I N   B R I E F

March/April 2013
Table of Contents

The Value and Impact of the British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC)

Contributed by:
Sarah Callaghan
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre
Didcot, United Kingdom
sarah.callaghan [at] stfc.ac.uk

Internationally, research data, and its use and applications, is becoming increasingly important, not only to funders and data producers, but also to the wider public. In the UK, Jisc, the Research Councils and other funders together with Higher Education Institutions are investing substantial resources in projects and services for research data. This is a high priority area for funders and institutions, and there is strong interest in establishing the value and sustainability of this investment.

Although a number of studies have looked at methods of determining cost-benefit and broad indicators of value from archiving and sharing research data, there remain significant challenges in establishing baseline data for measuring this in any quantitative way, and there is still only a relatively small number of socio-economic studies focussing specifically on the impact of data services or research data infrastructure.

John Houghton (Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University) and Neil Beagrie (Charles Beagrie Ltd) are currently working on a study on the value and impact of the British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC) as a science research community and data repository. This project builds on previous studies of the economic impact of the Economic and Social Research Data Service and the impact of the Archaeology Data Service, so that the results across all the studies are complementary.

Surveys of BADC users and depositors were completed in January 2013 and analysis of the results is ongoing. The results of this study are anticipated in July 2013 and will be published on the BADC Impact project website together with a brief synthesis from all three impact studies. The study is being funded by Jisc and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Introductory Digital Preservation Webinars: Free!

Contributed by:
Jody L. DeRidder
Head, Digital Services
University of Alabama Libraries
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
jlderidder [at] ua.edu

After a series of very successful ASERL (http://www.aserl.org/) webinars (http://vimeo.com/search?q=aserl+digital+preservation) on introductory digital preservation in the spring of 2012, a survey of librarians and archivists indicated that the most important topics for successive webinars centered on metadata selection, extraction, creation and storage as well as planning ahead. Based on this feedback, ASERL is hosting a new series of four 60-minute digital preservation webinars this April to aid librarians, archivists and others in learning practical steps to addressing digital preservation issues. All sessions are free, and further updates can be found at http://www.aserl.org/intro-dp-2013/.

The first webinar will be presented by Lisa Gregory of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, and is entitled "Preservation Planning and Overview of PREMIS for Beginners." Designed to help participants begin formulating a digital preservation plan for their digital collections, the topics to be covered also include first steps for implementation and a basic introduction to PREMIS, the Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata.

DATE: Tuesday, April 2, 2013, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT
REGISTER: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/784245138

The second webinar, presented by Chris Dietrich of the National Park Services, is entitled "Forbearing the Digital Dark Age: Capturing Metadata for Digital Objects." Chris emphasizes the importance of metadata for both discovery and long-term accessibility, and will discuss categories of metadata, standards for different asset types, capture strategies and software tools. The formats addressed include digital photos, documents, audio-video, tabular data, and GIS data.

DATE: Tuesday, April 9, 2013, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT
REGISTER: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/545077562

The third webinar will focus on the hot topic of "Management of Incoming Born-Digital Special Collections," and is presented by Gretchen Gueguen from the University of Virginia. She will cover basic techniques and practical suggestions on how to assess a collection, develop a management plan, and set up an accessioning workflow and basic policies. Simple tools, guides and resources will be reviewed as well.

DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 2013, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT
REGISTER: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/366765338

The final webinar covers "Using FITS to Identify File Formats and Extract Metadata" and will be presented by Andrea Goethals of Harvard University. After an introduction to file formats and technical metadata, Andrea will demonstrate the use of the File Information Tool Set (FITS http://fits.googlecode.com). She will explain what it does, how it differs from other format tools, how to use and customize it, and how Harvard uses this tool. No prior experience with FITS is necessary.

DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 2013, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT
REGISTER: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/305875426

Report on 21st BOBCATSSS Conference, January 23-25, 2013 Ankara, Turkey

Contributed by:
Tolga Cakmak, Guleda Dogan, Zehra Taskin
Hacettepe University Department of Information Management
Ankara, Turkey
{tcakmak, gduzyol, ztaskin} [at] hacettepe.edu.tr

BOBCATSSS is an annual conference series that is traditionally organised by students from European universities. It takes place under the auspices of EUCLID (European Association for Library and Information Education and Research) and deals with themes from library and information science. Every year it is organized, managed and provided with content by students from Eastern and Western European universities.

The organisation and planning of the BOBCATSSS conference is a joint venture between two countries and two universities. The teams from Copenhagen (The Royal School of Library and Information Science) and Ankara (Hacettepe University Department of Information Management) worked together for BOBCATSSS 2013. Every aspect of conference organization was carried out by students. The students had a great experience in terms of teamwork with different European countries and cultures.

The main theme of BOBCATSSS 2013 Conference was "From Collections to Connections: Turning Libraries 'Inside-Out'". The conference took place at Hacettepe University's Conference Center in Ankara, Turkey, from January 23 - 25, 2013. The sub-themes of the conference were Serving Society in a Digital Age, Information Professionals as Change-Agents, Designing New Library Spaces, Mobile Information Services and Developing New Competencies.

The BOBCATSSS 2013 Conference received considerable international attention. The total number of submitted contributions for this year was 137. All contributions were reviewed by three reviewers. Fifty-seven papers, including four pecha kucha papers and 30 poster contributions, were accepted after the reviewing process. These results show that the acceptance rate of conference was about 72%. Accepted contributions were presented by their contributing authors via parallel sessions (see the programme at https://www.conftool.pro/bobcatsss2013/sessions.php). Furthermore, conference statistics show that approximately 250 the conference participants represented 31 countries from 4 different continents. Statistics also reflect that BOBCATSSS brought different cultures together. Twitter statistics show that participants tweeted their experiences about BOBCATSSS in eleven languages. Thanks to the IFLA NPSIG group, the tweet archive of BOBCATSSS 2013 is available at: http://storify.com/npsig/bobcatsss-2013.

In comparison to previous BOBCATSSS conferences, for the first time participants enjoyed two new sessions: the LIS Schools session and the Pecha-Kucha session. Pecha Kucha is an entertaining presentation format for which the speakers are allowed 20 slides with only 20 seconds for each slide. Although there were just four presentations for the Pecha-Kucha session, they were great fun for presenters and audience.

The first day of the conference opened with a keynote speech by Lorcan Dempsey, who is the owner of the term, "libraries inside-out". He delivered an inspiring keynote, which was entitled "The inside-out library: scale, learning, engagement". Dempsey's speech was followed by a Turkish folk dance performance by professional dancers from Hacettepe University. The second part of the first day began with Ragnar Andreas Audunson's keynote speech "From collections to connections and information professionals," which was one of the main components of the BOBCATSSS 2013 Conference theme. After the keynote speeches, the first workshop sessions of the conference started with five parallel workshops and the LIS Schools session. Seventeen schools and their LIS education representatives took part in the LIS Schools session with the aim of new collaborations. The Digital Library Learning program and IFLA also presented in this session. Papers, pecha-kuchas and posters were presented during the second and third days of the conference. In the closing session, Jelke Nijboer from Amsterdam University of Applied Science was announced as the BOBCAT of the year by the EUCLID Board. Prize winning works were also announced in the closing session. After being selected by reviewers and the best papers jury, the best paper award was presented to Todd Soumela and Suzie Allard to their paper "Libraries as Centers for Science Literacy and Public Science". In addition, "FaBio - Mannheims Library on a Bike" was selected as the best poster by the poster evaluation jury.

The 22nd BOBCATSSS will be held in Barcelona, Spain next year, on 29 - 31 January 2014. The website for BOBCATSSS 2014 is http://bobcatsss2014.hb.se/. The BOBCATSSS 2014 teams will be the University of Barcelona from Spain and University of Borås from Sweden. Their promo video is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDxJ4f8t_-w.

I N   T H E   N E W S

Reports on the 8th International Digital Curation Conference

March 8, 2013 announcement from Joy Davidson, University of Glasgow — "The following two reports provide information about the 8th International Digital Curation Conference, the theme of which was 'Infrastructure, Intelligence, Innovation: driving the Data Science agenda':

• Kevin Ashley's summary

• Marieke Guy's editorial for the February issue of DPC/DCC What's New"

March 6, 2013 announcement from Stella Dextre Clarke, Information Consultant and Chair, ISKO UK — "After many years of hard work, the second and final part of ISO 25964 (the new international standard for thesauri) has been published."

"Published on 4 March 2013, ISO 25964-2 deals with interoperability between thesauri and other vocabularies, especially the principles and practice of mapping between them. Types of vocabulary to be considered include classification schemes (including those for records management), taxonomies, subject heading schemes, name authority lists, ontologies, terminologies, and synonym rings."

"Interoperability is defined as the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged. Plainly this ability is fundamental to the workings of the information networks we rely on so much, and even more to the development of the Semantic Web (SW). Two levels of interoperability apply to thesauri:

1. presenting data in a standard way to enable import and use in other systems (dealt with in ISO 25964 Part 1, which was published in 2011)
2. complementary use of vocabularies, such as providing mappings between the terms/concepts of one thesaurus and those of another (covered in ISO 25964 Part 2)"

"Unless mappings are prepared with care as recommended in ISO 25964-2, any SW inferences based on them are liable to deliver misleading conclusions to the unsuspecting Web surfer."

"The full title of Part 2 is 'Information and documentation - Thesauri and interoperability with other vocabularies - Part 2: Interoperability with other vocabularies'...."

"...Like any other ISO standard, either or both parts of ISO 25964 can be purchased from the national standards body in your country, e.g. AFNOR, BSI, DIN or NISO. Alternatively you can order it directly from ISO in Switzerland at http://www.iso.org/iso/store.htm . You can also view the documents at some public/academic libraries."

NISO Publishes Maintenance Revisions of Dublin Core and SUSHI Standards

March 5, 2013 — "The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) announces the publication of maintenance revisions of two widely used standards: The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (ANSI/NISO Z39.85-2012) and The Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) Protocol (ANSI/NISO Z39.93-2013). Both standards were revised to make very minor updates. The Dublin Core standard defines fifteen metadata elements for resource description in a cross-disciplinary information environment and is used as the basis for most metadata standards in use today. The SUSHI Protocol defines an automated request and response model for the harvesting of electronic resource usage data and is required for conformance with the COUNTER Code of Practice...."

"...Both standards are available for free download from the NISO website; Dublin Core at http://www.niso.org/standards/z39-85-2012 and SUSHI at http://www.niso.org/standards/z39-93-2013/. Additional information on the use of the Dublin Core standard is available from the DCMI website at http://www.dublincore.org. SUSHI FAQs, schemas, and implementation information are available at http://www.niso.org/workrooms/sushi."

For more information please see the full press release.

Simmons GSLIS Digital Stewardship Post-Master's Certificate Accepting Applications

March 5, 2013 announcement by Jan Day, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College — "The Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science is now accepting applications for the second cohort in the post-master's certificate program in Digital Stewardship. Application deadline with accompanying documentation is May 1, 2013."

"The Digital Stewardship Certificate (DSC) is a fully online, five-course, post-master's program that imparts the concepts and skills needed to create and manage a sustainable digital repository, library or archive. It prepares graduates to manage digital objects over time through active, ongoing oversight of the total environment (content, technologies, and user expectations)."

"Dr. Peter Botticelli will be joining as program director in July 2013. Dr. Botticelli comes to Simmons from the University of Arizona's School of Information Resources and Library Sciences. He is a key researcher in the areas of digital record keeping, archives appraisal in digital environments and education methods of digital curation."

For more information please see http://www.simmons.edu/dsc.

Million-page story of modern genetics launched by the Wellcome Library

March 4, 2013 — "Codebreakers: Makers of modern genetics, which launches today at wellcomelibrary.org/codebreakers, contains more than one million pages of first-hand notes, letters, sketches, lectures, photographs and essays from the circle of brilliant minds responsible for uncovering the structure of DNA. The site lays bare the personal and professional thoughts, rivalries, blind alleys and breakthroughs of the scientists whose ideas transformed our understanding of the matter of life."

"Drawing on five partner archives in the USA, London, Cambridge and Glasgow and the Wellcome Library's own holdings, Codebreakers offers an unparalleled and comprehensive primary resource for researchers and curious minds across the world and is launched ahead of the 60th anniversary of Crick and Watson's seminal 'Nature' paper revealing the structure of DNA. It holds the stories behind the discovery, which has shaped our genetic age, from diagnosis to drug development and from forensics to food production, and which lies at the heart of today's biomedical research...."

"...Codebreakers sits within an entirely redesigned Wellcome Library website, and a new media player allows the close reading, downloading and embedding of digitised files. The content is free to all, and users can log in using Library membership, Facebook or Twitter accounts. A timeline and essays on key individuals and research groups offer navigational aids through the records."

For more information please see the full press release.

The Scientific American Open Innovation Pavilion launches with innovation Challenges for science and technology enthusiasts

March 4, 2013 — "Today marks the launch of the Scientific American Open Innovation Pavilion, jointly hosted on http://www.innocentive.com/pavilion/scientific-american and http://www.scientificamerican.com/openinnovation. The online hub to foster scientific collaboration and open innovation is the result of a partnership between InnoCentive, Inc., the global leader in open innovation, crowdsourcing, and prize competitions, and Scientific American, the leading authoritative publication for science in the general media."

"The Scientific American Open Innovation Pavilion launches with four Challenges selected to appeal to problem solvers unique to both the InnoCentive and Scientific American audiences:

• Algorithm for Matching Latent Fingerprints
• Design of Student-centric Websites for Open-Enrollment Colleges and Institutions
• Breakthrough Health Tech Modifications - Consumer Technology that Improves Health
• Support Plate Replacement for Humanitarian Air Drops"

"Commercial organizations, government agencies, and non-profits (known as 'Seekers') are able to post 'Challenges' on the Scientific American Open Innovation Pavilion. These 'Challenges' are well-articulated descriptions of scientific and technical problems that require innovative solutions. The Scientific American Open Innovation Pavilion provides these 'Seekers' with unprecedented access to a global pool of problem solvers, including InnoCentive's existing 285,000-person-strong solver network and Scientific American's audience of five million monthly visitors to ScientificAmerican.com."

For more information please see the full press release.

ASIS&T Changes Its Name, Enhances Its Global Mission

March 1, 2013 announcement from Richard Hill, Executive Director ASIS&T — "With nearly 90% of all ballots cast voting in favor of a name change, the American Society for Information Science and Technology has become the Association for Information Science and Technology. While the ASIS&T acronym stays the same, the name change recognizes the growing influence of ASIS&T in the international arena. The opportunities and challenges with respect to the science and technology of information are increasingly international in focus and scope. ASIS&T supports members around the globe in addressing these opportunities and challenges."

"When 2012 ASIS&T president Diane H. Sonnenwald, in collaboration with 2011 president Linda C. Smith, 2013 president Andrew Dillon, and 2014 president Harry Bruce, called for a membership vote on the name change issue, she said, 'The word American in our name often makes it difficult for individuals outside the United States to receive recognition for belonging to and participating in ASIS&T. It also fails to recognize the important contributions members outside the United States make to our association and to our discipline.' In addition, Sonnenwald noted that increasing international participation in ASIS&T will provide additional opportunities for all members to learn from and share expertise and knowledge with colleagues who have different expertise and knowledge."

"Currently 18% of ASIS&T members reside outside the United States in 52 different countries. At the recent 75th Anniversary ASIS&T Annual Meeting, attendees came from 25 countries, with 22% coming from countries other than the United States. In addition, ASIS&T runs successful international conferences, notably the annual European Information Architecture Summit, and will hold its 2013 Annual Meeting in Montreal, Canada. The new name reflects the commitment of our members to international cooperation and global efforts to increase the influence of information science in education, research and applications to ensure the best access, management and use of information in an increasingly interconnected world."

"All contact points, including web address, e-mail, phone, address, etc. will remain the same."

Privacy and Library 2.0 Technology Survey

February 28, 2013 announcement from Stephanie P. Hess, Binghamton University — "A colleague and I are conducting a brief survey regarding the opinions of librarians on issues regarding privacy and Library 2.0 technology. All questions are optional (and voluntary) and any data collected will be separated from the individual who responded. We would greatly appreciate it if you could take a little time out of your busy day to fill out this questionnaire. Please note that the survey should take about 10 minutes to complete and will be open until Friday, March 22nd."

If you have any questions or concerns about completing the questionnaire, please e-mail Stephanie Hess at shess@binghamton.edu.

Personal Digital Archiving 2013: 'Everyone Should Have an Archive'

February 25, 2013 blog posting by Bill LeFurgy, Library of Congress — "You should have an archive for your personal digital materials. We all should. Archives preserve memories of 'me' as well as 'us.' Our personal archives also offer exciting new ways to remember and reconstruct our lives."

"Attendees of the Personal Digital Archiving 2013 conference considered these ideas over two days of presentations and discussion last week. NDIIPP co-sponsored the event with The Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities at the University of Maryland in conjunction with the University of Maryland Libraries. This was the first time the conference has taken place on the East coast; it originated in 2010 at the Internet Archive in San Francisco, which also hosted meetings in 2011 and 2012."

"A major focus of the meeting was on creators of personal digital materials...."

For the full report on the meeting, please see the full blog posting about the event.

ARL Commends Obama Administration for Historic Action Opening up Access to Federally Funded Research

February 22, 2013 — "Today, the Obama administration issued a historic Policy Memorandum that opens up access to the results of publicly funded research. ARL applauds the Obama administration for this critically important action. The memorandum calls upon federal agencies with annual research and development budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with free and unlimited online access to the results of that research...."

"...The federal government funds tens of billions of dollars in scientific research each year, with the understanding that this taxpayer investment will advance science, spur the economy, accelerate innovation, and lead to medical breakthroughs, thus improving the lives of all Americans. This research is published in peer-reviewed scientific journals but is not widely available because many journals are too expensive and difficult to access."

"The White House policy directs that the results of government-funded research – including both unclassified articles and digital data – must be made freely available to the general public. Articles resulting from publicly funded research must be made available using 12 months as a guide after publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal...."

"...The memorandum comes as the bipartisan Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), is making its way through the US House of Representatives and Senate. The legislation was introduced in the 113th Congress by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representatives Mike Doyle (D-PA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Kevin Yoder (R-KS)."

For more information please see the full press release.

IMLS and Library of Congress Announce New National Digital Stewardship Residency

February 21, 2013 — "The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Library of Congress have announced an open call for applications for the first National Digital Stewardship Residency (NDSR). Applicants can log onto the application portal at http://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/337969700 and apply to be a part of NDSR's inaugural class until the closing date April 5, 2013."

"The new program, administered by the Library of Congress and supported by IMLS, will allow 10 recent master's program graduates in relevant fields to complete a nine-month residency at various institutions in the Washington, D.C. area. Beginning in September 2013, accepted residents will attend an intensive two-week digital stewardship workshop at the Library of Congress. Thereafter, residents will move to a host institution to work on significant digital stewardship projects. These projects will allow them to acquire hands-on knowledge and skills involving the collection, selection, management, long-term preservation, and accessibility of digital assets."

"The Smithsonian Institution Archives, the World Bank, the Library of Congress, and the Public Broadcasting Service are just a few of the renowned institutions that will host the founding NDSR class. Each of these institutions submitted challenging project proposals, which can be viewed on the NDSR website (http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsr/news.html). Application requirements include a detailed resume and cover letter, undergraduate and graduate transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and a creative video that demonstrates an applicant's interest in the program."

For more information please see the full press release.

OCUL's Scholars Portal- Canada's first certified Trustworthy Digital Repository

February 19, 2013 — "Scholars Portal, a service of the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL), is now the first certified Trustworthy Digital Repository in Canada. This certification, the only generally recognized certification for digital archives, was issued by the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) following an audit of the Scholars Portal Journals repository. This is an important milestone in OCUL's commitment to its members to provide access to a diversity of learning and research materials, and to ensure their preservation through sustainable and responsible stewardship."

"The audit, which began in January 2012, evaluated the ability of Scholars Portal to fulfill this long-term preservation commitment in regard to e-journal content. The audit measured Scholars Portal's compliance with established criteria for trusted digital repositories, including the Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification: Criteria and Checklist1 (TRAC) and other metrics developed by CRL on the basis of its analysis of digital repositories."

For more information please see the full press release.

Digital Preservation Coalition and Nestor sign landmark co-operation agreement

February 15, 2013 — "The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and nestor, the German competence centre in long-term archiving, are delighted to announce a new alliance which allows them to share resources and enables their members to work together for the preservation of digital objects."

"By this new agreement, DPC members will be able to:

• access to details of nestor's annual program plans and receive regular updates on nestor activities
• access English language abstracts and summaries of nestor publications and nestor events
• observe and contribute to nestor planning activities and consultation on nestor's functional focus areas
• participate in nestor standards development and working groups"

"While nestor members will be able to:

• get priority access to reports commissioned by the DPC as well as papers from DPC Working Parties and Task Forces
• access the private DPC-DISCUSSION list which provides regular updates on the progress of the DPC and related developments
• attend DPC briefings and meetings
• become Observers at the DPC Annual General Meeting and DPC annual Planning Day
• and Vote in the Digital Preservation Award"

For more information please see the full press release.

Institute of Museum and Library Services Announces 2013 National Medal for Museum and Library Service Finalists

February 14, 2013 — "The Institute of Museum and Library Services today announced 33 finalists for the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. The National Medal is the nation's highest honor conferred on museums and libraries for service to the community and celebrates institutions that make a difference for individuals, families, and communities."

"'Museums and libraries are gathering places that provide invaluable services to their visitors. This year's finalists exemplify the positive impact these institutions make,' said Susan Hildreth, director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. 'People of all ages seek out these institutions for opportunities to advance their education, to learn new skills for the 21st century, for cultural connections, and for civic engagement. From an urban art museum to a small town local library, these finalists provide communities a safe space in which to learn, imagine, and dream.'"

"IMLS is encouraging those who have visited finalist libraries and museums to share their story on the IMLS Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/USIMLS. Visit the IMLS Facebook page to learn more about how these institutions make an impact."

For more information please see the full press release.

Calling All Youth Gamers: Contest for Original Video Games Now Open

Sponsorship of National STEM Video Game Challenge by IMLS puts libraries and museums into play

February 11, 2013 — "The annual National STEM Video Game Challenge, presented by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and E-Line Media opens today for student submissions of original video games and game designs. The National STEM Video Game Challenge, now in its third year, was inspired by President Obama's 'Educate to Innovate Campaign,' an initiative promoting science, technology, engineering and math education."

"As a new national community Challenge sponsor, IMLS will expand opportunities for libraries and museums to support Challenge participation in their communities. Youth gaming workshops, run by E-Line Media, will occur at 20 museum and library locations throughout the United States. IMLS recognizes the value of museums and libraries as strong community anchor institutions with the requisite staff, technology, and facilities in place to serve as ideal venues to sponsor youth creativity, mentoring, and learning in game design...."

"...With support from IMLS, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and E-Line Media will develop tools and dynamic online museum- and library-specific content to expand the capacity of these institutions to help students create games and participate in the Challenge...."

"...Check the Game Design Workshop page of the Challenge website frequently to see updates and details for these events. The new 2013 National STEM Challenge website also features a mentor resource kit, a hands-on workshop guide, webinars for museum and library staff, news and resources on game design and STEM skills, and information on STEM Challenge events."

For more information please see the full press release.

Print challenges, digital boom for mags

February 11, 2013 — "In the face of lowering circulation numbers for print magazines, digital versions are buoying the overall picture. According to the Alliance for Audited Media, which just released its report for the second half of 2012, overall paid and verified circulation was down just 0.3 percent while newsstand sales dropped 8.2 percent. Digital versions are still a very small part of that overall circulation, but it is the growing part. In the second half of 2012, digital versions made up 2.4 percent of the total industry's circulation – up from 1.7 percent in the first half of the year. Digital versions nearly doubled in the second half of 2012, from 3.2 million copies to 7.9 million. Nearly 65 percent of the magazines that report to the AAM now have digital editions."

For more information please see the full posting.

NISO Launches New Initiative to Develop Standard for Open Access Metadata and Indicators

Interested participants from all library types, publishers, and funding agencies are encouraged to contact NISO

February 7, 2013 — "The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) voting members have approved a new project to develop standardized bibliographic metadata and visual indicators to describe the accessibility of journal articles as well as potentially describe how 'open' the item is. Many offerings are available from publishers under the banner of Open Access (OA), Increased Access, Public Access, or other descriptions; the terms offered vary between publishers and, in some cases, based on the funding organization of the author. Adding to the potential confusion, a number of publishers also offer hybrid options in which some articles are 'open' while the rest of the journal's content are available only by subscription or license. No standardized bibliographic metadata currently provides information on whether a specific article is freely readable and what re-use rights might be available to readers. Visual indicators or icons indicating the openness of an article are inconsistent in both design and use across publishers or even across journals from the same publisher...."

"...The project launched by NISO will focus initially on metadata elements that describe the readership rights associated with an OA article. Specifically, the NISO Working Group will determine the optimal mechanisms to describe and transmit the right, if any, an arbitrary user has to access a specific article from any internet connection point. Recommendations will include a means for distribution and aggregation of this metadata in machine-readable form. The group will also consider the feasibility of incorporating information on re-use rights and the feasibility of reaching agreement on transmission of that data."

"Individuals interested in participating in this working group should contact Nettie Lagace (nlagace@niso.org). An interest group list for this project will be available for those who would like to receive updates on the Working Group's progress and provide feedback to the group on its work. To subscribe, send an e-mail to oa-indicators-info-subscribe@list.niso.org."

For more information please see the full press release.

Over 12,000 Wiley Online Books Made Available in Developing Countries Via Research4Life

February 6, 2013 — "John Wiley & Sons, Inc., today announced that its 12,200 Online Books would be made available through the Research4Life initiatives of HINARI, AGORA and OARE, benefitting research and academic communities in 80 low- and middle-income countries including Malawi, Cambodia, and Bolivia."

"Research4Life provides 6,000 institutions in developing countries with free or low cost access to peer-reviewed online content from the world's leading scientific, technical and medical publishers. The addition of Wiley's Online Books brings the total number of peer reviewed scientific journals, books and databases now available through the public-private Research4life partnership to almost 30,000...."

"...The Wiley Online Books Collection includes handbooks, dictionaries, companions, encyclopedias and landmark book series from award-winning authors and renowned researchers in the life, health and physical sciences, social sciences and the humanities. Online Books are available on Wiley Online Library and offer the benefits of unlimited concurrent user access, cross-searching with journals, and no DRM restrictions. Access to the majority of Wiley's peer-reviewed journals, the Cochrane Library, Current Protocols and major reference works are already included in the Research4Life programmes."

For more information please see the full press release.

ASERL and SURA Endorse Model Language for Research Data Management Policies

February 6, 2013 — "The Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) and the Southeast Universities Research Association (SURA) have endorsed language to assist their member institutions in drafting sound policies to govern the uses and management of research data generated by university faculty and staff...."

"...Over the past few years, many major research funding agencies have started requiring a comprehensive data management plan as part of all new funding proposals. Additionally, researchers are seeking to re-use existing data sets to determine the replicability of results and reduce duplication of effort. The ASERL-SURA model draws upon the work of a variety of sources, including the University of Cambridge, Monash University, the Council on Government Relations, the National Science Board, and the National Science Foundation."

For more information please see the full press release.

IMLS and Nine International Research Funders Announce Round Three of the Digging into Data Challenge

February 5, 2013 — "What does 'big data' mean for researchers in the humanities and social sciences? Today the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and nine international research funders are jointly announcing their participation in round three of the Digging into Data Challenge, a grant competition designed to spur computationally intensive research in the humanities and social sciences."

"During the first two rounds of the Challenge, held in 2009 and 2011, nearly 150 teams, representing universities from across Canada, the Netherlands, the U.S., and the UK, competed to demonstrate how innovative, computationally intensive research methods could be used to address questions in the humanities and social sciences. Twenty-two of those teams were awarded grants during those earlier rounds, each of them demonstrating new methods for analyzing vast digital resources used for humanities and social science research, like digital books, survey data, economic data, newspapers, music, and other scholarly, scientific, and cultural heritage resources that are now being digitized on a huge scale...."

"...Due to the overwhelming popularity of the earlier rounds, the Digging into Data Challenge is pleased to announce that two additional funders have joined for round three, enabling this competition to have a world-wide reach into many different scholarly and scientific domains. The sponsoring funding bodies include the Arts & Humanities Research Council (United Kingdom), the Economic & Social Research Council (United Kingdom), the Canada Fund for Innovation (Canada), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (United States), the National Endowment for the Humanities (United States), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the National Science Foundation (United States), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research in collaboration with The Netherlands eScience Center (NLeSC) (Netherlands), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada). Jisc (United Kingdom) will be taking a supportive role by facilitating the progression of the project."

"Final applications will be due May 15, 2013. Further information about the competition and the application process can be found at http://www.diggingintodata.org."

For more information please see the full press release.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library and DMPTool Partners Receive Grant Funding

January 28, 2013 — "Partners in the development of the popular Data Management Planning Tool (DMPTool), including the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library, were awarded a $590,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The grant will be used to fund further developments and improvements to the DMPTool including expanded functionality, training modules, documentation and the creation of an open source community to sustain the DMPTool in the future. Other project partners include the UC Curation Center (UC3) at the California Digital Library, the University of Virginia Library, and DataONE. The grant activity will occur in 2013."

"Datasets are the currency of scientific and intellectual advancement. Despite this reality, most researchers are not aware of how best to manage their data. The DMPTool, launched in October 2011, is a freely available web application that addresses this need by guiding users through the process of creating a data management plan for a range of funders."

For more information please see the full press release.

Palgrave Macmillan announces open access option for monographs and Palgrave Pivot publications

January 28, 2013 — "From today, Palgrave Macmillan will offer authors and their funders the option to publish open access (OA) research across all publication formats. Palgrave Macmillan journal articles, monographs and Palgrave Pivot publications can now be made available with immediate open access upon publication via Palgrave Open."

"Palgrave Open will publish all OA content under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) License to support maximum dissemination and use. Preferred by many research funding bodies, this license allows readers to alter, transform, or build upon the article and then distribute the resulting work as long as the original work is correctly cited. The CC BY license complies with a range of open access policies and allows authors to meet the public access requirements of many major funding bodies and institutions worldwide. Palgrave Macmillan is the only commercial publisher to offer this license across 3 publication outputs: journal articles, mid-form (Palgrave Pivot) and long-form (monograph) research. Alternative Creative Commons licenses are available to authors on request."

"Content published via Palgrave Open will be subject to the same professional and rigorous peer-review process as all other Palgrave Macmillan publications. The opportunity to publish open access will be available to all authors once their research has been approved for publication. Authors can opt to pay a publication charge in order for their research to be made freely available."

For more information please see the full press release.

Is JPEG-2000 a Preservation Risk?

January 28, 2013 blog posting from The Signal: Digital Preservation: — "This is a guest post by Chris Adams, in the Repository Development Center, technical lead for the World Digital Library at the the Library of Congress."

"Like many people who work with digital imagery, I've been looking forward to the JPEG-2000 image format for a long time due to solid technical advantages: superior compression performance for both lossless masters and lossy access images, progressive decoding and multiple resolutions and tiling. Having a single format which is flexible enough to satisfy both preservation and access requirements is appealing, particularly at a time when many organizations are being forced to reconcile rising storage costs with shrinking budgets...."

"...The most common concern I've heard about JPEG-2000 is the lack of high-quality tools and particularly support within the open-source world. I believe this is a critical concern for preservation."

For more information please see the full blog posting.

Ex Libris Extends Its Support for Open Access by Launching Registration of Institutional Repositories for Primo Central

January 27, 2013 — "Ex Libris Group, a world leader in the provision of library automation solutions, is pleased to announce that it has launched a self-registration service enabling institutions to easily add the contents of their institutional repository (IR) to the Primo Central Index of scholarly electronic materials and thus expand the breadth of IR content in the index."

"Institutional repositories play a key role in the open access movement. They often contain articles that are as yet unpublished or are freely available in the repository as part of an institution's green open access mandate. Once indexed in Primo Central, this content becomes widely discoverable to users in over 1300 institutions, thereby significantly increasing the usage and impact of an institution's research output."

"Registration of institutional repositories in Primo Central is another strand of the company's open access strategy. Ex Libris endorses both green and gold open access methods and is involved in a number of initiatives to maximize the visibility of open access materials, including exposing the availability of open access articles that are published in subscription journals (hybrid journals)."

For more information please see the full press release.

Innovative Commits to Early Adoption of the Digital Public Library of America Initiative

January 24, 2013 — "Innovative announced today a development initiative to integrate access of the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) large-scale digital public library collections into the Encore Synergy platform. Encore Synergy will harness the open DPLA discovery framework to provide users with a seamless, single-search experience of the digitized materials aggregated from the various universities, public libraries, and other organizations participating with the DPLA initiative."

"'The Digital Public Library of America is delighted that Innovative Interfaces is making use of the DPLA's open platform as it develops the next generation of its services,' said John Palfrey, president of the Board of Directors of the DPLA, Inc. 'The DPLA is designed as a public-private initiative, where we view open APIs, open code, open content, and open metadata as essential to the future of libraries, archives, and museums. We strongly encourage companies to follow the lead of Innovative Interfaces to make use of these open resources, in the public interest.'"

"Scheduled for initial operation in April 2013, the DPLA is the culmination of a two-year grassroots community goal to create and maintain a free, open, and sustainable national digital library resource. Content and resources contributed by existing repositories, or funded by the DPLA, will be placed in the public domain and include books, pamphlets, periodicals, manuscripts, digital text, and audiovisual materials."

For more information please see the full press release.

New thesaurus created for the astronomy community

January 24, 2013 — "The American Institute of Physics (AIP) and IOP Publishing (IOP) have jointly announced the gift of a new astronomy thesaurus called the Unified Astronomy Thesaurus (UAT) to the American Astronomical Society (AAS) that will help improve future information discovery for researchers."

"The AAS will make the UAT freely available for development and use within the astronomy community, while ensuring the thesaurus remains relevant and useful. Further development of the UAT will be undertaken by the John G. Wolbach Library at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in collaboration with the Astrophysics Data System (ADS) and the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) to enhance and extend the thesaurus to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of the astronomy community."

"Adoption of the thesaurus within the ADS will result in better linking with the majority of astronomy research journal articles through a common vocabulary, thereby greatly improving the accuracy of information discovery."

For more information please see the full press release.

IMLS 2010 Public Library Survey Results Announced

Libraries doing more with less - Local government taking larger funding role

January 22, 2013 — "Public libraries served 297.6 million people throughout the United States, a number that is equivalent to 96.4 percent of the total U.S. population, according to new research by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). In 2010, there were 8,951 public libraries in the 50 states and the District of Columbia with 17,078 public library branches and bookmobiles."

"IMLS today released the 2010 Public Libraries in the United States Survey, an analysis of the most comprehensive annual data collection of U.S. public library statistics. Nationally, public libraries have seen reductions in operating revenue, service hours, and staffing. Numbers for circulation, program attendance, and computer use continue to trend upward."

"This is the first federal statistical report on public libraries to go beyond a national level analysis to report on trends at the local, regional, and state levels. The report identifies indicators in three areas: services and operations, resources, and workforce. To provide a more complete picture of library service in the U.S., the report provides a snapshot for each state, describing characteristics of library service."

For more information please see the full press release.

Five local libraries honored for offering cutting-edge services

January 22, 2013 — "Today, the American Library Association (ALA) recognized five libraries for offering cutting-edge technologies in library services, honoring programs in Boston, New York, Tucson, Ariz., Orlando, Fla. and Le Roy, N.Y."

"The recognition, which is presented by the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy and the Library & Information Technology Association (LITA), showcases libraries that are serving their communities using novel and innovative methods. Libraries or library service areas selected will be highlighted through various ALA publications and featured in a program at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, June 27-July 2, 2013."

The five libraries and their programs are:

• Mobile Digital Learning Tools, Boston College High Schools (BCHS) Corcoran Library, Boston
• German Traces NYC, Goethe-Institut New York Library with Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science, New York City
• Guide on the Side, University of Arizona (UA) Libraries, Tucson, Ariz.
• Right Service at the Right Time App, Orange County Library System, Orlando, Fla.
• WEBOOKS, Genesee Valley Educational Partnership School Library System, Le Roy, N.Y."

For more information please see the full press release.

Library Leaders Announce New Digital Curation Residency Program

January 19, 2013 — "Library and information science (LIS) professionals specializing in digital collections will have an opportunity for a quality educational experience next year. The Library of Congress Office of Strategic Initiatives (OSI) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced today that they will collaborate to develop and implement a national residency program in digital curation, involving the collection, selection, management, and long-term preservation and accessibility of digital assets."

"The primary goals of the IMLS/Library of Congress Residency Program in Digital Curation are to foster the creation of a cadre of experts in the field and encourage LIS schools to include more experiential learning as part of their standard curricula. "This initiative will define the core components of a digital curation experience in the field and set the stage for a national model in the industry," said George Coulbourne, OSI's executive program officer."

"The program is designed to enhance the LIS curricula by complementing classroom instruction with hands-on field experiences at leading institutions in the Washington, D.C. area. Keeping residencies geographically focused will allow the participants to benefit from both individual project-based learning and team interaction."

For more information please see the full press release.

American Library Association President Maureen Sullivan Becomes Interim Dean of Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science

January 17, 2013 — "Simmons Graduate School for Library and Information Science (GSLIS) is pleased to welcome American Library Association (ALA) president Maureen Sullivan as the new interim dean. Sullivan has been a professor of practice in the GSLIS doctoral program since 2006 and is the 2012-13 president of ALA; she began her tenure as interim dean on January 2, 2013."

"Her presidency of the 60,000+ strong ALA members is the culmination of a distinguished career of leadership in the profession. Career highlights include serving as co-chair of the Emerging Leaders Initiative, as well as chair of eight other ALA committees. She served as president of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) from 1998 through 1999 where she helped establish the ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute in partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is now a member of the faculty for this annual program. She also served as president of the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA) from 1988 through 1989. Both ACRL and LAMA are divisions of the American Library Association."

"Ms. Sullivan has also led numerous task forces and committees in those two divisions. Her services were recognized by the 1999 ALA Elizabeth Futas Catalyst for Change Award and the 2010 Academic/Research Librarian of the Year awards."

For more information please see the full press release.

Cornell and Columbia Libraries to Build a Joint Technical Infrastructure

Mellon Grant Enables 2CUL Partnership to Combine Technical Services Departments

January 16, 2013 — "The libraries at Columbia University and Cornell University are taking an unprecedented new step in their 2CUL partnership: integrating a major part of their operations."

"Thanks to a three-year, $350,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the two libraries will integrate their technical services departments. These departments purchase and license library materials, such as books, e-books, e-journals, databases and more, and they provide data so that users can find and use those materials."

"For library users, the 2CUL integration will mean better and faster access to more materials — including licensed journal articles, foreign materials and other content. When negotiating with vendors and other third parties for services and content, the technical services operation will exercise bargaining power on behalf of both research libraries."

"The integration will also include:

• Seeking a common library management system that integrates data and workflows;
• Establishing collaborative collection building and coordinated processing;
• Reviewing policies, practices, workflows and job responsibilities at each institution, with an eye toward reconciling them as much as possible;
• Drafting best practices and guidelines; and
• Adopting a new organizational structure and culture."

For more information please see the full press release.

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