The University of Florida Libraries joined the HathiTrust Digital Library to expand digital access to orphan works, as announced July 14, 2011. As of July 19, 2011, the Orphan works list from the University of Michigan is now live. Much of the news on HathiTrust is focused on access to the digitized materials. That’s important and great work, but the orphan works list and clearing rights to make them accessible is enormously important work. Even if HathiTrust was only using the digitized materials as part of the components to power the orphan works list, it would be an excellent use of resources.

Libraries and cultural heritage institutions are always working to find new ways to enable access to more materials for more people. Melissa Levine, the University of Michigan’s lead copyright officer, succinctly explains the importance of the orphan works list and processing done by partners in HathiTrust, stating: “Sharing these orphan works, once we’ve diligently searched for copyright holders, is integral to the mission of the Library.”From Levine’s sentence, the Library could be the University of Michigan Library of the Library as an ideal and concept. Her statement is true for both.

Developing the orphan works list as a step towards great access is essential and exemplary work. I’m thrilled to read each new press release on new members signing up to support HathiTrust’s work on access to orphan works, and proud to be with an institution that has already done so.

Due to enthusiastic response to our 2011 HASTAC Conference CFP, and due to conflicts with summer travels and holidays, HASTAC has decided to reschedule the deadline to September 15, 2011.

The University of Michigan will be hosting the 2011 annual HASTAC Conference face-to-face on its Ann Arbor campus December 2 and 3. We invite proposals for presentations on the general theme of Digital Scholarly Communication.

Deadline for submission is September 15, 2011. Proposals can be submitted here: http://tinyurl.com/HASTAC2011-Proposal

They seek topics which may range over but need not be restricted to, the role of digital technologies in:

• Reformulating scholarly projects and products. (This might include questions of narration and argumentation, evidence and epistemology, interactivity, and/or text/visual presentation.)
• Re-mapping the routes through which scholarly products circulate.
• Expanding the digital arts to include the humanities and vice versa.
• Reshaping the global system of knowledge production in the humanities in terms of access, circulation, exchange and equity within the global north and between the global north and south.
• Generating new kinds of research and teaching partnerships.

Topics may also include:

• Copyright challenges and strategies for digital scholarly communication.
• Web design and digitization of archives for multiple and different constituencies (local communities, global peers).
• New forms of research, digitally based, in the humanities.

The middle part of the day on both December 2 and 3 will be given over to concurrent sessions. People may present in any of three formats:

• An individual five-minute “lightening” talk or ten-minute lecture-style presentation, with or without technology (e.g., PPT, Prezi)
• A panel on a common theme with short presentations to allow for discussion time, with or without technology
• A poster project or demo for conversation in a digital display area (e.g., YouTube or other presentation format uploaded to conference website; laptop-based video on a continuous loop, slidecast, interactive website; print poster board)

Presenters will have the option of pre-circulating materials on the website before and during the conference. Information on an Unconference event for December 1 forthcoming).

Deadline for submission is September 15, 2011. Proposals can be submitted here: http://tinyurl.com/HASTAC2011-Proposal

Press Release:

For immediate release: August 4, 2010

For more information, contact:
Karla Strieb
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
karla@arl.org

ARL Promotes Member Use of Large-Scale Digitization Principles

Washington DC— The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Board of Directors unanimously voted on July 26, 2010, to endorse a set of nine principles to guide vendor/publisher relations in large-scale digitization projects of special collections materials, recommended by its Transforming Special Collections in the Digital Age Working Group. The Board’s vote strongly encourages ARL member libraries to refrain from signing future agreements with publishers or vendors, either individually or through consortia, that do not adhere to the principles.

The ARL Board recognizes that research libraries are increasingly finding that large-scale digitization of special collections materials involves partnerships with commercial vendors and publishers, and that those partnerships should be governed by principles that protect special collections materials and promote the broadest possible access to digital versions of them.

Special collections often include valuable and unique materials, but also incur special responsibilities for their stewards. Digital access to special collections materials has become important in revealing hidden materials and promoting humanities research, and ARL member libraries often require appropriate collaborations and partnerships to implement large-scale digitization activities.

The nine principles address issues including implications of the distinctive character of special collections, the need for libraries to retain their own copies of the products of digitization projects, the importance of promoting broad access to digitized collections, and concerns regarding the collection of data about users of digitized collections.

“I am thrilled that the ARL Board has endorsed these principles, which encourage research libraries and archives to provide digital access to special collections while safeguarding institutional interests and promoting broad public access,” said Anne R. Kenney, Chair of the Working Group. “At Cornell, we plan to draw on the framework to improve many terms in our negotiations with vendors, including to shorten embargo periods on all our digitized collections to five years or less.”

To view these principles, please visit: http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/principles_large_scale_digitization.pdf

International Publishers and Librarians Agree to Enhance The Debate on Open Access

Geneva/The Hague 20 May 2009 – For immediate release

A joint statement released today by the International Publishers Association, the International Association of Scientific Technical and Medical (STM) Publishers, and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) calls for a more rational, evidence based debate on open access. It encourages experimentation and piloting of new concepts and ideas, whilst acknowledging that the differences in the different academic disciplines and publishing traditions may lead to differentiated approaches and business models in support of authors.

The joint statement is intended to move the oftentimes heated and polarised debate about open access as a model for scholarly communication towards a more measured and nuanced discourse.

Says IPA President Herman P. Spruijt “The debate about open access is important and publishers welcome it. Publishing is never at a standstill and we should not fear change. Now that more experience has been gained with open access publishing and now that data is available on its success, the open access debate should be able to move away from emotional accusations and oversimplification. Our discussions with IFLA on this topic are always spirited, but have become more insightful and less polarised as we moved towards facts, evidence and differentiated arguments. There is a lesson here to be learned for the public debate on this issue.”

Says IFLA Working Group co-chairman Ingrid Parent: “IFLA is pleased to announce the joint declaration on open access with IPA. This statement shows that both our associations share the important objective of providing the broadest possible access to information. IFLA and IPA believe publishers and librarians have a lot to gain by supporting innovation, experimentation and pilot projects in developing open access to scholarly publications.”

Notes for Editors:
The full text of the statement is available here.

More about IPA:
The International Publishers Association (IPA) is an international industry federation representing all aspects of book and journal publishing. Established in 1896, IPA’s mission is to promote and protect publishing and to raise awareness for publishing as a force for economic, cultural and political development. Around the world IPA actively fights against censorship and promotes copyright, literacy and freedom to publish.

More about IFLA:
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession. IFLA promotes the principles of freedom of access to information, ideas and works of imagination and freedom of expression. The delivery of high quality and equitable library and information services helps guarantee that access and improve the social, educational, cultural, democratic and economic well-being of those communities and organizations libraries serve. IFLA has 1600 Members in approximately 150 countries around the world.

I’ve been hoping to see something like this built from Stanford’s copyright database and all of the copyright records and research so many of us have done and it’s great to see it in beta!

http://www.worldcat.org/copyrightevidence

While it isn’t as much as I want for the first full release, it’s in beta so it’s nice that they’ve opened it early for us to contribute. In the first full release, I’d like to see it auto-ingest records from Stanford’s copyright database along with any other databases it can (Gutenberg, BMI, the copyright office, anyone) and to then list those records, including what they pull from, with the full record information including status. Then, I’d like to see an easier interface with a “based on all available information” next to a “best current guess” copyright status indicator (and one that could be like the Creative Commons icons), with a link to the available information and the copyright rules that are being applied. This way, people could see how  the rules are used, what rules apply to each text, and what information is and isn’t available. Adding all of this is a ton more work, but it would make the copyright evidence immediately useful for evaluating copyright and for teaching people how to evaluate copyright. Then, I’d also like an official sign on process (and one that uses OpenID) to allow “copyright experts” who are vetted to enter in the definitive information. Google’s Knol is focusing on the value of authoritative, attributed information and every database can benefit from the same.

The service was only announced last month so it’s clearly in the early stages and this isn’t a critique–it’s just that the need is so great that anything that can be automated and established to be interoperable with other data sources and/or with people contributing more effectively is always better.  Eventually, most copyright checks should be easy. To get to that point will take a great deal of work given the issues (different rules for material type, publication status/place, non-standard copyright record formatting), but this should get us another step closer!