up2date

"Transforming Collections" -- free e-forum

Thanks to  the Collections = Collections blog for alerting me to the free ALCTS Transforming Collections forum. The basics :

February 22-23, 2012
9am-5pm CST

"Join us to talk about all the ways our collections are changing and discuss topics such as handling new formats, preservation methods, repository services, planning for the future, best practices for moving forward, and budgeting for changing times. Come share your success stories about how you are meeting the research, teaching, and recreational needs of your users of today and tomorrow."

Discussion : "How Important Are Open eBook Standards to Universities?"

From INFOdocket, news of this recent commentary on the JISC study :

New from UK’s JISC.

For universities and colleges looking to bring their teaching resources online, many are using the new ePub3 standard, which is what underpins Apple’s new iBooks and is become the defacto standard for ebooks. Linking to a JISC report to help universities understand the benefits of ePub3, JISC programme manager Ben Showers speaks to Nicola Yeeles via Skype to explain what universities and colleges can do to help their people use the standard.

Ben Showers discusses the podcast in this blog post.

Direct to Podcast (6:31)

Ithaka History Project Interim Report

The interim report summarizes "our interviews with research support professionals who support the field of history."

LIBER Quarterly (new issue)

INFOdocket informs us of a new issue of LIBER Quarterly. The article that made me sit up and take notice is

How do Researchers in the Humanities Use Information Resources?
Ellen Collins, Michael Jubb

(also intriguing : The e-Reader — an Educational or an Entertainment Tool? e-Readers in an Academic Setting by Peter Ahlroos & Jonna Hahto)

 

"Redefining the Academic Library: Managing the Migration to Digital Information Services"

From INFOdocket :

Title: Redefining the Academic Library: Managing the Migration to Digital Information Services (51 pages/slides; PDF)

Source: Educational Advisory Board

Don Hawkins shares a summary of the report in this post on The Conference Circuit from Information Today.

Roy Tennant writes:

This is one of the single best sources for this kind of guidance I’ve seen in a long time, and I don’t say that merely because it draws upon the work of some of my colleagues at OCLC. If you work in an academic library, you need to read this, take it to heart, and act.

Proceedings of the ARL Membership Meeting

From INFOdocket (it appears that audio for most of the sessions will be available later) :

“Expanding Capacity and Partnerships in the Digital World.”

The 159th ARL Membership Meeting took place in Washington DC on October 12–13, 2011
Twitter Hashtag: #ARL11fall

Welcoming Remarks

Carol A. Mandel, New York University, and ARL President

Constructing Digital Research Collections

Convener: Deanna Marcum, New York University

Speakers:
Charles J. Henry, Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)
Ed Van Gemert, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Brewster Kahle, Internet Archive

Van Gemert slides [PDF]
Kahle slides [PDF]

Opening Up Orphan Works

Convener: Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson, University of Washington

Speakers:
Paul N. Courant, University of Michigan
Sharon E. Farb, University of California, Los Angeles
Jonathan Band, PLLC, Technology Law and Policy

Farb slides [PDF]

Luncheon with Program

Convener: Mary Case, University of Illinois at Chicago
Speaker: R. Michael Tanner, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU)

Briefing from the Task Force on Licensing E-Book Packages

Speaker: Brinley Franklin, University of Connecticut and Chair of ARL Task Force on Licensing E-Book Packages

Franklin slides [PDF]

Concurrent Topical Briefing Sessions

Update of Key Policy Issues Pending Before the Research Library Community

Convener: James F. Williams II, University of Colorado at Boulder and Chair of ARL Influencing Public Policies Steering Committee

Speakers:
Prudence S. Adler, Association of Research Libraries
Jonathan Band, PLLC, Technology Law and Policy
Brandon Butler, Association of Research Libraries

Using Licenses and Contracts as Effective Tools for Scholarship

Convener: Ann J. Wolpert, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Speaker: Jaren D. Wilcoxson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Expanding Capacity and Partnerships Through Authenticity and Trust: The Case of the MetaArchive Cooperative
Convener: H. Carton Rogers, University of Pennsylvania
Speaker: Tyler Walters, Virginia Tech

Walters slides [PDF]

Implications of ebooks for libraries & users

From Infoviews :

"... links to all of the posts in [Leslie Lees VP of Content Development for ebrary's] series:

How Individual Book Buying Experiences are Reshaping Academic Library User Expectations for E-books

Academic E-book Collection Development in the Context of New User Expectations

E-book Collection Development for Academic Libraries – Existing Options and Emerging Needs

How the Changing Academic E-book Landscape is Impacting Academic Publishers

Academic E-books and their Role in the Emerging Scholarly Communications Landscape

"

SPEC Kit 324: Collecting Global Resources

From INFOdocket :

"...From the Introduction of the Executive Summary:

The purpose of this survey was to identify trends, practices, and challenges in collecting global resources in North American research libraries at a time of po- litical and economic change, on the one hand, and of significant change in scholarly communication and collection management strategies, on the other.

For this survey, global resources was defined as print and electronic library materials that are pub- lished outside the United States and Canada in any language on any topic. This may include, but is not limited to, traditional area studies materials, and it is not limited to resources typically associated with the field of Global Studies. A global resources librarian was defined as a librarian working with global resources as described in this survey.

We consider the term “collecting” widely to in- clude issues such as collection management/develop- ment, access, digitization, preservation, and public service.

From the News Release:

The survey results clearly demonstrate that support for global resources in North American research libraries is strong and predicted to remain so in the foreseeable future. Budget and space challenges, as well as increasing electronic access to resources with resulting changes in research habits of students and faculty, will create new and different patterns in collection growth. In response, many ARL libraries either already have or are in the process of creating organizational structures that facilitate intense outreach activities, in-depth reference, and collaborative collection development.

..."

"Measuring the Pace of Change for Print Monograph Collections"

Preprint in JAL : "The Next Chapter: Measuring the Pace of Change for Print Monograph Collections" by Christopher Stewart. 

 

ARL Membership Meeting (slides & some audio online)

From the ARL website. The ones that caught my eye (unfortunately no audio for several) :

International STM Journal Market

Developments in International Copyright

Ahead of the Storm: Research Libraries and the Future of the Research University

Shared Print Repositories—Planning and Implementation Phases

Legal Issues in Building 21st-Century Special Collections

 

paper on academic users research tasks and search strategies

In JAL :

Academic Users' Information Searching on Research Topics: Characteristics of Research Tasks and Search Strategies 

Jia Tina Du and Nina Evans

"Abstract

This project investigated how academic users search for information on their real-life research tasks. This article presents the findings of the first of two studies. The study data were collected in the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. Eleven PhD students' searching behaviors on personal research topics were observed as they interacted with information retrieval (IR) systems. The analysis of search logs uncovered the characteristics of research tasks and the corresponding search strategies."

"The Crisis in Research Librarianship"

From the latest JAL :

"The Crisis in Research Librarianship 

Rick Anderson 

^a Scholarly Resources & Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah, USA

Article Outline

References

The academic research library, as currently configured, is designed and organized to solve a problem that its patrons no longer perceive: the problem of information scarcity.

When information is scarce, it presents two primary difficulties: first, it is hard to find; second, it is expensive. These may seem like trivial observations, but they go to the heart of a growing crisis in librarianship. The crisis does not stem from the fact that information is now universally cheap and easy to find, and therefore that librarians are no longer needed; on the contrary, some kinds of information (high-quality science publications, for example) are still expensive, and some (including unique documents like manuscripts and grey literature) are still difficult to find. In the face of these and other persistent information problems (such as the difficulty of distinguishing between authoritative and questionable sources), librarians continue to offer valuable help in their roles as brokers and as research guides.

So the problem is not that libraries fail to offer value to their constituents. The crisis stems, instead, from the following three facts:

..."

free webinar on collections (Ithaka)

Thanks to Daisy V. Domínguez for pointing this out on the Ithaka site :

Ithaka S+R Library Survey 2010: Academic Library Collections

This webinar will focus on changing trends in collections management and development.

Wednesday, April 20th, 12:00-1:00 pm (EDT) 

 

new collections blog from ALCTS

Collection Connection: The Library Collection Management Blog

OCLC announces Research Library Partnership (e.g., successor to RLG)

From INFOdocket :

Coming Soon: The OCLC Research Library Partnership Launches on July 1, 2011  

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Gary D. Price

 From an OCLC Research “Hanging Together” Blog Post:

This new — or perhaps more appropriately, evolved [OCLC Research Library Partnership] will launch on 1 July 2011.

The OCLC Research Library Partnership builds on and extends the work of the current RLG Partnership. Like its predecessor, the new OCLC Research Library Partnership will include college and university libraries, municipal research libraries, national libraries and archives, privately funded research collections, plus special institutions and large-scale cultural repositories of various kinds. ...

OCLC Research Library Partners will be part of a leading-edge, peer-based, transnational collaborative. ...Partners’ efforts will be backed by the full capacities of OCLC Research, and Partners will collectively influence and direct a substantial portion of the OCLC Research effort.

...Distinctive strategic areas of focus for the Partnership will include: enhancing and extending rich information discovery; supporting the abilities of research libraries to mobilize unique collections; facilitating (both technically and operationally) the wide use of shared print repositories; creating a knowledge access environment that integrates all forms of research content within efficient organization and discovery processes; and exploring global approaches to research information management.

Official Intro and FAQ

• Introducing the OCLC Research Library Partnership (PDF: 2 pages)
• OCLC Research Library Partnership Frequently Asked Questions (.PDF: 3 pages)
• OCLC Research Library Partnership Agreement Form (PDF: 2 pages)

Hathi Trust & Print

From the monthly Hathi update :

Print Holdings Database

HathiTrust has been working to design and populate a database of information representing the print holdings of all partner institutions. This database will serve a number of important functions:

• It will support analysis of the overlap of institutions’ print holdings with digital holdings in HathiTrust – this information is required in order to implement the new financial model.
• It will form a foundation for the expansion of legal uses of materials in HathiTrust (e.g. services to users with print disabilities) by partner institutions.
• It will facilitate collaborative collection development and management operations.

... When new HathiTrust development environment hardware becomes available in early April, a new version of the database will be created, all of the data we have received will be loaded, and we can begin generating statistics and preliminary cost modeling data. At the same time, we will be working toward a near-term production release of the database to support services to users with print disabilities at partner institutions.

"5 Reasons Librarians Are the Future of Ed Tech"

From the Technology & Learning blog at Inside HigherEd :

"...The future of campus computing belongs to the librarians and the libraries, and that is a very good thing. Here is why:

Reason 1 - Service Orientation:...

Reason 2 - Strong Relationships:...

Reason 3 - Multilingualism:...

Reason 4 - Technology Experience:...

Reason 5 - Collegiality: This last reason that librarians are the future of educational technology is perhaps the most important. Librarians are universally the most collegial professionals on campus....

"

Ithaka S+R Library Survey 2010: Insights From U.S. Academic Library Directors

From the post to the libraryassessment.info site :

" ... Library Survey 2010: Insights From U.S. Academic Library Directors, ... is now available from our website at http://bit.ly/eBdWYd. The Library Survey aims to help academic libraries and other members of the higher education community understand the changing role of the library and how to adapt strategically to an increasingly digital environment. This survey focuses on strategies that directors are pursuing for their libraries, the management of library collections, the development of new digital collections, and the creation of new services to meet changing user needs. Our Library Survey complements our Faculty Survey 2009...

Over the course of this month, we will be conducting several webinars to explore our findings and discuss their implications:

· Wednesday, April 13th, 12:00 – 1:00 pm (EDT) Ithaka S+R Library Survey 2010: Academic Library Services and Strategy

· Wednesday, April 20th, 12:00-1:00 pm (EDT) Ithaka S+R Library Survey 2010: Academic Library Collections

· Wednesday, April 27, 2011 9AM EDT / 2PM GMT Ithaka S+R Library Survey 2010: Perspectives for Non-U.S. Academic Libraries”

Please consider joining us for one or more of these webinars – like the report, they are freely available for all interested individuals."

Cornell University Library to make journal prices public

From Inside HigherEd :

... A statement posted on the library website explains: "Occasionally in licenses governing electronic resources, publishers will request that the Cornell University Library (CUL) treat the subscription price as confidential information and not disclose it to third parties. In the past, some libraries have tolerated these clauses in the belief that they might result in a lower cost. This, however, is a position that CUL can no longer accept. It has become apparent to the library community that the anticompetitive conduct engaged in by some publishing firms is in part a result of the inclusion of nondisclosure agreements in contracts."

"knowledge stocks" vs. "knowledge flows"

An interesting post from Lorcan Dempsey focussing on the change in the way that libraries serve patrons and the role of the library in the scholarly community. The paragraph that most caught my eye, citing the book the Power of Pull by John Hagel, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison :

"The authors discuss the shift from managing 'knowledge stocks' to participating in 'knowledge flows' as patterns of work and interaction change in a network environment. I was particularly struck by their discussion of information overload.

It's not so much about finding which information is most valuable, as many of those who fret about information overload would have it. Improving return on attention is more about finding and connecting with people who have the knowledge you need, particularly the tacit knowledge about how to do new things. The danger is that we all get so busy assimilating explicit knowledge that we have no time to connect with people and build the relationships through which tacit knowledge flows. We get so busy reading about steampunk, or brewing, or building networks, that we don't actually find and connect with and learn from the people who are doing it. It's not so much information that we need as knowledge. And knowledge means people.

..."

So, can people mean librarians? Where do libraries fit in, if we agree with the proposition?