ARL Statistics 2007-2008

The Association of Research Libraries has released ARL Statistics 2007-2008 (print version also available).

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published the ARL Statistics 2007-2008, the latest in a series of annual publications that describe the collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities of ARL's 123 member libraries. Of these member libraries, 113 are university libraries (14 in Canada, 99 in the US); the remaining 10 are public, governmental, and private research libraries (2 in Canada, 8 in the US).

ARL libraries are a relatively small subset of libraries in North America, but they account for a large portion of academic library resources in terms of assets, budgets, and the number of users they serve. The total library expenditures of all 123 member libraries in 2007-2008 was more than $4.1. billion; of that total, over $3.1 billion was spent by the 113 university libraries and $1 billion was spent by the 10 nonuniversity libraries.

See also ARL Statistics Tables 2007-08 (XLS file).

File Formats for Preservation

The Digital Preservation Coalition has released File Formats for Preservation.

Here's an excerpt:

File formats are the principal means of encoding information content in any computing environment. Preserving intellectual content requires a firm grasp of the file formats used to create, store and disseminate it, and ensuring that they remain fit for purpose. There are several significant pronouncements on preservation file formats in the literature. These have generally emanated from either preservation institutions or research projects and usually take one of three approaches:

  • recommendations for submitting material to digital repositories
  • recommendations or policies for long term preservation or
  • proposals, plans for and technical documentation of existing registries to store attributes of formats.

More recently, attention has broadened to pay specific attention to the significant properties of the intellectual objects that are the subject of preservation. This Technology Watch Report has been written to provide an overview of these developments in context by comparative review and analysis to assist repository managers and the preservation community more widely. It aims to provide a guide and critique to the current literature, and place it in the context of a wider professional knowledge and research base.

RADAR Repository Services Development Manager at Oxford Brookes University

Oxford Brookes University's Directorate of Learning Resources is recruiting a RADAR Repository Services Development Manager.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Oxford Brookes has recently launched its blended institutional repository, RADAR (Research Archive and Digital Assets Repository). Based in the library, you will take the lead and co-ordinate the development of the RADAR research repository as a service across the university. You will also work closely with the e-Learning Systems Developer to provide advice on the development of the Brookes learning objects repository.

David Prosser Named Executive Director of RLUK

David Prosser has been named the Executive Director of RLUK (Research Libraries UK).

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

RLUK is very pleased to announce that David Prosser has been appointed Executive Director. David joins us from SPARC Europe, where his leadership and advocacy skills have played a critical role in the success of the European Open Access movement.

The Chair of RLUK, Dr Mark Brown of the University of Southampton said: "We are delighted that David will be joining us as our new Executive Director. David brings ten years' experience of shaping strategic thinking for an active membership organisation, and encouraging partnerships and collaborations which can bring together librarians, publishers, and funders. We look forward to David playing a key role in delivering our exciting new strategy."

David Prosser said: "It is a great honour to join RLUK as the new Executive Director. These are exciting times for research libraries in terms of new delivery of content, use of physical space and the ways in which researchers and students use our collections. They are also potentially difficult times as public spending tightens and decisions need to be made on priorities for the future. Now, more than ever, the UK community needs to speak with a strong voice to ensure that the case for research libraries is heard. We also need to look for innovative collaborative solutions for budgetary issues. I look forward to working with the Board, members, and RLUK staff to address these issues and help fulfill the RLUK vision of ensuring that the UK should have the best research library support in the world."

University Library Systems Manager at Tufts

Tufts University is recruiting a University Library Systems Manager.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

University Library Technology Services (ULTS) provides technology planning and systems infrastructure to support the services of all Tufts libraries at three campuses. Our primary mission is to provide highly available and secure systems to permit acquisition; cataloging and classification; identification; location and authorized access by the Tufts community to general shared physical and electronic collections, ultimately in support of the teaching, learning, and research mission of the University. Millennium is the library's integrated system which includes the university's library collections database, as well as acquisitions, cataloging and circulation functional modules. Our services are high-use, high-profile and extended to users with rare exceptions for 24/7 service.

The University Library Systems Manager provides technical systems support for the shared technology services of the five Tufts Libraries including primary management and support of the libraries' Innovative Interfaces Millennium server.

"Citing and Reading Behaviours in High-Energy Physics. How a Community Stopped Worrying about Journals and Learned to Love Repositories"

Anne Gentil-Beccot, Salvatore Mele, and Travis Brooks have self-archived "Citing and Reading Behaviours in High-Energy Physics. How a Community Stopped Worrying about Journals and Learned to Love Repositories" in arXiv.org.

Here's an excerpt:

Contemporary scholarly discourse follows many alternative routes in addition to the three-century old tradition of publication in peer-reviewed journals. The field of High- Energy Physics (HEP) has explored alternative communication strategies for decades, initially via the mass mailing of paper copies of preliminary manuscripts, then via the inception of the first online repositories and digital libraries.

This field is uniquely placed to answer recurrent questions raised by the current trends in scholarly communication: is there an advantage for scientists to make their work available through repositories, often in preliminary form? Is there an advantage to publishing in Open Access journals? Do scientists still read journals or do they use digital repositories?

The analysis of citation data demonstrates that free and immediate online dissemination of preprints creates an immense citation advantage in HEP, whereas publication in Open Access journals presents no discernible advantage. In addition, the analysis of clickstreams in the leading digital library of the field shows that HEP scientists seldom read journals, preferring preprints instead.

Digging into Data Challenge Projects Funded

JISC has announced that eight projects have been awarded Digging into Data Challenge grants.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

"Data mining and analysis are not just for scientists" is the message coming strongly out of an international JISC-funded competition, the "Digging into Data Challenge."

Entrants have been challenged to answer the question "what would you do with a million books? Or a million pages of newspapers? Or a million photographs of artworks?" That is, how can analysis done over immense quantities of digital data be employed in humanities and social science research? What would you do with a million books? Or a million pages of newspapers? Or a million photographs of artworks?

Eight international research teams from the UK, US and Canada will be using a variety of data analysis tools to demonstrate that techniques currently used in the sciences can leverage open, new avenues for scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.

The winners of the competition are announced today by the four leading research agencies sponsoring the competition: JISC, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), both of the United States.

Investment from the four agencies together amounts to over a million pounds, allowing new links to be forged across the different countries, as well as breaking down disciplinary boundaries.

Here are the funded projects

  • Data Mining with Criminal Intent: George Mason University, University of Alberta, and University of Hertfordshire
  • Digging into Image Data to Answer Authorship Related Questions: Michigan State University, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and University of Sheffield
  • Digging into the Enlightenment: Mapping the Republic of Letters: University of Oklahoma, University of Oxford, and Stanford University
  • Harvesting Speech Datasets for Linguistic Research on the Web: McGill University and Cornell University
  • Mining a Year of Speech: University of Oxford and University of Pennsylvania
  • Railroads and the Making of Modern America—Tools for Spatio-Temporal Correlation, Analysis, and Visualization: University of Portsmouth and University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  • Structural Analysis of Large Amounts of Music Information: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, University of Southampton, and McGill University
  • Towards Dynamic Variorum Editions: Mount Allison University, Imperial College, London, and Tufts University

Research Program Manager, Sr. at Microsoft Research

Microsoft Research is recruiting a Research Program Manager, Sr.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Be a part of a dynamic team in Microsoft Research focused on improving Microsoft's engagement with researchers and academics worldwide-by advancing the state of the art in teaching, learning and scholarly communication. Our team designs, promotes, administers and evaluates projects that target how Microsoft products can evolve to better address the research needs of the higher education community. Through this work, we seek to establish Microsoft Research as a premier partner in advancing the frontiers of "eResearch"—with a specific role focus moving forward on digital humanities work with libraries, cultural institutions, educators and scholars on a global basis. This is accomplished by engaging with top researchers at universities and other non-profit organizations around the world to build proof-of-concept and prototype software based on Microsoft technologies enhancing the linkages between Microsoft software to the research lifecycle. Specifically, this program manager position will help identify important technical trends (focusing in the eHumanities), evangelize Microsoft's technologies, ensure interoperability and participate in activities with academic researchers and cultural institutions to improve our offerings tailored to these communities. This role will also provide support and close collaboration with related efforts in other Microsoft Research labs worldwide. Ideally, we seek a solid program manager with deep experience in using Microsoft platforms and applications to catalyze academic communication and computing. This position is worldwide in scope, so both domestic and international travel is expected.

Duties include: Primary responsibility is focused on overseeing multiple projects with universities and government organizations around the world and writing related specification documentation to support software development. This involves a broad range of activities, including: relationship building and engagement with a broad number of influentials in the education, research, and academic publishing world. Mapping to an existing strategy, this role helps develop and manage projects from initial set-up through to closure, including: concept refinement, negotiating terms and conditions, project set-up, regular progress tracking, detailed documentation of procedures/process, ensuring compliance (reporting, etc), as well as some basic financial tracking. Heavy focus on demonstrating the value of these projects both within the company (internally with product groups and the field sales organization), as well as externally (with government organizations and at academic conferences, etc)—namely external presentations, executive briefings, attendance at conferences as well as project/partner site visits. Domestic and international travel is required.

Cornell University's eCommons Repository Policies

Cornell University's eCommons Policies, which were developed during the last six months by Terry Ehling, Peter Hirtle, Eileen Keating, George Kozak, Oya Rieger, John Saylor, Kizer Walker, and Simeon Warner, are now available.

The following policies are currently in place

  • Content Collection Policy
  • Deposit Policy
  • Access Policy
  • Withdrawal Policy
  • Alteration Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Preservation Support Policy

Data Preservation in High Energy Physics

The ICHFA DPHEP International Study Group has self-archived Data Preservation in High Energy Physics in arXiv.org.

Here's an excerpt:

Data from high-energy physics (HEP) experiments are collected with significant financial and human effort and are mostly unique. At the same time, HEP has no coherent strategy for data preservation and re-use. An inter-experimental Study Group on HEP data preservation and long-term analysis was convened at the end of 2008 and held two workshops, at DESY (January 2009) and SLAC (May 2009). This document is an intermediate report to the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) of the reflections of this Study Group.

Understanding the Costs of Digitisation: Detail Report

JISC has released Understanding the Costs of Digitisation: Detail Report.

Here's an excerpt:

This document is the detailed output of a study to synthesise the experiences of a range of digitisation projects to provide JISC and the digitisation community with an evidence base to support funding allocation, project planning and project and programme management. Case studies are drawn from five digitisation projects that supported this study, and links are provided to other resources that provide supporting information.

Also available: Understanding the Costs of Digitisation: A Briefing Paper.

Head, Library Technology Services at University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee Libraries are recruiting a Head, Library Technology Services.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

An experienced, innovative, and visionary leader, the successful candidate will provide oversight and programmatic guidance for 3 faculty and 10 staff responsible for information technology and digital services at the university's flagship campus. LTS supports a wide range of digital systems and services, encompassing an integrated library system, link resolver and federated search software, next generation search and discovery services, library web development, interlibrary loan system, proxy server, and staff desktop support.

Currently, the Libraries is involved in a number of initiatives including extension of next generation discovery services, development of mobile technologies, consideration of electronic resource management systems, development of a campus digital repository, and expansion of digitization and media streaming services.

Reporting to the Executive Associate Dean, the ideal candidate possesses in-depth knowledge of technology practices and trends in libraries. He/she serves as an effective advocate for the libraries in building and sustaining collaborative relationships with a variety of constituencies, especially campus technology stakeholders.

Multimedia Deposits: Complications and Considerations with Intellectual Property Rights

The Welsh Repository Network has released Multimedia Deposits: Complications and Considerations with Intellectual Property Rights .

Here's an excerpt:

The purpose of this learning object is to explore the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) that may be within multimedia items, and to highlight some of the complications and considerations that need to be taken into account before a deposit of this type can be made into a repository.

Following two short introductions to multimedia and to copyright, questions are then posed on some of the details of copyright within varying item types. Feedback on, and an explanation to, the question's answers are given. Also included is a short exercise looking at what needs to be taken into consideration before allowing a performance video item into a repository. The learning object concludes with a look at Performers' Rights and highlights what repository staff should be aware of in regard to this IPR within potential repository deposits.

Also available as a Zip file.

Project Manager for the OpenAIRE project

The Goettingen State and University Library is recruiting a Project Manager for the OpenAIRE project.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Your responsibility will be to manage the project, working closely with the scientific, technical and administrative coordinators of the project by supporting the effective collaboration of all partners, across organisational and technological developments and a broad scale advocacy and awareness programme. . . .

The OpenAIRE project supports the Open Access Pilot conducted by the European Commission in the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7). The project will deliver an electronic infrastructure and supporting mechanism for the presentation and monitoring of research articles (and to some extent related scientific data) funded in seven disciplines (energy, environment, ICT, electronic infrastructures, science in society etc.). The SUB Goettingen acts as the scientific coordinator of the project, and will coordinate the establishment and operation of a "European Open Access Helpdesk System" based on a network of national "Open Access Liason Offices" covering the European Union member states.

Issues Surrounding Syndicated Feed Deposit into Institutional Repositories

Jorum has released Issues Surrounding Syndicated Feed Deposit into Institutional Repositories.

Here's an excerpt:

Repositories offer various ways of depositing resources. This paper examines the issues surrounding the potential offered by a syndicating feed standard such as Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and the ATOM protocol. The distinction is made between notification of metadata, for the purpose of registration and supply of metadata (to support search and subsequent onward linking to the object described being hosted elsewhere) and deposit of the object with metadata (to support its release for others to use).

Catalyzing Collaboration: Seven New York City Libraries

OCLC Research has released Catalyzing Collaboration: Seven New York City Libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

This report provides a record of the collaboration discussions between seven institutions and includes the resulting interactions, methodology, content and recommendations.

The discussions were facilitated by OCLC Research Program Officers Günter Waibel and Dennis Massie. Participants in this effort agreed that the record of these interactions might be useful to other libraries that are striving to collaborate. Participating libraries, all RLG Partnership institutions, included Brooklyn Museum Library, Columbia University Libraries, Frick Art Reference Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art Thomas J. Watson Library, Museum of Modern Art Library, New York Public Library and New York University Libraries.

Digitization Project Coordinator at University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries are recruiting a Digitization Project Coordinator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries is currently engaged in three major digitization projects these include the Daily Pennsylvanian (1885 to the present), AMAR (Ancient Mesopotamian Archaeological Reports) and KDOD (Kirtas Digitize on Demand ) project. Of the three the Daily Pennsylvanian is the largest and most complex of the three. Each of these projects is based in the Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image which is organizationally part of the Library's Rare Book and Manuscript Library. In the case of the AMAR project, the Digital Project Coordinator (DPC) will manage the scanning of 500 archaeological reports for which SCETI is under contract with Stony Brook University and represents holdings in multiple institutions including the University of Pennsylvania's Museum Library, the University of Chicago and the Oriental Institute (Chicago). Reporting to the Director, Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, the DPC will be responsible for the daily oversight, management and operations of the three projects. Utilizing a small team of scanning technicians and related library staff, the DPC will manage workflow and assure that content is digitized according to project specifications and in a timely fashion. The DPC will also be responsible for preparing monthly reports and working with coordinating libraries or institutions. This is one year full time position with the possibility of extension. The DPC will work in close collaboration with the SCETI Project Coordinator and Scanning Supervisor.

Paul Ginsparg Gets $882,610 Grant for arXiv Enhancement

Paul Ginsparg, professor of physics and information science at Cornell University, has been awarded a $882,610 grant by the NSF for the Tools for Open Access Cyberinfrastructure project, which will enhance the popular arXiv repository. The grant was funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Here's an excerpt from the grant award :

This project proposes to investigate and implement a variety of tools for enhancing the very widely used and popular Arxiv.org infrastructure, based on information filters for assisted service discovery and selection, text-mining, information genealogy, automated classification and identification of composite resources, data-mining, usage analyses, matching and ranking heuristics, support for next-generation document formats, and semantic markup.

Read more about it at "Stimulus Grant to Enhance arXiv E-Preprints for Scientists."

JISC National E-Books Observatory Project: Key Findings and Recommendations

JISC has released JISC National E-Books Observatory Project: Key Findings and Recommendations. Final Report, November 2009.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The results of the two year project exploring the behaviours of e-book users and the impact of course text e-books on print sales are now available. The final report summarises the key findings of the project and the recommendations for future action. . . .

The final report summarises the findings and data captured through deep log analysis, focus groups, user surveys and print sales analysis. I recommend that if you wish to see more detail that you read the relevant reports and look at the original data that is also available. Please see the reports page for further information and for the individual reports.

Armbruster and Romary Compare Four Repository Types

Chris Armbruster and Laurent Romary have self-archived "Comparing Repository Types: Challenges and Barriers for Subject-Based Repositories, Research Repositories, National Repository Systems and Institutional Repositories in Serving Scholarly Communication" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

Four types of publication repository may be distinguished, namely the subject-based repository, research repository, national repository system and institutional repository.

Two important shifts in the role of repositories may be noted. With regard to content, a well-defined and high quality corpus is essential. This implies that repository services are likely to be most successful when constructed with the user and reader uppermost in mind. With regard to service, high value to specific scholarly communities is essential. This implies that repositories are likely to be most useful to scholars when they offer dedicated services supporting the production of new knowledge.

Along these lines, challenges and barriers to repository development may be identified in three key dimensions: a) identification and deposit of content; b) access and use of services; and c) preservation of content and sustainability of service. An indicative comparison of challenges and barriers in some major world regions such as Europe, North America and East Asia plus Australia is offered in conclusion.

Cornell's DigitalCommons@ILR Nears 2 Million Downloads

Cornell's DigitalCommons@ILR repository, which serves the ILR School (also known as the School of Industrial and Labor Relations), has had nearly two million downloads and contains close to 10,000 documents.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Featuring the scholarship of ILR faculty and researchers, DigitalCommons@ILR also contains workplace-related collections selected by Catherwood staff. Collection items include collective bargaining agreements, records of Congressional commissions and archives of labor and globalization-related web sites. . . .

The most downloaded items in the repository include works by ILR faculty, archived issues of the ILR Review and reports from the Congressional Research Service.

Presentations from the DSpace User Group Meeting 2009

Presentations and other materials from the DSpace User Group Meeting 2009 are now available.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Over 90 participants from 20 different countries attended the fall DSUG 2009 meeting. In addition to the European community, DSpace users from the United States, Brazil, New Zealand and Singapore were in attendance. Copies of the presentations and video recordings are now available for most of the sessions.

CMAJ to Cease Being an Open Access Journal in January 2010

CMAJ, which has been an open access journal since 1995, will cease being so in January 2010, when some content will be restricted to subscribers.

Here's an excerpt from the "No Longer Free for All":

The harsh economic reality is that CMAJ, like many others in the publishing industry, has experienced a considerable decline in advertising revenue over the past two years. This loss necessitated an extensive examination of other business models to adequately address today’s economic challenges.