March 2025 – DigitalKoans

Scholarly Communications Librarian at West Texas A&M University

This position enhances the faculty’s ability to find scholarly resources by helping faculty find and adapt no-cost textbook options and by sharing with faculty the new and innovative ways that library resources are evolving, and by helping assess the faculty experience with scholarly databases. This position supports the faculty in making their scholarly efforts easier to access by helping faculty publish open-access content on the Pressbooks platform and leading library-faculty collaborations such as the Faculty and Student Research Poster Session and Research Fair.

https://tinyurl.com/32dnc86r

“Promoting AI Literacy through U.S. Academic Libraries: An Analysis of LibGuides from ARL and Oberlin Group Libraries Using the EDUCAUSE AI Literacy Framework”

Introduction. As the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly advances, academic libraries are increasingly pivotal in supporting AI literacy among students and faculty.

Method. Through content analysis, the present study examines 70 newly developed generative AI LibGuides from academic libraries affiliated with the association of research libraries (ARL) and the Oberlin group, using the EDUCAUSE AI literacy framework.

Analysis. Through a detailed examination, the present research reorganizes and improves the EDUCAUSE AI literacy framework, proposing a more comprehensive version tailored to higher education needs. The adapted framework fills the gaps in the original model and offers a nuanced approach to AI literacy, reflecting the unique challenges faced by academic libraries.

Results. The findings reveal that most LibGuides emphasize foundational AI tools and responsible use, with less focus on advanced technical competencies related to AI creation. Significant differences were observed between ARL and Oberlin Group LibGuides, with ARL offering more comprehensive coverage. To address these differences, consistent training and knowledge sharing initiatives are recommended to ensure a common standard of AI literacy support across academic libraries.

Conclusion. This study provides insights into the role of libraries in promoting generative AI literacy and identifies areas for future strategic partnerships and improvement.

https://doi.org/10.47989/ir30iConf47182

Library Data Strategist at Virginia Tech

The Library Data Strategist works closely with colleagues across the library to find strategic solutions to library data-related problems. Working under the Associate Director of Library Data Strategies and alongside the Technical Services and Metadata Services departments, this position develops and maintains connections between University Libraries systems, such as Figshare, Alma, Springshare, and Wikibase, among others. The Library Data Strategist is a problem-solver who assesses problems, researches options, suggests solutions, and implements and maintains processes that improve the ease and efficiency of workflows for data-related library services and projects.

https://tinyurl.com/57959446

“The Origins and Veracity of References ‘Cited’ by Generative Artificial Intelligence Applications: Implications for the Quality of Responses”

The public release of ChatGPT in late 2022 has resulted in considerable publicity and has led to widespread discussion of the usefulness and capabilities of generative Artificial intelligence (Ai) language models. Its ability to extract and summarise data from textual sources and present them as human-like contextual responses makes it an eminently suitable tool to answer questions users might ask. Expanding on a previous analysis of the capabilities of ChatGPT3.5, this paper tested what archaeological literature appears to have been included in the training phase of three recent generative Ai language models: ChatGPT4o, ScholarGPT, and DeepSeek R1. While ChatGPT3.5 offered seemingly pertinent references, a large percentage proved to be fictitious. While the more recent model ScholarGPT, which is purportedly tailored towards academic needs, performed much better, it still offered a high rate of fictitious references compared to the general models ChatGPT4o and DeepSeek. Using ‘cloze’ analysis to make inferences on the sources ‘memorized’ by a generative Ai model, this paper was unable to prove that any of the four genAi models had perused the full texts of the genuine references. It can be shown that all references provided by ChatGPT and other OpenAi models, as well as DeepSeek, that were found to be genuine, have also been cited on Wikipedia pages. This strongly indicates that the source base for at least some, if not most, of the data is found in those pages and thus represents, at best, third-hand source material. This has significant implications in relation to the quality of the data available to generative Ai models to shape their answers. The implications of this are discussed.

https://doi.org/10.3390/publications13010012

University Librarian at Georgetown University

Georgetown University, the nation’s oldest Catholic and Jesuit institution of higher learning, invites applications and nominations for the position of University Librarian (UL). The University seeks a dynamic, collaborative, and innovative library professional to lead the organization as it evolves and grows. The first phase of renovations to the main campus library, Lauinger Library, will be completed in December 2025 as Pierce Reading Room is transformed; subsequent phases and fundraising will be critical priorities for the next UL. In addition, a new library space on Capitol Campus will serve students and faculty in a soon-to-be-completed (later in 2025) multi-use education facility.

https://tinyurl.com/2shv2pvm

“News & Views: Open Access Charges – Price Increases Back on Trend”

Going into 2025, we have seen APC pricing increasing but falling back to long-term trends.

Fully OA APC list prices across our sample have risen by around 6.5% compared with 9.5% this time last year.

Hybrid APC list prices have risen by an average of 3% compared with 4.2% this time last year.

Maximum APCs for fully OA journals remain at $8,900.

Maximum APCs for hybrid journals now top out at $12,690 (up $400 from last year).

https://tinyurl.com/mpdmd7vy

Evidence Synthesis Information Scientist at Virginia Tech University

The successful candidate will be an ambassador for high-quality evidence synthesis at Virginia Tech; as an expert in search techniques and synthesis methods such as systematic reviews; provide guidelines-based consultation, outreach, live and asynchronous training, and additional support for systematic reviews and other topics related to evidence synthesis; explore emerging tools, resources, and methods for evidence synthesis; supervise student assistants; serve as subject area liaison to one or more departments, institutes, or program areas; and contribute to supporting the Virginia Tech community in adoption of open and collaborative research practice

https://tinyurl.com/bdk94hm9

“CODE beyond FAIR”

FAIR principles are a set of guidelines aiming at simplifying the distribution of scientific data to enhance reuse and reproducibility. This article focuses on research software, which significantly differs from data through its living nature, and its relationship with free and open-source software. Based on the second French plan for Open Science, we provide a tiered roadmap to improve the state of research software, which is inclusive to all stakeholders in the research software ecosystem: scientific staff, but also institutions, funders, libraries and publishers.

https://inria.hal.science/hal-04930405

Senior Front-End Developer at Stony Brook University

The front-end developer/designer will report to the Associate Dean, Digital Services. They will be responsible for designing, coding, analyzing, and updating the Libraries’ digital presence. They serve on the cross-functional Library IT team. They are primarily responsible for front-end and end-to-end development and delivery of specialized library apps and systems. Given the small size of the Library IT team, the role is currently focused on front-end tasks but is expected to evolve into a Full-Stack Developer role.

https://tinyurl.com/ejkny3cv

“Elsevier Launches Sciencedirect AI to Transform Research with Rapid Mission-Critical Insights from Trusted Content”

ScienceDirect AI includes the following features:

Ask ScienceDirect AI – search and summaries of full-text articles and book chapters

Users can search and get answers from within the full-text of 14 million articles and book chapters, using their own words to describe what they need and why. ScienceDirect AI will search across the millions of documents in its index to provide a Summary Response with references, Source Snippets for each reference, and short Related Insights summaries while linking back to the original document.

Reading Assistant – chat with a document in ScienceDirect

This conversational feature answers questions about the content of a specific full-text article or book chapter and allows researchers to ask further questions of the document. Users can click on references within the summaries to jump to locations in the article where the answer comes from, it also suggests research questions.

Compare Experiments – experiment summary table

Comparing and synthesizing literature can be very time-consuming. ScienceDirect AI’s unique Compare Experiments tool takes a set of articles and creates a table breaking down each experiment within them, drawing out the key aspects of each including goals, methods and results.

https://tinyurl.com/mwnkar8u

Research Data Management Librarian at West Virginia University

VU Libraries is seeking a Research Data Management Librarian to join its new Research Support & Engagement (RSE) unit, which advances the library’s portfolio of activities in support of the University’s research enterprise. The Research Data Management Librarian will deliver specialized research support aimed at skill development and training, information sharing, and advocacy in research data management and sharing, locating data sources and advising on data privacy regulations and ethical considerations.

https://tinyurl.com/3kskd455

“Tracking the AI Evolution in Research Libraries: Findings from ARL’s Third AI Quick Poll”

Optimism about generative AI is evident among respondents. Over a quarter (28%) described their outlook as “very positive,” envisioning significant enhancements to library services in the next year. The majority (63%) expressed a “somewhat positive” view, acknowledging the potential of AI while being mindful of challenges. Only 10% maintained a neutral stance, reflecting a general trend toward growing confidence in AI’s role within libraries. . . .

Engagement with AI technologies shows steady growth. Nearly one-third of respondents (28%) reported that their libraries are actively implementing AI solutions. The largest group (53%) is in the exploratory phase, investigating potential applications, while 19% indicated plans to consider AI in the near future.

https://tinyurl.com/y7js666m

Systems Librarian at University of Mount Union

The Systems Librarian is responsible for managing, maintaining, and optimizing the library services platform, discovery tools, and other library resources. This role ensures seamless access to electronic resources, troubleshoots technical issues, collaborates with IT staff, and supports digital initiatives. The librarian also provides training and support for library staff on system functionalities, assesses emerging technologies, and works to enhance user experience.

https://tinyurl.com/y47nmsx8

Paywall: “Challenges in Tracking Archive’s Data Reuse in Social Sciences”

Identifying data reuse is challenging, due to technical reasons, and, in particular, incorrect citation practices among scholars. This paper aims to propose an automatic method to track the reuse of data deposited in the archives joined to the CESSDA (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives) infrastructure. The paper also offers an overview on the identified data to understand the characteristics of the most reused data sets.

https://doi.org/10.1108/DLP-07-2024-0112

Archivist & Digital Publishing Specialist at University of Wisconsin – Stout

The Archivist & Digital Publishing Specialist will be responsible for leading a wide variety of advanced archival services in collection development, creation, and appraisal of collection materials in a variety of formats, arrangement and description, preservation in support of collections and data created by the UW-Stout community. This role focuses on integrating archival collections into the university’s curriculum, teaching, learning, and research using cutting-edge technologies and innovative strategies. The Archivist & Digital Publishing Specialist will oversee the digital preservation of records, manage the institutional repository, and may supervise staff.

https://tinyurl.com/yfzzf82r

“To be FAIR: Theory Specification Needs an Update”

Innovations in open science and meta-science have focused on rigorous *theory testing*, yet methods for specifying, sharing, and iteratively improving theories remain underdeveloped. To address these limitations, we introduce *FAIR theory*: A standard for specifying theories as Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable information artifacts. FAIR theories are Findable in well-established archives, Accessible in practical terms and in terms of their ability to be understood, Interoperable for specific purposes, e.g., to guide control variable selection, and Reusable so that they can be iteratively improved through collaborative efforts. This paper adapts the FAIR principles for theory, reflects on the FAIRness of contemporary theoretical practices in psychology, introduces a workflow for FAIRifying theory, and explores FAIR theories’ potential impact in terms of reducing research waste, enabling meta-research on the structure and development of theories, and incorporating theory into reproducible research workflows – from hypothesis generation to simulation studies. We make use of well-established open science infrastructure, including Git for version control, GitHub for collaboration, and Zenodo for archival and search indexing. By applying the principles and infrastructure that have already revolutionized sharing of data and publications to theory, we establish a sustainable, transparent, and collaborative approach to theory development. FAIR theory equips scholars with a standard for systematically specifying and refining theories, bridging a critical gap in open research practices and supporting the renewed interest in theory development in psychology and beyond. FAIR theory provides a structured, cumulative framework for theory development, increasing efficiency and potentially accelerating the pace of cumulative knowledge acquisition.

https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/t53np_v1

Digital Initiatives Librarian at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

The Division of Library and Learning Resources seeks a full-time faculty Digital Initiatives Librarian who will develop, implement, and assess services that support collecting, organizing, and creating access to institutional knowledge. This includes institutional data, documents, publications, and faculty scholarly output. Holdings will be preserved in our Institutional Repository and physical archives. Additionally, this position will help identify and develop new digital initiatives that support student and faculty research and scholarship, including research data management and data repositories

.

https://tinyurl.com/2mccm57r

“openRxiv Launch to Sustain and Expand Preprint Sharing in Life and Health Sciences”

Since their launches in 2013 and 2019, respectively, preprint servers bioRxiv and medRxiv have transformed how scientific findings are communicated. They have hosted more than 325,000 reports of new discoveries, enabling scientists worldwide to collaborate, iterate, and build upon each other’s work at an unprecedented pace. . . .

Establishing openRxiv aims to accelerate the value of these preprint servers, making it easier for these resources to grow and adapt. Created as services of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in partnership with other institutions, bioRxiv and medRxiv now move under openRxiv’s researcher-driven governance, ensuring that preprint sharing remains independent, sustainable, and responsive to researchers’ evolving needs.

https://tinyurl.com/2auerw5t

“30 Charts That Show How Covid Changed Everything”

Decades from now, the pandemic will be visible in the historical data of nearly anything measurable today: an unmistakable spike, dip or jolt that officially began for Americans five years ago this week.

Here’s an incomplete collection of charts that capture that break — across the economy, health care, education, work, family life and more.

https://tinyurl.com/49uhhvn7

Systems and Technology Librarian (Remote Position) at Texas A&M International University (Renewable)

Participating in the design, testing, deployment, maintenance, troubleshooting, administration, and evaluation of multiple essential discovery, delivery, and inventory systems in the Library’s portfolio including OCLC Worldshare Management System (WMS), OpenAthens, the Springshare LibApps suite, and Application Program Interfaces (APIs) from Library vendors;

Researching, evaluating, recommending, testing, and implementing new technologies in collaboration with librarians and library staff;

Providing training and support for the Library on the configuration of library systems and services through troubleshooting, data analytics, and system enhancements;

https://tinyurl.com/2cshknda

“Elsevier’s Pre-proof Policy Blocks Google Scholar Indexing”

Google Scholar is a vital tool for engineering scholars, enabling efficient literature searches and facilitating academic dissemination. Elsevier, as one of the largest publishers of engineering journals, produces essential research that scholars rely on. The pre-proof policy, adopted by Elsevier for certain journals, allows articles to be published online in their accepted draft form before final proofreading and formatting. However, this study empirically demonstrates that the pre-proof publication policy hinders comprehensive indexing by Google Scholar. Articles published under this policy are only partially indexed, often limited to titles and abstracts, while crucial sections such as introductions, methods, results, discussions, conclusions, appendices, and data availability statements remain unsearchable. This problem has persisted for years, resulting in reduced visibility and accessibility of certain Elsevier articles. To improve academic dissemination, both Elsevier and Google Scholar must address this problem by modifying publishing policies or enhancing indexing practices. Additionally, this paper explores strategies that authors can use to mitigate the issue and ensure broader discoverability of their research.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.05550

Electronic Resources Coordinator at Virginia Tech

The Electronic Resources Coordinator serves as the leader in managing the electronic resources lifecycle reporting to the Director, Metadata and Library Technical Services, and as a member of the Library Technical Services team. . . . The successful candidate will manage the electronic resources lifecycle including access and end user support. They will oversee and perform electronic resource management activities to ensure library resource availability. The Coordinator will be responsible for activating and managing new and existing electronic resources.

https://tinyurl.com/46xt99b5

Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps

This is the fourth installment of the Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps, our bi-annual ranking of the top 50 AI-first web products (by unique monthly visits, per Similarweb) and top 50 AI-first mobile apps (by monthly active users, per Sensor Tower). Since our last report in August 2024, 17 new companies have entered the rankings of top AI-first web products

https://tinyurl.com/n3hvc8wz

Dean & University Librarian at University of Florida

The University of Florida (UF) seeks a dynamic and visionary Dean of University Libraries to lead the George A. Smathers Libraries in advancing research, learning, and innovation. Reporting to the Provost and serving as a member of the Council of Academic Deans, the Dean will oversee evolving library technologies, maintain excellence in collections and services, and collaborate with campus and library leaders to meet the needs of UF’s academic community. The Dean plays a pivotal role in supporting faculty and student research while ensuring UF’s libraries remain a world-class resource.

https://tinyurl.com/yc834c94

“The Academic Impact of Open Science: A Scoping Review”

Open Science seeks to make research processes and outputs more accessible, transparent and inclusive, ensuring that scientific findings can be freely shared, scrutinized and built upon by researchers and others. To date, there has been no systematic synthesis of the extent to which Open Science (OS) reaches these aims. We use the PRISMA scoping review methodology to partially address this gap, scoping evidence on the academic (but not societal or economic) impacts of OS. We identify 485 studies related to all aspects of OS, including Open Access (OA), Open/FAIR Data (OFD), Open Code/Software, Open Evaluation and Citizen Science (CS). Analysing and synthesizing findings, we show that the majority of studies investigated effects of OA, CS and OFD. Key areas of impact studied are citations, quality, efficiency, equity, reuse, ethics and reproducibility, with most studies reporting positive or at least mixed impacts. However, we also identified significant unintended negative impacts, especially those regarding equity, diversity and inclusion. Overall, the main barrier to academic impact of OS is lack of skills, resources and infrastructure to effectively re-use and build on existing research. Building on this synthesis, we identify gaps within this literature and draw implications for future research and policy.

https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.241248