The Source: news about digital libraries and library innovations from around the web

Introducing The Source

E-journals: their use, value and impact

From the Research Information Network website

This article takes an in-depth look at how researchers in the UK use electronic journals, the value they bring to universities and research institutions and the contribution they make to research productivity, quality and outcomes.


Collaborative Librarianship: New Light on a Brilliant Concept

From the Collaborative Librarianship website

Libraries around the world have enjoyed a remarkable history of working together. The present contexts of collaboration in other sectors of society, of a growing literature on collaborative management theory and practice, of the Colorado experience in library collaboration, constitute fertile soil that nurtures new initiatives in collaboration. No Brief Candle provides perspectives on the importance of collaboration for libraries of the 21st century.


Library of the Future Debate

From the JISC website

What is the library of the future? This public question and answer debate discussed what information and library provision mean in these changing times; technology has had a huge effect on the behaviour of both information consumers and service providers. We asked what the library currently is and what do libraries need to do to support knowledge, innovation and society for the future? These issues were examined from several different perspectives through a range of high profile speakers who presented their vision for the library of the future.


We Need Publishing Standards for Datasets and Data Tables

From the OECD (The World Economy) website

This paper details the problems with user ability to locate and reference online data. Datasets are a significant part of the scholarly record and being published much more frequently but with widely inconsistent metadata, links and citations. The paper proposes bibliographic metadata standards that could be implemented to provide users and librarians with data that is as accessible and as easy to find and catalogue as written works like journal articles and book chapters. By following existing scholarly metadata standards, datasets can easily utilise the existing discovery channels that are used by e-journals and e-books, including library systems, cross reference linking, publishing platforms, and search engines.


Semantic publishing: the coming revolution in scientific journal publishing (Note: PDF)

From the ImageWeb website

Recent developments in Web technology can be used for semantic enhancement of scholarly journal articles, by aiding publication of data and metadata and providing 'lively' interactive access to content. Such semantic enhancements are already being undertaken by leading STM publishers, and automated text processing will help these enhancements become affordable and routine. Publisher, editor, and author all have primary roles in that process; an incremental approach is needed. Publication of data and metadata to the Web make possible added-value 'ecosystem services'; semantic publishing will bring substantial benefits to scholarly communication.


Adventures In Semantic Publishing: Exemplar Semantic Enhancements Of A Research Article

From the PLoS Computational Biology website

Scientific innovation depends on finding, integrating, and re-using the products of previous research. Here we explore how recent developments in Web technology, particularly those related to the publication of data and metadata, might assist that process by providing semantic enhancements to journal articles within the mainstream process of scholarly journal publishing.