« ICT is a great facilitator for Knowledge Management. ICT enables creation of digital repositories for sharing knowledge transcending many limitations. Digital Repository (DR) is one of the components of KM in Libraries. DR of in-house research is becoming a priority item in universities and research institutions. The paper highlights the major challenges in creating a DR of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) for university/research institution. Discusses the constraints on ETD initiatives and possible solutions. Suggests that LIS professionals should up problem-solving steps based on research in the area of KM in Libraries. »
Library-as-Publisher: Capacity Building for the Library Publishing Subfield
« The role of publisher is increasingly assumed by academic and research libraries, usually inspired by campus-based demands for digital publishing platforms to support e-journals, conference proceedings, technical reports, and database-driven websites. Although publishing is compatible with librarians’ traditional strengths, there are additional skill sets that library publishers must master in order to provide robust publishing services to their academic communities.
To help library publishing services mature into a consistent field of practice, practitioners in this growing publishing subfield increasingly cite their need for specialized training and professional development opportunities. For example, the authors’ conversations with participants in the Library Publishing Coalition (LPC), a collaborative network of 60 North American academic libraries involved in publishing, have revealed that no existing graduate-level training program adequately prepares practitioners for the full range of theoretical, practical, and organizational issues involved in publishing. LPC participants have also noted the relative lack of continuing education opportunities targeted toward those who are engaging in publishing—whether in a library, university press, or commercial publishing environment.
This essay provides a brief history of publisher training and uses this context to think about how and where library publishers may engage in capacity building to inform and train this growing publishing subfield. Throughout the essay, we integrate findings from a series of interviews conducted by the authors with 11 industry leaders from several publishing sectors, including university presses, library publishers, and commercial publishers (see Appendix A). We conclude with recommendations for pathways forward, focusing on seven key areas in which library publishers need additional training opportunities. This essay focuses primarily on North American activities. »
Publishing Education in the 21st Century and the Role of the University
« Publishing education arose in the 20th century in response to a need for trained employees in a stable industry with a well understood set of competencies and skills. Today, the publishing landscape is disrupted, and that stability is seriously threatened. Given these circumstances, what is the role for university-level publishing education? This article argues for a model of university-level (graduate and undergraduate) publishing education that builds upon a vocational self-identification of incoming students, nurtures a community of practice and professional discourse, and in doing so generates and renews the very culture of publishing. In times of transition and disruption, this is a role uniquely suited to the university, where an environment of collaborative research, development, and innovation can be cultivated. »
Teaching an Old University Press Publisher New Tricks: Living in the Present and Preparing for the Future of Scholarly Communications
« University presses currently exist in the dual worlds of print and digital publishing. Current staffing needs require that they hire personnel with skills and experience that mirror that present duality. Training and maintaining a skilled workforce requires a commitment to flexibility and an openness to the ever-changing nature of scholarly communication. As the scholarly publishing ecosystem continues to evolve, university presses will need to look to a future workforce that has additional training, knowledge, and experience beyond the traditional skills associated with academic publishing, one that fully embraces the realities of a digital world, the habits of new generations of researchers, and the increasing role of technology in scholarly communication. This article looks at what the future might look like, what skills might be required, and how one might prepare for that future. »
ResearchGate: Disseminating, communicating, and measuring Scholarship?
« ResearchGate is a social network site for academics to create their own profiles, list their publications, and interact with each other. Like Academia.edu, it provides a new way for scholars to disseminate their work and hence potentially changes the dynamics of informal scholarly communication. This article assesses whether ResearchGate usage and publication data broadly reflect existing academic hierarchies and whether individual countries are set to benefit or lose out from the site. The results show that rankings based on ResearchGate statistics correlate moderately well with other rankings of academic institutions, suggesting that ResearchGate use broadly reflects the traditional distribution of academic capital. Moreover, while Brazil, India, and some other countries seem to be disproportionately taking advantage of ResearchGate, academics in China, South Korea, and Russia may be missing opportunities to use ResearchGate to maximize the academic impact of their publications. »
URL : http://www.scit.wlv.ac.uk/~cm1993/papers/ResearchGate.pdf
Les débats du numérique
« Le « plissement numérique » du monde est en cours et ce processus affecte les socles anthropologiques de nos sociétés. Le tissage continu, des écritures, des flux et des données, des êtres et des objets, de leurs pratiques, bref l’écologie de ces relations, de ces nouveaux territoires, ne cesse de croître sous ces conditions. Ces transformations sont loin d’être consensuelles et elles mettent en tension les agencements socio-techniques, cognitifs, économiques, environnementaux, culturels, professionnels… Cet ouvrage a pour but d’appréhender des « débats du numérique » en les éclairant de regards issus de champs disciplinaires différents.
Sont ici rassemblées des contributions de chercheurs et de praticiens analysant le passage à de nouveaux modes de gouvernance du web et des collectifs numériques, à de nouvelles économies politiques des savoirs et des « Data » : la régulation d’Internet et la complication croissante de ses infrastructures et des acteurs qui les produisent ; le renouvellement puissant des « Commons » et des intelligences collectives soutenu par le mouvement hétérogène de l’Open Data ; le web des données et la question politico-cognitive des écritures ; l’hegemon du Datamining au coeur du marketing ; la montée du Data journalisme.
De même, le déploiement récent de dispositifs socio-numériques en organisation est examiné en appelant à une mise en débat des sémio-politiques qui caractérisent le management et les modes d’existences au travail. Est également interrogé, le monde militaire, sa quête insomniaque d’efficience et de performativité. Enfin, le monde de l’art est lui aussi ébranlé par la matière numérique comme nouvelle substance d’expression. »