Daily Tweets 2010-12-11

Daily Tweets 2010-12-10

Visiting Digital Library Research Programmers (3) at University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign is recruiting three Visiting Digital Library Research Programmers (various position lengths).

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The successful candidates will be appointed to support current digital library grant-funded research projects being conducted at the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center. Appointees will report to the respective grant project’s principal investigators (PIs) and will be members of the University Library's Software Development Group. Specifically, these three positions will support and be funded by the following grant projects:

  • Emblematica Online: Emblem Digitization, The German Emblem Database, and The OpenEmblem Portal (funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
  • The Institute of Museum and Libraries Digital Collections & Content Project, 2-year extension: Advancing the IMLS DCC to Promote our Collective Cultural Heritage (funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services)
  • The Bamboo Technology Project, Phase I (funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation)
  • The Open Annotation Collaboration, Phase II: Demonstration & Refinement (funding request pending with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation)
  • The National Ethics Resource Center Digital Library (funded by the National Science Foundation)

| Digital Scholarship |

8% of Online Americans Use Twitter

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released 8% of Online Americans Use Twitter.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Eight percent of the American adults who use the internet are Twitter users. Some of the groups who are notable for their relatively high levels of Twitter use include:

  • Young adults—Internet users ages 18-29 are significantly more likely to use Twitter than older adults.
  • African-Americans and Latinos—Minority internet users are more than twice as likely to use Twitter as are white internet users.
  • Urbanites—Urban residents are roughly twice as likely to use Twitter as rural dwellers.

| Digital Scholarship |

Head of Web & Emerging Technologies at University of Miami Libraries

The University of Miami Libraries are recruiting a Head of Web & Emerging Technologies.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Under the direction of the Director for Information Management & Systems, the Head of Web & Emerging Technologies provides leadership, direction, and technical expertise in the design, development, and implementation of the Libraries' web presence and promotes user-centered interfaces, technologies, resources, and services designed to enhance the user experience. The Web & Emerging Technologies Department works in close collaboration with Systems and Digital Programs and Scholarship staff, stake-holders and unit-level managers.

| Digital Scholarship |

Presentations from the SPARC 2010 Digital Repositories Meeting

Presentations from the SPARC 2010 Digital Repositories Meeting are now available.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

"Reputation management systems," "new spin on Open Access," "stretching knowledge bases," "exposing reality," and "valuing knowledge exchange at the institutional level" were just a few of the ways participants in the SPARC 2010 Digital Repositories Meeting expressed their vision for advancing repository advocacy into the fuller fabric of the Open Access movement. The sentiment is one outcome of the gathering, jointly hosted by SPARC, SPARC Japan/NII, and SPARC Europe, in Baltimore on November 8 & 9, 2010. SPARC has today released summaries, slides, and video from the event.

The SPARC digital repositories meetings have played an integral part in advancing the potential of open online repositories to expand the dissemination of scholarship and transform scholarly communication. First held in 2004, the meeting is regularly hosted in the UK or Europe, Japan, and North America, draws hundreds of participants from around the globe, and has helped set the stage for key developments over the past six years. This time, participants indicated the need for a broader meeting and discussion, which highlight repositories in the full Open Access context.

"Repositories are core components of the Open Access movement," said Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC. "They’re deeply integrated with policy moves and at the forefront of managing Open Access to materials above and beyond the scholarly literature—not to mention author rights management and other aspects. It just makes sense that conversations about repository advocacy take place alongside moves to create policies. SPARC's next biennial meeting, in 2012, will aim to meet this need, and we look forward to working with our members to figure out the best approach."

The 2010 meeting set forth to explore four key trends: Repository-based publishing strategies, Global repository networks, Open data, and Making the case for financial sustainability. These panel discussions were supplemented with an Innovation Fair, where new technologies, strategies, and approaches were highlighted, and a Sponsor Showcase.

| Digital Scholarship |

Daily Tweets 2010-12-09

ALA Issues Urgent Call to Action about Museum and Library Services Act

ALA has issued a urgent call to action about the reauthorization of the Museum and Library Services Act.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Please call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be transferred to your representative’s office. Tell their staffs that passing S. 3984, the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA), is imperative to ensuring libraries can continue providing critical resources to their constituents, particularly in this tough economy. Specifically highlighting programs or resources your library provides to the member’s constituents will make your message stronger.

MLSA will ensure that the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds are secured and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is equipped to lead America’s libraries. This bill received bipartisan support from both Senate Republicans and Democrats, especially Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), who is a longtime supporter of libraries in this country. Other Senate sponsors of this bill include Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Susan Collins (R-ME), Michael Enzi (R-WY), and Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Jon Tester (D-MT). To access the full text of this bill, click here.

The U.S. Senate passed MLSA Reauthorization under unanimous consent late Tuesday night, bringing the bill one step closer to reauthorization before the end of the 111th Congress.

MLSA has moved to the U.S. House of Representatives where it must receive a vote before the end of the calendar year. Please call your representative and urge him or her to press House leadership for a vote on the Senate-passed version of MLSA and to support the bill.

| Digital Scholarship |

Digital Preservation: Major PRONOM Update

The US National Archives has announced that PRONOM has been significantly updated.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The National Archives has contributed to the update of a groundbreaking system—made available online today—that supports long-term preservation of and access to electronic records. The "new and improved" version of this "PRONOM" system was developed in partnership with the National Archives of the United Kingdom and the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

PRONOM is a web-based public technical registry of more than 750 different digital file formats that enables digital archivists, records managers and the public to precisely identify and confirm digital file formats. This identification is the first step to ensuring long-term electronic file preservation by enabling the identification of those file formats that are in danger of becoming obsolete. . . .

Technology from the National Archives contributed to a 25% increase in the number of entries in the PRONOM database, greatly enhancing PRONOM's range. "The National Archives is proud to share these technologies and contribute to PRONOM. Providing sustained access to valuable digital information is essential to preserving both our nation's records, and valuable digital assets worldwide" said NCAST Director, Kenneth Thibodeau. "The electronic records of the U.S. Government must be preserved for future generations, just as traditional paper and parchment records were preserved for us."

| Digital Scholarship |

Web Administrator at Douglas County Libraries

The Douglas County Libraries are recruiting a Web Administrator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Douglas County Libraries is looking for a key player for our IT and Web Administration team. The Web Administrator is responsible for the design, implementation, coordination and maintenance of the district’s Internet and Intranet sites, in support of the district’s strategic goals. You will manage and oversee the Library Web Team. You will communicate with designated content providers to identify needs and expectations for the development, growth and expansion of our web services. We are implementing many new and exciting technology and web administration initiatives. Are you a pioneering change agent poised to challenge us and lead us into the future? If so, read on! Major work duties will also include: • Designs and maintains library and library catalog web pages. • Maintains existing, and develops new, web applications and software tools. • Supports the Drupal Content Management System. Co-administers and assists in maintenance of our Drupal content management system (CMS) for library employees. • Works with all library departments as well as end users in developing and maintaining the library catalog, websites, and any new web interfaces. • Works with external partners and vendors to provide access and resolve issues with electronic resources and services. • Keeps current with trends and issues relating to web and library technologies. • Maintains currency with cutting edge Web and mobile technologies, software, tools, and solutions. Participates in evaluation and assessment efforts.

| Digital Scholarship |

A Standards-based, Open and Privacy-aware Social Web

The W3C Incubator Group has released A Standards-based, Open and Privacy-aware Social Web.

Here's an excerpt:

The Social Web is a set of relationships that link together people over the Web. The Web is an universal and open space of information where every item of interest can be identified with a URI. While the best known current social networking sites on the Web limit themselves to relationships between people with accounts on a single site, the Social Web should extend across the entire Web. Just as people can call each other no matter which telephone provider they belong to, just as email allows people to send messages to each other irrespective of their e-mail provider, and just as the Web allows links to any website, so the Social Web should allow people to create networks of relationships across the entire Web, while giving people the ability to control their own privacy and data. The standards that enable this should be open and royalty-free. We present a framework for understanding the Social Web and the relevant standards (from both within and outside the W3C) in this report, and conclude by proposing a strategy for making the Social Web a "first-class citizen" of the Web.

| Digital Scholarship |

Daily Tweets 2010-12-08

A Copyright Office for the 21st Century: Recommendations to the New Register of Copyrights

Public Knowledge has released A Copyright Office for the 21st Century: Recommendations to the New Register of Copyrights .

Here's an excerpt:

First and foremost, the next Register of Copyrights should prioritize updating the copyright registration system so that it can meet the demands of modern copyright. There is no reason why, in an era of interconnected computers and sophisticated digital imaging, the registry should have long processing delays, be incomplete, not include visual works, and not be searchable from any Internet-accessible device. A complete copyright registry that takes full advantage of digital technology will reduce costs for copyright holders, those engaging in searches, and taxpayers. Importantly, a complete and widely accessibly registry will help to ensure that those seeking to make use of copyrighted works can more easily find and compensate their owners.

Second, the next Register of Copyrights must recognize that copyright policymaking is no longer a sleepy backwater followed by a handful of copyright holders and their lawyers. Thanks largely to the clash of an overwhelmingly pre-VCR copyright law with digital technology, the length and terms of copyright law have become a matter of public debate. Moreover, ubiquitous computers and Internet access have made just about everyone a creator with a stake in copyright policymaking. Thus, the Copyright Office should take its cue from other government agencies and reach out affirmatively to various stakeholder groups and the public at large – not only to inform them of what the Copyright Office is doing, but also to seek their participation in policymaking.

The increased interest, and the public’s stake, in copyright policymaking also make it essential that the Copyright Office follow the Obama Administration’s goal of a more open and transparent government. At a minimum, this means that the Copyright Office must reveal who is meeting with their staff and why.

Finally, this paper recommends that Congress limit the term of the Register of Copyrights to no more than 10 years. Term limits make political appointees more accountable and reduce the possibility of capture by one or more existing stakeholder groups.

| Digital Scholarship |

Submission Fees—A Tool in the Transition to Open Access?

The Knowledge Exchange has released Submission Fees—A Tool in the Transition to Open Access?

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The general conclusion of the report bearing the title "Submission Fees—A Tool in the Transition to Open Access?," written by Mark Ware, is that there are benefits to publishers in certain cases to switch to a model in which an author pays a fee when submitting an article. Especially journals with a high rejection rate might be interested in combining submission fees with article processing charges in order to make the transition to open access easier. In certain disciplines, notably economic and finance journals and in some areas of the experimental life sciences, submission fees are already common.

| Digital Scholarship |

Digital Library Applications Programmer at University of California, Santa Cruz

The University of California, Santa Cruz Library is recruiting a Digital Library Applications Programmer (grant funded through 03/31/2012).

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The University of California, Santa Cruz Campus will make available digital collections on a cutting-edge website. This website will provide access to Grateful Dead Archive materials and tools to facilitate public contributions to the archive. This project will enable the university to convert a significant part of a traditional archive to digital form and make it available online while simultaneously experimenting with the impact of fostering, creating, and curatorship of a large, socially constructed archive. The website will support discovery, delivery, use and construction of the Grateful Dead Archive for a broad range of users including the general public and the academic research community. The position will contribute to the development of open source software Omeka (http://omeka.org/) developed by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Enhancement of the software will include improving social metadata capacity, permissions and rights consent for contributed digital content, and migration (export and import) of metadata and data between collection management software/social sharing sites and Omeka, as well as applications, servers and repositories supporting access, content management and digital preservation. Lastly, the position will also support the installation, configuration and management of applications and servers supporting the website.

Under general supervision and reporting to the Grateful Dead Project Manager, this position designs and develops code to enhance applications and installs, configures and manages server, storage and networking hardware. Work is performed using PHP, MySQL, Javascript, XML software and XSLT stylesheets. Position interacts with University Library staff in Special Collections and Digital Initiatives to gather requirements, write specifications, develop code enhancing existing or creating new Omeka plug-ins, testing code and perform quality assurance to evaluate code against original requirements. Position works closely with University Library Information Technology Services (ITS) staff to manage applications and servers (development, staging and production) in a LAMP environment supporting the website including Omeka, CONTENTdm, WordPress and Drupal software and migrate metadata and data between applications, servers and digital preservation repositories.

| Digital Scholarship |

"2010: E-Book Buyer’s Guide to E-Book Privacy"

The EFF has released the "2010: E-Book Buyer's Guide to E-Book Privacy."

Here's an excerpt:

The guide is simply a review of privacy policies, to the extent we've been able to find them, plus additional information we received directly from Adobe and the Internet Archive. We haven't been able to do independent testing to verify how these e-book providers work in practice. Also, in discussing whether individuals are linked to their reading we have only addressed direct ways (i.e. Amazon or Google directly keeps that information in your account information) as opposed to indirect ways that require action from third parties like the ability to use your IP address gathered by logs to subpoena your ISP for your name).

| Digital Scholarship |

Daily Tweets 2010-12-07

Applications Developer at New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is recruiting an Applications Developer (one-year position).

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Digital Project Manager, the Applications Developer:

  • Designs and implements scalable, optimized, database-driven web applications using server- and client-side techniques
  • Works with User Experience Designers to adapt existing and build new software-based solutions to support user experience goals
  • Builds out APIs, data feeds and other ways of interacting with NYPL content beyond web-based interfaces
  • Explores new platforms and architectures for NYPL services and content

| Digital Scholarship |

Harvard University Library System Reorganization

Harvard Provost Steven E. Hyman announced in a letter that Harvard President Faust and the Harvard Corporation have accepted the recommendations of the Library Implementation Work Group for reorganizing the Harvard University Library system.

Here's an excerpt:

The Work Group recommendations, which have been accepted by President Faust and the Harvard Corporation, call for establishing a coordinated management structure for the University's libraries that will balance the need for School-based strategic decisions regarding patron-facing activities with the clear need for a more harmonized approach to the global strategic, administrative, and business processes of our library system. This structural redesign will bring the libraries even closer to curricula across all Schools, allowing librarians to work arm in arm with faculty members to develop course plans that bring into the classroom the best resources that the University can access, from the latest scientific article to a page from Keats' journals. The redesign will also permit cataloging and preservation of materials to be prioritized across the entire collection, and new scholarly materials, which will largely be born in digital formats, to be shared more easily through a sustainable model that would make these materials available for generations of scholars to come.

Read more about it at "Harvard U. Library Restructuring Seeks to Unify High-Tech Services," "Library Administration to Be Redefined" and "Renewing Harvard’s Library System."

| Digital Scholarship |

Web Developer at George Washington University Libraries

The George Washington University Libraries are recruiting a Web Developer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Responsible for designing and implementing web-enabled strategies to support the goals, objectives and/or functions of George Washington University Libraries, and for providing primary support for new initiatives in web presence, resource discovery, and scholarly communication. The position provides the opportunity to work in a highly collaborative environment on creative and innovative projects within the George Washington University Libraries.

| Digital Scholarship |

New York Law School Law Review Publishes Special Issue about Google Books Lawsuit and Settlement

The New York Law School Law Review has published a special issue containing papers from the NYU Law School's October 2009 D Is for Digitize conference on the Google Books lawsuit and settlement.

Here are the papers:

  • "D Is for Digitize: An Introduction," James Grimmelmann
  • "Google Book Settlement and the Fair Use Counterfactual," Matthew Sag
  • "Fulfulling the Copyright Social Justice Promise: Digitized Textual Information," Lateef Mtima & Steven D. Jamar
  • "Orphan Works and the Google Book Search Settlement: An International Perspective," Bernard Lang
  • "H Is for Harmonization: The Google Book Search Settlement and Orphan Works Legislation in the European Union," Katharina de la Durantaye
  • "Continued DOJ Oversight of the Google Book Search Settlement: Defending Our Public Values and Protecting Competition," Christopher A. Suarez
  • "Digitial + Library: Mass Book Digitization as Collection Inquiry," Mary Murrell
  • "The Why in DIY Book Scanning," Daniel Reetz

| Digital Scholarship |

Daily Tweets 2010-12-06

Open Access Bibliography vs. Transforming Scholarly Communication through Open Access: What’s the Difference?

There are two book-length bibliographies available from Digital Scholarship: Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals and Transforming Scholarly Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography. What's the difference?

Feature Open Access Bibliography Transforming Scholarly Communication
Publication Date 2005 (not updated) 2010 (not updated)
Coverage Fairly comprehensive:
diverse published and unpublished works in English		 Selective: published
works in English, primarily books and journal articles
Number of
References		 Over 1,300 Over 1,100
Paperback? Yes, $45 Yes, $15.95
OA PDF? Yes Yes
OA XHTML? Yes Yes
XHTML Version Search Engine? Yes Yes
Links to Freely Available Works? Yes (live in XHTML) Yes (live in XHTML)
Creative Commons License? Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License		 Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License
Publisher Association of Research Libraries (paperback and OA PDF) and Digital Scholarship (XHTML) Digital Scholarship

| Digital Scholarship |

Memento Project Wins Digital Preservation Award 2010

The Memento Project has won the Digital Preservation Award 2010.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Institute for Conservation and the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) are delighted to announce that the Memento Project led by Herbert Van De Sompel and colleagues of Los Alamos National Laboratory and Michael Nelson and colleagues of Old Dominion University, USA, has won the Digital Preservation Award 2010. . . .

"The ability to change and update pages is one of the web’s greatest advantages but it introduces a sort of structured instability which makes it hard to depend on web pages in the long term. For more than a decade services like the UK Web Archive and the Internet Archive have provided a stable but partial memory of a fragment of the web—but users had no way of linking between current content and earlier versions held by web archives."

"The Memento project resolves this by letting users set a time preference in their browser. The underlying technology then deploys basic, under-used features of the HTTP protocol to direct users to whichever archived copy of a website most closely matches their request." [Richard Ovenden, Chair of the Digital Preservation Coalition]

| Digital Scholarship |

Library Systems Fellow at Harvard University

The Harvard University Library is recruiting a Library Systems Fellow (one-year position).

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reporting to the Team Leader, Library System Support, and working with a team of OIS specialists, the Library Systems Fellow performs a variety of technical and support duties in the core areas of library staff support and training, system maintenance, troubleshooting, database management, and data loading. This is a paid, fully benefits eligible, one-year position for a recent MLS graduate who is motivated, energetic, support-focused and technology-savvy. The Library Systems Fellow will acquire experience and skills at one of the world’s greatest research libraries, and learn about an array of library systems supporting digital repositories, electronic resources, and other innovative technologies. The Library Systems Fellow will be involved in analyzing Library Systems Support tasks and processes and developing proposals to improve system efficiency and reliability.

| Digital Scholarship |