Collaborative Print Repositories: A Case Study of Library Directors\u27 Views

Surveys library directors in the Ontario Council of University Libraries consortium regarding weeding, last copy print archiving, and the role of the consortium. Responses reveal divergent opinions but an answer lies in partnerships. Cost remains an over-riding factor and the uncertainty of future budgets make commitment to long-term planning difficult

Research data management in public universities in Malawi

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThe emergence and subsequent uptake of Information and Communication Technologies has transformed the research processes in universities and research institutions across the globe. One indelible impact of Information and Communication Technologies on the research process is the increased generation of research data in digital format. This study investigated how research data has been generated, organised, shared, stored, preserved, accessed and re-used in Malawian public universities with a view to proposing a framework for research data management in universities in Malawi. The objectives of the study were: to determine research data creation, sharing and re-use practices in public universities in Malawi; to investigate research data preservation practices in public universities in Malawi; to investigate the competencies that librarians and researchers need to effectively manage research data; and to find out the challenges that affect the management of research data in public universities in Malawi. Apart from being guided by the Community Capability Model Framework (Lyon, Ball, Duke & Day, 2011) and Data Curation Centre Lifecycle Model (Higgins, 2008), the study was inspired by the pragmatic school of thought which is the basis for a mixed methods research enabling the collection of quantitative and qualitative data from two purposively selected universities. A census was used to identify researchers and librarians while purposive sampling was used to identify directors of research. Questionnaires were used to collect mostly quantitative and some qualitative data from 36 librarians and 187 researchers while interviews were conducted with directors of research. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to analyse the quantitative data by producing percentages, means, independent samples ttest and one-way analysis of variance. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data

An Appeal for the Physical Book

Librarians are confronting a shift in media that is changing the structure and the collections of libraries as well as the meaning of librarianship itself. The heart of this essay suggests that the physical book maybe considered an enduring communication vessel. If the goal of the library is to offer access to the cultural record, then physical books as a social record embodying “bookness” hold a place within the library institution as a material expression of the intimate and enduring relationship between human and book

Overview and Analysis of Practices with Open Educational Resources in Adult Education in Europe

OER4Adults aimed to provide an overview of Open Educational Practices in adult learning in Europe, identifying enablers and barriers to successful implementation of practices with OER. The project was conducted in 2012-2013 by a team from the Caledonian Academy, Glasgow Caledonian University, funded by The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS). The project drew on data from four main sources: • OER4Adults inventory of over 150 OER initiatives relevant to adult learning in Europe • Responses from the leaders of 36 OER initiatives to a detailed SWOT survey • Responses from 89 lifelong learners and adult educators to a short poll • The Vision Papers on Open Education 2030: Lifelong Learning published by IPTS Interpretation was informed by interviews with OER and adult education experts, discussion at the IPTS Foresight Workshop on Open Education and Lifelong Learning 2030, and evaluation of the UKOER programme. Analysis revealed 6 tensions that drive developing practices around OER in adult learning as well 6 summary recommendations for the further development of such practices

Tenure Advice for Law Librarians and Their Directors

Successful tenure candidates will excel as librarians, master shared governance concepts and understand their institution’s culture. Candidates should engage in self-reflection and seek feedback throughout the tenure-track process. Supportive directors and supervisors will provide support to candidates and ensure well-developed promotion and tenure policies exist and are consistently applied

Open Educational Practices and Resources. OLCOS Roadmap 2012

As a Transversal Action under the European eLearning Programme, the Open e-Learning Content Observatory Services (OLCOS) project carries out a set of activities that aim at fostering the creation, sharing and re-use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Europe and beyond.OER are understood to comprise content for teaching and learning, software-based tools and services, and licenses that allow for open development and re-use of content, tools and services.The OLCOS road mapping work was conducted to provide decision makers with an overview of current and likely future developments in OER and recommendations on how various challenges in OER could be addressed.While the results of the road mapping will provide some basis for policy and institutional planning, strategic leadership and decision making is needed for implementing measures that are likely to promote a further uptake of open educational practices and resources.OER are understood to be an important element of policies that want to leverage education and lifelong learning for the knowledge economy and society. However, OLCOS emphasises that it is crucial to also promote innovation and change in educational practices.In particular, OLCOS warns that delivering OER to the still dominant model of teachercentred knowledge transfer will have little effect on equipping teachers, students and workers with the competences, knowledge and skills to participate successfully in the knowledge economy and society.This report emphasises the need to foster open practices of teaching and learning that are informed by a competency-based educational framework. However, it is understood that a shift towards such practices will only happen in the longer term in a step-by-step process. Bringing about this shift will require targeted and sustained efforts by educational leaders at all levels

Open Access Publishing: A Literature Review

Within the context of the Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy (CREATe) research scope, this literature review investigates the current trends, advantages, disadvantages, problems and solutions, opportunities and barriers in Open Access Publishing (OAP), and in particular Open Access (OA) academic publishing. This study is intended to scope and evaluate current theory and practice concerning models for OAP and engage with intellectual, legal and economic perspectives on OAP. It is also aimed at mapping the field of academic publishing in the UK and abroad, drawing specifically upon the experiences of CREATe industry partners as well as other initiatives such as SSRN, open source software, and Creative Commons. As a final critical goal, this scoping study will identify any meaningful gaps in the relevant literature with a view to developing further research questions. The results of this scoping exercise will then be presented to relevant industry and academic partners at a workshop intended to assist in further developing the critical research questions pertinent to OAP

Institutional Repositories Adoption in selected Academic Libraries in Tanzania: Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, the Open University of Tanzania and Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology libraries.

The study assessed Institutional repositories adoption in Tanzanian academic libraries. Data was obtained by using self-administered questionnaires and structured interview protocol, focused group discussion and observation. The study was conducted at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, the Open University of Tanzania and the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology. Specific objectives were to; establish the level of awareness of users on Institutional Repository (IR), Find out types of infrastructure used for IR, assess the software used on IR, determine the availability of IR policies, Identify challenges faced in IR adoption in selected academic libraries. Questionnaires were used to sample of 60 academic staff and 27 IR managers. In-depth interviews were conducted with 3 Library Directors. Majority 270 (94.44%) of respondents indicated that they were aware on the existence of IR. Then the results revealed that 163 (57%) of respondents learned about IR from librarians, 143 (50%) from seminars and 87 (31%) from the Internet. On the requirements for the operationalization of the IR, 256 (100%) of respondents identified Internet connectivity, software 205 (80%), ICT 128 (50%), 74 (29%) reported that uninterrupted power supply as an important infrastructure. Through Focus Group Discussions 77 (30%) librarians indicated that there are two common software used for IR establishment; Dspace and Eprints. Issues related to IR policy; two universities (90%) had put in place IR policy. Scarce funds, slow Internet, inadequate ICT infrastructure are some of the challenges. The study recommends to the university management, to allocate adequate funds for ICT infrastructure and library staff to raise awareness on the centrality of IR to users. Keywords: Institutional repository, academic libraries, digital archiving, Tanzania

Scholarly communications revisited : journal publishing, open access, and digital-age Journals

The development of digital technology has drastically changed scholarly communication. T he advent of electronic journals has changed the industrial structure of academic publish-i ng. As the market concentration of journal publishing continues to increase, the pricing of j ournals has been dominated and controlled by large publishers. The never-ending rise of s ubscription prices is approaching a tipping point that libraries/institutions—even in hi gh-income countries—can no longer bear. In these circumstances, the open access (OA) m ovement has been promoted over the past 15 years, and new types of publications have ap peared. This paper discusses the definition and history of OA, the position of each stake- holder in the OA landscape, and new digital-age journals, which include OA mega-journals and research funders’ OA platforms