Guild strongly supports the draft of the Council conclusions on scholarly publishing in its calls to support non-APC-based open-access models, have APC commensurate to publication services provided, and to ensure academic publishing remains aimed at research excellence and integrity. We fully endorse the Council’s recognition of the increasing costs of paywalls for access to scientific publications as well as scholarly publishing. Therefore, The Guild calls for the development of alternative models that do not charge fees to authors or readers.

https://bit.ly/40gV3os

Digital Records Archivist at University of Minnesota

The Digital Records Archivist serves a core operational role and provides measurable impact for the University of Minnesota in developing and sustaining the preservation of digital records and publications through a variety of approaches, including the University of Minnesota’s institutional repository, the University Digital Conservancy (UDC); the University of Minnesota web archiving program; and the digital records program of the University Archives. The Digital Records Archivist is part of a team within the University Archives and works closely with the Libraries’ Digital Preservation and Repository Technologies unit and Electronic Records Management Group.

https://hr.umn.edu/Jobs/Find-Job

Paywall: "Google Devising Radical Search Changes to Beat Back A.I. Rivals"

Google’s employees were shocked when they learned in March that the South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung was considering replacing Google with Microsoft’s Bing as the default search engine on its devices. . . .Google’s reaction to the Samsung threat was "panic," according to internal messages reviewed by The New York Times. An estimated $3 billion in annual revenue was at stake with the Samsung contract. An additional $20 billion is tied to a similar Apple contract that will be up for renewal this year.

https://bit.ly/3MQjYfD

Metadata Librarian at University of California, Riverside

The Metadata Librarian will foster and promote innovative development and implementation of creative and sustainable metadata for digital collections, and will be responsible for original and complex metadata creation, modification, and enhancement for library resources in all formats (print and non-print) and in multiple languages. The incumbent will also assume a leadership role in the design and implementation of Library projects where metadata is an essential component, providing staff training, resource description, and metadata analysis. Under general direction from the Head of Metadata & Technical Services, the Metadata Librarian will ingest, update, and maintain metadata in the content management system. Collaborates with a team of colleagues working on digitization and discovery of content.

https://aprecruit.ucr.edu/JPF01712

Paywall: "Which Nationals Use Sci-Hub Mostly?"

Considering the result, the author argues that academic users in South American countries may use Sci-Hub more frequently than their counterparts in the rest of the world. Moreover, users in the Global North also rely on Sci-Hub to complete their research as well. The new evidence on Google Scholar proves the universal use of Sci-Hub across the world.

https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2023.2193613

Japan Digital Projects Coordinator at Harvard University

Working under the supervision of Japan Digital Scholarship Librarian (JDSL) of the Japan Digital Research Center library (JDRC), the Japan Digital Projects Coordinator assists to implement the initiatives and activities of the JDRC and is responsible in coordinating its day-to-day operations. The Japan Digital Projects Coordinator will play a critical role in the facilitating the development of digital materials and preservation of analog-to-digital and born-digital assets in coordination with other libraries across campus.

https://bit.ly/3GKoHf2

Paywall: "When the Big Deal Gets Smaller: Use of ScienceDirect after Cancellations "

This study investigates how article downloads from ScienceDirect changed after Temple University Libraries downsized its all-inclusive Elsevier big deal bundle to a selective custom package. After the libraries lost current-year access to nearly half of Elsevier’s active journals, the total downloads from Elsevier journals declined by 16.2 percent over three years. Combined use of still-subscribed and open access journals fell 10.6 percent in the same three years. . . . Reliance on open access appears to have increased.

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/887660

Digital Repository Services Librarian at Iowa State University

The Repository Services Librarian will be instrumental in the continued success of the digital repository, now in its 10th year, by liaising with participating repository faculty and staff, departments, and the Graduate College on the evolution and value of the digital repository and digital repository services. The Repository Services Librarian will evaluate programs, services, policies, and processes of the unit and will work collaboratively with other library units and departments to meet the goals of DSI and the library. As part of their work, the Repository Services Librarian will participate in discussions and working groups focused on library resource discovery, open scholarship and scholarly communication, and collection development.

https://bit.ly/43EK8YY

Paywall: Digital Initiatives in Academic Libraries: Challenges and Opportunities

This article explores the discourse surrounding professional titles and responsibilities in digital initiatives within North American academic libraries between 1990 and 2020. A review of job advertisements, position descriptions, and professional activities reveals ambiguously defined responsibilities, inadequate technical education, and limited opportunities for training. Current trends suggest digital initiatives will expand from traditional digitization and digital library projects toward more diverse and flexible digital project management

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/887663

Geographic Information Systems Specialist at Ball State University

Develop and lead reference, instructional, and consultation services for students, faculty, and community members pertaining to the use of geospatial data, including application software for remote sensing, cartography, and geographic information systems (GIS); administer GIS licenses for Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) software campus-wide; develop University-wide and regional digital scholarship programming events surrounding GIS research; support an inclusive, diverse, and collaborative work environment and service culture to advance the strategic direction of the University Libraries.

https://bsu.peopleadmin.com/postings/36507

"Continuity and Discontinuity in Web Archives"

Web archival materials are not direct traces of the web, they are direct traces of crawlers. By design, the structure of web archives limits our collective capacity to explore the memory of the Web. These structural issues induce temporal discontinuities in the archives such as inconsistency, redundancy and blindness. In this paper, we address the question of re-injecting continuity within large corpora of web archives. We thus introduce the notions of persistences (series of time-stable snapshots of archived web pages) and continuity spaces (networks of time-consistent persistences). We demonstrate how { on the basis of a quality score { persistences can be used to select subsets of web archives within which in-depth historical analysis can be conducted at scale. We next propose to make use of a new visualization approach called the web cernes to graphically reconstruct the multi-level evolution of an archived web site. We finally apply our framework to study the archives of the firsttuesday movement: a constellation of networking web sites that acted in the interest of the economical growth of the web in the early 2000’s.

https://hal.science/hal-04057507

Research Data Specialist at the University of New Mexico

The Research Data Specialist will collaborate with UNM Libraries Research Data Services colleagues and other stakeholders to promote greater awareness and improve university-wide data management and sharing. The position will create and implement effective and sustainable programs and tools to meet the needs of faculty and researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, and HSLIC’s faculty and staff.

https://bit.ly/3Uyp5mq

"How Generative AI Could Disrupt Creative Work "

In the face of technological change, creativity is often held up as a uniquely human quality, less vulnerable to the forces of technological disruption and critical for the future. Today however, generative AI applications such as ChatGPT and Midjourney are threatening to upend this special status and significantly alter creative work, both independent and salaried. The authors explore three non-exclusive scenarios for this disruption of content creation: 1) people use AI to augment their work, leading to greater productivity, 2) generative AI creates a flood of cheap content that drives out human creatives, and 3) human-made creative work demands a premium.

https://bit.ly/43pP4kh

Technical Lead, Digital Collections at Yale University

The Technical Lead, Digital Collections will manage the day-to-day operation of the Yale Library Digital Collections System. This position will provide operational and technical consulting excellence by partnering with clients to design, develop, implement, support, and provide training for ingest workflows and digital collections technology solutions. This position will oversee, monitor, and administer the functional and technical components of these tools, including digital collections specific platforms.

http://bit.ly/3KBYaBD

"The Smithsonian Puts 4.5 Million High-Res Images Online and Into the Public Domain, Making Them Free to Use"

"Anyone can download, reuse, and remix these images at any time — for free under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license," write My Modern Met’s Jessica Stewart and Madeleine Muzdakis. "A dive into the 3D records shows everything from CAD models of the Apollo 11 command module to Horatio Greenough’s 1840 sculpture of George Washington."

http://bit.ly/3KBhZsV

Digitisation Services Manager at University of Cambridge

The Digitisation Services Manager will have oversight of the Library’s digitisation programme and be responsible for the technical elements of capturing digital content and delivering it out to the world. They will develop the Digital Library and maintain the online catalogue of manuscripts.

http://bit.ly/43G40ej

"Surprising Things Happen When You Put 25 AI Agents Together in an RPG [Role-Playing Game] Town"

A group of researchers at Stanford University and Google have created a miniature RPG-style virtual world similar to The Sims, where 25 characters, controlled by ChatGPT and custom code, live out their lives independently with a high degree of realistic behavior. . . .

"Generative agents wake up, cook breakfast, and head to work; artists paint, while authors write; they form opinions, notice each other, and initiate conversations; they remember and reflect on days past as they plan the next day," write the researchers in their paper, "Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior."

http://bit.ly/3KSwc6b

Media Archivist at University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Establish policies, procedures, and training for archiving, preserving, and accessing Nebraska Public Media’s physical and digital media assets. Requires strong project management, communication, collaboration, and organizational skills to work across departments to develop supportable strategies and best practices for healthy searchability and access to all archived content.

https://employment.unl.edu/postings/85325

"Science Journals Integrate Dryad to Simplify Data Deposition and Strengthen Scientific Reproducibility"

The Science family journals have announced a partnership with the nonprofit data repository Dryad that simplifies the process by which authors deposit data underlying new work — a critical step to facilitating data’s routine reuse. The partnership is yet another step taken by the Science journals to ensure data the scientific community requires to verify, replicate and reanalyze new research is openly available. . . .

Because the partnership with Dryad integrates Dryad’s platform with the Science family journal’s submission process, authors will have the option to deposit data at Dryad directly from the submission site of any Science family journal. As authors submit research to the journals, they will be prompted about data availability and welcome to deposit their data to any suitable disciplinary repository. But, if data do not yet have a home, authors will have the opportunity to upload their data to Dryad. . . .

To ensure that this service is widely available, the Science journals will cover costs of Dryad data publication for accepted papers.

http://bit.ly/43wtVoD

User Experience and Digital Accessibility Librarian at University of British Columbia

In support of UBC Library’s Strategic Framework, the UXDA Librarian is primarily responsible for developing and sustaining the Library’s UX services across its public-facing web, application, and physical technology infrastructure within the context of the TDUX unit and a cross-functional team of subject matter experts focused on UX. The UXDA Librarian develops usability testing and digital accessibility programs as well as incorporates into technology solutions user-centred design principles through user engagement, data gathering, assessment, analysis, and recommendations. The UXDA Librarian coordinates an integrated and holistic approach to UX and digital accessibility that includes Library websites, content strategy, 3rd party and locally-developed application interfaces, search and discovery functions, Library workstations, and other publicly-accessible physical technologies.

https://bit.ly/408GRho

Paywall: "Going for Gold, Deep in the Red"

Having survived the budget uncertainties following the Great Recession and during the COVID-19 pandemic, libraries are no strangers to the hard work, patience, and luck needed when it comes to budget planning and pushing publishers toward OA. But will libraries ever achieve the ultimate feat of bagging gold OA for all titles in all disciplines? Open access comes at a price; a gold sweep may not be possible as many institutions continue to struggle financially with the after-effects of the pandemic and lower enrollment figures.

http://bit.ly/3MHU5yy

"‘We Have to Move Fast’: US Looks to Establish Rules for Artificial Intelligence"

The US commerce department on Tuesday announced it is officially requesting public comment on how to create accountability measures for AI, seeking help on how to advise US policymakers to approach the technology….

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has also published an AI risk management framework, voluntary guardrails that companies can use to attempt to limit the risk of harm to the public.

https://cutt.ly/d7UOF25

LOCKSS Plugin Developer at Stanford University

The LOCKSS Plugin Developer will create and maintain Java plugins for retrieval, parsing, and processing of content from a variety of sources while noting ways in which this process might be streamlined. The Plugin Developer also creates and maintains Python and shell utilities for content validation at various workflow stages and participates in other projects in support of automation and process improvement.

http://bit.ly/3KOVrpY

"How Related are Journal Impact and Research Impact? "

The dominance of journal impact factors as a proxy for research quality and impact has been challenged, to the extent that academic impacts are being eroded from definitions of research impact all together. It’s one of many bandwagons that seem logical to jump on, but which don’t necessarily hold up under scrutiny. The publishing community needs to demonstrate that it is a following wind, not a headwind.

http://bit.ly/3GBv0kS

Digital Archivist at Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies

The Bunche Center is looking to hire a permanent Digital Archivist to lead the digital initiatives and build a strong archival program. This work will include processing, developing, documenting, and implementing digital workflows to ingest, catalog, preserve, access, store, and secure current and future materials held by the Bunche Library. This work will also include establishing policies and procedures of best practices for managing a digital archive program. The Digital Archivist will report to and work closely with the Bunche Librarian to scale, support, and maintain digital preservation systems, services, and workflows for the digital resources stewarded by the Bunche Center.

https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF08318