Abstract

Academic librarians have long highlighted faculty publications inside of the library’s walls using faculty publication displays and other methods. In today’s environment where scholarly output is important for reputation and rankings, librarians can expand this effort further and help promote scholarship performed at their university to the broader world. External and internal audiences will be discussed and some strategies for promoting faculty research outside of the university will be highlighted.

Abstract

In recent years, there have been many initiatives aiming to improve library assessment by making better use of operational data. While most LIS administrators and stakeholders believe assessment is important, too often many of the quantitative measures traditionally used may satisfy demands from above, come up short in terms of offering direction for meaningful or positive change.This may be especially true when it comes to technical services departments. This article will discuss the need for meaningful assessment in order to support decision-making in technical services, investigate the traditional data collected, and suggest an approach utilizing information from performance appraisals that could lead to a more holistic assessment of library departments.

Abstract

Libraries and vendors who license e-resources both have a vested interest in making it easy for users to access online content that a library licenses or subscribes to from anywhere. They also want to ensure that users have a modern, positive user experience. At the same time there are legitimate concerns about privacy and security. While IP authentication and other methods that have been in use have been successful, technology and user expectations are constantly evolving. Therefore, it is worth occasionally reviewing authentication and authorization methods to see if they are still the best available method to provide access to e-resources and other online services.

Abstract

Librarians have long been advocates of protecting patron privacy but in the digital age this is more challenging than ever before. Some of the issues involved are technical but there are other issues as well. There are legal concerns and librarians need to understand what laws may impact their organizations. Librarians should review licensing agreements to ensure that they are satisfied with the terms and conditions relevant to the protection of patron privacy before agreeing to them. It is also important to keep up with some of the latest developments of privacy that can impact not only the use of library resources but that impact privacy on the Internet in general.

Abstract

Many Libraries, Archives, and Museums (LAMs) have undertaken digital preservation initiatives. Recently increased attention has been placed on expanding this efforts beyond preserving textual documents and images. One aspect of digital preservation that has been receiving increased attention is persevering software. Software preservation and how it differs from the presentation of other digital objects will be discussed in this column. This discussion will include an overview of some of the issues and challenges related to software preservation. Some common strategies for preserving software will also be reviewed.

Abstract

This column examines the issue of trust in digital repositories, especially ones with a digital preservation component. The concept of trust is important for repositories that have a mission to provide designated communities with long-term access to data that is deposited in there repository. Many repository administrators and other digital preservationists have looked at trusted digital repository certifications such as the CoreTrustSeal as one way to help build trust but it is not clear how much members of the designated community are influenced by certifications. However, even if the designated community is not directly influenced by certifications, repositories who meet the requirements and go through the process of being certified with the CoreTrustSeal or other certifications may have a better foundation to grow trust upon.

Abstract

Digital preservation is a complex field that is rapidly maturing and increasingly focusing on content as well as the human element of digital preservation. This conceptual article examines a number of digital preservation models meeting a variety of needs created by different communities. Given the guidance these models have afforded digital preservation, considering the present, and looking to the future, this article proposes a tri-partite model for thinking about digital preservation in an era of robust community involvement: the Digital Preservation Triad. The Triad focuses on 1) Management, including elements relating to documentation and human resources; 2) Technology; and 3) Content.

Abstract

Nullis in verba was chosen as the motto of the Royal Society, as it embodied the culture of transparency and collaboration that were the hallmarks of the Royal Society and of the scientific method it promoted. Communication, using the tools of the day, was essential to this community of scientists as they created and shared new knowledge. Almost 300 years later, libraries continue to advance principles relating to the importance of collaboration and transparency. This two-part article series, published jointly in International Information and Library Review and Technical Services Quarterly explores notions of transparency and collaboration in research and how these ideas are impacting the world of librarianship – from information creation, organization and access perspectives.

Abstract

Nullis in verba was chosen as the motto of the Royal Society, as it embodied the culture of transparency and collaboration that were the hallmarks of the Royal Society and of the scientific method it promoted. Communication, using the tools of the day, was essential to this community of scientists as they created and shared new knowledge. Almost three hundred years later, libraries continue to advance principles relating to the importance of collaboration and transparency. This two-part article series, published jointly in International Information and Library Review and Technical Services Quarterly explores notions of transparency and collaboration in research and how these ideas are impacting the world of librarianship – from information creation, organization and access perspectives.

Abstract

Discovery products promise to offer library patrons one-stop shopping for library resources. In order to accomplish this, they harvest metadata from various library databases and repositories such as integrated library systems, institutional repositories, and digital libraries. Discovery products then index this metadata along with the metadata for resources from the discovery service into a single product for search. The most common method used to harvest local metadata is the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). This column first looks at discovery, then it describes OAI-PMH and some of the issues involved with effectively harvesting library metadata.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to consider personal digital archiving (PDA) from an academic perspective. Although elements of research data management and personal information management are relevant, it is unclear what is available on university websites supporting PDA. The following question guided the research: where is “PDA” content housed in the top-level .edu domain and what is the format and nature of the content made available?

Abstract

Libraries are managing, preserving, and providing access to an ever-increasing volume of digital objects. Most of these objects are either accompanied by metadata or contain embedded metadata. Embedded metadata supplied by creators and/or added by librarians places valuable descriptive and rights information within the object itself. While few would argue against creators embedding metadata into their digital works, the practice can become contentious when information professionals enhance or alter metadata contained within objects acquired from external sources. This article both weighs the current pros and cons of creating and using embedded metadata, and explores its potential.

Abstract

This paper describes the process developed by Binghamton University Libraries to extract embedded metadata from digital photographs and transform it into descriptive Dublin Core metadata for use in the Libraries’ digital preservation system. In 2011, Binghamton University Libraries implemented the Rosetta digital preservation system (from Ex Libris) to preserve digitized and born-digital materials. At the same time, the Libraries’ implemented the Primo discovery tool (from Ex Libris) to bring together not only the digital collections in Rosetta, but also bibliographic holdings from our integrated library system and other sources.

Currently, the Libraries are working with the campus photographer to preserve and provide access to 350,000+ digital images. Most of these images depict campus events, such as Homecoming, Commencement, etc. that are of historical and immediate social value to the campus community. These images are used widely in marketing and outreach materials, and on the University’s website. However, owing to volume of photographs, as well as to budgetary and other constraints, it is not possible to have library staff inspect the photographs and create a complete descriptive metadata record for each, so we needed to explore different options. Each of photographer’s images contains embedded metadata (file format, date and time stamps, location, etc.) and additionally, many of the files also contain basic descriptive information supplied by the photographer, including his name, keywords and/or a short description.

Using this basic metadata as a starting point, cataloguing and systems librarians at Binghamton University Libraries were able to create an automated process to reformat and enhance the available descriptive information, crosswalk it to the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, and map keywords to controlled subject and location terms (including Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM), Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN), etc.) Following the initial set-up, the only steps requiring manual intervention are extracting and identifying new keywords, updating the mapping table, running the scripts, proofreading the Dublin Core metadata once it has been produced, and lastly, depositing the images and metadata into the preservation system.

Using this collection as a case study, we will demonstrate how embedded metadata can be upcycled in order to produce complete descriptive metadata records, which can then be integrated and indexed with metadata from other sources, and ultimately made discoverable by library users. After all, no matter how well a repository takes care of a file, how well it keeps, preserves or displays it, it makes no sense to put an digital object into a system if you cannot find it later. The Libraries’ workflow and portions of code will be shared; issues and challenges involved will be discussed. While this case study is specific to Binghamton University Libraries, examples of strategies used at other institutions will also be introduced. This paper should be useful to anyone interested in describing large quantities of photographs or other materials with preexisting embedded metadata.

Abstract

SPRUCE digital preservation mashups are a series of unique events that are being organized in the United Kingdom to bring together digital preservation practitioners and developers to work on real-world digital preservation challenges. During the 3-day event the digital preservation developers work to create practical solutions to real-world challenges the practitioners are having related to digital preservation. Meanwhile, the practitioners work to create compelling business cases for digital preservation at their institution. This article describes the SPRUCE Mashup London event held in September 2012.