Dryad in the community: Responding to the Nelson Memo: repository re-curation for open scienceDryad news

“Available to watch now: “Responding to the Nelson Memo: repository re-curation for open science”.

This talk introduces the concept of re-curation with examples from three different types of repositories and research organisations; generalist, institutional, and field stations. Re-curation is the care and feeding of digital content over time, ensuring it remains discoverable, interoperable, and reusable and aligned with the latest standards.

Learn from Dryad partner Ted Habermann of Metadata Gamechangers about the importance of continually improving metadata to support discovery and reuse as standards emerge and evolve.”

Book Publishers Are Trying to Destroy Public E-Book Access in Order to Increase Profits ? Current Affairs

“The publishers argued that the Internet Archive practices a form of “willful digital piracy on an industrial scale.” Judge Koeltl agreed, saying that although IA does not actually increase the number of books in circulation, “the Publishers hold exclusive publishing rights” and the IA “infringed the plaintiffs’ copyrights in 127 books (the “Works in Suit”) by scanning print copies … and lending the digital copies to users of the defendant’s website without the plaintiffs’ permission.” He says that they can only legally digitize books that are considered to be in the public domain,1 which would force them to remove more than 3.6  million copyrighted works currently on the site.  

Koeltl dismissed the Archive’s argument that their practices constitute “fair use,” which allows copying for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. To determine if a piece of content falls under fair use, judges consider nonprofit or educational purposes, transformation, and market effect. In his opinion, Koeltl gave lengthy explanations for why he believes IA is not fair use. Mike Masnick, the founder of Techdirt and one of the most prolific writers on fair use in the Internet age, gives Koeltl’s tortured logic the verbal flogging it deserves, arguing that the Archive’s lending is transformative, not for profit, and no more impactful to the market than the average library. But even setting aside the legal question of copyright infringement, we should still consider the destruction of the IA to be a bad thing for society. At bottom, this is a case of a cabal of powerful commercial interests using the legal system to bully a public organization that offers a superior service, completely for free, without stealing anything….”

Opening Access | Association of University Presses 2023 Annual Report

“The Association views Open Access (OA) to scholarship as an ideal fully in line with our mission, and a practice that must align with our values. The majority of member presses continue to explore OA publishing projects, and the Association works to support active learning and productive advocacy around OA modes of publishing.  The Open Access Committee is charged with developing resources, recommendations, and knowledge for our global community. To this end, the committee has published a draft resource list, curated to help university presses navigate the many different models, developing infrastructures, and growing expectations in OA publishing. The Committee has also continued inviting representatives from OA initiatives, such as OASPA, the Books Analytic Dashboard, and OpenStax, to present on their work to the committee. In 2022, on the heels of a new US Office of Science and Technology Policy memo outlining expansive OA expectations for federally funded research, the Committee coordinated a community hangout to share information, ideas, and concerns….”

LICENSING SERVICES MANAGER

“As a member of the California Digital Library’s Shared Collections program, the Licensing Services Manager is responsible for providing expertise and services related to all phases of license management for CDL and to librarians across the UC Libraries system. The position works to advance UC Libraries collection and service goals by securing advantageous license terms with publishers and other content providers in compliance with University principles and policies. In collaboration with CDL Shared Collections colleagues, UC librarians, and legal counsel, the position is responsible for license development and interpretation; the negotiation of license provisions with vendors; communicating and reporting on license information; and serving as the official contact for reporting and resolving license breaches.

The ideal candidate will use advanced professional concepts and organizational objectives to resolve complex problems in creative and effective ways; work on nuanced issues where analysis of situations or data requires an in-depth evaluation of variable factors; and exercise judgment in selecting methods, techniques, and evaluation criteria for obtaining results. The position interfaces with and actively contributes to a full range of services offered by the CDL Shared Collections program, including but not limited to participating in the emerging transformative and open access agreement schema, supporting effective electronic resource strategies and workflows, analyzing usage data, and engaging with relevant UC-wide committees. The Licensing Services Manager reports to CDL’s Assistant Director of Systemwide Licensing and Collection Services….”

Community Engagement Manager, arXiv,

“Responsibilities of the Community Engagement Manager primarily fall into three areas.

 

Manage Organization Communications (50%):

Serve as a creative communications strategist, leveraging emerging communications trends, research, and techniques to connect to key audiences and stakeholders around the globe; develop campaigns to support arXiv’s mission, vision, project goals, and brand identity.
Act as public relations point of contact for arXiv and engage with key stakeholders, such as journalists, media, and other academic institutions.
Assure exceptional integrity, quality and accuracy in communications; manage content creation for marketing materials (collateral, newsletters, press releases, digital content, social media and more).
Organize, schedule, and manage digital events, including webinars and workshops.
Develop annual reports for leadership groups, including arXiv Members, arXiv advisory committees, and Cornell stewardship.
Develop internal communications strategy to support staff in carrying out arXiv’s mission, vision, and project goals.
Coordinate with Cornell University’s communications team (within the Division of University Relations) to ensure alignment with university-wide media relations, branding and related communications protocols.

 

Manage Membership and Sponsorship (40%):

Develop, manage, and maintain successful relationships with arXiv stakeholders in academic libraries and library consortia, professional societies, research institutes, and other mission-aligned organizations to ensure a thriving membership and sponsorship program.
Develop a communication strategy and benefit package to maintain engagement with members, affiliates, and sponsors.
Cultivate relationships through in-person meetings, webinars, and other outreach and develop marketing materials.
Organize and supervise the invoicing workflow throughout the year to ensure timely payment from all members, sponsors and affiliates; liaise with colleagues across Cornell as needed for financial reporting.
Respond to current and prospective member inquiries regarding membership benefits, membership agreements, and usage data.

 

Fundraising Support (10%):

Organize and implement giving campaigns to solicit support from individual arXiv users.
Assist with grant writing and reporting….”

Gold Open Access output and expenditures in the United States in the past decade

Open access publishing has quite a significant cost associated with it. Article Processing Charges (APCs) are fees charged by publishers to authors for the publication of their articles in open access journals. These fees can present a new type of “paywall” to researchers and institutions who cannot afford to pay these amounts. Considering previous studies that showed barriers to publishing open access between countries as a result of high costs, in this study, we aimed to examine whether there are differences in open access publishing, expenditure and overall participation within universities in the United States. Our analysis shows that the majority of states published between 1,000 – 7,000 Gold Open Access publications and spent up to 6million dollars in the past 10 years. However, there are some noteworthy outliers’ states that publish a high number Gold Open Access papers but pay significantly less than other states that publish a lower number of Gold Open Access papers and pay significantly more.

OU Researchers Win Prestigious NEH Grant to Develop Indigenous Media Portal | University of Oklahoma Libraries

“Researchers working with the University of Oklahoma Libraries and the Native Nations Center won a prestigious grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop an Indigenous Media Portal at OU.  

The award is one of only three from NEH given to Oklahoma researchers this year. All three grants were given to OU researchers….

Tribal partners and project leaders will choose materials appropriate for sharing in a publicly accessible platform and present them in ways that support community interests and broader public understanding. The Indigenous Media Portal will prioritize the self-representation of Oklahoma Tribal communities through their own voices, music, and audiovisual media.  …”

White House Listening Session on: Open Science Possibilities for Training and Capacity Building: Perspectives from the Early Career Researcher-Supporting Community

“Open science carries with it a world of possibilities: spurring discovery and equitable innovation, bolstering public trust, democratizing access to research, strengthening evidence-based decision making, and creating a better life for all. These possibilities place open science at the heart of Biden-Harris Administration priorities – from curbing greenhouse gas emissions to reducing social inequalities to ending cancer as we know it.

To help realize these possibilities, the White House is taking action to elevate the needs, priorities, and experiences of those who will shape and inherit the future of open science: the early career research (ECR) community. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) will host a series of virtual listening sessions to explore perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for advancing open science in the United States and solutions that might be implemented by the U.S. Government….”

Jeffrey MacKie-Mason, university librarian, announces retirement | University of California Berkeley, 17 May 2023

“I write to announce that University Librarian Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason, who is also a professor in the School of Information and an affiliate professor of the Department of Economics, will be retiring from campus in June 2024.  Under Jeff’s leadership, the Library has helped the university advance its strategic priorities and support the research, teaching, and learning missions of the UC Berkeley community. Key accomplishments, in partnership with colleagues, have included the following: Doubling the Library’s annual philanthropic funding and securing nearly $97 million in funding for three capital projects.  Co-chairing the University of California team that has made it possible for 54% of UC-authored articles to be published open access. Establishing the Library’s scholarly communications office, which provides the campus community with more than 3,800 copyright, intellectual property, and information policy consultations a year….”

Federal Register :: Request for Information: NASA Public Access Plan for Increasing Access to the Results of NASA-Supported Research

“NASA seeks public input on the “NASA’s Public Access Plan, Increasing Access to the Results of Scientific Research” (NASA Public Access Plan). NASA has a decades-long history of providing public access to scholarly publications and data resulting from the research it supports, including through the 2014 Open Access Plan. In 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a memorandum on “Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research” that establishes new guidance for improving public access to scholarly publications and data resulting from Federally supported research. The NASA Public Access Plan outlines the proposed approach NASA will take to implement the new guidance, consistent with its longstanding commitment to public access.”

Innovative new open access agreement signed between PALCI and ACS Publications – PALCI

“PALCI (Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration and Innovation) and ACS Publications are excited to announce the signing of a new open access agreement that provides participating members with full financial support for open access publication in all ACS journals, as well as complete access to ACS Publications’ journal content through the end of 2025.

Building on previous agreements with individual members of the consortium, this new agreement is one of the first to employ a new approach that leverages the strengths of various institutions to enable full open access publishing and subscription access for participating members. This enables open access publication support for authors while maintaining – and, in some cases, expanding – access to current and historical subscription content from ACS’ full range of journals….”

Job: Digital Publishing Specialist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, US

“…Reporting to the Head of Scholarly Communication and Publishing, the Digital Publishing Specialist will manage editorial and production workflows including those related to publication metadata, digital archiving, and document transformation. The incumbent will act as part of the Library’s effort to offer high quality, open access publishing services to the Urbana-Champaign campus and beyond through the Illinois Open Publishing Network (https://iopn.library.illinois.edu/) and related scholarly communication efforts….”

Events & Webinars | OSTP | The White House

“THE POSSIBILITIES OF OPEN SCIENCE: WHITE HOUSE LISTENING SESSIONS WITH EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER COMMUNITIES

Open science has the potential to unlock a world of possibilities: spurring discovery and equitable innovation, bolstering public trust, democratizing access to research, and strengthening evidence-based decision making. These possibilities place open science at the heart of Biden-Harris Administration priorities – from curbing greenhouse gas emissions to reducing social inequalities to ending cancer as we know it.

To help realize the possibilities of open science, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is taking action to elevate the needs, priorities, and experiences of those who will shape and inherit the future: the early career researcher community. OSTP will host a series of virtual listening sessions to explore perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for advancing open science in the United States and solutions that might be implemented by the U.S. Government. These listening sessions are hosted as part of a Year of Open Science, announced by the White House in January 2023 to advance open science policies across the federal government. The sessions will be open to the public and may be recorded for OSTP’s use. Registration is required to attend. The upcoming listening sessions will be as follows:…”

Scholarly Communication and Copyright Librarian, Georgetown University | May 2023

“The Scholarly Communication and Copyright Librarian develops, coordinates and promotes the growth of the Library’s scholarly communications programs and services, including outreach, training and support to faculty, students, and staff on copyright, fair use, open access, open education and scholarly publishing.  The incumbent also provides specialized research consultations and instruction services in these areas. The Scholarly Communication and Copyright Librarian supports digital scholarship by promoting the use of DigitalGeorgetown (DG), the Library’s institutional repository, as well as other scholarly communication tools provided by the Library. The incumbent advances the Library’s scholarly communication initiatives by developing and maintaining collaborative partnerships within the Library and with faculty, staff and students, in order to facilitate a seamless, interdisciplinary, and university-wide network supporting faculty and students in research publication and impact….”

Scholarly Communications Librarian

Description

Join a team of collaborative and creative library faculty at Colby College! Be a part of the growing movement toward more open and inclusive scholarship and teaching. The Colby College Libraries invite applications for the position of Scholarly Communications Librarian.

Overview and Primary Objectives

The Scholarly Communications Librarian is a faculty librarian position with teaching responsibilities and is a member of the Digital Initiatives (DI) team. The Librarian serves as the Libraries’ expert on scholarly communication, including alternative publishing models, scholarly visibility and impact, online identity management, open educational resources, and equitable access to the College’s scholarly output. The Scholarly Communications Librarian will develop and implement educational programs, support metadata creation for digital assets, and serve as an advisor for researchers (as well as library staff) on scholarly communications and digital scholarship issues.

The Scholarly Communications Librarian will collaborate with the Digital Archives Librarian to manage and develop the College’s institutional repositories. The Scholarly Communications Librarian will also collaborate closely with colleagues in other departments, including Collections Management and Special Collections and Archives, on open access, metadata standards and the preservation of, and discovery and access to, the scholarly output of the College….”