E-Lert # 303 / Cyberavis no. 303
Friday November 21, 2008 / le vendredi le 21 novembre 2008
CARL COMMUNIQUE / COMMUNIQUÉ DE L'ABRC
The 2007 Annual Report of The Canadian Association of Research Libraries
(CARL) is available on the CARL website. PDF
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Le Rapport annuel du 2007 de l'Association des bibliothèques de
recherche (ABRC) est disponible sur le site web de l'ABRC. PDF
On November 20 and 21, 2008, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) welcomed two visiting Japanese librarians, Tomonari Kinto (University of Tsukuba Library) and Yuji Nonaka (University Library, Hokkaido University), and shared information about Canadian Open Access and Institutional Repository initiatives. The itinerary included a visit to the CARL office, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI). CARL's visitors were familiarized with the CARL Institutional Repositories Program, the University of Ottawa IR uOttawa Research, the IRDC Digital Library, and the National Research Council Publications Archive (NPArC). They also gave a series of presentations profiling specific IR projects underway in Japan: namely the Access path to Institutional Resources via link resolvers (AIRway ) Project, the Society Copyright Policies in Japan (SCPJ ) Project, and Japanese Institutional Repositories Online (JAIRO ). In addition to providing an overview of the status of Institutional Repositories in Japan, Mr. Kinto and Mr. Nonaka also shared information about the IRs at their institutions Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers (HUSCAP ) and Tsukuba University Library Information Public Service Repository (Tulips-R ).
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Le 20 et 21 novembre, 2008, l'Association des bibliothèques de recherche du Canada (ABRC) a accueilli deux bibliothécaires du Japon, Tomonari Kinto (University of Tsukuba Library) et Yuji Nonaka (University Library, Hokkaido University), et a partage de l'information sur les initiatives canadiennes concernant le libre accès et les dépôts institutionnels. L'itinéraire a inclut une visite au secrétariat de l'ABRC, Le Centre des recherches pour le développement international (CRDI), et l'Institut Canadien pour l'information scientifique et technique (ICIST). Les visiteurs de l'ABRC se sont familiarisés avec le Programme de dépôts institutionnels de l'ABRC, le DI de l'Université d’Ottawa Recherche uOttawa, la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDI, et les Archives des publications du CNRC (NPArC). Ils ont aussi eu l'occasion de résumer la situation par rapport aux DIs au Japon et de parler au sujet d'initiatives particulières: par exemple, Access path to Institutional Resources via link resolvers ( AIRway ) Project, the Society Copyright Policies in Japan ( SCPJ ) Project, and Japanese Institutional Repositories Online ( JAIRO ). M. Kinto et M. Nonaka ont aussi partagé de l'information sur les dépôts institutionnels à leurs institutions - Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers ( HUSCAP ) and Tsukuba University Library Information Public Service Repository ( Tulips-R ).
NEWS / NOUVELLES
NASULGC President Calls for New Focus on IP and Copyright Policy
in Latest ARL Bimonthly Report
November 21, 2008
In the lead article, Peter McPherson, President of the National Association
of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), identifies intellectual
property law as a major factor in how universities are able to conduct their
mission and cites examples of how recent law revisions, court decisions,
and discoveries have come together to impose barriers to faculty and researcher
access to critical resources. He notes that the growing imbalance in IP
and copyright law and court decisions hinders the constitutional purpose
of copyright "to promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts."
McPherson calls for the academic community to find a way to agree upon and
advance a common set of positions in Washington DC that would regain within
the law a balance between the needs of the creators of IP and the needs
of society, which benefits from the early and wide availability of knowledge.
http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arl-br-260-mcpherson.pdf
Google expected to take over Ottawa data firm
Bert Hill
The Ottawa Citizen, November 14, 2008
Google is expected to announce that it has bought a vast Canadian digital
database of newspaper microfilms and other historical records from an Ottawa
company. Bob Huggins, chief executive officer of PaperOfRecord.com (POR),
said that the deal means that thousands of genealogists, researchers and
history buffs can now access information previously locked in the dusty
microfilm records of newspapers and libraries.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/bustech/story.html?id=e1a69f5b-3452-41dd-89a3-beea1d8a8ccd
CACUL New Academic Librarian of the Year Award
November 14, 2008
CACUL announces the inaugural CACUL New Academic Librarian of the Year
Award. The purpose of this award is to recognize and honour the ideas
and initiatives brought to life by Canadian academic librarians who have
completed their MLIS (or equivalent) during the last five years. If you
know an innovative and new Canadian academic librarian, consider nominating
them for this award as a way to recognize their contribution(s) at their
employing library or to librarianship as a whole. The deadline for nominations
is March 15th.
http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Awards_Scholarships_Grants&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=6294
Portal for repository news
Open Access News, November 14, 2008
Les Carr has launched a new site, Repositories Worldwide, to aggregate
news about repositories. Repositories Worldwide brings together the recent
DSpace, EPrints and Fedora news releases, the latest repository-relevant
personal postings from individual and project blogs, as well as recent postings
on two of the key repository agendas - Open Access and Data Curation.
http://www.eprints.org/repositories/
Maelstrom over Metadata
Andy Guess
Inside Higher Ed, November 14, 2008
A debate is carrying on in the undercurrents of the academic Web, pitting
those who defend libraries’ core mission of open access against the
membership organization that collects and operates a massive online catalog
on which many of them rely. In an attempt to protect WorldCat and the resources
needed to keep it running, while making it sufficiently accessible to its
members, OCLC announced a policy
change that would have placed a notice in each record to the
effect that it is governed by the WorldCat terms contained in an accompanying
Web address terms that could presumably change over time. Libraries would
also be encouraged to add the text to a specific field within each of their
own records that originated from WorldCat.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/11/14/worldcat
Harper government reinstates ministerial position for science
and technology
RE$EARCH MONEY, Volume 22, Number 17, November 13, 2008
S&T is back at the Cabinet table after a five-year absence with the appointment of Dr Gary Goodyear as minister of state for science and technology. There is cautious optimism within the S&T community that the reinstatement of the position will help to push forward the government's S&T Strategy and perhaps provide innovation with a higher profile. While some note the frequent changes and spotty track record of past S&T ministers and secretaries of state, others contend that the position is critical as many of the recommendations within the S&T Strategy have yet to be implemented.
Grimmelman: Google Book Search Deal Should be Approved,
Could Be Improved
Andrew Albanese
Library Journal, November 13, 2008
With a full reading of the proposed Google Book Search settlement under
his belt, New York University professor of law James Grimmelman says the
complex proposal may not be ideal but is worthy of approval. My starting
point is that the settlement is a good thing,” Grimmelman blogged
on the
Laboratorium . Everyone is better off than in a world where
the alternative is no Google Book Search. While he strongly supported approval
of the settlement, he also offered an array of criticisms.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6614535.html?nid=2673&rid=reg_visitor_id&source=title
ALA Publishing announces launch of Guide
to Reference online
November 11, 2008
ALA Publishing announced this month the launch of the new online edition
of Guide to Reference. Offering more than 16,000 essential print and Web
reference resources, Guide to Reference provides guidance in the form of
expert introductory essays and annotations for entries. It also offers tips
for LIS reference-course exercises and reference department activities such
as collection development and reference-desk training.
http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2008/november2008/PublishingRefGuide.cfm
Science community plans global data library
October 27, 2008
Scientific organizations representing over 130 countries have decided to
overhaul existing world data centres and services to create a World Data
System. The General Assembly of the International Council for Science (ICSU)
has agreed to take the first steps towards an interoperable data system
that will extend around the world and across all areas of science.
http://www.researchinformation.info/news/news_story.php?news_id=398
Blue Ribbon Panel on Peer Review
SSHRC Council News, Highlights from the October 2008 Council meeting
As described in Framing
Our Direction , SSHRC is undertaking an objective, arms length
assessment of the quality and integrity of its peer-review practices with
a view toward ensuring we are world leaders in the expert evaluation of
proposals. In addition to interviews with SSHRC staff, former adjudication
committee members, standing committee members and Standard Research Grants
observers, the panel carried out an online
survey to gather the opinions of researchers across Canada
on SSHRC policies and practices.
http://www.sshrc.ca/web/about/council_reports/news_e.asp#5
ARTICLES
Tentative de définition du vectorialisme
Hervé Le Crosnier
Document Numérique et Société / DOC SOC 2008, 2e édition,
17-18 nov 2008, CNAM Amphi Abbé Grégoire, Paris
La technologie du réseau internet est apparue comme un modèle
pleinement égalitaire : à l'origine, chaque « client
» pouvait aussi devenir « serveur ». Le chemin des blocs
de messages était réparti suivant les divers routeurs, donnant
un caractère coopératif à l'ensemble du réseau
ainsi constitué. Sur cette architecture décentralisée,
les individus pouvaient à leur tour trouver des moyens décentralisés
d'expression, mais aussi d'invention et d'innovation. Moins de vingt ans
après, les acteurs majeurs sont très concentrés, les
innovateurs sont immédiatement rachetés par ces grandes compagnies,
et d'une manière volontaire ou non, chaque internaute dépend
de ces nouveaux « vecteurs » pour sa navigation, ses communications
et ses capacités créatrices.
http://www.fyifrance.com/f102008b.htm#French
Making government R&D more effective
Dr. Peter Morand
RE$EARCH MONEY, Volume 22, Number 17, November 13, 2008
As part of its annual benchmarking exercise, the Conference Board of Canada has just released How Canada Performs: A Report Card on Canada . And once again we find that Canada's report card "tells the story of a country moving to the back of the class because of its underperformance in almost all subjects." Although Canada ranks second in education and skills among countries compared in the study, Canada remains near the bottom (ranked 13th) in the area of innovation. Dr. Morand provides an overview of current practices and a proposal for realigning the federal government's S&T activities that employ about 25,000 people with an annual investment of more than $4 billion.
Keeping the records of science accessible: can we afford
it?
Report on the 2008 Annual Conference of the Alliance for Permanent Access,
Budapest, 4 November 2008
Research information being a common good, public funding is the most likely
business model for permanent access, the 2008 Alliance conference concluded
in Budapest. This summary aims to highlight those presentations and comments
with the greatest relevance for the key theme of the conference: Business
models for permanent access. Readers can gain detailed insights from the
individual PowerPoint presentations
. Reported by Inge Angevaare, coordinator of the Netherlands Coalition
for Digital Preservation.
http://www.alliancepermanentaccess.eu/documenten%5CAlliance2008conference_report.pdf
Brave New World
Jacob Dagger
Duke Magazine, Volume 94, Number 5, September-October 2008
At a symposium hosted last year by Columbia University's library system,
Steven Bell, a librarian from Temple University, took a controversial stand.
In a public debate before an audience made up almost entirely of reference
librarians, Bell argued for the abolition of the reference desk by the year
2012. His position wasn't as radical as it might sound.
http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/091008/brave1.html#
eResearch Australasia 2008
Tobias Blanke et al
Ariadne, Issue 57, October 2008
The following overview of eResearch Australasia 2008 is intended to give
a sense of the diversity of the programme and key themes of the Conference
at a glance. A selection of workshops and themes are explored in more detail
by fellow contributing authors in various sections: the Data Deluge, Uptake
of eResearch and Arts & Humanities eResearch.
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue57/eresearch-australasia-rpt/
Copyright Angst, Lust for Prestige and Cost Control: What Institutions
Can Do to Ease Open Access
Leo Waaijers et al
Ariadne, Issue 57, October 2008
The view that the results of publicly financed research should also be
publicly accessible enjoys broad support in the academic community. Where
their own articles are concerned, however, many authors hesitate to circulate
them openly, for example by publishing them in Open Access journals or placing
them in their institutions repository. They ask themselves whether that
will not be at odds with the copyright rules and whether they will gain
or perhaps even lose prestige. For their part, institutional managers wonder
whether switching to Open Access will not make things more expensive than
sticking with the traditional system of publication. This article analyses
the current situation regarding these three issues.
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue57/waaijers-et-al/
A l'ère de l'« informatique en nuages »
Hervé Le Crosnier
Le Monde Diplomatique, août 2008
Tel un fluide vital, l'information numérique se trouve partout dans
nos sociétés ; elle circule dans les réseaux,
s'affiche sur les écrans, s'écoute sur les téléphones
mobiles... Tous les artefacts matériels autrefois intimement associés
à nos pratiques d'accès à l'information livres, journaux,
disques, affiches, tableaux, albums photos cèdent du terrain devant
les outils électroniques. Les entreprises aussi se convertissent
au numérique. Bons de commande, factures, suivi de livraison, archivage
comptable et légal, documentation des produits, relation avec la
clientèle : le cycle de vie du document organisationnel passe,
dans la majorité des cas, par un circuit informatique.
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2008/08/LE_CROSNIER/16174
RESOURCES / RESSOURCES
"Europeana", Europe's Digital Library
November 20, 2008
Europeana, Europe's multimedia online library opens to the public today. At www.europeana.eu , Internet users around the world can now access more than two million books, maps, recordings, photographs, archival documents, paintings and films from national libraries and cultural institutions of the EU's 27 Member States. Europeana opens up new ways of exploring Europe's heritage: anyone interested in literature, art, science, politics, history, architecture, music or cinema will have free and fast access to Europe's greatest collections and masterpieces in a single virtual library through a web portal available in all EU languages.
ARL SPEC Kit 307: Manuscript Collections on the Web
Donnelly Lancaster Walton
October 2008
This SPEC survey investigated how many manuscript collections are held
in ARL member libraries; what percentage of these collections are represented
on the Web; what types of information about the collections are available
in finding aids and on the Web; what formats are used for finding aids on
the Web; how many library staff are working on manuscript collections; the
challenges and benefits of migrating collection information to the Web;
and whether and how usage of manuscript collection information is tracked.
http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/spec307web.pdf
Neo-Regionalism and Spatial Analysis: Complementary Approaches
to the Geography of Innovation?
Richard Shearmur
(INRS) -Urbanisation, Culture et Société, October 2008
Drawing upon spatial analytical concepts developed by geographers, urban
analysts and by certain students of innovation, the author suggests a way
of conceptualizing the connection between space and innovation by investigating
space as a continuous field of opportunities. The author arguers that, depending
on what types of innovation are considered, both the neo-regionalist and
the spatial-analytic approaches are corroborated. This leads to the concluding
suggestion that certain spatially distributed factors, such as transport
infrastructure and basic services, are important enablers of the proximities
necessary for innovation.
http://www.utoronto.ca/isrn/publications/WorkingPapers/Working08/Shearmur08_neoregionalism.pdf
OER: Open Educational Resources
November 5, 2008
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has partnered with IssueLab to create
the OER Research Repository (http://oer.issuelab.org
) to ensure that all the valuable knowledge created through Open Educational
Resources (OER) projects is readily accessible to a broad audience. Any
nonprofit organization or university-affiliated research center/lab can
create a free research contributor account with IssueLab and add unlimited
materials. Presentations, white papers, data sets, evaluations, surveys,
and other materials related to furthering OER are welcome. Ownership rights
remain with the contributing organization and contributors maintain full
control over how their materials are described.
http://oer.issuelab.org/research
EVENTS / ÉVÉNEMENTS
The Second International m-libraries Conference, Call for papers
Vancouver, 23 - 24 June 2009
The conference will be hosted by the University of British Columbia in
collaboration with Athabasca University, the Open University (UK) and Thompson
Rivers University. The aim of the conference is to explore and share work
carried out in libraries around the world to deliver services and resources
to users on the move via mobile or handheld devices, including mobile and
smartphones, PDAs, portable gaming devices, MP3 players and ebook readers.
The conference organizers are accepting paper proposals (up to 300 words)
at m-libraries-conference@open.ac.uk
by December 15th, 2008. Proposals will be subject to peer review and
authors will be notified by mid-January.
http://library.open.ac.uk/mLibraries/
