Benefits arising from initiatives to streamline the user experience for academic researchers and students must be balanced against GDPR and information security measures that institutions must take to protect their members’ personal data. Using the example of Bath Spa University Library’s role in single sign-on projects in collaboration with the IT department and a third-party software supplier, a way in which academic libraries can more robustly enter the conversation surrounding user privacy is suggested. Identity and access management is one area of collaboration in which the librarian’s traditional commitment to patron or user privacy can be upheld.
{"title":"Usability and privacy in academic libraries: regaining a foothold through identity and access management","authors":"P. Reid","doi":"10.1629/uksg.487","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.487","url":null,"abstract":"Benefits arising from initiatives to streamline the user experience for academic researchers and students must be balanced against GDPR and information security measures that institutions must take to protect their members’ personal data. Using the example of Bath Spa University Library’s role in single sign-on projects in collaboration with the IT department and a third-party software supplier, a way in which academic libraries can more robustly enter the conversation surrounding user privacy is suggested. Identity and access management is one area of collaboration in which the librarian’s traditional commitment to patron or user privacy can be upheld.","PeriodicalId":44531,"journal":{"name":"Insights-The UKSG Journal","volume":"84 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2019-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83451236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this article we evidence some of the opportunities which the Research Excellence Framework (REF) open access agenda has created for closer collaboration between the Library Research Support Team and the Research Office at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). Drawing on personal reflections and shared experiences, we suggest that this new co-operative spirit has yielded three important outcomes.First, it has allowed for the dismantling of research support silos and forms of duplication. Second, it has enhanced the visibility and profile of research within academic departments and across the University as a whole. Thirdly, it has enabled relationships and engagement to be developed beyond our institution, allowing us to learn from others. This leads us to further suggest that in the context of research support within an institution, the library should take an active role to engage with collaborative forms of research support.
{"title":"Destroying the silo: how breaking down barriers can lead to proactive and co-operative researcher support","authors":"C. Dishman, Katherine Stephan","doi":"10.1629/uksg.479","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.479","url":null,"abstract":"In this article we evidence some of the opportunities which the Research Excellence Framework (REF) open access agenda has created for closer collaboration between the Library Research Support Team and the Research Office at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). Drawing on personal reflections and shared experiences, we suggest that this new co-operative spirit has yielded three important outcomes.First, it has allowed for the dismantling of research support silos and forms of duplication. Second, it has enhanced the visibility and profile of research within academic departments and across the University as a whole. Thirdly, it has enabled relationships and engagement to be developed beyond our institution, allowing us to learn from others. This leads us to further suggest that in the context of research support within an institution, the library should take an active role to engage with collaborative forms of research support.","PeriodicalId":44531,"journal":{"name":"Insights-The UKSG Journal","volume":"2000 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2019-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88278152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
H. Fallon, Hugh Murphy, L. Dodd, Fiona Morley Clarke, C. McCauley
Maynooth University (MU) Library has developed an organizational culture that promotes professional development for all Library staff. This has led to significant Library-oriented publishing and presenting at conferences nationally and internationally. Focusing on the publishing aspect, this article contextualizes professional development – which is core to publishing and presenting – at MU Library. After a brief literature review, it explores how library practice can be the basis of professional and peer-reviewed articles and how academic writing is a relevant form of continuing professional development (CPD) for library staff at all grades. The case study reviews publications by MU Library staff over a five-year period (2013–2018). It identifies the main types of publication, key publication outlets and the main topics covered. It concludes with a reflection on a range of issues including the benefits and challenges of sustaining a writing culture.
{"title":"Practice and projects as a basis for academic publishing: case study from Maynooth University Library","authors":"H. Fallon, Hugh Murphy, L. Dodd, Fiona Morley Clarke, C. McCauley","doi":"10.1629/uksg.481","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.481","url":null,"abstract":"Maynooth University (MU) Library has developed an organizational culture that promotes professional development for all Library staff. This has led to significant Library-oriented publishing and presenting at conferences nationally and internationally. Focusing on the publishing aspect, this article contextualizes professional development – which is core to publishing and presenting – at MU Library. After a brief literature review, it explores how library practice can be the basis of professional and peer-reviewed articles and how academic writing is a relevant form of continuing professional development (CPD) for library staff at all grades. The case study reviews publications by MU Library staff over a five-year period (2013–2018). It identifies the main types of publication, key publication outlets and the main topics covered. It concludes with a reflection on a range of issues including the benefits and challenges of sustaining a writing culture.","PeriodicalId":44531,"journal":{"name":"Insights-The UKSG Journal","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2019-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85689417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The past decade has seen huge growth in the teaching and research of what is broadly called digital humanities (DH). Increases in computing power and data availability have seen a rise in individual researchers and research groups working on digital scholarship projects in the humanities, arts and social sciences. This article shows how publishers of traditional digital archives have adapted to the increasing prevalence of DH amongst their traditional customers. The success of this adaptation depends entirely on the relationship with the academic community, and Gale has seen a shift from being a provider of products to a partner, trusted to help libraries, scholars and institutions achieve their objectives. As a leading global provider of digital archives, Gale is well placed to review the current state of DH research and teaching, and this article will discuss significant academic events that have brought scholars, librarians and students together, and the lessons learned for institutions around the world looking to expand into DH. Finally, the article looks at how working to understand the common challenges and barriers to DH research and teaching has pushed many archive publishers to re-evaluate traditional archive publishing and enable new and innovative ways to explore the past.
{"title":"From provider to partner: how digital humanities sparked a change in Gale’s relationship with universities","authors":"Chris Houghton, Sarah Ketchley","doi":"10.1629/uksg.482","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.482","url":null,"abstract":"The past decade has seen huge growth in the teaching and research of what is broadly called digital humanities (DH). Increases in computing power and data availability have seen a rise in individual researchers and research groups working on digital scholarship projects in the humanities, arts and social sciences. This article shows how publishers of traditional digital archives have adapted to the increasing prevalence of DH amongst their traditional customers. The success of this adaptation depends entirely on the relationship with the academic community, and Gale has seen a shift from being a provider of products to a partner, trusted to help libraries, scholars and institutions achieve their objectives. As a leading global provider of digital archives, Gale is well placed to review the current state of DH research and teaching, and this article will discuss significant academic events that have brought scholars, librarians and students together, and the lessons learned for institutions around the world looking to expand into DH. Finally, the article looks at how working to understand the common challenges and barriers to DH research and teaching has pushed many archive publishers to re-evaluate traditional archive publishing and enable new and innovative ways to explore the past.","PeriodicalId":44531,"journal":{"name":"Insights-The UKSG Journal","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2019-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80556636","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. Plomp, Nicolas Dintzner, Marta Teperek, A. Dunning
Research data management (RDM) is increasingly important in scholarship. Many researchers are, however, unaware of the benefits of good RDM and unsure about the practical steps they can take to improve their RDM practices. Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) addresses this cultural barrier by appointing Data Stewards at every faculty. By providing expert advice and increasing awareness, the Data Stewardship project focuses on incremental improvements in current data and software management and sharing practices. This cultural change is accelerated by the Data Champions who share best practices in data management with their peers. The Data Stewards and Data Champions build a community that allows a discipline-specific approach to RDM. Nevertheless, cultural change also requires appropriate rewards and incentives. While local initiatives are important, and we discuss several examples in this paper, systemic changes to the academic rewards system are needed. This will require collaborative efforts of a broad coalition of stakeholders and we will mention several such initiatives. This article demonstrates that community building is essential in changing the code and data management culture at TU Delft.
{"title":"Cultural obstacles to research data management and sharing at TU Delft","authors":"E. Plomp, Nicolas Dintzner, Marta Teperek, A. Dunning","doi":"10.1629/uksg.484","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.484","url":null,"abstract":"Research data management (RDM) is increasingly important in scholarship. Many researchers are, however, unaware of the benefits of good RDM and unsure about the practical steps they can take to improve their RDM practices. Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) addresses this cultural barrier by appointing Data Stewards at every faculty. By providing expert advice and increasing awareness, the Data Stewardship project focuses on incremental improvements in current data and software management and sharing practices. This cultural change is accelerated by the Data Champions who share best practices in data management with their peers. The Data Stewards and Data Champions build a community that allows a discipline-specific approach to RDM. Nevertheless, cultural change also requires appropriate rewards and incentives. While local initiatives are important, and we discuss several examples in this paper, systemic changes to the academic rewards system are needed. This will require collaborative efforts of a broad coalition of stakeholders and we will mention several such initiatives. This article demonstrates that community building is essential in changing the code and data management culture at TU Delft.","PeriodicalId":44531,"journal":{"name":"Insights-The UKSG Journal","volume":"126 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2019-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87826940","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Scholarly publications often work to provide transparency of peer-review processes, posting policy information to their websites as suggested by the Committee on Publication Ethics’ (COPE) Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Publishing. Yet this falls short in providing peer-review transparency. Using examples from an interview-based qualitative study, this article argues that scholarly publications should move from peer-review process transparency to a praxis of transparency in peer review. Praxis infers that values inform practices. Scholarly publications should therefore use clear communication practices in all matters of business, and bolster transparency efforts, delineating rights and responsibilities of all players in peer review. Moreover, the scholarly publishing community should offer improved and society-led referee and editor training, rather than leaving the commercial publishing industry to fill the gap which results in peer review as a service to industry’s needs – turning an efficient profit – and not the scholarly community’s needs for human-to-human discourse.
{"title":"Moving peer review transparency from process to praxis","authors":"Emily Ford","doi":"10.1629/uksg.480","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.480","url":null,"abstract":"Scholarly publications often work to provide transparency of peer-review processes, posting policy information to their websites as suggested by the Committee on Publication Ethics’ (COPE) Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Publishing. Yet this falls short in providing peer-review transparency. Using examples from an interview-based qualitative study, this article argues that scholarly publications should move from peer-review process transparency to a praxis of transparency in peer review. Praxis infers that values inform practices. Scholarly publications should therefore use clear communication practices in all matters of business, and bolster transparency efforts, delineating rights and responsibilities of all players in peer review. Moreover, the scholarly publishing community should offer improved and society-led referee and editor training, rather than leaving the commercial publishing industry to fill the gap which results in peer review as a service to industry’s needs – turning an efficient profit – and not the scholarly community’s needs for human-to-human discourse.","PeriodicalId":44531,"journal":{"name":"Insights-The UKSG Journal","volume":"103 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2019-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78446018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Following the publication of Insights article: Gadd, Elizabeth. 2019. “Influencing the Changing World of Research Evaluation”. Insights 32(1): 6. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.456 we wish to bring the following corrigendum to your attention.
{"title":"Corrigendum: Influencing the changing world of research evaluation","authors":"Elizabeth Gadd","doi":"10.1629/uksg.491","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.491","url":null,"abstract":"Following the publication of Insights article: Gadd, Elizabeth. 2019. “Influencing the Changing World of Research Evaluation”. Insights 32(1): 6. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.456 we wish to bring the following corrigendum to your attention.","PeriodicalId":44531,"journal":{"name":"Insights-The UKSG Journal","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2019-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81300308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The success of COUNTER in supporting adoption of a standard to measure e-resource usage over the past 15 years is apparent within the scholarly communications community. The prevalence of global OA policies and mandates, and the role of institutional repositories within this context, prompts demand for more granular metrics. It also raises the profile of data sharing of item-level usage and research data metrics. The need for reliable and authoritative measures is paramount. This burgeoning interest is complemented by a number of initiatives to explore the measurement and tracking of usage of a broad range of objects outside traditional publisher platforms. Drawing on examples such as OpenAIRE, IRUS-UK, Crossref’s Distributed Usage Logging and Event Data service and COAR Next Generation Repositories, this article provides a brief introduction and overview of developments in this area. This paper forms the basis of a session that was originally presented at the UKSG Annual Conference in Telford in April 2019.
{"title":"Institutional repositories and the item and research data metrics landscape","authors":"Jo Lambert, P. Needham","doi":"10.1629/uksg.478","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.478","url":null,"abstract":"The success of COUNTER in supporting adoption of a standard to measure e-resource usage over the past 15 years is apparent within the scholarly communications community. The prevalence of global OA policies and mandates, and the role of institutional repositories within this context, prompts demand for more granular metrics. It also raises the profile of data sharing of item-level usage and research data metrics. The need for reliable and authoritative measures is paramount. This burgeoning interest is complemented by a number of initiatives to explore the measurement and tracking of usage of a broad range of objects outside traditional publisher platforms. Drawing on examples such as OpenAIRE, IRUS-UK, Crossref’s Distributed Usage Logging and Event Data service and COAR Next Generation Repositories, this article provides a brief introduction and overview of developments in this area. This paper forms the basis of a session that was originally presented at the UKSG Annual Conference in Telford in April 2019.","PeriodicalId":44531,"journal":{"name":"Insights-The UKSG Journal","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2019-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74174577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In 2017–18 Leeds Beckett University Library undertook a project to assess the feasibility of using OpenAthens and student record data to enable in-depth analysis of learning resources usage and costs, student engagement and library impact. This article describes the different approaches taken to evaluate usage of the Library’s e-resources to identify levels of engagement at school and course level. These include evaluating the impact of induction attendance on e-resource usage, reviewing school e-resource usage and return on investment, analysing usage trends at school and year level and examining the correlation between National Student Survey (NSS) results and e-resource usage for specific courses. The project confirmed the feasibility of using OpenAthens and student record data for in-depth analysis of learning resources usage, student engagement and library impact. Successful analysis was performed for schools, courses and levels of study and provided significant insight that informed resource provision and NSS action. Library managers, academic librarians and academics have consequently engaged with and benefited from the project and its outputs. This article builds on a breakout session presented at the 42nd UKSG Annual Conference in April 2019.
{"title":"Usage, engagement and impact: evaluating the usage of and measuring impact and engagement with library resources at Leeds Beckett University Library","authors":"J. Cleverley, Samantha Heeson","doi":"10.1629/uksg.474","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.474","url":null,"abstract":"In 2017–18 Leeds Beckett University Library undertook a project to assess the feasibility of using OpenAthens and student record data to enable in-depth analysis of learning resources usage and costs, student engagement and library impact. This article describes the different approaches taken to evaluate usage of the Library’s e-resources to identify levels of engagement at school and course level. These include evaluating the impact of induction attendance on e-resource usage, reviewing school e-resource usage and return on investment, analysing usage trends at school and year level and examining the correlation between National Student Survey (NSS) results and e-resource usage for specific courses. The project confirmed the feasibility of using OpenAthens and student record data for in-depth analysis of learning resources usage, student engagement and library impact. Successful analysis was performed for schools, courses and levels of study and provided significant insight that informed resource provision and NSS action. Library managers, academic librarians and academics have consequently engaged with and benefited from the project and its outputs. This article builds on a breakout session presented at the 42nd UKSG Annual Conference in April 2019.","PeriodicalId":44531,"journal":{"name":"Insights-The UKSG Journal","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2019-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82082482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The term ‘decolonizing the curriculum’ is of high currency in higher education in the UK and in local students’ unions at these institutions. This article seeks to give a very brief history and context for why this is fundamental for academic institutions and what role libraries and the scholarly communication sector can play in this movement. I look at why this is so important for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) and othered (otherly minoritized, e.g. disabled, LGBTQ, etc.) students and what steps some libraries have already taken. One of the themes of the UKSG 2019 Conference was ‘diversity and change’; decolonizing the curriculum is exactly that if done correctly. Two presentations from the plenary session provided a good starting point and the article touches on how decolonizing the curriculum may impact research/researchers. It concludes that there is a need for academia to now move past just identifying that there are issues about retention and progression of BAME and othered students and staff, and for both the library and information and scholarly communication sectors to act to address this now.
{"title":"Decolonizing the curriculum","authors":"E. Charles","doi":"10.1629/uksg.475","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.475","url":null,"abstract":"The term ‘decolonizing the curriculum’ is of high currency in higher education in the UK and in local students’ unions at these institutions. This article seeks to give a very brief history and context for why this is fundamental for academic institutions and what role libraries and the scholarly communication sector can play in this movement. I look at why this is so important for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) and othered (otherly minoritized, e.g. disabled, LGBTQ, etc.) students and what steps some libraries have already taken. One of the themes of the UKSG 2019 Conference was ‘diversity and change’; decolonizing the curriculum is exactly that if done correctly. Two presentations from the plenary session provided a good starting point and the article touches on how decolonizing the curriculum may impact research/researchers. It concludes that there is a need for academia to now move past just identifying that there are issues about retention and progression of BAME and othered students and staff, and for both the library and information and scholarly communication sectors to act to address this now.","PeriodicalId":44531,"journal":{"name":"Insights-The UKSG Journal","volume":"138 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2019-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86941563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}