Planning for an institutional repository: lessons learned at Oregon State University

The Oregon State University Libraries began working on implementation of an institutional repository through a five month planning process. The Task Force responsible for the planning identified campus needs for such a service, examined persistent issues and challenges, and made recommendations for a pilot project. These steps are summarized and lessons learned articulated.Keywords: Metadata, Scholarly communication, Institutional repositories, Digital librarie

A Sense of Service

This issue of the Oregon Library Association Quarterly is dedicated to exploring the multiple meanings of service, the way we accomplish service through our programs and policies, and the deeply held beliefs and feelings that drive us to serve

Fisheries information in developing countries: support to the implementation of the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries

The 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries provides a policy framework for sustainable fisheries management. Many FAO Members indicate that the lack of information continues to constrain the full and effective implementation of the Code. This Circular seeks to address a range of information issues required to support the implementation of the Code. The methodologies used were surveys, case studies, citation analysis and literature review. An assessment of the nature of the information revealed the breadth of subject, historic depth and space, variety of scale and the diversity of sources. Its availability or accessibility in developing countries and the opportunities and challenges for securing access over the long term are reviewed. Gaps are identified, including the need for better integration of publications generated in developing countries into the mainstream of fisheries and aquaculture information. Strategies are proposed for improving the capture, dissemination, sharing and preservation of fisheries information.This report was done during Ms Webster's 2004 sabbatical

Tsunami Digital Library Needs Assessment: Final Report to Oregon State University Libraries and the Northwest Alliance for Computational Science & Engineering

The project team surveyed and interviewed forty identified experts within the diverse tsunami community. The survey revealed that this community is a sophisticated user of Internet search engines and tools and is very familiar with existing information. The sites mentioned most frequently as being helpful were those of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) as well as the International Tsunami Information Center and the National Earthquake Information Center. The primary criticism of other sites is that many of these sites are difficult to utilize. The survey results list uneven organization, dead links, and poor quality information as part of these difficulties. From the results, this community is looking for a centralized means to find and retrieve realtime as well as historical data, geographic resources, outreach materials, and modeling information. The data demonstrate a clear need for more coherent and effective access to tsunami information such as could be found in a Tsunami Digital Library. The following report describes the concept of the TDL, its technical framework and proposed content. We explain the methodology of the needs assessment, report the results of our survey, and recommend further work

2007 Review of PICES Publication Program

This report was presented to the Finance and Administration Committee of PICES at the 16th Annual Meeting on October 31, 2007. It will appear as part of the Committee's annual report in the 2007 PICES Annual Report. Elements of the report were presented at the 33rd IAMSLIC Annual Conference with an accompanying paper describing the cataloging, indexing and archiving issues that will appear in the conference proceedings.The North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) was established in 1992 to promote and coordinate marine scientific research and data sharing challenges in the North Pacific Ocean. To fulfill this mission, a vigorous publications program has grown out of the crucial need for efficient communication with a highly varied audience. The PICES Finance and Administration (F&A) Committee directed the Executive Secretary to undertake an external review of its publications program. Publishing is an expensive and time-consuming activity; however the products generated are important in fulfilling the organization’s mission. PICES relies on a small, dedicated staff and the efforts of individual volunteers and organizational members to accomplish its publishing goals. In 2003, a similar program review was commissioned, so the current review provides an opportunity to consider options for the future with special consideration of electronic publishing and to evaluate the efficacy of the 2003 recommendations.Keywords: Digital publishing, North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), Institutional repositories, Archiving, Indexing, Impact & usage of publications, International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers (IAMSLIC

Chapter 2: The Consumption and Production of Fisheries Information in the Digital Age

Fisheries scientists persistently create, communicate, and use information. In fact, if they did not, there would be no fisheries science. To exist, science must be part of a continuum where shared information, from casual hallway communications to rigorously reviewed articles, documents the questions asked and the solutions suggested. Relevant information is critical to the success of basic and applied fisheries research projects. Identifying the relevant at the beginning of a project and then communicating what is important out of the project are elements of the life cycle of fisheries information. Both have become simultaneously easier and more difficult as the amount of information increases within the digital environment. The access to information is simpler and yet more nuanced. The following attempts to assist with that decision making by describing approaches, options and challenges to consuming relevant information and then producing, or communicating, the same. On the consumption side, we will discuss how to identify, obtain and manage fisheries information. As tools change, the focus will be on strategies with specific examples of current tools. On the production end, we will explain the decisions to be made regarding intended audiences and possible outlets, publishing options, copyright considerations, access points, and archiving responsibilities. Finally, we will return to the electronic information environment to put the consumption strategies and publishing decisions into a larger context. Here we will touch on the economics of publishing and access, possible legal issues, the concept of the digital library, and information integrity and preservation

Information for responsible fisheries : librarians as mediators: synthesis of Thursday, 13 October 2005 -"Fisheries Day" and continued cooperation between IAMSLIC and FAO

IAMSLIC Conference Series.One full day of the 2005 IAMSLIC Conference was dedicated to papers and discussion about fisheries issues. Given the setting at FAO, the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the role of fisheries libraries in supporting its implementation were highlighted. The papers gave insight into fisheries information, the characteristics of a responsible fisheries library, and the needs of information users and producers. The following synthesizes ideas and issues described in the presentations, placing them within the context of the Code and recurring themes of the conference. Issues discussed include the following: the needs of users versus producers of information; the nature of information and libraries for responsible fisheries; geospatial information; the Information Commons; information as a development tool; and, technical disparity. Further collaboration between FAO and IAMSLIC is warranted.KEYWORDS: Fisheries libraries, FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, Information Commons, Ontologies, professional training, information access, resources sharin

Show Us The Databases: Rethinking access to marine science information

As IAMSLIC members will recall, in 1990 Stephanie Haas questioned ASFA’s supremacy in marine science libraries and found “potential pitfalls” if relying on a single database to adequately discover the relevant literature (Haas 1990). We still question the best way to access the literature in our multidisciplinary field. Patrons and librarians want tools that are efficient, current and easy to use. We know libraries can no longer afford to purchase core journal collections (Webster and Butler, 2011) and now we ask if we can still afford the best access tools. We used a modified version of the Hass research methodology to compare the timeliness and completeness with which Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), Fish, Fisheries & Aquatic Biodiversity Worldwide (FFABW), Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) tracked the literature. We developed a list of journal titles for the disciplines of fisheries, marine biology and oceanography from our earlier work (Webster and Butler, 2011a) and the Marine Science and Technology section of Magazines for Libraries (Webster and Butler, 2011b). We report our findings on the currency of each tool as well as other issues that arose in navigating the current marine science information landscape.This paper will also be available in the IAMSLIC proceedings archive at the Woods Hole Oceanography Institute. https://darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org/handle/1912/164Keywords: Access to information, Marine science librarianship, Database

Smart Fishing for Information: Using Open Access and Free Information Resources for Finding and Publishing Fisheries Science in Africa

In the past, fisheries and aquaculture researchers in Africa have been handicapped by poor access to current scientific literature and difficulties in getting published in visible outlets. Efforts in the past decade to improve access, awareness and use of information have flourished. We examine whether these efforts are reflected in the output of African fisheries scientists. We also explore how the Open Access movement may be influencing the dissemination of African fisheries science.The paper is published online through the Woods Hole Open Access Server. It is also available along with the conference presentation at Oregon State University's ScholarsArchive.Keywords: African publishing patterns, Open access information, Marine science librarianshi