New SURFshare Projects

The SURFshare programme has authorized 12 new projects, which will begin at the end of January.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Twelve innovation projects have been approved for the SURFshare programme and will start at the end of January 2009. All of these projects have the same objective, namely to promote knowledge dissemination via the Internet. In this new round of projects, the SURFshare programme allots an active role to researchers and ‘lectors’ (directors of research groups and knowledge networks in Universities of Applied Science): the main thing is not the infrastructure but the user. The grant from the SURFshare programme comes to over € 630.000 on a total budget of € 1.220.000. The year-long innovation projects were submitted by institutions of higher education. . . .

The twelve projects that have been awarded grants are:

Knowledge dissemination at Universities of Applied Sciences

  • National Knowledge Forum for Care and Treatment of Addiction
  • Automotive Knowledge Bank for Universities of Applied Sciences
  • DIGIPUB—Digital Publication environments
  • FUTURE—Thematised Access to Expertise, Knowledge & Research for SMEs, Students and Experts

Enriched publications

  • JALC—Journal of Archaeology in the Low Countries, enriched publications in Dutch archaeology
  • DatapluS—Repositories for Enhanced Survey Publications
  • ESCAPE—Enhanced Scientific Communication by Aggregated Publications Environments
  • Theses Plus—Enriched theses in the Utrecht repository
  • Veteran Tapes—Enriched publication based on multidisciplinary re-use of qualitative research files

Collaboratories

  • Tales of the Revolt Collaboratory: Sharing, Enhancing and Disseminating Sources
  • Hublab-2—Toward successful implementation of the Liferay platform in historical research
  • Virtual Knowledge Studio Collaboratory—Understanding Scholarly Collaboration in Practice

Internet Had Over One Billion Users in December 2008

For the first time, the Internet had over one billion users who were 15 or older in December 2008.

Here's an excert from the press release:

The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share of global Internet users at 41 percent, followed by Europe (28 percent share), North America (18 percent share), Latin-America (7 percent share), and the Middle East & Africa (5 percent share). . . .

China represented the largest online audience in the world in December 2008 with 180 million Internet users, representing nearly 18 percent of the total worldwide Internet audience, followed by the U.S. (16.2 percent share), Japan (6.0 percent share), Germany (3.7 percent share) and the U.K. (3.6 percent share).

Digital Library Jobs: Digital Collections Archivist at Georgia Tech

The Georgia Tech Library and Information Center is recruiting a Digital Collections Archivist.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

In support of the Institute’s instructional and research mission, this position will be responsible for identifying, collecting, and preserving archival materials including campus e-publications, born-digital material, digital research data, and other archival collections, some of which are selected for digital conversion and web access via the library-run Georgia Tech institutional repository (IR), SMARTech, and preservation in the Archives' dark digital repository, currently running on DSpace software. The Digital Collections Archivist will manage the campus e-publications program, a part of the GT IR. The Digital Collections Archivist serves as a liason to the library’s Digital Library Development and Scholarly Communications and Digital Services Departments from the Archives. S/he will participate in the evaluation and selection of software used for the Archives’ digital collection. The archivist will participate in a team environment in refining the collecting scopes of the Archives Department, in devising selection and appraisal criteria, and carry out collecting and appraisal functions for these departments in regards to digital collections. S/he will prepare collections for digital conversion in conjunction with the Scholarly Communications and Digital Services Department and advise the department on the Archives’ technological needs and requirements. S/he provides web content to the library’s Web Designer who is responsible for design and updating of the Archives’ portion of the library’s web site. The Digital Collections Archivist will also provide reference service on the Archives Department reference desk, and will perform other archival duties on an as needed basis.

Digital Library Jobs: Digital Assets Programmer at UC Merced

The University of California, Merced is recruiting a Digital Assets Programmer.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The UC Merced Library’s Digital Assets unit creates and manages access to digital content in support of the University’s mission of research and instruction. In addition to creating digital collections, the unit partners with faculty and staff to disseminate and preserve scholarly output in digital form.

Under supervision of the Head, Digital Assets (Librarian) and IT Services Manager, the Programmer Analyst will be the primary technical lead in the development and maintenance of digital asset management systems and digital publishing tools. The Analyst will also provide secondary support for library-wide information technology services. The work involves project analysis and evaluation of available technologies; database design and administration; web applications programming; interface design; as well as all aspects of debugging, testing, documentation, and maintenance.

Anne Jarvis Named University Librarian at Cambridge

Anne Jarvis, currently Deputy Librarian at Cambridge University Library, has been named Cambridge's University Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Anne, aged 46, said: "Cambridge is already one of the world's great research libraries. I look forward both to building on this success and to an exciting future in which the University Library will play a leading role in providing innovative services in a rapidly changing information landscape."

Anne has been Deputy Librarian at Cambridge University Library since 2000. Her main professional interests include emerging information technologies, succession planning, change management and digital preservation.

As Deputy Librarian her role has been to ensure that future information trends are identified, future service needs are anticipated and the highest quality service standards are delivered. Key to this, she believes, is nurturing and developing a highly motivated, knowledgeable and skilled staff.

A graduate in history of Trinity College Dublin, Anne's library career began in special libraries and included posts at FÁS, the Training and Employment Authority in Dublin, Ireland, and Coopers and Lybrand in London, England.

Her career in academic libraries began at Dublin City University, (DCU) in Ireland. She then moved to Trinity College Dublin where she took up the post of Sub-Librarian, Collection Management, before returning to the UK to take up her current post at Cambridge. During this period she also served for two years as Vice-President at Wolfson College, where she has been a Fellow since 2000.

Max Planck Institute Releases Best Practices for Access to Images: Recommendations for Scholarly Use and Publishing

The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science has released Best Practices for Access to Images: Recommendations for Scholarly Use and Publishing.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The recommendations were prompted by the barriers encountered by those who wish to use and publish images of cultural heritage objects. High licence fees and complicated access regulations make it increasingly difficult for scholars in the humanities to work with digital images. It is true that the digitization of image collections has acted as a catalyst for scholarly research. However, archives, collections and libraries differ greatly with respect to the question of how, where and on what basis images may be used for scholarly purposes. Moreover, their policies in this regard are becoming increasingly restrictive, especially when it comes to new forms of e-publishing.

The MPIWG drew up its recommendations for facilitating the scholarly use of digital images following consultations with international experts which took place in January 2008. The recommendations call on curators and scholars to develop a mutually binding network of trust. The aim of the initiative is to encourage stakeholders jointly to address the current and future challenges raised by the digital age. The document urges curators to refrain from restricting the public domain arbitrarily and calls on them to accommodate the needs of scholars for reasonably-priced or freely-accessible high-resolution digital images—both for print publications and new Web-based forms of scholarly publishing. It exhorts scholars to recognise museums, libraries and collections as owners and custodians of physical objects of cultural heritage and to acknowledge their efforts in making digital images available. Moreover, it urges them to take their role as guarantors of authenticity and accurate attribution extremely seriously.

SPARC Announces Election Results

SPARC has announced its 2008 election results.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

I am pleased to announce that the following individuals have been selected by SPARC’s voting membership to serve on the SPARC Steering Committee for three-year terms (January 2009-December 2011), effective next month:

  • Jonathan Miller, Rollins College (non-ARL director)
  • Randy Olsen, Brigham Young University (ARL director)
  • Patricia Renfro, Columbia University (staff representative)
  • Lee Van Orsdel, Grand Valley State University (non-ARL director) . . .

The new members join the current members of the SPARC Steering Committee:

  • Jun Adachi, Japanese National Institute of Informatics, for SPARC Japan
  • Larry Alford, Temple University
  • Sherrie Bergman, Bowdoin College
  • David Carlson, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
  • Faye Chadwell, Oregon State University Libraries
  • Ray English, Oberlin College (chair)
  • Diane Graves, Trinity University
  • Thomas Hickerson, University of Calgary
  • Paula Kaufman, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Bas Savenije, Utrecht University Library, for SPARC Europe
  • Vicki Williamson, University of Saskatchewan, for the Canadian Association of Research Libraries

NetLibrary to Offer Five E-Book Collections for Sony’s Reader Digital Book

OCLC's NetLibrary will offer five Sony Reader Mobile Collections for Sony’s Reader Digital Book.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The program includes a Reader model PRS-505, a collection of titles from leading publishers and all required licenses. Using the library’s PC, librarians can download a mobile collection title or titles from the NetLibrary site to the Reader as necessary.

Libraries that purchase Mobile Collections will be able to offer their patrons the ability to check out Readers for onsite or offsite use, depending on the policy established by each library. Collections, selected by NetLibrary’s collections librarian, include Career Development and Business Self Help (30 titles), Management and Leadership (22 titles), Popular Fiction (29 titles), Romance (19 titles) and Young Adult Fiction (24 titles).

"Google & the Future of Books"

Robert Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor at Harvard University, has published "Google & the Future of Books" in the The New York Review of Books.

Here's an excerpt:

As an unintended consequence [of the Google Book Settlement], Google will enjoy what can only be called a monopoly—a monopoly of a new kind, not of railroads or steel but of access to information. Google has no serious competitors. Microsoft dropped its major program to digitize books several months ago, and other enterprises like the Open Knowledge Commons (formerly the Open Content Alliance) and the Internet Archive are minute and ineffective in comparison with Google. Google alone has the wealth to digitize on a massive scale. And having settled with the authors and publishers, it can exploit its financial power from within a protective legal barrier; for the class action suit covers the entire class of authors and publishers. No new entrepreneurs will be able to digitize books within that fenced-off territory, even if they could afford it, because they would have to fight the copyright battles all over again. If the settlement is upheld by the court, only Google will be protected from copyright liability.

Like Deja Vu All Over Again: Microsoft's New MSN Mobile Music Service Includes DRM

Microsoft's new MSN Mobile Music service, which has been introduced in the UK, includes DRM protection.

In "Q&A: Microsoft Defends Return to DRM," Microsoft's Hugh Griffiths answers questions about this development.

Read more about it at "MSN Mobile Music Service Launches with Added DRM and Device Locking."

Clarifications about the Michigan/OCLC OAIster Deal

Dorothea Salo has posted "The Straight Story on OAIster and Its Move" on Caveat Lector in which the University of Michigan Library's Katrina Hagedorn answers questions about the future of OAIster.

Here's an excerpt:

Q. Once oaister.org ceases to exist, there will be no way to search the harvested records for free except through worldcat.org, is that right?

A. I think those details haven’t been hammered out yet. Worldcat.org is one choice, yes. There will be likely be other products and services, and it’s likely you’ll be able to limit to just oaister records (for what that’s worth).

What We’ve Learned from the RLG Partners Metadata Creation Workflows Survey

OCLC has released What We’ve Learned from the RLG Partners Metadata Creation Workflows Survey.

Here's an excerpt:

We are reassured that libraries are exposing their data in multiple ways. Although the catalog is the first method of exposure (76%) and other methods of local exposure rate high such as the institution’s Web site (67%) and the institution’s digital repository (68%), a relatively high percentage exposes metadata through union catalogs (63%), crawlers like Google, Yahoo, MSN (56%), and OAI-PMH harvesters (48%). Small percentages expose data to SRU/SRW queries (5%), Flickr (10%), and YouTube (2%). We wonder whether these percentages will increase over the next few years.

Digital Library Jobs: Manager, Digital Services and Technology Planning Unit

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Library is recruiting a Manager, Digital Services and Technology Planning Unit.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

The Library's Digital Services and Technology Planning (DSTP) Manager leads the development of an integrated, digital infrastructure necessary to support the Library's expanding collection of electronic resources and services. The DSTP Manager provides the vision and leadership to define and develop an innovative infrastructure that eliminates barriers to the Library's collection and optimizes the resources and services offered by the Library. The DSTP Manager will plan, manage, develop and support all library web applications and emerging technologies and lead digital initiatives across library departments. This individual reports to the Deputy Director and Library Director. The DSTP Manager is expected to collaborate regularly with staff from other Library departments, including the Manager of the Information Systems Unit who has responsibility for the Library's technical infrastructure.

Archival Management Software: A Report for the Council on Library and Information Resources

The Council on Library and Information Resources has published Archival Management Software: A Report for the Council on Library and Information Resources by Lisa Spiro, Director of the Digital Media Center at Rice University.

Here's an excerpt from the report's Web page:

With generous support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Council on Library and Information Resources has launched a multiyear program that addresses the challenge of cataloging hidden collections—those materials held in special collections, archives, and other restricted or relatively inaccessible settings. The program has two major dimensions: first, to identify hidden collections of potential value to scholars; and second, to address the thorny issue of cataloging such materials efficiently, effectively, and in such a way that the catalog records are available to scholars through the Web. In this paper, Lisa Spiro describes and analyzes some of the major technologies that are available to librarians, curators, and archivists and the implications of deploying these systems for existing workflows.

Campus-based Publishing Partnerships: A Guide to Critical Issues

SPARC has published Campus-based Publishing Partnerships: A Guide to Critical Issues.

Here's an excerpt from the report's Web page:

SPARC’s Campus-based Publishing Partnerships: A Guide to Critical Issues addresses issues relevant to building sound and balanced partnerships, including:

  • Establishing governance and administrative structures;
  • Identifying funding models that accommodate the objectives of both libraries and presses;
  • Defining a partnership’s objectives to align the missions of the library and the press;
  • Determining what services to provide; and
  • Demonstrating the value of the collaboration.

Also see SPARC's new Campus-based Publishing Resource Center.

Digital Library Jobs: Special Collections Digital Initiatives Librarian at Mississippi

The University of Mississippi Libraries are recruiting a Special Collections Digital Initiatives Librarian.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Reports to the Head of Special Collections and coordinates selected digital initiatives projects regarding the overall management (production, capture, access, and preservation) of the digital intellectual output and digital conversion of Special Collections materials. . . .

The work includes: establishing operating procedures, and overseeing the technical details of production processes needed to establish and maintain a digital initiatives operation; designing and supervising workflow processes; managing standards usage compliance; encoding metadata; collaborating with other librarians, including metadata cataloging; converting textual, image, audio, and video materials into digital form; and migrating digital resources into new formats. Experience with management and preservation of electronic and born digital records. The successful candidate will also be involved with providing Special Collections reference service, presenting workshops, and training for patrons, and planning for Special Collections exhibitions.

University of Michigan and OCLC Form OAIster Partnership

The University of Michigan and OCLC will jointly support the OAIster search engine for open access documents.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Launched in 2002 with grant support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, OAIster was developed to test the feasibility of building a portal to open archive collections using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). OAIster has since grown to become one of the largest aggregations of records pointing to open archive collections in the world with over 19 million records contributed by over 1,000 organizations worldwide.

Under the partnership, OAIster.org will continue to function as the public interface to OAIster collections, through funding provided by OCLC to the University of Michigan. Later in 2009, metadata harvesting operations will transfer from the University of Michigan to OCLC. . . .

Starting in late January 2009, while OAIster continues to be freely available at the www.oaister.org Web site, OCLC will host a version of OAIster on OCLC's FirstSearch platform and make it available through subscriptions to the FirstSearch Base Package at no additional charge.

Digital Curation Centre Releases "Archiving Web Resources"

The Digital Curation Centre has released "Archiving Web Resources," as part of its DCC Digital Curation Manual.

Here's the abstract:

The World Wide Web is among the most important information resources, and is certainly the most voluminous. In a relatively short time, it has become a vital medium for a range of academic and commercial publishers. However, until recently, little effort has been directed towards ensuring the long term preservation of the digital assets that reside on-line. The web's dynamic nature makes it prone to frequent changes, and without a means for capture and preservation it's likely that vast quantities of content will be lost forever. Since the web is home to a vast range of materials with widely varying characteristics in terms of formats, scale and behaviour there are inevitable issues that must be overcome to facilitate their collection, management and preservation.

Digital Library Jobs: Digital Collections Curator at Penn State

The Pennsylvania State University Libraries are recruiting a Digital Collections Curator.

Here's an excerpt from the ad:

Responsibilities will include:

  • Lead development of an inclusive, user-focused agenda for digital scholarly content stewardship.
  • Investigate, recommend, and develop plans for user-focused and repository- based services to effectively manage the sustainable creation, collection and distribution of high-value digital scholarly content.
  • Manage a broad set of existing digital collections and repository content, including: reformatted materials (images, books, newspapers, manuscripts, etc), publication related content (journals, conference proceedings, monographs, hybrid formats, post & pre-prints, working papers, etc), as well as the potential and emerging needs for data collections in a wide array of disciplines.
  • Research and develop in-depth knowledge of new and emerging technologies, relevant national standards, and best practices, in order to assess and promote their integration into local operations as appropriate.
  • Serve on standing working groups and committees related to web functionality and digital content creation and management.
  • Communicate effectively with internal stakeholders in the areas of collections & public services, technical services, information technologies, and scholarly communications.
  • Promote and report on Penn State’s activities through conference and workshop presentations, written publications.
  • Represent Penn State in relevant professional contexts and engage with national and consortial peers to identify and/or carry out mutually beneficial partnerships.

University of California Affiliated Authors Will Be Able to Publish Using Springer Open Choice as Part of Journals License

Under the terms of the journals license negotiated by the California Digital Library for the University of California Libraries, UC-affiliated authors will be able to publish in Springer journals using the Springer Open Choice option without paying additional publication fees. (Thanks to Open Access News.)

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

There will be no separate per-article charges, since costs have been factored into the overall license. Articles will be released under a license compatible with the Creative Commons (by-nc: Attribution, Non-commercial) license. In addition to access via the Springer platform, final published articles will also be deposited in the California Digital Library's eScholarship Repository.

The University of California-Springer agreement is the first large-scale open access experiment of its type undertaken with a major commercial publisher in North America.

"UC faculty members have told us that they want open access publishing options in order to increase the impact of their published work and eliminate barriers to educational and research use," said Ivy Anderson, director of collections for the California Digital Library, which licenses content on behalf of the University of California libraries. "Just as importantly, they want these options in the journals in which they routinely publish, without disrupting their normal research activity. The CDL agreement with Springer supports the transformation that our faculty seeks, while continuing the libraries' crucial role in facilitating access to research information. Springer is a leader among commercial publishers in open access experimentation, making it a natural partner for the University of California in this endeavor."

COPA, RIP

The Supreme Court has refused to hear a government appeal of Mukasey v. A.C.L.U., a case about the constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA). This action effectively kills COPA after a very long legal battle.

Read more about it at "After 10 Years, an Infamous Internet-Censorship Act is Finally Dead," "Supreme Court Deals Death Blow to Antiporn Law," and "Ten Years of Futility: COPA Finally, Truly Dead."

Scholarly Information Practices in the Online Environment: Themes from the Literature and Implications for Library Service Development

OCLC Research has released Scholarly Information Practices in the Online Environment: Themes from the Literature and Implications for Library Service Development

Here's an excerpt:

Research libraries exist to support scholarly work. In recent years, the literature on scholarly practices and information use has been growing, and research libraries should be prospering from this increased base of knowledge. Unfortunately, the profession has no effective means for systematically monitoring or synthesizing the published results. This review begins to address the problem by reporting on the state of knowledge on scholarly information behavior, focusing on the information activities involved in the research process and how they differ among disciplines. It provides an empirical basis for identifying promising directions and setting priorities for development of digital information services to support and advance scholarship.

Free: All About Repositories Webinar Series

The DSpace Foundation, the Fedora Commons, Sun Microsystems, and SPARC are offering a free All About Repositories Webinar Series.

Here's an excerpt from the press release (see it for a list of the first webinars):

Got a repository? Would you like to understand more about what repositories are and how they operate? This spring DSpace Foundation, Fedora Commons, Sun Microsystems and SPARC (The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition) will offer a free About Repositories Webinar Series to provide professional learning opportunities for repository managers, developers, curators and decision makers. The seminar series will kick off on Feb. 18 at 9:00 a.m. PT with DSpace and Fedora: A Collaboration Update presented by Michele Kimpton, Executive Director, DSpace Foundation, and Sandy Payette, Executive Director Fedora Commons.

Each month a new topic or issue of interest to repository communities will be presented in a one-hour online format. All About Repositories Webinar Series will be web cast for synchronous event access, and will also be made available through DSpace, Fedora, Sun and SPARC web sites as an open educational reference for repository users and developers.

Future web seminars will focus on topics such as web services, and will take an in-depth look at some of the top implementations from the Innovation Fair held at the November 2008 SPARC repositories meeting. . . .

Pre-registration is required for all seminars at http://www.education-webevents.com/.