Library information provider OCLC Research, US, has announced that the 'Well-intentioned practice (WIP) for putting digitized collections of unpublished materials online,' has been endorsed as a standard by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) Council.
Prepared by OCLC Research, this practice provides the framework for an assertive approach to digitisation of unpublished archival materials, such as photographs, letters, or the records of an organisation's work, whose rights holders are often difficult to identify and contact. It promotes a practical approach to identifying and resolving rights issues that is in line with professional and ethical standards and emphasises a collective approach to the management of the copyright responsibilities involved in large-scale digitisation projects.
This approach is the output of a 2010 seminar in which OCLC Research convened a group of experts in archives, special collections and law to develop streamlined, community-accepted procedures for managing copyright in the digital age that would cut costs and boost confidence in libraries' and archives' ability to increase access to unpublished materials online.
The group acknowledged that, although there is risk in digitising materials that may be in copyright, this risk should be balanced with the harm to scholarship and society inherent in not making collections fully accessible. Based on this premise, they identified a practical approach to selecting collections, making decisions, seeking permissions, recording outcomes, establishing policy and working with future donors, which was outlined in the 'Well-intentioned practice' document. Since then, a community of practice has been forming around the WIP that will increase and significantly improve access to collections of unpublished materials for the purpose of furthering research and learning.
The 'Well-intentioned practice for putting digitized collections of unpublished materials online' document is available online.
By endorsing WIP as a standard, SAA joins a distinguished group of organisations and individuals that support the practices outlined in the WIP. Other organisations that have joined the community of practice by endorsing these procedures include the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of the American Library Association (ALA), the Joint National Committee on Archives, Libraries and Museums (CALM), and the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA).
To access our daily STM news feed through your iPhone, iPad, or other smartphones, please visit www.myscoope.com for a mobile friendly reading experience.
The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation has released a new policy paper by Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, that seeks to offer practical and scalable solutions to the problem of inadequate supply of college graduates excelling in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Dr. Hrabowski is President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He says research in STEM is critical as the US addresses key challenges in healthcare, the environment, national security and the economy.
In the paper, Institutional Change in Higher Education: Innovation and Collaboration, Dr. Hrabowski discusses how his institution has addressed the shortage of STEM graduates, particularly among groups that have been underrepresented in these fields, including minorities, women and students from low-income backgrounds. UMBC has been recognised widely as a leader in higher education innovation, according to him. For three years in a row, the US News and World Report America's Best Colleges Guide has ranked the university number one among 'Up-and-Coming' national universities.
To help meet the growing demand for STEM experts nationwide and encourage institutional change, Dr. Hrabowski urges colleges and universities to establish priorities, focus on strategic planning, and emphasise effectiveness and efficiency in the use of resources; reflect on their institution's culture, taking into account school values, practices, habits and even the relationships among faculty, staff, and students; encourage the involvement of the entire campus, including faculty, administration, and students, in understanding and addressing broad retention issues and general academic performance; focus on the importance of group study and other approaches that inform redesign for first-year STEM courses; increase support for minority groups by providing knowledge and skill development, academic and social integration, support and motivation, and advising and monitoring; and develop distinct programmes and initiatives that address change needed in graduate programmes.
Dr. Hrabowski shows that the framework developed through the Meyerhoff Scholars Program underlies other important programmes and initiatives at UMBC that have helped create a campus climate of inclusive excellence. He will discuss the paper's themes as a featured speaker at the third annual Innovation in Education Summit in New York City on September 28, 2011. Sponsored by The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation, the event brings together experts to discuss critical issues and trends and their impact on today's education environment.
To access our daily STM news feed through your iPhone, iPad, or other smartphones, please visit www.myscoope.com for a mobile friendly reading experience.
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), UK, has echoed the main message of a joint letter sent by the UK's leading science bodies to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The letter comes in the wake of controversy over planned cuts by the EPSRC in the field of synthetic organic chemistry.
RSC President, Prof. David Phillips, has said the RSC believes strongly that the EPSRC needs to pause a while and listen to the community and the RSC hopes that the council takes that route.
According to him, such a period of reflection would allow for feedback and new evidence from the community to be absorbed. Above all, the decision about reduction in spend should be taken after wide consultation and buy-in from the community. The RSC through its own roadmap, Chemistry for Tomorrow's World, is committed to supporting excellent research and innovation across the country.
Further, Prof. Phillips said, chemistry research alone enabled UK companies to create more than 20 percent of the GDP; any funding actions that threatens this vast contribution must be considered long and hard, in order to avoid inflicting irreparable damage in the short and long term.
On September 26, 2011, the RSC will attend a gathering of academic and learned organisations who have been invited to a 'town hall' meeting arranged by the EPSRC. The aim is to address some of the issues thrown up by the lack of consultation on EPSRC's 'Shaping Capability' report which ignited debate in the scientific community.
To access our daily STM news feed through your iPhone, iPad, or other smartphones, please visitwww.myscoope.com for a mobile friendly reading experience.
Twenty-five of the UK's leading mathematical scientists, including four Fields Medallists, have written to the Prime Minister, David Cameron, to warn that 'central planning and micro-managing research' will have devastating consequences for the nation.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) announced in July that researchers from all areas of the mathematical sciences except statistics and applied probability are ineligible to apply for fellowships, until further notice. As a result, even the best of this year's PhDs in such subjects as geometry, fluid dynamics, number theory, and computational mathematics may be unable to continue their research in the UK, it is feared.
The scientists say that EPSRC's decision cuts off 'an essential part of the pipeline that allows some PhDs to become leading researchers'. It was made 'without any meaningful consultation of the UK mathematics community'.
The scientists argue that mathematics is essential for the fastest growing sectors of the economy, from Google to medical imaging to financial services. "It is foolhardy to claim that one part of mathematics is the only useful one," they point out. For one thing, "business applications of mathematics often come from the most surprising and unpredictable sources."
In a separate letter, Prof. Margaret Wright of New York University, the chair of the 2010 International Review of the Mathematical Sciences (IRMS) panel commissioned by EPSRC, wrote to EPSRC that the new policy is not even the best way to help statistics, the science of extracting knowledge from data. The IRMS panel recommended other ways EPSRC could help statistics, which have so far been ignored.
David Delpy, Chief Executive of EPSRC, testified to the Commons science and technology committee that EPSRC's Shaping Capability policy is a deliberate move away from the goal of funding the best research. Rather, EPSRC will direct funding to EPSRC-favoured parts of each science.
Delpy claimed that EPSRC's knowledge of 'the whole portfolio' meant that it does not need to consult the UK's learned societies in particular sciences such as mathematics.
To access our daily STM news feed through your iPhone, iPad, or other smartphones, please visit www.myscoope.com for a mobile friendly reading experience.
STM publisher Elsevier, Netherlands, has announced that four UK Higher Education Funding Bodies (representing England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) will use Elsevier's SciVerse Scopus database as the sole bibliometric provider for the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF). The Framework was developed to assess the quality of research in UK higher education institutions.
The team at Elsevier will provide automated matching between submitted publications and their associated metadata and citations in the Scopus database. This will be updated in real time, to assure that the maximum number of citations are counted. Assessment panels who have opted to use bibliometric data will be provided with citation information, as well as contextual information (i.e. the article is in the top 10 percent of cited articles) within each specific field.
Covering the world's research literature, SciVerse Scopus claims to be is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality Web sources with smart tools to track analyse and visualise research. SciVerse Scopus was designed and developed with over 500 users and librarians internationally. Its unique database contains abstracts and references from nearly 18,000 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers, ensuring broad interdisciplinary coverage. In addition, SciVerse Scopus not only offers users citation information about the articles covered, but also directly integrates Web and patent searches.
To access our daily STM news feed through your iPhone, iPad, or other smartphones, please visit www.myscoope.com for a mobile friendly reading experience.
