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I N B R I E F
September/October 2014
Table of Contents
Understanding and Comparing Digital Curation Costs to Support Smarter Investments
Contributed by
Sarah Middleton
Head of Communications and Advocacy
Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC)
(The DPC contributes to WP2 'Engagement' of the 4C Project)
York, United Kingdom
sarah [at] dpconline.org
The 4C project has released the beta version of its online 'Curation Costs Exchange' (CCEx) this month, in an effort to support smarter investments in digital curation.
The CCEx is an online platform where organisations may exchange digital curation cost information with others. This exchange provides valuable insights into the activity costs and financial accounting through self-assessment, global comparison with all CCEx users and peer comparison with similar organisations; enabling the identification and introduction of cost efficiencies.
The release of this resource comes within the context of a general acceptance that curation budgets are unlikely to be raised in line with the enormous growth in the volumes of content now under the custody of organisations and businesses of all kinds. Investments in digital curation must therefore be targeted strategically to introduce economies of scale and efficiencies wherever possible.
"The value we can derive from the CCEx depends entirely on the willingness of organisations to share their cost data, and their understanding of the benefits that sharing will bring about," observes Alex Thirifays of the Danish National Archive (DNA). "The more costs are shared, the more we can all learn about making smarter investments in digital curation, and the further these investments will go."
Coupled with the 4C Project's Roadmap 'Investing in Curation: A Shared Path to Sustainability,' transparency and openness are key themes for the project which are reflected in the continuous and ongoing engagement with the digital community, designed to shape and influence the resources produced. Beta testing for the CCEx will take place until 15th September and the 4C Project welcomes feedback from all users.
"Anyone with an interest in or a need for a deeper understanding of the costs of preserving your digital material can try out the CCEx and let us know what they think," encourages Luis Faria of KEEP Solutions in Portugal who has led the team charged with developing the CCEx.
All comments and any cost data shared with the 4C project will be treated confidentially and will be used solely for the purposes of refining the performance of the CCEx.
Visit http://www.curationexchange.org to take part in the CCEx beta-testing, and get started.
Lehigh University first in multi-university consortium to go-live with proprietary library database system
Contributed by
Jordan Reese
Director of Media Relations
Lehigh University
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
jor310 [at] lehigh.edu
Lehigh University has launched the Kuali Open Library Environment (OLE),
the first university in the nation to implement the open-source,
community-based library management system.
The software is one of the first enterprise-wide systems to be created by
universities for their own purposes, creating a digital-age solution that
will interconnect each library, save administrative dollars and allow for
the reallocation of librarians to more academic pursuits.
Kuali OLE software was created through a partnership of the Mellon
Foundation and ten of the nation's leading university libraries who brought
their respective library professionals together to build a "best practices"
integrated library system, designed by higher education librarians for
higher education libraries.
Kuali OLE replaces Lehigh's current library management system with a next
generation open source, open architecture system. The system will provide
all the traditional library services expected as well as provide libraries
with new enhanced ways to manage electronic resources from electronic books
to digital born resources to streaming videos to cloud services – all at a
fraction of the cost of purchasing these systems from proprietary software
vendors.
The OLE system is part of a suite of academically oriented software
solutions being designed and developed by research universities that
include Lehigh University, Indiana University, the University of Chicago,
The Bloomsbury Colleges - University of London, Duke University, North
Carolina State University, University of Florida Partnership, University of
Maryland, University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania and
Villanova University. The University of Chicago will be the next academic
library to go into production with OLE later in August and the remaining
partner institutions will go live with the software in the 2015/16 academic
year.
For more information, visit:
http://www4.lehigh.edu/news/newsarticle.aspx?Channel=%2fChannels%2fNews+2014&WorkflowItemID=32f072df-c3ba-4f9c-8ef9-3d885779ab3f.
UK Medical Heritage Library Project
Contributed by
Christy Henshaw
Programme Manager, Wellcome Digital Library
Wellcome Library
London, UK
c.henshaw [at] wellcome.ac.uk
The UK Medical Heritage Library project aims to provide free access to millions of pages of medical texts from the 19th century. This project, which is funded by Jisc – who provide digital services and solutions for UK education and research – and the Wellcome Library, will significantly extend the existing Medical Heritage Library collection available on the Internet Archive, which already holds tens of thousands of books, pamphlets and serials related to medicine. To date, this collection has been drawn mostly from US libraries, including those at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, National Library of Medicine, the College of Physicians at Philadelphia and several others. Now, ten UK libraries will be able to add their own medical history collections to this resource.
The UK Medical Heritage Library partners include UCL (University College London), King's College London, University of Glasgow, University of Leeds, University of Bristol, and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, as well as the libraries of the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, who will all join the Wellcome Library in supplying books for digitisation and text encoding.
The goal is to digitise 15 million pages by April 2016, although the content will start to become available online via the Internet Archive, the Wellcome Library website, and Jisc Historic Books, from 2014. All digitisation will be carried out at the Wellcome Library by the Internet Archive, one of the world's largest non-profit digital libraries.
For more information, see the press release announcing the partnership project and the
press release announcing the nine partners joining the project.
I N T H E N E W S
IMLS Awards $9.2 Million to Improve Library Services in the U.S.
September 11, 2014 — "The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) today announced grants for 51 library projects, totaling $9,291,441, that will advance library and archives practice by addressing challenges in the field and by testing and evaluating innovations."
"The projects were selected from 212 applications through the IMLS National Leadership Grants for Libraries and Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries programs, requesting more than $14.6 million and matched with $7,154,135 in non-federal funds. This announcement includes three grants through the Laura Bush 21st Century Library Program, which total $647,821."
"For a complete list of the recipients, see http://www.imls.gov/news/2014_ols_nlg_and_sparks_annoucement.aspx."
For more information about the grant, see the full press release.
Finalists announced for the Digital Preservation Awards 2014
September 11, 2014 — "The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is delighted to announce the finalists for the Digital Preservation Awards 2014."
"Created in 2004 to raise awareness about digital preservation, the Digital Preservation Awards a celebration of achievement by those people and organisations that have made significant and innovative contributions to ensuring our digital memory is accessible tomorrow."
The judges have shortlisted thirteen finalists in four categories. For more information, follow this link: http://www.dpconline.org/newsroom/latest-news/1271-dpa-2014finalists.
IMLS Awards Grant to OCLC to Help Libraries Continue to Support Community Health Initiatives
September 4, 2014 — "The Institute of Museum and Library Services has awarded OCLC a grant to continue work helping libraries support health information initiatives in their communities."
"In July 2013, OCLC received an IMLS grant to increase libraries' ability to respond to customer health information needs, launching the Health Happens in Libraries program. IMLS is supporting an expansion of that effort with a $199,050 grant to OCLC. OCLC and its partner, ZeroDivide, will develop additional resources for individual libraries to highlight ways they can lead or support health initiatives...."
"...With the new funding, OCLC will magnify the role of public libraries as key contributors to community health efforts, especially to reach individuals who have limited access to reliable health information."
"The project also will help library staff form community partnerships to increase health-related access and services. Specifically, OCLC will create guides, or "health competency pathways," to help library staff advance health topic areas within their local communities; provide targeted support for individual public libraries to help them build relationships with local health-related organizations; promote engagement models by sharing print and multi-media case studies; and create communications tools including an infographic, audio and video interviews, and a communications guide to share relevant health information with public libraries nationwide."
For more information, see the full press release.
2014 CENDI-NFAIS Workshop on Data Quality and Integrity
August 28, 2014, announcement from Kathryn Simon, Administrative Coordinator, CENDI Secretariat — "CENDI is
gearing up for a jointly sponsored workshop to take place November 20,
2014, at the US Patent and Trademark facility in Alexandria, Virginia.
This year's theme is 'Data Infrastructure: The Importance of Quality and
Integrity.'"
"This one-day workshop is a must for anyone involved in creating, managing,
or using scientific data. The Open Data movement dramatically is changing
the flows as well as the roles of all involved. The workshop will explore
the technical, financial, political, and social/cultural forces that must
be explored when assessing the quality and integrity of the data. We will
explore with major stakeholders how can we rely on the quality and
integrity of the data that are becoming increasingly available. Mark your
calendar now to reserve the date of this informative workshop.
Registration will open September 15, 2014, to accommodate those who need
to pay before the new fiscal year begins."
For more information, see the NFAIS web site.
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names Released as Linked Open Data
Second of four Getty Vocabularies now available for free download; two more to follow within a year
August 21, 2014 announcement by James Cuno, Getty President and CEO — "Were delighted to announce that the Getty Research Institute has released the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN)® as Linked Open Data. This represents an important step in the Gettys ongoing work to make our knowledge resources freely available to all."
"Following the release of the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)® in February, TGN is now the second of the four Getty vocabularies to be made entirely free to download, share, and modify. Both data sets are available for download at vocab.getty.edu under an Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC BY 1.0)."
"The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names is a resource of over 2,000,000 names of current and historical places, including cities, archaeological sites, nations, and physical features. It focuses mainly on places relevant to art, architecture, archaeology, art conservation, and related fields."
For more information, see the full announcement.
TRLN Announces 2014 Management Academy Class
August 19, 2014 — "The Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) announces the thirty-two participants in the 2014 TRLN Management Academy: The Business of Libraries, to be held in Chapel Hill, NC, October 20-24. The program prepares current and potential mid-level managers in academic libraries
to operate with entrepreneurial and business acumen in the management of financial and human resources. Academic faculty from TRLN member institutions, which include Duke University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University, and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will conduct sessions customized for a library environment."
"The participant group includes representation from twelve states within the U.S. as well as Canada. In keeping with the design of the program to meet the management training needs of its members, fourteen of the participants are from TRLN libraries. Noting prior satisfaction with the program, sixty-two institutions (outside of TRLN) have nominated applicants for the Academy in previous years...."
"...The program was designed with input from library directors to support succession planning and talent management by addressing gaps in the preparation of librarians for management roles in the current environment. DeEtta Jones, an organizational development consultant whose library background includes ten years with the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), will facilitate the Academy for the fifth year."
To see the list of accepted participants, see the full press release. Go to the TRLN home page and click on the link to 'TRLN Announces 2014 Management Academy Class' under 'News and Events'.
Notice of Funding Opportunity: FY2015 National Leadership Grants for Libraries
August 13, 2014 — "The Institute of Museum and Library Services announces the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the first round of FY 2015 National Leadership Grants for Libraries (NLG). The IMLS National Leadership Grants for Libraries program invests $12 million annually in projects that improve professional library and archive practice with implications far beyond the grantee institutions. The grants help drive innovation and support projects with national impact."
"This year, IMLS is adding an additional opportunity to apply for FY 2015 National Leadership Grants for Libraries. IMLS will be accepting applications in October and again in February."
"For the October deadline we are implementing some changes that will allow the agency to address strategic issues identified in a series of IMLS Focus meetings that were held earlier this year. To make it possible for IMLS to provide feedback to potential applicants before they prepare full proposals, we will be accepting brief preliminary proposals on October 13, 2014 and inviting selected applicants to submit full proposals. Invited full proposals will be due on January 15, 2015."
"Last spring, agency leadership traveled to New York, San Francisco and Chicago to convene IMLS Focus, a series of nationally webcasted meetings to explore library trends and opportunities. These interactive events spotlighted the importance of strong libraries to benefit all Americans by providing opportunities for lifelong learning, anchors for community engagement, and access to content. Hundreds of library professionals and representatives of library organizations participated in these meetings nationwide, online and in person, for a rich discussion that captured input to help IMLS focus its approach to supporting innovation in the nation's libraries. The October 13, 2014, deadline for NLG libraries will focus on the three strategic priorities that were explored in these meetings.
- National digital platform, which focuses on key needs, gaps, opportunities, and goals to consider in furthering national digital initiatives
- Learning spaces in libraries, which focuses on emerging learning models that can deepen community engagement in libraries, particularly through learning labs, makerspaces, and digital commons
- STEM learning in libraries, which focuses on learning for all types of users, with an emphasis on models or practices that serve at-risk youth"
For more information please see the full press release.
CrossRef and California Digital Library Agreement Extends Discoverability of Scholarly Publications
August 5, 2014 — "CrossRef and the California Digital
Library (CDL) have signed an agreement that opens a route for library publishers to participate in the scholarly communications hub created by CrossRef. Through the agreement, publishers using CDL's EZID digital identifier service now may choose to deposit the metadata for their content in the CrossRef system. In this way they may use the full range of CrossRef services, including search and discovery, persistent linking, tracking of funding and licensing information, text and data mining, and more. As a CrossRef Sponsoring Publisher, EZID will handle the technical and administrative processes for its client publishers, reducing barriers to their CrossRef participation."
"CDL is a founding member of the DataCite consortium, which, like CrossRef, is one of nine Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Registration Agencies (RAs). CrossRef assigns DOIs to multiple content types including articles, books and book chapters, data, and many others. DataCite also assigns DOIs to data. A key difference between the two organizations is the primary communities they work with. DataCite assigns DOIs mainly for institutional and subject repositories, while CrossRef is a membership organization of scholarly publishers. While both enable persistent identifiers for scholarly content, the two RAs provide different types of applications and services for that content."
For more information please see the full press release.
IMLS Awards Crowdsourcing Grant to Tiltfactor Laboratory at Dartmouth College
August 1, 2014 — "The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced a National Leadership Grant for Libraries award of $99,768 to Tiltfactor Laboratory – an interdisciplinary innovation studio at Dartmouth College dedicated to designing and studying games for social impact. The grant will be used to establish a Crowdsourcing Consortium for Libraries and Archives (CCLA), which will unite leading-edge technology groups in libraries and archives as well as humanities scholars across the United States in a conversation about best practices, shared toolsets, and strategies for using crowdsourcing. The consortium members will explore how institutions might best adopt and employ crowdsourcing strategies for use in collecting metadata, integrating data into existing collections, and increasing user engagement."
"The CCLA project lead is Mary Flanagan, Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor in Digital Humanities at Dartmouth, who as founding director of Tiltfactor, has extensive experience with crowdsourcing and developing engaging games, which enable one to think about important social issues. One such platform that harnesses the power of crowdsourcing is Tiltfactor's Metadata Games, a project that enables cultural institutions to further their knowledge about their collections through games that collect keywords about images (tags or metadata) from their collections, which in turn, help make the digital content searchable later."
"The goal of CCLA is to create a forum for leaders and innovators from cultural heritage institutions with digitized collections to discuss how crowdsourcing tools and platforms can be used to enhance collections and users' experiences. In addition to creating a national consortium, the project will: host a set of five meetings across the country (both in-person and via webinar) uniting various stakeholders; establish a website with information on best practices, which will also allow for the exchange of ideas online; and publish a white paper on the consortium's findings. Institutions interested in joining the Crowdsourcing Consortium for Libraries and Archives should email [email protected]."
For more information please see the full press release.
Applications being accepted for 2015 spring term of DOE's Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship
July 31, 2014 — "The U.S. Department of Energy is currently seeking undergraduate students for paid internships at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the 2015 spring term of the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship Program. The program at ORNL is administered by ORAU, through a contract with DOE to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education."
"Sponsored by the DOE Office of Science's Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists, the SULI program encourages undergraduate students to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers, providing them with the opportunity to perform research for 16 weeks under the guidance of ORNL staff scientists and engineers on projects supporting the DOE mission."
"Appointments take place from early January to mid-April 2015. Program benefits include a stipend and a housing allowance/limited travel reimbursement for those whose permanent address is located more than 50 miles from ORNL. "
"To be eligible, an applicant must be a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident of the U.S., at least 18 years of age, and an undergraduate student having completed one year of college courses with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 at the time of application. Recent graduates are eligible if the time period between the receipt of the degree is less than one year and if the applicant has not yet begun a graduate study. For more information on eligibility requirements, please see the frequently asked questions guidance provided on the program website. The deadline to apply is 5:00 PM ET on October 7, 2014."
For more information please see the full press release.
Call for Nominations: 2015 National Medal for Museum and Library Service
July 17, 2014 — "For more than 20 years, the Institute of Museum and Library Services has recognized museums and libraries that make extraordinary contributions to their communities. The National Medal for Museum and Library Service is the nation's highest honor for exemplary service by these institutions. IMLS is now accepting nominations for the 2015 National Medal for Museum and Library Service. Nomination forms are due October 15, 2014."
"All types of nonprofit libraries and library organizations, including academic, research, archives, school, special, library associations, and library consortia, are eligible to receive this honor. Public or private nonprofit museums of any discipline (including art, history, science and technology, children's, and natural history), as well as historic houses, nature centers, zoos, and botanical gardens, are eligible."
"Winners are honored at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., host a two-day visit from StoryCorps to record community member stories, and receive positive press attention through a media campaign. Approximately thirty finalists are selected as part of the process and are featured by IMLS as part of a six-week social media and press campaign."
For more information please see the full press release.
COA announces accreditation decisions taken at 2014 Annual Conference
July 15, 2014 — "The Committee on Accreditation (COA) of the American Library Association (ALA) announces accreditation decisions made at the 2014 ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas."
"ALA accreditation indicates that the program has undergone a self-evaluation process, has been externally reviewed and meets the Standards for Accreditation of Master's Programs in Library and Information Studies, established by COA and adopted by ALA Council. COA evaluates each program for conformity to the Standards, which address mission, goals and objectives; curriculum; faculty; students; administration and financial support; and physical resources and facilities."
"A complete list of programs and degrees accredited by ALA can be found in the Directory of ALA-Accredited MLIS Programs. Individuals who would like more information about a particular program should contact the program directly."
For more information please see the full press release.
SAGE launches Open Access journal on Big Data & Society
July 15, 2014 — "Leading independent and academic publisher SAGE, has today launched Big Data & Society, an open access (OA), peer reviewed scholarly journal dedicated to exploring the implications of Big Data for societies. Big Data & Society aims to move beyond the usual notions of Big Data and provide a platform for connecting debates on how Big Data practices are reconfiguring academic, social, industry, business and government relations, expertise, methods, concepts and knowledge. The journal will publish interdisciplinary work principally in the social sciences, humanities and computing and their intersections with the arts and natural sciences. The focus will be on the implications of this interdisciplinary work on Big Data for societies."
"Big Data & Society seeks contributions that analyze Big Data practices and/or involve empirical engagements and experiments with innovative methods. Contributions will also reflect on the consequences for how societies are represented (epistemologies), realized (ontologies) and governed (politics)...."
"...The new website is http://bds.sagepub.com. The corresponding blog for the journal can be found at http://bigdatasoc.blogspot.co.uk/p/big-data-and-society.html."
For more information please see the full press release.
ALA applauds Congress for passing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
July 10, 2014 — "On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), H.R. 803, in a bipartisan vote 415-6. The passage of the bill comes after the U.S. Senate passed this legislation on a 95-3 vote on June 25th."
"The American Library Association (ALA) would like to give special thanks to Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) for their long time efforts to include libraries in this legislation."
"'We would like to thank Senator Reed and Representative Holt for their many years of work to ensure that public libraries are recognized as places where jobseekers can go for job search assistance and employment training,' said ALA President Courtney Young. 'With over 16,000 public libraries in the United States today, public libraries are often the only place in a community where people can receive these services at no charge. This bill recognizes the many ways that public libraries help Americans get back to work.'"
For more information please see the full press release.
Higher education, library groups release Net Neutrality Principles
July 10, 2014 — "Today, higher education and library organizations representing thousands of colleges, universities, and libraries nationwide released a joint set of Net Neutrality Principles they recommend form the basis of an upcoming Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decision to protect the openness of the Internet. The groups believe network neutrality protections are essential to protecting freedom of speech, educational achievement, and economic growth...."
"...Libraries and institutions of higher education are leaders in creating, fostering, using, extending, and maximizing the potential of the Internet for research, education, and the public good. These groups are extremely concerned that the recent court decision vacating two of the key 'open Internet' rules creates an opportunity for Internet providers to block or degrade (e.g., arbitrarily slow) certain Internet traffic, or prioritize certain services, while relegating public interest services to the 'slow lane.'"
"At its best, the Internet is a platform for learning, collaboration, and interaction among students, faculty, library patrons, local communities, and the world. Libraries and institutions of higher education make an enormous amount of Internet content available to the general public – from basic distance learning classes to multimedia instruction, cloud computing, digitized historical databases, research around 'big data,' and many other educational and civic resources – all of which require an open Internet. Institutions of higher education and libraries do not object to paying for the high-capacity Internet connections that they need to support their students, faculty, administrators, and library patrons; but once connected, they should not have to pay additional fees to receive prioritized transmission of their content, services, or applications."
For more information please see the full press release.
ALA, public libraries to measure Internet speeds, add to E-rate record
July 9, 2014 — "The American Library Association (ALA) and the Information Policy & Access Center (iPAC) at the University of Maryland College Park will gauge the quality of public access to the internet in our nation's public libraries this summer. The speed test study is a supplement to a three-year National Leadership Grant to the ALA Office for Research & Statistics from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and is supported by the Association of Rural and Small Libraries, the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, the Public Library Association, and the Urban Libraries Council."
"As part of its E-rate Program modernization effort, the Federal Communications Commission is gathering a range of data to inform changes in the program and better understand library and school broadband needs. ALA and other library organizations are sharing researched gathered from libraries nationwide, but the quality of broadband access inside library and school buildings has emerged as a leading concern that demands attention...."
"...This new data collection effort will seek responses from a sample of about 1,000 libraries, while allowing any library to capture the broadband speed data for their advocacy use. No software needs to be downloaded, and libraries will be asked to run the speed test at least twice during open hours. 'In addition to the federal E-rate program, state and local authorities often lack detail on library technology use and the infrastructure needed to support community digital inclusion efforts. Now is the time to increase awareness of the state of library broadband,' said Larra Clark, ALA Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) program director...."
For more information please see the full press release.
ARL Annual Salary Survey 2013-2014 Reports Data on 13,900 Staff in ARL Libraries
July 1, 2014 — "The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published the ARL Annual Salary Survey 2013-2014, which analyzes salary data for all professional staff working in the 125 ARL member libraries during 2013-2014. Data are reported for 10,168 professional staff in the 115 university ARL libraries and for 3,791 professional staff in the 10 nonuniversity ARL libraries. In the Salary Survey, data for university library staff are usually reported in three distinct groups: general library systems, health sciences libraries, and law libraries...."
"...The 2013-2014 data show that salaries for professionals in ARL libraries kept pace with inflation. The median salary for professionals in US ARL university libraries in 2013 was $68,773, an increase of 2.3% over the 2012-2013 median salary of $67,257. The US CPI rose 2% during the same period. The experience of professionals in Canadian ARL academic libraries was more favorable: while the Canadian CPI rose 1.3%, median salaries in Canadian university libraries increased from $87,120 (Canadian dollars) to $89,163 (Canadian dollars) a rise of 2.3%."
For more information, including how to order the survey, please see the full press release.
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