Forthcoming in the Journal of Web Librarianship:
Forthcoming: Special Issue on Data Curation, JWL 6(4):
The Journal of Web Librarianship is pleased to announce an upcoming special issue on the topic of data curation, edited by Susan Sharpless Smith.
Data curation, "the active and on-going management of data through its lifecycle of interest and usefulness to scholarly and educational activities across the sciences, social sciences, and the humanities," is an emerging field that brings new opportunities and challenges for libraries. The growing movement to effectively manage, archive, preserve, retrieve and reuse research data is one that compliments traditional library missions to preserve and access information. This special issue will explore issues surrounding this new arena. The issue's scope includes but is not limited to:
- Data curation theory and practice
- Roles for research libraries and librarians
- Data storage infrastructures
- Libraries as partners in data curation strategies
- Data stewardship
- Sustainability of long term data management programs
- Ontologies for data integration
- Realizing goals for reuse and combination of datasets
- Education and skills required for data curators
- Discovery and retrieval systems
- Data repositories
- Looking to the future
Susan Smith is Director of Research, Instruction & Technology Services / Senior Librarian at Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University. She recently completed the third edition of Web-based instruction: A guide for libraries (Chicago: American Library Association) and has published numerous articles and book chapters.
Query letters and preliminary proposals are welcome any time if potential authors would like to discuss their ideas with the issue editor. Please submit queries and manuscripts to guest editor Susan Smith at jwl.curation@gmail.com. Please refer to the JWL web site Instructions for Authors.
Issue Timeline:
Initial Manuscript Submission deadline: January 1, 2012
Notices to authors: April, 2012
Final Acceptance: June, 2012
Issue Publication: October, 2012
Forthcoming articles in JWL 6(2):
Note: full text for these articles will appear on the Taylor & Francis Informaworld platform in Fall, 2011. Preprints are available for All Access, Social Eyes, and web.tech.lib as Word documents, below.
Columns
Social Eyes: Next Step Mobile: Strategy, Services, & PRM
by Lisa Carlucci Thomas
web.tech.lib: Leveraging Metadata to Create Better Web Services
by Erik Mitchell
Articles
High Res at High Speed: Automated Delivery of High-Resolution Images from Digital Library Collections
by R. Niccole Westbrook and Sean Watkins
Abstract
As primary source materials in the library are digitized and made available online, the focus of related library services is shifting to include new and innovative methods of digital delivery via social media, digital storytelling, and community-based and consortial image repositories. Most images on the Web are not of sufficient quality for most media outlets, so what happens when patrons require high-resolution versions of images for use in their print publications or projects? Until recently, patrons at the University of Houston Libraries used a clunky, paper-based request process for high-resolution images that was frustrating for them and time-consuming for staff. This article outlines how an interdepartmental team of UH Libraries staff used Drupal to develop an automated patron request system that is modeled after online shopping cart experiences and integrates with the CONTENTdm-based UH Digital Library. The article provides suggestions for libraries with digital collections about how to create a system that efficiently captures patron requests and streamlines staff delivery of high-resolution files.
KEYWORDS: image delivery, image request, digital collection, Drupal, CONTENTdm, high resolution, digital library, web applications, web services, automation
Case Study: Pepperdine University Libraries' Migration to OCLC's WorldShare
by Michael Dula and Gan Ye
Abstract
This case study describes Pepperdine University Libraries' migration to OCLC’s WorldShare Management Services. It describes the rationale for the decision, reviews some of the challenges and lessons encountered along the way, and briefly discusses some effects of the new system on our libraries. The focus is on technical services and systems, and examples of issues encountered during migration are accompanied by screenshot illustrations. The article concludes with a wishlist of desired features.
KEYWORDS: OCLC, WorldCat, discovery layer, discovery service, next-generation catalog, web scale, cloud computing, ILS, WorldShare, Webscale, integrated library system
Google Scholar Usage: An Academic Library's Experience
by Ya Wang and Pamela Jo Howard
Abstract
Google Scholar is a free service that provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly works and to connect patrons with the resources libraries provide. This study analyzed Google Scholar usage data from 2006 for three library tools at San Francisco State University (SFSU): SFX link resolver, Web Access Management proxy server, and ILLiad interlibrary loan server. Overall, the data suggested Google Scholar has become a very useful resource in the library and is a significant addition to the library's collection of research databases. SFX data revealed requests from Google Scholar grew tenfold from 2006 to 2011 and that Google Scholar became the number-one SFX source for requests in 2011. Library patrons favored Google Scholar over SFSU's federated search tool, MetaLib, and it has become an important source for interlibrary loan requests. Analysis of SFSU usage data will assist other libraries in their decisions about the implementation of Google Scholar.
KEYWORDS: Google Scholar, usage data, SFX, proxy server, MetaLib, ILLiad, link resolver, WAM, log analysis, interlibrary loan, research databases
Reviews
by Lisa Ennis, Elizabeth Fronk, and Dena Luce