Diane Parr Walker Named Edward H. Arnold University Librarian at the University of Notre Dame

Diane Parr Walker has been named as the Edward H. Arnold University Librarian at the University of Notre Dame. Walker is currently the Deputy University Librarian at the University of Virginia.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Since 2006, Walker has guided planning and coordination of all library services for the wide variety of disciplines represented at a large research institution. She has been responsible for Virginia's library administrative services, including finances and budget, human resources, facilities planning and maintenance, and management information services. She leads the library's strategic planning processes and directs the daily operations of a system with 12 locations, 230 faculty and staff and an operating budget of $23 million.

Among the initiatives Walker has led or in which she has played a key role were the planning and construction of a new special collections library, a major renovation of the Charles L. Brown Science & Engineering Library, opening a café in the lobby of the main library (Virginia's was among the first University libraries to do so), and long-range re-imagining of the physical facilities of the main library in preparation for a major renovation of a building that is more than 70 years old.

Walker also collaborated with colleagues in the university's information technology division on an incentive and training program for humanities faculty to help them incorporate technology in their classrooms, and more recently to coordinate a strategic institutional shift from providing computer labs to making it easier for students to use their own laptops throughout the libraries and across campus. She also developed and helped to redirect collection development and management strategies as the balance has shifted increasingly from all print and physical formats to digital.

| Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview |

Virginia Tech Names Tyler Walters as Dean of University Libraries

Virginia Tech has named Tyler Walters as its Dean of University Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Tyler Walters, associate dean for technology and resource services at the Library and Information Center at Georgia Tech, has been named dean of University Libraries at Virginia Tech. . . .

"Tyler Walters brings an outstanding vision to the university and will be an engaging and effective advocate for the libraries within the university and larger community," said Virginia Tech Senior Vice President and Provost Mark McNamee. "His view of librarians as authoritative guides and stewards of the intellectual record, coupled with his commitment to position the libraries as a strong partner in all of the academic endeavors of the university, fit exceptionally well with the needs articulated by faculty and staff when we initiated the search." . . .

Walters began his career in 1987 as an assistant in the photographic archives unit of the North Carolina Division of Archives and History in Raleigh, N.C. From 1988 to 1992, he served as the assistant university archivist at the Northwestern University Library. In 1992, he went to the Iowa State University Library as assistant professor in the special collections department. He was promoted to associate professor and served as head of the special collections department from 1996 to 1998.

In 1998, he was appointed director of the William R. Haselton Library and Knowledge Center at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology in Atlanta, now a unit of Georgia Tech. In 2002, he began as the associate director of digital and technical services at Georgia Tech, later as associate director for technology and resource services, and most recently as associate dean. . . .

Walters has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. He has raised $3.3 million in grants and gifts while at Georgia Tech.

Walters has co-founded new inter-institutional organizations such as the MetaArchive Cooperative (digital preservation services) and the GALILEO Knowledge Repository (Georgia’s statewide repository service).

| Digital Scholarship |

Harvard University Library System Reorganization

Harvard Provost Steven E. Hyman announced in a letter that Harvard President Faust and the Harvard Corporation have accepted the recommendations of the Library Implementation Work Group for reorganizing the Harvard University Library system.

Here's an excerpt:

The Work Group recommendations, which have been accepted by President Faust and the Harvard Corporation, call for establishing a coordinated management structure for the University's libraries that will balance the need for School-based strategic decisions regarding patron-facing activities with the clear need for a more harmonized approach to the global strategic, administrative, and business processes of our library system. This structural redesign will bring the libraries even closer to curricula across all Schools, allowing librarians to work arm in arm with faculty members to develop course plans that bring into the classroom the best resources that the University can access, from the latest scientific article to a page from Keats' journals. The redesign will also permit cataloging and preservation of materials to be prioritized across the entire collection, and new scholarly materials, which will largely be born in digital formats, to be shared more easily through a sustainable model that would make these materials available for generations of scholars to come.

Read more about it at "Harvard U. Library Restructuring Seeks to Unify High-Tech Services," "Library Administration to Be Redefined" and "Renewing Harvard’s Library System."

| Digital Scholarship |

National Archives and Records Administration Joins ARL

The National Archives and Records Administration has joined the Association of Research Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

At its 2010 Fall Membership Meeting held October 13-14, 2010, in Washington, DC, the membership of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) voted to invite the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to join as its 126th member. David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, accepted the invitation.

"The National Archives is delighted to become a member of ARL," said Ferriero. "This is a very exciting time for libraries and archives. Information policy is a burgeoning field with a myriad of opportunities. Becoming a member of ARL will offer the National Archives, which is the largest archives in the United States, an opportunity to share our expertise and experience in archives and records management with our new colleagues. We also look forward to learning new ideas and fresh approaches to the challenges that we all face."

The vote of membership followed a process that considered both qualitative and quantitative documentation and involved a site visit by members of the ARL Membership Committee. The review also examined the unique breadth and depth of NARA’s collections, services to the public and research community, and potential contributions to research and scholarship. The review committee noted in particular NARA’s leadership in records and archival management activities, an area of increasingly strategic importance for research libraries.

| Digital Scholarship |

University of Oregon Libraries and Oregon State University Libraries Establish Open Access Journal Publishing Service

The University of Oregon Libraries and Oregon State University Libraries have established an Open Access Journal Publishing Service.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The University of Oregon Libraries and Oregon State University Libraries have joined forces to establish an Open Access Journal Publishing Service that will support the broader dissemination of scholarship and promote the advancement of both universities’ research. Open access journals represent an emerging academic publishing model that makes the results of scholarly research freely available online to all readers who have access to the Internet. . . .

The initiative will provide support to UO and OSU faculty members for the creation, management, distribution, and preservation of open access journals, primarily based on the Open Journal System (OJS) open source software. In addition to hosting journals on an OJS server, the initiative will assist in the migration of journal content from traditional print format to digital format. The OJS program supports the full cycle of journal publishing from article submission to archiving. . . .

Plans for creating new open access journal titles are already underway at both universities. For example, at the University of Oregon the first issue of the open access journal Humanist Studies and the Digital Age is expected to appear this winter. The journal will provide scholars and students with free and immediate online access to the results of humanities research conducted by scholars throughout the world. At Oregon State University, the Journal of the Transportation Research Forum is currently offered as an open access publication, and other titles are in the development stages. The website for the service at http://journals.oregondigital.org/ provides additional information on the new program and access to individual journals.

| Digital Scholarship |

Arizona State University Librarians Assembly Passes Open Access Resolution

The Librarians Assembly of the Arizona State University Libraries has passed an open access resolution.

Here's an excerpt:

Specifically, we resolve:

  1. To disseminate our scholarship as broadly as possible. We endeavor to make our scholarly work openly accessible in conformance with open access principles. Whenever possible, we make our scholarship available in digital format, online, and free of charge.
  2. To grant ASU Libraries a Creative Commons "Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States" license to each of our scholarly works to allow the ASU Libraries the right to archive and make publicly available the full text of our scholarly works via the ASU Libraries' digital repository.
  3. To deposit the author's final version of our scholarly work in the digital repository as soon as is possible, recognizing that some publishers may impose an embargo period.
  4. To seek publishers whose policies allow us to make our scholarly works freely available online. When a publisher's policies do not allow us to make our works freely available online, we resolve to engage in good faith negotiations with the publisher to allow deposit of pre- or post-print versions of our scholarly work in the digital repository.
  5. To promote Open Access on campus and assist scholars in making their research openly available.

| Digital Scholarship |

Harvard Signs Budapest Open Access Initiative and Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities

Harvard University has signed the Budapest Open Access Initiative and the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Harvard is committed to making research freely and widely available and working with other organizations to support this goal. Harvard’s endorsement of these two proclamations expresses the university’s support for the principles of open access, consistent with other policy actions that the university has undertaken, including enactment of open access policies in our faculties, development of open access repositories for distributing Harvard research, and support for open access journals through leadership in the Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity.

| Digital Scholarship |

ARL and Ithaka S+R Get $464,286 IMLS Grant for Digitized Special Collections Research

ARL and Ithaka S+R have received a $464,286 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grants Program “to study how libraries, archives, and museums are sustaining digitized special collections.”

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

"Our examination of digital resources through our case studies work showed us that project leaders need practical tools to help them ensure their project's long-term sustainability," says Laura Brown, Managing Director, Ithaka S+R. "This collaborative study will respond to that need by providing actionable recommendations, best practices, and planning tools to help project leaders in higher education, public libraries, museums, historical societies, and other organizations plan for sustaining their own special collections digitization projects."

Project activities under this cooperative agreement will include a survey of digitized special collections and focused interviews with leaders and project staff in selected cultural heritage organizations who manage those collections. The study’s final report of lessons learned, recommendations, and case studies will be freely shared through the partners’ websites, through a webcast, and conference presentations.

Internet Archive Announces That University of Toronto Has Digitized 250,000 Books

Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive has announced that the University of Toronto has digitized 250,000 books.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

When I talked with Carole Moore, the fantastic librarian from University of Toronto, about 6 years ago, she had a vision of scanning 250,000 books from their libraries. Well, a few days ago she succeeded. (http://www.archive.org/details/university_of_toronto)

It has been a winding road to here, with financial help from Yahoo and Microsoft, from the Canadian government and from the University of Toronto—but she got there in grand style. . . .

250,000 books for free to the world from one of the great libraries in the world.

Harvard Library Lab Established

With the approval of the University Library Council, Harvard has established the Harvard Library Lab. It is managed by Harvard University Library's Office for Scholarly Communication.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Harvard's Library Lab is designed to promote the development of projects in all areas of library activity and to leverage the entrepreneurial aspirations of people throughout the library system and beyond. Proposals from faculty and students from anywhere in the University will also be welcomed and the Lab will encourage collaboration with projects being developed at MIT. The Lab offers infrastructure and financial support for projects and establishes a venue for cooperation across projects. Projects will be able to avail themselves of technical staff to augment the home department's staff, as well as support for release time, equipment, or outsourced services.

Read more about it at "Harvard Library Lab."

"EBSCO Library Collections and Budgeting Trends Survey"

EBSCO has released the "EBSCO Library Collections and Budgeting Trends Survey," which was conducted in February of this year.

Here's an excerpt:

Eighty-three percent of librarians reported either budget cuts or no budget growth during the 2009-2010 year. ARL libraries were especially hard hit with 64 percent reporting budget decreases. Expectations for 2010-2011 are similar with a total of 85 percent of respondents expecting decreased or flat budgets.

James K. Bracken Named Dean of Kent State University Libraries

James K. Bracken has been named Dean of the Kent State University Libraries effective 8/1/10.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Bracken currently serves as the assistant director for Collections, Instruction, and Public Services at The Ohio State University Libraries, a position he has held since 2005. At Ohio State, he also has served in the positions of assistant director for Collections, Instruction, and Main Library Research and Reference Services; head of Second Floor Main Library Information Services; professor in the University Libraries; and adjunct professor in the English department.

Bracken is active with many professional organizations. He serves as reviewer-consultant for Choice and reviewer and assistant editor for CBQ: Communication Booknotes Quarterly. He also is a member of the American Library Association.

Bracken holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toledo, master’s degrees from both the University of Toledo and the University of South Carolina, and a doctorate in English literature from the University of South Carolina.

University of Ottawa Becomes 125th ARL Member

The University of Ottawa has become a member of the Association of Research Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the press release :

At its 2010 Spring Membership Meeting held April 28-30, 2010, in Seattle, WA, the membership of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) voted to invite the University of Ottawa Library to join as its 125th member. Leslie Weir, University Librarian, accepted the invitation.

"This membership is significant as it is a reflection of the importance that the University of Ottawa has placed on research, making it the centrepiece of its academic programs," said Weir. "Scholarly communication is undergoing fundamental changes, and ARL is instrumental in advocating for and developing sustainable, viable models that meet the needs of the research community."

"It is with pride and a great sense of commitment that our Library becomes a member of the Association of Research Libraries," says Allan Rock, president of the University of Ottawa. "As Canada’s university, we understand that supporting our library is critical to our institution’s success in research and learning."

The vote of membership followed a multi-year review process of the uOttawa Library that considered both qualitative and quantitative documentation and involved site visits. The review also examined the breadth and depth of collections, uniqueness of research resources, services to the Library’s community, potential contributions to scholarship, and leadership in the library and information science profession. The review committee noted in particular the sustained growth of the institution and its support for the Library over the past decade.

"The Association of Research Libraries welcomes the University of Ottawa Library as our newest member and looks forward to working with them on addressing the many significant common issues currently facing the global research library community," said Brinley Franklin, ARL president. Charles B. Lowry, executive director of ARL, added, "ARL is delighted the University of Ottawa accepted our invitation to become a member of our association. The unique position it brings to membership in terms of location and language are of benefit to the Association and to the students, the faculty, and their scholarly colleagues and researchers throughout North America."

The University of Ottawa is a cosmopolitan community of over 40,000 students, faculty and staff who live, work, and study in both English and French in the heart of Canada's capital. As one of Canada’s top research-intensive universities, it is committed to excellence and encourages an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge creation. The Library brings together people, expertise, and knowledge resources in physical and virtual environments that foster research, teaching, and learning in both official languages. As a valued partner in the University community, the Library builds and preserves collections and facilitates the discovery and use of knowledge resources both within and beyond its walls through innovative services and technologies. For more information about the Library, visit http://www.biblio.uottawa.ca/index-e.php.

Linda Phillips Named Interim Dean of the University of Tennessee Libraries

Linda Phillips, Head of Scholarly Communication at the University of Tennessee Libraries, has been named the Interim Dean of that library effective 7/1/10.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

"Linda has given exemplary service to the University Libraries in a variety of roles including, most recently, as a leader in the Libraries initiatives on open access and other developing trends in scholarly communications," said UT Knoxville Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Susan Martin. "She brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to this critical position. I am grateful for her willingness to serve."

Phillips, an Alumni Distinguished Service Professor, is currently head of scholarly communication for the libraries. She came to UT from Ohio State University's Agricultural Technical Institute Library in 1977. Her work encompasses the creation of local digital collections, including digitization of library holdings; the launch of Newfound Press, the libraries' peer-reviewed digital imprint; and leading community outreach efforts about the libraries' scholarly and economic impact on society.

Phillips succeeds Barbara Dewey, who is leaving to become the dean of university libraries and scholarly communications at Penn State.

The search for a permanent dean will be under way shortly. Douglas Blaze, dean of the College of Law, will lead the effort.

ARL Goes Social, Now on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube

The Association of Research Libraries has begun to use a variety of social media tools, including blogs, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement :

Twitter Twitter: Follow @ARLnews on Twitter for general news from ARL, including announcements of new activities, resources, and events. Follow @ARLpolicy on Twitter for tweets from ARL’s Public Policies program covering such issues as copyright & IP, federally funded research, the FDLP, and Net neutrality. Please use the Twitter hashtag #ARL10spr in any tweets about the upcoming Membership Meeting in Seattle.

Facebook Facebook: Become a fan of ARL on Facebook to get our latest news and tell us what’s on your mind.

YouTube YouTube: Watch our archived webcasts on our YouTube channel.

Flickr Flickr: View photos from recent ARL events on our Flickr photostream.

Tumblr Blogs: Learn about public policy issues that impact the research library community on the Policy Notes Blog. . . . Also join the discussion of library service assessment, evaluation, and improvement on the Library Assessment Blog.

Barbara I. Dewey Named Penn State Dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications

Contingent on approval by the University Board of Trustees, Barbara I. Dewey has been named Dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications at the Pennsylvania State University.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

She [Dewey] will succeed Nancy Eaton, who has held the position since 1997 and will continue her ties with the University in retirement as dean emerita.

"The remarkable expansion of digital content and patrons' growing expectation of online access to scholarly publications have made university libraries an exceptionally complex and integral part of today's intellectual endeavors," said Penn State President Graham Spanier. "I welcome Barbara's leadership as the Penn State University Libraries continues to evolve to serve the academic and research pursuits of our students, faculty and staff."

"I am honored to lead Penn State's library enterprise, building on the tremendous success of its expert faculty and staff in this exciting period of change and transformation," said Dewey. "I look forward to working with Penn State's outstanding academic and alumni communities bringing Penn State scholarship to the world and the world's scholarship to Penn State."

As the leader of Penn State's information resources enterprise, Dewey will serve as the official representative and advocate for the University Libraries and Penn State Press and oversee approximately 1,150 full- and part-time faculty and staff. The University Libraries comprise 14 libraries at the University Park campus and libraries at 22 other campuses, Media Technology Support Services and the University Records Management Program. Collections include more than 5.2 million volumes, 69,000 serial titles, 517 databases and more than 50,000 e-books, as well as extensive holdings of maps, microforms, government publications, archives and audio-visual materials. The University Libraries and the Penn State Press jointly operate the Office of Digital Scholarly Publishing and collaborate on the development of new modes of disseminating research and scholarship. . . .

Dean of Libraries at the University of Tennessee since 2000, Dewey garnered significant experience at several Big Ten universities. Previously, she served at the University of Iowa from 1987 to 2000 as assistant to the dean of libraries, director of administrative and access services, director of information and research services and interim university librarian, respectively. Prior to that she also was Indiana University's director of admissions and placement in the School of Library and Information Science from 1980 to 1987, and assistant interlibrary loan and reference librarian at Northwestern University from 1978 to 1980. She began her library science career with the Minnesota Valley Regional Library System.

Dewey received her master's degree in library science and her undergraduate degree in anthropology/sociology, both from the University of Minnesota. She also received a Graduate Public Management Certificate from Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

A member of the Association of Research Libraries board of directors from 2006 to 2009, Dewey continues service as chair of its Transforming Research Libraries Steering Committee and the Association of College and Research Libraries Publications Committee. She is in her final year of a six-year term on the Online Computer Library Center Global Council and is a member of the International Federation of Library Associations Standing Committee on Education and Training. She has published and presented on a wide range of research library topics including digital libraries, diversity, technology, user education, fundraising, organizational development and human resources.

Paula T. Kaufman Named 2010 Hugh C. Atkinson Award Winner

Paula T. Kaufman, Juanita J. and Robert E. Simpson Dean of Libraries and University Librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has won the 2010 Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award, which is sponsored by ACRL, ALCTS, LLAMA, and LITA.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Named in honor of one of the pioneers of library automation, the Atkinson Award recognizes an academic librarian who has made significant contributions in the area of library automation or management and has made notable improvements in library services or research. . . .

Kaufman has held a variety of positions over the course of her career. In addition to serving as head of the Business and Economics Library and director of the Library Services group at Columbia University, she was acting head of the East Asian Library in 1982 and acting vice-president for information technology and university librarian from 1987-88. During her tenure at Columbia, Kaufman was involved in the development of the university's Scholarly Information Center, a merger of the library and academic information technology. In 1987, Kaufman resisted the FBI's request to report on the reading habits of Columbia library patrons with last names or accents from "hostile countries." Her actions were instrumental in making the FBI's Library Awareness Program public. Kaufman additionally served as dean of libraries at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville from 1988-99.

In her current position at UIUC, Kaufman has worked with the library faculty and staff to re-envision the future, form new alliances and cultivate an environment of creative problem solving. Under her direction, the library launched a highly successful capital campaign, established a formal preservation and conservation program, led the state of Illinois in digitizing collections, celebrated the library's 11 millionth volume and addressed the issues of how to support scholarship and teaching in the digital age through developing new models to deliver 21st-century services. In 2006, the provost of the University of Illinois tapped Kaufman to serve as the university's interim chief information officer. In this assignment, she increased communication among technology staff and reconnected the information technology department with the rest of the campus through focusing on its service mission.

She has additionally played key roles in governance and policymaking at a number of organizations, including serving on or leading the boards of directors of the Center for Research Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, the Council of Library and Information Resources, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the Digital Library Federation and the Society for Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.

Kaufman received her AB in Economics from Smith College, MBA from the University of New Haven and MS in Library Service from the School of Library Service at Columbia University.

Library of Congress Establishes Procedures to Release Open Source Software

The Library of Congress has established procedures to release open source software.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

"The overall effect will be to clarify and streamline the process for releasing software as open source," said Michelle Springer, a digital initiatives project manager at the Library, "allowing the Library and its partners to more fully participate in the open source development community."

The Library has been especially active in developing tools that support digital preservation processes, including the secure transfer of digital files. This includes the release of a full suite of digital content transfer tools that support the Bagit specification.

These tools marked the first release of Library-authored open source software to a public repository. The tools were first registered on SourceForge in December 2008 and are available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/loc-xferutils/. While Sourceforge was the first external repository to host Library code, other repositories may be used in the future.

Source code originating from the Library may only be distributed as open source if developed by Library staff or under a contract granting the Library the necessary distribution rights. Additionally, the code cannot be based or dependent on any proprietary software and must be releasable without restrictions or cost.

Works created by Library of Congress staff will be designated in the code comments as a work within the public domain. The addition of the public domain notation in the code comments serves the function of letting developers know that section of the code is free for reuse even if the Library's code is incorporated into a software project with a more restrictive license.

Not all software repositories offer the option of a public domain designation. Under those circumstances the Library will apply the most permissive license possible. BSD-style licenses are being used by multiple National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program partners.

M. Sue Baughman Named ARL Associate Deputy Executive Director

M. Sue Baughman has been named Association of Research Libraries Associate Deputy Executive Director.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Baughman is currently Assistant Dean for Organizational Development at the University of Maryland, College Park. She will assume her role at ARL on March 29.

The primary role of the Associate Deputy Executive Director is to promote and facilitate the strategic development of ARL policies and programs. The position carries a mix of responsibilities revolving around issue analysis and program development, strategic positioning and message development, and practical management and coordination accomplished working closely with the ARL Executive Director and Board of Directors.

In her current position, Baughman works with over 200 library staff in every facet of the University of Maryland Libraries. Her duties focus on the development needs of individual staff, teams, and work groups, and the organization as a whole. She understands not only the work staff does and the services they provide but also the interrelationships that are in place across a large organization. This broad perspective has enabled her to be an effective change agent and leader. She has been at the University of Maryland since 1995 serving in a variety of roles including, Manager of McKeldin Library Public Services, Assistant Dean for Organizational Development, and Interim Director of Collection Development and Special Collections.

In her career, Baughman has held positions at a variety of types of libraries and library systems and has served on committees of numerous library associations. In all of these positions, she has been committed to finding innovative solutions to challenging problems. Her skills and experiences in leadership, program coordination, and project management will be valuable assets for ARL.

ARL, EDUCAUSE, and Others Submit Net Neutrality Comments to FCC

The Association of Research Libraries, EDUCAUSE, Internet2, NYSERNet, and ACUTA have submitted comments to the FCC on preserving open internet broadband industry practices.

Here's an excerpt:

In sum, the availability of low-cost, high-speed, nondiscriminatory Internet services is absolutely essential for colleges, universities, research institutions, and research libraries to achieve their missions in the 21st Century. The adoption of enforceable net neutrality principles will ensure equal access for non-profit voices, encourage competition in the online content and services markets, and preserve the cultural benefits that flow from the Internet’s open, democratic nature. By keeping broadband providers from discriminating against educational content and research, by barring broadband providers from raising artificial price barriers to competition, and by preserving open discourse and debate, net neutrality will preserve the principles that have made the Internet successful and transformative. We urge the Commission to adopt the six principles proposed in the NPRM [Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking] and to adopt meaningful enforcement procedures to ensure that they are implemented.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville Gets IMLS Grant to Study Value of Academic Libraries

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville School of Information Sciences has been awarded an IMLS grant to study the value of academic libraries. It will collaborate with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Libraries and the Association of Research Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the press release :

Carol Tenopir, a professor in the School of Information Sciences, is the lead investigator on the project; Paula Kaufman, University Librarian and Dean of Libraries at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a co-principal investigator; and Martha Kyrillidou, Senior Director for Statistics and Service Quality Programs, is leading the project from ARL.

The three-year grant, entitled "Value, Outcomes, and Return on Investment of Academic Libraries (Lib-Value)," will work to enrich, expand, test, and implement methodologies measuring the return on investment (ROI) in academic libraries.

"There is an increasing need for academic librarians to demonstrate the return on investment and value of the library to the various stakeholders of the institution and to guide library management in the redirection of library funds to important products and services for the future," Tenopir said. Academic libraries actively participate in the many changes in scholarship, such as the move to e-science, collaborative and participatory scholarship, and focus on new materials such as data, multimedia, and born-digital assets. To remain relevant and central to the academic mission in the future, academic librarians need to be able to demonstrate the value that the academic library provides to the campus community using proven methods of measurement that will allow librarians to determine where their efforts should be concentrated and how funding should be allocated.

The results of the study will provide evidence and a set of tested methodologies and tools to help academic librarians demonstrate how the library provides value to its constituents and ROI to its funders, and to measure which products and services are of most value to enhancing the university’s mission. This project will greatly expand upon earlier studies to consider multiple measures of value that the academic library brings to teaching/learning, research, and social/professional/public engagement functions of the academic institution.

To ensure that the process will be rigorous, realistic, and highly visible in the academic library and university community, an experienced team of academic librarians and outstanding researchers bring their leadership, built on many years of experience, to the project. Two well-known researchers in the library field will serve as consultants: Bruce Kingma, an economist at Syracuse University, and Donald W. King, a statistician at the University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill. Additional project participants include: Gayle Baker, Ken Wise, Rachel Fleming-May, Regina Mays, Crystal Sherline, and Andrea Baer at the University of Tennessee; Tina Chrzastowski at the University of Illinois; and Henry Gross, Gary Roebuck, and David Green at ARL.

Cornell Gives about 80,000 Digitized Public Domain Books to Internet Archive

The Cornell University Library has given about 80,000 digitized public domain books to the Internet Archive.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

In an effort to make its materials globally accessible, Cornell University Library is sharing tens of thousands of digitized books with the Internet Archive.

"We have been carefully preserving and storing materials for years, and now we're diversifying the channels for them to be studied and used," said Oya Reiger, associate university librarian for information technologies. "We have the ability to take books to the places where readers are."

The new collaboration repurposes nearly 80,000 books that the Library has already digitized in-house or through its partnership with Microsoft and Kirtas Technologies. All the books are in the public domain, printed before 1923 mainly in the United States. They cover a host of subject areas, including American history, English literature, astronomy, food and wine, general engineering, the history of science, home economics, hospitality and travel, labor relations, Native American materials, ornithology, veterinary medicine and women's studies. . . .

"Expanding access to knowledge is one of the Library's core principles, and we are excited to participate in the open-access vision of the Internet Archive," said Anne R. Kenney, Carl A. Kroch University Librarian.

The collaboration with Internet Archive is another step in Cornell University Library's cutting-edge participation in mass digitization initiatives. Earlier this year, the Library announced an expanded print-on-demand partnership with Amazon.com that allows readers to pay for reprinting of books on an individual basis.

"The Internet Archive is proud to process and host the books from Cornell — these collections are priceless," said Brewster Kahle, founder and digital librarian of the Internet Archive. "We are happy that Microsoft put no restrictions on the scanned public domain books and Cornell is encouraging maximum readership and research use."

Performing a simple search for one of Cornell University Library's digitized books now brings up both a copy on Amazon and a free online copy on the Internet Archive.

Helen Shenton Named Deputy Director of the Harvard University Library

Helen Shenton, Head of Collection Care for the British Library, has been named Deputy Director of the Harvard University Library.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

In 2002, she became the first overall head of collection care for the British Library (BL), where her purview encompasses conservation, preservation, training and research, collection storage, and security for 150 million items, ranging from the Magna Carta to 300 terabytes of digital material. She co-founded the BL's first comprehensive digital preservation team, and she led an innovative collection-management strategic "strand" known as the "Life Cycle" program.

With eleven years of experience on the BL's senior leadership team, Shenton is steeped in collection management, information technology, human resources, and new building projects. She masterminded the BL's new world-class Centre for Conservation and is heavily involved with the BL’s new high-density, low-oxygen robotic depository 190 miles from London, into which a half-mile of stock is currently being transferred per day.

Shenton studied English Literature at University College London and trained at the London College of Printing and with the arts and crafts book conservator Roger Powell. She joined the British Library in 1998 after 14 years in the conservation department of the Victoria and Albert Museum, where she was responsible for the textiles, paper, paintings, photography, and book disciplines.

She also honed her management skills at the Harvard Business School's Executive Strategy Program this summer.

"I do not underestimate the enormity of the challenges ahead," she says, "but I am very excited at the prospect of joining Harvard University Library at such a key moment to help make the library and information provision even better for students and faculty now and in the future."

Shenton will arrive at Harvard early in 2010.