DigitalKoans – Page 16 – What Is the Sound of One E-Print Downloading?

"Reproducible and Attributable Materials Science Curation Practices: A Case Study"

While small labs produce much of the fundamental experimental research in Material Science and Engineering (MSE), little is known about their data management and sharing practices and the extent to which they promote trust in and transparency of the published research. In this research, a case study is conducted on a leading MSE research lab [at MIT] to characterize the limits of current data management and sharing practices concerning reproducibility and attribution. The workflows are systematically reconstructed, underpinning four research projects by combining interviews, document review, and digital forensics. Then, information graph analysis and computer-assisted retrospective auditing are applied to identify where critical research information is unavailable orat risk.

Data management and sharing practices in this leading lab protect against computer and disk failure; however, they are insufficient to ensure reproducibility or correct attribution of work,especiallywhen a group member withdraws before the project completion.Therefore, recommendations for adjustments in MSE data management and sharing practices are proposed to promote trustworthiness and transparency by adding lightweight automated file-level auditing and automated data transfer processes.

https://doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v18i1.940

Collections Strategist at University of Michigan (HathiTrust Digital Library)

HathiTrust Digital Library is a partnership of academic and research institutions offering a collection of 18+ million titles digitized from libraries around the world. We are administratively based at the University of Michigan Library and our staff are employees of the University. HathiTrust is in a period of transformational change. HathiTrust has recently released a new 5-year strategic vision. The Collections Strategist will help us accomplish this vision by positioning us to increase access to and use of an expanded, diversified, and enhanced collection. You will be responsible for developing and implementing a collection strategy and supporting the development of new collection uses in alignment with the Strategic Vision.

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Paywall: "Copyright and Text and Data Mining: Is the Current Legislation Sufficient and Adequate?"

This paper presents the basic aspects of legislation applicable to text and data mining activities. It offers a detailed comparative analysis of the norms of the main jurisdictions that have regulated them to date [Japan, UK, US, and EU] highlighting in each case the positive and negative aspects.

https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a931775

Data Analysis & Visualization Librarian – Libraries at West Virginia University

The Data Analysis & Visualization Librarian will deliver specialized research support aimed at skill development and training, information sharing, and advocacy on statistical software and data visualization, locating advising on data privacy regulations and ethical considerations. Candidates with strong data analysis and visualization experience inside or outside the traditional library setting are encouraged to apply.

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Paywall: "What Is Research Data ‘Misuse’? And How Can It Be Prevented or Mitigated?"

In the article, we emphasize the challenge of defining misuse broadly and identify various forms that misuse can take, including methodological mistakes, unauthorized reuse, and intentional misrepresentation. We pay particular attention to underscoring the complexity of defining misuse, considering different epistemological perspectives and the evolving nature of scientific methodologies. We propose a theoretical framework grounded in the critical analysis of interdisciplinary literature on the topic of misusing research data, identifying similarities and differences in how data misuse is defined across a variety of fields, and propose a working definition of what it means to "misuse" research data. Finally, we speculate about possible curatorial interventions that data intermediaries can adopt to prevent or respond to instances of misuse.

https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24944

Digitization Project Manager – HBCU Digital Library Trust at Atlanta University Center

The Digitization Project Manager will coordinate and implement in-house digitization, metadata creation, and online access of a range of unique and original archival materials, including but not limited to photographs, documents, publications, and audio and video formats from HBCU Libraries located around the U.S. The incumbent will also provide support for participating libraries as they prepare collections for digitization, which will include basic archival processing and preservation techniques. The incumbent will coordinate the outsourced digitization of audiovisual formats, including working with commercial vendors as needed.

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"Considerations and Challenges for Collecting Digital Games in Academic Libraries"

The gaming industry is increasingly moving toward the digital distribution of games, making games available as digital downloads licensed to single end-user consumers from online storefronts rather than releasing games on physical media like discs or cartridges. Libraries have adapted to similar shifts in the distribution of books and audiovisual materials largely by licensing content from ebook and digital video vendors, but there are currently no such vendors or platforms set up to license digital games to libraries in ways comparable to these other kinds of electronic resources. This paper reports on findings from interviews with librarians at 13 academic libraries in the US who are beginning to explore digital game collecting efforts, presenting some of the key considerations for how libraries might approach digital game licenses as well as the major challenges, issues, and factors that will influence digital game collecting.

https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24944

Research Data Librarian at University of Tennessee Libraries

As a member of the department of Data and Digital Scholarship, the Research Data Librarian works with research experts to support scholarship and research success across the UTK community including groups such as the Office of Innovative Technologies (OIT) and the Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development (ORIED). They support scholars through research consultations in the areas of open science, open data, data management, data sharing, data preservation; workshops and course-integrated instruction; development of online research guides; outreach; and active participation with their colleagues in Data and Digital Scholarship and throughout the Libraries, specifically Research Impact and Open Access and Digital Initiatives. They collaborate with colleagues on data-related initiatives and projects to develop services within the libraries and broader campus community. They integrate data ethics, justice, accessibility, and equity into the provision of data services. Librarians are expected to be active professionally and to contribute to developments in the field.

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Paywall: "Digital Curation Practices on Web and Social Media Archiving in Libraries and Archives"

Qualitative research was undertaken to explore the archiving practices through semi-structured interviews with 13 practitioners working in international libraries and archives at national and institutional levels across three continents. . . . Challenges were found in barriers to social media acquisition, lack of awareness, limited resources for preservation, uneven technical capacity, copyright and privacy concerns, and meeting user demands.

https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006241252661

Processing and Digital Archivist – Tufts Archival Research Center

The Processing and Digital Archivist is focused on the processing and description of archival collections held within Tufts Archival Research Center at Tufts University.. . . . This work will include refining, implementing, and executing processes that enable effective acquisition, appraisal, description, preservation, access to and security of born-digital and hybrid archival collections acquired and stewarded by TARC.

The Processing and Digital Archivist will collaborate with TARC staff in developing new acquisitions and transfer models for managing born-digital content, including post-custodial approaches.

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"Capturing Captions: Using AI to Identify and Analyse Image Captions in a Large Dataset of Historical Book Illustrations"

This article outlines how AI methods can be used to identify image captions in a large dataset of digitised historical book illustrations. This dataset includes over a million images from 68,000 books published between the eighteenth and early twentieth centuries, covering works of literature, history, geography, and philosophy. The article has two primary objectives. First, it suggests the added value of captions in making digitized illustrations more searchable by picture content in online archives. To further this objective, we describe the methods we have used to identify captions, which can effectively be re-purposed and applied in different contexts. Second, we suggest how this research leads to new understandings of the semantics and significance of the captions of historical book illustrations. The findings discussed here mark a critical intervention in the fields of digital humanities, book history, and illustration studies.

https://tinyurl.com/bdvjespp

Assistant Director (University Collections and Digital Services) at University of Essex

A member of the Leadership Team, reporting to the Director and University Librarian, you will lead the teams covering content and collections, special collections, archives and art collections, and the digital infrastructure of the Section. . . .

The immediate priorities for the role will be to work with the team on the following areas:

Developing our services in licensed digital content, ensuring they remain responsive to the evolving needs of the University and its growing student body groupings. . . .

Developing a roadmap for the digitisation, prioritisation and management of our special collections and archives and art collections.

Developing a roadmap for our digital platforms and services, and identifying where we can use systems to be more efficient and reduce workload burden.

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"Training to Act FAIR: A Pre-Post Study on Teaching FAIR Guiding Principles to (Future) Researchers in Higher Education"

With a pre-post test design, the study evaluates the short-term effectiveness of FAIR training on students’ scientific suggestions and justifications in line with FAIR’s guiding principles. The study also assesses the influence of university legal frameworks on students’ inclination towards FAIR training. Before FAIR training, 81.1% of students suggested that scientific actions were not in line with the FAIR guiding principles. However, there is a 3.75-fold increase in suggestions that adhere to these principles after the training. Interestingly, the training does not significantly impact how students justify FAIR actions. The study observes a positive correlation between the presence of university legal frameworks on FAIR guiding principles and students’ inclination towards FAIR training.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-024-09547-2

Director – Research Data, Library, and Archival Services & Co-Director MBLWHOI [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution] Library

Collaborates with the MBLWHOI Library co-director on the planning, development, and administration of the MBLWHOI Library to advance its goals while responding to future opportunities and challenges.

Provides leadership and knowledge in scientific research data curation, tools, and practices, including format migration, preservation, metadata, discovery, provenance, and data access.

Serves as liaison to institution and laboratory committees; forges strong relationships and collaborations across the institutions; articulates program goals to external and internal constituencies; advocates on behalf of the library with stakeholders, communicating the value of library resources and services in supporting the broader institution mission, initiatives, and programs.

Manages day-to-day operations of the WHOI Research Data and Library Services group, including contract negotiations and budgeting, managing employees, and overseeing physical space and collections.

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"AI and Medical Images: Addressing Ethical Challenges to Provide Responsible Access to Historical Medical Illustrations"

This article examines the ethical considerations and broader issues around access to digitised historical medical images. These illustrations and, later, photographs are often extremely sensitive, representing disability, disease, gender, and race in potentially harmful and problematic ways. In particular, the original metadata for such images can include demeaning and sometimes racist terms. Some of these images show sexually explicit and violent content, as well as content that was obtained without informed consent. Hiding these sensitive images can be tempting, and yet, archives are meant to be used, not locked away. Through a series of interviews with 10 archivists, librarians, and researchers based in the UK and US, the authors show that improved access to medical illustrations is essential to produce new knowledge in the humanities and medical research, as well as to bridge the gap between historical and modern understandings of the human body. Improving access to medical illustration can also help to address the "gender data gap", which has acquired mainstream visibility thanks to the work of activists such as Caroline Criado-Perez, the author of Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men.

https://tinyurl.com/3jek7ey4

"The Promotion and Implementation of Open Science Measures among High-Performing Journals from Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, and Spain"

This study empirically examined the promotion and implementation of open science measures among high-performing journals of Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, and Spain. Journal policy related to data sharing, materials sharing, preregistration, open peer review, and consideration of preprints and replication studies was gathered from the websites of the journals. . . . Analyses found a higher promotion of open science measures among Brazilian journals than their Portuguese counterparts, and higher promotion of open science measures among international journals than their domestic counterparts. Analyses found higher implementation of open science measures among Brazilian journals than their Portuguese and Mexican counterparts. One journal out of 40 encouraged preregistration of studies; none encouraged replication studies and none had implemented open peer review.

https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1616

Data Curation Librarian at Pennsylvania State University Libraries

This tenure-line library faculty position, based in the Research Informatics and Publishing Department’s Data Learning Center, involves developing and overseeing open data sharing services and workflows. The role includes providing guidance and support for curating, describing, sharing, and preserving research datasets.

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"Academic Authors ‘Shocked’ After Taylor & Francis Sells Access to Their Research to Microsoft AI"

One of the biggest concerns raised by Clemens [Dr Ruth Alison Clemens] is over whether it is possible for Taylor & Francis’ authors to opt out of the AI partnership with Microsoft. Clemens told The Bookseller: "There is no clarity from Taylor & Francis about whether an opt-out policy is in place or on the cards. But as they did not inform their authors about the deal in the first place, any opt-out policy is now not functional."

Taylor & Francis was paid around $10 million for the license.

https://tinyurl.com/3yyarxnj

Electronic Services Librarian at Syracuse University

The Electronic Services Librarian manages all of the Law Library’s online legal information resources to support teaching and research at the College of Law at Syracuse University (SU). This librarian confers with other members of the Law Library collection development team to assess product needs, collaborates with colleagues at the SU Libraries on shared resources, and ensures continual access to the databases offered through the Law Library website and the library catalog.

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"Big Ten Academic Alliance + Next Generation Library Publishing Announce the Launch of a Pilot Project"

The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) is excited to announce a partnership with the Next Generation Library Publishing (NGLP) project. This collaboration aims to test and enhance infrastructure solutions for academy-owned scholarly publishing programs that are open source, community-led, and rooted in academic values. The pilot project will create a unified discovery layer for the diverse publishing platforms of participating libraries, presenting them as a single, shared collection of open access materials.

Through this BTAA-funded initiative, Penn State University Libraries and Indiana University Libraries will work with the NGLP team to implement the Meru display layer, enhancing infrastructure and service models specifically for the BTAA. The project will involve migrating select content from the partners’ catalogs into the NGLP ecosystem, improving interface design, and expanding the types of content displayed. The goal is to support and strengthen academy-owned scholarly publishers with scalable solutions.

https://tinyurl.com/ychk5hc2

Digital Preservation Librarian at Pennsylvania State University Libraries

This tenure-line Digital Preservation Librarian will lead the development of the cohesive digital preservation program and the ongoing implementation of strategies and policies for the long-term preservation of and access to digital collections at the Penn State University Libraries, for both digitized and born-digital materials. . . . . The position reports to the Head of the Preservation, Conservation and Digitization Department in the Distinctive Collections and Digital Strategies division of the Libraries.

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"Estimating Global Article Processing Charges Paid to Six Publishers for Open Access Between 2019 and 20"

This study presents estimates of the global expenditure on article processing charges (APCs) paid to six publishers for open access between 2019 and 2023. APCs are fees charged for publishing in some fully open access journals (gold) and in subscription journals to make individual articles open access (hybrid). There is currently no way to systematically track institutional, national or global expenses for open access publishing due to a lack of transparency in APC prices, what articles they are paid for, or who pays them. We therefore curated and used an open dataset of annual APC list prices from Elsevier, Frontiers, MDPI, PLOS, Springer Nature, and Wiley in combination with the number of open access articles from these publishers indexed by OpenAlex to estimate that, globally, a total of $8.349 billion ($8.968 billion in 2023 US dollars) were spent on APCs between 2019 and 2023. We estimate that in 2023 MDPI ($681.6 million), Elsevier ($582.8 million) and Springer Nature ($546.6) generated the most revenue with APCs. After adjusting for inflation, we also show that annual spending almost tripled from $910.3 million in 2019 to $2.538 billion in 2023, that hybrid exceed gold fees, and that the median APCs paid are higher than the median listed fees for both gold and hybrid. Our approach addresses major limitations in previous efforts to estimate APCs paid and offers much needed insight into an otherwise opaque aspect of the business of scholarly publishing. We call upon publishers to be more transparent about OA fees.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.16551

Data Librarian at University of Nevada Las Vegas (Revised)

Reporting to the Head, Scholarly Communication and Data Services (SCADS), the Data Librarian will develop and extend the library’s role in providing expertise on data management methods and standards, open science/research, and data literacy. The Data Librarian will work collaboratively and cross-organizationally to determine researcher needs and to deliver relevant services and expertise. The librarian will help the Libraries meet curricular and research needs by increasing the visibility of available data-related resources and expertise for undergraduate, graduate, and faculty researchers and by providing expert consulting, instruction, and other coordinated programming.

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"Privacy Protection Framework for Open Data: Constructing and Assessing an Effective Approach"

This framework [Privacy Protection Framework for Open Data] aims to establish clear privacy protection measures and safeguard individuals’ privacy rights. Existing privacy protection practices were examined using content analysis, and 36 indicators across five dimensions were developed and validated through an empirical study with 437 participants. The PPFOD offers comprehensive guidelines for data openness, empowering individuals to identify privacy risks, guiding businesses to ensure legal compliance and prevent data leaks, and assisting libraries and data institutions in implementing effective privacy education and training programs, fostering a more privacy-conscious and secure data era.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2024.101312

Data Librarian at The Kinder Institute for Urban Research (Rice University)

The Kinder Institute for Urban Research (KIUR) aims to improve lives through data, research, engagement, and action. The institute is currently expanding to build out five research centers focused on key aspects shaping the social and cultural landscape of the Houston area. . . .

Describes and catalogs existing datasets into a custom online catalog. . . .

Responds to inquiries from internal researchers, external researchers, and the general public regarding specific datasets within the catalog, access to data, and use of the online data catalog.

Develops and produces dashboards, key performance indicators, trends and other recognized metrics used to monitor and report performance. . . .

Participates in the implementation of data standards and common data elements for data collection

Identifies new sources of data and methods to improve data collection, analysis and reporting

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