ARL Libraries – DigitalKoans

"Harvard Library is Launching Harvard Open Journals Program"

Harvard Library is launching a new initiative called the Harvard Open Journals Program (HOJP), which will help researchers advance scholarly publishing that is open access, sustainable, and equitable. HOJP will provide publishing services, resources, and seed funding to participating Harvard researchers for new academic journals. All journal articles will be entirely free for authors and readers, with no barriers to publish or to access.. . . Yuan Li, University Scholarly Communication Officer and Director of Open Scholarship and Research Data Services at Harvard Library, pointed out the innovative nature of the program, "It is new for an institution to support faculty in seeking out an academic press to publish a no-fee open access journal and to provide assistance in securing its long-term funding. And offering a repository overlay journal model provides an alternative that appeals to some editorial boards and is gaining traction through initiatives such as Episciences. As we implement and refine this program on our campus, we hope it will inspire other universities to adopt such approaches to supporting barrier-free scholarly publishing."

https://tinyurl.com/ymkhs4db

"Better Together: BTAA [Big Ten Academic Alliance Libraries] Libraries, CDL and Lyrasis Commit to Strengthen Diamond Open Access in the United States"

Representatives from the Big Ten Academic Alliance Libraries (BTAA Libraries), California Digital Library (CDL) and Lyrasis attended the Global Summit on Diamond Open Access in Toluca, Mexico in October 2023. The Summit convened the international community to engage in dialog about how to advance Diamond Open Access (OA) to secure scholarly research as a public good and ensure equitable access to both the publishing and reading of that research. You can learn more from the recently released Report of the 2nd Diamond Open Access Conference.

https://tinyurl.com/39emttzk

Paywall: "Changes in Digital Collections and Their Metadata: A Longitudinal Study of UIUC Digital Library"

This article showcases the evolution of digital collections and their metadata at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Library in the last 20 years. It discusses the growth of its collections and their characteristics, examines historical changes in the use of metadata elements, and explores responses to the changing nature of digitized and born-digital materials. Based on a large-scale data analysis of the digital collections and their metadata housed in UIUC Digital Library, the paper also examines the challenges and opportunities of the curation and management of digital collections and digital libraries in the future.

https://doi.org/10.1080/19386389.2024.2338015

"Guest Post — Speak Finance: Gain University Support for Open Scholarship "

Over the past ten years, Carnegie Doctoral Institutions with Very High Research Activity (R1) have received a significant portion of federal grant dollars. Although the unusual infusion of COVID research dollars will skew trends for years, on average, university revenues from all funding sources, have increased over the past ten years.. . .

During the same period of growth in university revenues, much attributed to R&D dollars, university investments in their libraries has remained around 1% of revenue. In good news, through unpredictable fluctuations in university revenues, an ARL library budget remains consistent. Unfortunately, with continuing cost increases, a flat library budget is an erosion in purchasing power. Without new investments, or substantial resource redistribution, we cannot make progress on new mandates for open data and scholarship.

https://tinyurl.com/25y6xh4d

UT Libraries Residency Program (Two Positions; 3 Year)

The UT Libraries is pleased to offer two positions in our three-year residency program for early career librarians and archivists. We seek prospective applicants looking to deepen their experience in the field of academic libraries and/or archives. The residency program will provide specialized training, continuing education, and mentorship based on the resident’s professional interests and goals.

https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/residency-program

Valuing OER in the Tenure, Promotion, and Reappointment Process

This book of case studies is meant to aid faculty, librarians, administrators, and staff members as they attempt to make their work or others’ work on Open Educational Resources (OER) matter in the tenure, promotion, and reappointment process at their institutions.

Example case study: "Demonstrating the Impact of OER Work for Promotion to Full Librarian"

https://pressbooks.cuny.edu/tenureandpromotioncasestudies/

"Evolving AI Strategies in Libraries: Insights from Two Polls of ARL Member Representatives over Nine Months—Report Published"

To effectively chart this [AI] transition, two quick polls were conducted among members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to capture changing perspectives on the potential impact of AI, assess the extent of AI exploration and implementation within libraries, and identify AI applications relevant to the current library environment.

Today, ARL has released the results of the two polls—analyzing and juxtaposing the outcomes of these two surveys to better understand how library leaders are managing the complexities of integrating AI into their operations and services. The report also includes recommendations for ARL research libraries.

https://tinyurl.com/2t9nywcv

Report

"Publicly Shared Data: A Gap Analysis of Researcher Actions and Institutional Support throughout the Data Life Cycle"

[This report] examines research data management and sharing practices at six research-intensive academic institutions: Cornell University, Duke University, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Virginia Tech, and Washington University in St. Louis. Sponsored by the US National Science Foundation (grant #2135874) and part of ARL’s Realities of Academic Data Sharing (RADS) Initiative, this report highlights where service gaps may exist between researchers’ needs and the services and support provided by institutions.

https://tinyurl.com/mtdjvecu

"Developing Text and Data Mining (TDM) Support within a University Research Library"

The introduction of the text and data mining (TDM) exception in 2014 led to researchers asking for support from staff within Library Services at the University of Birmingham. An initial involvement with a funded corpus linguistics project fostered an effective partnership between the Copyright and Licensing Team and the University’s Research Infrastructure Team. This case study traces the TDM journey that Library Services has subsequently undertaken. The article will look at how staff in Copyright and Licensing and the Research Skills Team identified the original service gap. It will also look at issues impacting on supporting TDM and the results of a TDM survey that was sent to researchers. It concludes with a reflection on how the service might evolve in the future — from the creation and availability of TDM datasets, to the skills development of both librarians and the university communities they support, and the impact artificial intelligence (AI) developments might have on TDM practices.

https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.646

University Librarian and Dean of Libraries at Simon Fraser University

In alignment with What’s Next: The SFU Strategy (https://tinyurl.com/yc3z9k87) and SFU Library’s Strategic Plan (https://tinyurl.com/mr33r3fk) the Dean will lead the continued transformation of the library; will sustain, support and grow library initiatives; and will be committed to furthering decolonization and reconciliation (per the statement at (https://tinyurl.com/55284ns4), diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. As an accomplished librarian with strong experience in post-secondary and academic environments, the Dean will lead through collaboration and relationship building to advance the mission and mandate of SFU and SFU Library. Reporting to the Provost and Vice-President Academic and working closely with the Office of the Vice-President Research and International as an active partner in the life cycle of research and scholarship, the successful candidate serves as a member of SFU’s senior administration with shared responsibility for the overall strategic leadership and management of the institution. Building on the strong foundation that SFU has established in academic and research excellence,

https://tinyurl.com/mryakkd9

"Fair Use Rights to Conduct Text and Data Mining and Use Artificial Intelligence Tools Are Essential for UC Research and Teaching"

The UC Libraries invest more than $60 million each year licensing systemwide electronic content needed by scholars for these and other studies. (Indeed, the $60 million figure represents license agreements made at the UC systemwide and multi-campus levels. But each individual campus also licenses electronic resources, adding millions more in total expenditures.) Our libraries secure campus access to a broad range of digital resources including books, scientific journals, databases, multimedia resources, and other materials. In doing so, the UC Libraries must negotiate licensing terms that ensure scholars can make both lawful and comprehensive use of the materials the libraries have procured. Increasingly, however, publishers and vendors are presenting libraries with content license agreements that attempt to preclude, or charge additional and unsupportable fees for, fair uses like training AI tools in the course of conducting TDM. . . .

If the UC Libraries are unable to protect these fair uses, UC scholars will be at the mercy of publishers aggregating and controlling what may be done with the scholarly record. Further, UC scholars’ pursuit of knowledge will be disproportionately stymied relative to academic colleagues in other global regions, given that a large proportion of other countries preclude contractual override of research exceptions.

Indeed, in more than forty countries—including all those within the European Union (EU)—publishers are prohibited from using contracts to abrogate exceptions to copyright in non-profit scholarly and educational contexts. Article 3 of the EU’s Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market preserves the right for scholars within research organizations and cultural heritage institutions (like those researchers at UC) to conduct TDM for scientific research, and further proscribes publishers from invalidating this exception by license agreements (see Article 7). Moreover, under AI regulations recently adopted by the European Parliament, copyright owners may not opt out of having their works used in conjunction with artificial intelligence tools in TDM research—meaning copyrighted works must remain available for scientific research that is reliant on AI training, and publishers cannot override these AI training rights through contract. Publishers are thus obligated to—and do—preserve fair use-equivalent research exceptions for TDM and AI within the EU, and can do so in the United States, too. . . .

In all events, adaptable licensing language can address publishers’ concerns by reiterating that the licensed products may be used with AI tools only to the extent that doing so would not: i. create a competing or commercial product or service for use by third parties; ii. unreasonably disrupt the functionality of the subscribed products; or iii. reproduce or redistribute the subscribed products for third parties. In addition, license agreements can require commercially reasonable security measures (as also required in the EU) to extinguish the risk of content dissemination beyond permitted uses. In sum, these licensing terms can replicate the research rights that are unequivocally reserved for scholars elsewhere.

https://tinyurl.com/4fvpdz35

"Supporting Open Access Monographs: Penn State University Libraries’ Participation in the TOME Initiative"

In 2017, Penn State pledged to participate in the then newly established Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem (TOME) Initiative. TOME was launched by the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) as a five-year pilot with two main types of participants: colleges and universities and university presses. Penn State was one of the first universities to commit funds to participate in TOME, which was designed to support peer-reviewed, open access monographs in the humanities and social sciences. Each participating university committed $225,000 total for the five-year pilot, split out into $45,000 per academic year to support three grants of $15,000 per monograph. This number was established based on the recommendation from the Ithaka S+R Report "The Costs of Publishing Monographs."

https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.85.3.66

"Using AI/Machine Learning to Extract Data from Japanese American Confinement Records"

Purpose: This paper examines the use of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning to extract a more comprehensive data set from a structured “standardized” form used to document Japanese American incarcerees during World War II.

Setting/Participants/Resources: The Bancroft Library partnered with Densho, a community memory organization, and Doxie.AI to complete this work.

Brief Description: The project digitized the complete set of Form WRA-26 "individual record"’ for more than 110,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated in War Relocation Authority camps during WWII. The library utilized AI/machine learning to automate text extraction from over 220,000 images of a structured "standardized" form; our goal was to improve upon and collect information not previously recorded in the Japanese American Internee Data file held by the National Archives and Records Administration. The project team worked with technical, academic, legal, and community partners to address ethical and logistical issues raised by the data extraction process, and to assess appropriate access options for the dataset(s) and digitized records.

https://doi.org/10.7191/jeslib.850

"A Descriptive Analysis of AI Guides in Academic Libraries"

The purpose of this work is to do an exploratory descriptive analysis of topics included in Artificial Intelligence (AI) electronic library guides of academic libraries. AI library guides from members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) are chosen for selection. Of the 48 libraries randomly selected, 25 have AI guides. Data collected was subject to a content analysis process which included the use of terms co-occurrence using the VOSviewer software. The results show three clusters of terms, which are complemented with the discussion of materials found in the guides.

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/8033/

"Christina H. Gola Named Interim Dean of University of Houston Libraries"

University of Houston (UH) has appointed Christina H. Gola interim dean of UH Libraries. . . . Prior to this appointment, Gola served as the associate dean for Organizational Development, Learning, and Talent (ODLT). She has worked with UH Libraries for 15 years and was promoted to full librarian in 2021. Gola is leading the “Reimagined Libraries” endeavor, which focuses on enhancing spaces and leveraging campus partnerships for the benefit of students and scholars.

http://tinyurl.com/m33w5x6v

Vice Provost for Libraries & University Librarian at University of Missouri

The next Vice Provost will be joining the institution during a period of incredible growth and opportunities. During the past three years, the University of Missouri has achieved historic highs in student success (retention, graduation, and placement rates), research expenditures, state appropriations and alumni support. The next Vice Provost will have the opportunity to support these areas of excellence by enhancing the opportunities, activities, and initiatives of MU Libraries and acting as an advocate and catalyst for an integrated libraries vision for one of the most comprehensive universities in the United States.

http://tinyurl.com/5abcfef6

"Realities of Academic Data Sharing (RADS) Initiative Releases Reports on Expenses of Making Data Publicly Accessible, Project Methodology"

This report presents data on the average yearly cost of DMS activities for institutional units, as well as direct DMS expenses incurred by researchers per funded research project. These expenses were then analyzed together, showing an average combined overall cost of $2,500,000 (with total institutional expenses ranging from approximately $800,000 to over $6,000,000).

http://tinyurl.com/5xsw32we

"The University of North Carolina Selects Ex Libris Library Solutions"

As part of its transition to Ex Libris library platforms, UNC will implement:

Alma and Primo

Leganto, Ex Libris’ course resource management system

Library Mobile, Ex Libris’ integrated mobile library app and

Rapido, Ex Libris’ interlibrary loan system

http://tinyurl.com/rvumvpeh

"Athena Jackson Named UCLA University Librarian"

Athena N. Jackson has been named UCLA’s Norman and Armena Powell University Librarian. Her appointment will begin March 1.

Jackson, the former director of special collections at UCLA Library, has served since 2021 as dean of libraries at the University of Houston, where she holds the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Chair. . . .

At the University of Houston, Jackson was responsible for oversight of the library’s administrative activities, a team of more than 125 and an annual budget of $21 million, providing programmatic and strategic leadership while playing a critical role in development activities. She was also active in open-scholarship dialogues at state and national levels, drawing on her rich background in rare and archival collections.

http://tinyurl.com/2u3j67p7

"UC Berkeley Chooses Suzanne Wones as New University Librarian"

UC Berkeley has chosen a new University Librarian, Suzanne L. Wones, who is associate university librarian for discovery and access at Harvard Library. Wones, with 20 years’ experience as a leader in academic libraries, will start her new post July 1, following University Librarian Jeffrey MacKie-Mason’s retirement.

Berkeley’s commitment to open access— the free, immediate, online availability of research published in journals and books — attracted Wones to the position, as well as the many other ways the campus strives to remedy global inequities.

http://tinyurl.com/c58xn7c6

H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and Director of Libraries at University of Pennsylvania

The Director will be a visionary, collegial, entrepreneurial, and courageous leader who will nurture, sustain, and extend the record of strength established by Penn Libraries and its personnel. This is a liminal moment for the University and the Libraries: a new university strategic framework, In Principle and Practice, was released in Fall 2023 and sets forth a vision of an institution anchored in the campus, local, and global communities; interwoven and interconnected; inventive in confronting society’s great challenges and opportunities; and engaged in service and collaboration. The Libraries themselves are in the midst of a strategic plan for building technical, structural, and human capacity, which includes a digital strategic plan that presents a broad vision to plan, implement, scale, and sustain digital technologies and practices.

http://tinyurl.com/zyc7cxvj

"ARL Statistics 2022 Publications Describe Resources, Services of Member Libraries"

These three publications present information describing the collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities of 123 of the Association’s 126 member libraries in 2022. Of these 123 members, 118 are university libraries (16 in Canada and 102 in the US); the remaining 5 are governmental, nonprofit, and public research libraries in the US. The law and health sciences publications focus on the 72 law libraries and 57 medical libraries among the Association’s membership that completed the law and health sciences surveys.

https://tinyurl.com/mrxaej4e

"ARL Annual Salary Survey 2022 Reports Data on Professional Positions in Member Libraries"

The median salary for professionals in US ARL university libraries in 2022 was $80,454, an increase of 4.0% over the 2021 median salary of $77,353. The US CPI rose 8.5% during the same period. The Canadian CPI rose 7.6%, and median salaries in Canadian university libraries increased 1.9% from $105,431 (Canadian dollars) to $107,426 (Canadian dollars). The median salary for US federal, nonprofit, and public ARL libraries decreased by 11.3 from $90,197 in 2021 to $80,009 in 2022.

https://tinyurl.com/bdzjh3ex

NYU: "From Silos to Community: The Path to a Holistic Digital Preservation Policy"

While New York University Libraries has a long history of and commitment to digital collecting and preservation efforts, the institution did not have any policies governing the services and activities of digital preservation prior to 2022. This paper details the creation of a holistic digital preservation policy statement, with contributors from across ten functional units at NYU Libraries. The policy was grounded in the Libraries’ mission and values–including deep commitments to inclusion, diversity, belonging, equity, and accessibility–and drew on themes crafted by all members of the group to ensure their work was represented in the statement. The success of the policy group was rooted in its intentional formation and processes that acknowledged the distributed nature of digital preservation and emphasized the creation of a community of practice. Further, it laid the foundation for a more complete suite of preservation policies and forward-looking conversations about how to enact ethical and sustainable stewardship in digital collecting, access, and preservation practices

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/128309

Paywall: "FAST Headings in MODS: Michigan State University Libraries Digital Repository Case Study"

Since 2016, the [MSUL] digital repository has been using Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) subject headings as its primary subject vocabulary. . . The MSUL FAST use case presents some challenges that are not addressed by existing MARC-focused FAST tools. This paper will outline the MSUL digital repository team’s justification for including FAST headings in the digital repository as well as workflows for adding FAST headings to Metadata Object Description Schema (MODS) metadata, their maintenance, and utilization for discovery.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2023.2213708

| Research Data Publication and Citation Bibliography | Research Data Sharing and Reuse Bibliography | Research Data Curation and Management Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |