The Preservation of Complex Objects. Volume 1, Visualisations and Simulations

The POCOS project has released The Preservation of Complex Objects. Volume 1, Visualisations and Simulations.

Here's an excerpt:

Let us say that there is an implication that an atomic digital object is a single file, and that this is synonymous with the notion of simplicity. But is that really the case? A single PDF file is often put forward as an exemplar of such a straightforward file, but the recent PDF 2.0 version can contain embedded 3D objects, so can it really be considered as atomic and 'simple'? So it might be a somewhat daunting task to rigidly categorize digital material past, present and future as either atomic or complex? During the symposia, the POCOS strategy was not to seek to impose definitions or standards on the proceedings, but rather to see whether any consensus emerged during the talks and breakout sessions

| Digital Curation Bibliography: Preservation and Stewardship of Scholarly Works | Digital Scholarship |

Metadata & Discovery Librarian I/II/III at Wayne State University Library System

The Wayne State University Library System is recruiting a Metadata & Discovery Librarian I/II/III.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Metadata & Discovery Librarian works in the Discovery Services Team under the supervision of the Associate Director for Discovery Services. This twelve month position will collaborate with a wide range of library units to support the descoverability of library resources in both the physical and digital realms.

  • Manage and contribute cataloging and metadata for archival, digital and cataloging projects.
  • Assist in the management of discovery resources, including the library articles & databases list, EZProxy, electronic resource management records, and the EDS discovery layer.
  • Collaborate with members of various library units to describe digital objects and create metadata formats appropriate to the delivery platforms, which many include the Millennium ILS, DLXS image server, Luna imaging system, and other systems required.
  • Manage and develop standards for WSU digital collections metadata and cataloging practices. . . .
  • Provide support for the Library institutional repository and depositing faculty content.

| Digital Scholarship |

Survey Report on Digitisation in European Cultural Heritage Institutions 2012

The ENUMERATE project has released Survey Report on Digitisation in European Cultural Heritage Institutions 2012.

Here's an excerpt:

The ENUMERATE Survey Report on Digitisation in Cultural Heritage Institutions 2012 represents the first major study into the current state of digitisation in Europe. It is the result of a survey carried out by the ENUMERATE Thematic Network, with the help of national coordinators, in 29 European countries. About 2000 institutions answered the open call to participate between January and March 2012.

| Reviews of Digital Scholarship Publications | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 7/1/12

| Digital Scholarship |

Digital and Archives/Special Collections Manager at University of San Diego Library

The University of San Diego Library is recruiting a Digital and Archives/Special Collections Manager.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (Job: IRC8302):

Under the supervision of the University Archivist/Special Collections Librarian, the Digital and Archives/Special Collections Manager is responsible for creating Copley Library's digital collections. This includes planning, scheduling, implementing, and establishing production work flows for digital projects and supervising and training support staff. He/she must collaborate with librarians on digital projects.

| Digital Scholarship |

A Portrait of Today’s Tablet User

The Online Publishers Association has released A Portrait of Today's Tablet User.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Key findings from "A Portrait of Today's Tablet User" include:

  • Today's tablet users represent 12% of the US internet population ages 8-64; that number is projected to grow to 23% by early 2012—a group that represents an estimated 54 million people
  • 87% of tablet users are accessing content and information, the dominant activity for this device
  • 93% of tablet users have downloaded apps; the average tablet user has downloaded 20 apps

See also the OPA's recent A Portrait of Today's Tablet User Wave II study.

| Digital Scholarship |

Head, Digital Initiatives at Ohio State University Libraries

The Ohio State University Libraries are recruiting a Head, Digital Initiatives.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Ohio State University Libraries invites applications and nominations for the position of Head, Digital Initiatives to lead the evolution of digital library services and collections that support the research and teaching needs of the University. The successful candidate will work collaboratively and consultatively within the Libraries' Information Technology Division, as well as across other appropriate areas of the Libraries, to provide vision for, and build, a cohesive and extensible suite of discovery, access, preservation, curation, security, repository, archival and storage services.

| Digital Scholarship |

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog (June 30, 2012)

The latest monthly update of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog is now available. It provides information about selected new works related to scholarly electronic publishing, such as books, e-prints, journal articles, technical reports, and white papers.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography 2010 | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 6/28/12

| Digital Scholarship |

Software Developer at University of Maryland Libraries

The University of Maryland Libraries are recruiting a Software Developer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Software Developer provides broad programming support to the University of Maryland Libraries for the development and delivery of Java-based software applications. The applications support development and management of large-scale digital collections. They include tools for cataloging, search, and discovery of digital collections, tools for acquisition of digital collections, access to and retrieval of digital objects in the collections, and tools for preservation and maintenance of digital collections over the long term.

| Digital Scholarship |

Wellcome Trust Enforces Its Open Access Policy More Vigorously

The Wellcome Trust is enforcing its open access policy with three new rules.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Since 2006, its open access policy has required that all research papers funded in whole or in part by the Wellcome Trust be made available via the UK PubMed Central repository as soon as possible, and in any event within six months of the date of publication. At present, only 55 per cent of research papers acknowledging Wellcome Trust funding comply with its open access policy. . . .

Sir Mark has written to university vice-chancellors and the directors of the Trust's major overseas programmes to outline the steps that the Trust will be taking:

  • When Trust-funded researchers prepare final grant reports, it will require the principal investigator's institution to provide assurance that all papers associated with the grant comply with the Trust's policy. If they are unable to do this, the final payment on the grant will be withheld.
  • Non-compliant publications will be discounted as part of a researcher's track record in any renewal of an existing grant or new grant application.
  • Trust-funded researchers will be required to ensure that all publications associated with their Wellcome-funded research are compliant with the Trust's policy before any funding renewals or new grant awards will be activated.

All three steps will apply to research articles published from 1 October 2009 onwards.

| Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Metadata Specialist at Society for College and University Planning

The University of Michigan's Society for College and University Planning is recruiting a Metadata Specialist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

SCUP seeks a Metadata Specialist who will bring energy, creativity, and an expansive vision to continue the construction and deployment of its digital library initiative, the Cybrary. The SCUP Cybrary is a digital repository built on open source software and architecture for research and education in higher education planning. The qualified candidate will be responsible for overseeing the creation and strategic application of metadata across a wide range of digital materials, as well as the development of new services leveraging preexisting open source initiatives and software and the design and creation of new digital tools.

| Digital Scholarship |

TechWatch: Preparing for Data-driven Infrastructure (Draft)

The JISC Observatory has released a draft for public comment of TechWatch: Preparing for Data-driven Infrastructure.

Here's an excerpt :

This report provides an overview of some concepts and approaches as well as tools, and can be used to help organisational planning. Specifically, this report:

  • describes data-centric architectures;
  • gives some examples of how data are already shared between organisations and discusses this from a datacentric perspective;
  • introduces some of the key tools and technologies that can support data-centric architectures as well as some new models of data management, including opportunities to use "cloud" services;
  • concludes with a look at the direction of travel and lists the sources cited in a References section.

| Research Data Curation Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 6/27/12

| Digital Scholarship |

Library Systems Administrator at George Mason University Libraries

The George Mason University Libraries are recruiting a Library Systems Administrator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (position number: 02372z):

This position reports to the Head of Systems Group, Digital Programs and Systems Division. Incumbent will perform UNIX system administration tasks on a number of different systems, to include: Solaris 10; Red Hat Linux and Mac OS X server (10.5+). Ability to write detailed scripts in at least one administrative language (e.g., Perl, shell, etc.) and an awareness of UNIX security procedures is required. Duties include installing software, performing backups, generating statistical reports, and interacting with outside departments and vendors as required. Knowledge of SQL is preferred.

| Digital Scholarship |

"The Web Privacy Census," June 2012

The Berkeley Center for Law and Technology has released "The Web Privacy Census," June 2012.

Here's an excerpt:

In this report, we discuss the results of a crawl conducted on 5/17/12. We found cookies on all popular websites (by "popular websites," we mean the top 100 most popular according to Quantcast). We conduct two different crawls—a shallow one where our test browser just visits the homepage of a site, and a deep crawl where our browser visits six links on a site. Our shallow crawl of the 25,000 most popular sites revealed that 87% have cookies (24% first, 76% third), 9% had HTML5 storage objects, and less than .0001% had flash cookies. Twenty-five percent of cookies include names such as "UID" and "GUID", suggesting that they are used for uniquely identifying users. Overall, we found that flash cookie usage is dropping and HTML5 storage use is rising and at least one tracker is using HTML5 local storage to hold unique identifiers from third party cookies.

| Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog | Digital Scholarship |

Scientific Data Curator at Brown University Library

The Brown University Library is recruiting a Scientific Data Curator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Brown University Library invites applications for the position of Scientific Data Curator. As the Library's primary liaison for scientific data management, the Scientific Data Curator plays a central role in developing library services and guidelines to support scientific research. Together with other Research and Outreach Services Librarians, the Center for Digital Scholarship and other campus partners, the Scientific Data Curator will work to increase the Library's ability to collect, preserve and provide access to scientific data, and will act as a resource for students and faculty grappling with issues of data curation, digital methods for scientific research, and emerging digital resources. The Scientific Data Curator will contribute to the development of data management plans for funded projects, and will assist in data extraction, reporting, and monitoring compliance with established data management protocols. S/he will contribute to the work of the Brown Digital Repository by helping to develop the requirements and work flows necessary to support research at Brown; by advising teaching faculty on the management of data and providing technical support for use of analytical tools; and in serving as an agent between researchers and the Library's repository.

| Digital Scholarship |

"Digital Repositories Ten Years On: What Do Scientific Researchers Think of Them and How Do They Use Them?"

David Nicholas has self-archived "Digital Repositories Ten Years On: What Do Scientific Researchers Think of Them and How Do They Use Them?" at the CIBER Research Ltd.'s website

Here's an excerpt:

Digital repositories have been with us for more than a decade, and despite the considerable media and conference attention they engender, we know very little about their use by academics. This paper sets out to address this by reporting on how well they are used, what they are used for, what researchers' think of them, and where they thought they were going. Nearly 1,700 scientific researchers, mostly physical scientists, responded to an international survey of digital repositories, making it the largest survey of its kind. High deposit rates were found and mandates appear to be working, especially with younger researchers. Repositories have made significant inroads in terms of impact and use despite, in the case of institutional repositories, the very limited resources deployed. Subject repositories, like arXiv and PubMed Central, have certainly come of age but institutional repositories probably have not come of age yet although there are drivers in place which, in theory anyway, are moving them towards early adulthood.

| Digital Scholarship |

Current News: Twitter Updates for 6/26/12

| Digital Scholarship |

IT Project Manager 2 at Multnomah County Library

The Multnomah County Library is recruiting an IT Project Manager 2.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Multnomah County seeks a collaborative, strategic, and experienced IT Project Manager to manage a complex portfolio of Library technology projects, ensuring that the Library's annual $5 million IT investment delivers excellent value to library patrons and staff. . . .

Incumbent will usually run several medium to large projects concurrently (e.g. RFID equipment implementation, replacement of public and staff computers, implementation of new Integrated Library System software, implementation of Verifone payment terminals in 19 library locations), while also ensuring that resources are deployed to accomplish numerous smaller projects and the on-going IT work required to support library operations.

| Digital Scholarship |

"How Fair Use Can Help Solve the Orphan Works Problem"

Jennifer M. Urban has self-archived "How Fair Use Can Help Solve the Orphan Works Problem" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

This Article argues that legislation is not necessary to enable some uses of orphan works by nonprofit libraries and archives. Instead, the fair use doctrine in United States copyright law provides a partial solution. The Article addresses three basic questions: first, does fair use provide a viable basis on which libraries might digitize orphans? Second, does fair use provide a viable basis on which to make these orphans available to patrons or the public? Third, more generally, can or should fair use do any additional work in infringement analysis where the copyrighted work in question is an orphan?

| Google Books Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Music Librarian for Audio and Digital Services at University of South Carolina Libraries

The University of South Carolina Libraries are recruiting a Music Librarian for Audio and Digital Services.

Here's an excerpt from the ad (requisition number: 004964):

Reporting to the head of the music library, this librarian will be responsible for:

  1. digital projects including digital preservation of print and audio special collections
  2. maintaining audio equipment
  3. performing triage on music library's computer hardware and software
  4. working with the webmaster to maintain and update the Web presence for the Music Library
  5. liaison to the University Libraries' Systems Department for the Music Library
  6. working closely with the University Libraries Web Development Office and with the Digital Collections Department

| Digital Scholarship |

"What is Transformative? An Explanatory Synthesis of the Convergence of Transformation and Predominant Purpose in Copyright Fair Use Law"

Michael D. Murray has self-archived "What is Transformative? An Explanatory Synthesis of the Convergence of Transformation and Predominant Purpose in Copyright Fair Use Law."

Here's an excerpt:

The lessons of the transformative test for those engaged in creative, artistic, or literary pursuits may be summed up in the following: if you copy an original work, use it for a different purpose than the purpose for which the original work was created. Modify the contents, function, and meaning of the original work through alteration of the original expression or the addition of significant new expression.

| Digital Scholarship |

Digital Projects Librarian at New York Botanical Garden

The New York Botanical Garden is recruiting a Digital Projects Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Digital Projects Librarian will scan (digitize) Library material. Scan and ingest image files into the online digital library and perform image correction as needed. The candidate must be able to meet challenging deadlines and work within complex workflows and schedules for a large number of simultaneous imaging projects and contribute significantly to the creation of the Library's digital resources repository.

| Digital Scholarship |

League of European Research Universities Releases The LERU Roadmap towards Open Access

The League of European Research Universities has released The LERU Roadmap towards Open Access.

Here's an excerpt:

  • The idea of Open Access is not new; the first major international statement on Open Access was set out in the Declaration of the Budapest Open Access Initiative in 2002.4 However, 'the pathway' to Open Access is not a smooth one. Many parties are involved and there are many competing interests. There are costs and there are advocates, agnostics and critics. There are gains and impacts which need to be carefully assessed.
  • This Roadmap traverses some of this landscape and aims to assist LERU members who wish to put in place structures, policies and practices to facilitate Open Access. Whilst the Roadmap is primarily intended for LERU members, other European universities may find it useful.

| Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals | Digital Scholarship |