Category: Reports and White Papers

State of America’s Libraries 2016

ALA has released the State of America's Libraries 2016.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Academic, school, and public libraries continue to face an uncertain economy as they shift resources and services to meet the needs of the 21st-century digital world. The American Library Association launched a new public awareness campaign, "Libraries Transform," to help shift the mindset that "libraries are obsolete or nice to have" to "libraries are essential." This and other library trends of the past year, including the Top Ten Most Challenges Books of 2015, are detailed in the American Library Association's 2016 State of America's Libraries report, released during National Library Week, April 10- 16, 2016

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Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey 2015

Ithaka S+R has released the Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey 2015 .

Here's an excerpt:

Ithaka S+R's survey of US faculty members has been fielded regularly since 2000. This project provides a periodic snapshot of practices and perceptions related to scholarly communications and information usage. The scholar-centric nature of the questionnaire ensures that potential changes in research and teaching inform our thinking, not only about academic libraries and scholarly publishing, but about changes in the educational enterprise more broadly.

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How Readers Discover Content in Scholarly Publications

Simon Inger Consulting Ltd has released How Readers Discover Content in Scholarly Publications.

Here's an excerpt:

This report is the output of a large-scale survey of readers of scholarly publications (n=40439) and their behaviour in the discovery of journal articles and online books. The survey was conducted during October, November, and December of 2015. While usage statistics and analytics gathered by publishers, libraries and intermediaries can give us a partial view of discovery behaviour, there are many gaps in the knowledge that these can provide which we have endeavoured to fill by aski ng readers what tools they use in discovery.

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Web Archiving Environmental Scan

The Harvard Library has released the Web Archiving Environmental Scan.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The purpose of the environmental scan was to explore and document current web archiving programs (and institutions desiring a similar capacity) to identify common concerns, needs, and expectations in the collection and provision of web archives to users; the provision and maintenance of web archiving infrastructure and services; and the use of web archives by researchers.

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Converting Scholarly Journals to Open Access: A Review of Approaches and Experiences

The Harvard Library Office for Scholarly Communication has released a draft of Converting Scholarly Journals to Open Access: A Review of Approaches and Experiences for comment.

Here's an excerpt:

This report identifies ways through which subscription-based scholarly journals have converted their publishing models to open access (OA). The major goal was to identify specific scenarios that have been used or proposed for transitioning subscription journals to OA so that these scenarios can provide options for others seeking to "flip" their journals to OA.

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A Day in the Life of a (Serious) Researcher: Envisioning the Future of the Research Library

Ithaka S+R has released A Day in the Life of a (Serious) Researcher: Envisioning the Future of the Research Library .

Here's an excerpt:

Beyond this, the library is not even the best starting point for envisioning the library. A better starting point is to develop an understanding about the lives and information practices of the scholars and students who depend on the library in all its shapes and forms. Therefore, in this Cornell project, we looked at what academic researchers do day-to-day and how they acquire, use, and share information in the course of their daily activities. From our interpretations of these data we imagined new models.

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Filling the Digital Preservation Gap: A Jisc Research Data Spring Project Phase Two Report—February 2016

Jenny Mitcham et al. have released Filling the Digital Preservation Gap: A Jisc Research Data Spring Project Phase Two Report—February 2016.

Here's an excerpt:

Phase 1 of the project investigated the need for digital preservation as part of a wider infrastructure for research data management and looked specifically at how the open source digital preservation system Archivematica could fulfil this function. . . .

Work in phase 2 had the following aims:

  • Work with Artefactual Systems to develop Archivematica in a number of areas (highlighted in our phase 1 report) in order to make the system more suitable for fitting into our infrastructures for research data management
  • Develop our own detailed implementation plans for Hull and York to establish how Archivematica will be incorporated into our local infrastructures for research data
  • Consider how Archivematica could work as an above campus installation
  • Consider how digital preservation is addressed by the projects in phase 2 of Research Data Spring

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The Costs of Publishing Monographs: Toward a Transparent Methodology

Ithaka S+R has released The Costs of Publishing Monographs: Toward a Transparent Methodology .

Here's an excerpt:

While there have been numerous efforts to understand the costs of publishing a scholarly monograph, this study is unique in that we worked with an advisory group of university press publishers to identify all of the cost components in scholarly monographic publishing and to work with a wide variety of university presses to calculate their costs of each of those components in a bottom-up fashion.

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NMC Horizon Report > 2016 Higher Education Edition

The New Media Consortium and EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative have released NMC Horizon Report > 2016 Higher Education Edition.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The report identifies six key trends, six significant challenges, and six important developments in educational technology across three adoption horizons spanning over the next one to five years, giving campus leaders, educational technologists, and faculty a valuable guide for strategic technology planning. The report provides higher education leaders with in-depth insight into how trends and challenges are accelerating and impeding the adoption of educational technology, along with their implications for policy, leadership, and practice.

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White Paper on Remixes, First Sale, and Statutory Damages

The Department Of Commerce Internet Policy Task Force has released White Paper on Remixes, First Sale, and Statutory Damages.

Here's an excerpt:

The U.S. Department of Commerce has played a key role in addressing Internet policy-related issues since it launched the Internet Policy Task Force in April 2010. Two years ago, the Task Force published a Green Paper on Copyright Policy, Creativity and Innovation in the Digital Economy—the most comprehensive assessment of digital copyright policy issued by any Administration since 1995. The review process that culminated in this White Paper serves as a testament to the importance the Administration has placed on the development of updated and balanced copyright law in the digital environment.

Read more about it at "The Commerce Department Has Good Recommendations for Fixing Copyright Law —But More Is Needed."

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OAPEN-UK Final Report: A Five-Year Study into Open Access Monograph Publishing in the Humanities and Social Sciences

OAPEN-UK has released OAPEN-UK Final Report: A Five-Year Study into Open Access Monograph Publishing in the Humanities and Social Sciences .

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Examining the attitudes and perceptions of funders, researchers, publishers, learned societies, universities and libraries, our study reiterated the deep strength of feeling and connectedness that each group has with the monograph, especially in terms of identity and reputation. It also found that while many think open access is a good idea in principle, there is uncertainty about how easy it would be to implement the necessary policies and systems to support OA monographs.

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Digital Culture 2015

Nesta, the Arts Council England, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council have released Digital Culture 2015.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The 2015 report provides analysis on the period 2013-2015, giving a detailed sense of how the picture is changing for arts and cultural organisations. This year's report shows that while the positive impact of technology on organisations remains high, there is a gap between the ambition of arts and cultural organisations in relation to digital technology and their ability to execute on those ambitions.

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Amazon and Empty Storefronts

The American Booksellers Association and Civic Economics have released Amazon and Empty Storefronts.

Here's an excerpt:

In 2014, Amazon sold $44.1 billion worth of retail goods nationwide, all while avoiding $625 million in state and local sales taxes.

That is the equivalent of 3,215 retail storefronts. . . which might have paid $420 million in property taxes.

A total of more than $1 billion in revenue lost to state and local governments, $8.48 for every household in America.

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Strategic Plan 2016-2020: Positioning the United States Copyright Office for the Future

The United States Copyright Office has released Strategic Plan 2016-2020: Positioning the United States Copyright Office for the Future.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Register of Copyrights Maria A. Pallante today released the Copyright Office's Strategic Plan, setting forth the Office's performance objectives for the next five years. This release follows a thirty-day comment period, during which the Office solicited feedback from stakeholders and the public on a draft of the plan. The Register is grateful for the comments received by the Office, which are reflected in the final Strategic Plan.

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Office of Scholarly Communication: Scope, Organizational Placement, and Planning in Ten Research Libraries

Ithaka S+R has released Office of Scholarly Communication: Scope, Organizational Placement, and Planning in Ten Research Libraries.

Here's an excerpt:

The project was designed to gather basic information about these issues at some of the largest research-intensive university libraries. It finds categorical differences in the vision for the scholarly communications unit and its organizational placement, as well as associated differences in staffing and budget.

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The Future of the Monograph in the Digital Era: A Report to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Michael Elliott has self-archived The Future of the Monograph in the Digital Era: A Report to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Here's an excerpt:

Over the course of six months, our working group endeavored to consider whether a model of university-funded monograph publication could improve the publishing landscape for scholars in the humanities and facilitate the "digital transition" that Berkery foresees. Under such a model, a university would bear a high percentage of the publication costs through an initial contract. The university press would produce a high quality, open-access digital publication, as well as make the book available in print form—possibly through print-on-demand.

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Social Media Usage: 2005-2015

The Pew Research Center has released Social Media Usage: 2005-2015.

Here's an excerpt:

Nearly two-thirds of American adults (65%) use social networking sites, up from 7% when Pew Research Center began systematically tracking social media usage in 2005. Pew Research reports have documented in great detail how the rise of social media has affected such things as work, politics and political deliberation, communications patterns around the globe, as well as the way people get and share information about health, civic life, news consumption, communities, teenage life, parenting, dating and even people's level of stress.

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Requirements for the Technical Infrastructure for Standardized International Rights Statements

International Rights Statements Working Group has released Requirements for the Technical Infrastructure for Standardized International Rights Statements.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Over the past fifteen months, representatives from the Europeana and DPLA networks, in partnership with Creative Commons, have been developing a collaborative approach to internationally interoperable rights statements that can be used to communicate the copyright status of cultural objects published via the DPLA and Europeana platforms.

The purpose of these rights statements is to provide end users of our platforms with easy to understand information on what they can and cannot do with digital items that they encounter via these platforms. Having standardized interoperable rights statements will also make it easier for application developers and other third parties to automatically identify items that can be re-used.

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Making Open Science a Reality

The OECD has released Making Open Science a Reality.

Here's an excerpt:

This report, Making open science a reality reviews the progress in OECD countries in making the results of publicly funded research, namely scientific publications and research data openly accessible to researchers and innovators alike. The report i) reviews the policy rationale behind open science and open data; ii) discusses and presents evidence on the impacts of policies to promote open science and open data; iii) explores the legal barriers and solutions to greater access to research data; iv) provides a description of the key actors involved in open science and their roles; and finally v) assesses progress in OECD and selected non-member countries based a survey of recent policy trends.

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A Selection of Research Data Management Tools Throughout the Data Lifecycle

Jan Krause has self-archived "A Selection of Research Data Management Tools Throughout the Data Lifecycle."

Here's an excerpt:

In this document, several useful research data management tools are listed and described for each step of their research throughout the data lifecyle management.

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Monitoring the Transition to Open Access: A Report for the Universities UK Open Access Co-ordination Group

The Universities UK's Open Access Co-ordination Group has released Monitoring the Transition to Open Access: A Report for the Universities UK Open Access Co-ordination Group.

Here's an excerpt:

This study was commissioned in response to a recommendation of the Finch Group in its second report in 2013 that reliable indicators should be gathered on key features of the transition to open access (OA) in the UK. The findings presented here are thus a first attempt at generating such indicators covering five sets of issues:

  • OA options available to authors . . . .
  • Accessibility. . . .
  • Usage. . . .
  • Financial sustainability for universities . . . .
  • Financial sustainability for learned societies

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Libraries at the Crossroads

The Pew Research Center has released Libraries at the Crossroads.

Here's an excerpt:

A new survey from Pew Research Center brings this complex situation into stark relief. Many Americans say they want public libraries to:

  • support local education;
  • serve special constituents such as veterans, active-duty military personnel and immigrants;
  • help local businesses, job seekers and those upgrading their work skills;
  • embrace new technologies such as 3-D printers and provide services to help patrons learn about high-tech gadgetry.

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NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Library Edition

The New Media Consortium has released the NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Library Edition.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

What is on the five-year horizon for academic and research libraries? The NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Library Edition examines key trends, significant challenges, and important developments in technology for their impact on academic and research libraries worldwide.

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Enquiries Into Intellectual Property’s Economic Impact

OECD has released Enquiries Into Intellectual Property's Economic Impact.

Here's an excerpt from "Chapter 7: Legal Aspects of Open Access to Publicly Funded Research":

To explain the interplay between open access and IP laws, this chapter provides an overview of the IP regimes that protect research outputs in a sample of OECD jurisdictions. It then reviews the open access policies that are in place in some of those jurisdictions and examines two contexts in which IP questions can arise when open access principles are applied: public/private partnerships and text and data mining.

Also of interest: "Chapter 5: Copyright in the Digital Era: Country Studies."

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Americans’ Views on Mobile Etiquette

The Pew Research Center has released Americans' Views on Mobile Etiquette.

Here's an excerpt:

This Pew Research Center report explores newly released survey findings about Americans' views about the appropriateness of cellphone use in public places and in social gatherings and the way those views sometimes conflict with their own behaviors.

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