New & Noteworthy

Citation

(2010), "New & Noteworthy", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 27 No. 9/10. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2010.23927iab.001

New & Noteworthy

Article Type: New & Noteworthy From: Library Hi Tech News, Volume 27, Issue 9/10.

Americans and Their Gadgets: Seven Key Appliances of the Information Age

In recent years the digital world has expanded far beyond the desktop, and consumers can now choose from an array of devices capable of satisfying their need for “anytime, anywhere” access to news, information, friends, and entertainment. This report examines the latest research from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project regarding seven key appliances of the information age:

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  Cell phones – 85 percent of Americans now own a cell phone. Cell phone ownership rates among young adults illustrate the extent to which mobile phones have become a necessity of modern communications: fully 96 percent of 18-29 year olds own a cell phone of some kind.

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  Desktop and laptop computers – Three quarters (76 percent) of Americans own either a desktop or laptop computer. Since 2006, laptop ownership has grown dramatically (from 30 to 52 percent) while desktop ownership has declined slightly.

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  Mp3 players – Just under half of American adults (47 percent) own an mp3 player such as an iPod, a nearly five-fold increase from the 11 percent who owned this type of device in early 2005.

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  Game consoles – Console gaming devices like the Xbox and PlayStation are nearly as common as mp3 players, as 42 percent of Americans own a home gaming device. Parents (64 percent) are nearly twice as likely as non-parents (33 percent) to own a game console.

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  Tablet computers and e-book readers – Compared to the other devices in this list, e-book readers (such as the Kindle) and tablet computers (such as the iPad) are relatively new arrivals to the consumer technology scene and are owned by a relatively modest number of Americans. However, these devices are proving popular with traditional early adopter groups such as the affluent and highly educated – ownership rates for tablets and e-book readers among college graduates and those earning $75,000 or more per year are roughly double the national average.

Eight in ten American adults (78 percent) own two or more of these devices, and the median adult owns three of the seven gadgets we asked about in our survey. Among other factors, device ownership is highly correlated with age. For example, the typical adult under the age of 45 owns four devices, while the typical adult between the ages of 55 and 64 owns two and the typical senior (65 or older) owns just one. Those with high levels of income and education are also more likely to own a relatively large number of devices compared to those with lower income and education levels.

These findings are based on a survey of 3,001 American adults (ages 18 and older) conducted between August 9 and September 13, 2010. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish, and the survey included 1,000 cell phone interviews.

Full report: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Gadgets.aspx

Knowledge = Information in Context: Europeana Releases First White Paper

Europeana is proud to announce its first White Paper: a look at the key role linked data will play in Europeana's development and in helping Europe's citizens make connections between existing knowledge to create new cultural and scientific advances.

Linked data gives machines the ability to make associations and put search terms into context. Without it, Europeana could be seen as a simple collection of digital objects. With linked data, the potential is far greater, as the author of the White Paper, Professor Stefan Gradmann, explains.

Prof. Gradmann uses an example from the experimental Thought Lab to show how a search for “Paris” intuitively leads to connected concepts like items in the Louvre, a Paris-based institution. It also gives the option to see paintings portraying people named Paris, such as the Greek prince, who abducted Helen of Troy.

From there, more links point the way to topics like the “myth of Paris” or the mythical Apple of Discord – a golden apple that sparked a dispute and eventually led to the Trojan War – and then on to the forbidden apple eaten by Adam and Eve.

This is just one example of how linked data will allow Europeana to propose connections between millions of items from Europe's heritage. These connections can then be used to generate new ideas and knowledge, on a scale not possible before.

Read the White Paper: http://version1.europeana.eu/web/europeana-project/whitepapers

Europeana Thought Lab: http://europeana.eu/portal/thought-lab.html

Omeka.net Beta Launches, Takes Archiving to the Cloud

After more than two years of planning and development, and six months of Alpha testing, the Center for History and New Media, George Mason University has announced the public launch of Omeka.net Beta. Anyone may sign up for an account.

Omeka.net is a hosted web service that brings standards-based online collections and exhibitions to the internet cloud. Simply create a username and password at http://omeka.net, and your online collection or exhibition website is up and running. Similar to cloud-based content management services offered by WordPress.com, Blogger, and PBWorks – but geared to the needs of scholarship and cultural heritage – no server or programming experience is required to launch an Omeka.net website. With Omeka.net, users can build digital exhibits, map photographs, collect memories from web audiences, or publish new scholarship in a few easy steps.

Omeka.net will offer five plans for users that include a range of options from building one site using a few plug-ins and themes to deploying an unlimited number of sites that uses an extensive set of add-ons and designs. These plans, including a basic free option, are available to accommodate a variety of individual and institutional users.

Omeka.net is an outgrowth of the Omeka project, in partnership with Minnesota Historical Foundation and funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Library of Congress, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

Omeka.net Beta: www.omeka.net/

Omeka project home: http://omeka.org/

eXtensible Text Framework Website Launched

The Publishing Group of the California Digital Library (CDL) announces the launch of the eXtensible Text Framework (XTF) website (http://xtf.cdlib.org/), supporting a robust open-source application for providing access to digital content. Developed and maintained by the CDL, XTF functions as the primary access technology for the CDL's digital collections and similar projects worldwide.

XTF excels in supporting rapid, customized application development and deployment. Its high degree of extensibility and performance (even for large documents and large collections) frees implementers to focus on building sophisticated presentations for their digital object collections. “It's all about balancing flexibility and ease of use: putting infinite customization ability in the hands of curators and scholars with a driving need to provide deep access to their special collections,” says XTF lead developer Martin Haye.

XTF-based applications range from primary source image collections to publishing platforms and archival finding aid repositories at the University of California and many other institutions, including Northwestern University, the University of Sydney (Australia), Indiana University, Visual Arkiv (Sweden), Durham University (UK), and the University of Virginia.

Implementations include:

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  CDL's e-Scholarship (www.escholarship.org/), UC's open access scholarly publishing platform, which publishes recent research from across the ten campuses as well as nearly 40 UC-based scholarly journals.

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  CDL's Online Archive of California (www.oac.cdlib.org/), a collection of more than 20,000 archival finding aids and 200,000 digital primary sources (images and texts) from more than 150 archives, libraries, and other institutions in the state of California.

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  The Encyclopedia of Chicago (http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/), a collaboration between the Chicago Historical Society, Northwestern University, and the Newberry Library.

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  Indiana University's The Chymistry of Isaac Newton (http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/), a digital repository of transcriptions of Newton's alchemical manuscripts.

The new site serves as an expanded resource for programmers, librarians, and the general public to explore and implement the Java and XSLT 2.0-based framework. Features include:

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  XTF application download – full release or core updates to maintain customizations

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  Documentation, including downloadable deployment guide, programming guide, and tag reference

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  Video tutorials focusing on basic setup and customization of XTF

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  Example XTF implementations highlighting customized features

For a full list of XTF's features and benefits, as well as a technical overview, visit http://xtf.cdlib.org/about

BIBSYS Selects OCLC's Web-scale Management Services

Norwegian consortium BIBSYS has signed an agreement with OCLC to supply its new Library System based on OCLC's Web-scale Management Services, a next-generation web-based suite of library management tools for metadata management, acquisitions, circulation, license management and workflow.

BIBSYS provides library and information systems to Norway's university libraries, college libraries, a number of research libraries and the National Library. This agreement is the culmination of a review process over the course of a year to identify a replacement to the existing BIBSYS Library System.

An important factor in the decision to choose OCLC, as BIBSYS indicated, was that OCLC had started the process of developing a next-generation system, based on a service-oriented architecture, which has uniform handling of all media types. Because of the architecture, BIBSYS and its member libraries can develop their own custom applications for library management activities. In addition, they can expose and share those applications as web services on the platform for other members to use. This ability to collectively innovate will generate cost savings, greater efficiency and the ability to better leverage collected data, and intelligence.

“BIBSYS is looking forward to implementing a next-generation library system in close co-operation with our member libraries and OCLC. Our aim is to give researchers and students in Norway an excellent system to support their work. We also look forward to a library system that can be closely integrated with other administrative systems that are used in the higher education community in Norway,” said Roy Gundersen, Director, BIBSYS.

“It is a great honor for OCLC to work with BIBSYS on this ground-breaking national system for Norwegian libraries,” said Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO. “It is also a tremendous opportunity for both BIBSYS and OCLC to implement next-generation technology that will enable these libraries to improve services for their constituents.”

OCLC's strategy is to move traditional library back-office operations and associated data to the network, sometimes called “the cloud.” Web-scale Management Services effectively integrate components such as acquisition, license management and circulation with other OCLC services also operating at Web-scale including cooperative cataloging through WorldCat and discovery through WorldCat Local, to leverage efficiencies, lower cost of ownership and free libraries to spend time on unique local services, and innovations.

By delivering truly network-level services and not simply internet-hosted solutions of current library services, OCLC's Web-scale Management Services provide automation and management services to library organizations, allowing them to share data and workflows in ways never before possible.

WorldCat: www.worldcat.org

BIBSYS: www.bibsys.no/english.html

Syracuse iSchool and Polaris Library Systems Collaborate to Develop New Services

Polaris Library Systems, a leading provider of library automation technology, is joining forces with the Syracuse University School of Information Studies, which is ranked No. 1 in information systems among all US library and information science schools. The collaboration seeks to improve technological and information services available to libraries and to provide more research and professional development experiences for iSchool students.

“We're thrilled to be collaborating with the leader in library information systems,” said iSchool Dean Elizabeth D. Liddy. “This is a mutually beneficial relationship that will advance services available to the public at libraries and at the same time will provide meaningful research and work experiences for our students.”

In the collaboration, iSchool students, faculty, and researchers will work directly with the staff at Polaris Library Systems to develop innovative technology and product offerings. Polaris leaders will also work with iSchool faculty to bring invaluable industry experience into the classroom so that iSchool students graduate with the capabilities needed to be successful in the work environment. The relationship will also create a pipeline of student talent for internships and full-time employment opportunities at Polaris.

A key aspect of the collaboration involves the implementation of the Polaris integrated library system test environment at the iSchool for education and research this fall. This system will be an integral hands-on part of the iSchool's library systems course, in which students will brainstorm new applications and test them on the Polaris system.

Polaris and the iSchool also plan on creating an Idea Generation Board, consisting of faculty and researchers from the iSchool and staff members from Polaris. There are also plans for a summit to imagine new services and generate research and development projects.

Syracuse University School of Information Studies: http://ischool.syr.edu

Polaris Library Systems: www.polarislibrary.com/

LibLime Releases Open Source MARC Utilities Metadata Converter

LibLime, a division of PTFS, has released its MARC Utilities – Metadata Converter, for the conversion of MARC records in batch mode to other metadata formats including Dublin Core and XML.

The MARC Utilities is a self-contained executable program which offers an array of catalog tools to manage, convert, and analyze MARC-based data. It is written in Perl-TK, and is a great add-on to any MARC cataloger's (or database administrator's) toolset. The MARC Utilities is a free release and is available to anyone who wishes to download it.

Due to the overwhelming response surrounding the MARC Utilities Metadata Converter, first released in March of 2010, LibLime and PTFS have now made available two different downloads. The first is the stand-alone, executable application that can be downloaded and used immediately. The second provides the source code so that others can enhance the functionality of the editor.

MARC Utilities was created in 2004, by PTFS ILS expert, Rashid Faraby, who needed a fast, efficient MARC editing tool primarily to help him in his daily tasks as a Sirsi Unicorn library system administrator. Some of MARC Utilities features include:

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  Convert MARC to mnemonic/Text, SIRSI ASCII, Dublin Core, XML, and CSV.

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  Convert mnemonic/Text-formatted files to MARC.

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  Enhanced editor and search feature with a string history to recall previous searches.

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  Perform MARC queries to filter and extract MARC data.

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  Validate MARC records and identify errors.

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  Check MARC data integrity.

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  Analyze MARC data to study a collection of records.

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  Split large MARC files into smaller documents.

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  Check for 856 broken links.

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  Filter list user and item reports for export to CSV format.

Download MARC Utilities: www.liblime.com/downloads

LibLime home: www.liblime.com/

YBP Library Services and E-book Library Team to Offer Demand-Driven Acquisition Service

YBP Library Services, a Baker & Taylor company, and E-book Library (EBL) have announced the launch of the first comprehensive demand-driven workflow for print and e-book acquisition. The two companies will combine the book-in-hand descriptions and preferences from YBP's approval process with EBL's flexible real-time On Demand acquisition service, offering a robust just-in-time approach to delivering e-books and print books.

“Demand-driven acquisitions (DDAs) are a new way of helping our library customers to better serve their patrons,” said Mark Kendall, Senior Vice President of Sales for YBP. “This partnership with EBL is a groundbreaking effort to add value.”

This new service will enable libraries to use YBP's approval profiling methodologies to automatically designate new books as DDA, rather than receive the titles as an automatic book or as a slip. Titles designated as DDA will automatically be made available for patron-driven selection in EBL's On Demand platform. The initial launch of the DDA-approval workflow will be available for e-books and then will be extended to incorporate print books from select publishers. The service will gradually incorporate an increasing percentage of the books YBP handles on approval.

“We are very pleased to enhance our On Demand service with YBP's outstanding approval plan tools and to add print books alongside e-books to our platform,” said Kari Paulson, President of EBL.

YBP Library Services: www.ybp.com/

EBL – E-book Library: www.eblib.com/

McGraw-Hill, Macmillan, Flat World Knowledge Offer Customized, Online Textbooks

Flat World Knowledge, a commercial publisher of openly-licensed college textbooks, and major textbook publishers McGraw-Hill Education and Macmillan, have introduced new approaches to offering customized textbooks at a lower cost to students.

In October 2010, McGraw-Hill Education launched its next-generation custom publishing platform named McGraw-Hill Create. McGraw-Hill Education created the custom publishing concept nearly 20 years ago when it introduced the popular Primis platform. Create builds on the Primis foundation by adding 21st century customization options, an intuitive drag-and-drop user interface and speedy digital delivery. Using the Create platform, instructors can produce their own e-books or printed texts by selecting content from a library of nearly 50,000 resources – and receive a digital proof in under an hour.

At Create's core is a Google-like search engine functionality that enables professors to immediately pull from a wide range of quality content, including 4,000 McGraw-Hill textbooks, 5,500 articles, 11,000 literature, philosophy and humanities readings, and 25,000 business case studies from prominent providers such as the Harvard Business School. This powerful search tool allows professors to view content across the library, or limit their search by category, such as discipline or copyright year. Through a recently announced partnership with Blackboard Inc., teachers will have access to the full suite of McGraw-Hill Create content through their Blackboard account, seamlessly integrating Create with their established and familiar classroom tools. Professors can also easily upload and incorporate self-produced content into their Create project.

Once a Create text has been fully customized, the instructor receives a digital review copy in under an hour or a print review copy in three to five days. This represents a marked improvement over existing platforms, which often take up to three weeks to deliver review copies. Once a professor finalizes the book in Create, he or she can make it available for student purchase. Students may purchase Create e-books through the McGraw-Hill e-bookstore or purchase Create print books through their campus bookstore.

Instructors from two-year, four-year, and career colleges and universities nationwide have used Create to customize their educational content since its launch in April. A total of twenty-eight percent of the instructors who have used Create elected to receive their review copies as e-books. Create, which can be used by higher education institutions worldwide, is currently available across all 75 disciplines for which McGraw-Hill supplies content.

More about Create at: http://create.mcgraw-hill.com/

In February 2010, DynamicBooks, a new subsidiary of Macmillan, unveiled a new digital publishing platform that allows instructors to freely customize and modify some of today's most respected textbooks. Using the DynamicBooks' editing tools, instructors can tailor content to suit their classroom needs by editing existing content or adding new text or media assets. Once instructors “publish” their custom book, their students can choose to purchase either a fully featured digital text or a printed version of the new book.

“Most college students don't read textbooks anymore,” said Charles Grisham, professor of chemistry at the University of Virginia. “Students jump from point to point as they do on the Internet. It's also safe to say that no textbook has completely matched every instructor's syllabus. DynamicBooks offers instructors and authors a better way to convey content that is more relevant and creative-minded, and that mirrors the always interactive environment in which students live.”

The DynamicBooks digital textbook package includes online access; a downloadable version; and an iPhone application. Students can annotate or highlight and search terms or their notes in their DynamicBook and can print from within the application. Printed, bound versions are also available in black and white or full color. Students can order these books from retailers such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Follett.

Using podcasts, video clips, animation, equation editors, graphing tools, and their own content, instructors can customize a textbook to better match their teaching style and class focus. Instructor edited content will be highlighted as changed from the original text and attributed to the instructor who made the change. All original content and original multimedia additions will be copyrighted by the instructor.

DynamicBooks' platform is powered by VitalSource, a leader in digital books technology and further enhanced by on demand printing and fulfillment through Ingram Content Group. Book industry partners include Macmillan's Bedford, Freeman and Worth Publishers, and Hayden McNeil Publishers.

DynamicBooks seeks to lower costs to students and is working with its publisher partners to do so. As an example, Bedford, Freeman and Worth books will be available in digital form for 40-50 percent of the price of traditional books.

More about DynamicBooks at: http://dynamicbooks.com/

Flat World Knowledge, publisher of commercial, openly licensed college textbooks, announced in August 2010 another dramatic increase in the number of colleges and classrooms adopting its textbooks. In the fall 2010 semester, more than 800 colleges will utilize Flat World textbooks, up from 400 in the fall 2009 and up from 30 colleges in the spring 2009. With Flat World's textbooks saving the average student $80 per class, the company is on track to save 150,000 students $12 million or more in textbook expenses for the 2010/2011 academic year which begins this month.

Flat World's year-over-year growth is fueled by the company's innovative “free and open” textbook publishing model that allows students to acquire complete, high-quality, peer-reviewed textbooks at prices ranging from FREE for online access to only $30 for a softcover print book. Other formats include PDF downloads, audio and e-reader versions for the iPad and Kindle, as well as digital study aids. Flat World's unique commercial open source business model removes barriers to higher education by increasing the affordability, accessibility, and quality of textbooks.

“It's gratifying to see the tremendous response to our textbooks and publishing model across a wide range of academic institutions,” said Jeff Shelstad, Flat World Knowledge CEO and co-founder. “By preserving what works from traditional publishing and changing everything that's broken, our open textbook publishing model is providing substantial benefits to students, faculty and authors.”

For the 2010 fall semester, more than 1,300 educators representing 800 major state and private research universities and community college systems have adopted Flat World textbooks, including the University of Maryland, University of Texas, Carnegie Mellon University, multiple California State University campuses, the Foothill DeAnza Community College District in California, as well as institutions in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Flat World has agreements with Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, Follett Higher Education Group, and NACS Media Solutions to distribute their open textbooks to more than 3,000 college stores across the USA. The company anticipates that more of its sales will transition from print to various digital formats over the next few years.

Flat World books are peer reviewed and professionally edited and developed. Educators have the freedom to use the books as-is, or they can customize them to suit their course requirements. Students can access the books for free online, or purchase low-cost softcover print books, PDF downloads, audio and e-reader versions, as well as study aids at a fraction of the cost of traditional textbooks.

More information is available at: www.flatworldknowledge.com

HathiTrust Adds New Members, Goes Global

The HathiTrust Digital Library is raising the bar for collaboration among research libraries, two years after its launch.

Containing more than 7 million volumes from member library collections, HathiTrust is now jointly owned and operated by 52 institutions from the United States and Europe, all focused on a common goal: to build an extraordinary digital library that preserves and provides access to the cultural record.

The new members to HathiTrust include the Library of Congress, Stanford University, Arizona State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of Madrid, HathiTrust's first international partner. “This is an extraordinary moment for research libraries,” said John Wilkin, executive director of HathiTrust and associate university librarian at the University of Michigan. “These remarkable and forward-thinking libraries have come together to create a vast and increasingly comprehensive international digital library.”

The 52 partner institutions will participate in a constitutional convention and formal review of HathiTrust in 2011. At the convention, these institutions will define HathiTrust's next phase of governance and shape future directions for the partnership. “The efforts of these libraries will help ensure our ability to preserve the cultural record, both digitally and in print,” Wilkin said. “The breadth of the collaboration is a powerful indicator of the library community's commitment to this important ideal.”

HathiTrust was launched in 2008 by the 11 University of California libraries and the 12 university consortium known as the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, with key support provided by U-M and Indiana University. Today, HathiTrust has more than tripled the number of volumes held, doubled its initial partnership, and fulfilled many of its initial objectives for repository services and infrastructure.

Some of the partners' significant achievements include full text search of the entire repository, enhanced services for users with print disabilities, and the deployment of tools and infrastructure to enable ongoing collaborative development of repository services and capabilities.

The addition of these new partners, said Wilkin, adds to the momentum HathiTrust has gained toward fulfilling its mission to “contribute to the common good by collecting, organizing, preserving, communicating, and sharing the record of human knowledge.”

Partnering institutions in the HathiTrust include: Arizona State University, Baylor University, California Digital Library, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Emory University, Harvard University Library, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University, the Library of Congress, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Michigan State University, New York Public Library, New York University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University, Northwestern University, The Pennsylvania State University, Princeton University, Purdue University, Stanford University, Texas A&M University, The Ohio State University, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, The University of Chicago, The University of Iowa, University of California Berkeley, University of California Davis, University of California Irvine, University of California Los Angeles, University of California Merced, University of California Riverside, University of California San Diego, University of California San Francisco, University of California Santa Barbara, University of California Santa Cruz, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, University of Utah, University of Virginia, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Utah State University, and Yale University.

HathiTrust home: www.hathitrust.org/

World Digital Library Initiative Gets Expanded

“Libraries, especially digital libraries, are truly at the heart of knowledge societies; they enable people to access, share and apply knowledge. UNESCO is committed to further expand universal participation in the World Digital Library (WDL) which reflects the values and priorities of our Organization,” said UNESCO's Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for Communication and Information at the opening of the first official meeting of the WDL partners held in Washington, DC on June 22-23.

The meeting elected a seven-member Executive Council, including UNESCO and the Library of Congress in their capacity as ex-officio members. In connection with this meeting the Carnegie Corporation of New York supported a conference of directors and technical staff from libraries, archives, and museums in 11 countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan – to identify important documents and collections from these countries that should be added to the WDL.

Under the same grant, which was awarded in July 2009, the WDL worked with the National Library of Uganda (NLU) to establish a Digital Conversion Center at the NLU in Kampala. This center, the first of its kind in Uganda and one of very few in sub-Saharan Africa, is enabling the National Library to digitize documents relating to the history and culture of Uganda for inclusion on its own website and on the WDL. The items digitized are from the NLU and other cooperating institutions in Uganda. Future activities planned under the grant include efforts to build capacity at libraries in South Africa so they, too can contribute collections to the WDL.

“Capacity-building is a crucial element of the WDL, which is more than just a very high-tech website. In order to ensure participation by all countries that wish to share their cultural heritage with the world via the WDL, we need to assist them with training, equipment, and software” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

The WDL has now 85 partners from some 55 countries. More than 10 million users worldwide have visited the WDL since its official launch in April 2009.

The WDL: www.wdl.org/

Keeping Research Data Safe (Phase 2): Final Report from JISC

JISC has announced that the final report for Keeping Research Data Safe 2 (KRDS2) is now available from the JISC website. This KRDS2 study report presents the results of a survey of available cost information, validation, and further development of the KRDS activity cost model, and a new taxonomy to help assess benefits alongside costs. The KRDS2 study was conducted by Charles Beagrie Ltd. and associates.

The first KRDS study (Beagrie, Chrusczcz and Lavoie, JISC 2008) made a major contribution to understanding of long-term preservation costs for research data by developing a cost model and indentifying cost variables for preserving research data in UK universities. This aim of this follow-on project (2009/2010) was to provide a larger body of material and evidence against which existing and future data preservation cost modelling exercises could be tested and validated.

KRDS2 has delivered the following:

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  A survey of cost information for digital preservation, collating, and making available 13 survey responses for different cost datasets.

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  The KRDS activity model has been reviewed and its presentation and usability enhanced.

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  Cost information for four organizations (the Archaeology Data Service, National Digital Archive of Datasets, UK Data Archive, and University of Oxford) has been analysed in depth and presented in case studies.

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  A benefits framework has been produced and illustrated with two benefit case studies from the National Crystallography Service at Southampton University and the UK Data Archive at the University of Essex.

One of the key findings on the long-term costs of digital preservation for research data was that the cost of archiving activities (archival storage and preservation planning and actions) is consistently a very small proportion of the overall costs and significantly lower than the costs of acquisition/ingest or access activities for all the case studies in KRDS2. As an example the respective activity staff costs for the Archaeology Data Service are Access (c. 31 percent), Outreach/Acquisition/Ingest (c. 55 percent), Archiving (c. 15 percent).This confirms and supports a preliminary finding in KRDS1.

Full URL: www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/reports/2010/keepingresearchdatasafe2.aspx

A range of supplementary materials in support of this report have also been made available on the KRDS project website. This includes the ULCC Excel Cost Spreadsheet for the NDAD service together with a Guide to Interpreting and Using the NDAD Cost Spreadsheet. The NDAD Cost Spreadsheet has previously been used as an exercise in digital preservation training events and may be particularly useful in training covering digital preservation costs. The accompanying Guide provides guidance to those wishing to understand and experiment with the spreadsheet.

KRDS project website: www.beagrie.com/jisc.php

Digital Curation Educators Invited to Join the IDEA Working Group Network

The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) and the School of Information & Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is inviting digital curation educators to join the International Digital curation Education and Action (IDEA) Working Group Network.

The number of projects and institutions providing training and education on aspects of digital curation has increased dramatically in recent years, resulting in a vast and often overwhelming number of courses for potential attendees to consider. It is clear that increased collaboration is needed in order to establish a more coordinated approach.

Participants from a number of US, EU, and UK digital curation initiatives have taken part in several joint workshops led by the DCC, Digital Preservation Europe, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2008 and 2009, which focused on developing an international curation training and education roadmap. As a result of the discussions, participants have established the IDEA Working Group. The mission of the IDEA Working Group is to:

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  Minimize duplication of effort in the provision of digital preservation training and education programmes.

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  Describe, promote and contextualize current training and education offerings.

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  Identify and exploit collaborative training and education opportunities.

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  Maximize inter-disciplinary training and education opportunities.

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  Develop a shared digital preservation training infrastructure to enable reuse of training and education materials.

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  Ensure synergy and complementarity between emerging curation and preservation education programmes with professional development training courses.

The IDEA Working Group activities are managed within four subcommittees: Graduate Curriculum led by Cal Lee, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Continuing Professional Education and Training led by Helen Tibbo, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Work Force led by Joy Davidson, DCC; and the Steering Committee.

IDEA Working Group home page: www.ideaworkgroup.org/

To subscribe to the IDEA working group listserv: www.ideaworkgroup.org/listserv.html

ARL and Ithaka S + R Awarded IMLS Grant to Study Digitized Special Collections

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), in collaboration with Ithaka S + R, has been awarded a grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grants Program in the amount of $464,286 to study how libraries, archives, and museums are sustaining digitized special collections. The two-year study builds upon past work examining sustainability of digital resources done by Ithaka S + R.

“Our examination of digital resources through our case studies work showed us that project leaders need practical tools to help them ensure their project's long-term sustainability,” says Laura Brown, Managing Director, Ithaka S + R. “This collaborative study will respond to that need by providing actionable recommendations, best practices, and planning tools to help project leaders in higher education, public libraries, museums, historical societies, and other organizations plan for sustaining their own special collections digitization projects.”

Project activities under this cooperative agreement will include a survey of digitized special collections and focused interviews with leaders and project staff in selected cultural heritage organizations who manage those collections. The study's final report of lessons learned, recommendations, and case studies will be freely shared through the partners' websites, through a webcast, and conference presentations.

“Cultural memory organizations now have a significantly long experience in creating digital collections. As these projects have evolved from early development and experimentation to a permanent component of collection development, the issues of sustainability and preservation take on increased importance,” says Charles Lowry, Executive Director, ARL. “ARL is pleased to work with Ithaka S + R to provide a current assessment of best practices to assist the field in advancing the digital collections agenda.”

For more information about this project, see: www.arl.org/rtl/speccoll/sustaindigsc/

PREMIS Documents Now Available in Translation

The PREMIS Editorial Committee is happy to announce the availability of a German translation of “Understanding PREMIS.” Priscilla Caplan of the Florida Center for Library Automation wrote the original document for the Library of Congress. It is a “gentle” introduction to the PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata, giving an overview of its scope and goals.

“PREMIS verstehen” is available at: www.loc.gov/standards/premis/understanding_premis_german.pdf

Many thanks to Tobias Beinert of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek for providing this translation (and particularly in time for the PREMIS events at iPres 2010 in Vienna).

A Spanish translation of the full PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata, version 2.0 is now available. The Data Dictionary was translated by Lorea Elduayen Pereda and Bárbara Guiomar Muñoz de Solano y Palacios of the Biblioteca Nacional de España. The PREMIS Editorial Committee thanks them for this important contribution.

It is available on the PREMIS website at: www.loc.gov/standards/premis/PREMIS_es.pdf and also at: www.bne.es/es/Micrositios/Guias/DiccionarioPremis/VERSION2.0/

Getting Your Feet Wet: An Introduction to Open Access

The Research Information Network (RIN), UK, aims to increase the understanding and awareness of changes in the information and scholarly communications landscape, to enable libraries, publishers, universities, funders, and others to develop efficient and effective services for researchers.

RIN has recently published Getting Your Feet Wet: an Introduction to Open Access, a guide produced to give researchers, publishers, librarians, and information professionals a basic understanding of the open access movement. The guide offers a concise explanation of the “green” and “gold” routes to open access, and includes lists of resources on open access statements and papers, mandates and guidelines, repositories and directories, and licensing. The guide is available to download at: www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/using-and-accessing-information-resources/introduction-open-access