New Zealand Government Open Access and L…

New Zealand Government Open Access and Licensing framework :
“The New Zealand Government Open Access and Licensing framework (NZGOAL) was approved by Cabinet on 5 July 2010 as government guidance for State Services agencies to follow when releasing copyright works and non-copyright material for re-use by third parties. It standardises the licensing of government copyright works for re-use using Creative Commons licences and recommends the use of ‘no-known rights’ statements for non-copyright material. It is widely recognised that re-use of this material by individuals and organisations may have significant creative and economic benefit for New Zealand.”
URL : http://www.e.govt.nz/policy/nzgoal

Future Leaders’ Views on Organizational …

Future Leaders’ Views on Organizational Culture :
“Research libraries will continue to be affected by rapid and transformative changes in information technology and the networked environment for the foreseeable future. The pace and direction of these changes will profoundly challenge libraries and their staffs to respond effectively. This paper presents the results of a survey that was designed to discern the perceptions and preferences of future library leaders related to organizational cultures in these times of precipitous change. The study finds that future leaders of academic libraries perceive a significant gap between their current and preferred organizational cultures and that current organizational cultures limit their effectiveness.”
URL : http://eprints.rclis.org/18915/

What are your information needs? Three u…

What are your information needs? Three user studies about research information in the Netherlands, with an emphasis on the NARCIS portal :
“The NARCIS portal (www.narcis.info) provides access to science information (information about research, researchers and research institutions) and scientific information [(full‐text) publications and datasets]. The portal is very popular, with 1.2 million users annually. NARCIS is also an important supplier of information to international services such as Google/Google Scholar, WorldWideScience.org and DRIVER.
In 2009 the KNAW conducted a three‐part user survey, with two online surveys and a series of semi‐
structured interviews. The aim was to learn more about the people who use the portal, why they use it and their ideas and wishes for improvements to the portal. Another purpose of the survey was to identify changes that could be made to improve the match between the services provided by NARCIS and the needs of existing and potential users.
The surveys showed that more than half of the users of NARCIS are from universities, research institutions or universities of applied science. Most searches conducted on NARCIS are for dissertations. The existence of a single gateway to different types of information is regarded as very useful. The most frequently mentioned improvement in the service would be to provide access to information from other countries as well. Respondents also mentioned the provision of tools for performing complex analyses of the information available via NARCIS as a worthwhile option for enhancing the service.
The interviews revealed, among other things, the need for the presentation of information in context and that senior officials are often confronted with information overload.
The user survey has led to a series of proposals for modifications or improvements in the service; some of them may be implemented immediately, while others will require consultation at national or international level.”
URL : http://depot.knaw.nl/5662/2/What_are_your_information_needs_Elpub_2010.pdf

Copyright and Open Access for Academic W…

Copyright and Open Access for Academic Works :
“In a recent paper, Prof. Steven Shavell (see Shavell, 2009) has argued strongly in favor of eliminating copyright from academic works. Based upon solid economic arguments, Shavell analyses the pros and cons of removal of copyright and in its place to have a pure open access system, in which authors (or more likely their employers) would provide the funds that keep journals in business. In this paper we explore some of the arguments in Shavell’s paper, above all the way in which the distribution of the sources of journal revenue would be altered, and the feasible effects upon the quality of journal content. We propose a slight modification to a pure open access system which may provide for the best of both the copyright and open access worlds.”
URL : http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/24095/

Report on Best Practices and Recommendat…

Report on Best Practices and Recommendations :
“This report is the third in a series of studies conducted by OAPEN on digital monographs in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The first report focused on the needs of users and stakeholders, and the second looked at the existing (and developing) publishing and business models. The aim of this report is to provide the different players—publishers, funders, librarians, readers, scholars and politicians—with a set of recommendations concerning the strategic issues in Open Access book publishing. For those already in the process of developing an Open Access policy, this report maps out the issues and decisions they may confront.”
URL : http://www.oapen.org/images/D316_OAPEN_Best_practice_public_report.pdf