Category: ARL Libraries

Recommendations of the Ad Hoc Task Force on Open Access to MIT’s Research

MIT has released "Recommendations of the Ad Hoc Task Force on Open Access to MIT's Research."

Here's an excerpt:

The recommendations include ratifying an Institute-wide set of principles for open science and open scholarship, which affirm MIT's larger commitment to the idea that scholarship and its dissemination should remain in the hands of researchers and their institutions. The MIT Libraries are working with the task force and the Committee on the Library System to develop a framework for negotiations with publishers based on these principles.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 10 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Quality Control for Media Digitization Projects"

Michael Casey has published "Quality Control for Media Digitization Projects" in the Journal of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives.

Here's an excerpt:

his article defines types of quality control and explores risk management strategies that are broadly applicable to any organization engaged in media digitization for long-term preservation. It uses the quality control system for audio and video digitization that was developed by Indiana University’s Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative to provide examples and illustrations of these ideas.

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Special Issue: Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

ARL has released a special issue of Research Library Issues on the "ethics of artificial intelligence."

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

To frame this discussion, we invited three individuals to share their expertise and recommendations in this issue of RLI. In the first article, Sylvester Johnson, the founding director of the Center for Humanities and the assistant vice provost for the humanities at Virginia Tech, focuses on the role of ethics in innovation. AI, like other influential technologies, can be a force for innovation, and is known to have harmful as well as helpful implications, which Johnson examines.

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"Developing a Data Management Consultation Service for Faculty Researchers: A Case Study from a Large Midwestern Public University "

Virginia A Dressler et al. have published "Developing a Data Management Consultation Service for Faculty Researchers: A Case Study from a Large Midwestern Public University" in the International Journal of Digital Curation.

Here's an excerpt:

To inform the development of data management services, a library research team at Kent State University conducted a survey of all tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure track faculty about their data management practices and perceptions. The methodology and results will be presented in the article, as well as how this information was used to inform future work in the library's internal working group. Recommendations will be presented that other academic libraries could model in order to develop similar services at their institutions. Personal anecdotes are included that help ascertain current practices and sentiments around research data from the perspective of the researcher. The article addresses the particular needs of a large Midwestern U.S. academic campus, which are not currently reflected in literature on the topic.

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University Librarian and Dean of Libraries at University of Illinois at Chicago

The University of Illinois at Chicago is recruiting an University Librarian and Dean of Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The University of Illinois at Chicago invites expressions of interest and nominations for the position of University Librarian and Dean of Libraries. The University seeks an experienced and strategic leader who will create a vision and a plan to advance the mission of the University by building on the Library's momentum to provide innovative services to diverse users and communities. The Dean reports to the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, is the executive officer for the University Library and is a permanent member of the University Deans Council.

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"The Impact of Targeted Data Management Training for Field Research Projects—A Case Study"

Jonathan L. Petters et al. have published "The Impact of Targeted Data Management Training for Field Research Projects—A Case Study" in Data Science Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

We present a joint effort at Virginia Tech between a research group in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation and Data Services in the University Libraries to improve data management for long-term ecological field research projects in the Florida Panhandle. Consultative research data management support from Data Services in the University Libraries played an integral role in the development of the training curriculum. Emphasizing the importance of data quality to the field workers at the beginning of this training curriculum was a vital part of its success. Also critical for success was the research group’s investment of time and effort to work with field workers and improve data management systems. We compare this case study to three others in the literature to compare and contrast data management processes and procedures. This case study serves as one example of how targeted training and efforts in data and project management for a research project can lead to substantial improvements in research data quality.

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"Next Generation Library Publishing Partnership Awarded $2.2m from Arcadia to Improve Scholarly Publishing Infrastructures"

The Educopia Institute has released "Next Generation Library Publishing Partnership Awarded $2.2m from Arcadia to Improve Scholarly Publishing Infrastructures."

Here's an excerpt:

Through this project, Educopia and its partner institutions—California Digital Library (CDL), Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR), Longleaf Services, LYRASIS, and Strategies for Open Science (Stratos)—will provide new publishing pathways for authors, editors, and readers by advancing and integrating open source publishing infrastructure to provide robust support for library publishing.

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The Public-Access Computer Systems Review, an Open Access Journal, Was Launched 30 Years Ago This August

On 8/16/1989, the University of Houston Libraries launched The Public-Access Computer Systems Review (PACS Review). Its first issue was published in January 1990.

What were some of the distinguishing characteristics of this early digital journal?

  • It was a born-digital journal. Major journal publishers, such as Elsevier, would experiment with providing access to born-print journals in university settings starting in the mid-1990's.
  • It was peer reviewed by a distinguished international editorial board with members from Canada, the USA and the UK.
  • It was officially published by an research library.
  • It was a library and information science journal with librarians primarily acting as editors and editorial board members.
  • It allowed authors to retain copyright.
  • It had special copyright provisions for noncommercial use.
  • It was freely available.
  • It adopted an accelerated publication schedule to publish articles as quickly as possible.
  • It published articles by influential authors, such as Stevan Harnad, John Kunze, John Price Wilkin, Ann Okerson, Vicky Reich, and John Unsworth.
  • It allowed authors to publish updated versions of their articles.
  • It was issued an ISSN number in 1990.
  • It was indexed by three major index and abstracting services.

Below is a description of the journal. For information about other early digital publishing projects by libraries, see the Academic Library as Scholarly Publisher Bibliography.

History of the Journal

After being authorized by Robin N. Downes, the University of Houston Libraries' visionary Director, the journal was announced on the PACS-L discussion list on August 16, 1989. A call for papers was issued on October 16, 1989. The publication of the first issue was announced on January 3, 1990. The journal was cataloged on OCLC and assigned an ISSN number (1048-6542) by the Library of Congress National Serials Data Program on February 1, 1990.

Initially, the journal published scholarly papers (Communications section), columns, and reviews. Papers in the Communications section were selected by the Editor-in-Chief and the Associate Editor, Communications. A private mailing list was utilized for communication with editorial staff and Editorial Board members. Most communication with authors was done via e-mail, including paper submission.

The PACS Review was published three times a year. New issue announcements were distributed as e-mail messages on the PACS-L discussion list, and users retrieved the ASCII article files from the University of Houston's LISTSERV via e-mail. (LISTSERV distribution was suspended in 1999.)

Authors retained the copyright to PACS Review articles, and they gave the University of Houston the nonexclusive right to publish the articles in the journal and in future publications. Authors could republish their articles elsewhere, but they agreed to mention prior publication of the articles in the PACS Review within these works. Copying of PACS Review articles was permitted for educational, noncommercial use by academic computer centers, individual scholars, and libraries.

On October 29, 1991, the journal adopted a more flexible publication schedule that reduced article publication time.

A Refereed Articles section of the journal was announced on November 11, 1991, and a call for papers was issued on February 6, 1992. The Refereed Articles section included papers that were peer reviewed by Editorial Board members using a double-blind review procedure, which was usually conducted via e-mail. The publication of the first refereed paper was announced on April 6, 1992.

Between 1992 and 1996, the first five volumes of The Public-Access Computer Systems Review were also published in book form by the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA). Walt Crawford prepared the camera-ready copy for these volumes and Charles W. Bailey, Jr. provided editorial support.

Starting on April 6, 1992, PACS Review issue publication announcements were also distributed on the PACS-P list.

On January 29, 1994, the distribution of the journal via University of Houston Libraries' Gopher server was announced. (Gopher distribution was suspended in 1998.) The journal ceased publishing reviews in 1994.

On March 9, 1995, the distribution of the journal via University of Houston Libraries' Web server was announced.

Starting with the first issue of volume six (March 21, 1995), the PACS Review: (1) published articles in both ASCII and HTML formats, (2) offered HTML articles with both internal and external links, and (3) gave authors the option of updating the HTML version of their articles. The first updated article was "Network-Based Electronic Publishing of Scholarly Works: A Selective Bibliography" by Charles W. Bailey, Jr., which was updated 25 times.

At the end of 1996, Mr. Bailey stepped down as Editor-in-Chief.

Pat Ensor and Thomas C. Wilson became Editors-in-Chief in January 1997. They edited volumes eight (1997) and nine (1998). Publication of the last issue was announced on June 18, 1998. Papers were under consideration for publication until August 2000, when the journal ceased operation.

During its nine years of publication, the PACS Review published 42 issues that included 112 articles, columns, reviews, and editorials.

The PACS Review was indexed in Current Index to Journals in Education, Information Science Abstracts, and Library Literature.

The journal is archived on the Internet Archive and the Texas Digital Library.

Editorial Staff

Editors-in-Chief

  • Charles W. Bailey, Jr., 1989-1996
  • Pat Ensor, 1997-2000
  • Thomas C. Wilson, 1997-2000

Associate and Copy Editors

  • Leslie Dillon, Associate Editor (1990) and Associate Editor, Columns (1991-1997)
  • Elizabeth A. Dupuis, Associate Editor, Columns (1997-2000)
  • John E. Fadell, Copy Editor (1998-2000)
  • Andrea Bean Hough, Associate Editor, Communications (1997-2000)
  • Mike Ridley, Associate Editor (1989-1990) and Associate Editor, Reviews (1991)
  • Dana Rooks, Associate Editor, Communications (1991-1997)
  • Robert Spragg, Associate Editor, Technical Support (1996-2000)
  • Roy Tennant, Associate Editor, Reviews (1992-1993)
  • Ann Thornton, Associate Editor, Production (1995-2000)

Editorial Board Members

  • Ralph Alberico (1992-2000)
  • George H. Brett II (1992-2000)
  • Priscilla Caplan (1994-2000)
  • Steve Cisler (1992-2000)
  • Walt Crawford (1989-2000)
  • Lorcan Dempsey (1992-2000)
  • Pat Ensor (1994-1996)
  • Nancy Evans (1989-2000)
  • Stephen Harter (1997-2000)
  • Charles Hildreth (1992-2000)
  • Ronald Larsen (1992-2000)
  • Clifford Lynch (1992-2000)
  • David R. McDonald (1989-2000)
  • R. Bruce Miller (1989-2000)
  • Ann Okerson (1997-2000)
  • Paul Evan Peters (1989-1996)
  • Mike Ridley (1992-2000)
  • Peggy Seiden (1995-2000)
  • Peter Stone (1989-2000)
  • John E. Ulmschneider (1992-2000)

Columnists

  • Priscilla Caplan (1992-1998)
  • Walt Crawford (1989-1995)
  • Martin Halbert (1990-1993)

Use Statistics

Only partial use statistics are available for the journal. LISTSERV use statistics were not tallied. From 1994 through 1996, the journal received over 81,000 Gopher requests. From March 1995 through 2006, the journal received over 4.2 million Web file requests.

Articles About the Journal

Speech about the Journal

Reviews of the Journal

A Look Back at 30 Years as an Open Access Publisher | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"ARL, CNI, EDUCAUSE Form Strategic Partnership to Advance Research Libraries’ Impact in a World Shaped by New Technologies"

ARL has released "ARL, CNI, EDUCAUSE Form Strategic Partnership to Advance Research Libraries' Impact in a World Shaped by New Technologies."

Here's an excerpt:

The three partner organizations are focused on understanding how such technologies and emerging disciplines as data science, artificial intelligence, mobility and ubiquitous networking, cloud and ambient computing, augmented/virtual reality, and the internet of things are—and are not—fundamentally transforming the way research and learning occur. More specifically, the partners will focus on understanding the role research libraries are playing and need to play in this dynamic context.

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"Raising Visibility in the Digital Humanities Landscape: Academic Engagement and the Question of the Library’s Role"

Kathleen Kasten-Mutkus et al. have published "Raising Visibility in the Digital Humanities Landscape: Academic Engagement and the Question of the Library's Role" in Digital Humanities Quarterly.

Here's an excerpt:

Academic libraries have an important role to play in supporting digital humanities projects in their communities. Librarians at Stony Brook University Libraries host Open Mic events for digital humanities researchers, teachers, and students on campus. Inspired by a desire to better serve digital humanists with existing projects, this event was initially organized to increase the visibility of scholars and students with nascent projects and connect these digital humanists to library supported resources and to one another. For the Libraries, the Open Mic was an opportunity to understand the scope and practices of the digital humanities community at Stony Brook, and to identify ways to make meaningful interventions.

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"The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program’s Commitment to Open Access"

Sarah Seymore, has published "The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program's Commitment to Open Access" in the OLA Quarterly.

Here's an excerpt:

The Oregon Digital Newspaper Program (ODNP) at the University of Oregon Libraries is an initiative to digitize historic and current Oregon newspapers, making them freely available to the public through a keyword-searchable online database. The ODNP is committed to open access and has included collaboration and data sharing with larger programs like the Library of Congress' Chronicling America historic newspaper website. Since 2015, the ODNP has increased its open access mission by archiving and hosting born-digital newspaper content, as well as continuing digitization of historic newspapers from microfilm and print. This article outlines the ODNP's past and current open access efforts, inclusion of diverse content, and open source, sustainable applications, websites, and workflows.

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Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem: "Cornell Joins TOME Open Monograph Initiative as 15th University Member"

ARL has released "Cornell Joins TOME Open Monograph Initiative as 15th University Member."

Here's an excerpt:

The Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) welcome Cornell University to the Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem initiative. This pilot effort aims to support the digital publication of peer-reviewed scholarly books by participating university presses, allowing the free publication of these works online and broadly improving access to these works by scholars and the public.

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"Xuemao Wang Named Vice Provost of Digital Scholarship for University of Cincinnati"

ARL has released "Xuemao Wang Named Vice Provost of Digital Scholarship for University of Cincinnati."

Here's an excerpt:

This new role of vice provost will cover a wide range of areas, from digital scholarship, digital media, and research data management to digital archives and preservation, digital records and assets management, and scholarly communication and digital publishing, as well as open science, open educational resources, open data, and open access. As dean, Wang will continue to provide leadership of University of Cincinnati Libraries.

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