“In the face of COVID-19, public libraries, schools, universities and research have moved online overnight. Educational establishments are working to support learning, teaching and research remotely and researchers and students are trying to access content from libraries which are now closed. Unfortunately, remote supply of information during this crisis is being inhibited by copyright law. Copyright limits how much information can be remotely supplied for educational purposes – namely that the amount has to be “fair” (usually interpreted as, for example, a few lines of a poem, or a single book chapter) or is subject to licences, which are not designed for the current unprecedented situation we all face. For example, under copyright law the following activities that are swiftly being put in place would be infringements: ? Teachers scanning entire books for hastily arranged online courses. ? Public libraries arranging the online reading of books as part of children’s story time. ? Researchers wishing to access entire works that are only available on library premises, such as paper books or certain eBooks….”
Monthly Archives: April 2020
Cambridge Open Engage
“Would you like to work with us to develop an open research space on Cambridge Open Engage for your organisation?
We offer partners such as learned societies, department or centres within research institutions, and funders a range of services, including content hosting, insights into trends and growth areas within research, and analytics across early and open research outputs within their organization. For the partners who publish their books, journals or Elements with Cambridge, there will be an easy submission process from early research outputs on Cambridge Open Engage directly into the peer review process.
Partners will also benefit from having a connected ecosystem between their early research outputs and their publishing portfolio, connecting their members and faculty to the latest trends in research and extending the benefits of conference collaboration through to publication.
Having a branded partner site within Engage also gives our partners a place for innovation, both by actively engaging with communities via the co-creation model and by access to analytics on early versions of research, which can inform new directions for publishing further down the research lifecycle….”
2020 the year of open data? | Research Information
“If you had just one word to sum up what’s happening in the world of open data right now, it should be progress.
On 15 January the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers launched ‘STM 2020 Research Data Year’, an industry-wide initiative to expand the numbers of journals depositing data links as well as grow the volume of citations to datasets.
Then, two weeks later, eight university networks – representing more than 160 research-intensive universities worldwide – signed the Sorbonne Declaration on research data rights, which sets out the needs and benefits of having research data open, by default, wherever possible….”
Unlocking Research | University of Cambridge Office of Scholarly Communication
“While we are now very adept at archiving manuscripts in Apollo (thanks in large part to Fast Track and Orpheus) it remains a challenge to properly and accurately update Apollo records with either correct embargoes for accepted manuscripts, or the open access version of record. It is a futile task to be constantly checking whether a manuscript has been published. While the Open Access Team keeps a list of every publication that requires updating, this is a thankless job that should be highly automatable.
To that end, we have recently leveraged Orpheus to do at lot of the heavy lifting for us. By interrogating every journal article in Apollo and comparing its metadata against Orpheus we can now quickly determine which items can be updated and take the necessary next steps, changing embargoes where appropriate or identifying opportunities to archive the published version of record.
To do this we created a DSpace curation task to check every “Article” type in Apollo that had at least one file that was currently under embargo. We then compared the publication metadata against the information held in Orpheus to determine what steps needed to be taken. In total we found 9,164 items in need of some attention. The results are displayed below in a Tableau Public visual and summarised in Table 1….”
IFLA — Heritage cannot wait in the face of climate change: IFLA welcomes signatures to open letter on World IP Day
“IFLA, and partner organisations have launched an open letter to mark World Intellectual Property Day, 26 April 2020, underlining the need for copyright laws to support, rather than hinder, efforts to safeguard heritage in the face of climate change. Without action, nationally and internatinally, heritage institutions risk beng unable preserve their collections for the future. The letter is open for further endorsements….”
PLOS and Iowa State University Library announce APC-free Open Access publishing agreement
“Iowa State University Library and the Public Library of Science (PLOS) today announced a three-year Open Access agreement that allows researchers to publish in PLOS’ suite of journals without incurring Article Processing Charges (APCs). This partnership brings together two organizations that believe researchers should be able to access content freely and make their work available publicly, regardless of their access to grant funds….
Under the agreement, which will be implemented in July, Iowa State University Library will be charged an annual fixed flat rate over the three-year term, which will be based on prior years’ publication levels. Iowa State researchers will have unlimited opportunity to publish in PLOS journals over these three years and will not be charged any APCs. …”
EU Joins In The Bullying Of South Africa For Daring To Adopt US-Style Fair Use Principles | Techdirt
“As part of its copyright reform, South Africa plans to bring in a fair use right. Despite the fact its proposal is closely modeled on fair use in American law, the copyright industry has persuaded the US government to threaten to kill an important free trade deal with South Africa if the latter dares to follow America’s example. If you thought only US copyright companies were capable of this stunningly selfish behavior, think again. It seems that the European copyright industry has been having words with the EU, which has now sent a politely threatening letter to the South African government about its copyright reform (pdf)….”
Library systems & vendors in UK Higher Education
A list of the UK universities and the library technologies they use, including the platforms the use for the institutional repositories.
Jisc Repositories Dynamic Purchasing System
“Jisc is creating a Repository Purchasing Framework (a Dynamic Purchasing System), following feedback from the UK research sector and our members about the difficulties of procuring repository services, and the need for leadership and minimum standards in this area.
How will it work?
The framework will set out minimum standards that suppliers must comply with in order to have their product included. Suppliers will apply to be included, with the first wave of awards completed in the Spring. Additional suppliers can be added at any time.
Our members will be able to use the framework to run mini competitions with suppliers, using standard templates provided, and adding additional requirements of their own, if necessary. The Jisc framework team will administer the process, sending clarifications and responses to the member, who will then use their criteria to identify the preferred supplier. If a supplier is selected, Jisc notifies all bidders of the result and contracts are between the preferred supplier and member are drawn up.
Benefits and opportunities for members
The framework will reduce the procurement burden for members: it will facilitate a light touch procurement process for members, as the due diligence and OJEU requirements will have already been fulfilled. Members can focus solely on their specific requirements.
Many members are undertaking research systems reviews with possibility of re-procuring for post-REF 2021, so this is a good moment to introduce this framework.
Members can be confident that the services included use a clear set of sector standards
The market for such services becomes more transparent, efficient and effective.
Members get better value for money. …”
Haplo Repository
“Haplo provides a single repository for all research, enabling all research outputs related to a project to be stored together and searched simultaneously.
Haplo’s flexible data model can represent any type of information and manage datasets, traditional and non-traditional output types in one repository.
Haplo can support the rich variety of research outputs from practice based research due to its highly flexible metadata, configurable visual display, and elegant collections and portfolio functionality….”
Developing Open Access teaching materials to aid effective conservation practice – BES TEACHING AND LEARNING
“Dr Harriet Downey (@HarrietFDowney, hd438@cam.ac.uk) a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge announces a new global project to provide open access teaching materials for conservation educators and calls for more collaborators….”
Open Educational Resources: Campus Stakeholders and Strategies for Collaboration
“Higher education institutions are increasingly recognizing the value of open educational resources (OER) – or resources that are licensed to allow free access, use, adaptation, and redistribution – as OER eliminate textbook costs, contribute to student success, and allow for pedagogical innovation. Academic libraries often initiate and/or lead OER initiatives, however, OER intersect with and impact many other stakeholders across campus. It is important for OER leaders to understand the perspectives of these stakeholders, including students, instructors, instructional designers, the bookstore, administrators, and more. With an understanding of multiple perspectives around OER, academic libraries can generate buy-in, collaborate with campus partners, and develop broader support for the OER initiative. Attendees will engage with multiple stakeholder perspectives, consider how these perspectives are influenced by their specific institutional context, and develop strategies for collaborating with campus partners. While some background on OER will be covered, this session is intended for librarians that already have a working knowledge of how OER are defined and why they are important….”
Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/Symposium on Wikipedia and COVID-19 – Wikipedia
“When the public hears about something on the news and wants to learn more, they turn to Wikipedia. That’s as true during the COVID-19 pandemic as ever, with the site receiving record-breaking pageviews in April. But why does anyone consider it reliable? Who are the people volunteering their time to contribute to this content that so many people rely on? How do they organize themselves to coordinate improvement of the topic? There are thousands of articles about the pandemic in more than 150 languages. What kinds of topics do they cover? In what ways does Wikipedia and its sister sites, like Wikidata, collecting and using data about the pandemic?
The Symposium on COVID-19 and Wikipedia aims to answer questions the public may have about Wikipedia’s coverage of the pandemic. The event includes four speakers, all of whom are active contributors to the topic area on Wikipedia, but bring different perspectives, backgrounds, and interests. The event will be free and open to the public, broadcast live on YouTube and Facebook, and questions taken from viewers on these platforms. No prior experience with Wikipedia is expected….”
Directory of preprint server policies and practices – ASAPbio
“Given the growth of preprint servers and alternative platforms, it is increasingly important to describe their disciplinary scope and compare and contrast policies including governance, licensing, archiving strategies and the nature of any screening checks. These practices are important to both researchers and policymakers.
Here we present searchable information about preprint platforms relevant to life sciences, biomedical, and clinical research….”
SPARC Crafts Language in Response to COVID-19 Publisher Offers – SPARC
“As publishers provide students and faculty with temporary free access to learning materials during the COVID-19 crisis, concerns have been raised about access and time limitations associated with the offers. Working with members of the library community, SPARC has developed the following template that can be used to communicate with publishers about the restrictions….”