DigitalKoans – Page 10 – What Is the Sound of One E-Print Downloading?

"The Living Library: A Process-Based Tool for Open Literature Review, Probing the Boundaries of Open Science"

In this paper, we present a new tool for open science research, the Living Library. The Living Library provides an online platform and methodological framework for open, continuous literature reviewing. As a research medium, it explores what openness means in light of the human dimension and interpretive nature of engaging with societal questions. As a tool, the Living Library allows researchers to collectively sort, dynamically interpret and openly discuss the evolving literature on a topic of interest. The interface is built around a timeline along which articles can be filtered, themes with which articles are coded, and an open researcher logbook that documents the development of the library. The first rendition of a Living Library can be found via this link: https://eduvision-living-library.web.app/, and the code to develop your own Living Library can be found via this link: https://github.com/Simon-Dirks/living-library.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-024-00964-z

Electronic Resources Liaison Librarian at University of Pittsburgh

The Electronic Resources Liaison Librarian reports to the Head of Electronic Resources and is responsible for managing the lifecycle of electronic resources, including databases, eBooks, serials, streaming media, and the like. The incumbent is responsible for developing and overseeing assessment strategies and conducting ongoing assessments of electronic resource acquisitions and transformative agreements; working with vendors and library subject liaisons to demonstrate and trial new resources; reviewing license agreements to ensure they have appropriate terms; and with library liaisons to publicize agreements and license terms, including OA publishing agreements.

https://tinyurl.com/b7eah74v

"Software Management Plans – Current Concepts, Tools, and Application"

The present article is a review of the state of the art about software management plans (SMPs). It provides a selection of questionnaires, tools and application cases for SMPs from a European (German) point of view, and discusses the possible connections of SMPs to other aspects of software sustainability, such as metadata, FAIR4RS principles or machine-actionable SMPs. The aim of our publication is to provide basic knowledge to start diving into the subject and a handout for infrastructure providers who are about to establish/develop a SMP service in one’s own institution.

https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2024-043

Data Science Librarian (2 Positions) at NC State University

The Data Science Librarian provides expert consultative support for students, faculty, and researchers in data science and visualization. The position serves as a member of the DVS Consulting Program Team, including supervising graduate student Data Science Research Consultants. They contribute to supporting the specialized spaces overseen by DVS to ensure access to needed hardware and software. They design, develop, and deliver instruction on data science topics, both as part of an open workshop series offered to the university community and through course-integrated instruction in collaboration with other faculty. They conduct outreach to and engage with faculty, campus groups, and external partners to support the university’s data and visualization needs. The position collaborates with colleagues and other university faculty on data-related initiatives and projects, and they contribute to departmental projects and initiatives.

https://tinyurl.com/yc4nakv9

6 Major Academic Publishes Sued: "Academic Journal Publishers Antitrust Litigation"

On September 12, 2024, Lieff Cabraser and co-counsel at Justice Catalyst Law filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against six commercial publishers of academic journals, including Elsevier B.V., John Wiley & Sons, Wolters Kluwer NV, and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM), on behalf of a putative class of scientists and scholars who allege that these six world’s-largest for-profit publishers of peer-reviewed scholarly journals conspired to unlawfully appropriate billions of dollars that would otherwise have funded scientific research.

https://tinyurl.com/mv5r5nba

Filed Complaint

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein

User Experience Librarian at Illinois Institute of Technology

The User Experience Librarian collaborates closely with librarians and technical staff to promote new models for web development and design and implement best practices for digital content and services. As a liaison to academic units on campus, he/she also provides research and instructional services to a diverse community of faculty, staff, and student users of the Paul V. Galvin Library.

https://tinyurl.com/bp88t6ws

"Introducing OpenAI o1-preview: A New Series of Reasoning Models for Solving Hard Problems"

In our tests, the next model update performs similarly to PhD students on challenging benchmark tasks in physics, chemistry, and biology. We also found that it excels in math and coding. In a qualifying exam for the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO), GPT-4o [the last model] correctly solved only 13% of problems, while the [new]reasoning model scored 83%. Their coding abilities were evaluated in contests and reached the 89th percentile in Codeforces competitions. . . .

As an early model, it doesn’t yet have many of the features that make ChatGPT useful, like browsing the web for information and uploading files and images. For many common cases GPT-4o will be more capable in the near term.

https://tinyurl.com/5ap6p996

eCollections Access and Licensing Librarian at Clemson University

The Libraries’ materials budget is currently $9.5 million with over 80% spent on electronic resources. Electronic resources managed by the eResources team include e-books, e-journals, databases, streaming media, and data sets. This position plays an integral role in ensuring our collections are discoverable and accessible through eresources work, including licensing, negotiations, troubleshooting access issues, and the trialing and marketing of new resources.

https://apply.interfolio.com/153392

"Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats: A Comprehensive SWOT Analysis of AI and Human Expertise in Peer Review"

Instead of casting blame [about peer review failures], we must ask ourselves the critical questions: Are we equipping our peer reviewers with the right tools to succeed in an increasingly complex landscape? How can AI be harnessed not as a burden, but as a true ally in maintaining the integrity of research? Are we prepared to re-think the roles within peer review? Can we stop viewing AI as a threat or as a problem and instead embrace it as a partner—one that enhances human judgment rather than complicates it?

https://tinyurl.com/4p5pr6k6

Dean of the University Libraries at University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland Libraries comprise eight distinct libraries holding more than 3.5 million volumes and representing a diverse array of special collections, digital collections, and electronic resources: McKeldin Library (general collections), and separate branch libraries for architecture, performing arts, arts, special collections and archives, library media services, chemistry, engineering/physical sciences, and the Shady Grove branch. The Dean occupies a critical place in the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI) consortium of libraries, which shares services among sixteen institutions. The Libraries is an active member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), Center for Research Libraries (CRL), the HathiTrust, OCLC, and the Northeast Research Libraries Consortium, as well as state, regional and national consortia and organizations.

https://ejobs.umd.edu/postings/122588

Paywall: "Ephemeral Geodata: An Impending Digital Dark Age"

Despite the unprecedented rate of geospatial data (“geodata”) generation, we are paradoxically creating a potential “dark age” in geospatial knowledge due to a failure to archive it. In the twentieth century, map libraries systematically collected and preserved government-issued maps. However, many have not expanded to include digital formats, which have replaced paper maps in most domains. Compounding this issue is the prevailing practice among government data providers to continuously update public data without adequately preserving previous iterations, thus overwriting the historical record.

https://doi.org/10.1080/15420353.2024.2398542

Senior Applications Developer at The Ohio State University

The Senior Applications Developer serves on the cross-functional Application Development & Operations team in the University Libraries IT Division. The Senior Applications Developer is responsible for the end-to-end development and delivery of specialized library and administrative systems that enable the libraries to share knowledge and culture with the people of Ohio, the nation, and the world. The Senior Applications Developer collaborates with product owners, project managers, and team members on the specification of business and technical requirements and proposes and implements solutions that adhere to standards for data security, code quality, test coverage, digital accessibility, and architecture. Duties also include providing technical support; maintaining existing open-source and custom applications; collaborating in the investigation of problems, conducting root-cause analyses, and recommending fixes; and participating in weekly maintenance windows.

https://tinyurl.com/ym22uacy

"Creating a Fully Open Environment for Research Code and Data"

Quantitative research in the social and natural sciences is increasingly dependent on new datasets and forms of code. Making these resources open and accessible is a key aspect of open research and underpins efforts to maintain research integrity. Erika Pastrana explains how Springer Nature developed Nature Computational Science to be fully compliant with open research and data principles.

https://tinyurl.com/7uwdxrrz

Digital Program Manager at Rockefeller Archive Center

The Rockefeller Archive Center seeks a highly organized and detail-oriented individual to join its Access team as a Digitization Program Manager. In this newly created position, you will guide the RAC’s efforts to make its collections more broadly accessible to its user communities by building and sustaining the organization’s capacity for digitizing archival records.

https://tinyurl.com/3h9ac2w4

Paywall: "The FAIRification Process for Data Stewardship: A Comprehensive Discourse on the Implementation of the Fair Principles for Data Visibility, Interoperability and Management"

Using a systematic literature review, the study focuses on the implementation of these [FAIR] principles in research data management and their applicability in data repositories and data centres. It highlights the importance of implementing these principles systematically, allowing stakeholders to choose the minimum requirements and provide a vision for implementing them in data repositories and data centres. The article also highlights the steps in the FAIRification process, which can enhance data interoperability, discovery and reusability.

https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352241270692

Director of Copyright & Scholarly Communication Services at University of Virginia

The University of Virginia Library is seeking a dynamic leader in copyright and scholarly communication services to shape future outreach efforts. This new position will transform the Library’s copyright and scholarly communication services to faculty and students in support of innovation in scholarly production, open access initiatives, and rights and risk assessment of digital content. The Director of Copyright and Scholarly Communication Services will build crucial partnerships both within the library and across grounds with faculty and students. Strengthening these relationships will enhance services, engage with the UVA scholarly community, and encourage compliance with federal open policies.

https://tinyurl.com/6yd69ck9

Internet Archive: "New Feature Alert: Access Archived Webpages Directly through Google Search"

In a significant step forward for digital preservation, Google Search is now making it easier than ever to access the past. Starting today, users everywhere can view archived versions of webpages directly through Google Search, with a simple link to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. . . .

To access this new feature, conduct a search on Google as usual. Next to each search result, you’ll find three dots—clicking on these will bring up the “About this Result” panel. Within this panel, select “More About This Page” to reveal a link to the Wayback Machine page for that website.

Through this direct link, you’ll be able to view previous versions of a webpage via the Wayback Machine, offering a snapshot of how it appeared at different points in time.

https://tinyurl.com/ms749s28

Digital Repository Coordinator at The New York Public Library

The Library seeks a system-minded, collaborative person to serve as a Digital Repository Coordinator. As part of the library’s Digital Preservation program, the Digital Repository Coordinator leads the technical effort to migrate digital collections from all of the Library’s born-digital acquisition and digitization programs into its digital repository. They also administer the digital repository software and manage the long-term preservation of files within.

https://tinyurl.com/4bn3yuvt

Paywall: "Reshaping Academic Library Information Literacy Programs in the Advent of ChatGPT and Other Generative AI Technologies"

This article reports on three digital information literacy initiatives created by instruction librarians to support students’ use of generative AI technologies, namely ChatGPT, in academic library research. The cumulative and formative data gathered from the initiatives reveals a continuing need for academic libraries to provide information literacy instruction that guides students toward the ethical use of information and awareness of using generative AI tools in library research.

https://doi.org/10.1080/10875301.2024.2400132

Operations Manager (Digital Archiving) at The National Archives (UK)

The National Archives is the archive of UK Government and the courts and one of the world’s leading digital archives. We preserve and provide access to the UK’s public records. Our strategy sets out our ambition to be an inclusive, entrepreneurial and disruptive archive.

We have operated as a digital archive for over 20 years. Our technical platform includes innovative new services running alongside systems that are approaching retirement. We are seeking a talented individual to strengthen our team as our next generation of digital archiving services become operational.

https://tinyurl.com/v2xbpe3r

"3D Data Long-Term Preservation in Cultural Heritage"

The report explores the challenges and strategies for preserving 3D digital data in cultural heritage. It discusses the issue of technological obsolescence, emphasising the need for ustainable storage solutions and ongoing data management strategies. Key topics include understanding technological obsolescence, the lifecycle of digital content, digital continuity, data management plans (DMP), FAIR principles, and the use of public repositories. The report also covers the importance of metadata in long-term digital preservation, including types of metadata and strategies for building valuable metadata. It examines the evolving standards and interoperability in 3D format preservation and the importance of managing metadata and paradata. The document provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and solutions for preserving 3D cultural heritage data in the long term.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.04507

Software Quality Assurance Specialist at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

As a member of a highly collaborative team within the University Libraries’ Software Development department, the Software Quality Assurance Specialist designs and implements automated and manual software quality assurance processes to support technology and infrastructure for University Libraries services and collections. The core goal for this position is to improve software quality across our portfolio by implementing consistent processes aimed at proactively identifying functional, interface, security, and other issues during development and maintenance. This person also learns and applies robust software development and diagnostic practices, including automated testing, software documentation, peer review, and the creation and maintenance of software testing environments and dashboards.

https://tinyurl.com/yan8m6wp

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"The AI-Copyright Trap"

As AI tools proliferate, policy makers are increasingly being called upon to protect creators and the cultural industries from the extractive, exploitative, and even existential threats posed by generative AI. In their haste to act, however, they risk running headlong into the Copyright Trap: the mistaken conviction that copyright law is the best tool to support human creators and culture in our new technological reality (when in fact it is likely to do more harm than good). It is a trap in the sense that it may satisfy the wants of a small group of powerful stakeholders, but it will harm the interests of the more vulnerable actors who are, perhaps, most drawn to it. Once entered, it will also prove practically impossible to escape. I identify three routes in to the copyright trap in current AI debates: first is the “if value, then (property) right” fallacy; second is the idea that unauthorized copying is inherently wrongful; and third is the resurrection of the starving artist trope to justify copyright’s expansion.

https://tinyurl.com/bdett6ue

"Datacenters to Emit 3X More Carbon Dioxide Because of Generative AI"

The datacenter industry is set to emit 2.5 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide between now and the end of the decade, three times more than if generative AI had not been developed.

https://tinyurl.com/4vatmm8a

DevOps Engineer at University of Maryland, College Park

The DevOps Engineer is responsible for building and maintaining the University of Maryland Libraries’ application deployment environments. The DevOps Engineer utilizes software development techniques to automate application deployments and to automate system monitoring and notifications. . . . The incumbent maintains applications and systems through monitoring, troubleshooting and tuning resources such as cpu, memory, disk, and network, and will ensure systems are properly redundant, backed up and prepared for disaster recovery.

https://ejobs.umd.edu/postings/122213