Introducing The Source
Copyright Immunity for Search Engines in the UK?From the Guardian website
A proposed amendment to the Digital Economy Bill exempts search engines from copyright infringement claims from third parties - Rupert Murdoch presumably included. Conservative Lord Lucas' amendment, “Protection of search engines from liability for copyright infringement”, would re-write the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
OCRIS: Online Catalogue and Repository Interoperability Study: Final Report
From the E-prints in Library and Information Science (E-LIS) website
What is an Institutional Repository (IR) and what should be its role? Library Management Systems (LMSs) and their Online Public Access Catalogues (OPACs) have traditionally been used by HE institutions to provide information about the publications and other bibliographic output of the organisation. Although this role is well-established, the development of IRs potentially conflicts and overlaps with these functions.
Interoperability between systems is a key mechanism for improving this situation. This is underpinned by accurate metadata, the re-use of data and, where possible, open standards. Fragmentation must be avoided. Interoperability should be built into the workflows of relevant institutional systems, including administrative processes dependent on such metadata; all institutional stakeholders managing information systems should be involved in discussions about how this can be achieved.
Unheard Voices: Institutional Repository End-Users
From the American Library Association (ALA) website
This exploratory study investigates the perceptions and experiences of a group of institutional repository (IR) stakeholders seldom heard from: end-users. We interviewed twenty IR end-users recruited through five IRs to discover how they characterise the IR, how/why they use the IR, their credibility judgements in relation to the IR, and their willingness to return to and/or recommend the IR. Despite our small sample size, we were able to ascertain that IR end-users, although not yet loyal IR devotees, recognise their value and unique nature. Our findings also revealed several areas for improvement, such as lack of visibility and transparency.
The Condition of Libraries: 1999-2009
From the American Library Association (ALA) website
At every turn, news reports and research indicate fairly dramatic changes in U.S. library funding, services and staffing - most occurring in the last 18 months. According to a new report prepared by the American Library Association, libraries of all types are feeling the pinch of the economic downturn while managing sky-high use. Compiled from a broad range of available sources, the report presents U.S. economic trends (2009), and summarises trends in public, school and academic libraries across several library measures, including expenditures, staffing and services. The report also highlights trends in services provided to libraries by library cooperatives and consortia.
The Economic Downturn and Libraries: Survey findings
From the ebrary website
The aims of this report are to:
- examine the changes that libraries are making in the context of the economic downturn: where budgets and resources are being focused and why
- determine what practical and positive things are being done
- assist the community as a whole by increasing co-operation and transparency, sharing best (innovative) practice, and identifying priorities
- The current financial year is a tough one for academic libraries, with 34.7% of institutions receiving a total library budget that is at least 5% smaller than the previous year (excluding inflation)
- The outlook in two years’ time is mixed, with 31.4% expecting their total library budget to be smaller than in the current financial year, 40.1% about the same, and 28.4% expecting an increase
- Overall, resource budgets are more vulnerable than personnel, services or infrastructure, with monographs and print journals being the most vulnerable to cutbacks
- When trimming their resources budget, libraries were least likely to cut e-books, followed by electronic-only serials and database subscriptions
- 52.5% of libraries view the acceleration of print to digital as the most effective option for balancing their budgets, with subscription as the most popular method
- Just under half of all libraries see the demonstration of value through usage and outcomes data as the smartest way to manage the cost of resources.
A Perfect Storm Brewing: Budget cuts threaten public library services at time of increased demand
From the American Library Association (ALA) website
More than three-quarters of all public libraries reported increased use of their public internet computers over the past year, and 71% reported increased wireless use, according to the survey conducted by the American Library Association (ALA) and the Center for Library and Information Innovation at the University of Maryland in Fall 2009. But just when people need their public libraries the most, funding for this valued resource is decreasing, as governments cut library budgets as a way of addressing state and local deficits. More than half of responding state library agencies (52% or 24 states) reported cuts in state funding for public libraries between FY2009 and FY2010; and 11 of these states reported cuts were greater than 11%, double what was reported last year.
Koninklijke Bibliotheek Strategic Plan, 2010-2013
From the Koninklijke Biblioteek website
The KB will work intensively in the coming four years to realise a digital library that will offer everyone access to all digital and printed publications that appear in the Netherlands. As the National Library of the Netherlands, the KB's task is also to foster the establishment of a new (digital) information infrastructure. Close cooperation between the KB, scientific and public libraries is essential to grant everyone in the Netherlands access to scientific information. In order to realise this vision the KB has established five strategic priorities.
Our strategic priorities, 2010-2013:
1. We offer everyone access to everything published in and about the Netherlands
2.We improve the national information infrastructure
3. We guarantee long-term storage of digital information
4. We maintain, present and strengthen our collections
5. We develop the KB into a challenging organisation and an attractive employer
Research Assessment and the Role of the Library: A companion report to A Comparative Review of Research Assessment Regimes in Five Countries and the Role of Libraries in the Research Assessment Process
From the OCLC website
In 2009, OCLC Research commissioned Key Perspectives in the UK to produce A Comparative Review of Research Assessment Regimes in Five Countries and the Role of Libraries in the Research Assessment Process. This report, a companion to the Key Perspectives review, provides a summary of the key findings of the study, with some context for the recent increase in library involvement in research assessment, and recommendations for research libraries.
The economic potential of highly valued research is now evident as national economies shift to a dependence on knowledge and knowledge-based skills. Publicly funded universities are being drawn into national economic agendas in ways that are new to them and that challenge many traditional academic values. Research libraries, supporting research with a growing range of new and a shrinking number of traditional services, are also being drawn in, though in widely varying ways.
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