To: ARL Directors
From: Duane Webster
Re: March 2007 E-News for ARL Directors
Note: We continue to experiment 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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Governance and Membership Activities
1. Membership Meeting to Explore Libraries & the Research Process, May 23–25, 2007
2. ARL 75th Anniversary Project Celebrates Research & Rare Collections from Members
Scholarly Communication
3. NISO’s SERU Releases Draft Recommended Practices for E-Resource Subscriptions
4. ARL, ACRL, and SPARC Sponsor Author Rights Webcast, May 17, 2007
5. Podcast of SPARC-ACRL Forum on Public Access Now Available
6. New Metric Available for Evaluating Scholarly Journal Value: The Eigenfactor
Public Policies
7. Know Your Copy Rights™ Web Site Updated
8. ARL and ALA Support Restoration of $21.5 Million for NDIIPP
9. ARL, ALA, and SLA Support GPO’s FY 2008 Funding Request
10. US House Passes Open Government Legislation
11. US Senate Judiciary Committee Questions FBI Director on National Security Letters
12. House Conducts Hearing on P2P and Universities
Library Roles in Research, Teaching, and Learning
13. CNI Update
14. Report Documents Changes in Global Collection Patterns in ARL Libraries
Diversity, Professional Workforce, and Leadership Development
15. ARL Diversity Initiatives to Host Reception during ALA Annual in DC, June 22, 2007
Library Statistics & Assessment
16. ARL Statistical Surveys Update
17. ARL Offers Workshop on Performance Measurement, May 11, 2007
18. LibQUAL+® to Host Share Fair at ALA Annual Conference in DC, June 25, 2007
Other Items of Interest to ARL Directors
19. ARL Transitions
20. Other Transitions
21. Grants
22. Honors
GOVERNANCE AND MEMBERSHIP ACTIVITIES
1. Membership Meeting to Explore Libraries & the Research Process, May 23–25, 2007
ARL President Sherrie Schmidt, University Librarian, Arizona State University, will convene the 150th ARL Membership Meeting in St. Louis at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, May 23–25, 2007. The program theme is “Libraries and the Research Process: Exploring How to Demonstrate Returns on Investment.” 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–Columbia, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and Washington University in St. Louis are each sponsoring receptions. April 27 is the deadline to reserve hotel rooms at the ARL room rate and to reply to the ARL Attendance Questionnaire. Details about the meeting are available on the ARL Web site at http://www.arl.org/events/currentmm/.
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2. ARL 75th Anniversary Project Celebrates Research & Rare Collections from Members
Work is well underway on an ARL publication to illustrate the extraordinary nature and scope of the special collections in ARL member libraries and how these collections are being used to advance research, teaching, and learning. The publication and a companion Web site will be issued this October to commemorate ARL’s 75th anniversary. Over 95% of ARL member libraries are participating in the project by providing text and images that profile a single special collection from each member library. While a wide variety of rare collections have been selected for the compilation, all have research value as well as stories about their use. The audience for the publication includes scholars, donors and potential donors, institutional administrators, and the educated public. The Editorial Committee is comprised of Phil Cronenwett, Special Collections Librarian Emeritus, Dartmouth College; Kevin Osborn, Research & Design, Ltd.; and Sam Streit, Interim Associate University Librarian, Brown University. Plans for dissemination will be announced later in the year. For more information on this project, contact Jaia Barrett, jaia@arl.org.
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SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION
3. NISO’s SERU Releases Draft Recommended Practices for E-Resource Subscriptions
NISO’s Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU) Working Group has released a draft best practices document, “The SERU Approach to E-Resource Subscriptions: Framework for Development and Use of SERU.” The document presents a shared set of understandings to which publishers and libraries can point when negotiating the sale of electronic content. The framework offers publishers and libraries a solution to the often-burdensome process of bilateral negotiation of a formal license agreement by allowing the sale of e-resources without licenses if both parties feel their perception of risk has been adequately addressed by current law and developing norms of behavior.
The SERU Working Group welcomes comments on this draft document. Please direct comments and suggestions to working group co-chairs Judy Luther, judy.luther@informedstrategies.com, and Karla Hahn, karla@arl.org, or to any other member of the working group.
In addition to the public draft, the SERU Working Group provides information on how the framework document can be used, FAQs, and an electronic mailing list at http://www.niso.org/committees/SERU/.
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4. ARL, ACRL, and SPARC Sponsor Author Rights Webcast, May 17, 2007
ARL and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), through their Institute on Scholarly Communication, along with SPARC, are sponsoring a joint webcast for librarians working with faculty on managing their author rights to be held May 17, 2007, 1:00–2:00 p.m. eastern time. Presenters Julia Blixrud, Assistant Director for Public Programs, SPARC, and Trisha Davis, Rights Management Coordinator, Ohio State University Libraries, will explain the basic issues and discuss outreach strategies. Registration for individuals and groups will open April 19. More information is available at http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlproftools/authorrights.htm.
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5. Podcast of SPARC-ACRL Forum on Public Access Now Available
A podcast is now available of the January 2007 SPARC-ACRL forum, which examines the implications for libraries of the global drive for free public access to publicly funded research. See http://www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/ala07mw/.
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6. New Metric Available for Evaluating Scholarly Journal Value: The Eigenfactor
The Bergstrom Lab in the Department of Biology at the University of Washington has created a Web site that utilizes a new technique—the Eigenfactor—to calculate measures of the influence of scholarly journals. The Eigenfactor accounts for variations in citation patterns between disciplines to more easily enable comparisons between journals in different fields or interdisciplinary titles. In addition to Eigenfactor values, the Web site provides several other metrics including impact factors, an article influence factor, and price and cost indices. See http://www.eigenfactor.org/.
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PUBLIC POLICIES
7. Know Your Copy Rights™ Web Site Updated
New resources on message development have been added to the Know Your Copy Rights™ Web site, which provides resources for librarians working on positive copyright educational programs for academic users of copyrighted materials. The site offers a range of tools to help librarians view copyright education from the perspectives of key academic stakeholders. The new resources will help librarians develop messages that are targeted to different campus groups such as faculty, students, legal counsel, academic leadership, and library staff. See http://www.knowyourcopyrights.org/.
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8. ARL and ALA Support Restoration of $21.5 Million for NDIIPP
ARL with the American Library Association (ALA) submitted letters to members of the US House and Senate Appropriations Committees in support of the request by the Library of Congress to restore $21.5 million of funding for the National Digital Information Infrastructure Preservation Program (NDIIPP). The letters note that “preservation of digital data is not a short-term undertaking. The initial funding was only a beginning and has sparked new collaborative relationships and cost-sharing as no one sector can take on the enormity of this challenge. We applaud Congress’s vision in supporting this program in the past and hope that this strong support will continue in the future.” See http://www.arl.org/pp/fedfund/Library_of_Congress.shtml.
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9. ARL, ALA, and SLA Support GPO’s FY 2008 Funding Request
ARL with ALA and SLA wrote to members of the US House and Senate Appropriations Committees in support of the Government Printing Office’s FY 2008 budget request. The associations stated, “we believe that the FY 2008 S&E budget request is essential to the continued transition to a more electronic program and the continued success of GPO Access. Since GPO is responsible for permanent public access to the content of its Electronic Collection, funding to strengthen digital archiving and migration capabilities is a critically important component.” See http://www.arl.org/pp/fedfund/GPO.shtml.
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10. US House Passes Open Government Legislation
Recently, the US House of Representatives passed a number of bills promoting open government. Four of the bills seek to reform the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA, H.R. 1309); ensure public access to presidential records while nullifying a previous order by President Bush that would give former presidents the authority to withhold documents (H.R. 1255); provide additional protections to federal employees who make public information about corruption, fraud, or abuse at their federal agency (H.R. 985); and ensure greater accountability by federal contractors (H.R. 1362). A companion bill to reform FOIA is under consideration in the Senate. For more information, please contact Prue Adler, prue@arl.org.
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11. US Senate Judiciary Committee Questions FBI Director on National Security Letters
At a March 27 hearing, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chair, Committee on Judiciary, and other members of the committee repeatedly questioned FBI Director Robert Mueller concerning the use of National Security Letters (NSLs) by the bureau. NSLs permit the FBI to request information about individuals without judicial approval and they contain a gag order. Between 2003 and 2005, the FBI issued 140,000 NSL requests and this NSL information can be retained indefinitely. Senator Leahy asked for the number of NSLs served on libraries and educational institutions; Mueller agreed to provide the committee with that information. In addition, Senator Leahy commented on the unusual FBI request for the 2005 records of all patrons of the Library Connection, a consortium of 27 public and academic libraries in Connecticut. It is expected that there will be additional scrutiny by the House and Senate Judiciary Committees of the FBI’s use of NSLs. Testimony is available via the committee’s Web site http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=2569.
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12. House Conducts Hearing on P2P and Universities
In early March, the US House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, Committee on Judiciary conducted another hearing on peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing and copyright concerns entitled, “Piracy and University Networks.” Witnesses included Cary Sherman, President of the Recording Industry Association of America; John Vaughn, executive vice President of the Association of American Universities; Jim Davis, CIO at University of California, Los Angeles; and Greg Marchwinski, CEO of Red Lambda, a content-blocking vendor.
The tone of the hearing was set by the chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Howard Berman, (D-CA) who remarked that “current law isn’t giving universities enough incentive to stop piracy.” In addition, he and other members of the subcommittee suggested that Congress could review institutional liability for illegal file sharing over campus networks, namely the safe-harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Vaughn reviewed the efforts taken by higher education to address the illegal peer-to-peer file sharing and focused on the need to develop technologies that can protect student privacy, are cost effective, and can appropriately discriminate between legal and illegal uses of peer-to-peer file sharing systems. Testimony is available via http://judiciary.house.gov/oversight.aspx?ID=280.
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LIBRARY ROLES IN RESEARCH, TEACHING, AND LEARNING
13. CNI Update
Final preparations are underway for the Spring 2007 Task Force meeting, to be held in Phoenix, Arizona, April 16–17. Nearly 40 breakout sessions will be presented, on topics ranging from using Wikipedia in an academic setting to a panel discussion analyzing the current state of institutional repositories. Stephen Murray, Professor of Art History and Archeology at Columbia University, will discuss his Web database of Romanesque structures during the opening plenary address. Marc Smith, Research Sociologist with the Community Technologies Group at Microsoft Research, will present the talk, “Pictures of Traces of Places, People, and Groups,” as the closing plenary session. The executive roundtable will discuss distributed information technology, information and informatics services, and the implications for central organizations. Details about the meeting are available at http://www.cni.org/tfms/2007a.spring/.
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14. Report Documents Changes in Global Collection Patterns in ARL Libraries
“Changing Global Book Collection Patterns in ARL Libraries,” a report analyzing ARL member library cataloging records in the OCLC WorldCat database, presents evidence of changing patterns of collecting books with foreign imprints. This analysis of book records and holdings in WorldCat finds that the overlap of global book collections among ARL libraries is not as extensive as expected.
The report was prepared for the Global Resources Network by: Mary E. Jackson, Auto-Graphics, Inc. (formerly Association of Research Libraries); Lynn Silipigni Connaway, OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.; Edward T. O’Neill, OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.; and Eudora Loh, University of California, Los Angeles.
The report is freely available as a PDF on the ARL and the CRL Web sites.
ARL: http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/grn_global_book.shtml
CRL: http://www.crl.edu/grn/papers/grn_global_book.asp
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DIVERSITY, PROFESSIONAL WORKFORCE, AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
15. ARL Diversity Initiatives to Host Reception during ALA Annual in DC, June 22, 2007
The ARL Diversity Initiatives will host its annual reception on Friday, June 22, 2007, 5:30–8:30 p.m., at the ARL office, 21 Dupont Circle NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC. For more information contact Jerome Offord Jr., Director of ARL Diversity Initiatives, jerome@arl.org.
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LIBRARY STATISTICS & ASSESSMENT
16. ARL Statistical Surveys Update
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. Final printed publication is in production.
ARL Statistics, ARL Academic Health Sciences Statistics, ARL Academic Law Statistics, 2005-06: currently finalizing data collection.
ARL Supplementary Statistics and ARL Preservation Statistics, 2005-06: data collection is underway.
For information regarding the annual data-collection activities, contact Martha Kyrillidou, martha@arl.org.
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17. ARL Offers Workshop on Performance Measurement, May 11, 2007
ARL is offering a workshop on Performance Measurement in Academic Libraries in conjunction with the Fourth International Evidence-Based Library and Information Practice Conference (EBLIP4) in Chapel Hill-Durham, North Carolina. This post-conference workshop will be held May 11, 2007, 9:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Participants will learn about ARL’s New Measures Initiatives and how they have led to the establishment of the StatsQUAL™ service, which includes assessment protocols like LibQUAL+®, DigiQUAL™, and MINES for Libraries™. The workshop presenters, Steve Hiller, Martha Kyrillidou, and Jim Self, will share lessons learned from ARL’s Effective, Sustainable, and Practical Assessment service. Based on these discussions, participants will explore how they can start thinking about assessment at their own institutions. Anyone interested in library assessment is invited to register at http://www.eblip4.unc.edu/registration.html ($120 registration fee, includes box lunch).
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18. LibQUAL+® to Host Share Fair at ALA Annual Conference in DC, June 25, 2007
LibQUAL+® will host a 2007 Share Fair at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference on Monday, June 25, 2007, noon–1:00 p.m. The program is seeking contributors who will provide poster sessions, displays, or materials related to their administration and use of LibQUAL+®. This event will be open to all current, past, and potential LibQUAL+® participants. If you are interested in sharing information with colleagues from the LibQUAL+® community, please request a “Participant Information Sheet” from the LibQUAL+® team, libqual@arl.org.
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OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST TO ARL DIRECTORS
19. ARL Transitions
Rice University: Sara A. Lowman, Director of Fondren Library and Associate University Librarian at Rice University has been named Interim University Librarian following Chuck Henry’s appointment as President of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).
Southern California: Catherine Quinlan, former University Librarian at the University of British Columbia, has been appointed Dean of USC Libraries, effective August 1, 2007.
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20. Other Transitions
American Council on Education: David Ward announced his intention to retire as President of ACE on February 1, 2008.
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21. Grants
Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR): CLIR has received a three-year, $2.19 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support general operations. The award will allow CLIR to launch a range of new initiatives in six program areas: Cyberinfrastructure, Preservation, The Next Scholar, The Emerging Library, Leadership, and New Models.
Digital Library Federation (DLF): DLF has received an $816,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a project designed to make distributed digital collections easier for scholars to use. The project, DLF Aquifer Development for Interoperability Across Scholarly Repositories: American Social History Online, will implement schemas, data models, and technologies to enable scholars to use multiple digital collections as one in a variety of local environments.
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22. Honors
Peter Jaszi, Professor of Law and Director of the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic at American University’s Washington College of Law, is the 2007 recipient of the L. Ray Patterson Copyright Award—In Support of Users’ Rights. The award will be presented at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Washington, DC, on Monday, June 25, 2007.
Sarah Thomas, Bodley’s Librarian and Director, Oxford University Library Services, is the 2007 recipient of the ALA Melvil Dewey Medal, which recognizes distinguished service to the profession of librarianship. The Melvil Dewey Award will be presented Tuesday, June 26, during the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC.
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DEW 4/10/07
Duane Webster
Executive Director
Association of Research Libraries
21 Dupont Circle
Washington, DC 20036
v: (202) 296-2296
fax: (202) 872-0884
cell: (202) 251-4431
e-mail: duane@arl.org
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