Category: Research Libraries

"UC San Diego Names Erik T. Mitchell New Audrey Geisel University Librarian"

The University of California San Diego has released "UC San Diego Names Erik T. Mitchell New Audrey Geisel University Librarian."

Here's an excerpt:

Erik T. Mitchell, Ph.D. has been appointed university librarian at the University of California San Diego effective April 16, 2018. Mitchell currently serves as associate university librarian of Digital Initiatives and Collaborative Services and associate chief information officer at UC Berkeley.

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"Effective Practices and Strategies for Open Access Outreach: A Qualitative Study"

Diane (DeDe) Dawson has published "Effective Practices and Strategies for Open Access Outreach: A Qualitative Study" in the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication.

Here's an excerpt:

INTRODUCTION There are many compelling reasons to make research open access (OA), but raising the awareness of faculty and administrators about OA is a struggle. Now that more and more funders are introducing OA policies, it is increasingly important that researchers understand OA and how to comply with these policies. U.K. researchers and their institutions have operated within a complex OA policy environment for many years, and academic libraries have been at the forefront of providing services and outreach to support them. This article discusses the results of a qualitative study that investigated effective practices and strategies of OA outreach in the United Kingdom. METHODS Semistructured interviews were conducted with 14 individuals at seven universities in the United Kingdom in late 2015. Transcripts of these interviews were analyzed for dominant themes using an inductive method of coding. RESULTS Themes were collected under the major headings of "The Message"; "Key Contacts and Relationships"; "Qualities of the OA Practitioner"; and "Advocacy versus Compliance." DISCUSSION Results indicate that messages about OA need to be clear, concise, and jargon free. They need to be delivered repeatedly and creatively adapted to specific audiences. Identifying and building relationships with influencers and informers is key to the uptake of the message, and OA practitioners must have deep expertise to be credible as the messengers. CONCLUSION This timely research has immediate relevance to North American libraries as they contend with pressures to ramp up their own OA outreach and support services to assist researchers in complying with new federal funding policies.

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"Making the Transition as the New Copyright Librarian"

Emilie Regina Algenio has published "Making the Transition as the New Copyright Librarian" in the Journal of Copyright in Education and Librarianship.

Here's an excerpt:

The corpus of academic librarianship literature notes very little material in relation to the work of new copyright librarians. However, the number of academic libraries hiring librarians to fill these positions is increasing, and the need for such literature is real and pertinent. The purpose of this research is to assist incoming copyright librarians with practical, evidence-based guidance for colleagues just starting out in roles focused on copyright issues. The author drew from professional experience as a first-time copyright librarian at a Carnegie One academic institution in the United States. The author highlights the value of constructing a copyright educational foundation for the university community, cultivating a community of practice, establishing best practices around copyright questions and the utility of effective, vetted copyright resources. Understanding the finer details of a copyright librarian’s job are important, as academic libraries are hiring candidates for other scholarly communication positions, and the applicants are expected to know American copyright law.

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A Platform for Biomedical Discovery and Data-Powered Health: National Library of Medicine Strategic Plan 2017–2027

NLM has released A Platform for Biomedical Discovery and Data-Powered Health: National Library of Medicine Strategic Plan 2017–2027.

Here's an excerpt:

This strategic plan positions NLM to address existing and emerging challenges in biomedical research and public health. We will achieve this by creating a vibrant workforce; building on our core functions of acquiring, collecting, and disseminating the world’s biomedical literature; and extending these skills and developing new ones to make data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (the FAIR principles). We will continue to lead, conduct, and support research in biomedical information science, informatics, and data science to ensure that robust terminologies provide systematic characterization of complex health phenomena from cells to society and to devise new methodologies that uncover the knowledge held in data. We will expand our training programs to incorporate data science and maintain our commitment to outreach excellence and support of a diverse workforce.

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"Funding Community Controlled Open Infrastructure for Scholarly Communication: The 2.5% Commitment Initiative"

David W. Lewis, Lori Goetsch, Diane Graves, and Mike Roy have published "Funding Community Controlled Open Infrastructure for Scholarly Communication: The 2.5% Commitment Initiative" in College and Research Libraries.

Here's an excerpt:

In August 2017, a short paper, "The 2.5% Commitment," was distributed on several email lists. The paper proposed that every academic library should commit to invest 2.5% of its total budget to support the common infrastructure needed to create the open scholarly commons. Somewhat to our surprise, the paper and the ideas it contained have generated widespread discussions and interest.

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UW Press Joins UW Libraries

https://uwpressblog.com/2018/02/21/uw-press-joins-uw-libraries/

Keywords: University of Washington Press, University of Washington Libraries

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"Library of Congress Administrator Named Cornell University Librarian"

Cornell University has released "Library of Congress Administrator Named Cornell University Librarian."

Here's an excerpt:

As acting director of the Public Service Collections Directorate (PSCD) at the Library of Congress, Thomas oversees the library’s public service functions and special collections, which include the American Folklife Center and the Children’s Literature Center and the following divisions: Collections Management, Geography and Map, Humanities and Social Sciences, Loan, Manuscript, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound, Music, National Reference Service, Prints and Photographs, Rare Book and Special Collections, Science and Technology and Serial and Government Publications.

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"Extending Access to Information through Offline Internet"

Arizona State University Library, Bibliothèques Sans Frontières / Libraries Without Borders, IFLA, and others have released the Tempe Principles.

https://lib.asu.edu/librarychannel/Extending-access-information-through-offline-internet

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Director of Libraries at Colby College

Colby College is recruiting a Director of Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Director will have an opportunity to connect the libraries, not only with faculty, students, and the community, but also with a new senior leadership team and a uniquely ambitious program of institutional transformation. This endeavor, supported by the largest fundraising campaign ever undertaken by a liberal arts college ($750 million, with over $380 million already received), seeks to move Colby into the very top group of elite liberal arts colleges.

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Vice Provost, Libraries and Cultural Resources at University of Calgary

The University of Calgary is recruiting a Vice Provost, Libraries and Cultural Resources.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) and interfacing as a collaborative member of the Provost Team, the Vice Provost, Libraries and Cultural Resources is responsible for the overall leadership and management of the LCR unit, and for the effective use of its resources. The Vice Provost will develop and administer a vision, policies, and procedures to ensure a high level of service to the community of LCR users is achieved, in support of their research and learning needs.

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"No, Fair! Evolving Perspectives on Excessive Use in Research"

Angela Rathmel has published "No, Fair! Evolving Perspectives on Excessive Use in Research" in ACRLog.

Here's an excerpt:

Publishers take an even heavier hand when responding to excessive use breaches. Blocking the user's IP access, or sometimes an entire campus IP range, presumes malicious intent (which it almost never is). This response also exaggerates the stakes involved and misunderstands what is necessary to perform digital research. Strict reinterpretation of print use restrictions in the online environment denies advances in research technology, from basic citation management software to APIs used for text and data mining. It also ignores the very structure of the linked-data world we live in.

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Dean of Libraries at University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky is recruiting a Dean of Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Dean will lead with passion, creativity and excellence to cultivate an interactive environment for interdisciplinary discovery and research, while transforming our libraries into hubs of life-long learning. This position will work collaboratively with library and academic leadership, to direct the College and support the goals of Kentucky’s flagship, land-grant University’s strategic plan.

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Vice Provost for University Libraries / University Librarian at University of Wisconsin-Madison

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is recruiting a Vice Provost for University Libraries / University Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Vice Provost works to increase the library's financial support from internal and external sources and leverages and aligns those resources to facilitate strategic priorities and needs, to transform the library's physical spaces to support evolving needs around teaching, learning and research, to develop staff skills and roles that align with the rapidly changing roles libraries play in supporting research and scholarship, to develop and enhance access to relevant, distinct and engaging content and collections, and to develop and engage in campus, regional, national and international partnerships to develop economies of scale that facilitate scholarship and better support the mission of the university and the library.

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Research Libraries Powering Sustainable Knowledge in the Digital Age: LIBER Europe Strategy 2018-2022

LIBER has released Research Libraries Powering Sustainable Knowledge in the Digital Age: LIBER Europe Strategy 2018-2022.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Three Strategic Directions are at the heart of our Strategy, positioning research libraries as Platforms for Innovative Scholarly Communication, Hubs for Digital Skills & Services and Partners in Research Infrastructure. Activities under each direction will provide direct support to LIBER's network of 400+ libraries.

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"Anne Kenney Named Interim ARL Executive Director"

ARL has released "Anne Kenney Named Interim ARL Executive Director."

Here's an excerpt:

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Board of Directors has appointed Anne R. Kenney as interim executive director of the Association, effective January 1, 2018.

Kenney served as Carl A. Kroch university librarian at Cornell University from April 2008 to April 2017, when she went on research leave until her retirement on October 31. She started at Cornell in 1987, serving as associate director for the department of preservation and conservation, and then as associate university librarian for instruction, research, and information services, before advancing to the position of university librarian.

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"Digital Music Libraries: Librarian Perspectives and the Challenges Ahead"

Meghan Goodchild has published "Digital Music Libraries: Librarian Perspectives and the Challenges Ahead" in CAML Review.

Here's an excerpt:

This paper reports the results of a survey targeting current members of the Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (CAML) that investigated the extent to which the current designs and structures of digital music libraries meet the needs of librarians in collecting, preserving, organizing, and disseminating diverse types of music documents. The challenges and barriers experienced in hosting digital collections are discussed. The gap between the current and ideal functionalities, as well as the future possibilities, are explored.

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"Leading Across Boundaries: Collaborative Leadership and the Institutional Repository in Research Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges"

David M. Seaman has self-archived "Leading Across Boundaries: Collaborative Leadership and the Institutional Repository in Research Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges."

Here's an excerpt:

Two methodologies—content analysis of IR web pages and surveys of library directors and IR developers—were employed to determine if IRs revealed evidence of collaborative leadership. The study populations were those members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Oberlin Group of liberal arts colleges that operated IR services by July 2014 (146 institutions overall). The research examined if IR format, size, age, nomenclature, or technology platform varied between ARL and Oberlin Group members. It asked if there is any difference in the perception of collaborative leadership traits, perceived IR success, or collaborative involvement with stakeholder communities between ARL and Oberlin Group members or between library directors and IR developers. The study found evidence of all six collaborative leadership traits being examined: assessing the environment for collaboration, creating clarity, building trust, sharing power, developing people, and self-reflection.

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Caleb T. Winchester University Librarian at Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is recruiting a Caleb T. Winchester University Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The University Librarian serves as the main public voice for the Library and participates actively in many collaborations both on and off campus. The University Librarian directly supervises the work of the Library leadership team of two Associate University Librarians, the Science Librarian, and the Director of Special Collections & Archives, who manage the day to day operations of their respective areas. The University Librarian also supervises the Archaeological Collections Manager and the Curator of the Davison Art Collection.

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"Cost Estimates of an Open Access Mandate for Monographs in the UK’s Third Research Excellence Framework"

Martin Paul Eve et al. have published "Cost Estimates of an Open Access Mandate for Monographs in the UK's Third Research Excellence Framework" in Insights.

Here's an excerpt:

The recent ‘Consultation on the second Research Excellence Framework' (REF) in the UK contains an annex that signals the extension of the open access mandate to monographs. In the service of promoting discussion, rather than prescribing a forward route, this article estimates the costs of implementing such a mandate based on REF 2014 volume, taking the criteria signalled in the annex, and identifies funding sources that could support it. We estimate that to publish 75% of anticipated monographic submission output for the next REF would require approximately £96m investment over the census period. This is equivalent to £19.2m per year. Academic library budgets as they are currently apportioned would not support this cost. However, these sums are but a fraction of the total quality-related funding, Arts and Humanities Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council budgets. We close with a series of provocative suggestions for how the mandate could be implemented.

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University Librarian at Boston University

Boston University is recruiting a University Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Boston University Libraries seeks a transformational leader who will re-envision a 21st century hybrid library with an advanced capacity to support research teaching and learning across geographic, language, and disciplinary borders, leveraging innovations in digital and information technology.

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"ARL Awarded Sloan Grant to Help Preserve Software, Save Cultural Record, Advance Discovery"

ARL has released "ARL Awarded Sloan Grant to Help Preserve Software, Save Cultural Record, Advance Discovery."

Here's an excerpt:

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has been awarded a $315,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to develop and disseminate a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Software Preservation. This code will give individuals and institutions clear guidance on the legality of archiving software, in order to ensure continued access to digital files of all kinds and to offer hands-on understanding of the history of technology.

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"Evolving Roles of Preservation Professionals: Trends in Position Announcements from 2004 to 2015"

Mary M. Miller and Martha Horan have published "Evolving Roles of Preservation Professionals: Trends in Position Announcements from 2004 to 2015" in Library Resources & Technical Services.

Here's an excerpt:

As research libraries continue to expand the scope of content they acquire, manage, and make accessible, the preservation charge within organizations is broadening. Libraries and other cultural heritage institutions must balance the preservation of books, manuscripts, archives, and audiovisual materials with born-digital and digitized content. As preservation challenges and strategies evolve, professional positions in preservation must also evolve to meet the needs of academic and other cultural institutions. The ability to quantify how preservation positions are changing, and to identify the required skill sets and educational backgrounds needed for preservation professionals, is central to navigating this shift. To begin to address this, the authors collected and analyzed announcements for professional preservation positions in libraries and archives from 2004 through 2015. They compared the contents of announcements between earlier and more recent years to identify potential trends in preservation employment.

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Simon Fraser University and Virginia Commonwealth University to Join ARL

Simon Fraser University and Virginia Commonwealth University will Join ARL at the start of 2018.

Read more about it at: "Simon Fraser University Becomes 124th Member of ARL" and "Virginia Commonwealth University Becomes 125th Member of ARL."

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Lots of Institutional Repositories Keep E-prints Safe

The seductive allure of a commercial mega repository is two-fold: (1) everything is conveniently in one place, and (2) a company is taking care of the dreary and expensive business of running it.

Everything seems fine: problem solved! That is until something goes wrong, such as the repository being bought and controlled by a publisher or being threatened by lawsuits by a coterie of publishers.

Then it's important to remember: it's a company, and companies exist to make a profit.

Heh, companies are great. I wouldn't have just had that tasty cup of coffee without them. But, we should be very clear about what motivates companies and controls their behavior. And we shouldn't be shocked if they do things that aren't motivated by lofty goals.

I know: institutional repositories are hard work. The bloom is off the rose. But they exist to serve higher education, not make money, and they part of the academic communities they serve. And they can't be bought. And their universities don't often go out of business. And there are a lot of them. And they are not likely to be attractive targets for lawsuits unless something has gone very, very wrong at the local level.

Copyright is complicated. No one is advocating that we ignore it and just shove e-prints into IR's willy-nilly. Getting faculty to understand the ins and outs of e-print copyright is no picnic, nor is monitoring for compliance. But the battle is easier to fight at the local level where one-on-one faculty to librarian communication is possible.

For self-archiving to flourish in the long run, institutional repositories must flourish. By and large, librarians establish, run, and support them, and they are the quiet heroes of green open access who will continue to provide a sustainable and reliable infrastructure for self-archiving.