Charleston Conference
Thursday Afternoon Plenary
November 4, 2010, 4:30 PM
Panel presentation by: John Dove, President, Credo Reference; Casper Grathwohl, Vice President and Online and Reference Publisher, Oxford University Press; Phoebe Ayers, Wikimedia Foundation and University of California at Davis; Jason B. Phillips, Librarian for Sociology, Psychology, Gender and Sexuality Studies and American Studies, New York University; Michael Sweet, CEO, Credo Reference
"From Open Data to Open Pedagogy: An Introduction to Integrating Open Practices into the Classroom" is a hands-on workshop offered by UTA Libraries during Open Education Week 2017.
"From Open Data to Open Pedagogy: An Introduction to Integrating Open Practices into the Classroom" is a hands-on workshop offered by UTA Libraries during Open Education Week 2017.
Collections unbound: collection directions and the RLUK collective collectionlisld
A presentation given to RLUK Members' meeting at the University of Warwick.
The library identity has been closely bound with its collection. However this is changing as research and learning behaviours evolve in a network environment. There are three interesting trends. First, atttention is shifting from a library-centric view of a locally owned collection to a user-centred view of a facilitated collection in places where the library can add value. Second, there is growing emphasis on support for creation, for the process of research, as well as for the products, the article or book. And third, we are seeing a changing perspective on the historic core, the print book collection. Increasingly, this is being seen in collective ways as institutions manage down print, or think about its management in cooperative settings, or retire collections as space is reconfigured around research and learning experiences. This presentation also provides preliminary findings for the analysis being carried out by OCLC Research of the RLUK collective collection.
The Author's Drift: scholarship, scale and societyPip Willcox
Why do we engage the public in research? Who is "the public"? What does successful engagement look like?
This talk presents some answers to that question, drawing on work from the Bodleian Libraries, the Oxford e-Research Centre, the University of Oxford's IT Services, and the HathiTrust Research Center.
The talk was the keynote at the Research and/as Engagement, a Royal Society of Edinburgh sponsored workshop, organized for Digital Humanities Network Scotland by the University of Edinburgh, 12 September 2014.
OCLC Research Update at ALA Chicago. June 26, 2017.OCLC
Rachel Frick, OCLC Executive Director of the OCLC Research Library Partnership, reviews some of the broad agenda items and recent publications related to the work of OCLC Research. Rachel is then joined for two presentations on specific research topics. First, Sharon Streams (OCLC Director of WebJunction) and Monika Sengul-Jones (OCLC Wikipedian-in-Residence) present on “Public Libraries and Wikipedia.” Next, Kenning Arlitsch (Dean, Montana State University Library) and Jeff Mixter (OCLC Senior Software Engineer) share their findings on “Accurate Institutional Repository Download Measurement using RAMP, the Repository Analytics and Metrics Portal.”
6-4-13 VIVO Case Studies Presentation SlidesDuraSpace
“Hot Topics: The DuraSpace Community Webinar Series, "Series Five: VIVO: Research Discovery and Networking.” Webinar #2: Case Studies: VIVO at Colorado, Brown, Duke, and Weill Cornell Medical College, June 4, 2013
Presented by: Alex Viggio, VIVO Implementation Lead, University of Colorado, Boulder, Steven McCauley, Brown University, Julia Trimmer, Duke University and Paul Albert, Weill Cornell Medical College.
Presentation by Ingrid Parent: Digital Academic Content and the Future of Lib...Ingrid Parent
International Library Cooperation Symposium presentation May 14, 2010 in Tokyo, Japan. Presentation by Ingrid Parent, President elect of IFLA, and University Librarian at the University of British Columbia
This is a presentation given to the RLUK 2016 conference held 9-11 March 2016 at the British Library.
Abstract: Before we challenge something it is helpful to understand it. In this talk Danny Kingsley will draw on a debate piece she recently co-authored that argued that open access has been systematically blamed for problems with the scholarly publishing system. This talk argues that amongst librarians, the knowledge of the scholarly communication system is even weaker than within the research community. As a library community we need to increase real understanding of the beast with which we dance. To do so requires a systematic change to the way librarians are educated, their professional development and a shift from managing the academic literature to participating in the generation of it. To not do so risks irrelevance into the future.
Open access (OA) to scholarly literature recently hit a major milestone: Half of all research articles published become open access, either immediately or after an embargo period. Are the articles you read among them? What about the articles you write? Are the journals to which you submit open-access friendly? What about the journals for which you peer review? Are there any reasons why the public should not have access to the results of taxpayer-funded research?
In this slideshow, Jill Cirasella (Associate Librarian for Public Services and Scholarly Communication, Graduate Center, CUNY) explains the motivation for OA, describes the details of OA, and differentiates between publishing in open access journals (“gold” OA) and self-archiving works in OA repositories (“green” OA). She also dispels persistent myths about OA and examines some of the challenges to OA.
Looking at Libraries, collections & technologylisld
**Important note - notes visible in downloaded presentation. **
An overview of research library collection trends. Presented in the context of changing demands of research and learning in a network environment. Behaviors shape technology; technology shapes behaviors. There is also some analysis of the RLUK collective collections study and a quick look at some characertistics of The Bodleian Libraries' collections.
So, what's it all about then? Why we share research dataDanny Kingsley
This is the Keynote talk at a Jisc Research Data Network meeting held at Cambridge University on 6 September 2016. The research data network is designed to be a people network offering participants a place to demonstrate practical research data management implementations and to discuss current issues relating to research data in institutions. This keynote discusses two of the most common excuses for not sharing data and then broadens the discussion out to the need for a move to Open Research of which open data is only a small but essential part.
Connaway, L. S., Gutsche, B., & Smith-Yoshimura, K. (2019). OCLC Research update: Emerging trends. Panel presented at ALA Midwinter, January 28, 2019, Seattle, Washington.
Collections unbound: collection directions and the RLUK collective collectionlisld
A presentation given to RLUK Members' meeting at the University of Warwick.
The library identity has been closely bound with its collection. However this is changing as research and learning behaviours evolve in a network environment. There are three interesting trends. First, atttention is shifting from a library-centric view of a locally owned collection to a user-centred view of a facilitated collection in places where the library can add value. Second, there is growing emphasis on support for creation, for the process of research, as well as for the products, the article or book. And third, we are seeing a changing perspective on the historic core, the print book collection. Increasingly, this is being seen in collective ways as institutions manage down print, or think about its management in cooperative settings, or retire collections as space is reconfigured around research and learning experiences. This presentation also provides preliminary findings for the analysis being carried out by OCLC Research of the RLUK collective collection.
The Author's Drift: scholarship, scale and societyPip Willcox
Why do we engage the public in research? Who is "the public"? What does successful engagement look like?
This talk presents some answers to that question, drawing on work from the Bodleian Libraries, the Oxford e-Research Centre, the University of Oxford's IT Services, and the HathiTrust Research Center.
The talk was the keynote at the Research and/as Engagement, a Royal Society of Edinburgh sponsored workshop, organized for Digital Humanities Network Scotland by the University of Edinburgh, 12 September 2014.
OCLC Research Update at ALA Chicago. June 26, 2017.OCLC
Rachel Frick, OCLC Executive Director of the OCLC Research Library Partnership, reviews some of the broad agenda items and recent publications related to the work of OCLC Research. Rachel is then joined for two presentations on specific research topics. First, Sharon Streams (OCLC Director of WebJunction) and Monika Sengul-Jones (OCLC Wikipedian-in-Residence) present on “Public Libraries and Wikipedia.” Next, Kenning Arlitsch (Dean, Montana State University Library) and Jeff Mixter (OCLC Senior Software Engineer) share their findings on “Accurate Institutional Repository Download Measurement using RAMP, the Repository Analytics and Metrics Portal.”
6-4-13 VIVO Case Studies Presentation SlidesDuraSpace
“Hot Topics: The DuraSpace Community Webinar Series, "Series Five: VIVO: Research Discovery and Networking.” Webinar #2: Case Studies: VIVO at Colorado, Brown, Duke, and Weill Cornell Medical College, June 4, 2013
Presented by: Alex Viggio, VIVO Implementation Lead, University of Colorado, Boulder, Steven McCauley, Brown University, Julia Trimmer, Duke University and Paul Albert, Weill Cornell Medical College.
Presentation by Ingrid Parent: Digital Academic Content and the Future of Lib...Ingrid Parent
International Library Cooperation Symposium presentation May 14, 2010 in Tokyo, Japan. Presentation by Ingrid Parent, President elect of IFLA, and University Librarian at the University of British Columbia
This is a presentation given to the RLUK 2016 conference held 9-11 March 2016 at the British Library.
Abstract: Before we challenge something it is helpful to understand it. In this talk Danny Kingsley will draw on a debate piece she recently co-authored that argued that open access has been systematically blamed for problems with the scholarly publishing system. This talk argues that amongst librarians, the knowledge of the scholarly communication system is even weaker than within the research community. As a library community we need to increase real understanding of the beast with which we dance. To do so requires a systematic change to the way librarians are educated, their professional development and a shift from managing the academic literature to participating in the generation of it. To not do so risks irrelevance into the future.
Open access (OA) to scholarly literature recently hit a major milestone: Half of all research articles published become open access, either immediately or after an embargo period. Are the articles you read among them? What about the articles you write? Are the journals to which you submit open-access friendly? What about the journals for which you peer review? Are there any reasons why the public should not have access to the results of taxpayer-funded research?
In this slideshow, Jill Cirasella (Associate Librarian for Public Services and Scholarly Communication, Graduate Center, CUNY) explains the motivation for OA, describes the details of OA, and differentiates between publishing in open access journals (“gold” OA) and self-archiving works in OA repositories (“green” OA). She also dispels persistent myths about OA and examines some of the challenges to OA.
Looking at Libraries, collections & technologylisld
**Important note - notes visible in downloaded presentation. **
An overview of research library collection trends. Presented in the context of changing demands of research and learning in a network environment. Behaviors shape technology; technology shapes behaviors. There is also some analysis of the RLUK collective collections study and a quick look at some characertistics of The Bodleian Libraries' collections.
So, what's it all about then? Why we share research dataDanny Kingsley
This is the Keynote talk at a Jisc Research Data Network meeting held at Cambridge University on 6 September 2016. The research data network is designed to be a people network offering participants a place to demonstrate practical research data management implementations and to discuss current issues relating to research data in institutions. This keynote discusses two of the most common excuses for not sharing data and then broadens the discussion out to the need for a move to Open Research of which open data is only a small but essential part.
Connaway, L. S., Gutsche, B., & Smith-Yoshimura, K. (2019). OCLC Research update: Emerging trends. Panel presented at ALA Midwinter, January 28, 2019, Seattle, Washington.
Next-Generation Science Journals: Challenges and Opportunities by Janet Cart...Charleston Conference
Friday, November 5, 2010
3:10 - 4:00 PM
JoVE, Journal of Visualized Experiments, is the first PubMed-indexed video methods journal in biology. Join a publisher and co-founder of JoVE and a senior collection management librarian in a discussion on next generation science journals: marketing and distribution of non-traditional online publications, licensing and subscription issues, and the challenges related to the acceptance of these publications within the library community. During the session, we will engage the audience aiming to answer questions such as: how next-generation publishers can help the library community to recognize the value of novel tools for the faculty, researchers, and students.
Mobile Access – What the Library Wants: Mobiles as Discovery Enhancers (Combi...Charleston Conference
2014 Charleston Conference
Thursday, November 6, 3:15 PM
Presented by Laura Horton, Global Library Communications Manager, Taylor & Francis; Laura Katz Rizzo, BFA Program Coordinator, Dance Program, Temple University; and Linda Wobbe, Head, Collection Management, Saint Mary's College of CA.
alphorm.com - Formation Exchange Server 2013 (70-341)Alphorm
La formation complète est disponible ici:
http://www.alphorm.com/tutoriel/formation-en-ligne-exchange-server-2013-70-341
Cette formation pratique vous permettra d'acquérir les connaissances et compétences nécessaires pour configurer et gérer un environnement de messagerie sous Microsoft Exchange Server 2013. Aucune connaissance d'Exchange Server n'est requise. Toutefois, des connaissances sur Active Directory et des notions sur PowerShell sont vivement recommandés.
Durant ce cours et en se basant sur ses longues années d'expériences Emmanuel VINAZZA vous apprendra comment configurer Exchange Server 2013, ainsi que de vous fournir des lignes directrices, les meilleures pratiques et divers éléments à prendre en compte qui vous aideront à optimiser votre déploiement de serveur Exchange.
Cette formation apporte une valeur ajoutée à tous ceux qui souhaitent également démarrer leur formation sur l'exploitation et l'administration d'un environnement Exchange 2013 en PowerShell
Public version of presentation proposing research project to look at libraries/ librarians ' role in relation to Open Educational Resources.
[this version edited to remove some context]
Open Access Week and Beyond (OLA Super Conference)Robyn Hall
Poster presented at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference in Toronto on February 26, 2010.
Abstract: Academic librarians’ support of open access publishing initiatives has enhanced library collections, research innovation and the visibility of institutions’ output. Many have paid less attention, however, to educating university students about open access resources. Drawing on exemplary promotional efforts, this poster describes ways that Canadian academic librarians might ensure students know about open access resources and understand their potential uses and limitations, from actively participating in Open Access Week to integrating open access topics into instruction sessions and beyond. During the poster session, information about recent developments in the open access movement in Canada will also be made available.
Alex and Conor introduce SAH Journal (sahjournal.com) as an open access academic journal project involving the collaborative efforts of emerging and established scholars as well as academic librarians. Conor explains the benefits of collaborating with research librarians through publishing. Alex asserts that librarians (libraries) are perfectly positioned to enter into direct competition with established commercial journal publishers. He explains the mechanics of electronic publishing from conceptional planning to implementation via, in this instance, Open Journal Systems (OJS).
Libraries and Librarians: Nexus of Trends in Librarianship and Social MediaIdowu Adegbilero-Iwari
Outline:
Libraries and Librarians
Traditional libraries vs Modern libraries
Library trends
Nexus of trends in librarianship and social media
Social media and libraries
Why social media in libraries?
Social media Strategy for Libraries
Uses of social media in libraries
Who does social media in library?
Library social media policy
Web tools for managing platforms
Social media in American libraries
So what must we do?
What if?
Contributing to the global commons: Repositories and WikimediaNick Sheppard
There is huge potential for universities and their libraries to leverage Wikimedia in order to expose research outputs and collections. Wikimedia comprises sixteen projects in total, including Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata. At the University of Leeds, the Research Data Management Service have successfully run a project that focuses on linking research data with the Wikimedia suite of tools via a series of ‘editathons’, in order to increase the visibility of research data and enable reuse on Wikipedia and elsewhere. The project - "Manage it locally to share it globally: RDM and Wikimedia Commons" - was the winning submission to a competition launched in May 2018 and sponsored by SPARC Europe, Jisc and the University of Cambridge, called the "Data Management Engagement Award", which aimed to address cultural challenges involved in promoting effective research data practices.
The project has served as a springboard to further explore Wikimedia strategically, both at the University of Leeds and across the White Rose Consortium. For example we are collaborating on a new project looking at Wikipedia citations of research from York, Sheffield and Leeds, and the proportion of these that are open access. The long term goal might be to establish a "Wikimedian in Residence" across the consortium. In this talk, we will present the project's outputs - including a toolkit that will enable other institutions to apply the same methodology. In addition we will explore the potential of Wikidata to link up repositories and other data silos in a manner that enables reuse and increases impact.
For many libraries, an institutional repository is an online archive to collect, preserve, and make accessible the intellectual output of an institution. For a growing bloc, the goal is to go further, beyond knowledge preservation to knowledge creation. These libraries are using their repositories to provide faculty with a proven publishing option by facilitating the production and distribution of original content often too niche for traditional publishers.
How do metadata librarians sift the incoming metadata with these different goals in mind? How do they optimize content for discovery in a wide range of resources such as online catalogs, external research databases, and major search engines? For a library that is also providing publishing services, what additional steps are necessary?
As the provider of Digital Commons, a repository and publishing platform for over 350 institutions, bepress has first-hand experience with these topics, and our consultants advise regularly on best practices for collecting, publishing, distributing, and archiving content. This presentation is intended for library professionals, whether their goal is to collect previously published works or to go further into library-led publishing. After an overview of common sources and destinations for metadata, attendees will come away with a set of considerations for streamlining workflows and optimizing content for discovery and distribution in major venues.
Eli Windchy is the VP, Consulting Services at bepress which provides software and services to the scholarly community. She received a Master's in Archaeology from University of Virginia, taught organic gardening, and for the last ten years has also been getting dirty with the metadata of Digital Commons repositories. She co-directs courses in institutional repository management and publishing, and she enjoys addressing the challenges of interoperability and scholarly communication.
Communicating Library Impact Beyond Library Walls: Findings from an Action-or...OCLC
Connaway, Lynn Silipigni, and Alan Carbery. 2017. “Communicating Library Impact Beyond Library Walls: Findings from an Action-oriented Research Agenda.” Presented at the ACRL Leadership Council at the ALA Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois, June 23.
Communicating Library Impact Beyond Library Walls: Findings from an Action-or...Lynn Connaway
Connaway, Lynn Silipigni, and Alan Carbery. 2017. “Communicating Library Impact Beyond Library Walls: Findings from an Action-oriented Research Agenda.” Presented at the ACRL Leadership Council at the ALA Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois, June 23.
Calhoun future of metadata japanese librarians4Karen S Calhoun
Reports on the future of metadata in academic libraries and national research information infrastructures. A shorter version of this presentation was given at a September 8 post-conference of the OCLC Asia Pacific Regional Conference, Sept. 6-6, 2010, at Waseda University.
3. How can publishers and aggregators collaborate
with open web players to the benefit of libraries
and their users?
The Tower and the Open Web: The Role of Reference
4. How can publishers and aggregators collaborate
with open web players to the benefit of libraries
and their users?
The Tower and the Open Web: The Role of Reference
5. The Panel:
Casper Grathwohl, Oxford University Press
Phoebe Ayers, Wikimedia Foundation
Jason Phillips, New York University Library
Mike Sweet, Credo Reference
The Tower and the Open Web: The Role of Reference
14. The student’s world today
Google, Yahoo,
Wikipedia, other
Online Web
Resources
Library
Visible Web
>89% of Information
Seeking Activity *
Library Sites and Databases
<4% of Information Seeking
Activity *
“Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources",
OCLC, 2005, question 520, p. 1-17 (PDF, 1.5mb)
15. User need is higher than ever
Needed content already exists
The user has simply moved
Technology exists to move with them
The optimist’s scorecard
16. Outlook for reference is better than ever
If and only if:
1. Open web players pay attention to libraries
2. We meet users at their point of need
3. Content is provided in context
4. Librarians and vendors collaborate
5. Each step enhances information literacy
17. How can publishers and aggregators collaborate
with open web players to the benefit of libraries
and their users?
The Tower and the Open Web: The Role of Reference
20. How do students use Wikipedia for course-related research?
How today’s college students use Wikipedia for course–related research by Alison J. Head and Michael B. Eisenberg.
First Monday, Volume 15, Number 3 - 1 March 2010
21. OUP Wikipedia-related discovery projects
Oxford Islamic Studies Online author
linking program
•82% increase in traffic from Wikipedia
in 3 months
22. Academic music community Wikipedia project
Subject: Wikipedia
From: "Charles E. Hamm"
<Charles.E.Hamm@DARTMOUTH.EDU>
Reply-To: American Musicological Society <AMS-
L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2006
Dear Friends:
In recent weeks I've been reading, correcting and adding to entries
in Wikipedia, and it's become obvious to me that, in general, music
fares poorly in this ambitious project. While there are some excellent
entries, particularly on classical genres and composers, it's painfully
obvious that many other articles are the work of persons with no
background in the disciplined study of music. Also, entries on
individual musicologists are shockingly few. No matter what one
thinks of Wikipedia, it's here to stay….
Contributing to Wikipedia is not a glamorous job, and since
everything is anonymous, it's not an activity that will count towards
anyone's tenure or promotion. But it's an important way in which
musicologists can have input into an important project that reaches
far beyond the bounds of our discipline.
Charles Hamm
23. •[AMS Listserv] Subject: The Wikipedia & a challenge to the discipline
(posted on behalf of Scott Warfield); Date: Sat, 16 Sep 2006
I offer the following challenge to all graduate programs in
music history, theory, ethnomusicology and related
disciplines: whenever possible, make editing and
contributing to the Wikipedia a part of your curriculum.
Academic music community Wikipedia project
24. OUP Wikipedia-related discovery projects
Music research community Wikipedia
project
•43% increase in Grove Music Wikipedia
traffic in 12 months
27. Wikimedia’s vision
Imagine a world in which every single human
being can freely share in the sum of all
knowledge. That’s our commitment.
28.
29.
30.
31. 15 million articles…
• Free
• Volunteer-written
• Supported by readers
• Neutral, encyclopedic, factual, non-original
• No top down editorial control:
• Community curated work
41. Jason B. Phillips
Librarian for Sociology, Psychology, Gender and
Sexuality Studies and American Studies
New York University
jason.phillips@nyu.edu
43. Leveraging reference effectively in the Social Sciences
1. Promote the idea that
reference provides the
necessary context for Social
& Cultural Approaches
2. Librarians must assert their
disciplinary knowledge in
many aspects of their work
44. The planned empirical study
• Methodology
– 15-20 Interviews with Social Sciences
Undergraduates at NYU
• Questions to Be Answered:
– Familiarity with different types of reference
resources
– Correlating the ability to identify social and
cultural arguments with coursework trajectory,
information seeking behavior and/or library
contact
47. “…we should begin to expect more from a
reference ebook collection than a faithful
reproduction of a printed text…”
“eReviews: General Reference Sources and Short Takes”
Library Journal, 15 October 2010
Challenge
48. An online reference service provides:
• Discovery: Visibility into your library, its
resources & access to librarians’ expertise
• Context: Overview, summary and vocabulary on
a topic from multiple perspectives
• Connection: Seamless integration with relevant
resources chosen by your library
• Innovation: Smart use of technology
52. Why EasyBib is relevant:
• Free online bibliography tool
• Viral among students - used by over 20 million
• Nearly 40,000 Facebook fans
• Significant source of traffic to WorldCat
• Tremendous opportunity to meet users where
they are
53. 19,000 views and 7,000+
clicks to this Wikipedia
alternative in October!
55. Join the conversation:
Explore best practices, contribute ideas, hear the
latest about student research behavior
http://corp.credoreference.com/charleston
Together, we can make a difference!
Call to action
In the past, the library was the only option for students completing their research projects.
Unlocking this puzzle is all that’s needed.
In today’s networked world, there are many options in addition to the library. Recent studies, including the Project Information Literacy report quoted above, state that a majority of students are beginning their research process with open web resources rather than the library.
Unlocking this puzzle is all that’s needed.
Start off all my presentations with this image these days. Seems applicable to every situation. We’re in a knowledge delivery system shift.
But order is emerging
Quickly outline Layers of authority concept
How we at OUP see wikipedia’s role in that authority layer model.
Initial research (“pre-research”)
Students know how to use Wikipedia responsibly and it shouldn’t be shunned in educational settings or as a tool for serious research
Outline two projects OUP has been involved in that involve driving traffic from wikipedia to OUP library products. Both successful, and driven by two different sources. One publisher, one faculty.
Question is: how can the library work with a resource like wikipedia to make movement between the layers of authority (the higher levels of which they provide access to) that much easier?
I am a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation, and this is our vision statement: Wikipedia is an education project, that seeks to serve the whole world.
Projects are in 273 languages; over 96 of which have more than 10K articles
371 million people use wikipedia every month from all over the world. The dark areas show that at least 16% of all internet users use Wikipedia, making it by far the most highly used reference source.
Wikipedia is run by the Wikimedia foundation, which is a non-profit foundation; we also run 8 other wiki projects: Wikibooks, Wiktionary, Wikiversity, WikiSource, Wikinews, Wikiquote, Wikispecies, and the Wikimedia Commons.
“community curated work” is a term coined by Brianna Laugher to represent the idea of lots of people coming together to curate a reference work.
This is a real-life reference question I received on our reference desk: can you tell me more about the history and chemistry of saltpeter?
I found a great article for her – which I subsequently linked in Wikipedia
Every time you see an article tagged that it is lacking sources, or a citation needed tag – it’s an invitation to participate.
Educating our user communities – who are certainly already using wikipedia – is important. This is the “Cite this page” link which appears on every article.
Wikipedians take fact-checking seriously; Wikipedia is a work in progress. This is an effort to systematically check chemical data against the literature to make sure it is accurate.
Collaboration can happen on a large scale as well. This is a partnership that was begun in 2008 between the Bundesarchiv, the German Federal Archives, and Wikimedia; the archives donated 80,000 files to Wikimedia commons, including historic images.
Liam Wyatt was this summer a “Wikipedian in Residence” at the British Museum; he designed the project to help the museum curators partner with Wikimedians to share their knowledge on Wikipedia. Cultural institutions tend to think of the risks of participating online, but not the unexpected rewards: greater visibility, enhanced data, a community of volunteers.
There is in a few weeks a conference at the British Museum followed by an event in Paris about partnerships between Wikipedia and “GLAMs”: Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums.
So, as librarians we invite you to join the wikimedia community: be bold in editing.
In answering John’s charge to librarians I first want to emphasize why I think reference is not dead even though we may be vigorously questioning its value. In fact, reference is still crucial to successful outcomes for our student and faculty clients. In the social sciences, we are increasingly seeing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to social and cultural problems. A typical example might be an article I found in the database SocINDEX which, according to its abstract, explains the initiation of smoking by teengers by, “Study[ing] the environment, genetics, tobacco, alcohol and drug use among adolescent twins. Prevalence of substance use; Age, sex and zygosity effects; Contextual variables and twin correlations; Roles of genetic and environment factors; Lifetime substance use and related effects.” This is certainly a scientific argument, however it is not a social or cultural argument.” This, of course, is the nature of information these days and influences heavily the concept of information literacy. Mastering reference works, knowing that they exist and identifying the best ones are still key to achieving good outcomes. And librarians are uniquely positioned to help users achieve those outcomes. Of course, that doesn’t mean we don’t have to do a lot of work to remain relevant.
Recognizing this problem – I believe it is incumbent upon librarians to do a number of things if they want to help ensure that libraries remain preeminent places for information control and retrieval. I believe that there are two things we can do that bear directly on the good use of reference materials. I am happy to have played in a role in proposing some remedies through work with both the American Sociological Association and ACRL – namely having done work on standards on both information literacy and collections and program assessment. The standards and assessment tools come from a body of work that asserts the social sciences do have a core based on social and cultural analysis and that also assert if we do only one thing for an undergraduate who chooses to pursue study in the social sciences it should be to give him or her the ability to identify a social or cultural argument.
So while we have standards and tools for librarians to use which are based on sound empirical work, I am currently proposing to start my own empirical work that will hopefully demonstrate the value of reference and areas where we can ensure that our users master reference resources and ultimately their disciplines, are encouraged to discover good resources and seek out librarians and their professional knowledge.
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