New & Noteworthy

Citation

Hanson, H. and Stewart-Marshall, Z. (2015), "New & Noteworthy", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 32 No. 9. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-10-2015-0071

New & Noteworthy

Article Type: New & Noteworthy From: Library Hi Tech News, Volume 32, Issue 9

NMC Horizon Report > 2015 Library Edition: trends, challenges, developments

Six key trends, six significant challenges and six important developments in educational technology are identified across three adoption horizons over the next one to five years, giving library leaders and staff a valuable guide for strategic planning. The format of the report was designed to provide these leaders with more in-depth insight into how the trends and challenges are accelerating and impeding the adoption of technology, along with their implications for policy, leadership and practice.

“Nowhere on university campuses has technology had a more sweeping impact than on their libraries”, says Larry Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of the New Media Consortium (NMC) and co-principal investigator for the project. “It is critically important for the field that the unique needs and perspectives of those who work in academic and research libraries are at the center of this second annual report”.

The NMC Horizon Report > 2015 Library Edition identifies “Increasing Value of the User Experience” and “Prioritization of Mobile Content and Delivery” as short-term impact trends driving changes in academic and research libraries over the next one to two years. The “Evolving Nature of the Scholarly Record” and “Increasing Focus on Research Data Management” are mid-term impact trends expected to accelerate technology use in the next three to five years, and “Increasing Accessibility of Research Content” and “Rethinking Library Spaces” are long-term impact trends, anticipated to impact libraries for the next five years or more: “The trends identified by the expert panel indicate that libraries are doing a better job of making their content more accessible and adapting library spaces to meet the needs of the contemporary, connected academic community” says Rudolf Mumenthaler, Professor of Library Science at the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) Chur and co-principal investigator of the report. “The outcomes of the report are very compelling, and it is an honor for HTW Chur to be deeply involved in this project”.

A number of challenges are acknowledged for presenting barriers to the mainstream use of technology in academic and research libraries. “Embedding Academic and Research Libraries in the Curriculum” and “Improving Digital Literacy” are perceived as solvable challenges – those which we both understand and know how to solve. “Competition from Alternative Avenues of Discovery” and “Rethinking the Roles and Skills of Librarians” are considered difficult challenges, which are defined as well understood but with solutions that are elusive. Described as wicked challenges are “Embracing the Need for Radical Change” and “Managing Knowledge Obsolescence”, which are complex to define, much less address.

“Do we still need libraries? Wrong question! The release of this report brings us many examples of the lively adoption of new technologies in libraries around the globe”, shares Andreas Kirstein, Vice Director and Head of Media and IT Services at ETH-Bibliothek and co-principal investigator of the project. “These forward-looking approaches are the answer to the better question: What kind of libraries do we need in the future?”

Additionally, the report identifies “Makerspaces” and “Online Learning” as technologies and digital strategies that are expected to enter mainstream use in the first horizon of a year or less. “Information Visualization” along with “Semantic Web and Linked Data” are seen in the second horizon of two to three years; “Location Intelligence” as well as “Machine Learning” are seen emerging in the third horizon of four to five years: “This report is another crucial step forward for academic and research libraries, which are now being seen as incubators for experimenting with emerging technologies and are even leading the way at many university campuses across the world”. says Lambert Heller, Head of Open Science Lab at the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) and co-principal investigator of the project.

The subject matter in this report was identified through a qualitative research process designed and conducted by the NMC that engages an international body of experts in libraries, education, technology, research, business and other fields around a set of research questions designed to surface significant trends and challenges and to identify emerging technologies with a strong likelihood of adoption in academic and research libraries. The NMC Horizon Report > 2015 Library Edition details the areas in which these experts were in strong agreement.

“This report has highlighted key themes and technological trends that are shaping the evolution of academic and research libraries”, says Franziska Regner, Head of Innovation and Development at ETH-Bibliothek and co-principal investigator of the report: “This has been an exciting project to be a part of, and I look forward to seeing how library leaders and staff in innovation units use these findings to inform their strategies and methodological approaches for the long-term”.

The NMC Horizon Report > 2015 Library Edition is available online, free of charge, and is released under a Creative Commons license to facilitate its widespread use, easy duplication and broad distribution.

Download the report: http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-library-EN.pdf

OCLC symposium video, OCLC research update from ALA Annual 2015

On June 26, at the American Library Association 2015 Annual Conference in San Francisco, Kim Lear, Content Director and Generational Expert at BridgeWorks Consulting, spoke to a packed hall about the challenges and opportunities of Millennials. After a brief review of some characteristics of other generations (Greatest Generation, Boomers, GenX), Kim outlines the unique ways in which Millennial students, workers and family members approach some of life’s greatest transitions: from high school to college, student to worker, single to couple and new parenthood. Video of “Millennials in Transition”, the keynote from the OCLC Symposium at ALA Annual, is now available on OCLC’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/ARLbm5Qqz04

Roy Tennant, Merrilee Proffitt, Bruce Washburn and Diane Vizine-Goetz presented an OCLC Research Update at the ALA Annual Conference on Monday, June 29, 2015. The agenda included:

• Introduction: Senior Program Officer Roy Tennant provided a quick overview of current OCLC Research highlights.

• Wikipedia and Libraries: Senior Program Officer Merrilee Proffitt gave an overview of how libraries can engage with Wikipedia and why it is important, as well as how library data are represented in Wikipedia and Wikidata.

• Entity-based Linked Data: OCLC Research is investigating a set of questions about how entity-based linked data can be used for discovery, editing and visualization. Consulting software engineer Bruce Washburn reported on some of the findings and discussed a prototype system OCLC Research is developing to assist with that exploration.

• FAST: Senior Research Scientist Diane Vizine-Goetz provided an update on the latest developments with FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology), a general use subject terminology scheme that retains the rich vocabulary of LCSH that is easy-to-understand, control, apply and use. After full development, FAST has evolved into an eight-facet vocabulary with a universe of approximately 1.7 million headings across all facets.

Slides from the OCLC Research Update are available on the OCLC Web site at: http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/events/2015/oclc-research-update-alaac-2015.pptx

Open library of the humanities launches

The Open Library of Humanities (OLH) has announced its launch as of September 28, 2015. Over two years in the planning and execution, the platform starts with 7 journals, supported by 99 institutions. OLH’s estimated publication volume for Year 1 is 150 articles across these venues. The economics of this work out at approximately £4 ($6) per institution per open access article.

From the announcement on the OLH Web site:

“This is, of course, only the beginning. What we have built should be understood as an economic, social and technological platform for a transition to open access, not just a publisher. Certainly, what we’ve built goes well beyond a proof of concept; at launch we are the same size as a small university press and have an underlying economic model with good levels of support and a path to sustainability”. Our ambitions are much larger, though, and our plans for the next three years are:

• “To bring new journals to the platform and, ideally, to move those that are currently subscription-based onto our OA model, thereby providing a true transition”.

• “To sustain and scale library investment in the platform to achieve sustainability. We need libraries who have supported us to continue to do so and we need new libraries to join. This is how our not-for-profit, charitable model gives the best value to the most institutions. With the help of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation we have staff costs covered to pursue this sustainability agenda, with a trajectory toward complete self-sufficiency arriving in 2018”.

• “To pioneer innovative publishing technologies and social strategies for the humanities, including multi-lingual publishing, inter-lingual translation facilities, annotation and pedagogical integration, and post-publication peer review/discussion”.

• “To improve further the indexing and discoverability of our platform through cross-site search and integration with a range of aggregation services that feed into library platforms”.

“We cannot thank everyone who has supported us enough. To academic advisers, university management support (and particularly Professor Mary Stuart at the University of Lincoln and Professor David Latchman at Birkbeck, University of London), funders (and especially the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation), librarians, publishers, OA advocates, and many others – we owe much. We look forward to continuing this work”.

Open Library of the Humanities: http://www.openlibhums.org/

Monitoring the transition to open access: new report

A report has been published on monitoring the transition toward open access (OA) in the UK. The report was commissioned by the Universities UK (UUK) OA Co-ordinating Group and produced by a team of experts led by Michael Jubb of the Research Information Network (RIN).

The findings presented in the report are a first attempt at generating indicators covering five sets of issues:

1. OA options available to authors: The numbers of fully OA and hybrid journals, along with issues, such as the level of article processing charges (APCs), the availability of CC-BY and other licences and the length of embargo periods.

2. Accessibility: Authors’ take-up of OA options: the numbers – and the proportions of the overall population – of articles accessible on OA terms via different routes.

3. Usage: The levels of usage of OA articles as compared to those that are not accessible on OA terms.

4. Financial sustainability for universities: The amounts paid by UK universities in subscriptions and in APCs.

5. Financial sustainability for learned societies: The overall income and expenditure – as well as the volumes of journal-related income and expenditure – of UK learned societies which have some publishing income.

Findings include:

• There has been strong growth in both the availability of OA options for authors and in their take-up.

• UK authors are ahead of world averages, particularly in their take-up of the OA option in hybrid journals and in their posting of articles on Web sites, repositories and other online services.

• Take-up of OA publishing models means that universities’ expenditure on APCs has increased too, and it now represents a significant proportion of their total expenditure on journals.

• It is too early to assess the extent of any impact of OA on the finances of learned societies.

• Read/download “Monitoring the transition to open access”: http://www.researchinfonet.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Full-report-FINAL-AS-PUBLISHED.pdf

ORCID and CHORUS partner to support researcher workflow, discoverability

The Clearinghouse for the Open Research of the USA (CHORUS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) to support discoverability in scholarly communications. ORCID is an open and interdisciplinary community-based effort to provide a Registry of persistent identifiers for studies, and processes and tools for embedding these identifiers into research systems and workflows. CHORUS advances sustainable, cost-effective public access to articles reporting on funded research in ways that benefit all in the scholarly communications community. A not-for-profit membership organization, CHORUS leverages existing infrastructure, promotes collaboration, sparks innovation and broadens the dialogue among publishers, funders, service providers, researchers and other stakeholders.

Close collaboration among organizations like CHORUS and ORCID, which provide services that support the flow of research communications, is vital to evolving its interoperable, scalable and sustainable infrastructure to meet the changing needs of the scholarly community.

ORCID Executive Director Laurel Haak said: “Creating and supporting authoritative connections between researchers and their works, funding sources, and affiliations, is essential for delivering public access to scholarly content. Together, CHORUS and ORCID have an important contribution to make to the scholarly community, coordinating efforts to adopt identifiers and standards to manage access to and reporting of research outputs”.

Plans include supporting simple and non-ambiguous links between researchers and funders by linking CHORUS article records to ORCID ID researcher records, building awareness of the ORCID registry among funding agency researchers and administrators and encouraging the use of persistent identifiers for researchers and organizations to support public access to research works.

According to CHORUS Executive Director Howard Ratner, the two organizations will also engage in regular strategic conversations at the leadership level and explore coordinated communications.

ORCID: http://orcid.org/

CHORUS: http://www.chorusaccess.org/

Project MUSE partners with ReadCube to enhance discoverability of journals collection

Project MUSE, leading scholarly provider of digital humanities and social science content, has announced their partnership with Boston-based publishing technology company ReadCube to index their 626 scholarly journals with ReadCube’s Discover service. The indexed collection is not only searchable across ReadCube’s Web, desktop and mobile reading portals but also included in ReadCube’s search engines, related article feeds and popular recommendation engine.

“Our mission is to ensure that our collection is discoverable and easily available to readers worldwide”, said Wendy Queen, Director of Project MUSE. “At the same time, we look to offer our readers the best possible reading experience. This exciting collaboration with ReadCube supports both these objectives”.

In addition to deep-indexing, when read within any of the free ReadCube apps, articles will be available with ReadCube’s popular enhanced reading features. These include hyperlinked in-line citations, annotations, clickable author names, instant access to supplemental content and figures, social sharing and altmetrics.

“We look forward to working with Project MUSE and bringing their collection to our discovery tools”, said Robert McGrath, CEO of Labtiva. “Together, we’re making it easier for researchers to find and access the latest literature across the humanities and social science”.

Project MUSE: https://muse.jhu.edu/

ReadCube: http://www.readcube.com/

OCLC’s person entity lookup pilot will explore uses of library linked data

OCLC is working with seven leading libraries in a pilot program designed to learn more about how linked data will influence library workflows in the future.

The Person Entity Lookup pilot will help library professionals reduce redundant data by linking related sets of person identifiers and authorities. Pilot participants will be able to surface WorldCat Person entities, including 109 million brief descriptions of authors, directors, musicians and others that have been mined from WorldCat, the world’s largest resource of library metadata.

By submitting one of the identifiers, such as VIAF (Virtual International Authority File), ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier) and LCNAF (The Library of Congress Name Authority File), the pilot service will respond with a WorldCat Person identifier and mappings to additional identifiers for the same person.

The pilot will begin in September and is expected to last several months. The seven participating libraries include Cornell University, Harvard University, the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, the National Library of Poland, Stanford University and the University of California, Davis.

“This pilot will allow us to gain important feedback from key library partners so we can determine how services might be developed to meet library needs”, said Mary Sauer Games, OCLC Vice President, Product Management. “This is an important step in our commitment to work with libraries to understand their workflow requirements as they begin to work with linked data”.

Linked data is a method of publishing structured data, so that it can be easily understood by computers, resulting in opportunities for improved discovery of library collections through a variety of popular sites and Web services, including Google, Wikipedia and social networks.

WorldCat is a set of databases that together comprise the most comprehensive global network of data about library collections and services. WorldCat data are contributed, maintained and shared by libraries around the world and are managed and enhanced by OCLC. WorldCat data support a range of OCLC and partner services, driving efficiency in library management, improving discovery of library collections and increasing the visibility of libraries on the Web.

Full press release at: http://www.oclc.org/en-USA/news/releases/2015/201526dublin.html

Code4Lib journal issue 29: Front end features; security considerations; metadata

Code4Lib Journal issue 29 is now available, containing a broad range of articles, which can be loosely grouped as follows:

Front End Features:

• implementing a Bento Style Search in LibGuides v2;

• building a Better Book in the Browser (Using Semantic Web technologies and HTML5);

• connecting Historical and Digital Frontiers: Enhancing Access to the Latah County Oral History Collection Utilizing OHMS (Oral History Metadata Synchronizer) and Isotope;

• 3D adaptive virtual exhibit for the University of Denver Digital Collections; and

• making user rights clear: Adding e-resource License Information in Library Systems.

Security considerations:

• exploring Information Security and Shared Encrypted Spaces in Libraries; and

• a Novel Open Source Approach to Monitor EZproxy Users’ Activities.

Metadata improvements:

• improving Access to Archival Collections with Automated Entity Extraction; and

• the Geospatial Metadata Manager’s Toolbox: Three Techniques for Maintaining Records.

Review and update of previous work:

• Barriers of Contribution to Open Source Software Projects.

Code4Lib issue 29: http://journal.code4lib.org/issues/issues/issue29

VuFind version 2.5 released

Version 2.5 of the VuFind Open Source discovery software was released in September 2015. This new release adds several new features as well as further improves the stability and flexibility of the software.

Some key additions and changes in version 2.5:

• Improved internationalization features, including support for right-to-left languages and a new Arabic translation.

• New tools and settings for supporting high availability.

• An improved interface for tagging records.

• New “library card” system to allow a single user to access multiple accounts in a consortial environment.

• Updates to newer versions of key dependencies: Solr 4.10.4, Zend Framework 2.4.6 and Bootstrap 3.3.4.

Additionally, several bug fixes, new configuration options and minor improvements have been incorporated.

Questions about the new release or VuFind in general can be directed to Demian Katz, the lead developer of the project at Villanova University. The software and its documentation may be found at: http://vufind.org

New study analyzes effect of page design on Web site engagement, learning

The Engaging News Project provides research-based techniques for engaging online audiences in commercially viable and democratically beneficial ways. The Project began in 2012 and is housed at the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the University of Texas at Austin. The project tests Web-based strategies for informing audiences, promoting substantive discourse and helping citizens to understand diverse views.

According to a new report from the Engaging News Project, there is a significant increase in page views when people browse a news Web site with a contemporary design compared to a Web site with a classic design. People also learn more from the articles when they view a contemporary site.

Across a series of three experiments conducted from September 2014 to mid-2015, the Engaging News Project analyzed what happens when people are given the same news content presented in different ways. Some of the 2,671 study participants browsed a site with a classic newsprint layout, while others looked at a page with a contemporary modular and image-based layout. The same 20 articles with identical text appeared on both sites.

The Engaging News Project team consistently found that the contemporary site garnered more page views than the classic site. In all three of the experiments, the contemporary site had at least a 90 per cent increase in unique page views compared to the classic site. Nearly every article had more page views when it appeared on the contemporary Web site.

The Engaging News Project team also found that study participants’ retention of details from the articles, though low across the board, nonetheless, increased by at least 50 per cent when participants viewed the contemporary homepage compared to the classic one.

“Our research shows just how important the design of a homepage can be to the commercial and democratic success of a news website”, said Dr Talia Stroud, director of the Engaging News Project. “We hope that these findings will lead news organizations to reevaluate their homepages”.

Other research findings include:

• Study participants rated the contemporary site more positively than the classic site.

• Where the articles appeared on the page affected article recall more consistently than whether people clicked on the article.

• The differences between the classic and contemporary homepages were due to the site layout and images, not due to a technical feature allowing people to view an article superimposed above a faded version of the homepage.

“It’s easy to gloss past the homepage when thinking about audience engagement, but our findings show that homepage presentation matters”, said Alex Curry, Research Associate for the Engaging News Project. “When it comes to page views and how much the audience is learning, design matters”.

Read a summary of the research and/or download the full report at: http://engagingnewsproject.org/research/news-presentation/

Ed-Next global eLearning company launches revamped Web site

The team at Ed-Next has announced the official launch of its new and completely revamped Web site. The all-new Web site has been designed to enhance user experiences with an uncluttered design and unparalleled ease of use.

Ed-Next works with educational and commercial organizations around the world to deliver dynamic, scalable eLearning solutions. The company focuses on developing and implementing psychometric testing, eLearning, virtual tutoring and digital resources that offer an unbeatable user experience.

The new Web site is also aligned with creating an ideal user experience. Through the new design, the Web site’s visitors can easily browse through the Web site using the new drop-down navigational menu. The company has also announced the addition of a new blend of innovative training products to support all learning styles. The new products include psychometric testing for students and adults that provides insight about personality, learning style, strength areas and employment pathways, as well as one-on-one virtual language tutorials, online academic tutoring, homework help and new online and on-campus degree programs through UK and US accredited universities.

The new Web site also features a responsive design that can be easily accessed using the most current browsers and portable devices, including tablets, smartphones and more. With a focus on creating a seamless experience for cross-device use, the Web site has been designed to deliver an optimized learning experience for all users. Learners can easily access the Web site anytime, anywhere and from any portable device. The brand new Web site now features an interactive chat feature, blog, newsletter, special offers and deals, free downloads, competitions and much more.

For further information: http://www.ed-next.com

Jisc issues code of practice for learning analytics

In June 2015, the Jisc published their “Code of practice for learning analytics”, setting out the responsibilities of educational institutions to ensure that learning analytics is carried out responsibly, appropriately and effectively. From the Introduction:

“Learning analytics uses data about students and their activities to help institutions understand and improve educational processes, and provide better support to learners”. It should be for the benefit of students, whether assisting them individually or using aggregated and anonymised data to help other students or to improve the educational experience more generally. It is distinct from assessment, and should be used for formative rather than summative purposes”.

“The effective use of learning analytics will initially involve the deployment of new systems, and changes to institutional policies and processes”. New data may be collected on individuals and their learning activities. Analytics will be performed on this data, and interventions may take place as a result. This presents opportunities for positive engagements and impacts on learning, as well as misunderstandings, misuse of data and adverse impacts on students. Complete transparency and clear institutional policies are therefore essential regarding the purposes of learning analytics, the data collected, the processes involved, and how they will be used to enhance the educational experience”.

“This Code of Practice aims to set out the responsibilities of educational institutions to ensure that learning analytics is carried out responsibly, appropriately and effectively, addressing the key legal, ethical and logistical issues which are likely to arise”.

“Educational institutions in the UK already have information management practices and procedures in place and have extensive experience of handling sensitive and personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). By transferring and adapting this expertise to regulate the processing of data for learning analytics, institutions should establish the practices and procedures necessary to process the data of individuals lawfully and fairly”.

Topics covered by the Code of Practice include responsibility, transparency and consent, privacy, validity, access, enabling positive interventions, minimizing adverse impacts and stewardship of data.

For a broad overview of Jisc’s work in the learning analytics area, and pointers to other material, see: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/effective-learning-analytics

Read/download the Code of Practice: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/code-of-practice-for-learning-analytics

Cengage Learning acquires Learning Objects

Cengage Learning, a leading global education company, has announced the acquisition of Learning Objects, a Washington, DC-based education technology company. Learning Objects powers innovative, customized and adaptive online learning programs and courses to higher education institutions through its state-of-the-art learning platform and instructional design services. With Learning Objects, institutions are able to quickly create both competency-based and traditional online programs and courses integrating publisher content, open educational resources, faculty content and other educational technology vendors’ tools.

“Over the last few years, we have successfully established MindTap as the leading course-level digital solution in the market. At this stage, we were looking for a partner that accelerates our strategy of broadening our offering from course solutions to a full-service online program experience, which many institutions are asking for”, said Michael Hansen, Chief Executive Officer, Cengage Learning: “We found that partner in Learning Objects, whose team shares our vision of how the market is evolving. Their expertise in working with institutional customers to deliver a customized solution that meets their unique needs helps us continue to enrich the relationship between educators and students to advance the way students learn”.

“This next chapter in our company’s growth allows us to accelerate our efforts to transform and improve student learning. By combining Learning Objects’ technology and learning services expertise with Cengage Learning’s extensive faculty and student relationships, market-leading content, and unique MindTap platform, we can provide a transformational offering”, said Derek Hamner, Chief Executive Officer, Learning Objects.

Hansen added: “Students will have more educational choices. Our MindTap customers will gain new functionality. In short, with this acquisition, we will better serve institutions looking to grow the impact and reach of their programs”.

Learning Objects complements Cengage Learning’s existing portfolio of award-winning course solutions and enables the company to take advantage of the momentum toward competency-based learning, adaptive learning and open educational resources. In addition, Cengage Learning will be able to offer instructors and institutions a content-agnostic platform with flexible program-level curriculum development and delivery models and a unified learner experience. Cengage Learning will also be able to serve as a preferred technology partner for other publishers seeking new and innovative content delivery solutions.

Cengage Learning: http://www.cengage.com/

Learning Objects: http://www.learningobjects.com/

Archival expertise and the management of born-digital library materials: report from OCLC research

A recent essay, “The Archival Advantage: Integrating Archival Expertise into Management of Born-digital Library Materials”, written by Jackie Dooley, Program Officer, OCLC Research, argues for involving archivists in the management of born-digital library materials (i.e. created and managed in digital form).

Key highlights include:

• The full array of traditional archival skills is equally relevant in the born-digital context.

• Research data sets, email, Web sites, blogs and many other born-digital library materials have characteristics similar to analog archival materials.

• It is beneficial for digital librarians, information technology experts, curators, library administrators and other research library colleagues who manage digital materials to be aware of archivists’ skills and expertise and their relevance to the digital context.

• Areas of archival expertise that other experts may lack include donor relations, appraisal, context of creation and use, authenticity, transfer of ownership and permanence.

This essay also focuses on ten areas of archival expertise and their relevance to the digital context. These include confirming ownership, appraising the significance of content, documenting the context of creation, negotiating with collection donors and nurturing these relationships over time, recognizing and navigating legal issues, ensuring authenticity of files and using practical approaches to creating metadata for large collections. Each of these is equally relevant for digital and analog (physical) materials. Archivists’ in-depth knowledge of each area helps to ensure that the right questions are addressed.

The intended audiences for this publication include library directors and other managers who set the vision and direction for digital initiatives; technology specialists who manage systems and services in areas, such as repository design, hardware and software, digitization and Web site development; research data curation experts; digital preservationists; liaison librarians who have close relationships with users, including knowledge of their research methods; and metadata specialists. Archivists may find value in both the explication of the ten areas of archival expertise and the arguments for including them in a wide range of digital initiatives.

This work is a part of OCLC’s Research Collections and Support efforts to inform libraries’ current thinking about research collections and the emerging services that they are offering to support contemporary modes of scholarship.

Download the report: http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/publications/2015/oclcresearch-archival-advantage-2015.pdf

Personal Digital Archiving 2015 videos and presentations

Personal Digital Archiving 2015 was held on the New York University (NYU) campus in New York, NY on April 24-26, 2015. The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) and the NYU Libraries served as collaborating organizations for this latest in the series of Personal Digital Archiving Conferences. The presentations from this meeting are now available at the conference Web site, where they are linked to the individual day agendas, at: http://personaldigitalarchiving.com/program/

Don Perry, writer/producer for Chimpanzee Productions, Inc., an independent film and multimedia company, gave the keynote address “What Becomes of the Family Album in the Digital Age?” on Day 1 of the conference. Howard Besser, Professor of Cinema Studies and Associate Director of New York University’s Moving Image Archiving & Preservation Program (MIAP), as well as Senior Scientist for Digital Library Initiatives for NYU’s Library, and Rick Prelinger, archivist, associate professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, writer and filmmaker and founder of the Prelinger Archives, were the keynote speakers for Day 2.

Video from the sessions is available at the Internet archive: https://archive.org/details/PDA2015

What inspires librarians to innovate? New research from Electronic Information for Libraries

New research published by Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) provides useful recommendations for inspiring and encouraging service innovation in the public library sector.

The study, commissioned by the EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) in 2014/15, aimed to find out how innovation travels and what inspires public libraries in developing and transition countries to innovate. EIFL-PLIP advances community development by inspiring and supporting innovative services in which public libraries use digital technology to meet community needs.

Researchers surveyed 120 public librarians (mainly library directors or librarians in charge of innovative library services) from Africa, Europe and Latin America. They also conducted in-depth interviews with public library sector leadership (directors of library systems or networks; leaders of library associations). The research findings suggest some useful tips for encouraging innovation in public libraries:

• Organize peer-to-peer learning activities for public librarians, such as visits to other libraries, training workshops, joint projects.

• Invite public library service innovators from other countries to share their experiences at national events, as public librarians usually do not have funds to travel to international gatherings.

• At national and international library conferences, include inspirational examples and case studies of service innovation in public libraries.

• Create space for networking at conferences.

• Communicate about innovation not only through Web sites and social media, but also seek opportunities for face-to-face meetings to share ideas and experiences.

• Communicate about public library service innovations in local languages to reach public librarians for whom foreign languages may be a barrier.

The study found that “willingness to make the library more relevant to the community” and the “personal satisfaction” that public librarians derive from being useful to the community are the two main factors motivating public librarians to innovate.

The third most important factor was “additional funding and library infrastructure advancement”, suggesting that survey respondents see innovation as a means of generating resources.

The study also found that EIFL-PLIP has been a source of inspiration and information about innovation. EIFL-PLIP grantee libraries had inspired other libraries to innovate, and had shared ideas in their countries. In addition, EIFL-PLIP grant calls had generated energy and sparked innovation: the study found that many public libraries whose grant applications were declined had, nonetheless, implemented their innovative ideas with support from other sources.

Since 2010, EIFL-PLIP support has led to initiation of innovative public library services in 27 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. These services are now being offered by over 300 public and community libraries, increasing digital inclusion in communities and serving the needs of children and youth, farmers, women, health workers and their patients, the unemployed and socially excluded groups.

Read/download the full report: http://www.eifl.net/resources/what-sparks-innovation-public-library-sector