Category: Research Libraries

"’Total Cost of Ownership’ of Scholarly Communication: Managing Subscription and APC Payments Together"

Stuart Lawson has self-archived "'Total Cost of Ownership' of Scholarly Communication: Managing Subscription and APC Payments Together."

Here's an excerpt:

Managing subscription journals and open access charges together has created challenges which may in part be dealt with by offsetting the two revenue streams against each other. In order to do this, it is necessary to have reliable financial data about the extent of the two interacting markets. Jisc Collections has been undertaking data collection regarding universities' article publication charge (APC) expenditure. This process is difficult without a standardized way of recording data, so Jisc Collections has developed a standard data collection template and is helping institutions to release data openly. If available data become more comprehensive and transparent, then all parties (libraries, publishers, research funders, and intermediaries) will have better knowledge of the APC market and can more accurately predict the effects of offsetting.

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"A Library in the Palm of Your Hand: Mobile Services in Top 100 University Libraries"

Yan Quan Liu and Sarah Briggs have published "A Library in the Palm of Your Hand: Mobile Services in Top 100 University Libraries" in Information Technology and Libraries.

Here's an excerpt:

What is the current state of mobile services among academic libraries of the country's top 100 universities, and what are the best practices for librarians implementing mobile services at the university level? Through in-depth website visits and survey questionnaires, the authors studied each of the top 100 universities' libraries' experiences with mobile services. Results showed that all of these libraries offered at least one mobile service, and the majority offered multiple services. The most common mobile services offered were mobile sites, text messaging services, e-books, and mobile access to databases and the catalog. In addition, chat/IM services, social media accounts and apps were very popular. Survey responses also indicated a trend towards responsive design for websites so that patrons can access the library's full site on any mobile device. Respondents recommend that libraries considering offering mobile services begin as soon as possible as patron demand for these services is expected to increase.

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"NIH Approves Strategic Vision to Transform National Library of Medicine"

National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., today approved a federal report (PDF – 163KB) that lays out the long-term scientific vision for the NIH’s National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world’s largest biomedical library. This vision, presented today at the 110th meeting of the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD), calls for NIH to position the NLM as a unifying force in biomedicine that promotes and accelerates knowledge generation, dissemination and understanding in the United States and internationally. The report also cites the need to make NLM the epicenter for biomedical data science, not just at NIH, but across the biomedical research enterprise. In addition, the report recommends dramatically expanding NLM’s activities to include research conducted beyond NIH’s walls to funded institutions, enabling it to have a greater and wider impact on data science than ever before. NIH plans to work with Congress to implement the necessary infrastructure changes to move this vision forward.

"Bigger on the Inside: Building Research Data Services at the University of Virginia"

Michele Claibourn has published "Bigger on the Inside: Building Research Data Services at the University of Virginia" in Insights: the UKSG Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

Every story has a beginning, where the narrator chooses to start, though this is rarely the genesis. This story begins with the launch of the University of Virginia Library's new Research Data Services unit in October 2013. Born from the conjoining of a data management team and a data analysis team, Research Data Services expanded to encompass data discovery and acquisitions, research software support, and new expertise in the use of restricted data. Our purpose is to respond to the challenges created by the growing ubiquity and scale of data by helping researchers acquire, analyze, manage, and archive these resources. We have made serious strides toward becoming 'the face of data services at U.Va.' This article tells a bit of our story so far, relays some early challenges and how we've responded to them, outlines several initial successes, and summarizes a few lessons going forward.

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"Barriers to Initiation of Open Source Software Projects in Libraries"

Curtis Thacker and Charles Knutson have published "Barriers to Initiation of Open Source Software Projects in Libraries" in the Code4Lib Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

Libraries share a number of core values with the Open Source Software (OSS) movement, suggesting there should be a natural tendency toward library participation in OSS projects. However Dale Askey's 2008 Code4Lib column entitled "We Love Open Source Software. No, You Can't Have Our Code," claims that while libraries are strong proponents of OSS, they are unlikely to actually contribute to OSS projects. He identifies, but does not empirically substantiate, six barriers that he believes contribute to this apparent inconsistency. In this study we empirically investigate not only Askey's central claim but also the six barriers he proposes. In contrast to Askey's assertion, we find that initiation of and contribution to OSS projects are, in fact, common practices in libraries. However, we also find that these practices are far from ubiquitous; as Askey suggests, many libraries do have opportunities to initiate OSS projects, but choose not to do so. Further, we find support for only four of Askey's six OSS barriers. Thus, our results confirm many, but not all, of Askey's assertions.

| New: Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 5 | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"Scholarly Communication as a Core Competency: Prevalence, Activities, and Concepts of Scholarly Communication Librarianship as Shown through Job Advertisements"

Craig Finlay et al. have published "Scholarly Communication as a Core Competency: Prevalence, Activities, and Concepts of Scholarly Communication Librarianship as Shown through Job Advertisements" in the Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication.

Here's an excerpt:

INTRODUCTION The dynamic nature of the scholarly communication landscape has produced a need for the creation of positions specifically focused on these issues. Yet, no clear title or job description for scholarly communication librarianship has emerged. The lack of standardization in this area is problematic for educators, professionals, and prospective professionals. METHODS Analyzing 13,869 job advertisements published between 2006 and 2014, this study attempts to examine the prevalence of scholarly communication terms and activities and the types of positions in which these terms and activities appear. RESULTS This study finds an increase in the use of the term "scholarly communication" in the title or text of job advertisements over the last nine years, with more than 7% of positions in the most recent year containing the term. CONCLUSIONS An analysis of the levels of engagement with scholarly communication demonstrates that jobs with substantial levels of engagement are increasing; whereas those requiring passive knowledge or awareness of scholarly communication issues are decreasing. Jobs with scholarly communication as a primary job responsibility are differentiated by a focus on repositories, open access, copyright, authors' rights, and intellectual property differentiate core scholarly communication positions.

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"The Impact of Open Access on Collection Management"

Adelia Grabowsky has published "The Impact of Open Access on Collection Management" in Virginia Libraries.

Here's an excerpt:

This article examines if and how the integration of OA materials has changed collection and/or access management activities within academic libraries.

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Dean of Libraries at University of Alabama

The University of Alabama is recruiting a Dean of Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The University of Alabama invites applications from, and nominations of, creative and dynamic candidates for the position of Dean of the University Libraries. As chief advocate for a library system with robust institutional support and proactive donor engagement, the Dean has overall responsibility for the collections, programs, and services of the libraries, as well as for planning and developing external sources of funding. Ultimately, the successful candidate will demonstrate a 21st-century vision for leadership in a thriving university library system.

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Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries at New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is recruiting an Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

NYPL seeks a leader for one of the most prestigious positions in the research library community—the Andrew W. Mellon Director. The leader will ensure that the most democratically accessible of collections thrives and is well preserved, added to and curated, providing the best physical experiences and services for research, and developing innovative ways to increase our digital impact through curated and open collections, committed to access to and expansion of our expertise through community engagement to maximize use by writers, readers, students and creators throughout the world. The Mellon Director reports to the Chief Library Officer and is a member of the President's senior management team. He/she has oversight of the collections and staff of the iconic Schwarzman Building on 42nd street and Fifth Avenue, and the unparalleled collections and staff of the Library for Performing Arts, Schomburg Center for African American Studies, and the Science, Industry and Business Library, as well as the Cullman Center for Writers and other affiliated centers, for a total of 460+ staff and budget of $50M.

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"Robert Darnton Closes the Book"

Corydon Ireland has published "Robert Darnton Closes the Book" in the Harvard Gazette.

Here's an excerpt:

Early this summer, Robert Choate Darnton, Harvard's Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and University Librarian, will pack up his book-lined office on the second floor of Wadsworth House.

As of June 30, the celebrated historian, digital library pioneer, and champion of books will leave the University he first saw as an undergraduate in 1957. A scholar of Enlightenment France and of the history of the book, he returned to Harvard in 1965 to join the Society of Fellows, decamped to Princeton University in 1968 for 39 years, and came back to Harvard in 2007.

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"Dana Rooks: A Retrospective"

The University of Houston Libraries has released "Dana Rooks: A Retrospective."

Here's an excerpt:

After holding positions at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, she joined the University of Houston. At UH, she fulfilled the roles of business/economics reference librarian, coordinator of library instruction, library personnel coordinator, assistant director for administration, assistant director for public services and administration, and acting director. This year, Rooks will retire after 18 years as Dean of Libraries and Elizabeth D. Rockwell Chair.

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ARL Signs The Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery in the Digital Age

ARL has signed The Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery in the Digital Age.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

More than 50 organizations around the world—including ARL—have signed the Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery in the Digital Age, which calls for immediate changes to intellectual property (IP) law and the removal of other barriers preventing widened and more equal access to data. . . .

The declaration asserts that copyright was never designed to regulate the sharing of facts, data, and ideas—nor should it. The right to receive and impart information and ideas is guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but the modern application of IP law often limits this right, even when these most simple building blocks of knowledge are used.

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Scholarly Output Assessment Activities, SPEC Kit 346

ARL has released Scholarly Output Assessment Activities, SPEC Kit 346 .

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

This SPEC Kit explores current ARL member library activities that help authors manage their scholarly identities, provide options for creating and disseminating scholarly outputs, offer strategies to enhance discoverability of scholarly outputs, help authors efficiently track scholarly outputs and impact, provide resources and tools to help authors assess their scholarly impact, create publication reports and social network maps for reporting purposes, and offer guidance and training on new trends and tools for reporting of impact. This study covers library assessment services and resources, training, staffing models, partnerships with the parent institution, marketing and publicity, and future trends.

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Ann D. Thornton Named as Columbia University’s University Librarian and Vice Provost

Ann D. Thornton has been named as Columbia University's University Librarian and Vice Provost.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

"Columbia's library system is a dynamic academic resource that is at the very core of our teaching and research missions," [Columbia University President Lee] Bollinger said. "Ann's broad experience is ideally suited to the task of harnessing both digital technology and intellectual vision to expand our collections and enhance their long-term value not only to our university, but also to our society."

Thornton has held a series of senior leadership positions at the New York Public Libraries, spanning the sciences, business, the humanities and social sciences. She has been responsible for collecting, preserving and presenting the institution's vast collections. She has also helped lead in the areas of electronic resources, reference and research services and public training. Before coming to New York, she was a systems librarian with the University of Houston Libraries. . . .

After earning her bachelor's degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Thornton received her master's degree in information studies from Florida State University. She has published and spoken widely on the nexus of research, teaching, learning and leadership.

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"Steps toward a New GSU Ruling"

Kevin Smith has published "Steps toward a New GSU Ruling" in Scholarly Communication @ Duke University.

Here's an excerpt:

It appears that once again the publishers have failed in an effort to broaden the scope of the case beyond the item-by-item fair use analysis that has already been done and to possibly reintroduce some of the broad principles that they really want, which have so far been rejected at every stage. Now Judge Evans has explicitly told them, in her scheduling order, that what is required is "consideration and reevaluation of each of the individual claims" in order to redetermine "in each instance… whether defendants' use was a fair use under 17 U.S.C. section 107." Her schedule for the briefs is tight, with an end of the briefing now scheduled just two and a half months from now. Presumably we would still have a long wait while Judge Evans applies revised reasoning about fair use to each of the individual excerpts, but it looks a bit more like that is what is going to happen.

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Lisa B. German Named Dean of Libraries and Elizabeth D. Rockwell Chair by University of Houston

Lisa B. German has been named Dean of Libraries and Elizabeth D. Rockwell Chair by the University of Houston.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

At Penn State Libraries, German served as associate dean for collections, information, and access services, where she was responsible for planning, organization, policy development, implementation, assessment, and direction. She has also published extensively in these areas.

German has participated in the Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians at Harvard University, and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Research Library Leadership Fellows Program. She is the recipient of several awards from the University of Illinois, Penn State University, and the American Library Association – Association for Library Collections and Technical Services. . . .

German earned a bachelor's degree in history and a master's degree in library science, both from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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Joy Kirchner Named as York University’s University Librarian

Joy Kirchner has been named as York University's University Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Ms. Kirchner brings to York University a breadth and depth of library experience and perspectives gained from positions in university libraries in Canada and the U.S. over the past twenty years. She holds a BA degree in English literature and a master's of library and information studies from the University of British Columbia. She joins York from the University of Minnesota Libraries in Minneapolis, where she has held the position of associate university librarian for content & collections and interim associate university librarian for research & learning. . . .

Prior to her appointment at the University of Minnesota, Ms. Kirchner held a number of increasingly senior positions at the University of British Columbia, most recently as head of the UBC Scholarly Communications & Copyright Office based in the UBC Library. . . She also previously held the position of Networked Electronic Resources Coordinator at the Columbia University Library in New York and various STEM librarian positions.

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"How to Hack it as a Working Parent"

Jaclyn Bedoya et al. have published "How to Hack it as a Working Parent" in Code4Lib Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

The problems faced by working parents in technical fields in libraries are not unique or particularly unusual. However, the cross-section of work-life balance and gender disparity problems found in academia and technology can be particularly troublesome, especially for mothers and single parents. Attracting and retaining diverse talent in work environments that are highly structured or with high expectations of unstated off-the-clock work may be impossible long term. . . .

We present some practical solutions for those in technical positions in libraries. Such solutions involve strategic use of technical tools, and lightweight project management applications. Technical workarounds are not the only answer; real and lasting change will involve a change in individual priorities and departmental culture such as sophisticated and ruthless time management, reviewing workloads, cross-training personnel, hiring contract replacements, and creative divisions of labor. Ultimately, a flexible environment that reflects the needs of parents will help create a better workplace culture for everyone, kids or no kids.

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Beth McNeil Named Dean of the Iowa State University Library

Beth McNeil has been named Dean of the Iowa State University Library .

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

At Purdue, McNeil was responsible for managing 12 campus libraries, as well as the archives/special collections, technical services, digitization and the collections management units. She had oversight of nearly 90 faculty and staff and a $13.7 million annual collections budget.

McNeil previously served in leadership positions in the libraries at Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois; and University of Nebraska, Lincoln. . . .

McNeil earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in library and information science, both from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She completed a doctoral program in human sciences, with a focus on leadership studies, at Nebraska.

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"Geographic Information and Technologies in Academic Research Libraries: An ARL Survey of Services and Support"

Ann L Holstein has published "Geographic Information and Technologies in Academic Research Libraries: An ARL Survey of Services and Support" in Information Technology and Libraries.

Here's an excerpt:

One hundred fifteen academic libraries, all current members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), were selected to participate in an online survey in an effort to better understand campus use of geographic data and geospatial technologies, and how libraries support these uses. The survey was used to capture information regarding geographic needs of their respective campuses, the array of services they offer, and the education and training of geographic information services department staff members. The survey results, along with review of recent literature, were used to identify changes in geographic information services and support since 1997, when a similar survey was conducted by ARL. This new study has enabled recommendations to be made for building a successful geographic information service center within the campus library that offers a robust and comprehensive service and support model for all geographic information usage on campus.

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Directions for Research Data Management in UK Universities

JISC has released Directions for Research Data Management in UK Universities.

Here's an excerpt:

This report addresses five key topics:

  • Policy development and implementation
  • Skills and capability
  • Infrastructure and interoperability
  • Incentives for researchers and support stakeholders
  • Business case and sustainability

For each topic we have included a summary of the main current issues, alongside a vision of where the sector should aim to be in five years' time. We then suggest actions for each topic, divided into 'first steps' and then longer term, more complex priorities. Readers should note that each of the five topics do raise interrelated actions, for example, a usage statistics service is flagged as a potential infrastructure solution and this issue arises again as an action area that can help to incentivise research data management and sharing.

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"Availability and Accessibility in an Open Access Institutional Repository: A Case Study"

Jongwook Lee et al. have published "Availability and Accessibility in an Open Access Institutional Repository: A Case Study" in Information Research.

Here's an excerpt:

This study explores the extent to which an institutional repository makes papers available and accessible on the open Web by using 170 journal articles housed in DigiNole Commons, the institutional repository at Florida State University. . . .

Overall, the results confirm the contribution of the institutional repository in making papers available and accessible. The results also reveal some impediments to the success of open access, including impediments linked to contractual arrangements between authors and publishers, impediments linked to policies, practices and technologies governing the repository itself, and the low level of faculty participation in the repository.

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Dean and Director of Libraries at University at Albany

The University at Albany is recruiting a Dean and Director of Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Key opportunities and challenges for the new dean will include providing visionary leadership for the UAlbany Libraries, being a strong advocate and spokesperson for the Libraries, leading and further developing a strong, service-oriented faculty and staff, leveraging the Libraries' financial resources wisely and generating additional funding to improve growth and services, valuing and advancing diversity and inclusion efforts, participating effectively in system-level and national collaborations, and guiding and evaluating the adoption of technology.

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"Advancing Research Communication & Scholarship—An Interview with Robin Champieux and Jill Emery about This New Conference"

Alice Meadows has published "Advancing Research Communication & Scholarship—An Interview with Robin Champieux and Jill Emery about This New Conference" in The Scholarly Kitchen.

Here's an excerpt:

ARCS, Advancing Research Communication & Scholarship, is a new conference designed to provide a broad and collaborative forum for addressing and affecting scholarly and scientific communication. As organizers, we are working from the idea that supporting and improving knowledge communication in the digital age necessitates conversations and partnerships across communities, disciplines, and expertise. . . . Partnering with an organizing committee of librarians, technologists, humanists, scientists, and publishers we have built a conference program that addresses scholarly communication issues across the research cycle, through a diversity of stakeholder perspectives.

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