Faster Access to Publicly Funded Research

Adrian K. Ho is Director of Digital Scholarship at the University of Kentucky Libraries.  In collaboration with his colleagues, he networks with different constituents on campus to explore avenues to open up access to scholarly content.  Below is information provided by Adrian regarding OSTP directive and FASTR.

The White House issued a breakthrough policy memorandum on February 22, 2013 requiring federal agencies to create plans for providing the public with free online access to the published research they fund. 

                                                 

The directive calls on federal agencies with annual research and development budgets of $100 million or more to open up online access to both journal articles and research data resulting from public funding.  Free access to the articles is to be available within 12 months from publication in peer-reviewed journals.    

The federal government sponsors research with billions of dollars every year in order to bolster knowledge generation and encourage innovation.  Providing free online access to the research is a veritable way to reap the benefits of taxpayers’ investments. 

SPARC, a non-profit organization that has been working to broaden public access to scholarly research, notes that free access to the Human Genome Project has enabled scientists around the globe to use the data for groundbreaking projects and has developed an estimated economic impact of almost $800 billion.  As Heather Joseph from SPARC says, “The Directive will accelerate scientific discovery, improve education, and empower entrepreneurs to translate research into commercial ventures and jobs.  It’s good for our nation, our economy, and our future.” 

The directive has been applauded with enthusiasm by academics, library associations, and businesses alike.  Details of the policy memorandum are available here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/02/22/expanding-public-access-results-federally-funded-research

A parallel development on the open access front is the bipartisan Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), which was introduced in Congress on Feb. 14, 2013 with a view to enable free online access to and lawful digital reuse of journal articles emanating from publicly funded research. 

The bill would require federal agencies with annual extramural research expenditures of $100 million or more to mandate that the peer-reviewed manuscripts of journal articles resulting from publicly funded research be made freely available online within six months after the articles are published in scholarly journals.  The free public access would maximize the dissemination of the research findings, encourage constructive reuse of the articles, and augment the return on public financing of research. 

FASTR is important to higher education because it:

• enhances the visibility and recognition of publicly funded research at different institutions
• strengthens knowledge sharing through unfettered access to numerous peer-reviewed research articles
• helps increase the impact of the research
• facilitates examination of research conducted at institutions that compete for federal funding;
• enables computational analysis, text mining, data mining, and other innovative reuse of the research articles for the purpose of scholarship advancement
• ensures long-term preservation of the research articles in designated digital archives 

More information about FASTR is available from these resources:

• The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research (FASTR) Act of 2013: http://www.wyden.senate.gov/download/fastr-act
• SPARC FAQ for the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR): http://www.arl.org/sparc/resources/sparc-faq-for-the-fair-access-to-science-and-techn.shtml
• UK Libraries Open Access Research Guide:  http://libguides.uky.edu/content.php?pid=331920&sid=3581831

Peter Suber, an eminent scholar and commentator on open access, has offered an analysis of how the White House’s directive and FASTR complement each other.  You can find his comments here: https://plus.google.com/109377556796183035206/posts/8hzviMJeVHJ

Janet Stith Announces Retirement

After 42 years of service to the University of Kentucky, nearly 20 of those years as Director of the Medical Center Library (MCL), Janet Stith announced this week that she will retire August 2, 2013.  During her tenure as Director, Janet led many initiatives including a focus on public health and outreach and a greater role for librarians in clinical rounds within UK Healthcare.  She successfully recruited a highly skilled and dedicated faculty for the MCL and worked closely with the leadership in all of the medical colleges.

A native West Virginian, Janet received her B.A. from Glenville State College and an M.A. in Education from West Virginia University.  She earned an M.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of Kentucky.

Janet received numerous awards during her career including Academic Librarian of the Year in 1995 from the Kentucky Library and Special Librarian of the Year in 2002 from the Kentucky Library Association.  She is on the Regional Advisory Council for the Greater Midwest Region of the National Network Libraries of Medicine.  She has also served as a member of the Kentucky Health Literacy Education Group.

Donovan Trust Award Exhibit at the Lucille Little Fine Arts Library

Thanks to a generous grant from the Donovan Trust, visitors to the Lucille Little Fine Arts Library now have access to a unique set of artists’ books.  In 2012, the trust provided more than $10,000 in funding to purchase artists’ books from Flying Fish Press.  These handmade books are produced in very limited editions, and engage the viewer by creating a narrative in a unique way, with intricate parts and three-dimensional objects.  Book Artist Julie Chen is one of the leading educators in this field, and she creates some of the most intricate and highly crafted work that is currently available. 

 The books purchased with this funding will be on display in the Little Library through March 15^th.  The exhibit was created by Chelsea Alexander, a student intern at the Fine Arts Library this semester.  It is one of the projects involved in completing the requirements for A-H 399, “Internship in Art History and Visual Studies.”

Beth Reeder begins new position in AIC

Beth Reeder began her new appointment this week as Library Technician Senior in the Agriculture Information Center.  She has a B.A. in Sociology/Psychology from Morehead State University and earned a Master’s in Library and Information Science from UK.  She previously worked at ITT Technical Institute as a Library Assistant.  

Central Kentucky Art

Dr. Jim Birchfield gave a presentation on "Art Collecting in the Bluegrass" at Georgetown College on Thursday evening, 21 February.  He discussed evidences of the art market in Central Kentucky beginning in the early nineteenth century, and commented on the collections since then of such figures as Capt. John Wilgus, Henry Clay, Henry T. Duncan, Dr. Robert Peter, Wendell Cherry, John Gaines, and others.  

Frank Davis chairs MLA Section

Frank Davis will begin a term as Chair of the Medical Library Association Cancer Librarians Section at the May MLA Conference in Boston. The Section provides a forum for cooperation and communications among librarians having an interest in cancer-related libraries and information services.  It also promotes the continued development of cancer libraries, information resources, and services. 

 Frank is a research librarian at the UK Medical Center Library and liaison to the Markey Cancer Center, the College of Medicine Internal Medicine Department, the College of Pharmacy, and the COP Curriculum Committee.

Focus on Assessment

In a move to enhance UK Libraries assessment, Judy Wiza, Assessment Coordinator, now reports to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Research.  This move provides the opportunity to further integrate assessment into our instruction and service efforts, building on the success of assessment activities in our information literacy instruction program.  Through integrating assessment into these efforts, we can further explore how UK Libraries contributes directly to student success.

We will also use the next 4-5 months to explore alternative models for utilizing personnel in our assessment effort. 

University Press of Kentucky Book Wins Award

University Press of Kentucky (UPK) author bell hooks has been named the recipient of the 2013 Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s (BCALA) Best Poetry Award for her book "Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place."  For the complete press release visit:  http://uknow.uky.edu/content/upk-book-bell-hooks-wins-national-poetry-award

MCL Intern at National Library of Medicine

Emma Kelly, a graduate student intern at the Medical Center Library, has been selected to participate in the School of Library and Information Science 2013 Alternative Spring Break Program at the National Library of Medicine.

Students gain career-enhancing experience working with a medical librarian. Her project will involve editing Wikipedia entries to include links to the NLM’s Medline Plus pages, as well as adding public domain images from the library’s History of Medicine Database.

Emma has worked for the Medical Center Library since beginning her master’s degree in fall of 2011, first as a student assistant, then as a reference intern for the past year. She is looking forward to spending a week with some of the nation’s top medical librarians.  Emma plans to receive her degree in May.

Deirdre Scaggs Shares UK History at Founder’s Day Luncheon

Last Friday, February 22, the University of Kentucky celebrated its 148^th birthday with a luncheon in the Alumni Gymnasium.  Deirdre Scaggs, Associate Dean for Special Collections, reviewed the university’s rich and diverse history over the past century and a half and UK’s strategic role in the development of the commonwealth.

President Eli Capilouto followed with remarks about the university’s future including an update on campus construction and highlights of UK’s academic and research successes.

Observations and Reflections

Next month Mary Beth Thomson and I are scheduled to present an “update” on UK Libraries to the University Senate.  It will be another opportunity to thank the UK faculty, staff, and students for their support this past year.  Mary Beth and I will also be sharing with the Senate information about collections, the budget, and new initiatives underway and planned to benefit students and faculty.

ASERL Executive Director Announces Research Data Initiative

The Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) and the Southeast Universities Research Association (SURA) have endorsed language to assist their member institutions in drafting sound policies to govern the uses and management of research data generated by university faculty and staff.

 John Burger, Executive Director of ASERL noted that “An emerging need for research universities is to craft policies that ensure research data are used and managed appropriately for the long term.  We are pleased to join together with our SURA colleagues to offer such a useful tool to help our members have fruitful conversations on their campuses to meet this need.”

The full announcement is available online at http://bit.ly/YDDICi

The full text of the model policy document is available at http://bit.ly/Vw2ZRM

Lunch with the Dean

My lunches with staff continue and I recently enjoyed dining and talking with Jen Martin, Mary Schiefer, and Sarah Dorpinghaus.  Among many topics, we talked about haunted houses and exactly where in Iowa Sarah is from.  After sharing our favorite dog photos we left some time for observations about working in UK Libraries.

I hope you will submit your name for a future lunch.  I enjoy getting to know all of you better and hearing your observations about UK Libraries.

Kentucky American Water Room Almost Complete

Renovations to the Kentucky American Water Room (1-77) are nearly complete.  The room will soon be available again for library instruction, student study, and meetings.  New furniture has been installed  that is more conducive to group study and collaborative learning along with a wall mounted video monitor and new portable white boards.  The space also received a new coat of paint and new carpet.

 The renovations were made possible thanks to a generous gift from Kentucky American Water and it represents the kind of public-private partnerships we will need to renovate spaces throughout our campus libraries.

A public program marking the reopening of the Kentucky American Water room will be held March 26^th at 4:00 p.m.  I hope you will be able to attend.

Soviet Poster Exhibit Opening

Last week UK Libraries added another stamp to the Arts and Sciences Passport on the World Programming with the opening of an exhibit of Soviet Cold War-Era Posters from the Scott Military Collection in the Hub at W.T.’s.  

The exhibit, which supports this year’s theme of Reimagining Russia’s Realms, opened with an invitation to enjoy a Russian Tea organized by the UK Russian Club.  The Tea featured authentic meats, cheeses, sweets, and some homemade dishes provided by the students in the club. 

 Once everyone had an opportunity to sample the food, a brief program featured Karen Petrone, Chair of the UK History Department, who spoke about the significance of the posters; Gordon Hogg, Director of the Special Collections Library, on how the posters arrived at UK; and Cindy Ruder, MCL/Russian and Eastern Studies who promoted upcoming programming for Reimagining Russia’s Realms. 

Following the program, all guests were invited to stay and view the posters and enjoy the refreshments.  About 100 people ventured into Core 1 of the Hub @ W.T.’s for the event and enjoyed the unique art work.

 Information about the Soviet poster exhibit, which may be viewed in the Hub at W.T.’s through the end of June, may be found at http://libraries.uky.edu/rrrexhibits.

Economic Outlook Conference

Peter Hesseldenz, Business and Economics Liaison, participated in the 24^th annual Economic Outlook Conference, a half day event held in Lexington and sponsored by the Gatton College of Business and Economics.  For the past several years Peter has attended the conference which presents information on the national and Kentucky economies. 

The event is a wonderful opportunity for learning as well as networking, with many local business leaders and members of the UK faculty in attendance.  This year’s conference featured an engaging mix of national and local speakers.   Two UK Economics faculty members, Ken Troske and Chris Bollinger, discussed the Kentucky economy, in entertaining and informative talks.  Troske tackled the economy in general, expressing a guarded optimism in his forecast, but also not hiding his frustration at the gridlock in Washington, which he blames, in part, for the slowness of the recovery.  Bollinger talked particularly about housing issues, describing in detail how the recent crisis has affected markets in Lexington, Louisville, and Cincinnati. 

The conference also featured Mark Sniderman from the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland, who discussed the relationship between monetary and fiscal policies and the current economic situation and Jim Gray and Greg Fischer, mayors of Lexington and Louisville respectively, who talked about the innovative BEAM (Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement) project which links the two cities together for mutual economic gain.     

Observations and Reflections

Assessment has always been important to research libraries and today’s educational climate demands even more data for determining student needs, research trends, and budget allocations.  We have been very fortunate here in UK Libraries that Judy Wiza has led the development of an excellent culture of assessment.  As we prepared for the upcoming SACS review, UK Libraries was able to provide large amounts of detailed information about our work and how our users value access to information and the support they receive.

After a recent meeting with the UK Libraries Assessment Committee (Stephanie Aken Gail Kennedy, Beth Kraemer, Jo Staggs-Neel, Kelly Vickery, Judy Wiza, chair), I am even more convinced that our faculty and staff are prepared to continue a critical look at what we do, how we do it, and how our work impacts students, faculty, and researchers.  As we enter an incentive based funding model, this type of information will be more important than ever to the success of UK Libraries.

Last week the Dean’s Council (UK Deans) met with UK faculty and staff who are leading Student Success efforts at UK.  We heard short presentations regarding student recruitment, living learning spaces, undergraduate education, UK International Center, and the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT).  All of these areas now report to Dr. Dan O’Hair, Dean of the College of Communication and Information (CI) and Interim Senior Vice-Provost for Student Success.

A number of new initiatives are underway to recruit better students to UK and to provide the support they need to graduate and go on to successful careers.  UK Libraries plays an important role in that success and over the next several months we will be working with these offices to explore avenues for even greater UK Libraries participation in their efforts.

I am serving on the UK Campus Master Plan Advisory Committee.  At a meeting this week representatives from Sasaki Associates reviewed preliminary ideas for transforming the UK campus.  As might be expected, the William T. Young Library plays a prominent role in any approach to campus planning. 

However, the space surrounding Young Library is quickly being transformed with the construction of new living leaning spaces.  One plan also calls for a second student center/dining facility to be built on the corner of University Drive and Hilltop Avenue.  Regardless of which plans go forward, Young Library will be at the center of university student life.

Another concept being explored is to transform the original Margaret I. King Building into a Student Learning and Services complex.  For this to happen, an off-site storage facility would need to be constructed and major renovations to the fifth floor of Young Library made to accommodate the Special Collections Library and Research Room. 

Interesting reading:  Hiring the Next Wave of Multicultural Librarians  http://www.nationaljournal.com/thenextamerica/workforce/hiring-the-next-wave-of-multicultural-librarians-20130131#.URURzuJnWmY.facebook     

International Programs Update

Toni Greider, Director of International Programs, reports that UK Libraries continues to support international activities in a number of ways.  

For the past academic year the International Working Group has been actively engaged in “Reimagining Russia’s Realms” with programming and exhibits.  The Spring Semester began with a lecture by Dr. Gregory Frolenkov who spoke about audiology and rehabilitation services in Russia.  Dr. Frolenkov, an engaging speaker, has worked under three government agencies, the Soviet Union, the Russian Republic, and the US.  He offered interesting insights into the various approaches to funding research. UK Libraries partnered with UK Healthcare in sponsoring Dr. Frolenkov’s lecture.

Also in January, a new exhibit opened on the video walls of The Hub.  Postcards from Pre-Soviet Russia provide a glimpse of life in imperial Russian.  The exhibit contains over 80 postcards, many with original stamps and text visible.  The postcards are part of UK Libraries Special Collections.

The posters are part of the Scott Soviet Military Collection and facsimiles of the posters have been reproduced and displayed in Core 1 of The Hub.  UK Libraries is partnering with the UK Russian Club to provide an authentic Russian tea.  Both the post cards and the posters were digitized by UK Libraries Digital Library Services and all of our exhibits for the year can be viewed virtually at libraries.uky.edu/rrrexhibits. 

On February 6^th we will open the Soviet Cold War Poster Exhibit with a short program and a Russian tea.   The program will begin at 4 p.m. with the Russian tea to follow.   The event is free and open to the public.

The posters are part of the Scott Soviet Military Collection and facsimiles of the posters have been reproduced and displayed in Core 1 of The Hub.  UK Libraries is partnering with the UK Russian Club to provide an authentic Russian tea.  Both the post cards and the posters were digitized by UK Libraries Digital Library Services and all of our exhibits for the year can be viewed virtually at libraries.uky.edu/rrrexhibits. 

The Working Group has also been exploring new ways to serve our international students and faculty.  UK librarian Kaziko Hioki worked with Audio/Visual Services to set aside four laptops with onscreen keyboards capable of typing in selected non roman alphabets.  Kathryn Lybarger prepared instructions for using the computers as well as a Libguide with information about how to set up an on screen keyboard on any computer.  The instructions are available at:  http://libguides.uky.edu/typingLOTE.

Debbi Lloyd, Graduate Assistant in Reference, joined the Working Group for the spring semester and is enrolled in LIS 675.  Her semester project is to survey student library needs for both students going abroad and for international students coming to UK.  Debbi will be working closely with the UK International Center.   UK Libraries continues to look for partnerships, on and off campus, to promote UK’s international efforts.   The International Working Group includes:  Jen Bartlett, Jan Carver, Frank Davis, Toni Greider, Kazuko Hioki, Gordon Hogg, and Kathryn Lybarger.

Collections added to KDL and Explore UK

Sarah Dorpinghaus, Digital Projects Library Manager, recently announced two digitized collections have been added to ExploreUK and the Kentucky Digital Library.

 Agricultural Experiment Station (UK) negatives, 1895-1948  Scope and content: The Agricultural Experiment Station (University of Kentucky) negatives consist of field and laboratory images from the Departments of Entomology and Botany in the Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Kentucky. The images document plant and animal life in and around Lexington, Kentucky. Many of these images were used in the Agricultural reports and bulletins. See the series level scope notes for more detail.

 Winchester Byron Rudy Civil War Diary, October 17, 1861 - June 17, 1864  Biographical note: Winchester Byron Rudy was born on March 27, 1840, in Maysville, Kentucky, which is in Mason County. He enlisted in Company "C" of the 16th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry on August 10, 1861, and served in the army until January 27, 1865. The 16th Kentucky was mustered into U.S. (Union) service on January 27, 1862. In January 1864, he was reassigned to the 13th Kentucky, 23rd Army Corps for which he served in a Division headquarters' position until his discharge. Winchester Byron Rudy died February 27, 1920 in Maysville, Kentucky and was buried in the Mason County Cemetery.

Gordon Hogg showcases Scott Collection on WUKY

Reimagining Russia’s Realms is an in-depth examination of the Peoples, Arts, Cultures, and Homelands of Eurasia from UK’s College of Arts and Sciences.   This week on WUKY’s Perspectives, Cynthia Ruder, Associate Professor of Russian Studies and Gordon Hogg, Director of the Special Collections Library, provide an overview of this semester’s Year of Russia events. 

http://www.wuky.org/post/reimagining-russias-realms       

Nunn Center featured in LC Publication

UK Libraries faculty member Dr. Doug Boyd was recently featured in the Library of Congress digital preservation publication, The Signal.  Written by Mike Ashenfileder, the article, Doug Boyd and the Power of Digital Oral History in the 21st Century features the work of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History and the Special Collections Division, and highlights their national leadership with regard to innovations in access and preservation of oral histories.  Dr. Boyd's leadership in the national initiative, Oral History in the Digital Age, was also highlighted in the article.