Valeur des bibliothèques pour la recherche et les chercheurs (La)

Ce document est la traduction d’un rapport publié en mars 2011 par le Research Information Network (RIN) et Research Libraries United Kingdom (RLUK) du Royaume-Uni. Ce rapport présente les conclusions d’une étude sur la valeur des services des bibliothèques aux chercheurs et à la recherche au Royaume-Uni. L’étude repose sur : -une analyse quantitative des données statistiques disponibles sur 67 institutions d’enseignement supérieur du Royaume-Uni pour déterminer s’il existe une corrélation entre l’activité de la bibliothèque et les performances en matière de recherche ; -une analyse qualitative menée auprès des bibliothécaires et chercheurs de neufs institutions d’enseignement supérieur du Royaume-Uni, aux caractéristiques variées, entre avril et septembre 2010, par le biais d’entrevues et de focus groups

Collaborative yet independent: Information practices in the physical sciences

In many ways, the physical sciences are at the forefront of using digital tools and methods to work with information and data. However, the fields and disciplines that make up the physical sciences are by no means uniform, and physical scientists find, use, and disseminate information in a variety of ways. This report examines information practices in the physical sciences across seven cases, and demonstrates the richly varied ways in which physical scientists work, collaborate, and share information and data. This report details seven case studies in the physical sciences. For each case, qualitative interviews and focus groups were used to understand the domain. Quantitative data gathered from a survey of participants highlights different information strategies employed across the cases, and identifies important software used for research. Finally, conclusions from across the cases are drawn, and recommendations are made. This report is the third in a series commissioned by the Research Information Network (RIN), each looking at information practices in a specific domain (life sciences, humanities, and physical sciences). The aim is to understand how researchers within a range of disciplines find and use information, and in particular how that has changed with the introduction of new technologies

Equivalent Land Capability Workshop Summary Notes

The Equivalent Land Capability Workshop, held on November 26, 2010 at the University of Alberta, provided an opportunity for 60 reclamation specialists to share views about Equivalent Land Capability and how it is applied to oil sands mine reclamation, and to identify research and information needs. The purpose of the workshop was to develop a shared understanding of the concept and application of Equivalent Land Capability (ELC) as it applies to oil sands mine reclamation. The workshop format was a series of presentations, each followed by group discussions, which were guided by a series of questions provided by the organizers. A final open forum plenary discussion asked what people had learned and what they felt the next steps should be. There was general agreement that government should develop a policy document on what ELC means today, and acknowledge that the vision may change in the future. The policy document should acknowledge that ELC is much broader than the regulatory definition. ELC is a province-wide issue not just oil sands – therefore the oil sands could be a chapter in a bigger policy document. The policy should clearly distinguish the concept from the practice (implementation, measurement, etc.). External discussion papers could be also commissioned, with representation from all the publics. The compilation of these papers can act as a pre-policy paper – a synthesis of opinions meant to inform policy. Contributors may need to be paid a stipend. It is not necessary to agree and there can be a diversity of opinions. Additional recommendations that came out of the meeting are summarized below: • Revisit 1998 End Land Use Committee Report. • Re-institute the Development and Reclamation Review Committee as a tool to get better integration of government agency approaches and issues. • Develop a vehicle for sharing information on ELC (e.g., an ELC Blog). • Get more reclamation certificate applications in to test the system. • Poll the public about reclamation expectations and land use options. Additional ideas were submitted after the meeting: • Develop a flow chart that shows and explains the different reclamation stages: Define end use goals; Establish baseline inventories and long term monitoring plots; Reclamation planning; Reclamation implementation; Reclamation monitoring; and, Certification assessment. • Provide an example of an ELC through the various stages to show its change as it is proposed by a proponent after stakeholder involvement, negotiated, and then approved by government. • Define what other measurement tools there are – indicating where they are appropriate would help

Mining Hidden Gems: Building a Latin American Open Archives Portal for Scholars

Final grant proposal to Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access for the funding of the Latin American Open Archives Portal - LAOAP.UT Librarie

Active Amplification of the Terrestrial Albedo to Mitigate Climate Change: An Exploratory Study

This study explores the potential to enhance the reflectance of solar insolation by the human settlement and grassland components of the Earth's terrestrial surface as a climate change mitigation measure. Preliminary estimates derived using a static radiative transfer model indicate that such efforts could amplify the planetary albedo enough to offset the current global annual average level of radiative forcing caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gases by as much as 30 percent or 0.76 W/m2. Terrestrial albedo amplification may thus extend, by about 25 years, the time available to advance the development and use of low-emission energy conversion technologies which ultimately remain essential to mitigate long-term climate change. However, additional study is needed to confirm the estimates reported here and to assess the economic and environmental impacts of active land-surface albedo amplification as a climate change mitigation measure.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures. In press with Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, N

Latin American Open Archives Portal

The Latin American Open Archives Portal is a project of the Latin Americanist Research Resources Project - LARRP, in collaboration with the Latin American Network Information Center - LANIC, to improve access to social sciences grey literature produced in Latin America.UT Librarie

Assessing Africa-wide pangolin exploitation by scaling local data

Overexploitation is one of the main pressures driving wildlife closer to extinction, yet broad-scale data to evaluate species’ declines are limited. Using African pangolins (Family: Pholidota) as a case study, we demonstrate that collating local-scale data can provide crucial information on regional trends in exploitation of threatened species to inform conservation actions and policy. We estimate that 0.4-2.7 million pangolins are hunted annually in Central African forests. The number of pangolins hunted has increased by ∼150% and the proportion of pangolins of all vertebrates hunted increased from 0.04% to 1.83% over the past four decades. However, there were no trends in pangolins observed at markets, suggesting use of alternative supply chains. The price of giant (Smutsia gigantea) and arboreal (Phataginus sp.) pangolins in urban markets has increased 5.8 and 2.3 times respectively, mirroring trends in Asian pangolins. Efforts and resources are needed to increase law enforcement and population monitoring, and investigate linkages between subsistence hunting and illegal wildlife trade

Trends in prolonged sitting time among European adults: 27 country analysis

OBJECTIVE: To examine trends in adult sitting time across 27 European countries.  METHOD: Data were from the Eurobarometer surveys collected in 2002, 2005, and 2013. Sitting time data were used to categorise respondents into 'low' (0 to 4h30min), 'middle' (4h31min to 7h30min), and 'high' levels of sitting (>7h30min). We modelled the likelihood of being in the high sitting group within a given country and overall across the three time points, controlling for age, gender, education, employment status, and physical activity.  RESULTS: In total 17 countries had sitting data at all three time points; among these countries the prevalence of 'high sitting' decreased steadily from 23.1% (95% CI=22.2-24.1) in 2002 to 21.8% (95% CI=20.8-22.8) in 2005, and 17.8% (95% CI=16.9-18.7) in 2013. A further 10 countries had data only over the latter two time points; among these countries the prevalence of high sitting decreased from 27.7% (95% CI=26.0-29.4) in 2005 to 19.0% (95% CI=17.6-20.5) in 2013.  CONCLUSION: Time spent in sedentary behaviour may not be increasing in the European region, and prolonged sitting may, in fact, be decreasing. This finding has important implications for the sedentary behaviour debate and the policy response

Research Support in Australian Academic Libraries: Services, Resources, and Relationships

In the last decade Australian academic libraries have increasingly aligned their research support services with assessment criteria used in the national research evaluation exercise (Excellence for Research in Australia). The same period has seen growing interest in research impact outside of traditional measures, such as bibliometrics. Social media has provided opportunities for research dissemination and new tools, altmetrics, to measure these activities have emerged. This article reports on research into the extent and nature of research support services at Australian academic libraries, how the services are managed, and the factors that influence their development and delivery. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were used to compare the findings with an earlier study and to provide a deeper understanding of research support in Australia. Three key themes, services, staff and resourcing, and relationships, are discussed in relation to the management and challenges faced in providing research support