How research funders can finance APCs in full…

How research funders can finance APCs in full OA and hybrid journals :

« Open access (OA) publishing is steadily growing in both full OA journals and hybrid journals where authors can pay to open up individual articles. Funding for article processing charges (APCs) is still a strong barrier for many authors, particularly for subscription journals where the hybrid option is expensive and an added extra feature after an article is accepted for publication. Many research funders in Europe have started or are considering mechanisms for paying APCs with earmarked funding in order to increase the uptake of OA. At the same time they are well aware that their actions may influence the way the OA market will develop in the near future. This article discusses a number of scenarios for ways in which funders could cover the cost of APCs, while encouraging the development of a competitive and transparent market for APC-funded OA scholarly publishing. We provide evidence that the current APC-funded full OA market is sensitive to journal prestige/impact. We present a value-based cap funding scheme which could help maintain transparency, bringing hybrid market pricing in line with the full OA market. We also consider a scenario that addresses hybrid ‘double dipping’ while limiting the cost of transitioning to full OA for research-intensive universities as well as costsharing as a mechanism for providing authors with an incentive for considering cost as well as value in choosing where to publish. »

URL : http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/20140203

Access to Research: the experience of implementing a pilot in public libraries

The Access to Research project is a collaboration between scholarly publishers and librarians to provide free licensed access to research journals via terminals in public libraries. The project is an element of the ‘balanced package’ proposed by the Finch Working Group on how to expand access to published research in the UK, which reported its recommendations to the UK government in June 2012. We describe the setting up of the project and the findings from a three-month technical pilot prior to the launch of a two-year national pilot in February 2014.

The project has already attracted support from the major scholarly publishers, with about 8,400 journal titles now available. The access platform has been shown to be usable by public librarians and library patrons. We are now addressing the challenge of understanding how the public will make use of the system and exploring how best to provide training and education for librarians and users.

URL : http://dx.doi.org/10.1087/20140202

Evaluer la qualité des archives ouvertes le certificat DINI

Evaluer la qualité des archives ouvertes : le certificat DINI :

« L’article présente le certificat DINI, un référentiel pour la certification et l’audit des archives ouvertes, des archives institutionnelles et des plateformes de revues en libre accès, développé par l’Initiative Allemande pour l’Information en Réseau DINI. L’article décrit le contexte, l’objectif et l’historique de ce certificat avant d’exposer sa structure et son contenu. Parmi les huit sections du certificat figurent la visibilité du site, la sécurité de l’information et l’archivage pérenne. La discussion porte sur l’objet du référentiel, sur son influence et sur la nécessité d’une adaptation au contexte francophone. La traduction française du certificat a été publiée en 2012. »

« The article presents the DINI certificate, standard recommendations for the certification of document and publishing services, i.e. open archives, institutional repositories and platforms for open access journals, developed by the German Initiative for Networked Information DINI. The article describes the context, purpose and history of this certificate before exposing its structure and content. The eight areas include criteria for the visibility of the site, information security and long-term preservation. The article discusses the object of certification, its impact and the need to adapt some recommendations to the French-speaking context. The French translation of the certificate has been published in 2012. »

URL : Evaluer la qualité des archives ouvertes : le certificat DINI
Alternative URL : https://journal.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/perj/article/view/2733

Student Embargoes within Institutional Repositories: Faculty Early Transparency Concerns

Libraries encourage students to utilize Institutional Repositories (IRs) to house e-portfolios that demonstrate their skills and experiences. This is especially important for students when applying for jobs and admission into graduate schools. However, within the academic sphere there are legitimate reasons why some faculty-student collaboration efforts should not be documented and openly shared in institutional repositories. The need for the protection of ideas and processes prior to faculty publication can be in direct conflict with the intention for institutional repositories to promote the excellent efforts of students.

This is certainly true in laboratory situations where details of experiments and research areas are guarded for the lifetime of the exploration process. Librarians must work with others to develop guidelines and educational programs that prepare all stakeholders for these new information release considerations. One outcome of such deliberations could be the development of mutually beneficial publication guidelines which protect sensitive details of research yet allow students to submit selective research documentation into an IR.

The other extreme, with no agreed upon partial embargo scenarios, could result in the removal of students from sensitive collaborations. Given the need for scientific laboratories to utilize student workers, and the benefit of real research experiences for students, the academy must find a balanced solution to this inherent conflict situation.

URL : http://jlsc-pub.org/jlsc/vol2/iss2/6/

Scholarly Communication at Canadian Research Libraries Conversations with…

Scholarly Communication at Canadian Research Libraries: Conversations with Librarians :

« INTRODUCTION. The landscape of librarianship in relation to the practice of scholarly communication is evolving. The objectives of this study were to investigate: the scope of scholarly communication activities within Canadian research libraries; the organizational structures in place to support them; and the roles of librarians who participate in them. Key challenges to its advancement and how librarians envision its future were also investigated.
METHODS Twenty-nine academic librarians from Canadian Association of Research Libraries member institutions participated in semi-structured, open-ended interviews. Interviews were analyzed for recurring themes.
RESULTS. Participants outlined initiatives, services, and structures to support scholarly communication at their institutions. Solo scholarly communication librarians, specialized teams, and committees were identified as primary structures. Liaison librarians play an essential supporting role regardless of structure. Individually, librarians are seen to have an impact as leaders and advocates in promoting scholarly communication. The concept of “librarian as researcher” is also important. Participants shared a desire for better communication and collaboration in this area. Many participants saw the need for standardized assessment and evaluation methods. Participants enumerated their greatest challenges and provided suggestions for addressing them in the future.
CONCLUSION. This study demonstrates that organizational structure can enhance scholarly communication activities in libraries. Leadership both at the personal and collective level is necessary to provide an impetus for scholarly communication activities. Librarians should be knowledgeable about the issues and be ready to deliver the “pitch.” Strengthening collaboration and communication among Canadian librarians is essential for moving the scholarly communication agenda forward. »

URL : http://jlsc-pub.org/jlsc/vol2/iss2/3/

Pratiques d’éditeurs : 50 nuances de numérique

Avec le numérique, émergent dans le champ du livre et de la lecture de nouveaux acteurs très imprégnés de culture web et aux savoir-faire singuliers : les éditeurs pure players.

Ils sont rejoints par les éditeurs papier qui commencent à investir le monde digital. Dans cette période de mutation, il nous est apparu important dans un premier temps d’identifier cette nouvelle population qui travaille avec les ressources et les logiques du numérique, et d’analyser comment les éditeurs papier se projettent dans ce nouvel univers.

Puis de cerner en quoi de nouvelles pratiques professionnelles émergent ou se modifient à l’ère de l’internet, des réseaux sociaux et des technologies numériques tant sur le plan éditorial, commercial, organisationnel, que contractuel. Et enfin de dégager les modèles économiques et les nouvelles compétences qui se dessinent.

URL : http://www.lemotif.fr/fichier/motif_fichier/541/fichier_fichier_etude.50.nuances.de.numerique.pdf

Towards an understanding of Web growth an empirical…

Towards an understanding of Web growth: an empirical study of socio-technical web activity of Open Government Data :

« This thesis proposes a new interdisciplinary approach to understanding how the World Wide Web is growing, as a socio technical network, co-constructed by interrelationships between society and technological developments. The thesis uses a longitudinal empirical case study of Web and offline activity surrounding the UK Open Government Data communityto explore the Web as a socio-technical `networks of networks’. It employs a mixed methods framework, underpinned by sociological theory but also drawing on computer science for technical approaches to the problem of understanding theWeb. The study uses quantitative and qualitative sources of data in a novel analysis of online and offline activities to explore the formation and growth of UK Open Government Data and to understand this case, and the Web itself. The thesis argues that neither technology nor `the social’ alone is sufficient to explain the growth of this network, or indeed the Web, but that these networks develop out of closely co-constructed relationships and interactions between humans and technology. This thesis has implications not only for how the Web is understood, but for the kinds of future technological design and social activity that will be implicated in its continued growth. »

URL : http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/362306/