June 2025 – DigitalKoans

Systems Librarian at Hamline University

The Systems Librarian (SL) supports HULA’s library systems and virtual presence. In this role, the SL assists with both: (a) effective use of technology for internal library processes, and (b) sustaining a comprehensive mix of digital content and technology services that collectively offers students and faculty the maximum possible access and convenience).

https://tinyurl.com/ykvrs8ke

“AI Chatbots Need More Books to Learn From. These Libraries Are Opening Their Stacks”

Harvard’s newly released dataset, Institutional Books 1.0, contains more than 394 million scanned pages of paper. One of the earlier works is from the 1400s — a Korean painter’s handwritten thoughts about cultivating flowers and trees. The largest concentration of works is from the 19th century, on subjects such as literature, philosophy, law and agriculture, all of it meticulously preserved and organized by generations of librarians.

https://tinyurl.com/bdzxx8r7

Technology & Patron Experience Librarian at Washington & Jefferson College

The Technology & Patron Experience Librarian collaborates with external vendors, library staff, and the W&J Information Technology Services department (ITS) to assess system efficiency, resolve issues, and enhance user experience for library services. technologies, and resources, with a particular focus on the library services platform, discovery service, single sign-on platform, resource sharing software and library web presence.

https://tinyurl.com/6pmupmxf

“Linking Data Citation to Repository Visibility: An Empirical Study”

In today’s data-driven research landscape, dataset visibility and accessibility play a crucial role in advancing scientific knowledge. At the same time, data citation is essential for maintaining academic integrity, acknowledging contributions, validating research outcomes, and fostering scientific reproducibility. As a critical link, it connects scholarly publications with the datasets that drive scientific progress. This study investigates whether repository visibility influences data citation rates. We hypothesize that repositories with higher visibility, as measured by search engine metrics, are associated with increased dataset citations. Using OpenAlex data and repository impact indicators (including the visibility index from Sistrix, the h-index of repositories, and citation metrics such as mean and median citations), we analyze datasets in Social Sciences and Economics to explore their relationship. Our findings suggest that datasets hosted on more visible web domains tend to receive more citations, with a positive correlation observed between web domain visibility and dataset citation counts, particularly for datasets with at least one citation. However, when analyzing domain-level citation metrics, such as the h-index, mean, and median citations, the correlations are inconsistent and weaker. While higher visibility domains tend to host datasets with greater citation impact, the distribution of citations across datasets varies significantly. These results suggest that while visibility plays a role in increasing citation counts, it is not the sole factor influencing dataset citation impact. Other elements, such as dataset quality, research trends, and disciplinary norms, also contribute significantly to citation patterns.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.09530

Electronic Resources Librarian at New Mexico State University

Duties include: administration and overall leadership supporting electronic resource management; ensuring the provision of effective and high-quality departmental services; serving as an intermediary between the Library and vendors for access related issues; and contributing to Library assessment efforts while ensuring compliance with relevant Library and University policies and procedures.

https://tinyurl.com/5x4vvrxc

“A New Book From ACRL: The Open Science Cookbook; Open Access Edition Available”

“The Open Science Cookbook” provides a wide variety of lesson plans and learning activities for supporting collaborative, transparent, openly accessible, and reproducible research. In five sections, it has something for beginners to more advanced practitioners and for different audience sizes.

Program Development

Instruction

Outreach

Events

Collaborations and Partnerships . . . .

“The Open Science Cookbook” is available for purchase in print through the ALA Online Store and Amazon.com; by telephone order at (800) 621-2736 or (773) 702-7010; and as an open access edition.

https://tinyurl.com/569s7e46

Technology Librarian at Texas Southern University

Provide technical expertise and serve a key role in implementing and managing all library systems and technologies. This role is critical to maintaining discovery and access to the growing electronic holdings of the library. Assist and train library staff on library information systems & technology services. Serve as a liaison to collaborate with the Office of Information Technology (OIT).

https://jobs.tsu.edu/postings/9925

“Elsevier Unveils Rigorous Evaluation Framework to Mitigate Risk in Generative AI Clinical Decision Support Tools”

The framework, designed with input from clinical subject matter experts across multiple specialties, evaluates AI-generated responses along five critical dimensions: query comprehension, response helpfulness, correctness, completeness, and potential for clinical harm. It serves as a comprehensive assessment to ensure that AI-powered tools not only provide accurate and relevant information but also align with the practical and current needs of healthcare professionals at the point of care. . . .

In a recent evaluation study of ClinicalKey AI, Elsevier worked with a panel of 41-board certified physicians and clinical pharmacists to rigorously test responses generated by the tool for a diverse set of clinical queries. That panel evaluated 426 query-response pairs, and results demonstrated impressive performance, with 94.4% of responses rated as helpful, 95.5% assessed as completely correct, with just 0.47% flagged for potential improvements.

https://tinyurl.com/453a99e6

Managing Editor and Digital Data Specialist at University of Pittsburgh

The Institute for Spatial History Innovation at the University of Pittsburgh seeks a full-time Research Associate to act as the Managing Editor and Digital Data Specialist. The chosen applicant will serve as Managing Editor for the World Historical Gazetteer (whgazetteer.org), author, and support the development of publications and datasets in digital spatial history and communicate a vision for spatial history research initiatives

https://tinyurl.com/4r9nppkf

“UCL [University College London] Press Celebrates 10 Years of Award-Winning Open Access Publishing ”

Launched in June 2015 as part of UCL’s commitment to open research and scholarship, UCL Press provides scholars with the opportunity to publish their monographs, journal articles and textbooks via open access, meaning that they are free to download online anywhere in the world.

UCL Press broke the mould as the UK’s first fully open access university press and over the last ten years has published over 380 scholarly monographs, 11 textbooks and has built a portfolio of 15 scholarly journals. . . .

UCL Press’s global reach extends to 242 countries and territories, with the United States topping the list of countries with the highest number of downloads, followed by the UK, then India.

https://tinyurl.com/3yme8ws7

User Experience Designer at Indiana University Bloomington

Designs web-based and mobile user interfaces to support delivery of library services to faculty, staff, students, and other customers through the library website, blogs, research guides, and other platforms managed by the department as well as platforms and applications managed by other departments in the libraries.

Designs and maintains online visual elements to enhance clarity, effectiveness, and appeal of library services to all constituencies, supporting branding and communication objectives at the university, library, and project level.

Provides user experience design services to the Libraries¿ content management systems and key technology-based projects.

https://tinyurl.com/mr7hxjsf

“Data Released in This Year’s Independent Nature Index Research Leaders Tables Shows a Shift in Global Research Landscape”

China has extended its lead in research output, according to data released in the latest Nature Index Research Leaders(data refers to full year 2024 data only – see notes to editors). The country’s Share, the Nature Index’s key metric of author contribution to high-quality research, reached 32,122, a 17% increase on 2023, with the region now having eight institutions in the top 10 compared to 7 in 2023. Asian countries as a whole enjoyed greater dominance, with drops seen from Western institutions in the number of top positions held within the rankings.

Other key regional analysis from this years’ table showed:

South Korea and India were the only two other countries in the top 10, other than China, to increase their adjusted Share from 2023 — by 4.1% and 2% respectively. South Korea rose to 7th place in the overall rankings, overtaking Canada. . . .

Share for the second year in a row with Canada, France, Switzerland, the UK and US, all recording declines of at least 7%. Australia and Germany showed declines of less than 3%. . . .

Harvard University recorded an 18% drop in adjusted Share, although it held 2nd place, but Stanford University and MIT both fell in ranking – Stanford from 15th to 16th place, and MIT from 14th to 17th place. The US National Institutes of Health also saw a change, falling out of the top 20 to 24th place.

https://tinyurl.com/58jvz8kk

Scholarly Communications Librarian at Texas A&M International University

Reporting to the Dean of the Library, the Scholarly Communications Librarian is a member of the Research & Assessment Department. This position leads Library efforts to educate campus on scholarly communications topics, support open educational resources (OER) and open access (OA) initiatives, and elevating the research profile of TAMIU via collections, publishing support, and programming.

https://tinyurl.com/426dar2w

“Is AI Literacy the Trojan Horse to Information Literacy? Insights from our AI Literacy Cohort Workshops”

Participants observed several key differences. First, the ACRL framework is more conceptual while other AI literacy frameworks like Choice 360 and Educause are more practical in nature. Second, the ACRL framework is modular with no definitive entry point while other AI literacy frameworks like UNESCO’s and the Digital Education Council’s are more hierarchical with a sequential structure. These differences lead to tangible disparities in implementation. While the ACRL framework might be adopted as higher-level conceptual guidance, the more practical AI frameworks are relatively more actionable and ready for curriculum integration.

https://tinyurl.com/mrybzjcn

Director of Product, Research Libraries at New York Public Library

Reporting to the Senior Director of Product Management and User Experience, the Director of Product, Research Libraries will be responsible for the growth and impact of products in the Library’s Research portfolio. They will oversee the conception, development and delivery of digital tools and experiences focused squarely on the needs of our research patrons. In doing so, they will build, manage and lead multiple digital product development teams and coordinate concurrent delivery streams across a broad and diverse digital research portfolio.

https://tinyurl.com/9sx69tp6

“Research Data Management and Fair Compliance Through Popular Research Data Repositories: An Exploratory Study”

The present study examines the features and services of four research data repositories (RDRs): Dataverse, Dryad, Zenodo and Figshare. The study explores whether these RDRs adhere to the FAIR principles and suggests the features and services that need to be added to enhance their functionality.

https://doi.org/10.1108/DTA-12-2022-0477

GenAI Program Coordinator at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The GenAI Program Coordinator will support public GenAI services and programming by overseeing the development, implementation, and ongoing management of the GenAI Studio, ensuring alignment with campus needs, coordinating outreach and educational events, and providing continuous support to enhance GenAI literacy and user engagement.

The GenAI Program Coordinator will support internal GenAI efforts by overseeing staff development, maintaining communication channels, and facilitating opportunities for library staff to share knowledge and integrate GenAI into workflows and projects. The position will also collaborate with leadership and library staff including subject matter experts to monitor emerging trends, recommend strategy, identify opportunities for reporting and publishing insights, and highlight success stories to showcase the impact of GenAI services.

https://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/302479

“Robert H. McDonald Appointed Senior Vice Provost and Director of the University of Texas Libraries”

The University of Texas at Austin announces the appointment of Robert H. McDonald as Senior Vice Provost and Director of the University of Texas Libraries, effective August 16, 2025. McDonald currently serves as Dean of University Libraries and Senior Vice Provost of Online and Extended Education at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he has led transformative initiatives in digital scholarship, online learning and library services. . . .

At CU Boulder, McDonald has overseen strategic initiatives in digital library services and online program development, including the expansion of alternative credentialing programs and learning technologies that support researchers and students across disciplines. He guided adoption of an open-source, community-based Library Services Platform to secure sustainable and affordable software for CU Boulder’s Libraries. . . .

Prior to his time at CU Boulder, McDonald served in leadership roles at Indiana University Bloomington, where he helped build national infrastructure for digital preservation and cyberinfrastructure initiatives, including work with the HathiTrust Research Center and the IU Data to Insight Center, and has held positions at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego, Florida State University and Auburn University. He holds a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina and a Master of Music from the University of Georgia.

https://tinyurl.com/5aj3p9p6

“Preservation and Digital Repositories: Connections, Possibilities, and Needs”

This chapter aims to explore certain aspects of the challenges of digital preservation and digital repositories, including their roles, significance, and associated costs. . . . Beginning with a necessary delineation of the relationship between digital preservation, digital repositories, and their digital assets, the chapter proceeds to conduct a brief analysis of the perceived needs for these components. These needs primarily encompass organizational aspects (policy, planning, actions), financial considerations (costs), and technological factors (standardization) crucial for supporting digital preservation and repositories.

https://tinyurl.com/5y5bfbdr

“Navigating Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Integration in Library and Information Science: Insights from Four National Libraries”

This chapter examines the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and data science in library and information science, using insights from four national libraries: the British Library, the National Library of France, the Royal Library of Belgium, and the Royal Danish Library. . . . This study adopts a qualitative approach, drawing on in-depth interviews with key personnel and analyses of strategic documents to explore the challenges and opportunities posed by AI. The findings highlight critical organizational issues such as resistance to change, cross-departmental collaboration, resource allocation, and the need for skill development.

https://tinyurl.com/2s4ahcta

“Introducing Indiana University Bloomington Libraries Publishing: A Case Study”

[This chapter] shares how this [diamond open access] library publishing service came to be, and what it does, how, and why for two reasons: to inform readers about the practice of library publishing and to help libraries that want to publish books but are unsure how since overviews of similar library publishing services are lacking.

https://tinyurl.com/4cu4k5pm

Reclaiming Academic Ownership of the Scholarly Communication System: Reclaiming Academic Ownership of the Scholarly Communication System

Sharing and publishing research results is a fundamental part of research and knowledge production. This process relies on critical examination and discussion of the fndings. Historically, the primary goals of scholarly communication were to disseminate, exchange and preserve knowledge through the publication of academic journals and books. Today’s scholarly communication system has increasingly diverged from these original purposes and drifted away from the needs of the communities it is meant to serve. It now presents significant flaws and ineffciencies. It ignores bibliodiversity and multilingualism, imposes high costs on researchers and research performing organisations, restricts the rapid and wide dissemination of research results and (through its structure and operation) threatens core academic values such as trust and integrity.

This briefing describes the current status of academic publishing, highlighting the main factors shaping the system and the key challenges faced by the academic community. It also identifies opportunities for universities to play a leading role in shaping the future of scholarly communication. The active engagement of universities and other stakeholders is key to achieving a just scholarly publishing ecosystem that is transparent, diverse, affordable, sustainable, technically interoperable, and steered by the research community, as outlined in the EUA Open Science Agenda 2025.

https://tinyurl.com/325n6swr

Scholarly Communications Librarian at University of Cincinnati

Reporting to the Associate Dean for Research & Instruction, the Scholarly Communications Librarian is responsible for leading library publishing services and developing scholarly communication programs and services to advance open access through sustainable publishing models. This role requires an energetic professional with expertise in scholarly communications, a strong commitment to access to knowledge, and the ability to foster collaborations across stakeholders.

https://tinyurl.com/mu2htxzf

“Managing Retractions and their Afterlife: A Tripartite Framework for Research Datasets”

Retractions serve as a critical, albeit last-resort, post-publication correction mechanism in scholarly publishing, playing an important role in upholding the integrity of the scientific record. By formally retracting flawed or misleading research, the scientific community mitigates the harm caused by errors or misconduct that may have escaped detection during peer review. While retractions of research articles have been extensively discussed across scientific disciplines and are well-integrated into most publishers’ workflows, the retraction of research datasets remains underexplored and rarely implemented. This paper seeks to address this gap by reviewing recent developments in this area, analyzing a sample of publicly available retracted dataset records considering existing recommendations and guidelines, and putting forward a few points for discussion—particularly for cases where datasets have been published and correction is no longer feasible, or when all efforts to amend the dataset have been exhausted. These considerations are framed into three main categories: (1) preventive actions and timely response, (2) purposeful damage control, and (3) community engagement and shared standards. Although still preliminary, this framework aims to help entertain future debates and inform actionable strategies for addressing the unique challenges of managing retracted datasets where scientific rigor has been compromised. By contributing to the discussion on dataset retractions, this work seeks to better equip data curators, repository managers, and other stakeholders with tools to enhance accountability and transparency throughout the data preservation process, while also helping to mitigate the error cascade effect in science.

https://doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v19i1.1062

Open Strategies Librarian at Northern Kentucky University

This teaching professor faculty position is responsible for leading, sustaining, and developing new course material affordability programs, including an established Open Educational Resource ( OER ) program. As part of the Library Access Services team, the Open Strategies Librarian will cultivate relationships with faculty, staff, and students and participate in projects that support scholarly communication, copyright/intellectual property, and course affordability work of the department.

https://jobs.nku.edu/postings/14912