To: ARL Directors
From: Duane Webster
Re: December 2006-February 2007 E-News for ARL Directors
Note: We are experimenting with a new format for E-News: the e-mail now contains a summary version of the full E-News, which is available in its entirety on the ARL Web site in HTML and PDF form. Your feedback on this format will be appreciated.
These news notes are organized by the strategic directions identified in the ARL Strategic Plan: Scholarly Communication; Public Policies Affecting Research Libraries; and the Library Roles in Research, Teaching, and Learning. In addition, there is an initial section for Governance and Membership Activities and complementary sections on Diversity, Professional Workforce, and Leadership Development; Library Statistics and Assessment; and Other Items of Interest to ARL Directors. E-News for ARL Directors: Part One is a collaboration of ARL program staff, compiled and edited by Duane Webster (duane@arl.org) and Kaylyn Hipps (kaylyn@arl.org).
You are encouraged to route the E-News to your staff and others in your institution.
1. ARL Board Meets, February 8–9, 2007
2. ARL Executive Director Duane Webster to Retire
3. Membership Meeting to Explore Libraries & the Research Process, May 23–25, 2007
4. ARL Committee & Task Force Members Appointed
5. Libraries Urged to Drive a Hard Bargain in Negotiating Digitization Agreements
6. Progressing toward E-Resource Transactions without Licenses
8. Author Rights Webcasts to Be Repeated in April & May 2007
9. University of California Proposes Open Access Policy
10. CIC Provosts Release Statement on Publishing Agreements
11. AAP PR Assault on Open Access Disclosed
12. IAA Submits Comments to Antitrust Hearings
13. UC Proposes New Approach to E-Journal Purchasing: Value-Based Pricing
14. ARL Endorses Recommendations Regarding E-Journal Archiving
15. Wiley Completes Blackwell Acquisition
16. AAUP Releases Statement on Open Access
17. Over 20,000 Petition the European Commission to Support Public Access to Research
19. ARL Launches “Know Your Copy Rights”™ Initiative
20. Push for Public Access to Federally Funded Research in the US Is Renewed
22. Library Copyright Alliance Applauds New FAIR USE Bill
23. Insurance Companies Support “Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use”
25. ARL Joins Testimony on EPA Libraries
28. Interagency Effort on Digital Data Policies Established
29. IMLS Sponsors New Initiative on Conservation of Collections
30. US Superintendent of Documents Judith Russell Retires
31. LC Working Group on Future of Bibliographic Control to Meet at Google HQ March 8, 2007
32. New ARL Appointments Advance Research, Teaching, and Learning
33. Teaching and Learning Recommendations Incorporated into RTL Plans
34. CNI Update
36. ARL Diversity Initiatives Reception to Be Held in Washington, DC, June 22, 2007
37. ARL Selects 2007–08 Research Library Leadership Fellows
38. Stanley Wilder Uses ARL Data to Analyze the Under-35 Workforce in ARL Libraries
39. ARL Statistics & Measurement Program Update
41. ARL and Amigos Offer Workshop on Web Development with XML, May 21–24, 2007
42. LibQUAL+® Update
44. ARL Publications
45. ARL Transitions
49. Honors
ARL President Sherrie Schmidt (Arizona State) convened a meeting of the ARL Board of Directors in Washington, DC, February 8–9, 2007. A primary focus of discussion was development of the 2007 ARL budget. Actions taken by the Board include:
a. Reviewed the final report and recommendation from the Task Force on Leadership Development and acted to support a Visiting Program Officer to serve as a consultant for the next year to follow up on the recommendations in the report. The final report of the task force is available on the ARL Web site in the members-only section.
b. Reviewed the final report and recommendations from the Task Force on New Ways of Measuring Collections as well as advice from the Statistics and Assessment Committee and acted to support the following:
i. Reserve use of the current membership criteria index to those occasions when it is needed for consideration of membership issues.
ii. Implement an expenditure-focused index.
iii. Use the new expenditure-focused index for any public reports, such as in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
iv. Experiment with another alternative index that combines the following three factors: collections, services, and collaborative relationships.
v. Revise definitions for collections-related data categories currently gathered by ARL and experiment with a variety of new measures—including usage data, strength of collections, and service quality measures—to develop a richer set of variables for potential inclusion in the three-factor alternative index (see above).
vi. Collect qualitative data to develop a profile of ARL member libraries.
The Statistics and Assessment Committee will work with the Statistics and Measurement Program to implement these actions and will make a progress report at the May 2007 ARL Business Meeting. The Final Report of the Task Force on New Ways of Measuring Collections is posted on the ARL Web site at http://www.arl.org/stats/aboutstats/tfnewways.shtml.
c. Acted on the advice of ARL’s Scholarly Communication Steering Committee and endorsed recommendations made in the CLIR report, “E-Journal Archiving Metes and Bounds: A Survey of the Landscape.” See item 14 below.
d. Adopted a 2007 budget for ARL that continues the process begun in 2005 of reallocating dues within the budget to support the three strategic directions described in the ARL Strategic Plan and developed guidance for use of the agility fund.
e. Conducted the annual performance review of the ARL Executive Director.
f. Selected Montreal as the ARL Membership Meeting site for May 2011. To review, the locations of upcoming May Membership Meetings are: St Louis (May 2007), Coral Gables (May 2008), Houston (May 2009), and Seattle (May 2010). The dates for future Membership Meetings are published on the ARL Web site as they become available. See http://www.arl.org/events/futuremms/.
g. Adopted the minutes of the Board’s October 2006 meeting. The minutes will be distributed to all member representatives in a separate e-mail.
All member representatives received additional information about the February 2007 Board meeting in a message from ARL President Sherrie Schmidt e-mailed on March 1.
Duane E. Webster has announced that he will retire from his position as Executive Director of ARL no later than May 2008. By announcing his retirement plans now, Webster provides the ARL Board of Directors with ample time for a search and a seamless transition of leadership. Webster has led the Association for two decades, following his appointment in 1988 as Interim Executive Director and then in 1989 as Executive Director. Under his leadership, ARL emerged as a significant agent for change in the world of research libraries and in scholarly communication. The press release about Webster’s retirement is online at http://www.arl.org/news/pr/websterretirement.shtml.
The ARL Board of Directors has appointed a search committee led by Brian E. C. Schottlaender, ARL Past President and University Librarian at the University of California, San Diego. The committee will conduct an open search for Webster’s successor. The Executive Director Search Committee roster is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/arl/governance/cmte.shtml.
ARL President Sherrie Schmidt (Arizona State) will convene the 150th ARL Membership Meeting May 23-25, 2007. The program theme is “Libraries and the Research Process: Exploring How to Demonstrate Returns on Investment.” The meeting will take place in St. Louis at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel. While many member representatives will want to arrive in time for committee, task force, or working group meetings, the meeting formally opens on Wednesday, May 23, at 3:30 p.m. and will adjourn Friday, May 25, at noon. The Business Meeting will be held Thursday, May 24, 8:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. The libraries of the University of Missouri, Southern Illinois University, and Washington University in St. Louis are each sponsoring receptions. A preliminary schedule for the meeting is available on the ARL Web site at http://www.arl.org/events/currentmm/.
The ARL Executive Committee—Sherrie Schmidt (Arizona State), Marianne Gaunt (Rutgers), and Brian E. C. Schottlaender (California, San Diego)—has made appointments to fill open slots on existing committees and to name members to two new groups being formed: Special Collections Working Group and Executive Director Search Committee. A committee, task force, and working group roster as of March 2007 is on the ARL Web site at http://www.arl.org/arl/governance/cmte.shtml.
Seven core library interests in evaluating digitization partnerships are identified in the recent article “In Google’s Broad Wake: Taking Responsibility for Shaping the Global Digital Library,” by Richard K. Johnson. The author urges libraries to reject the notion that recent mass digitization contracts have established the norms for future agreements and to “make full use of whatever leverage they have to ensure the global digital library is open and dynamic.” As stewards of their collections, libraries should consider carefully issues of exclusivity, uses of the digital files, respect for the public domain and copyright, preservation, use of standards, the quid pro quo, and transparency. Developed at the request of ARL’s Scholarly Communication Steering Committee, a checklist accompanying the article suggests some of the questions negotiators should ask themselves as they define their objectives in entering an agreement. The article is openly available at http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/br/br250.shtml.
ARL’s support for the development of a simplified approach to e-resource acquisition has led the formation of a National Information Standards Organization (NISO) working group on Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU). The group is drafting a set of shared understandings held by libraries and publishers in their e-resource transactions. Libraries will be able to simply reference the SERU statements and forego license agreements where they feel the mechanism is appropriate. The working group draws membership from the publishing, serial vendor, and library communities. Information about the working group and how to sign up for notices of further developments is available at http://www.niso.org/committees/SERU/.
Libraries have another opportunity to enhance their campus outreach programs by participating in the July 2007 ARL/ACRL Institute on Scholarly Communication. Applications for the third offering of the Institute on Scholarly Communication are being accepted until March 14. The institute will be held in Washington, DC, July 18–20. Demand for slots remains competitive. Successful applicants will be notified of their status on April 16. Information about the institute is available at http://www.arl.org/sc/institute/july07.shtml.
Two additional webcasts on campus campaigns to raise awareness of author rights have been scheduled for April and May. Registration dates will be announced shortly. The webcasts repeat the oversubscribed December 2006 webcast to allow broader participation in this popular program. The webcasts are developed jointly as part of the ARL/ACRL Institute on Scholarly Communication with support from SPARC. For more information on the institute, see http://www.arl.org/sc/institute/.
The University of California (UC) has proposed a new open access policy confirming UC faculty ownership of copyright in their scholarly works. The policy provides a mechanism for faculty to use to grant permission to the regents to make their works openly accessible in a digital repository. The policy was requested by UC’s Academic Assembly and created in consultation with copyright experts. The policy statement, a letter from Wyatt R. Hume, Provost and Executive Vice President, and an addendum for use with rights transfer agreements are posted at http://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/openaccesspolicy/.
The Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) has developed a draft Provosts’ Statement On Publishing Agreements (see http://www.cic.uiuc.edu/groups/FacultyGovernanceLeaders/archive/WhitePaper/CICAuthorsRights.pdf). R. Michael Tanner, Provost, University of Illinois at Chicago, explains the issues motivating this step in his article, “Copyrights and the Paradox of Scholarly Publishing.” (Available at http://cic.uiuc.edu/groups/FacultyGovernanceLeaders/archive/WhitePaper/TannerAuthorsRights.pdf) The provosts’ statement includes an author addendum enabling scholars to retain the rights they need to authorize postprint archiving.
On January 25, the journal Nature reported that the Association of American Publishers (AAP) has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to PR “pit bull” Eric Dezenhall to develop simple messages, such as “public access equals government censorship.” Exchanges strategizing attacks on public access policies and open access generally involving Dezenhall and Elsevier, Wiley, and American Chemical Society staff were leaked to reporters. An issue brief describing the disclosed “simple messages” and offering talking points to correct misinformation and open up broader discussion of change in the scholarly publishing system is available at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/aapprissuebrief.pdf.
The Information Access Alliance (IAA) has submitted comments to the Joint Hearings on Single Firm Conduct being held by the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. The IAA comments explain how the market power of large journal publishers is harming the publishing market and encourage antitrust investigation of the situation. The IAA is the American Library Association, Association of College and Research Libraries, American Association of Law Libraries, Medical Library Association, ARL, SPARC, and the Special Libraries Association, seven library associations who are concerned with the impact of mergers and other anticompetitive behaviors on libraries’ ability to provide users with important research information. The text of the IAA comments is available at http://www.informationaccess.org/.
The University of California (UC) has released a white paper describing a new approach to price negotiations for scholarly journals. The paper describes models for “prices for scholarly materials that are reasonable, transparent, and based upon the value of the material to the academic mission of the University of California.” The approach applies measures of scholarly value, indexes for changes in production costs, recognition of the value-adding contributions of subscribing institutions, and business transaction efficiencies. The white paper is available at http://libraries.universityofcalifornia.edu/cdc/valuebasedprices.pdf.
ARL has endorsed the recommendations made in the report, “E-Journal Archiving Metes and Bounds: A Survey of the Landscape,” written by Anne R. Kenney, Richard Entlich, Peter B. Hirtle, Nancy Y. McGovern, and Ellie L. Buckley, and published in 2006 by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). In addition, ARL urges its member libraries to support and participate in trustworthy and effective e-journal archiving initiatives as recommended in the report, and urges its member libraries to press publishers of e-journals to participate in and support trustworthy and effective archiving of their titles. Further information is available at http://www.arl.org/news/pr/arlendorsesclirrpt.shtml.
John Wiley and Sons announced that they have completed acquisition of Blackwell Publishing. The Information Access Alliance (IAA) protested the acquisition in a letter to the US Department of Justice. An alliance of European library associations led by SPARC Europe similarly protested the transaction to the UK Office of Fair Trading and the European Commission. Although the transaction failed to attract scrutiny by antitrust authorities, the IAA continues to work with antitrust authorities to improve understanding of its concerns regarding competition in the journal market. An issue brief on the issues raised by the acquisition is available at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/issue_brief_wiley_blackwell.pdf.
The Association of American University Presses (AAUP) recently released a statement describing its anxieties about open access in the monograph realm and also expressing its openness to change. The statement ascribes enthusiasm for open access to a desire to relieve library budgets of the pressure “of maintaining subscriptions to STM journals” and expresses concern about what presses perceive as “radical approaches that abandon the market…and instead try to implement a…’gift economy.’” The member presses of AAUP “recognize that they have an obligation to confront the many challenges—economic, legal, and technological—to the existing system and to participate with all willing partners…to strengthen and expand scholarly communications.” The AAUP statement is available at http://aaupnet.org/aboutup/issues/oa/statement.pdf.
SPARC Europe, JISC, and other partners recently circulated a petition urging the European Commission to support public access to research outputs shortly after their publication. The petition garnered no fewer than 17,500 individuals and 743 institutions and was presented to the EU Commissioner for Science and Research on February 15. The petition is still open for additional signatures and now contains over 21,000 signatories. See http://www.ec-petition.eu/.
SPARC’s principles are catching on around the world, most recently in Japan, where SPARC Japan launched in December with 600 members. SPARC Japan is a collaboration of Japanese academic institutions and scholarly societies working to promote and make widely available the work of Japanese researchers. SPARC Japan (http://www.nii.ac.jp/sparc/) is an initiative of the Tokyo-based National Institute of Informatics and is supported by more than 600 university libraries affiliated with library associations. These libraries bring SPARC’s membership around the world to over 800. For information on SPARC Japan’s innovative programs and its extensive roster of publishing partners, see http://www.arl.org/sparc/announce/06-1218.html. For information on SPARC membership or to view the complete roster, please see http://www.arl.org/sparc/org/members.html.
The SPARC/ACRL Forum on the impact of emerging federal research access policies on libraries was attended by over 300 people at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. Those who missed the forum can listen to the SPARC podcast, which will go online soon at http://www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/ala07mw/.
SPARC has made public its comments on access to peer-reviewed papers and associated data in Australia. Input was solicited for the Productivity Commission’s November 2006 draft report on “Public Support for Science and Innovation.” To read SPARC’s letter, please see http://www.arl.org/sparc/advocacy/SPARCcomment-Australia.pdf.
Linda Hutcheon, a literary theorist and professor at the University of Toronto, has contributed her innovative ideas on digital scholarship in the humanities to the Create Change Web site at http://www.createchange.org/cases/humanities.html.
Also note: “SPARC at Ten: A Decade Later, Organization Still Aims to Be Part of the Solution,” Library Journal Academic Newswire, January 18, 2007, http://email.libraryjournal.com/cgi-bin2/DM/y/htve0NJDFZ0PEA0C7Sm0EE.
The 2007 SPARC Program Plan is now online at http://www.arl.org/sparc/about/pp2007.html.
ARL has launched a copyright education initiative called Know Your Copy Rights™. The initiative is the result of a year-long process of securing input from ARL members, campus legal counsel, and copyright experts. The initiative’s inaugural product is a brochure “Know Your Copy Rights™—What You CAN Do.” The brochure gives faculty and teaching assistants in higher education a concise guide to when and how they can legally use copyrighted works in their teaching, often without requesting permission or paying fees. The brochure accentuates the positive by telling faculty what can be done under the law.
The colorful brochure was developed by ARL and attorney Peggy Hoon, a well-regarded copyright specialist known from her work at North Carolina State University. Peggy serves as ARL Visiting Scholar for Campus Copyright and Intellectual Property. ARL mailed 25 copies of the print brochure to each ARL director along with a list of ideas for using the brochure. ARL libraries may purchase additional print copies of the brochure in bundles of 100 copies for $50 per bundle ($75 for non-members), plus shipping and handling. Ordering information as well as a PDF of the brochure are freely available on the Know Your Copy Rights™ Web site at http://www.knowyourcopyrights.org/.
The National Society of Consulting Soil Scientists (NSCSS), which represents 156 private soil-consulting firms in the US, has declared its support for the Federal Research Public Access Act. The NSCSS is the first scientific society to publicly announce its support for the bill, which is backed by SPARC and the Alliance for Taxpayer Access. For further information, see http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/media/Advisory07-0130.html.
The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), a nonprofit scientific society of over 11,000 members and publisher of the high-impact monthly journal, Molecular Biology of the Cell, has announced its “Position on Public Access to Scientific Literature,” calling for free public access to federally funded research within six months of publication. ASCB has provided free access (after a two-month embargo) to research published in its journals since 2001 and has experienced no adverse impact on its finances. See http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/media/Advisory07-0206.html.
Thirty-nine patient, health, and consumer organizations last week sent letters to Senators Lieberman, Cornyn, and Collins in support of the Federal Research Public Access Act. The groups stress the particular importance of greater access to published medical research, which would help scientists speed the development of new treatments and cures. See http://www.cptech.org/a2k/public-access-info.doc.
Freeculture.org, an international student movement, in collaboration with the Alliance for Taxpayer Access (ATA), designated February 15, 2007, a “National Day of Action” for students who support open sharing of scientific and scholarly research findings on the Internet. In the US, events nationwide highlighted the importance of taxpayer access to publicly funded research and rallied support for Congressional passage of the Federal Research Public Access Act. The day also marked the fifth anniversary of the landmark Budapest Open Access Initiative—when the worldwide open access movement first took form—and was supported by the launch of a new ATA student Web resource and petition for public access. For more information, see http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/media/Release07-0201.html.
The Library Copyright Alliance applauds the introduction of the Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing US Entrepreneurship (FAIR USE) Act of 2007, HR 1201, which was introduced February 27, by Representatives Boucher (D-VA), Lofgren (D-CA), and Doolittle (R-CA). The legislation seeks to ensure that fair use is robust and effective in the digital, networked environment. HR 1201 is more targeted than previous bills relating to fair use. The legislation would make permanent six exemptions approved by the Librarian of Congress stemming from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anti-circumvention rulemaking. This includes for example, the ability to circumvent digital locks to use AV works from an educational library or a university media studies department in the classroom. There are six additional provisions in the legislation of interest to the library and education communities including one that would permit a library or archive to circumvent technological protection measures to preserve a copy of a work or replace a copy that is damaged, deteriorated, lost, or stolen. Importantly from the perspectives of the consumer electronics industry, the FAIR USE Act in essence eliminates the possibility of statutory damages against entities that provide others with the means to infringe. Statutory damages would only be assessed against the persons who actually engage in infringement themselves. While technology companies are the most likely beneficiaries of this new provision, it will also reduce the potential exposure of libraries and universities to claims for excessive damages for the infringing conduct of users of their services. The Library Copyright Alliance consists of five major library associations—the American Association of Law Libraries, the American Library Association, ARL, the Medical Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association. For more information, see http://www.arl.org/news/pr/lca_fair_use_feb07.shtml.
Recent developments that build upon the 2005 “Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use” affirm the importance of best practices statements in fair use. The 2005 statement, created by five national associations of documentary filmmakers, expresses what the filmmakers consider to be reasonable applications of fair use. Recently, several insurance companies have offered insurance without exclusions for fair use materials. One insurance company, National Union, a member of AIG, decided to accept fair use claims based on the statement when accompanied by a lawyer’s letter. In addition, Media/Professional Insurance, in conjunction with the Stanford Law School Fair Use Project, will indemnify documentary filmmakers who take advantage of fair use. The Fair Use Project will review projects to ensure that they are within the scope of the best practices statement. The statement was coordinated by American University’s School of Communication’s Center for Social Media (Prof. Patricia Aufderheide) and Washington College of Law (Prof. Peter Jaszi). For more information, see http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/news/news_insurer_accepts_fair_use_claims/.
On January 31, the Section 108 Study Group and the US Copyright Office conducted a second roundtable to explore possible revisions to section 108 of the Copyright Act. This roundtable focused on copies for users, such as interlibrary loan. ARL and the American Library Association (ALA) were represented at the roundtable by Mary Case, University Librarian, University of Illinois at Chicago. In anticipation of the second roundtable, ARL and ALA convened a meeting January 4–5 to consider the questions raised by the study group and to provide input to the second roundtable. Position papers and other resources relating to the Section 108 Study Group can be found at http://www.arl.org/pp/ppcopyright/sec108/. For more information, please contact Prue Adler prue@arl.org.
ARL joined the American Library Association (ALA) and American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) in a statement before the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. ALA President Leslie Burger testifying on behalf of ALA, AALL, and ARL called for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop closures of EPA libraries and to better assess user information needs. Within the past year, EPA has closed, downsized, and/or significantly reduced the budgets of EPA libraries throughout the country. The associations also called for EPA to develop and implement a government-wide process to assist agencies in designing effective digitization programs. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has initiated a study of the EPA library closures at the request of Congress. ARL staff are working with GAO on this report. For more information, see http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/governmentinfo/epalibraries/epalibraries.htm.
Federal funding for libraries increased in several programs in President Bush’s FY 2008 budget request but did not fare as well in others. Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding at the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) increased $15.585 million over FY 2006, for a total of $226.182 million, with $26.5 million for the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program and $12.930 million for the National Leadership Grants for Libraries. The request for the Library of Congress is $461 million, the National Agricultural Library proposed allocation would be $20 million, and $312.562 million is requested for the National Library of Medicine. The President’s budget request includes $45.613 million for GPO’s Superintendent of Documents, $141 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, with $1.4 million slated for the Digital Humanities Initiative and $17.671 million for the Preservation and Access Division, a loss of $ 317,000. For more information, contact Prue Adler prue@arl.org.
Funding to the National Digital Information Infrastructure Preservation Program (NDIIPP) was cut in the year-long continuing resolution passed by the US House of Representatives and Senate in early 2007. $47 million in un-obligated NDIIPP funds were rescinded and the FY 2007 funding measure has been signed by the President. The Library of Congress is working with ARL and NDIIPP partners to garner support for new funding for the NDIIPP program. To answer questions from Congress concerning the impact of the rescission and how NDIIPP will fulfill the 10-year set of goals approved by Congress, the Library of Congress is seeking documentation of the impact of the NDIIP to institutions, it’s national significance, and what future additional efforts will be accomplished with future funding. Letters may be sent to Dr. Billington via libofc@loc.gov.
The Committee on Science of the National Science and Technology Council has established an Interagency Working Group on Digital Data (IWGDD). The working group will develop a strategic plan for the US government concerning the long-term preservation and access to federally funded digital data in support of science and engineering. The working group will coordinate policy, programs, and budgets among federal agencies and with other sectors. Twenty-two agencies are represented on the IWGDD with participation by seven additional offices and councils. For additional information on this topic, please see http://www.arl.org/pp/access/.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is sponsoring a major program focused on conservation of US library and museum collections. The initiative, Connecting to Collections, includes a National Conservation Summit to be held in Washington, DC, in June 2007. The initiative seeks to “raise public awareness of the importance of collections care,” in our cultural memory institutions. In addition to the June summit, IMLS is conducting conservation forums throughout the country, developing resources, both print and online, and planning grants. For more information, see http://www.imls.gov/about/collections.shtm.
Superintendent of Documents, Judith Russell, retired from the US Government Printing Office, effective February 28, 2007. Recognizing Ms. Russell’s accomplishments, ARL President Sherrie Schmidt commented, “During your tenure as Superintendent of Documents, you have been instrumental in defining new service roles for federal depository libraries in the networked environment. You have tackled key issues relating to how federal depository libraries can successfully transition to this new environment in order to remain meaningful both now and in the future. This has entailed extensive outreach to library directors, to documents librarians and to ARL.”
The first of three regional meetings of the Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control will be held at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, on March 8, 2007. The focus of the meeting will be on who is using bibliographic data, how the bibliographic data is meeting user needs, and what changes or enhancement to the bibliographic data are needed to better meet user information needs. Those unable to attend the meeting may send written testimony to Dr. José-Marie Griffith jmgriff@unc.edu.
Two recent appointments at ARL will advance the Association’s strategic direction on library roles in research, teaching, and learning.
Georgia Tech’s Crit Stuart was named Program Director for Research, Teaching, and Learning, effective May 14, 2007. From a distinguished career at the Georgia Tech Library, Crit has emerged as a senior leader in transforming the library into true learning spaces. He is currently Senior Associate Director for Pubic Services for the Library and Information Center, where he has excelled in establishing logical, new, campus-library relationships as well as in facilitating change within the library. Beginning in May, Crit may be reached at crit@arl.org.
In addition, the University of Washington’s Neil Rambo was named as Visiting Program Officer (VPO) to focus on library support for research and e-science. Neil was previously Associate Director of the Health Sciences Libraries at UW. His appointment as a VPO, which began March 1, is a half-time assignment for two years. Simultaneously, Neil is taking on new responsibilities at UW as Director of Cyberinfrastructure Initiatives and Special Assistant to the Dean of University Libraries for Biosciences and e-Science. The assignments at ARL and UW will provide synergy between institutional and community-wide perspectives on the same important set of issues. Neil may be reached at neil@arl.org.
During a January conference call, the Steering Committee for Research, Teaching, and Learning (RTL) reviewed and supported the recommendations of the Task Force on Enhanced Environments for Teaching and Learning. The recommendations include undertaking a broad environmental scan of member activities in support of teaching and learning; securing professional assistance in defining an advocacy campaign that addresses the roles research libraries play in the teaching and learning enterprise; strengthening partnerships that leverage common interests, particularly with the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and CNI; enabling professional development opportunities for library staff; and identifying best practices for library facilities. These actions were incorporated into the RTL Program Plan for 2007 that was endorsed by the ARL Board in February. The task force report is available in the RTL Steering Committee section of the members-only Web site http://www.arl.org/membersonly/cmterpts/sdcmterpts.shtml.
CNI’s 2007 Spring Task Force Meeting will be held in Phoenix April 16–17. Columbia University Art History and Archaeology Professor Stephen Murray will deliver the opening plenary address, speaking on the application of digital media to art history. Specifically, Professor Murray has worked to develop a Web resource that chronicles the documentation of over 30 Romanesque churches of central France through comprehensive digital photography and three-dimensional QuickTime nodes; his presentation will highlight this project. The closing plenary session will feature Marc Smith of the Microsoft Research Community Technologies Group, who will discuss several “collective-action” systems currently under development that enhance knowledge seeking and sharing activities. More information about the meeting is available at http://www.cni.org/tfms/2007a.spring/.
Attendees at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Seattle enjoyed several opportunities to hear from CNI staff: CNI Associate Executive Director Joan Lippincott spoke on assessing information commons at the EBSCO Executive Seminar, and she also facilitated the ACRL Information Commons Discussion Group, focusing on assessment. Clifford Lynch, CNI Executive Director, participated in the LITA “Top Technology Trends” discussion panel.
In March, Joan Lippincott will discuss issues surrounding learning spaces and information commons at several events, including the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC)/ National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE) Learning Spaces & Technology Workshop in Tacoma, Washington; the Tri-University Lecture Series at the University of British Columbia; and at the NorthEast Regional Computing Program (NERCOMP) conference in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Applications to become a 2007-09 Diversity Scholar in the ARL Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce are now available. The program offers a stipend of up to $10,000 over two years to support graduate study in library and information science for MLS students from underrepresented groups interested in careers in research libraries. The focus of this year’s recruitment is on candidates with educational backgrounds in applied and natural sciences or information technology. The initiative also offers a mentoring relationship with an experienced librarian, a leadership-training curriculum, and the opportunity to work in an ARL library upon graduation. The stipends may be coupled with other financial aid to provide an extra incentive for completing library school. The ARL Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and by voluntary contributions from 52 ARL member libraries; this funding reflects a commitment to create a diverse research library community that will better meet the new challenges of global competition and changing demographics. Applications are due June 18, 2007. The application form is available online at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/initapp2007.pdf.
On Friday, June 22, 2007, ARL will host its annual Diversity Initiatives reception. The reception will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the ARL headquarters, located at 21 Dupont Circle NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC. Save the date! For more information, contact Jerome Offord Jr. jerome@arl.org.
ARL has selected 23 Research Library Leadership Fellows (RLLF) for 2007–08. The RLLF Program was created in response to increasing demands for succession planning for research libraries—this executive leadership program offers a new approach to preparing the next generation of deans and directors. Library directors are seeking a new cohort of well-trained and sophisticated candidates who possess the unique skills to succeed in premier leadership positions in large, complex institutions.
This second offering of the RLLF Program is being designed and sponsored by six ARL member libraries: University of California, Berkeley, and the California Digital Library; Harvard University; University of Minnesota; North Carolina State University; Pennsylvania State University; and the University of Toronto.
The 2007–08 RLLF applicant pool was highly competitive. The selection committee, composed of the ARL directors sponsoring the program, chose 23 fellows representing a broad array of backgrounds and experiences and from multiple ARL institutions. The 2007–08 fellows are:
Brent Allison (Minnesota), Kristin Antelman (North Carolina State), Kenning Arlitsch (Utah), Christine Avery (Pennsylvania State), Jonathan Bengtson (Toronto), Nicole Bouché (Washington), John Butler (Minnesota), Lisa Carter (Kentucky), Robin Chandler (California Digital Library), Patrick José Dawson (California, Santa Barbara), Krisellen Maloney (Georgetown), Ellen Marks (Wayne State), Mary Ann Mavrinac (Toronto), Rebecca Mugridge (Pennsylvania State), Kathleen Oliver (Johns Hopkins University), Tracey Robinson (Harvard), Wendy Scott (North Carolina State), Nancy Seamans (Iowa), Tom Wall (Duke), Scott Walter ( Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Martha Whitehead (Queen’s), Marilyn Wood (Harvard), Peter Zhou (California, Berkeley).
For more information about the Research Library Leadership Fellows Program, see http://www.arl.org/leadership/rllf/ or contact Julia Blixrud jblix@arl.org.
In a recent Chronicle of Higher Education article, Stanley Wilder, Associate Dean of River Campus Libraries at the University of Rochester, uses 2005 demographic data from ARL to analyze the state of research librarianship for the under-35 crowd. Wilder found that 39% of library professionals under 35 work in nontraditional jobs—such as information technology and systems, human resources, and fund development—compared with 21% of those 35 and older. He notes that, on average, nontraditional professional positions also pay more than traditional jobs. Wilder observes that young professionals in ARL libraries are also “nontraditional’’ in that, as a group, they are somewhat more diverse than their older colleagues: in 2005, 18% of ARL professionals under 35 were minorities, compared to 12% of their 35-and-over colleagues.
See Stanley Wilder, “The New Library Professional: What Does the Growing Generation Gap among Their Employees Mean for Academic Research Libraries and for the Profession?” Chronicle of Higher Education 53, no. 25 (February 23, 2007): C1, http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i25/25c00101.htm (password required).
The status of the ARL annual surveys is as follows:
ARL Annual Salary Survey 2006–07: all surveys returned and prepublication tables are available at: http://www.arl.org/stats/annualsurveys/salary/sal0607.shtml
ARL Statistics 2004–05 available at: http://www.arl.org/stats/annualsurveys/arlstats/stats0405.shtml
Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics 2004–05 available at: http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/med05.pdf
Academic Law Library Statistics 2004–05 available at: http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/law05.pdf
ARL Preservation Statistics 2004–05: available at: http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/pres05.pdf
Currently, we are collecting data for the ARL Statistics, Health Sciences Library, Law Library, and Preservation Statistics for 2005-06. For information regarding the annual data-collection activities, contact Martha Kyrillidou martha@arl.org.
At the ARL Statistics and Survey Coordinators meeting held on January 19 in Seattle, Nancy Turner (Syracuse) made a presentation on “E-Metrics Services and ARL Statistics.” Her PowerPoint presentation is available at http://www.libqual.org/documents/admin/NancyTurner.ppt. The survey coordinators discussed the need for more systematic review of the evaluation methods available for electronic resources (e-metrics) and how some of the proposed revisions will be affecting the annual data collection activities. For more information, see Martha Kyrillidou, “The Impact of Electronic Publishing on Tracking Research Library Investments in Serials,” ARL: A Bimonthly Report, no. 249 (Dec. 2006): 6–7, http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlbr249serials.pdf.
At a meeting held January 19, 2007, in Seattle, ARL Visiting Program Officers Steve Hiller (Washington) and Jim Self (Virginia) reviewed the September 2006 Library Assessment Conference held in Charlottesville, Virginia. A PowerPoint presentation is available at http://www.libqual.org/documents/admin/ESPALASeattle3.ppt.
The cover story of the December 2006 issue of the OCLC newsletter, NextSpace, highlights “The Ultimate Question,” a new book by Fred Reichheld, a consultant with Bain & Company. In his book, Reichheld, states that one simple question can determine an organization’s future: Would you recommend us to a friend? In the NextSpace article, Steve Hiller is interviewed and provides readers with a definition of library assessment and a view into the site visits made to 24 ARL libraries during the ARL project on Making Library Assessment Work. The article is available online at http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/005/1.htm.
An ARL/Amigos Workshop on Web Development with XML: Design and Applications is scheduled May 21–24, 2007, at the University of Texas School of Information in Austin. The workshop will be produced in collaboration with Amigos Library Services http://www.amigos.org/ and taught by experienced XML developers from the libraries of Brown University, the University of Virginia, and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. This four-day workshop will explore XML with a specific focus on fundamentals of design, markup, and use. Participants will use XML and XML technologies in the creation of a prototype digital publication. For more information, see http://www.arl.org/stats/statsevents/.
The 2007 survey period has begun, with 242 libraries registered to participate to date.
Our first Canadian consortium, LibQUAL Canada, is participating in 2007 on behalf of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL). LibQUAL Canada has brought a dynamic group of libraries to the LibQUAL+® roster, most of which are running bilingual surveys in American English and Canadian French. LibQUAL Canada has created a Web site as a means of sharing their survey experience. See http://library.queensu.ca/webir/canlibqual/carl-libqual.htm.
LibQUAL+® encourages past and present participants to volunteer at the booth during the ACRL Conference in Baltimore. This is a good way to share survey experience and/or research with other participants. If you are interested in volunteering at the LibQUAL+® booth (#720), please send an e-mail listing your available hours to the LibQUAL+® team libqual@arl.org.
For the third year, LibQUAL+® is sponsoring an in-kind grant program for participants in the 2008 LibQUAL+® survey. Our goal is to award up to five institutions grants to participate in the 2008 survey. The deadline for the applications is June 15, 2007. For more information, please e-mail libqual@arl.org.
An annual meeting of the LibQUAL+® Forum will be held June 24, 2007, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC. A. “Parsu” Parasuraman will speak about measuring both in-person and online library service quality. Parsu worked with Valarie Zeithaml and Leonard L. Berry to develop SERVQUAL, which provided the foundation upon which libraries built their robust assessment tool, LibQUAL+®. Parsu is currently Professor & Holder of the James W. McLamore Chair, University of Miami, and Editor, Journal of Service Research. For more information, see http://www.arl.org/stats/statsevents/.
Since the launch of the redesigned ARL Web site in mid-January, the Web team continues to migrate content from the old site to the new site. We expect the content migration process to continue intensively for the next few months. If there is a document you expect to find on the site but cannot, please contact webmgr@arl.org or any member of the ARL staff.
Inspired by the new site’s contemporary feel, we have begun updating the ARL home page as news occurs, instead of on a weekly basis as we were previously doing. We are sending the corresponding “New from ARL” e-mail message to the arl-announce mailing list each time we have collected five new items on the home page.
If you are interested in receiving ARL Web site updates as they happen, you may subscribe to an RSS feed for the entire site or for specific sections of the site by visiting http://www.arl.org/bm~feeds.shtml. To subscribe to the ARL site’s news feeds, you will need a news-reader program on your computer or an account at one of the many online news readers on the Web.
We are very interested in hearing your comments on the new site. Please send feedback to webmgr@arl.org or any member of the ARL staff.
This special issue features Richard K. Johnson’s article, “In Google’s Broad Wake: Taking Responsibility for Shaping the Global Digital Library.” Available online at http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/br/br250.shtml.
This issue features remarks on the current state of scholarly publishing that were delivered by James V. Maher, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor, University of Pittsburgh, at an October forum in Washington, DC. The issue also includes reports on the NSF and ARL workshop on digital data stewardship and the October ARL Membership Meeting. Available online at http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/br/br249.shtml.
This is the latest in a series of annual publications that describes the collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities of ARL’s 123 member libraries. To download a PDF of the publication, please visit http://www.arl.org/stats/annualsurveys/arlstats/stats0405.shtml.
This publication presents compilations and rankings of data that describe collections, expenditures, personnel, and services in 66 medical libraries at ARL member institutions throughout North America. To download the data files or a PDF of the publication, please visit http://www.arl.org/stats/annualsurveys/med/.
This publication presents compilations and rankings of data that describe collections, expenditures, personnel, and services in 77 law libraries at ARL member institutions throughout North America. To download the data files or a PDF of the publication, please visit http://www.arl.org/stats/annualsurveys/law/.
This colorful six-panel brochure was developed by ARL and attorney Peggy Hoon, a well-regarded copyright specialist. Among the topics covered in the brochure are: fair use, the advantage of linking to instead of copying works, and special provisions for displaying or performing works in classes. The brochure also includes a one-page chart that highlights 24 situations when various categories of works can be used. Download a free copy or order printed copies from http://www.knowyourcopyrights.org/resourcesfac/kycrbrochure.shtml.
This SPEC Kit investigates the staffing, reporting relationships, and duties of library development programs in ARL member libraries. The table of contents and executive summary from this SPEC Kit are available online at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/SPEC297web.pdf. To order the complete publication, see http://www.arl.org/news/pr/spec297.shtml.
This SPEC Kit explores public service staffing, reference and public services offered, methods of patron access, types of intellectual access tools used, patron registration, the reference interview process, and public service evaluation and promotion methods. In addition, respondents were asked to comment on significant changes in reference and public services in Special Collections in the last few years, particularly those related to outreach, instruction, and learning. The table of contents and executive summary from this SPEC Kit are available at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/SPEC296web.pdf. To order the complete publication, see http://www.arl.org/news/pr/spec296.shtml.
Remote shelving facilities have been a strategy for ARL member libraries for a long time and a number of SPEC surveys have been conducted to document design, selection of materials, costs, and services. This SPEC Kit focuses on user services and how they have changed since the last survey in 1998 that was published in May 1999 in SPEC Kit 242 Library Storage Facilities, Management, and Services. The table of contents and executive summary from this SPEC Kit are available online at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/SPEC295web.pdf. To order the complete publication, see http://www.arl.org/news/pr/spec295.shtml.
This SPEC Kit identifies the purposes of ARL member libraries’ digitization efforts, the organizational structures these libraries use to manage digital initiatives, whether and how staff have been reassigned to support digitization activities, where funding to sustain digital activities originated and how that funding is allocated, how priorities are determined, whether libraries are outsourcing any digitization work, and how the success of libraries’ digital activities has been assessed. The focus of the survey was on the digitization of existing library materials, rather than the creation of born-digital objects. The table of contents and executive summary from this SPEC Kit are available online at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/SPEC294web.pdf. To order the complete publication, see http://www.arl.org/news/pr/spec294.shtml.
British Columbia: Catherine Quinlan resigned from her position as University Librarian, effective March 17, 2007. Peter Ward, Interim Deputy University Librarian since December 2005, has been appointed University Librarian pro tem, upon Catherine Quinlan’s resignation.
Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI): Pam Bjornson, Director of Business Affairs, was appointed Director General, effective February 1, 2007.
Cornell: Anne Kenney, Senior Associate University Librarian for Public Services and Assessment, was named Interim University Librarian, effective February 1, 2007
Florida: John Ingram, Deputy Director of University Libraries and Director for Collections, was appointed Acting Director, effective February 1, 2007.
Florida State: Julia Zimmerman was named Director of University Libraries, effective July 1, 2007. She succeeds F. William Summers, who has been serving as Interim Director since Althea Jenkins retired in 2006. Zimmerman is currently Dean of University Libraries at Ohio University.
Michigan: Paul N. Courant was appointed University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, effective March 1, 2007. Courant was a University of Michigan provost from 2002 to 2005. He is also the Harold T. Shapiro Collegiate Professor of Public Policy in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, Professor of Economics in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; and Professor of Information in the School of Information.
Richard Groves resigned his position as Customer Relations Coordinator, Statistics & Measurement, effective March 2, 2007.
Kristina Justh was appointed Customer Relations Coordinator, Statistics & Measurement, effective March 7, 2007.
Khyati Nayak was named Senior Applications Developer, Statistics & Measurement, effective February 28, 2007.
Neil Rambo was appointed Visiting Program Officer to focus on library support for research and e-science, effective March 1, 2007. See item 32 above.
Gary Roebuck was named Technical Operations Manager, Statistics & Measurement, effective February 5, 2007.
Crit Stuart was appointed Program Director for Research, Teaching, and Learning, effective May 14, 2007. See item 32 above.
Duane Webster announced his intention to retire from his position of Executive Director by May 2008. See item 2 above.
National Information Standards Organization (NISO): James Neal, Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian at Columbia University, was elected Vice Chair/Chair-Elect of the NISO Board of Directors. His term as Chair begins July 2007.
Digital Library Federation (DLF): Peter Brantley was appointed Director of DLF, effective February 5, 2007. He is currently Director of Strategic Technology for Academic Information Services in the University of California Office of the President.
Julia Blixrud, ARL Assistant Executive Director for External Relations and SPARC Assistant Director for Public Programs, is the winner of the 2007 CSA/Ulrich’s Serials Librarianship Award. The award recognizes her achievements that have influenced virtually every aspect of serials work, from cataloging to publishing to access.
Georgia Institute of Technology Library and Information Center won the 2007 ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award for the University Category. The award recognizes the staff of a university library for programs that deliver exemplary services and resources to further the educational mission of the institution.
Martha Kyrillidou, ARL’s Director of Statistics & Service Quality Programs, has been named the 2007 Alumnus of the Year by the School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University for her outstanding contributions to libraries and librarianship.
James G. Neal, Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian at Columbia University, has been named the 2007 winner of the Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award. The award recognizes an academic librarian who has made significant contributions in the area of library automation or management, and has made notable improvements in library services or research.
Brian E. C. Schottlaender, University Librarian at the University of California, San Diego, is the recipient of the 2007 Ross Atkinson Lifetime Achievement Award. This new award honors the memory of Ross Atkinson, a distinguished library leader, author, and scholar whose extraordinary service to ALCTS and the library community at-large serves as a model for those in the field.
Winston Tabb, Dean of University Libraries at John Hopkins University, is the 2007 recipient of the American Library Association (ALA) International Relations Committee’s John Ames/Humphry/OCLC/Forest Press Award. Tabb received this award for his significant contributions in librarianship and community service worldwide, especially his focus on increasing global access to information.
Betsy Wilson, Dean of University Libraries at the University of Washington, is the 2007 Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Academic/Research Librarian of the Year. The award recognizes an outstanding member of the library profession who has made a significant national or international contribution to academic/research librarianship and library development.
DEW 03/07/07
Duane Webster
Executive Director
Association of Research Libraries
21 Dupont Circle
Washington, DC 20036
voice: (202) 296-2296
fax: (202) 872-0884
cell: (202) 251-4431
e-mail: duane@arl.org