Category: ARL Libraries

Dean of Libraries and Elizabeth D. Rockwell Chair at University of Houston

The University of Houston is recruiting a Dean of Libraries and Elizabeth D. Rockwell Chair.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The University of Houston invites nominations and applications for the position of Dean of Libraries and Elizabeth D. Rockwell Chair. The Dean of Libraries leads the University Libraries and advances the University's mission of research and teaching by ensuring the provision of outstanding library services. The University Libraries comprises the M.D. Anderson Library and three branch libraries (Music, Optometry, and Architecture and Art). The Dean of Libraries serves as the chief executive of the Libraries, with responsibility for oversight of all administrative activities, including budget and personnel management. The Dean provides programmatic and strategic leadership to the Libraries and plays a critical role in the Libraries' development activities. The Dean represents the Libraries within the University, and at the local, state, and national levels. The Dean reports directly to the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost and is a member of the Council of Deans. . . .

The University Libraries employs over 69 professionals and 135 support staff. Overall, the campus libraries provide access to over 3.1 million volumes. The UH Libraries are a member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Greater Western Library Alliance, the Hathi Trust, the Council on Library and Information Resources, the Digital Library Federation, and the Texas Digital Library. The Libraries enjoy an endowment of over $7 million, including three endowed chairs.

The Libraries actively supported the University's Tier One effort and continues to focus on UH System's Strategic Initiatives. The Libraries' 2013-2016 Strategic Directions reflect the University's top priorities and position the Libraries to be a contributor to these priorities.

The University of Houston is a publicly supported university, enrolling nearly 40,000 students. The University of Houston campus comprises 13 colleges and schools offering close to 80 degree programs. The University holds the classification of research university with very high activity, the highest Carnegie Foundation designation. Reflecting the multicultural community of metropolitan Houston, UH is one of the most ethnically diverse research university campuses in the nation.

An overview of the UH Libraries and a video are available. Short biographies of Paula Myrick Short (Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, UH System, and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, UH) and Renu Khator (Chancellor, UH System, and President, UH) are available on UH's leadership page. Information about the UH System and its four component universities is available at its website.

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"E-Science as a Catalyst for Transformational Change in University Research Libraries"

Mary E. Piorun has self-archived her dissertaion "E-Science as a Catalyst for Transformational Change in University Research Libraries."

Here's an excerpt:

Changes in how research is conducted, from the growth of e-science to the emergence of big data, have lead to new opportunities for librarians to become involved in the creation and management of research data, at the same time the duties and responsibilities of university libraries continue to evolve. This study examines those roles related to e-science while exploring the concept of transformational change and leadership issues in bringing about such a change. Using the framework established by Levy and Merry for first- and second-order change, four case studies of libraries whose institutions are members in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) are developed.

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Anne Kenney Given 2014 Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award

Anne Kenney has been given the 2014 Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Anne R. Kenney, the Carl A. Kroch University Librarian at Cornell University, has been named the 2014 winner of the Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award. The American Library Association (ALA) will present the award to Kenney at the ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas this summer. Kenney is being honored for her innovative achievements and service to the profession, especially her leadership on such projects as 2CUL, arXiv, Project Euclid, and Making of America; her work on large-scale digitization and digital preservation standards; and her global contributions in Myanmar, Cuba, China, and elsewhere.

See also: "Anne R. Kenney Wins 2014 Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award."

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Dana C. Rooks to Step Down as Dean of the University of Houston Libraries

Dana C. Rooks has announced her intention to step down as Dean of the University of Houston Libraries when her successor is appointed.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

"Dana has helped shape library services in the state of Texas," [Provost Paula] Short said in the email. "She is recognized as one of the founders of TexShare, an innovative model for statewide library resource sharing. She is also one of the founders of the Texas Digital Library and currently serves as chair of its governing board." . . .

"I am pleased that upon her stepping down, she has agreed to assist me on several new initiatives in a new role in the provost office," Short said in the email.

Among her many accomplishments, Rooks was active in the UH Libraries' pioneering digital publishing program, serving as an associate editor of The Public-Access Computer Systems Review, the first open access journal in the field of library and information science, founding co-editor of Public-Access Computer Systems News, an early electronic newsletter, and moderator of PACS-L, an early LISTSERV mailing list about public-access computers in libraries.

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Université de Montréal Will Cancel about 75% of Wiley Online Library Periodicals

The Université de Montréal will cancel about 75% of its Wiley Online Library periodicals.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Out of 1510 periodicals in the Wiley Online Library, the Université de Montréal is cancelling subscriptions to 1142 titles at the end of January. As a result, and from this point on, the articles found in the cancelled titles will no longer be available on-line. However, access to earlier issues will be entirely maintained.

This action results from a process that started a long while ago. The financial cut-backs imposed by the Québec government only accelerated the decision process. The result of the analysis is simple: libraries have been driven to the wall because of the yearly rise of subscriptions to periodicals that hover between 3% and 6%. They cannot go on cutting back the acquisition of monographs to compensate for such price increases. As a result, this conclusion, as well as the adopted solution, would have been the same a few years down the line, independently of the financial context.

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Press and Library Collaboration Survey

The AAUP Library Relations Committee has released the Press and Library Collaboration Survey.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The Library Relations Committee of the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) today issued a number of broad conclusions and recommendations for successful collaboration between presses and libraries. These conclusions are the product of extensive surveying and interviews with member institutions of both AAUP and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), conducted through 2012-2013.

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"The Confluence of Collections at Johns Hopkins’s Sheridan Libraries"

Liz Mengel has published "The Confluence of Collections at Johns Hopkins's Sheridan Libraries" in a special issue of Research Library Issues on mainstreaming special collections.

Here's an excerpt:

Since the creation of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library in 1964, Special Collections at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) has been housed in the main library and has been a part of the daily flow of overall library operations. As with many other special collections departments, this department was securely sheltered behind doors where the staff performed similar activities to other library departments such as collection development, reference, and instruction. Over the past four years, the Sheridan Libraries have been making deliberate efforts to remove the metaphorical silos that separate Special Collections and other library departments. In particular, the libraries have done this by looking at how collection funds are used and by blending positions to work in both Special Collections and the Academic Liaison Department.

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Yolanda Cooper Named University Librarian at Emory University

Yolanda Cooper has been named University Librarian at Emory University.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Cooper will join Emory from the University of Miami, where she has most recently served as librarian associate professor, deputy university librarian, and acting dean and university librarian.

On Jan. 15, Cooper will step into the new role leading the Emory Libraries—part of a broad, overall organizational restructuring implemented under the leadership of Rich Mendola, enterprise chief information officer and senior vice provost of library services and digital scholarship, that has combined Emory's library and informational technology organizations and reflects the increasingly important relationship between digital technologies and research libraries. . . .

Cooper has 25 years of administrative experience in university libraries across five research library systems.

At the University of Miami, Cooper has been responsible for services, programming and operations of all libraries on the Coral Gables and Virginia Key campuses. Her background also includes work with research library systems at Indiana University Bloomington, the University of Virginia, the University of Northern Colorado, and the University of Illinois, Urbana.

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Constantia Constantinou Named Dean of University Libraries at Stony Brook University

Constantia Constantinou has been named Dean of University Libraries at Stony Brook University.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Constantinou has served as the Library Director and Library Department Chair at the SUNY Maritime College Library since 2001. The SUNY Maritime College Library is considered a premier maritime library, a national leader in maritime collections, innovative research services, and rare collections. Under her direction, the Library's world-renowned rare collections have been enhanced with strong museum partnerships and collaborations with professional organizations. Constantinou has also served in a number of library leadership positions on advisory councils and governing boards, leading library organizations through ambitious strategic processes, partnerships in resource sharing and innovative services.

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New Roles for New Times: Transforming Liaison Roles in Research Libraries

ARL has released New Roles for New Times: Transforming Liaison Roles in Research Libraries.

Here's an excerpt:

The liaison role in research libraries is rapidly evolving. An engagement model in which library liaisons and functional specialists collaborate to understand and address the wide range of processes in instruction and scholarship is replacing the traditional tripartite model of collections, reference, and instruction. New roles in research services, digital humanities, teaching and learning, digital scholarship, user experience, and copyright and scholarly communication are being developed at research libraries across the country, requiring professional development and re-skilling of current staff, creative approaches to increase staff capacity, the development of new spaces and infrastructure, and collaborative partnerships within libraries, across campus units, and among research institutions.

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Digital Image Collections and Services, SPEC Kit 335

ARL has released Digital Image Collections and Services, SPEC Kit 335.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

ARL has published Digital Image Collections and Services, SPEC Kit 335, which examines how research libraries and their parent institutions have responded to the transition from analog to digital images and the growth of digital images available from commercial vendors and/or created within institutions or their libraries. The survey gathers information about current practices relating to the development and management of institutional digital image collections and the acquisition and use of licensed image databases.

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Martha Bedard Named Vice Provost for University of Connecticut Libraries

Martha Bedard has been appointed as the Vice Provost for University of Connecticut Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Martha Bedard has been appointed the Vice Provost for University of Connecticut Libraries, effective October 14. She is currently Dean of University Libraries at the University of New Mexico, a position she has held since 2007. . . .

Prior to New Mexico, Bedard held positions at Texas A&M University (TAMU) and the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. At TAMU, she served in various leadership roles beginning in 2000, including Associate Dean for Information and Collection Services. Her previous positions at TAMU also included Associate Dean and Director of the Medical Sciences Library, Associate Dean for Advanced Studies, and Associate Dean for Digital Initiatives.

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Library Publishing Coalition Launches Website

The Library Publishing Coalition has launched a website.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The Library Publishing Coalition (LPC)—a library led, two-year initiative to advance the field of library publishing—has launched its new website at http://www.librarypublishing.org/. Current LPC activities include development of a Shared Documentation Portal that hosts model documents, compilation of a Directory of Library Publishing Services, and planning for a forum to be held in March 2014.

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Names John P. Wilkin as University Librarian and Dean of Libraries

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has named John P. Wilkin as its new University Librarian and Dean of Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Wilkin is an associate university librarian at the University of Michigan, where he also leads Michigan's library information technology and publishing divisions, including the University of Michigan Press. He also is the executive director of the HathiTrust Digital Library, an online repository established in 2008 to unite the digitized collections of more than 60 research libraries, including the U. of I.'s, in an effort to preserve the published cultural record.

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AAU, APLU, and ARL: Shared Access Research Ecosystem (SHARE) Proposal

The Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and ARL have released a draft of the Shared Access Research Ecosystem (SHARE) proposal.

Here's an excerpt:

Research universities are long-lived and are mission-driven to generate, make accessible, and preserve over time new knowledge and understanding. Research universities collectively have the assets needed for a national solution for enhanced public access to federally funded research output. As the principal producers of the resources that are to be made publicly available under the new White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)[1] memorandum, and that are critical to the continuing success of higher education in the United States, universities have invested in the infrastructure, tools, and services necessary to provide effective and efficient access to their research and scholarship. The new White House directive provides a compelling reason to integrate higher education's investments to date into a system of cross-institutional digital repositories that will be known as Shared Access Research Ecosystem (SHARE).

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"ARL Library Budgets after the Great Recession, 2011-13"

Charles B. Lowry has published "ARL Library Budgets after the Great Recession, 2011-13" in the latest issue of Research Library Issues: A Report from ARL, CNI, and SPARC.

Here's an excerpt:

In short, for five years ARL institutions have been in a pattern that departs from the historic expectation of increased funding intended to at least ameliorate the inflation rate for library acquisitions and the cost of operations and personnel. Like acquisitions, administrative budgets have demonstrably suffered more since 2008 than at any time in recent decades. In sum, the downturn of 2008 was followed by a progressive de-funding of library budgets that reflected what was happening in higher education institutions generally. Recent years are best characterized as highly volatile. The trends do not encourage optimism that budgets have turned the corner, and this will have consequences for the teaching and research within higher education and in the market place of scholarly communications internationally.

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John P. Culshaw Named University Librarian at University of Iowa

John P. Culshaw has been named University Librarian at the University of Iowa.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Culshaw joined the university libraries at CU-Boulder in 1991 as central reference librarian. From 1996 to 2008, he oversaw the libraries' Systems Department, providing leadership and direction for information technology, media, and web services. In 2008 he was appointed associate director for administrative services. His position was renamed senior associate dean of libraries in 2011.

As senior associate dean, Culshaw provides administrative and budgetary leadership for libraries that have an annual budget of $20.9 million and staff in six physical locations.

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Gerald Beasley Appointed Vice-Provost and Chief Librarian at University of Alberta

Gerald Beasley has been appointed Vice-Provost and Chief Librarian at the University of Alberta.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Concordia University Librarian Gerald Beasley has been appointed vice-provost and chief librarian at the University of Alberta, effective July 1, 2013, for a five-year term. . . . .

Beasley came to Concordia in 2008 from Columbia University, where he was director of the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library. His previous appointments include the positions of head librarian and associate chief curator at the Canadian Centre for Architecture. Beasley holds an MA in Library Studies from University College, and an MA and BA in English Language and Literature from Oxford University.

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"Dealing with Data: Science Librarians’ Participation in Data Management at Association of Research Libraries Institutions"

College & Research Libraries has released an e-print of "Dealing with Data: Science Librarians' Participation in Data Management at Association of Research Libraries Institutions"

Here's an excerpt:

This study, a survey of science librarians at institutions affiliated with the Association of Research Libraries, investigates science librarians' awareness of and involvement in institutional repositories, data repositories, and data management support services at their institutions. The study also explores the roles and responsibilities, both new and traditional, that science librarians have assumed related to data management, and the skills that science librarians believe are necessary to meet the demands of data management work. The results reveal themes of both uncertainty and optimism—uncertainty about the roles of librarians, libraries, and other campus entities; uncertainty about the skills that will be required; but also optimism about applying "traditional" librarian skills to this emerging field of academic librarianship.

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ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 2010-2011

The Association of Research Libraries has released ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 2010-2011 (print: $135; $65 for ARL members; online: $170).

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

In 2010-2011, the reporting law libraries held a median of 370,485 volumes, spent a total of $216,677,517, and employed 1,987 FTE staff. Expenditures for materials and staff accounted for the bulk of total expenditures, at approximately 46% for each of the two categories. Respondents reported spending a total of $25,469,277 for electronic materials, or a median of almost 28% of their total materials budgets; this includes a total of $22,185,942 for electronic serials.

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ARL Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics 2010-2011

The Association of Research Libraries has released ARL Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics 2010-2011 (print: $135; $65 for ARL members; online: $170).

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

In 2010–2011, the reporting health sciences libraries held a median of 217,811 volumes, spent a total of $240,675,218, and employed 1,977 FTE staff. Expenditures for materials and staff accounted for the bulk of total expenditures, at approximately 52% and 38% respectively. Respondents reported spending a total of $101,124,356 for electronic materials, or a median of almost 89% of their total materials budgets; this includes a total of $97,504,002 for electronic serials.

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Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries

ARL and Ithaka S+R have released Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries .

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The research reveals that understanding the continuing costs for sustaining digital collections is a challenge across libraries. Responsibility is frequently dispersed among departments, and staff time and other costs are rarely allocated expressly to these activities or accounted for project-by-project. Almost universally, libraries are funding this activity out of their base budgets, suggesting that they will continue to need to shift funds from other things in order to support this as a priority.

While libraries are supporting these collections within their operations, the study's findings also reflect concern over sustainability, with librarians citing lack of funding and staff capacity as major challenges to sufficient investment in their digital collections. . . .

The three-part survey, designed with input from the ARL community, was sent to all ARL member libraries in the US and Canada and completed by 89 library directors, a response rate of 70%. In addition to the institutional perspective provided by library directors, library staff responded to other sections to offer insight into activities and costs for all of their institution's digitized collections, and questions about individual projects.

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Ed Van Gemert Named Vice Provost for Libraries and University Librarian at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Ed Van Gemert has been named the Vice Provost for Libraries and University Librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Van Gemert served as deputy director and associate director for public services in the General Library System before assuming interim leadership. He also held the interim role in 2006, while former librarian Ken Frazier served as interim UW-Madison chief information officer. Van Gemert is an active member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation and the Council of Wisconsin Libraries. He also chairs the Strategic Advisory Board of the HathiTrust, a partnership of major research institutions and libraries working to preserve and ensure access to the record of human knowledge. His research interests include organizational management and digital library development.

| Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works (EPUB, PDF, paperback, and XHTML) | Digital Scholarship |

Changing Role of Senior Administrators, SPEC Kit 331

ARL has released the Changing Role of Senior Administrators, SPEC Kit 331.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published Changing Role of Senior Administrators, SPEC Kit 331, which focuses on the professional, administrative, and management positions that report directly to the library director (or, in some ARL member libraries, the position that serves as the representative to the Association), positions that have not been examined by a SPEC survey since 1984. This SPEC Kit explores the responsibilities of these positions, and the skills, qualifications, and competencies necessary for these administrators to successfully lead a transforming 21st-century research library. The publication looks at whether and how position requirements have changed in the past five years, whether the number of direct reports has changed, whether these administrators have assumed new areas of organizational responsibility, and how they acquire the new skills to fulfill those responsibilities.

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Report of the ARL Joint Task Force on Services to Patrons with Print Disabilities

The Association of Research Libraries has released the Report of the ARL Joint Task Force on Services to Patrons with Print Disabilities.

Here's an excerpt from:

This ARL task force report highlights emerging and promising strategies to better align research libraries with other institutional and related partners in ensuring accessibility to research resources while fully meeting legal requirements. The report addresses the technological, service, and legal factors relating to a variety of information resources with respect to print disability. These factors resonate closely with the existing research library agenda to make scholarly communication more open, to foster independence among its user base by teaching information literacy, to honor and invest in diversity, as well as to focus on the growing trend toward universal design in instruction.

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