E-Lert # 342 / Cyberavis no. 342

Friday September 11, 2009 / le vendredi 11 septembre 2009

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CARL COMMUNIQUE / COMMUNIQUÉ DE L’ABRC

Institutional repositories toolkit available in the CARL office

Copies of the advocacy booklet entitled “Greater Reach For Your Research: Expanding Readership Through Digital Repositories” are available in the CARL office for library staff who are planning events during Open Access Week 2009 and would like some additional material to hand out to participants. The toolkit discusses the benefits of repositories, describes how they fit into the broader scholarly communication environment, responds to any major concerns that researchers may have, and distinguishes IRs from other related initiatives in Canada - all in a way that is easy to browse and read. It can be ordered for a nominal fee or printed directly from the CARL website so that institutions can incorporate their own branding into the booklet.(Available in English and French. Contact the CARL Office for more details: carladm@uottawa.ca, 613-562-5385.)

Trousse d’outils faisant la promotion des dépôts institutionnels disponible au secrétariat de l’ABRC

Des copies du livret promotionnel intitulé « Une plus grande portée pour vos recherches: Élargir le lectorat grâce aux dépôts institutionnels » sont disponibles au secrétariat de l’ABRC pour le personnel des bibliothèques qui prévoient organiser des événements pendant la semaine d'accès libre 2009 et voudraient avoir du matériel additionnel pour distribuer aux participants. Ce livret présente les avantages des dépôts institutionnels, décrit de quelle façon ils s’insèrent dans l’environnement plus vaste des communications savantes, répond à toutes les principales préoccupations que peuvent avoir les chercheurs et fait la distinction entre les dépôts institutionnels et d’autres initiatives connexes au Canada, le tout, tout à fait convivial et facile à lire. On peut commander le document moyennant des frais minimes ou l’imprimer directement du site Web de l’ABRC afin que les institutions puissent inscrire leur propre image de marque dans la brochure. (Disponible en français et en anglais. Contacter le Sécretariat de l'ABRC pour plus d'informations: carladm@uottawa.ca, 613-562-5385.)

NEWS / NOUVELLES

Board on Research Data and Information to sponsor Public Symposium: “Scientific Data for Evidence Based Policy and Decision Making”

One of the Obama Administration’s stated priorities is to promote transparency and openness in governance, extending to the dissemination and use of scientific data and information, and the use of factual scientific information in the formation of government policy and official decisions. The National Academies Board on Research Data and Information (http://www.nas.edu/brdi) is holding a public symposium on Thursday, September 24, 2009, to provide a more detailed understanding of the policies and programs of the current Administration that support this policy priority.*
http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/brdi/PGA_052920

Portrait Gallery of Canada's status 'unchanged'
CBC News, September 10, 2009

The Portrait Gallery of Canada will continue to exist says Canada's librarian and archivist. "The status of the Portrait Gallery of Canada has not been changed," Daniel Caron, librarian and archivist of Canada, told reporters at a news conference in Ottawa. "It continues to be an essential program of Library and Archives Canada and the collection continues to be accessible to all Canadians." The collection includes tens of thousands of portraits of Canadians from all walks of life, gathered over centuries.*
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2009/09/10/ottawa-portrait-gallery-of-canada-cancelled.html

Canada's portrait gallery is no more
James Bradshaw
Globe and Mail, September 9, 2009

The Portrait Gallery of Canada is a gallery no more after years of halted attempts to find a permanent home for the collection. It will be rolled into the programs branch of Library and Archives Canada. The gallery had been operating for some time under LAC auspices, and its new status as a program does not affect its chances of one day landing in a permanent exhibition space says Marie-Josée Martel, acting assistant deputy minister for Library and Archives.*
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadas-portrait-gallery-is-no-more/article1281388/

[U.S.] Government takes on new data services role
Nextgov: Technology and the business of government, September 9, 2009

New media has given rise to a new government service – providing accessible data. "The fundamental role of government is to provide services and they have to be provided in a universal way," said Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft, during the Gov 2.0 Summit in Washington. The event was hosted by O'Reilly Media and TechWeb. Nextgov was a media sponsor.*
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090909_3192.php?oref=rss

Congress weighs landmark change in Web ad privacy
Joelle Tessler
Associated Press, September 9, 2009

From the Web sites visited, the online links clicked, the search queries conducted, the products placed in virtual shopping carts, to the personal details people reveal on social networking pages companies have insight into what Internet ads users might be interested in seeing. Privacy watchdogs warn that too many people are oblivious to Internet marketers tracking their online habits and then mining that data to serve up targeted pitches — a practice known as behavioral advertising. Congress could be stepping in with a bill being drafted that would place broad new rules on Web sites and advertisers. The goal: to ensure that consumers know what information is being collected about them on the Web and how it is being used, and to give them control over that information.*
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jDu3Jz5Pe_pkSNm1gHftBmK1AzdQD9AIHAP00

11th-Hour Filings Oppose Google’s Book Settlement
Miguel Helft
The New York Times, September 8, 2009

A federal judge must now begin untangling the mountain of competing claims, after a flurry of last-minute filings, concerning the pending legal settlement’s potential effects on competition, authors’ rights and readers’ privacy. Legal scholars say that Judge Chin will have to address not only whether the settlement is fair to the authors, publishers and rights holders covered by it, but whether it will also be beneficial to the public at large. “The number and quality of opposition filings is very unusual,” said Jay Tidmarsh, a professor of law at Notre Dame Law School. “The court is going to have to look at the public interest in the settlement.” *
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/technology/internet/09google.html?_r=1

Digitization of Canada's heritage left to Google
Michael Geist
Toronto Star, September 7, 2009

Digitization of books has become synonymous over the past year with the Google Book Search project and the class-action lawsuit launched in response to the company’s efforts to create an Internet-based library comprising millions of books. The attention on Google Book Search is understandable, but it has distracted from the broader question of government-supported digitization efforts. Not content to leave the digitization of their culture and heritage to Google, many countries have initiated their own plans for national digital libraries.*
http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/691772

National Council of The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC) files statement of objections with U.S. court over Google Books settlement
September 4, 2009

Members of TWUC National Council filed a statement with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York objecting to aspects of the proposed settlement of a lawsuit in the United States against Google Inc. "We are pleased that the proposed settlement of the authors’ class action against Google establishes a Book Rights Registry with the capacity to act collectively on behalf of authors and publishers. We do, however, object to certain elements of the settlement and have requested that it be modified to address these issues.” said Union Chair Erna Paris. TWUC members criticize parts of the settlement they consider an expropriation of their rights in violation of the Berne Convention, an international agreement that protects the copyright of authors worldwide.*
http://writersunion.ca/av_pr090809.asp

Project Gutenberg Canada posts brief on Copyright Consultation Website
September 3, 2009

Project Gutenberg Canada founder Dr. Mark Akrigg submitted a brief for the copyright consultation stating that Canada’s public domain is at risk. Dr. Akrigg make five recommendations: (1) a "Safe Harbour" provision for works more than 75 years old where the life dates of the authors are not known; (2) no extensions of copyright durations; (3) explicit assignment to the Public Domain of those photographs that were in the Public Domain in 1997; (4) 75 year copyright for works with more than 15 authors; and (5) enhanced protection of the Public Domain.*
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/008.nsf/eng/01390.html

Utah State University's OpenCourseWare Closes Because of Budget Woes
Marc Parry
The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 3, 2009

The Utah State University OpenCourseWare project has shut down because a lack of funding, according to its former director. This is perhaps the biggest venture to close in the burgeoning movement to freely publish course materials online. The project published a mix of digital content - lecture notes, syllabi, audio and video recordings - from over 80 courses before being cancelled.*
http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Utah-State-Us-OpenCourseWare/7913/

Harvard's DASH for Open Access
September 1, 2009

Harvard's leadership in open access to scholarship took a significant step forward with the public launch of DASH (Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard), a University-wide, open-access repository. Over 350 members of the Harvard research community, including over a third of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, have deposited hundreds of scholarly works in DASH.*
http://hul.harvard.edu/news/2009_0901.html

Digital Library Europeana Said To Be Europe’s Answer to Google Books Settlement
Dugie Standeford
IP Watch, August 28, 2009

European publishers oppose Google’s [U.S.]settlement of copyright infringement claims by authors and book publishers. One Google official has proposed a similar service in Europe as the deal does not apply to books outside the US. An August 28 European Commission policy statement addressed, among other questions, whether Europeana is a viable solution for a pan-European digital library.*
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/08/28/digital-library-europeana-said-to-be-europe%E2%80%99s-answer-to-google-books-settlement/

ARTICLES

Data Sharing
Nature, Volume 461, Issue 7261, September 10, 2009

A special issue of Nature examines the cultural and technical hurdles of sharing research data that can get in the way of good intentions. The special issue includes among other articles: Data’s Shameful neglect – “Research cannot flourish if data are not preserved and made accessible. All concerned must act accordingly”; and Bryn Nelson, Data sharing: Empty archives – While most researchers agree that open access to data is the scientific ideal, putting that into practice has proven difficult. Nelson investigates why many researchers choose not to share.*
http://www.nature.com/news/specials/datasharing/index.html#news

Choosing Up Sides to Hate or Love the Google Books Deal
Jennifer Howard
The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 10, 2009

The strong opposition to the Google Books settlement has been well documented in the press recently, however, an array of groups and institutions have also filed amicus curiae briefs and issued statements in support of the the settlement. Supporters from academe include Cornell University Library, the University of Virginia, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (speaking for similar associations in Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, and South Carolina). Thirty-two antitrust law and economics professors have filed a motion in support. Social-justice and disability-rights advocates endorse the deal. Library groups urge strict oversight of the settlement, if it's approved, but appreciate the possibilities created by placing so much material within easy reach.*
http://chronicle.com/article/Choosing-Up-Sides-in-the/48357/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Encouraging technology pull: Recognition growing for importance of research contracts with industry
RE$EARCH MONEY, Volume 23, Number13, September 2, 2009

Research contracts with universities, colleges and polytechnics are worth at least $1.2 billion annually, far outstripping the value and importance of licensing and company spin-offs to industry. While the latter are not fully understood or quantified, a growing number of policy makers and R&D managers seek to promote them as a means to bring the results of academic-based research into the marketplace. Research contracts are only now getting a significant amount of attention in the policy making realm. Greater engagement between industry and higher learning will foster a change in both the culture of academic institutions and companies seeking to leverage research to enhance innovation, productivity and competitiveness.*

Greater industry participation urged: Compute Canada preparing for next CFI round to ensure HPC remains competitive
RE$EARCH MONEY, Volume 23, Number13, September 2, 2009

IBM's powerful GPC- iDataplex system installed earlier this year at the University of Toronto's SciNet Consortium is the first of several new systems that promise to transform Canada's high-performance computing (HPC) environment. The IBM system, currently ranking at #16 on the Top 500 list of the world's supercomputers, is part of a massive roll-out coordinated by Compute Canada (CC) following the awarding in 2007 of $78 million by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).*

A Data Deluge Swamps Science Historians
Robert Lee Hotz
The Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2009

Historians are often hard-pressed to find any original source material about people who have shaped our civilization. Now scholars of science might have too much. According to experts at the San Diego Supercomputer Center never have so many people generated so much digital data or been able to lose so much of it so quickly. Some estimate that computer users world-wide generate enough digital data every 15 minutes to fill the U.S. Library of Congress.*
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125139942345664387.html

A Reflection on the Structure and Process of the Web of Data
Marko A. Rodriguez
Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology , Volume 35, Number 6, August/September 2009

The web community has created a set of standards and technologies to represent, query and manipulate a globally distributed data structure known as the Web of Data. Proponents envision much of the world’s data being interrelated and openly accessible for use by the general public. This vision is in many ways analogous to the web of documents of common knowledge, but with a focus on making data openly accessible. Public use data has stimulated interest in a movement dubbed Open Data which, although similar to the open source movement, is focused on the legal and licensing issues around publicly exposed data.*
http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Aug-09/AugSep09_Rodriguez.pdf

RESOURCES / RESSOURCES

Libraries and Information Network

Libraries and Information Network is a new section of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) Website. The network is open to all librarians from ACU member universities, and is free to join. A key aim of the site is to help raise the profile of libraries and librarians by highlighting the critical roles they play facilitating persistent access to digital information and supporting research and teaching through innovative services.*
http://www.acu.ac.uk/member_services/professional_networks/libraries_network/about_the_network

Publishing Open Government Data
W3C Working Draft, September 2009

Governments and government agencies publish more and more data on the Internet. Sharing this data enables greater transparency, delivers more efficient public services, and encourages greater public and commercial use and re-use of government information. In order to make it easy for the public to find and use this data, some governments have created catalogs or portals (such as data.gov). The rationale for data dissemination may vary, but the logistics and practicalities of opening government data are the same. The W3C eGov Interest Group has developed a set of guidelines to help governments open and share their data.*
http://www.w3.org/TR/gov-data/

EVENTS / ÉVÉNEMENTS

CLA/ACB 2010 National Conference and Trade Show
Edmonton, Alberta, June 2-5, 2010 (Submission deadline is September 30, 2009.)

CLA invites members of the library community and other interested parties to propose program submissions for the 2010 CLA National Conference. Any topics relevant to the Canadian library and information professional community are welcome. Sessions may be conducted in many formats: panels of speakers, single speakers, round-table discussions, debates, unconference sessions, interviews, etc. Prospective presenters/panelists may request either a 60 or 90 minute slot. Proposals for poster presentations are also being solicited.*
http://www.cla.ca/conference/2010/

*Text adapted from source / Texte adapté de la source