Scholarly communication: The quest for Pasteur's Quadrant

The scholarly communication system is sustained by its functions of a) registration, b) certification or legitimization, c) dissemination and awareness d) archiving or curation and e) reward. These functions have remained stable during the development of scholarly communication but the means through which they are achieved have not. It has been a long journey from the days when scientists communicated primarily through correspondence. The impact of modern-day technological changes is significant and has destabilized the scholarly communication system to some extent because many more options have become available to communicate scholarly information with. Pasteur's Quadrant was articulated by Donald E Stokes in his book Pasteur's Quadrant Basic Science and Technological Innovation. It is the idea that basic science (as practiced by Niels Bohr) and applied science (as exemplified by Thomas Edison) can be brought together to create a synergy that will produce results of significant benefit, as Louis Pasteur did. Given the theory (fundamental understanding) we have of scholarly communication and given how modern-day technological advances can be applied, a case can be made that use-inspired basic research (Pasteur's Quadrant) should be the focus for current research in scholarly communication. In doing so the different types of digital scholarly resources and their characteristics must be investigated to determine how the fundamentals of scholarly communication are being supported. How libraries could advocate for and contribute to the improvement of scholarly communication is also noted. These resources could include: e-journals, repositories, reviews, annotated content, data, pre -print and working papers servers, blogs, discussion forums, professional and academic hubs

Digital Repositories: All hype and no substance

The development of digital repositories has been a recent one, starting in late 2000 when the UK\u27s University of Southampton released a software package called E-Prints. Since that time, the establishment of digital repositories has gained momentum. Factors such as the falling costs for online storage, the increase of broadband and gigabit networking technologies, as well as the development of metadata standards to describe repository content, all contributed to their current popularity. Questions to be asked are: to what extent is digital repositories, as a method for communicating scientific and scholarly information, accepted or is it just hype?; how mature is institutional repositories as a technology?; and, to what extent are institutional repositories used by faculty and researchers? The Gartner Hype Curve is a tool introduced by the Gartner Group in the 1990’s to explain general phenomena of interest in new technologies. This framework plots the typical progression of a technology from its early introduction through its maturation to broad market acceptance. The first question is answered by an investigation into the status of digital repositories in the context of the Gartner Hype Curve. The second question is answered by plotting institutional repositories on the product life cycle (Sigmoid Curve) and the third question is answered by applying the Diffusion of Innovation Theory to institutional repositories

Excellence in service: the enabling power of well managed technology

One of the five main areas identified for this conference is Technology Enabled Services for Cultural Heritage. It can be stated as fact that all services are reliant on technology to some extent. However, the real benefit of information technology in service delivery can only be achieved it is well managed. This statement provides some background as to why it is necessary to manage information technology. Information technology is probably the fastest changing of all resources utilized in the information industry and therefore one of the more difficult resources to manage properly. It is observed that some managers are of the opinion that they are managing their IT if large sums of money are thrown at it. However, this is no guarantee that the competitive edge that IT can provide an enterprise with will be realized. Nor is following the market trends or buying the latest and greatest one can afford the answer. However, a holistic and logical approach towards managing the information technology resources will go a long way in assuring success of the enterprise or organization. The paper proposes a meaningful way in which this can be achieved. The study is based on the premise that change management will provide useful guidelines for the management of information technology, as the rate of change experienced in the information technology arena is notoriously high. The resulting management model has some elements of technology management and change management and provides a way in which information technology can be maximized to provide an information enterprise with the competitive edge IT is capable of

Institutional repositories as sustainable infrastructure supporting e-scholarship

Paper presented at the Educause Southeast Regional Conference 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia.The development of digital repositories has been a relative recent one, starting in late 2000 with the release a software package called E-Prints. Since that time, the establishment of digital repositories has gained momentum. Factors such as the falling costs for online storage and the increase of broadband networking technologies have contributed to their current popularity. The status of institutional repositories internationally is under investigation in the context of the Gartner Hype Curve. The available numbers on institutional repositories are analyzed with emphasis on its role in changing the scholarly communication process and the impact of the open-access movement.Ye

Creating the Blackfoot digital library: the challenge of cultural sensitivity.

In the mid 1990’s it was estimated that there are only about 5,000 – 8,000 speakers of the Blackfoot language and that the numbers were declining. The decline of the language was exacerbated by the absence of a generally accepted writing system. The orthography most commonly used for writing Blackfoot on the three Southern Alberta reserves was only approved as the official writing system in 1975. This resulted in very little written material being produced by the Blackfoot people that captured their history In 2006 the University of Lethbridge and Red Crow Community College joined forces in to ensure that as much as possible of the Blackfoot cultural record will be preserved and made accessible through the creation of a Blackfoot Digital Library. A foundational requirement of the digital library was cultural sensitivity and specifically that it must appropriately honor the Blackfoot worldview. In the traditional Blackfoot worldview the underlying premise is that all knowledge is derived from place, which posed a significant challenge. The solution was the design of a custom-made search interface that displays the search results on a digital map where the user is immediately confronted with the land. The map, displays the place(s) where the assets that were retrieved by the search, originated from and offer access to the various assets themselves. The presentation informs on the challenges faced by the initiative.University of LethbridgeN

The Digital Library: The Next Sigmoid Curve of the Information Profession

Although it cannot be stated as fact that the digital library is the next Sigmoid Curve of libraries, it will be folly for librarians not to consider this likely possibility very seriously and to ensure that they are prepared should it happen. The wise librarian must see to it that he has young up coming and dynamic leaders in his organization, prepared to ride the next wave so that the library may benefit. What is clear at this stage (1996), is that even if books and the traditional formats are not replaced by computer media, computer media, at the very least, will be a very important permanent supplement thereto. This point of view is based on the fact that the important thing about media is that they should be appropriate. Appropriateness is not an absolute concept, but it can be defined in terms of suitability for a purpose. With the huge gap in the sophistication of technology between the First and Third World, it stands to reason that the digital medium is not an appropriate one for the latter. The world as a whole, however, changes more spontaneously, and never so erratically, as during a period of dramatic technological change. These words caution us to expect even more (dramatic) change in the information profession. An open mind should be kept regarding problems and opportunities this offer our profession.N

Canadian and South African scholars' use of institutional repositories, ResearchGate, and Academia.edu

Sherpa Romeo green journal. Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License 4.0Since their initial development in the early 2000s, institutional repositories (IRs) have proliferated around the globe. Due to low faculty participation, however, content recruitment has often posed a significant challenge for librarians and others promoting their use. Through the last decade, academic social networks (ASNs), such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu, have become popular among scholars as a means to communicate with each other and share their research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with sixty scholars at six universities in Canada and South Africa to explore their views and practices pertaining to IRs and ASNs. Interviews were transcribed and coded to elucidate trends and themes in the data. The study found that few participants were active supporters of their local IRs. Lack of awareness, time limitations, and concerns regarding copyright remain some of the main obstacles to increased faculty participation. Conversely, more than half of the interviewees were active users of either ResearchGate or Academia.edu. These users valued ASNs both as a means of sharing their work and as tools facilitating connections with their colleagues internationally. Though IRs need not compete with these networks, proponents of open access repositories should be prepared to explain to faculty why they should consider having their research made accessible in a repository though they may already actively share their work through ResearchGate or Academia.edu. Significantly, both ASNs and IRs were more popular among South African than Canadian researchers. It is hoped that the results of the study will be helpful in informing the understanding and decisions of librarians and others working to develop and promote IRs and green open access more broadly.Ye

Developing a community of practice: report on a survey to determine the scholarly communication landscape in western Canada

The Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries (COPPUL) Scholarly Communications Working Group (SCWG) surveyed COPPUL member libraries with a short questionnaire in November 2012. The stated purpose of the survey was to inform both the educational efforts of COPPUL with regard to scholarly communications, as well as the agenda of a proposed meeting of scholarly communication practitioners in COPPUL libraries. This paper discusses the results in the context of the formation of a Community of Practice (CoP) since conducting the survey. The paper concludes that a CoP has not yet formed; however, it presents the challenges with the formation of the CoP, identifies some of the actions taken so far, and makes recommendations for future direction for continuing to develop the CoP among COPPUL institutions.N