Category: Research Libraries

NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Library Edition

NMC has released the NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Library Edition.

Here’s an excerpt from the press release:

The NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Library Edition, examines key trends, significant challenges, and emerging technologies for their potential impact on academic and research libraries worldwide. While there are many local factors affecting libraries, there are also issues that transcend regional boundaries and common questions; it was with these questions in mind that this report was created.

Digital Scholarship | "A Quarter-Century as an Open Access Publisher"

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

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

Here's an excerpt from the ad.

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

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

The University of Houston Libraries ranks 70th out of 115 research libraries in the latest ARL rankings.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Library Jobs | Library IT Jobs | Sitemap

What Does the HathiTrust Decision Mean for Libraries?

The Library Copyright Alliance has released What Does the HathiTrust Decision Mean for Libraries?.

Here's an excerpt:

The decision also demonstrates how the fair use right applies in the context of a specific library activity: mass digitization. The decision clearly indicates that the acts of a library digitizing the works in its collection, and the library's storage of the resulting digital files, are fair uses under section 107 of the Copyright Act. The decision, however, provides less certainty concerning the permissible access to those digital files. The only form of full-text access it addresses directly is access by the disabled. To be sure, this is an incredibly important result for these individuals. But the court provides little specific guidance concerning the permissibility of other forms of access. Nonetheless, the court's more general pronouncements concerning fair use should be helpful to libraries trying to determine the range of permitted access to their mass digitization projects.

Digital Scholarship | "A Quarter-Century as an Open Access Publisher"

"Journal Collection Management and Open Access—Relationship Status: It’s Complicated"

Miriam Lorenz has published "Journal Collection Management and Open Access—Relationship Status: It's Complicated" in IFLA WLIC 2014—Lyon.

Here's an excerpt:

The purpose of this study is to analyze how journal management in academic libraries (selection, cost organization and allocation) changes through the influence of Open Access and in what form the Open Access movement could be supported by established structures and processes of journal management. In the empirical part, the hypotheses will be verified through an international survey (Germany, Europe (mainly Great Britain), North America (mainly US)) of libraries' journal management staff in March and April 2014. . . . In this article, the first results of the survey will be presented and we will try to find out of how Open Access and journal collection management can be in a stable relationship and what challenges harmonic processes.

Digital Scholarship | "A Quarter-Century as an Open Access Publisher"

NARA Open Government Plan

The National Archives and Records Administration has released its Open Government Plan.

Here's an excerpt:

NARA has been engaging the Wikipedia community since 2011, when we welcomed a Wikipedian in Residence and began holding events to build awareness of the records of the National Archives. In 2013, we welcomed a full-time employee devoted to engaging the Wikipedia community along with NARA staff members to promote greater access, reuse, and context for our records on Wikipedia.

Our work strengthening digitization and description fuels our ability to make records available on external platforms like Wikipedia. In 2012, we shared 100,000 digital images from our holdings to Wikimedia Commons. This work enabled digital copies of our records to be incorporated into Wikimedia projects and Wikipedia articles. The 4,000 Wikipedia articles featuring our records received more than one billion page views in Fiscal Year 2013. Over the next two years we will work to increase the number of National Archives records available on Wikimedia Commons, which furthers our strategic goal to "Make Access Happen" and expands re-use of our records by the public.

We are continuing our work to engage local communities of volunteer Wikipedians with on-site events, including skills-building workshops and "edit-a-thons" for improving Wikipedia content related to our holdings. In addition, we are establishing a model for "scan-a-thons" to enable citizen archivist stakeholder groups to digitize our records for access.

Digital Scholarship | "A Quarter-Century as an Open Access Publisher"

"Librarians and Scholars: Partners in Digital Humanities"

Laurie Alexander et al. have published "Librarians and Scholars: Partners in Digital Humanities" in EDUCAUSE Review.

Here's an excerpt:

Key Takeaways

  • Libraries have numerous capabilities and considerable expertise available to accelerate digital humanities initiatives.
  • The University of Michigan Library developed a model for effective partnership between libraries and digital humanities scholars; this model contributes to both a definition and redefinition of this emergent field.
  • As the U-M experience shows, using the digital humanities as a key innovation tool can help libraries and their host institutions transform the way research, teaching, and learning are conceptualized.

Digital Scholarship | "A Quarter-Century as an Open Access Publisher"

"Liberating the Publications of a Distinguished Scholar: A Pilot Project"

Julie Kelly has published "Liberating the Publications of a Distinguished Scholar: A Pilot Project" in Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship.

Here's an excerpt:

Many distinguished scholars published the primary corpus of their work before the advent of online journals, which makes it more challenging to access. Upon being approached by a distinguished Emeritus Professor seeking advice about getting his work posted online, librarians at the University of Minnesota worked to gain copyright permissions to scan and upload older works to the University's Digital Conservancy (UDC). This project then uniquely took the process one step further, using the sharing option of RefWorks to make these works accessible to the widest possible audience while concurrently offering the sophisticated functionality of a citation manager. With open access repositories gaining acceptance as an authoritative long-term venue for making resources available online, including older content that can be digitized, the methods developed in this pilot project could easily be followed by others, thus greatly increasing access to older literature from distinguished scholars.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Sustaining the Digital Humanities: Host-Institution Support beyond the Start-Up Phase

Ithaka S+R has released Sustaining the Digital Humanities: Host-Institution Support beyond the Start-Up Phase.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

In this study, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Ithaka S+R explored the different models colleges and universities have adopted to support DH outputs on their campuses. . . .

Over the course of this study, Ithaka S+R interviewed more than 125 stakeholders and faculty project leaders at colleges and universities within the US. These interviews included a deep-dive phase of exploration focused on support for the digital humanities at four campuses”Columbia University, Brown University, Indiana University Bloomington, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. This research helped us to better understand how institutions are navigating issues related to the sustainability of DH resources and what successful strategies are emerging.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"Evaluating Big Deal Journal Bundles"

Theodore C. Bergstrom et al. have published "Evaluating Big Deal Journal Bundles" in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. An open access eprint is not available.

Read more about it at "How Much Did Your University Pay for Your Journals?" and "Universities 'Get Poor Value' from Academic Journal-Publishing Firms."

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"The ‘Digital’ Scholarship Disconnect"

Clifford Lynch has published "The 'Digital' Scholarship Disconnect" in EDUCAUSE Review.

Here's an excerpt:

Still, in all of these examples of digital scholarship, a key challenge remains: How can we curate and manage data now that so much of it is being produced and collected in digital form? How can we ensure that it will be discovered, shared, and reused to advance scholarship? We are struggling through the establishment of institutions, funding models, policies and practices, and even new legal requirements and community norms—ranging from cultural changes about who can use data (and when) to economic decisions about who should pay for what. Some disciplines are less contentious than others: for example, astronomy data is technically well-understood and usually not terribly sensitive. Reputation, rather than commercial reward, is wrapped up in astronomical discoveries, and there is no institutional review board to ensure the safety and dignity of astronomical objects. On the other hand, human subjects and their data raise an enormous number of questions about informed consent, privacy, and anonymization; when there are genetic markers or possible treatments to be discovered or validated, serious high-value commercial interests may be at stake. All of these factors tend to work against the free and convenient sharing of data.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"The University Library as Incubator for Digital Scholarship"

Bryan Sinclair has published "The University Library as Incubator for Digital Scholarship" in EDUCAUSE Review.

Here's an excerpt:

The campus of the future will be increasingly connected and collaborative, and the library can be the community center and beta test kitchen for new forms of interdisciplinary inquiry. Libraries have always been in the business of knowledge creation and transfer, and the digital scholarship incubator within the library can serve as a natural extension of this essential function. In an age of visualization, analytics, big data, and new forms of online publishing, these central spaces can facilitate knowledge creation and transfer by connecting people, data, and technology in a shared collaborative space.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"ARL Membership Refines Strategic Thinking and Design at Spring 2014 Meeting"

ARL has released "ARL Membership Refines Strategic Thinking and Design at Spring 2014 Meeting." Includes a video.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Here's an excerpt:

ARL president Carol Pitts Diedrichs of The Ohio State University (OSU) convened the 164th ARL Membership Meeting in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday afternoon, May 6, 2014. Almost all of the program sessions at this meeting focused on the current ARL strategic thinking and design process, upon which the Association embarked in the fall of 2013 to define its role in higher education and to maximize ARL’s ability to be agile and responsive to changing priorities and member needs. . . .

Throughout the spring, ARL design meeting participants began creating a system of action to help research libraries and ARL effect radical change and achieve their desired vision. Six potential components of a system of action were presented to the ARL membership on May 6:

  • Coordinated Management of Collective Collections—federate networks of print repositories, digital repositories, data repositories.
  • Scholarly Publishing at Scale (Short + Long Forms)—bring scholarly publishing back home to the academy with shared-infrastructure press.
  • ARL Academy—reshaping the profession by developing new leaders and leadership teams, establishing an agency with a talent pool to be drawn on by libraries.
  • Boundless Symposium—orchestrate meta-collaborations and meta-conversations across institutional boundaries to build new insights.
  • First Suite of Smart Libraries—design, fund, and build a coalition of libraries that create personalized content delivery.
  • Innovation Lab and (Venture) Capital Fund—create a think tank and pop-up innovation labs, use investment to spur innovation.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

EU Advocate General Issues Opinion on Library Digitization

The European Union's Advocate General has issued an opinion on library digitization.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Here's an excerpt:

Next, the Advocate General considers that the directive does not prevent Member States from granting libraries the right to digitise the books from their collections, if their being made available to the public by dedicated terminals requires it. That may be the case where it is necessary to protect original works which, although still covered by copyright, are old, fragile or rare. That may also be the case where the work in question is consulted by a large number of students and its photocopying might result in disproportionate wear.

However, Mr Jääskinen makes clear that the directive permits not the digitisation of a collection in its entirety, but only the digitisation of individual works. It is particularly important not to opt to use dedicated terminals where the sole purpose of doing so is to avoid the purchase of a sufficient number of physical copies of the work.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"Developing a Research Data Management Service—A Case Study"

Jeff Moon has published "Developing a Research Data Management Service—A Case Study" in Partnership.

Here's an excerpt:

Publicly-funded, researcher-generated data has been on the front burner lately, driven by a variety of factors, including evolving funding-agency policies and journal publisher requirements. In this context, Queen's University Library (QUL) developed and implemented a Research Data Management (RDM) Service to meet researchers' needs. This process is described here, framed around four main themes: planning, building, educating, and doing.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"Ebook Pricing Hikes Amount to Price-Gouging"

Boston Library Consortium has released "Ebook Pricing Hikes Amount to Price-Gouging" as a letter to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Here's an excerpt:

Consequently, the BLC will lower the price ceiling below which individual titles are eligible to be included in our ebook program, we will reduce the availability of back-list titles at high price points, and we will increase the portion of our consortial budget that is allocated to those publishers whose pricing remains reasonable. In this way, we mean to reward what we regard as fair dealing, as we attempt to limit the budget impact of what appears plainly to be price-gouging.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Driving With Data: A Roadmap for Evidence-Based Decision Making in Academic Libraries

Ithaka S+R has released Driving With Data: A Roadmap for Evidence-Based Decision Making in Academic Libraries.

Here's an excerpt:

Over the past decade, libraries have expanded their use of various types of service assessment. Initially popularized by the LibQUAL+ service, there is now a robust library assessment community, including dedicated assessment librarians and coordinators at many institutions, who are charged with examining existing services and user perceptions with the purpose of documenting the value of the academic library's collections and services and identifying opportunities for improvement. At some institutions, assessment has become an important element of how libraries establish their key priorities on a regular basis.

Today library leaders must do more than build and manage collections, improve the quality of existing services, and find the funding to support this work. In addition, the library leader is called upon to reconsider or reassert the roles and objectives of the library in a changing information environment and to develop the strategy, services, spaces, and staffing to support these roles. In the remainder of this paper, therefore, we will be focusing on the use of data, including the types discussed in this section, to establish strategy and lead to a decision about future directions.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Big Deals: Beyond the Damage: Circulation, Coverage and Staffing

Walt Crawford has published Beyond the Damage: Circulation, Coverage and Staffing.

Here's an excerpt from chapter one:

Big-Deal Serials Purchasing: Tracking the Damage looks almost entirely at four aspects of library spending and changes in that spending: total spending, current serials, "books" (all other acquisitions) and the remainder”what's left over for staff, automation, preservation, etc.

This book looks at some other aspects of academic libraries and how they have changed from 2002 through 2012: circulation, coverage and staffing. It's designed to complement the LTR report. Indeed, I assume that readers will have access to the report, as it includes details on which academic libraries are included and excluded. This book uses exactly the same universe of libraries (2,594 in all) as the report. I believe this book (and the supplementary PDF) will provide useful additional insights into what's happened in academic libraries over a decade in which Big Deals supposedly improved serials pricing problems”but still had serials spending taking more and more of a sometimes-shrinking overall pie…

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Web Accessibility Toolkit

ARL has released the Web Accessibility Toolkit.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

On the third annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (#GAAD), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is proud to announce the availability of a new resource for the ARL membership and the library community—a Web Accessibility Toolkit for research libraries. ARL's toolkit shares the fundamental goal of GAAD, which is to "raise the profile" of digital accessibility and provide resources for improving access to information to "the broadest audience possible." The toolkit aims to:

  • Promote the principles of accessibility, universal design, and digital inclusion.
  • Help research libraries achieve digital accessibility.
  • Connect research libraries with the tools, people, and examples they need to provide accessible digital content.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

"Funding Open Access Journal Publishing Article Processing Charges"

Christine Fruin and Fred Rascoe have published "Funding Open Access Journal Publishing Article Processing Charges" in College & Research Libraries News.

Here's an excerpt:

Libraries are viewed as the primary resource at academic institutions for information on scholarly publishing issues, including OA. Faculty interest in OA publishing is increasing, and when recent federal mandates for OA are implemented, the interest from those doing federally funded research will grow quickly. As such, librarians should be prepared to answer questions from faculty and researchers on how they can cover the costs that are often attendant to publishing in OA journals. While librarians should advocate and educate their constituents on the availability of green OA and the cost-free options available with many gold OA journals, they should also be cognizant of the frequency at which faculty and researchers are publishing in gold OA publications that charge a fee and the available options for covering those costs.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Supporting the Changing Research Practices of Art Historians

Ithaka S+R has released Supporting the Changing Research Practices of Art Historians.

Here's an excerpt:

Having completed studies of historians and chemists, we turn in this report to art historians. This is a rich and diverse field of study, and the necessary support services must come from libraries, archives, museums, and technology providers. Digital technology has facilitated access to vast collections of resources that simply were not available before, and yet, the primacy of the actual art object has not diminished at all.

It would be unwise to draw conclusions from only three disciplines, but there are some interesting similarities among the three groups of scholars we have studied thus far. Scholars in the three fields have similar needs for assistance in managing and organizing non-institutional (i.e. personal or lab group) digital and digitized collections of primary source materials (digitized archival materials for historians, datasets for chemists, and image files for art historians). Meeting these needs will challenge support organizations to think differently about the services they provide and how they provide them.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Director and University Librarian at University of Chicago Library

The University of Chicago Library is recruiting a Director and University Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Director will oversee a professional and support staff of 302 and will manage in a large and complex academic environment, engaging effectively with other university leaders and constituencies to advance the overall University mission. The Director oversees an annual operating budget of over $35M with over $18M in expenditures for acquisitions.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Library Jobs | Library IT Jobs | Sitemap

"Developing Digital Scholarship Services on a Shoestring: Facilities, Events, Tools, and Projects"

Heather McCullough has published "Developing Digital Scholarship Services on a Shoestring: Facilities, Events, Tools, and Projects" in College & Research Libraries News.

Here's an excerpt:

Libraries and academic technology divisions are increasingly developing and offering digital scholarship services. Yet, the term digital scholarship itself is quite fluid and seems to offer many interpretations depending on a particular university's culture, institutional organization, and environment. This article will outline how one university addressed a need for digital scholarship services at its campus.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

Director of Libraries at MIT Libraries

The MIT Libraries are recruiting a Director of Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Responsible for the MIT Libraries and oversight of the MIT Press, the Director of the MIT Libraries uses visionary leadership to guide both organizations through times of transformation in their respective industries. The Director is expected to leverage an increasingly networked and collaborative information environment as an important partner with MIT's academic and administrative units to advance the Institute's research, teaching, and global agendas in alignment with its mission and values. Reporting directly to the Provost, the Director secures the support and resources necessary for providing outstanding innovative and creative collections and services across a broad range of research disciplines to a world-class scholarly community. The Director will play a prominent role in shaping the larger scholarly communication landscape at MIT and beyond. S/he is expected to grow the Libraries resource development program. Key strategic opportunities for the Libraries include MIT's exploration of new modes of learning and global engagement, upcoming investments in reshaping library spaces, and advancing MIT's commitment and influence in the area of Open Access. S/he is expected to actively build and develop a diverse, skilled, and engaged workforce dedicated to an inclusive MIT community. As the senior officer at MIT with management responsibility for the MIT Press, the Director of Libraries provides strategic guidance to the Press in accordance with its goals, which include greater international engagement and a strong portfolio of evolving business models.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Library Jobs | Library IT Jobs | Sitemap

"Digital Preservation File Format Policies of ARL Member Libraries: An Analysis"

Kyle Rimkus et al. have published "Digital Preservation File Format Policies of ARL Member Libraries: An Analysis" in D-Lib Magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

In the interest of gaining a broad view of contemporary digital preservation practice in North American research libraries, this paper presents the findings of a study of file format policies at Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member institutions. It is intended to present the digital preservation community with an assessment of the level of trust currently placed in common file formats in digital library collections and institutional repositories. Beginning with a summary of file format research to date, the authors describe the research methodology they used to collect and analyze data from the file format policies of ARL Library repositories and digital library services. The paper concludes with a presentation and analysis of findings that explore levels of confidence placed in image, text, audio, video, tabular data, software application, presentation, geospatial, and computer program file formats. The data show that file format policies have evolved little beyond the document and image digitization standards of traditional library reformatting programs, and that current approaches to file format policymaking must evolve to meet the challenges of research libraries' expanding digital repository services.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap