c/o Katina Strauch Post Office Box 799 Sullivan’s Island, SC 29482
ANNUAL REPORT, PLA issue TM
volume 32, number 1 FEBRUARY 2020
ISSN: 1043-2094 “Linking Publishers, Vendors and Librarians” Moving Forward with Analytics
by Kathleen McEvoy (EBSCO Information Services)
n the two years since John McDon- data-driven library and provide librarians of ratios to normalize values across sub- ald and I started editing a column on a window into how their peers are lever- ject groups with vastly different numbers Ianalytics and the role they play in the aging analytics to adjust collections and of observations. In the second article, future of libraries, we have had librarians services at their libraries. Jennifer Mezick and Louis Becker from and library vendors weigh in on studies, The first two articles are fascinating the University of Tennessee-Knoxville test cases, and new resources. These case studies on how librarians have an- share their method to evaluate and revise efforts are designed to help libraries bet- alyzed data to make operational changes their approval plan using analytics. Their ter understand their holdings, highlight to their book approval plans. In the first, approach features the combination of data the value and impact Adam Beauchamp at from the ILS and COUNTER combined of libraries, and show- Florida State Universi- with demographic data about overall book case how analytics can ty describes their process publishing to evaluate the appropriate promote evidence based to evaluate monographic print to eBook ratios for their approval decision making. ordering by combining a plan. The differing approaches each offer With this special is- variety of demand-based interesting insight into new methods of sue, we are looking to metrics (ILL, Circ, Re- collection development. continue to reveal the source Sharing) and use continued on page 8
If Rumors Were Horses What To Look For In This Issue: Holding Funders Accountable...... 30 hock!! OhioLINK’s incredible business and offer services in the higher Blackbeard Case Challenges States’ Executive Director Gwen Evans. education industry. As a leader with a deep Rights on Infringement...... 42 has resigned and Deputy Director passion for, and loyalty to, the library’s Amazon Audible Settles With S Publishers...... 44 Amy Pawlowski has been named Interim crucial role at the table — especially amid Executive Director, effective February 28, great change — this is a logical next step in Two and a Half Cheers for A&I 2020. Gwen’s last day was February 28. my career. I’m excited at the opportunity to Services...... 52 She will assume the role of Vice President, serve as a fully representative voice of the Booksellers Real and Fictional...... 61 Global Library relations library, and I’m driven by be- On Institutional Repositories...... 70 at Elsevier where she ing in organizations where I will serve as a liaison can affect change and fos- Interviews to and advocate for, the ter true collaboration and Jane Burke...... 48 academic library com- partnership.” Gwen will Carol Tenopir...... 50 munity. “There are big still be based in Colum- Profiles Encouraged questions leading us all bus. Details surrounding People, Library and Company into the next generation of the search process for the Profiles...... 75 scholarly communication, specifically in Executive Director role will be announced Plus more...... See inside the realms of data and technology,” Gwen at the discretion and timing of the Ohio says, “which are two of my greatest inter- Department of Higher Education. https:// ests and intellectual drivers professionally. against-the-grain.com/2020/02/atg-news- The answers will undoubtedly change the flash-gwen-evans-leaves-ohiolink/ way both publishers and libraries conduct continued on page 6 1043-2094(202002)32:1;1-E INNOVATE INNOVATE
COMMUNICATE
SUCCEED
Find out more at access.acspubs.org/GuideTrial
Against The Grain Against the Grain (ISSN: 1043-2094) (USPS: 012-618), Copyright 2020 by the name Against the Grain, LLC is pub- TABLE OF CONTENTS lished six times a year in February, April, June, September, November, and December/January by Against the Grain, v.32 #1 February 2020 © Katina Strauch LLC. Business and Editorial Offices: PO Box 799, 1712 Thompson Ave., Sullivan’s Island, SC 29482. Accounting ISSUES, NEWS, & GOINGS ON and Circulation Offices: same. Call (843-509-2848) to subscribe. Periodicals postage is paid at Charleston, SC. Rumors...... 1 Letters to the Editor...... 6 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Against the From Your Editor...... 6 Deadlines...... 6 Grain, LLC, PO Box 799, Sullivan’s Island, SC 29482. Editor: FEATURES Katina Strauch (Retired, College of Charleston) Associate Editors: Moving Forward with Analytics Cris Ferguson (Murray State) Guest Editors: Kathleen McEvoy and John McDonald Tom Gilson (Retired, College of Charleston) John Riley (Consultant) Moving Forward with Analytics...... 1 Research Editors: Judy Luther (Informed Strategies) by Kathleen McEvoy and John McDonald — At look at revealing the data-driven library and providing librarians a window into how their peers are leveraging analytics to adjust Assistants to the Editor: Ileana Strauch collections and services. Toni Nix (Just Right Group, LLC) Approving Analytics: A Data-Driven Approach to Monograph Acquisitions.....12 Editor At Large: Dennis Brunning (Retired, Arizona State Univ.) by Adam T. Beauchamp — This article describes their process to evaluate monographic Contributing Editors: ordering by combining a variety of demand-based metrics (ILL, Circ, Resource Sharing) Glenda Alvin (Tennessee State University) and use of ratios to normalize values across subject groups with vastly different numbers Rick Anderson (University of Utah) of observations. Sever Bordeianu (U. of New Mexico) Todd Carpenter (NISO) Using Data to Rightsize Approval Spending...... 16 Eleanor Cook (East Carolina University) Anne Doherty (Choice) by Jennifer A. Mezick and Louis T. Becker — Jennifer and Louis share their method to Ruth Fischer (SCS / OCLC) evaluate and revise their approval plan using analytics. Michelle Flinchbaugh (U. of MD Baltimore County) Data Privacy and Information Literacy Assessment: A Case Study...... 19 Joyce Dixon-Fyle (DePauw University) Laura Gasaway (Retired, UNC, Chapel Hill) by Russell Michalak and Monica D. T. Rysavy — Russell and Monica detail their ef- Regina Gong (Lansing Community College) forts to collect data and to incorporate learning analytics data into an assessment of their Michael Gruenberg (Gruenberg Consulting, LLC) Chuck Hamaker (Retired, UNC, Charlotte) library’s instruction program. William M. Hannay (Schiff, Hardin & Waite) Library Learning Analytics: A Proof of Concept Study...... 23 Mark Herring (Winthrop University) Bob Holley (Retired, Wayne State University) by John D. McDonald and Michael Levine-Clark — John and Michael describe their Donna Jacobs (MUSC) partnership on a proof of concept to merge library data with student outcomes measures and Ramune Kubilius (Northwestern University) evaluate the feasibility of a robust production-grade system for library learning analytics. Myer Kutz (Myer Kutz Associates, Inc.) Tom Leonhardt One Academic Library’s Approach to the Learning Analytics Backlash...... 26 Rick Lugg (SCS / OCLC) Jack Montgomery (Western Kentucky University) by Kirsten Kinsley — Kirsten recounts her and her colleagues’ experiences while attempt- Bob Nardini (ProQuest) ing to build a data warehouse and library learning analytics system at their institution. Jim O’Donnell (Arizona State University) Ann Okerson (Center for Research Libraries) Op Ed — Headwaters — Holding Funders Accountable...... 30 Rita Ricketts (Blackwell’s) by Kent Anderson — How funders spend their money and exert their influence matters. Jared Seay (College of Charleston) Lindsay Wertman (IGI Global) Back Talk — What Do You Get for $90 Million?...... 78 ATG Proofreader: by Jim O’Donnell — Jim says building a great library includes a lot of small stuff. Rebecca Saunders (Franklin Pierce University) Graphics: ATG INTERVIEWS & PROFILES Bowles & Carver, Old English Cuts & Illustrations. Grafton, More Silhouettes. Ehmcke, Graphic Trade Jane Burke — ExLibris, a ProQuest Company...... 48 Symbols By German Designers. Grafton, Ready-to-Use Old-Fashioned Illustrations. The Chap Book Style. Carol Tenopir — University of Tennessee, Knoxville...... 50 Production & Ad Sales: Profiles Encouraged...... 75 Toni Nix, Just Right Group, LLC., P.O. Box 412, Cottageville, SC 29435, phone: 843-835-8604 fax: 843-835-5892
o, I am not going to be an actress Levine-Clark (partnership and proof of rie Gustave Le Clézio. Not to be left out, or a pianist or an opera singer; I concept) and Kirsten Kinsley (building Marjorie Hlava explores the beginnings Nam just going out with friends to a data warehouse at an institution). of library science. the many restaurants in Sullivan’s Island Our OpEd (Kent Anderson) is about We have a full Legal Issues section or even entertaining at home. It’s a way holding funders accountable, and our which includes a case about states rights to avoid the post-holiday blahs and all this Back Talk (Jim O’Donnell) about spend- (Anthony Paganelli), the Amazon coronavirus business hopefully! ing $90 million. Our interviews are with Audible lawsuit (Bill Hannay), Bruce This is a wonderful guest edited ATG two amazing power women! Jane Burke Strauch’s copyright case of note. Fi- issue by the effervescent Kathleen McEv- and Carol Tenopir! nally, we have the very first Questions oy and the equally lively John McDonald. Collecting to the Core (Angela and Answers Copyright Column from Called “moving forward with analytics” it Courtney) covers Vic- Will Cross of NC State includes articles by Adam T. Beauchamp torian playwrights, Co- University. How lucky (evaluating monograph orders), Jennifer rey Seeman’s Readers’ we are that Will has tak- A. Mezick and Louis T. Becker (approval Roundup (book re- en over from Lolly Ga- plan spending), Russell Michalak and views) discovers some saway! Thank you, Will! Monica D. T. Rysavy (library instruc- great books. Donna Ja- Moving right along, tion), John D. McDonald and Michael cobs covers Jean-Ma- we include Bet You Missed it, The Scholarly Publishing Scene (Myer Kutz) (A&I services), Mark Herring tackles Friends of the Library Letters to the Editor and Ramune Kubilius does her usual thorough job of collecting reports from Send letters to
Scholarly projects demand reliable content. Project MUSE is your trusted source for the highest quality books and journals in the humanities and social sciences from over 200 of the world’s most distinguished university presses and scholarly societies. Discover. Explore. MUSE.
Now and Always, the Trusted Content Your Research Requires.
muse.jhu.edu
Built on the Johns Hopkins University campus Rumors from page 6
journals. Today, the independent database contains ca. 12,000 open access journals ke a closer look at.... covering all areas of science, technology, Ta medicine, social science and humanities. DOAJ is a membership organization. Doaj.org The handsome Todd Carpenter re- The CHARLESTON REPORT cently shared a post on LinkedIn about Business Insights into the Library Market the success of the NISO20Plus confer- ence that they hosted in Baltimore at the end of February. Don Hawkins attended You Need The Charleston Report... the Conference for ATG and has just sent if you are a publisher, vendor, product developer, merchandiser, in his report today. Watch for it online or consultant or wholesaler who is interested in improving in print soon! The 2020 EDUCAUSE Horizon Re- and/or expanding your position in the U.S. library market. port: Teaching and Learning Edition has just been released. You can see the Subscribe today at our discounted rate of only $75.00 full report at www.educause.edu/hori- zon-report-2020. Cambridge University Press has The Charleston Company reached a transformative Open Access 6180 East Warren Avenue, Denver, CO 80222 agreement with the Austrian Academ- Phone: 303-282-9706 • Fax: 303-282-9743 ic Library Consortium (Kooperation E-Medien Österreich, KEMÖ). The three- continued on page 18
attempting to build a data warehouse and his colleague at EBSCO, who will be Moving Forward with Analytics library learning analytics system at their working with him and the academic library from page 1 institution and the subsequent issues community to bring more information to The next two articles feature a case around student privacy, data protection, Against the Grain readers. study and a proof of concept that each and ethical use of data that arose during Stephanie holds a MLS from Sim- evaluate the feasibility and issues related that process. The lessons she and her mons College School of Library and to library learning analytics. In the first, colleagues learned from that process Information Science and is now the Russell Michalak and Monica Rysavy should add to the issues our profession, Open Source Community Liaison and a at Goldey-Beacom College detail their especially as librarians at institutions of FOLIO Product Owner at EBSCO In- efforts to collect data and to incorporate higher education, need to tackle as library formation Services. She is a previous learning analytics data into an assessment learning analytics develops and evolves as director of strategic projects at EBSCO, of their library’s instruction program. a viable tool for educators to ensure their focusing on projects relating to the library They demonstrate how librarians can use services make an impact on the commu- community and strategic partnerships and learning analytics to make positive chang- nity they serve. has experience in collection development, es in their services that benefit students, Over the next year, our regular col- reference, research, cataloging, and library while also being sensitive to their privacy umn, “Library Analytics: Shaping the instruction across public, academic and and the protection of data. In the second special libraries. article, John McDonald and Michael Future,” will continue to address the op- Levine-Clark describe their partnership portunities librarians have to use metrics By teaming John and Stephanie as on a proof of concept to merge library to move forward toward a future where co-editors, we expect to broaden the cov- data with student outcomes measures and analytics can help solve the problems erage of analytics into the open source evaluate the feasibility of a robust pro- libraries face and ensure the future of community and continue to highlight li- duction-grade system for library learning libraries leverages data to drive decisions. brarians whose research is progressing the analytics. Their successful PoC showed We’ll also feature publishers and other art and science of analytics in academic that, given the right conditions and data library service providers who are using libraries and research into understanding sources, librarians can build models of analytics to improve workflows, interfac- our users, our systems, and our profession library engagement and student outcomes es, and user experiences. Moving forward, of librarianship. that show statistically significant results. Kathleen McEvoy will be stepping down In the final article, Kirsten Kinsley from her day-to-day co-editor duties. from Florida State University recounts John McDonald will continue to edit the her and her colleagues’ experiences while column and welcomes Stephanie Buck,
8 Against the Grain / February 2020
OSA Publishing’s Digital Archive products provide you and your patrons with perpetual access to a wide variety of groundbreaking optics and photonics research published over the last 100 years.
The chart below provides the various Digital Archive options for OSA Publishing content ranging from comprehensive packages to Individual Journal Digital Archives.
For additional information, please contact [email protected].
Individual Individual Digital Digital Centennial Journal Journal Archive 1 Archive 2 Archive Digital Digital Journal Titles covering covering covering Archive 1 Archive 2 content from content from content from covering covering 1917-2005 2006-2015 2006-2015 content from content from Vol. 1-2006 2007-2011 Advances in Optics and Photonics (launched 2009) ✓ ✓
Applied Optics (launched 1962) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Journal of the Optical Society of America (1917-1983) ✓ ✓ ✓ ◊Journal of the Optical Society of America A (launched 1984) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ◊ Journal of the Optical Society of America B (launched 1984) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Optics Express (launched 1997) ✓ ✓* Optics Letters (launched 1977) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Optics and Photonics News (launched 1990) ✓ ✓ ✓ Optics News (1975-1989) ✓ ✓
OSA Conference Proceedings (launched 1979) ✓ ✓ ✓
◊ Also includes Journal of the Optical Society of America (1917-1983) * 1997-2005 only Bet You Missed It Press Clippings — In the News — Carefully Selected by Your Crack Staff of News Sleuths Column Editor: Bruce Strauch (Retired, The Citadel) Editor’s Note: Hey, are y’all reading this? If you know of an article that should be called to Against the Grain’s attention ... send an email to
Let’s Read About Stalin’s Great Terror Harper Lee on Football and Be Really Depressed Harper “To Kill a Mockingbird” Lee didn’t turn out a lot Ivan Chistyakov, the Diary of a Gulag Prison Guard (2016) of literature, but she wrote a lot of letters and was passionate (drunken violence, stupidity and unfulfillable quotas); (2)Alex - about Alabama football. And often wrote letters about football. ander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, (1973) (the horror In 1963, the Saturday Evening Post broke an explosive story of transportation over ten time zones to frozen hellholes in the of an Atlanta insurance agent making a long distance phone call Arctic); (3) Georgi Vladimov, Faithful Russian, (1976) (false who was accidentally connected to an on-going call between hopes of Krushchev’s thaw); (4) Robert Conquest, The Great Bear Bryant (Bama) and Wally Butts (Georgia Athletic Di- Terror, (1968) (15,000, 000 executions revealed when the Soviets rector). Butts gave away the playbook to Bryant opened their archives); (5) Orlando Figes, The Whisperers, and Alabama won 35-0. (2007) (heart-wrenching stories of loved ones dragged away). The coaches admitted to the phone call See — Owen Matthews, “Five Best,” The Wall Street Jour- but denied fixing the game. Butts was nal, Sept. 7-8, 2019, p.C8. fired and sued the Post for $10 million, contributing to its demise. Lee was absorbed in the scandal and Fashion Bookshops wrote her literary agents in NYC defend- When fashion designers get stuck for new ideas, they turn to ing Bryant as innocent until proven guilty. visual images for inspiration. The WSJ lists specialty bookshops Plus a linebacker, Roy Jordan, from one for sartortial history. town over stated that “as far as he knows New York: Dashwood Books; delicious subterranean lair it ain’t so,” and “the Jordans have a popular among downtown hipsters – dashwoodbooks.com; (2) reputation for veracity in these parts.” New York: Printed Matter; one-of-a-kind independently printed Agents Annie Laurie Williams and books – printedmatter.org; (3) Paris: Le Comptoir de l’Image; Maurice Crain donated their papers to Columbia University’s overflowing treasure trove of charmingly disorganized books in Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Among them were letters the Marais – and they don’t have a website; (4) London: Donlon from Truman Capote, John Steinbeck, Margaret Mitchell, Books; in the bustling Broadway Market – donlonbooks.com; and Harper Lee. (5) Tokyo: Cowbooks; legendary bookstore for lovers of esoteric Roll Tide. visual inspiration – cowbooks.jp. See — Ben Cohen, “Harper Lee Also Wrote About Alabama See — Cleo Le-Tan, “Read Stylishly,” The Wall Street Football,” The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 13, 2019, p.A12. Journal, Sept. 14-15, 2019, p.D5. Cleo has a book on literary New York coming out from Rizzoli.
Let’s Read Best Evocations of Italy Let’s Read Novels with Carlo Levi, Christ Stopped at Eboli (1945)(stubborn and Inconclusive Endings grinding poverty of the peasants); (2) Michael Dibdin, Dead Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880) Lagoon (1994)(Decaying Venice novel with a haunted palazzo, (among all the philosophy, it’s a murder mystery without the eccentric contessa, and mysterious disappearance); (3) Norman murderer being revealed); (2) Henry James, The Portrait of Lewis, Naples ’44 (1978)(more end of the war poverty with mem- a Lady (1881) (Isabel Archer returns to her evil husband. For orable characters); (4) Shirley Hazzard, Greene on Capri (2000) good or ill? Penultimate line: “Just you wait.”); (3) Penelope (Yes, that’s Graham Greene, “a difficult man living on a mythic Fitzgerald, Innocence (1986) (a bad marriage continues); (4) island”); (5) Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Gabriele D’Annunzio: Poet, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (2009) (Henry divorces Catherine Seducer and Preacher of War (2013)(proto-Fascist, showman of of Aragon to marry Ann Boleyn. At end says: “We will visit dark genius, seizes Fiume just post-WWI). the Seymours.” Well, you do know what happens.); (5) Sally See — Catherine Bailey, “Five Best,” The Wall Street Rooney, Conversations with Friends (2017) (Lovers have broken Journal, Oct. 26-27, 2019, p.C12. Catherine is the author of up, but at end, heroine says “Come and get me.”). the recent “A Castle in Wartime.” See — Wendy Lesser, “Five Best,” The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 14-15, 2019, p.C10. Wendy is the editor of Threepenny Review and biographer of Louis Kahn and Jerome Robbins.
10 Against the Grain / February 2020
Approving Analytics: A Data-Driven Approach to Monograph Acquisitions
by Adam T. Beauchamp (Humanities Librarian, Florida State University Libraries)
ibrarians in the modern American university rarely have previous fiscal year to assess our predictions and make further time to curate their monograph collections by selecting refinements. Lbooks title-by-title. Busy engaging with their research Our first major challenge in this process was with the struc- and learning communities through outreach, instruction, and ture of our data. Our usage statistics needed to share at least other activities, we rely on systems and workflows to organize one common data point with the GOBI approval plan. While and automate much of the acquisitions process. For decades that GOBI’s rich proprietary metadata is invaluable in the profiling system has been the approval plan. Mirela Roncevic (2017) process, the circulation data available to us was limited to a compares approval plans to the Sorting Hat in J. K. Rowling’s subset of MARC record and patron data fields. And since not Harry Potter series. The same way the Sorting Hat channels all books at FSU Libraries were purchased through the GOBI students into magical houses that best match — and can make system, the only data point common to both our circulation use of — their personal qualities, so too does the approval plan data and the GOBI profile is Library of Congress Classification classify and sort books to fit the similarly described (LCC) number. needs of participating libraries. We also found it necessary to limit our Thousands of libraries, including Florida analysis to print book circulations. While the State University Libraries, use the ap- COUNTER standards that regulate eBook proval plan maintained by GOBI Library statistics normalize measures of access, the Solutions. GOBI “profilers” apply detailed descriptive metadata attached to each eBooks metadata to each book they receive and make vary considerably across platforms and over it possible for libraries to describe their ac- time. Importantly, most of our eBook data quisitions needs in fine detail. However, this did not include call numbers. We were also complex and powerful algorithm should not be taken for granted. uncomfortable mixing eBook access clicks with print circulations As with any profiling system, the approval plan’s data infrastruc- since these represent qualitatively different patron interactions ture helps librarians build collections while also shaping what with the materials. Despite being currently entangled in multiple collections are possible. Thus, it requires regular assessment to eBook acquisition plans, print books were still an important for- ensure that it continues to meet our needs. At FSU Libraries, mat during the years under analysis, especially for our monograph we use analytics to discover patterns in the use of our collections, “power users” in the arts and humanities. We plan to conduct make predictions about our future needs, and transform the way a separate assessment of the eBook environment at a later date. we build our monograph collection. Number Crunching The Case of FSU Libraries Needing to craft a more precise approval profile, we analyzed The 2018-2019 academic year was a time of transition for four years of usage data not just at level of the LCC classes and collection development at FSU Libraries. It had been three years subclasses, but rather we used the detailed call number ranges since the last thorough review of our approval plan with GOBI that also structure the GOBI approval profile. We applied this Library Solutions. Since that review, monograph acquisitions method to three types of usage: local print circulation, Inter- had become both more complex and less transparent. FSU Li- Library Loan (ILL) requests, and requests through UBorrow, a braries had implemented demand-driven acquisitions (DDA), consortial borrowing program among the State of Florida’s public evidence-based acquisitions (EBA) programs, and invested in universities and colleges. Since each of these means of access two eBook subscription packages. However, our faculty had requires a different amount of effort and know-how on the part begun to notice gaps in coverage in our local holdings, putting of the patron, we considered them distinct measures and did not increased pressure on subject librarians to spend time filling in try to combine them into a single statistic. those gaps with title-by-title selections. This situation combined For each type of use, we produced three distinct measures. with personnel changes in key roles for collection development First, we calculated the average number of annual circulations, meant it was time for a fresh look at the library’s acquisitions interlibrary loans, and UBorrow requests for the four years strategies. under review. Using averages rather than raw numbers takes Our review process, dubbed the Monograph Ordering Review into account the effect unique course offerings may have on the Project (MORP), included three major steps. First, following use of particular subject areas in any given semester. Second, many examples from the literature, we analyzed circulation, each of these counts was transformed into a percentage of that interlibrary loan, and total holdings data to better understand type of use. For example, we had an average circulation of 671 past monograph use and to predict our future needs (Ochola books from the World War II section of the D call numbers. 2002; Mortimore 2006; Knievel, Wicht, and Connaway 2006; This amounts to 0.51% of the total annual circulations averaged Bronicki et al. 2015). Second, we applied that understanding over four years. While this percentage is interesting, it is not to redesigning our profile in theGOBI approval plan. Our goal sufficient to compare across LC call number ranges since these was to improve subject coverage in key areas while minimizing ranges vary widely in the number of books on the shelf and the time librarians spent selecting books title-by-title. Finally, new publications available for purchase. To account for this, based on test data provided by GOBI, we analyzed the books that we divided the percent of use type by the percent of total items would have matched the revised profile had it been in effect the continued on page 14
12 Against the Grain / February 2020
in great detail. As Jon Elwell, Director of Content Strategies at Approving Analytics: A Data-Driven Approach ... EBSCO, explains, “profilers” at GOBI with subject expertise from page 12 add robust “metadata enhancements” to thousands of books every year, adding descriptions of quality, audience indicators, on the shelves for that call number range, thereby controlling interdisciplinary categories, and more that go beyond Library of for collection size. Returning to our example of books about Congress Classification and subject headings (2019). With the World War II, FSU Libraries had 7,887 total books in that call clever use of pivot tables, subject librarians were able to ana- number range, which represents 0.68% of our total holdings. So lyze these data in creative ways, making further refinements to we divided the percent of circulations, 0.51, by the percent of the approval profile while also making predictions about future total holdings, 0.68, to arrive at a ratio of 0.75, or 3:4, meaning spending and budget needs. this section takes up a slightly larger share of shelf space than it does of total circulations, but on the whole seems well-used In the end, the Monograph Ordering Review Project (MORP) relative to its size. at FSU Libraries was a successful application of analytics to the assessment and reform of our approval plan. Thinking through We did not expect each call number range to achieve a bal- our datasets in terms that applied to both our past usage statistics anced ratio of 1:1 uses to holdings, but rather used the ratios to and future ordering helped us manage the scale of the project compare across ranges and identify areas that seemed to be in and to use consistent terms and measures throughout the proj- particularly high or low demand relative to their size. On the ect. We identified parts of the local collection in need of more spreadsheet we shared with all subject librarians, we color coded development while also finding opportunities to redeploy the the ratios using percentiles to help draw the eye to areas in need non-print monograph solutions, like publisher-sponsored EBA of review (Figure 1). The same calculations were done for ILL programs for large, popular imprints. The detailed analysis of and UBorrow requests, though in these cases a high ratio of use print circulations may also help us plan for areas of increased to collection size suggested inadequate local holdings, and the growth while making strategic decisions about weeding and color coding was reversed to show these higher ratios in red. offsite storage solutions. Analytics: A Closer Look At FSU and libraries of all sizes across the country, the GOBI approval plan drives the monograph identification and selection process Figure 1: Snippet of the Excel spreadsheet showing the four-year average that builds our collections. For many, the approv- of total items, three use types, and their respective percentages and ratios. al plan is essential for managing the more than 65,000 new English-language titles published For step two of the review project, the MORP team provided every year (Elwell 2019, 58). But given the major role that the training to subject librarians on how to read and interpret the data structures and decision trees of this system play in shaping admittedly complex dataset of percentages and ratios. Subject monograph acquisitions, librarians should not take the approval librarians also compared this evidence of monographic demand plan for granted. GOBI’s staff determines the universe of books to the curricula and research strengths of their respective liaison brought into the system, decides which traits become metadata, areas. Then, in summer of 2019, Katy Ginanni, Collection De- and defines each book in those terms. Participating libraries velopment Manager at GOBI, visited campus to help us make must in turn describe their needs according to the categories and significant adjustments to our approval profile. preset values of this system. It would be hard to build library With the approval profile updated, however, our analytical collections without this infrastructure, but we must recognize approach to book acquisitions was not yet complete. Because how these structures determine what collections are possible. our usage statistics relied on Library of Congress Classifications, In this context, it is worth revisiting Roncevic’s comparison the resulting picture of our needs was somewhat one-dimension- of approval plans to the Sorting Hat from J. K. Rowling’s Harry al. The LCC system can only describe each book in terms of Potter series. When placed on the head of each new student at one subject discipline and topic. More importantly, the system Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Sorting Hat itself is built around Eurocentric biases and idiosyncratic ways makes a judgment in order to assign students to one of four of organizing knowledge which has the potential to isolate and houses. The criteria and the process are magically opaque, but exclude important works (Olson 2001; Drabinski 2019). For the Hat identifies each student’s qualities and potential and then example, historian Jana Lipman’s 2008 book, Guantánamo: A matches those individual traits to the distinctive character — or Working-class History Between Empire and Revolution, would profile — of each house. Readers of the series know that this be of potential interest to a wide range of scholars and students, supernatural algorithm has been working for centuries; however, but the Library of Congress classifies it with Naval Science the first time we see it in action, Harry Potter resists it. The Hat (call number VA 68). Libraries not generally interested in naval wants to place him in Slytherin House, but Harry rejects the science topics would miss this book if they relied solely on call Hat’s initial reading and asks to be placed in Gryffindor House number ranges to make purchasing decisions. instead. What the Hat “knows” about Harry makes him a good The corrective to this limited perspective came in the final candidate for Slytherin, but based on Harry’s experiences and step of the project when we received test data from GOBI in fall what he knows about himself, Harry makes a different choice. 2019. The GOBI team ran our updated approval profile against At first glance, the stakes seem much higher for Harry Potter their database of publications for the previous fiscal year. The than for the books that flow throughGOBI’s less magical sorting resulting list of books included thousands of titles that we had not process. Sorting humans and thus limiting their future choices seen under our original profile. More importantly, this dataset is serious business — a fact I encourage my colleagues pursuing also included more descriptive data than just the LCC call number learning analytics projects to remember — but the classification ranges, allowing us to evaluate the results of our profile changes continued on page 15
14 Against the Grain / February 2020
systems we use to sort and build library collections is not without consequences. Library of Congress Classification may be a particularly flawed example, but no single facet can IMF PUBLICATIONS capture objectively the content and potential uses of a book. No matter which categories we deploy, the metadata will en- AT NO CHARGE. code what Bowker and Starr refer to as “moral and aesthetic choices” (2000, 4). In the case of collection development, FREE ACCESS TO OUR these choices have the effect of deciding which books are relevant and appropriate for our communities, and which are E-COLLECTION not. Simply increasing the number and types of categories we use to inform our acquisitions, as in the “enhanced metadata” OF MORE THAN provided by GOBI profilers, cannot neutralize each of these moral acts of classification. Multiplying the classifications 21,000 TITLES increases the complexity of the profiling process and may make the consequences more difficult to trace. However, so long STARTING JANUARY 1, 2020. as we recognize the potential impact this network of catego- ries and classifications has on our collection development, it VISIT ELIBRARY.IMF.ORG also gives us greater flexibility in our decision making. With regular monitoring and strategic, critical interventions by subject librarians, a sophisticated approval plan remains an important solution to managing the complexities of monograph BECAUSE KNOWLEDGE acquisitions. IS A PUBLIC GOOD References Bowker, Geoffrey C., and Susan Leigh Star. 2000. Sort- ing Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences. Inside Technology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Bronicki, Jackie, Irene Ke, Cherie Turner, and Shawn Vaillancourt. 2015. “Gap Analysis by Subject Area of the University of Houston Main Campus Library Collection.” The Serials Librarian 68 (1-4): 230-42. https://doi.org/10.1080/0 361526X.2015.1017717. Drabinski, Emily. 2019. “What Is Critical about Critical Librarianship?” Art Libraries Journal 44 (2): 49-57. https:// doi.org/10.1017/alj.2019.3. Elwell, Jon T. 2019. “Library Analytics: Shaping the Fu- ture — Call It What You Want: When Developing Your Book Collection ‘Your Outcomes Are Only as Good as The Data You Feed It.’” Against the Grain 31 (2): 58-59. Knievel, Jennifer E., Heather Wicht, and Lynn Silipigni Connaway. 2006. “Use of Circulation Statistics and Inter- library Loan Data in Collection Management.” College & Research Libraries 67 (1): 35-49. Mortimore, Jeffrey M. 2006. “Access-Informed Col- lection Development and the Academic Library.” Collec- tion Management 30 (3): 21-37. https://doi.org/10.1300/ J105v30n03_03. Ochola, John. 2002. “Use of Circulation Statistics and Interlibrary Loan Data in Collection Management.” Col- lection Management 27 (1): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1300/ J105v27n01_01. Olson, Hope A. 2001. “The Power to Name: Representa- INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND tion in Library Catalogs.” Signs 26 (3): 639-68. Roncevic, Mirela. 2017. “The Approval Plan: A Sorting Hat That Discovers the Right Books for the Right Libraries.” No Shelf Required (blog). April 12, 2017. https://www.noshel- frequired.com/the-approval-plan-a-sorting-hat-that-discovers- the-right-books-for-the-right-libraries/. Using Data to Rightsize Approval Spending
by Jennifer A. Mezick (Collection Strategist, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Libraries)
ook approval plans are intended to save the time of the Libraries was set up to make collections decisions in a more selectors by providing titles that meet pre-defined cri- collaborative manner. Bteria. Unintentionally, approval plans can be a source In project management there is the concept called triple of seemingly uncontrollable overspending. This was the case constraint, in which three variables (cost, time, and scope) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) Libraries. all affect quality with the understanding that it is possible to What follows is a summary of how the UTK Libraries applied satisfy two of those variables but never all three because of data towards rightsizing approval plan expenditures while still conflicting demands (Wyngaard, Pretorius, & Pretorius, 2012). leveraging the ability to acquire books appropriate for our users. Applying this theory to purchasing monographs, libraries can UTK is Tennessee’s flagship research institution. GOBI incur a lower cost while meeting the needs of users but at the (EBSCO) is the vendor for the Libraries’ approval plan. Approval expense of employee time; meet all the needs of our users plan spending accounts for about 73% of books purchased. while devoting little employee time but at a high cost for ma- Subject librarians maintain the approval plan criteria for call terials; at a low cost and while devoting little employee time number ranges related to their subject areas. Decades ago, but not necessarily meeting all the needs of our users. GOBI approval plans were mediated: books sent on approval were employs staff to profile books and determine if titles meet held for review by librarians who had the opportunity to return approval plan criteria. In theory, this helps UTK Libraries books they did not want for the collection. Today, UTK’s subject develop a collection that will meet our users’ needs efficiently librarians lack the time to review titles and the Libraries lacks by combining criteria decided upon by subject librarians with the space to hold books for review. Additionally, to save staff the security of knowing that a person, and not a computer, is time, titles sent on approval to UTK have barcodes and other profiling books. At theUTK Libraries, it was apparent physical processing applied before shipment, which makes that something needed to shift to make the approval them nonreturnable. eBooks acquired on approval plan work better. We wondered if we truly needed present an additional upset to the traditional review to increase the amount allocated for approvals or if in that they cannot sit on a physical shelf. we needed to tighten the criteria. As the flagship Since the early 1990s, approval plan allocations university in the state, tightening the criteria implies at UTK were sometimes targeted to help pay for that we will purchase fewer books, which may lead other bills. Even when money was not taken away to questions about just-in-case versus just-in-time from approval plan allocations, the titles received would collection development and thus our role in the state sometimes total more than the amount budgeted. Over- higher education system. Luckily, APCS could pro- spending the approvals budget became a consistent problem vide data showing how books acquired on approval are while the UTK Libraries experienced less flexibility in spending used as a measure to help subject librarians understand what is overall due to annual increases for subscription resources. In being used and adjust the criteria to, hopefully, provide us with reality, funds are actual money and not abstract numbers, spend- more of the titles our users want and less of the titles our users ing more on approvals than is intended means spending less on will not use. We could call this just-in-case informed by data. other things. To temporarily stop overspending, the Libraries Towards the end of fiscal year 2019, APCS looked at books would put the approval plan on virtual or on hold. Putting the purchased as part of the approval plan for four fiscal years, plan on virtual means that the subject librarians receive slips from July 2015 through May 2019. (June 2019 could not be (or electronic notifications) for all titles that would have been incorporated because the plan was on virtual.) Approval plan sent on approval. Librarians would review these slips and place purchases during the period covered 38,291 titles, 25% (9,636) orders for the titles they wanted in the new fiscal year. Putting of which were in electronic format. The Libraries has generally the plan on hold means that all titles are held until the new fiscal been shifting toward e-preferred purchasing, and in fiscal year year when they are then shipped and billed. Neither of these 2019, eBooks accounted for 31% of approval plan titles (2,924 of alternatives resolved the ongoing issue that the Libraries received 9,209 total). As part of this review, more approval plan criteria more content than was budgeted for. The former depends upon shifted to e-preferred from print and we expect the number of librarians dedicating more time to reviewing slips and the latter eBooks received on approval to increase in future years. The perpetuates overspending in the next fiscal year. print monograph collection included 716,159 titles at the con- In August 2018, the UTK Libraries underwent a reorganiza- clusion of the study period, and total external print circulation tion that resulted in assessment and collections initiatives coming was 193,407 loans over the four fiscal years. The approval plan together as one department named Assessment Programs and purchases accounted for 9,271 of those loans (4.8%). The use Collection Strategy (APCS). This change placed an emphasis of circulation data to evaluate approval plans is not new; Mar- on making evidence-based decisions for collection management. cie Kingsley surveyed the basic technique in this magazine in At the same time, management of the Libraries’ collection 1996. By fitting our data tightly to the form of our particular budget moved to the Libraries’ Business Services Office. This plan, however, we provided subject librarians information in a change unburdened subject librarians from managing funds and decision-ready form. shifted the large, complex budget to the staff with the experience We used Microsoft’s PowerBI software to combine data and knowledge needed to manage it well. Together with other from our integrated library system, Ex Libris’ Alma, with organizational changes within the subject librarian department, continued on page 17
16 Against the Grain / February 2020
Figure 3. Example of annotated approval plan illustrating summarized use information from PowerBI report.
thors would normally pay to publish their Speaking of transformative agreements Rumors work Open Access with that publisher. — Louisiana State University Libraries from page 8 Under the agreement, the 10 institutions and The Publications Division of the will be able to publish publicly-financed year “read and publish” deal will cover American Chemical Society (ACS) have research articles in the Press’s hybrid and announced a transformative open access 10 of the Consortium’s affiliated research fully Open Access journals. In addition, agreement. The one-year agreement with institutions, including nine universities the institutions will have access to their and one institute. Read and publish deals chosen collection of either the Full, HSS, ACS will provide financial support for pay for an institution to access a publish- STM or Med/Vet collection. The Press’s up to 28 LSU-affiliated corresponding er’s journals and also cover any Article full collection consists of more than 400 authors who publish articles under an open Processing Charges the institution’s au- journals. [email protected] continued on page 22 18 Against the Grain / February 2020
Introduction I learned during these meetings that faculty were hesitant Collecting Personal Identifiable Information (PII), in the to give up any class time, so we agreed to limit the IL training context of services and programs academic libraries offer is a sessions to one 45-minute session. This type of session is often topic that continues to be of interest to the library and greater referred to in the library literature as “one-shot information lit- academic community. Patron data, specifically those data points eracy sessions” (Mery, Newby, & Peng, 2012). While prepping associated with use of services, programs, systems, and library the content for these one-shot IL training sessions that would instructional / training efforts has the potential to show academic teach the topics faculty requested, we ensured the concepts taught libraries’ value as these data points can assist with illustrating aligned with the ACRL Information Literacy standards (2004). “student success in the form of outcomes attainment, retention to To assess students’ understanding of the concepts taught completion or graduation, and post-graduation career placement post-training, librarians distributed a nine-question printed and earnings” (Oakleaf, Whyte, Lynema, & Brown, 2017). survey with multiple-choice questions that assessed the topics However, there has been a backlash among librarians regard- presented during the one-shot IL training session. No PII was ing using PII in academic libraries due to privacy concerns (Jones requested in this post-training assessment (which surprised the and Salo, 2018). In this article, we share how PII is collected students — we had many ask “don’t you want our names?”), in our current information literacy assessment (ILA) program, however, to our surprise many students shared their names on how this data is used, and who the data is shared with. This the assessment anyway. article also shares the benefits of academic libraries establish- 2015-Present ing partnerships with other academic departments such as our long-standing relationship with the office of institutional research After a few years of delivering one-shot IL sessions in fac- & training (OIRT). ulty’s classes with increasingly minimal student engagement we looked for a way to further iterate our IL efforts. Around Background the same time, our current college president charged me with What the Library Used to Do creating an internal IL instrument that would assess the IL skills Pre-2011 of our student population. I worked with Monica and her OIRT staff to develop the college’s first formal IL assessment, which Nine years ago, I (Russell) joined Goldey-Beacom College we called the ILA. This assessment included a questionnaire — a small private college (www.gbc.edu) in the Northeast. One with 5 self-efficacy questions (we named this questionnaire the of my first tasks was to transform the library’s research and “SPIL-Q” or “Students’ Perceptions of their Information Liter- instruction program. Prior to being hired, librarians invited acy Skills” (Michalak, R., & Rysavy, M.D.T., 2016) and a 60 English faculty to bring students (who were generally enrolled multiple-choice question assessment that directly mapped to the in 100 level courses) into the physical library for ACRL information literacy standards (2004). a tour. The librarians walked the students The college president heavily encouraged us around the library to point out the location to collect copious amounts of data throughout of the library’s resources (print books, CD- the IL redesign process and to publish our ROM databases, microfilm). In addition, findings. librarians walked the students around the library to show them the computers and We first distributed the ILA online to 932 printers as well as where they could study international graduate students enrolled for collaboratively on group projects or in quiet at least one course during the summer 2015 study area. There was no formal tracking semester using a Google Form created by OIRT. We (i.e., no attendance was taken) nor was there a formal assessment chose this population because it was the largest in the college component to this program (i.e., no evidence of knowledge gains at the time and this population was traditionally underserved as a result of this “library visit experience”). However, librarians by the library because the graduate faculty did not request IL did typically reach out to faculty who expressed interest each sub- instructional sessions. The assessment questions portion of sequent year to see if they wanted to set up another library tour. the form were graded for correct/incorrect responses using the free plugin-tool Flubaroo (http://www.flubaroo.com). This Upgrading Our Information Literacy Assessment Program assessment served as a formal benchmark that we shared with 2011-2015 faculty to encourage them to use our ILA program. Across all During my first few months at the college, I interviewed ACRL standards, the college’s international graduate students key faculty members about their expectations for the future of (n=172) scored below the graduate school’s academic standard of the ILA program. They shared that they wanted students to be 70%, on average scoring 53%. We learned female international trained to navigate the electronic resources, develop a topic, graduate students felt more confident about their information evaluate information, and cite articles. Many faculty members literacy skills than male international graduate students and who requested information literacy training wanted librarians to they performed better (Michalak, Rysavy, & Wessel, 2017). teach students not to plagiarize. continued on page 20 Against the Grain / February 2020
The MIT Press Direct eBook Collections
It's a new year and new frontlist collections are publishing on our direct-to-customer ebook platform—MIT Press Direct. Discover what this mission-driven, values-based platform has to offer: • DRM-free: users can print, copy/paste, and download PDFs by chapter • Unlimited simultaneous users • Tiered pricing based on library budget and FTE • Subscription and perpetual options • MARC records and KBART files • COUNTER usage statistics and SUSHI reports • No ongoing maintenance fees • Consortia discounts available • Full and subject collections available
Visit us for additional details, updates, and information about free trials: direct.mit.edu/ATG Jones, K., and Salo, D. (2018). Learning analytics and the ac- Data Privacy and Information Literacy Assessment ... ademic library: Professional ethics commitments at a crossroads. from page 20 College & Research Libraries, 79(3), 304-322. Doi:https://doi. org/10.5860/crl.79.3.304 allowed us to learn, who accessed which electronic resource (EBSCO, ProQuest, Adam Matthew, Sage, etc.), to the scores Mery, Y., Newby, J., and Peng, K. (2012). Why one-shot they received in the ILA program, to their graded course assign- information literacy sessions are not the Future of Instruction: A ment, and to the students’ end-of-course GPAs in their ENG 176 Case for Online Credit Courses. College & Research Libraries, class. We are curious to see if students who do login into our 73(4), 366-377. Doi:https://doi.org/10.5860/crl-271 databases (we don’t know if they download articles) will have Michalak, R., and Rysavy, M. D. T. (2016). Information higher end of course GPAs than students who do not login to literacy in 2015: International graduate business students’ per- our electronic resources. ceptions of information literacy skills compared to test-assessed skills. Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship, 21(2), 152- Transparency with stakeholders like faculty is essential for 174. https://doi.org/10.1080/08963568.2016.1145787 libraries to receive funding from administration, grant funding agencies, and state legislatures; silos are a detriment to libraries Michalak, R., Rysavy, M. D. T., and Wessel, A. (2017). because if our stakeholders do not know how librarians add Students’ perceptions of their information literacy skills: The value to student success then libraries won’t receive funding confidence gap between male and female international graduate for programs. Only when librarians collect PII for a service or students. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 43(2), 100-104. program like our ILA program can librarians make meaningful Doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2017.02.003 connections that illustrates student success. Otherwise, libraries Michalak, R., Rysavy, M., Hunt, K., Smith, B., and will continue to only report usage numbers which does not how Worden, J. (2018). Faculty perceptions of plagiarism: Insight value to the parent organization. Libraries will only be valued for librarians’ information literacy programs. College & Re- when librarians work with faculty in a model that faculty are search Libraries, 79(6), 747-767. doi:https://doi.org/10.5860/ familiar with already. Collecting PII and attributing scores to crl.79.6.747 course work students complete is a model faculty are familiar Oakleaf, M., Whyte, A., Lynema, E., and Brown, M. with doing. (2017). Academic libraries & institutional learning analytics: References One path to integration. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 43(5), 454. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/ Association of College & Research Libraries. (2004). In- docview/1961425401?accountid=38531. formation literacy competency standards for higher education. Retrieved from www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationlitera- Rysavy, M. D., Michalak, R., and Hunt, K. (2018). Infor- cycompetency#ilassess. mation literacy education for first-year composition students: A cases study of three deployment modes. In I. Bouchrika, N. Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory Harrati, and P. Vu (Eds.), Learner Experience and Usability of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215. in Online Education (pp. 85-121). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191 doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-4206-3.ch004
and Answers Copyright column in of today! We stayed a the ramshackled Rumors Against the Grain since she started with Two Meeting Street Inn for $15 a night. from page 18 the very first copyright column in ATG There were at least 15 single beds in our v.10#2, (April 1998, p.47). But she has room, no air conditioning, and lots of ants access license in any of ACS’s journals. still been writing the column — even after as well as a communal refrigerator in the The agreement also provides LSU affil- she retired in 2013 and it’s 2020! Well, hall. Charming. Really! But it wasn’t iates access to read ACS journals. “We Lolly has decided to pass the casebooks too much longer before Albert Finney are the first research institution in North over to an amazing replacement — Will and Jill Clayburgh lit up the screen in America to reach a transformative agree- Cross (Director, Copyright & Digital Josephine Humphreys’ lovely novel, ment with the ACS. This groundbreaking Scholarship Center, NC State University Rich in Love. Turned out that John agreement is a significant development Libraries). Welcome, Will! Will was Tagler stayed at the very renovated Two for the Libraries’ strategies to build Lolly’s student and he is well known to Meeting Street while they were filming! systems that support scholarship and to us from the Charleston Conference and BTW, John was in Charleston in 2019 and advocate for and organize open access Against the Grain! looks better than ever! adoption among faculty and graduate students,” says Stanley Wilder, Dean of Speaking of retiring, Mark Herring is You heard it here! I predict that per- LSU Libraries. http://news.blogs.lib.lsu. retiring this coming June. He will contin- sonal print book libraries will continue to edu/2020/02/24/lsu-libraries-is-first-in- ue to write him column. BTW, this one flourish as institutions continue to down- north-america-to-sign-a-read-and-pub- (p.54) is about getting FOL speakers for size their print book library collections. lish-transformative-agreement-with-the- Friends groups. An inspiration! As Kate Jerde and Lindsay Mather american-chemical-society/ Donna Jacobs’ column in this is- state in a recent article in Architectural I knew I was sitting on a ticking time sue (p.41) brought back memories of Digest which is also an ATG Quirky — bomb. The awesomely wonderful Lolly Charleston in 1977 when we first moved “Though we may be in the digital age, no Gasaway has been writing the Questions here. What a change to the Charleston continued on page 45
22 Against the Grain / February 2020
by John D. McDonald (EBSCO Information Services)
ibraries have always collected a wealth of data about how Recently, there has been growing interest in linking library their users have engaged with the collections, services, and analytics to learning analytics in a structured fashion. Megan Lsystems that they offer. While much of that information Oakleaf, in her role as the principle investigator for the Library was collected for logistical or operational reasons, such as keep- Involvement in Learning Analytics (LIILA) grant, has noted ing track of who checked out a book to ensure its later return, that it is imperative that libraries become engaged in the overall the existence of that data often has the added benefit of enabling campus efforts around learning analytics to ensure they have a librarians to understand how users are, or are not, interacting seat at the table when the evaluation of data occurs and further- with the library so that efforts can be made to optimize library more that they maintain an influential role in the development of collections and services. From the early days of bibliometric governance and policy standards around data privacy, security, research up through famous data-driven studies such as the and ethics (Oakleaf, 2018). While some institutions have made University of Pittsburgh book circulation study (Kent, 1979), strides in this direction, most notably the University of Minneso- librarians have leveraged data to understand their users as they ta and UNC-Charlotte (Nakerud et. al 2015, Croxton & Moore progress through their interactions with the library. In turn, 2018), the vast majority of libraries have not and likely cannot librarians have used those data to help the library continually without a stronger and more stable infrastructure that enables progress to meet user needs. data collection and analysis. Library analytics as a field has focused primarily on research In the summer of 2018, EBSCO approached the University into collections and how they are used. Studies on book circula- of Denver (DU) about engaging in a proof of concept study to tion, eBook usage, online journal downloads, and demand-driven try to determine the feasibility of connecting library data, stored acquisition have proliferated over the course of the past two de- in separate systems, with campus level data representing student cades (Way 2011; Corlett-Rivera and Hackman, 2014; McDonald outcomes. The overall goal was to determine if it was possible 2006; Levine-Clark, McDonald, and Price 2014). In addition, to connect a range of datasets using a common identifier, and if librarians in the public services have made strides in using data that was possible, to determine the effect of library engagement to analyze how users are interacting with information literacy on student learning outcomes. With successful answers to these programs and library instruction courses (Nakerud et. al 2015, questions, EBSCO would understand better the potential to build Croxton 2018). Bibliometric studies have evolved from mostly a robust data and analytics platform for the ingestion, storage, and examining how authors cite prior research, into usage of research analysis of data that could be brought to market to help libraries artifacts by format types and access types, including the usage of all sizes and types to have an ongoing and near real-time of open access literature (Eysenbach, 2006). library data repository with the potential to Parallel to the evolution of library begin to connect that data to campus-level analytics has been an emphasis in higher data of all types. education on “learning analytics” over the Librarians and campus administrators at past ten years (SoLAR, 2020), as campuses the University of Denver provided files of have begun to analyze all types of student data extracts from multiple systems that rep- interaction data to understand their perfor- resented a variety of library engagement met- mance and the institution’s success (or lack rics and one student outcome metric. These thereof) in meeting its educational mission. came in multiple formats, including .xls, .csv, The Horizon report has for the past three and .txt, and were often partitioned by month years listed Analytics Technologies as one or week to allow the files to be extracted due of the most important developments in to the limitations of source systems. The data Educational Technology and for the past was scrubbed of any personally-identifiable two years, has included it in the category of information (PII). EBSCO inspected the “Widespread adoption within one year or less.” Many campuses more than one hundred files and merged them for analysis. It is are keen to study the engagement of their students and faculty important to note that connecting to APIs was not in scope for this with campus services and use that data to better explore how to proof of concept, so this project did not determine whether data ensure their educational success. And maybe more importantly, acquisition via APIs is possible. funders at all levels are looking for hard data as evidence that The first dataset analyzed wasDU’s EZProxy authentication the university is meeting its educational mission, often leaving logs, to represent use of online library resources. It is import- future funding levels hanging in the balance. ant to note that DU uses EZProxy to authenticate all users into At the library level, we may feel we’re a bit behind in our online library resources, whether on the local network or not, adoption of analytics technologies. While all libraries struggle to so all online resource usage was captured. This is certainly not collect, organize, and preserve data about their users and systems true for all customers using EZProxy, many (or most) of whom and services, new products are consistently being developed that require authentication only for off-campus access. EZProxy aim to make the process of data collection and analysis more Logs contained a unique user ID, that was common across efficient and more robust. They evolve to meet our needs, and all datasets, which made it possible to associate sessions to a also highlight what more needs to be done as we strive to use particular user. The second dataset was an extract from DU’s data as evidence in our decision-making processes. continued on page 24 Against the Grain / February 2020
Alma ILS (integrated library system) which provided two sets of metrics: partial patron demographic information, and book circulations by patron. The final two datasets included a record of librarian consultations by student for the two quarters of instruction, which was main- tained manually by librarians and stored in an offline Excel spreadsheet, and an extract from the campus’ Banner Student Information System (SIS). The following fields were available for analysis: DOB, Gender, Race, Program (Major), and End of Term cumulative GPA. Figure 2: Usage v. Outcomes Dashboard Other data provided includ- ing the full bibliographic data from Alma, all online holdings from Alma, and COUNTER usage reports. These were not included in the analysis due to the limited scope and objective of the proof of concept but could have been analyzed in a full production analytics system. In addition, three EBSCO supplied data sets were considered, but not included in the analysis as they were out of scope. These included EBSCOhost database usage metrics, GOBI book bibliographic and acquisitions information, and EBSCONET serials bibliographic and acqui- sitions data for DU. We ingested data via Alteryx with two outputs in mind: a Figure 3: Usage vs Outcomes Variance Dashboard combined usage table, and a user stats table. The combined usage table was designed to provide a complete, high-level picture of library usage during the period, while the user stats table was designed to allow analysis of the relationship between library use and student outcomes. We used Tableau to visualize both data sets and produced three comprehensive dashboards to better understand the relation- ship to library engagement and student success. The combined usage dash- board provided a data discov- ery experience and descriptive continued on page 25
24 Against the Grain / February 2020
Against the Grain / February 2020
by Kirsten Kinsley (Assessment Librarian, Florida State University)
nitially, the editors of Against the Grain asked us to share metrics valued at the university and statewide levels. Moreover, our experience developing our library data dashboard or as a culmination of our local research and data collection efforts, Ilibrary cube prototype. In the meantime, we had to wrestle we sought to build a library cube or data analytics warehouse with the backlash to library learning analytics (LA) activities prototype (Klein, Kinsley, & Brooks, 2018) in part to de-silo which included the development library data warehouses. This our data and “gather and connect these studies and datasets in has prompted us to take immediate action within our library to one unified database for easy querying and reporting” (Klein, begin to address some of the issues presented by the backlash. Kinsley, & Brooks, 2018, p. 359). We wanted to share our response in the hopes that telling our story However, this past year, just as we made a local breakthrough might inspire others to share theirs with us as we move forward. in the development of our cube/warehouse proof-of-concept, the Like many academic libraries, when ACRL’s Value of learning analytics library backlash was in full swing. We were Academic Libraries: A Comprehensive Research Review and going to write a piece about the warehouse for this publication, Report (Oakleaf, 2010) (VAL Report) was published, we took but the concerns about learning analytics as practice began a the initiative seriously. We planned our assessment activities to robust, ongoing, and challenging conversation. From around align with university-wide goals and metrics following the Great 2015 till now there have been a number of articles written, along Recession in 2008. The financial crisis further drove the need for with the IMLS-funded Data Doubles Project (Asher et al, 2018), institutional accountability which demanded more data to prove and discussions at conferences that reflect the backlash to the value and impact while it heightened competition for more lim- Learning Analytics movement (Jones & Salo, 2018). ited resources within the university Before we discuss our response to this, it is essential to attempt and among colleges and universities to summarize some of the issues brought up by the backlash in the state. Those realities in the literature: last 12 years have steered higher • Consent & Transparency: There is a lack of consent education’s goals and strategies to from and transparency to our users about the data we align with the emergence of state- collect and why we collect it. For example, we collect wide higher education performance card swipe data of those who come in and leave the metrics. These “political and econom- library, but we do not tell our students what we do with ic drivers” are one of many reasons for that data. Visitors to the library can not opt-out from the development of learning analytics, having their data collected because it is data owned by which emerged as a “separate field” in a third party (campus police). We want to find out how 2010 (Ferguson, 2012, p.309,311). As they feel about it once they know what we do with it defined by the Society for Learning (See the recent Pew Research Center Report by Auxier Analytics Research (SoLAR), “Learn- et al., 2019). ing Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of • Data management practices & library-wide data data about learners and their contexts, management standards or a lack of standards of prac- for purposes of understanding and tice library-wide could open the risk for a confidentiality optimising learning and the environments in which it occurs ...” breach (Briney, 2019). For example: by not having a (SoLAR, 2011/2020; Ferguson, 2012, p. 305). LA is also known checklist for off-boarding former employees, they could as educational data mining (Jones & Salo, 2018). In the last few retain access to user data after they depart from their years a backlash to educational data mining or LA, has emerged position. or been portrayed as in direct conflict with library professional • Validity: Do we measure learning by performing ethics of intellectual freedom, privacy, and confidentiality, and learning analytics? the balance between the intellectual property rights of vendors ° Learning Analytics is often a misnomer as research with the interests of library users (Jones & Salo, 2018; ALA 1 under that description as its analytics often do not Code of Ethics II, III, & IV, 1939/2008). measure actual learning. At our institution, the effects of the Great Recession were no ° There is an over-reliance on institutional metrics, different from other institutions. A library assessment department such as GPA, as a proxy measure of learning. at our university library formed in 2010, which coincided with the publication and influence of the VAL report (2010). Our • Qualitative Approach departmental research moved from an ethnographic focus to a ° Librarians need to be more equipped to conduct quan- more quantitative one. The focus shifted to measuring possible titative research. For example, learning the importance relationships between library services, spaces, and collections of using a measure of effect size, “rather than being to student success by merging library data with demographic satisfied simply with statistically significant findings…” and student performance data collected by the campus office of or p-values (Robertshaw & Asher, 2019, p. 90). institutional research. Working in partnership with other campus ° By searching large data sets, it might be tempting to collaborators, we intentionally sought linkages between library look for patterns in the data that are statistically signif- usage with aggregated and de-identified student performance continued on page 28 26 Against the Grain / February 2020
cate and advocate for these concerns within the socio-political One Academic Library’s Approach to the Learning ... institutions within which we co-exist and operate. Framing the from page 26 problem with exaggerated, provocative, unrealistic language and scenarios may not allow us to be effective advocates of user icant (go on “fishing expeditions”) rather than starting privacy. For example, words likening library research that tracks with a research question, collecting data, and following usage as student “surveillance” implies continuous, round-the- it with analysis (Jones & Salo, 2018). clock monitoring of every student’s movement as if a library or • Social Justice Concerns university intends to run itself like a police state. Inflammatory ° Using LA for predictive analytics seems to benefit the rhetoric ends Kyle Jones’ (2019) piece, Just Because You Can institution more than the agency or intellectual freedom Doesn’t Mean You Should: Practitioner Perceptions of Learning of the at-risk student (Nicholson, Pagowsky, & Seale, Analytics Ethics: 2019). In stark terms, April Hathcock argues that learning ana- ° Assuming LA measures what users’ value: One of lytics ‘is a colonialist, slave-owning, corporatizing, cap- the challenges in the development of LA posited by italist practice that enacts violence, yes violence, against Ferguson (2012), was to “focus on the perspectives of the sanctity of a learner’s privacy, body and mind.’ (18) learners” (p.313). The shock value of this quote gets us to pause, think, ask ° The use of big data could “expand racial inequality” more questions, and listen to some more. However, it also has because its algorithms contain the explicit and implicit the effect of intimidating and shaming those who are trying to bias of the creator to predict behavior that targets par- be true to the profession’s code of ethics while they seek to un- ticular groups (Le, 2017).2 derstand library users without malicious intent in order to make At our library, one of the ways we responded to the local connections with how libraries benefit our users as collaborators conversations about this resulted in healthy dialogue, prompted with our institution and its endeavors. in-house library training information sessions (FERPA, IRB, and At the same time, the radical response of the backlash to LA ethics talks), and has started to improve assessment awareness has resulted in some very productive improvements and refine- and practices. But, before we pat ourselves on the proverbial ments in our practices locally. It revealed an unspoken potential back, we do this knowing that we in libraries can strive to be a disconnect between our professional values, ethics, and practice. bastion of privacy and advocates of intellectual freedom, all the It may spur libraries that consider conducting LA activities to while we, together with our patrons carry our wifi devices, or create a comprehensive privacy policy. “spies in our pockets,” everywhere we go (Thompson & Warzel, It provides an opportunity for libraries to: December 19, 2019, para. 9). Even access and usage data of 1. Model proper data management and research practices our services and resources are not entirely under our purview on campus. Implement library-wide standards of prac- or control. tice template to address personally identified informa- Another way we tried to address the backlash was to create tion protection across the library. We have developed a privacy policy. We crowd-sourced a draft of our most com- a standards of practice template and are testing it with prehensive library privacy policy with the knowledge that it assessment datasets before sharing it across the libraries. might need to be a flexible and adaptable document that can 2. Keep the LA dialogue going without denying either promote our ethics in a data-cooperative environment within side of the argument. Draft a policy which includes the university. There is a need to balance our values with the divergent voices. goals and metrics that align with our institution. We have to 3. Tell users about what we are doing with their data and accept that though we can employ practices that eliminate risk find out how they feel about it. We are developing a to data breaches while operating within the realities of the poster to display by our card swipe turnstiles to inform academy, we cannot eliminate all risk. and educate library visitors about the data we collect Some authors of the draft privacy policy wanted to provide when they swipe in and how we use it. We simultane- powerful language and strict guidelines for data sharing and ously want to survey them about how they feel about consent by taking an advocacy stance for student privacy. That this. stance needed balance with the necessity of being a team-player 4. Be champions of student and faculty privacy and with our institution. A section was added to the privacy policy intellectual freedom while balancing that with being that stated that we would not participate in LA practices. It an active partner in aligning with campus initiatives, was modified to attempt to find a middle ground and allow goals, and strategies. We partnered with our campus for LA activities, but it ended up reading with two differing compliance and ethics officer to draft the privacy policy. voices. Since those differing points of view could not quite As a result, the student affairs office wants to see our reconcile, that section has been set aside for now. The privacy data privacy policy once it gets approved by library policy was recently submitted to the library administration for leadership. review and approval without that section. Those that drafted 5. Advocate and educate our users about their privacy the policy would like to know what the library administration and intellectual freedom by opening up this conversa- thinks about learning analytics practices. tion on campus and influence campus policies on data In our efforts to address these concerns we may also be governance (Jones & Salo, 2018, p. 305). We have two tempted to adopt the politically charged/inflammatory rhetoric librarians involved with campus-wide data governance sometimes used by proponents of the backlash to point out the initiatives on campus. issues and problems with using LA in libraries. We need to 6. Improve the quality of our research. Within the library understand the problems and concerns the backlash enumerates. literature and research, we can intentionally describe However, we also need to be realistic about how we communi- continued on page 29 28 Against the Grain / February 2020
Against the Grain / February 2020
by Angela Courtney (Head, Arts & Humanities, Indiana University; Victorian Studies Subject Editor, Resources for College Libraries)
Column Editor’s Note: The “Col- century, fire, reconstruction, and the sheer and the stage throughout the twentieth lecting to the Core” column highlights cost of staging spectacular melodramas century. While W. S. Gilbert’s dramatic monographic works that are essential to demanded innovation on the business works are often overshadowed by the the academic library within a particular side. Stage design, direction, production, considerable success and endurance of the discipline, inspired by the Resources for and management all enjoyed a level of light operas he wrote in partnership with College Libraries bibliography (online invention that shaped the theatre-going ex- composer Arthur Sullivan, he was also at http://www.rclweb.net). In each essay, perience for the decades that followed. It considerably popular on his own. would be difficult to portray the evolution subject specialists introduce and explain Playwright Dion Boucicault, whose of drama across the nineteenth century in the classic titles and topics that continue colorful and widely-varied reputation at one volume. However, for those interested to remain relevant to the undergraduate once celebrated his innovation while de- in a comprehensive overview, Michael curriculum and library collection. Disci- crying him as plagiarism incarnate, “exert- R. Booth’s Theatre in the Victorian Age plinary trends may shift, but some classics ed an influence on the nineteenth-century discusses the relationship between theatre never go out of style. — AD British and American theater that was and society during this period, along with far-reaching and is frequently underesti- management, playhouses, production ineteenth-century British drama mated.”4 Although no longer a household methods, actors (including the dominance is frequently marginalized in name, Boucicault’s literary and performa- of the actor-manager), and selected historical overviews of theatre tive influence was extensive. Influen- N dramatists. A chronological time- and drama, often overshadowed by the tial on such contemporary theatrical line, recommendations for further looming legacy of Shakespeare and less concepts as the long run, the out- reading, and illustrations such as critically-revered than other periods and of-town opening, and the touring theater posters round out this im- forms of English literature in general. company, the Irish dramatist portant work.2 However, theatrical pursuits throughout Boucicault was an ardent the Victorian era are marked with an Countless scholars have offered champion of copyright law enviable amount of creativity and innova- critical examinations of indi- and a keen innovator of the- tion in both form (from Romantic closet vidual playwrights, theatre atrical performance as well dramas to melodramas to social dramas companies, dramatic forms, as a consummate actor-di- to comedies) and shape (as production actors, directors, and so on. rector. His bibliography, techniques, management, and business Examining these shifts through the lens replete with melodramas that stretch from models evolved and thrived). One reason of a small collection of Victorian comedic an adaptation of Dumas’s The Corsican that the theater in England’s revitalization plays, Klaus Stierstorfer’s expertly-edit- Brothers to the financially triumphantThe parallels the reign of Queen Victoria from ed entry in the venerable Oxford World’s Shaughraun (both of which appear in An- 1837-1901 is the passing of the Theatres Classics series, London Assurance and drew Parkin’s excellently-curated collec- Act 1843 which loosened existing restric- Other Victorian Comedies, presents an tion, Selected Plays of Dion Boucicault), tions mandating that performances be held interesting and ideal exploration.3 The illustrate the breadth and scope of his only at patent theatres and granted local authors represented in London Assurance output.5 London Assurance is perhaps both authorities increased power to license and Other Victorian Comedies range in his first significant accomplishment as well new theaters and performances. Owing popular appeal and creativity. While as his most enduring play. Having opened in large part to shifting popular taste and Henry James’s literary reputation stems in the spring of 1841, London Assurance is increasing modernity, Victor Emeljanow largely from his output as a novelist very much situated in the Victorian era, but contends “the variety of dramatic forms and critic, his dramatic work provides a more reminiscent of Restoration drama. suggests a dynamic, changing audience unique view of his evolution as a writer Using the now-familiar trope of a father composition and that this audience re- and the ways in which literary forms in- who does not recognize his disguised son, sponded to and demanded novelty.”1 The fluence each other. Dion Boucicault, an the play’s original production is significant rise of spectacular and exciting entertain- extremely prolific and popular dramatist for its use of the box set (where the pro- ments (e.g., dramas that featured re-creat- in his time but largely overlooked by scenium arch stage opening becomes the ed Naval battles on stage) illustrated both contemporary audiences, left a legacy far fourth wall) as well as its use of everyday, the rising urban population and a decided beyond his writing — influencing stage real set props (furniture, windows, etc.). shift in mass appeal. Melodrama as a form and set design, production length, and Although critically viewed as mediocre, it enjoyed an unheralded amount of pop- the very notion of a touring company. was an immense success with the public, ularity from the mid-nineteenth century Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a name more later opening in New York during the fall of through much of the twentieth century, synonymous with the oft-quoted opening 1841. It has since been revived countless providing fodder for the later development line, “It was a dark and stormy night,” times, as recently as 2010 when the Royal of cinematic and televisual dramas. So, from his novel Paul Clifford, experienced National Theatre staged a well-received too, did the business of theatre evolve and relative success as a playwright and his production. grow. Throughout much of the nineteenth works were later revived for film, radio, continued on page 32
Against the Grain / February 2020
32 Against the Grain / February 2020
Reader’s Roundup: Monographic Musings & Reference Reviews
Column Editor: Corey Seeman (Director, Kresge Library Services, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; Phone: 734-764-9969)
Column Editor’s Note: Coordinating book reviews is quite Bartlett and Spender Acadia, among their numerous leadership fascinating, from a librarian standpoint. I get to see the new roles, both serve on the International Federation of Library books that are coming to press in the library field and for your Associations’ (IFLA’s) Knowledge Management Standing library reference collection. And for someone with a completely Committee. They emphasize that successful knowledge manage- virtual collection as we do at Kresge Library Services (Uni- ment (KM) is built on the existence of a healthy organizational versity of Michigan), it is nice every so often to see a physical climate with established relationships between employees and book. This column and what we are doing continues to morph library leadership. As a guiding principle, employees struggle and grow over the coming months and years as the very nature with individualism versus collectivism. Research indicates that of reference works and some monographs change. We had good knowledge sharing is a highly personal process that requires conversations at Charleston with publishers and I am excited employee buy-in, a great degree of trust, and must be performed about where this is headed. We are continuing our model for under transparent practices which support safe spaces and nourish the Reader’s Roundup to include books that are focused on prosocial behavior. Conversely, the authors conclude that KM is librarianship (very broadly speaking) and reference works not possible in a dysfunctional organizational culture. (formerly in the Reference Reviews section). We have a number Libraries that Learn is divided into two sections. The first of books out for review, and a good number in my office, so we provides an overview for knowledge management and context have room for growth! within libraries. The second section includes six case studies, Having said that, if you would like to be a reviewer for Against and tools that may be used for a variety of library needs. A cau- the Grain, please write me at
34 Against the Grain / February 2020
Against the Grain / February 2020
When researchers consult tangible documents, they assess — Kramer-Smyth, Jeanne. Partners for Preservation: or rely on archivists to assess — the authenticity of the documents Advancing digital preservation through cross-community in the collection. However, “[w]hen we save a digital record, we collaboration. London: Facet Publishing, 2019. 978- take it apart in its digital components, and when we retrieve it, 178330-347-2, 212 pages. £69.95 (ALA $93.99). we reproduce it from those components, thus creating a copy,” Luciana Duranti and Corinne Rogers note in the opening Reviewed by Michelle Polchow (Electronic Resources chapter of Trusting Records in the Cloud. The record’s authen- Librarian, University of California, Davis) ticity, therefore, comes into question every time it is accessed.
36 Against the Grain / February 2020
Jordan, Rita, Jacqueline M. Roberts, and Kara Hume (Eds.). The Sage Handbook of Autism and Education. Linder, Kathryn E. The Business of Innovating Los Angeles: Sage Reference, 2019. 9781473959538, Online: Practical Tips and Advice from Industry 646 pages. $185.00. Leaders. Sterling, Virginia: Stylus Publishing, 2019. 9781620368435 (paperback $25.00). 9781620368428 Reviewed by Katherine Swart (Collection Development (hardback $125.00) 152 pages. Librarian, Hekman Library, Calvin University)
Against the Grain / February 2020
38 Against the Grain / February 2020
40 Against the Grain / February 2020
Column Editor: Donna Jacobs (Retired, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425)
he citizens of Charleston, SC continually lament the change palace quivering in the leafy shadows. It was called Villa created by an international spotlight that touts: “Visit Aurora even though no name had ever been inscribed on TCharleston for an unforgettable adventure.” The City has the pillars of the gateway, only a number engraved on a become a beautiful place to not only visit but also to make one’s marble plaque that had worn away long before I could home base because of its delicious blend of history, architecture, ever remember it. Perhaps it had been given the name academic life, food, art, natural resources, affordability (for precisely because of its cloudlike color, so like the faint some), and iconic views and vistas. But all of these wonderful iridescent hue of sky at dawn’s first break. But everyone attributes have created traffic congestion, gentrification, tourism knew about Aurora, and it was the first strange house ever impacts, taxes, and unaffordability for many. Some may call shown to me, the first house to etch itself on my memory.” these the problems of success; many see them as changing the The boyhood memory of sneaking into the gardens at Villa very attractiveness and livability of the city. Aurora when there was “nothing else of any interest Interestingly in 1982, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio in the town or the streets or the hills or even the explored similar problems of success — alienation, sea…” gives way to the adventure of young man poverty, loss of beauty, to mention a few — in his deep in his study of law who decides to go visit compilation of eleven short stories in “La ronde again. “I’d left the neighborhood so long ago et autres faits divers.” I found a translated that I had a hard time finding the street, the one version: “The Round and Other Cold Hard that climbed all the way to the top of the hill, Facts,” at the Charleston County Library. right up to the wall of Villa Aurora. There The front flap of the book jacket describes were tall apartment buildings everywhere the stories as depicting “the harsh realities now; they’d cropped out in a disorderly of life for the less-privileged inhabitants of a fashion on the hillside, right up to its crest, very privileged area” — the French Rivera. huddling against one another on their great Just goes to prove there is no such thing as blacktop platforms. Most of the trees had a unique problem and one might learn from disappeared, except one or two here and the wordsmithing of a Nobelist. I sit on the there that had probably gone unnoticed City of Charleston’s Planning Commission, in the havoc that had swept over the land: time to read and gain perspective. I randomly olive trees, eucalyptuses, some orange trees, picked the story “Villa Aurore” which tells the now lost in the sea of asphalt and concrete, story of how “a man stands by helplessly as a seemed scrawny, drab, aged, on the brink place of great beauty and childhood memory is of death.” Yet he finds the Villa, gains the slowly consumed by a quickly developing city.” nerve to ring the bell and meets the lady of Could be a quote from any 2019 Facebook forum commenting Villa Aurora. However, he soon realizes “my on Charleston’s growth. childhood memories seem petty now that the city had eaten into Villa Aurora, for nothing could hide the wound, the Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio won the 2008 Nobel Prize pain, the anxiety that reigned here now. Then abruptly I in Literature as an “author of new departures, poetic adventure knew that I couldn’t stay in the house. The realization and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below was like a shudder; it came over me all of a sudden. The the reigning civilization.” (Sidebar: This was the year before destructive forces of the town — the cars, the buses, the I began the Booklover column — seems like yesterday.) Le trucks, the concrete mixers, the cranes, the pneumatic drills, Clézio was born in Nice, a city in the French Rivera, which the pulverizers — would all come here sooner or later; they also experiences amazing tourism pressure and popularity. The would penetrate the sleeping garden and then the walls family also lived for a time in Nigeria where his father was sta- of the villa; they would shatter the windows, tear holes tioned during World War II. Le Clézio studied in both British in the plaster ceilings, splinter the cane screens, crumble and French schools, ultimately earning a doctoral degree in 1983 the yellow walls, the floorboards, the doorframes.” The from the University of Perpignan. In addition to his extensive young man feels despair, emptiness, helpless to stem the literary career, that began at the age of seven when he wrote his tide of change and he “slipped away like a coward, like a first book about the sea, he has taught at numerous universities thief…I thought I could hear, off in the distance, the wild around the world describing himself as a “nomad of bilingual cries of the city’s thugs bringing down the doors of Villa heritage” in an article published in the Wall Street Journal after Aurora one after the other.” receiving the Nobel accolade. In our city by the sea with its moss-draped oaks and iconic The story opens: vistas, let’s hope for continued courage, forethought and pro- “Aurora had stood, for all time, up there on the hilltop, half gressive planning to halt the destructive forces knocking at the lost in the lush tangle of plants, yet still visible between the battery wall, the row house doors, the iron gates. trunks of latania and palms, a great, white, cloud-colored
Against the Grain / February 2020
Section Editors: Bruce Strauch (The Citadel)
by Anthony Paganelli (Western Kentucky University)
an the state be sued for copyright mark on copyrighted materials posted on Sovereign Immunity infringement? This is the issue the website. Despite this settlement, Allen The State of North Carolina referred Cthat was presented to the U.S. later alleged that the state continued to use to the Eleventh Amendment of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of too much copyrighted materials, which he Constitution, which stated, “The judicial North Carolina Western Division in 2015 filed a suit against the state for $8 million power of the United States shall not be where photographer and videographer for using several hours of videos and over construed to extend to any suit in law or Frederick Allen claimed the State of 2,000 photos. equity, commenced or prosecuted against North Carolina infringed on his copy- Due to the allegations, the State of one of the United States by citizens or righted works made during the discovery North Carolina passed a law “to clarify another state, or by citizens or subjects and documentary of the shipwreck Queen that photographs and video recordings of any foreign state.” The amendment Anne’s Revenge, which was the ship of of derelict vessels or shipwrecks are has been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme the infamous pirate Blackbeard that public records when in the custody of Court to provide immunity to states and wrecked on June 10, 1718 off the coast North Carolina agencies; and to provide their agencies from a lawsuit for remedy of Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. Allen that certain merchandise credits are not by any court, for violating federal laws, was the proprietor of the production deemed abandoned property.” The law which in this case Allen has sued the company Nautilus Productions that was approved on August 18, 2015 that state for violating the U.S. Copyright Law maintained exclusive rights to film the further stated, “All photographs, video (Wasserman, 2019). project, which began in 1998 after the recordings, or other documentary mate- salvage and research company, Intersal, Despite this immunity support from the rials of a derelict vessel or shipwreck or U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Inc. discovered the wreckage in 1996 its contents, relics, artifacts, or historic (Copyright Alliance, 2019). Court, Congress does have the power materials in the custody of any agency of to change this by abrogating immunity. An agreement between Intersal, North Carolina government or its subdivi- Allen’s argument is the Section 5 of the Inc. and the State of North Carolina sions shall be a public record pursuant to Fourteenth Amendment that allows Con- was reached where the state claimed G.S. 132-1. There shall be no limitation gress exclusive power to enforce all copy- ownership of the property, but Intersal, of the use of or no requirement to alter right laws no matter immunity. According Inc. would keep the rights and monies any such photograph, video recordings, to Wasserman, “Copyrights cannot be received from the documentary video or other documentary material, and any ‘secure’ or ‘exclusive’ if Congress cannot and photographs (Ho, 2019). Intersal, such provision in any agreement, permit, reach and regulate all potential infringers, Inc. and Nautilus Productions agreed to or license shall be void and unenforceable including states, and if states cannot be document the project through video and as a matter of public policy” (NC Legis- held liable for their infringement.” Based photographs. According to Ho (2019), lature, 2015). The legislation has been on this argument, the Copyright Remedy the agreement allowed North Carolina called “Blackbeard’s Law.” Clarification Act of 1990 is an issue that to “publish accounts and other research U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle will be interpreted by the U.S. Supreme documents relating to the artifacts, site allowed Allen to continue his case against Court when the arguments are heard. area, and project operations for non- the state because “Blackbeard’s Law” was The Copyright Remedy Clarification commercial educational or historical invalid; therefore, the state had violated Act of 1990 states, “Amends Federal copy- purposes.” Allen also obtained federal federal copyright laws. Due to the suit, right law to provide that any State, State copyright for the videos and photographs the State of North Carolina submitted a instrumentality, or officer or employee of used to document the salvage. motion to dismiss based on the grounds the State or State instrumentality is liable However, Allen claimed the State of sovereign immunity, which the motion to the same extent as any nongovernmental of North Carolina posted a significant was denied in the U.S. District Court for entity for: (1) copyright infringement… amount of material on the Cultural Affairs the Eastern District of North Carolina. Denies sovereign immunity to any State Department website. In 2013, Allen and However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for for such violations and provides the the state settled on a $15,000 settlement the 4th Circuit reversed the motion and same remedies as are available against from North Carolina to Allen and the state stated that the state was immune from the other private or public entities, including agreed to place a time stamp and water- suit filed by Allen (Wasserman, 2019). continued on page 43 42 Against the Grain / February 2020
Against the Grain / February 2020
by Bill Hannay (Partner, Schiff Hardin LLP, Chicago, IL)
ast summer, Amazon’s audiobooks because its conduct was protected as display of written text derived from subsidiary Audible announced that “fair use.” The publishers opposed the the audiobook versions of Publishers’ Lit was introducing a new feature: motion, and the court expressed some Works, unless such actions are expressly computer-generated text that replicates doubts about Audible’s motion during authorized by the owners or exclusive the spoken words of an audiobook. The oral argument. Before the court reached licensees. Again, this prohibition does new feature was called “Captions.” a decision on the motion to dismiss, not apply to any text in the public domain. Shortly thereafter, seven major publishers Audible made a tentative settlement On February 8th, the Association announced their own new feature called proposal and asked the court to put a hold of American Publishers issued an an- “lawsuit.” on further proceedings while the parties nouncement confirming the settlement At the end of August, the publishers talked. In December, Audible asked the and injunction, stating: filed suit in federal court in New York court to continue to stay proceedings pending the negotiations. AAP, the plaintiffs, and Audible City, asking the court to enjoin Amazon’s have resolved their pending liti- subsidiary from releasing Audible Cap- In mid-January of 2020, the parties gation. Audible has agreed that tions which was scheduled for release advised the court that they had in fact it will obtain permission from any in September. Chronicle Books, LLC reached a settlement. They tendered a AAP members that are in good et al. v. Audible, Inc., No. 19 Civ. 7913 proposed permanent injunction by con- standing with AAP before moving (S.D.N.Y). The publishers alleged that: sent which Audible and the publishers forward with Audible Captions for Audible Captions takes Pub- had signed. Accordingly, the court signed their works. lishers’ proprietary audiobooks, the injunction and ordered the case dis- missed on January 14th. Subsequently, Audible confirmed that converts the narration into unautho- it was extending the same commitment to rized text, and distributes the entire Although the court-approved injunc- all publishers and authors. The Digital text of these “new” digital books to tion is filed under seal, the proposed Reader blog announced on February 9th Audible’s customers. Audible’s injunction is available and in pertinent that it has “confirmation from Audible actions — taking copyrighted part states as follows: PR that all rightsholders with audiobooks works and repurposing them for Audible, and its officers, agents, in Audible’s catalog will have the same its own benefit without permission servants, employees, and attorneys, option as AAP members, and they will — are the kind of quintessential and other persons and entities who be able to disable or enable Audible infringement that the Copyright Act are in active concert or participa- Captions on their audiobooks” (https:// directly forbids. tion with Audible, are permanently the-digital-reader.com/2020/02/09/ Audible allegedly seeks “to cut Pub- restrained, enjoined, and prohibited amazon-is-extending-the-audible-cap- lishers out from a business model that from creating, generating, repro- tion-settlement-to-all-publishers-and- already exists, by unlawfully creating ducing, modifying, distributing, authors-will-you-disable-this-feature/). derivative works … and publicly display- publishing, or displaying, without It will be interesting to see how many ing unauthorized copies of the Works.” express authorization from the publishers or authors choose to grant Moreover, Audible Captions allegedly owners or exclusive licensees of permission to Audible allowing the Cap- “does not maintain the quality control the United States digital text rights, tions feature for their works. And even that readers have come to written text derived from more interesting to see whether and what expect from Publishers and the audiobook versions Audible chooses to pay as compensation authors,” citing Audible’s of Publishers’ Works for for such permission. admission that “up to 6% any product or service of the Distributed Text created or offered by may contain transcrip- Audible. This prohi- William M. Hannay is a partner in the tion errors.” bition does not apply Chicago-based law firm, Schiff Hardin In September, to any text in the LLP, and is a frequent contributor to Audible filed a mo- public domain. Against the Grain and a regular speaker tion to dismiss the In addition, Au- at the Charleston Conference. He can complaint on the dible is further en- be reached at
44 Against the Grain / February 2020
Column Editor: Bruce Strauch (The Citadel, Emeritus)
Justin Goldman v. Breitbart News, Here we find the Act gives the owner casting Cos., Inc. v. Aereo, Inc., 134 S. Heavy Inc., Time, Inc. Yahoo, Inc. Vox the exclusive right to “display” the work Ct. 2498 (2014). Aereo sold subscribers Media Inc., Gannett Company, Inc. and publicly “either directly or by means of a a technologically complex service that about everyone else you could think of. film, slide, television image, or any other enabled them to watch TV programs over United States District Court. Southern device or process.” 17 U.S.C. § 101. the Internet near the same time as they District of New York. 17-cv-3144 (KBF), “Device or process” is defined as “one were broadcast over the air. Feb. 15, 2018. now known or later developed.” Id. Aereo didn’t copy or store anything. Justin Goldman snapped a photo of So, yes, you could stop reading right When a show was selected, Aereo’s Tom Brady and friends (not Gisele) on here. But the law is famous for its over- servers selected an antenna, tuned to the street in the Hamptons and uploaded kill. So indulge. the on-the-air broadcast, it to Snapchat Story. It went viral, which and transmitted it to the The drafters of the is to say every whichaway including viewer. 1976 Amendments in Twitter. their House Report stat- Aereo argued that the The defendants are all news outlets ed much of the impetus viewers chose the pro- and blogs that “embedded” the photo in for change was driven by gram, and the technology articles. new industries and new provided their choice. There is no dispute that Goldman methods of reproduction. The user was “transmit- owns copyright. Congress did “not intend ting” the performance. So what is embedding? to freeze the scope of copyrightable The user was making the infringing copy. subject matter at the present stage of Defendants did not copy or save the The Court said, no, it was the same communications technology.” H.R. Rep. photo on their computers. An HTML as cable technology which the Act 94-1476, 47, 51 (1976). code instructs on arrangement of a web- addressed. Things lurking behind the page allowing for placement of images Congress intended the display right screen invisible to the viewer created a including photos. The code can embed to include “[e]ach and every method “copy shop that provides its patrons with an image retrieved from a third party by which the images… comprising a… a library card.” Id. At 2507. server. Text and images are seamlessly display are picked up and conveyed.” Id. Although on that basis, the dissent integrated even though images may be It went on to jabber about electronic (Scalia, J.) says it’s the buyer doing it, hosted elsewhere. transmission using a “cathode ray tube not the copier machine manufacturer. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube — indeed or similar viewing apparatus connected Which raises vital questions. with any sort of information and retrieval all social media sites provide the code Isn’t “copy shop” paired with “library system.” Id. that permit this lifting and embedding card” a mixed metaphor? of images. And in that ancient year of 1976 they marvelled at a future world where librar- Is this just a finesse to let the copyright Summary Judgment ies would one day access single copies of owner get at one big defendant rather There was no dispute as to the facts, works by electronic transmission. than having to sue a legion of home so this was ripe to be decided by a judge viewers? as a matter of law. And to do that, we go A (not so) Recent Case Shouldn’t you have stopped reading to the Copyright Act of 1976 to see how it In 2014, the Supreme Court looked at where I told you up above? responds to changes in technology. novel technologies in American Broad-
Rumors mail&bxid=5cec2586fc942d3ada- Speaking of libraries! A recent Gallup from page 22 0d5413&cndid=30022290&esrc=AU- poll surveying Americans about common TO_PRINT&utm_term=ARD_Daily cultural activities showed libraries are the technology can compare to the feeling of a Remember when we used to have most popular attractions — yet another good book in your hands. …While public tours of personal libraries in Charleston data point demonstrating the importance and university libraries are often vast and back in the early Charleston Confer- of libraries, writes Biblioracle columnist full of splendor, home libraries are more ence days? Harlan Greene (now head John Warner. (Anthony Souffle / Chi- intimate (but not any less gorgeous).” of special collections at the College of cago Tribune) Quick quiz: Which of the https://www.architecturaldigest.com/ Charleston Addlestone Library) and following is the most common cultural gallery/home-libraries-slideshow?utm_ Gene Waddell (who used to write for activity in the United States? Going to source=nl&utm_brand=ad&utm_mail- ATG but is now retired, writing books, the movies; Attending a concert; At- ing=ARD_Daily_AM_030720&utm_ and traveling the continents) were the tending a sporting event; Going to the campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=e- initial drivers. continued on page 69
Against the Grain / February 2020
Column Editor: Will Cross (Director, Copyright & Digital Scholarship Center, NC State University Libraries)
Column Editor’s Note: I wanted to cial advantage or monetary compensation” open scholarly and pedagogical practices write briefly to introduce myself and rec- then a public school teacher or university that rely on CC licenses and should go a ognize what a shining light Lolly has been instructor would be free to copy, display, long way towards allaying concerns about for me and for everyone who reads this or otherwise use materials with that li- using or relying on NC-licensed materials. cense in their NonCommercial classroom column. Lolly was an incredible mentor QUESTION: An instructional librar- teaching. But what if they don’t make and friend to me in law school and has ian asks about the ability of libraries, copies of the materials themselves, but continued to be an inspiration as I have instructors, and publishers to provide instead rely on commercial services to worked at NC State and with groups from captioning or otherwise make accessible make those copies, as is standard practice ARL to SPARC to make copyright issues materials still under copyright. clear and to express how the system is de- in many school systems? Does using a signed to support creativity, scholarship, commercial provider make the copying ANSWER: Providing captions is cen- and teaching. I’m so excited to continue commercial and thus forbidden under the tral to the mission of providing accessible following Lolly’s example by untangling NC-license? This type of question has materials, but questions about copyright knots and highlighting significant develop- discouraged some users from relying on have made many uncertain about their ments in copyright in this column. I hope NC-licensed materials. Fortunately, two ability to remediate inaccessible texts. you’ll feel free to share your own questions recent cases have helped clarify this issue. As a 2019 white paper from ARL and at the email address listed here and say hi In Great Minds v. FedEx Office & Print the University of Virginia Library next time you see me at a conference or Services, Inc., No. 17-808 (2d Cir. 2018), observed, many institutions planning for workshop. — WC the court considered a case where a school accessibility “have been uncertain about districts asked the for-profitFedEx Office what is permitted, and have constrained their activities in support of civil rights out QUESTION: A librarian asks about to reproduce materials that included a cur- of fear of violating copyrights.” https:// using commercial services like Office riculum called “Eureka Math” developed www.arl.org/resources/the-law-and-ac- Depot or Fedex Office to make copies of by a nonprofit called Great Minds and cessible-texts-reconciling-civil-rights- NC-licensed works for use in education. licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. In a similar case, the Ninth Circuit considered and-copyrights/ ANSWER: Applying Creative Com- a school system’s reliance on Office Depot In fact, copyright law clearly supports mons (CC) licenses has become the to make copies of NC-licensed materials. accessibility efforts including captioning. standard method for making scholarship, In both cases, CC itself took a public The signal case in this area is Authors teaching, and cultural materials more open position that the licenses did not preclude Guild v. HathiTrust, 755 F.3d 87 (2d and impactful. These licenses serve as the this practice. CC issued public statements Cir. 2014). In Hathi, the Second Circuit backbone for much of the open access and and filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) reviewed a scanning project by the Hathi- open education movements but some users brief arguing that so long as commercial Trust Digital Library (HDL) that makes have felt uncertain about how to interpret actors are not acting independently for its collection available to students with aspects of the licenses. The question about their own commercial gain but solely on print disabilities by offering them secure how and by whom NonCommercial (NC) behalf of NonCommercial actors, they system access for screen readers. Hathi licenses can be used is one of the big ones. are protected by the license granted to the was sued by the Authors Guild for copy- CC licenses are designed to allow NonCommercial actors. right infringement but the district court creators to communicate which rights In 2018, the Second Circuit held that found in favor of Hathi’s program, noting they reserve and which rights they waive the NC-license “unambiguously” permit- that the court “cannot imagine a definition for the benefit of recipients or other cre- ted the school district to rely on FedEx of fair use that would not encompass the ators. They do this by offering a variety Office to make copies. In January of this transformative use made by [HDL].” On of flavors of license that address things year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the appeal, the circuit court did not find the use like attribution, remixing, and down- Ninth Circuit reaffirmed that interpreta- to be transformative but still concluded, stream use. The licenses at issue here are tion and CC’s argument, “which allow “fair use allows the libraries to provide those that include the NonCommercial bona fide NonCommercial reusers to hire full digital access to copyrighted works (NC) provision, which restricts the use out the making of copies of NC-licensed to their print-disabled patrons.” of NC-licensed materials unless they are content, even to profit-making businesses Other areas of law also support acces- “not primarily intended for or directed to- such as Office Depot and FedEx Office.” sibility work such as captioning including wards commercial advantage or monetary Between clear statements from Cre- Section 121 (often called the Chafee compensation.” You can read more about ative Commons and these two recent Amendment). In 2019, the U.S. also the NC-license itself, including the full decisions, educators can feel much more ratified the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate text here: https://creativecommons.org/ confident in using NC-licensed materials Access to Published Works for Persons licenses/by-nc/4.0/. in their teaching, even when they rely on Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Oth- If NC-licensed materials can only be commercial third parties to make copies of erwise Print Disabled, which facilitates the used for activities that are “not primarily those materials for their classroom. These creation of accessible versions of books intended for or directed towards commer- decisions substantially strengthen the continued on page 47 46 Against the Grain / February 2020
Against the Grain / February 2020
ATG: Jane, over the years you have With that broader perspective, there is held a number of leadership positions in even broader competition. For example, the information solutions industry, most in the research data management space, recently with ProQuest. And now you’ve where Ex Libris has a service called joined Ex Libris, a ProQuest Company. Esploro, there are literally hundreds of What prompted this recent change? competitors — most of whom don’t show- JB: I really have had a lovely career — case the library. And in the public library I am so lucky. When ProQuest acquired space, I am fascinated with the new patron Ex Libris in 2015, Matti Shem Tov, then engagement platforms. president of Ex Libris, asked me to join ATG: In the research data manage- the Ex Libris team. I was thrilled to be ment space that you just referenced, how asked. Since I have spent lots of time is Esploro different from other competi- with library automation systems, including tors providing similar services? In what Voyager (now owned by Ex Libris), it felt ways does it showcase the library that are like coming home. unique from your competitors? ATG: Currently you are Ex Libris’ VP JB: Research dollars are critical to for Strategic Initiatives. What are your institutions. There are many competitors responsibilities in this position? in the research data management space. JB: I take on a variety of strategic Nearly all of them are STEM oriented, projects, especially related to our current ATG: With the Innovative deal in and very few of them directly involve customers. I am very involved in what place and ready to close, who do you the library. At Ex Libris, we believe that we call Customer Success, which is about see as your competitors in the library the library can be a huge contributor to helping customers get the most value systems space? Where does EBSCO’s research data management. Our Esploro possible from our solutions. Plus, I work open source alternative FOLIO fit into solution is built as a joint solution for with early customers for new services, the competitive mix? research administration and the library, such as our new resource sharing service, allowing the library to visibly add value JB: The Innovative deal actually to research across the institution. Esploro Rapido. I am also very involved in our closed on January 15. discovery strategies. And I am a member has unique functions to programmatically of Ex Libris’ senior management team. The library automation space is evolv- enrich metadata about research assets. ATG: Recently Ex Libris made some ing. With requirements for such things as Also, Esploro provides for research data major news with the acquisition of In- cloud, knowledgebases, and interoperabil- from all types of disciplines, not just novative Interfaces, a key vendor in the ity, companies need to do more to deliver STEM. library systems space. Can you tell us real solutions to customers. 25 years ago, ATG: We are also curious as to which who initiated the deal? How did it evolve we built Voyager for less than $3 million. new patron engagement platforms in the and then come to fruition? Today the needs are broader and there public library space have caught your are definitely multiple strong competitors eye? Why do you find them fascinat- JB: It was really a mutual set of seeking to meet those evolving needs. discussions. There were discussions ing? Do they have applications in the over several months. In the end, it made OCLC WorldShare, Sirsi, Koha, and academic space? sense to come together and combine our EBSCO’s FOLIO, among others are all JB: Great question. Public libraries complementary capabilities. Innova- viable choices. Each is different in cer- have taken on new roles in their commu- tive has deep expertise in several areas, tain ways. All of us need to foster choice nities, and they understand that they need such as resource sharing. They are also because it helps the overall market. We to “market” themselves to their constitu- well-positioned in public libraries, where benefit from competition — it keeps us ents. Patron engagement platforms are Ex Libris does not compete. Ex Libris creative and focused. increasingly popular in public libraries understands cloud-based library services But… there is another perspective as a method of doing that — showcas- platforms, and through the acquisition we on the competitive space. I don’t think ing various library programs and new plan to deliver this innovation to public libraries are about their collections — and services. There are several good partron libraries. I should mention that Innova- certainly not their print collections — any- engagement platforms being offered to tive has struggled under private equity more. Today, it’s about services to their public libraries. ownership. This transaction provides In- communities. It’s about how libraries use I believe academic libraries are a bit novative’s customers a long-term owner those collections and content expertise to slower in adopting such marketing plat- dedicated to the industry that will ensure serve their communities, either academic forms. But they are increasingly being continuity of their products. or public. continued on page 49 48 Against the Grain / February 2020
Against the Grain / February 2020
ATG: You were recently named the How many assistants do you typically University of Tennessee’s Macebearer, employ? which is the university’s highest faculty CT: The fun thing about research is award, celebrating and honoring a dis- that one answer leads to many more ques- tinguished career. As you look back on tions and one project often leads to anoth- your achievements, are there particular er. Because we look at current practices contributions that make you most proud? and future trends, every few years I feel CT: From the beginning of my ac- the need to see how things have changed ademic career in the early 1980s I have and to see if there are new trends or new tried to keep good relationships with the behaviors in how researchers use and dis- professional communities that employ our seminate information. The world of schol- graduates (libraries, scholarly publishers, arly publishing has changed in many ways secondary publishers, government agen- over the four decades I have been doing cies, and others) that are responsible for research (and not changed in many other the scholarly communication infrastruc- ways, such as scientists’ motivations for ture. I listen to their concerns, focus my colleagues at CIBER (UK) a few years publishing), so there is always something research on issues that are important to ago on how the nature of trust of various new to look at or old issues to revisit. The scholarly communication now and in the types of research information resources number of assistants I employ depends future, and, in turn, I think these organiza- may be changing. on the scope of the project (national or tions listen to findings from my research. ATG: We notice that you frequently international, for example, or short-term Focusing on how researchers use informa- work with other researchers. Can you or long-term) and the funding available. tion in their work has been central in all of talk about the value of collaboration in I try to always have one funded research this. This commitment to all participants your research? assistant who works with me on multiple in the scholarly communication ecosys- projects and then we hire others for spe- tem has driven the accomplishments in CT: Before I became an academic I started my LIS career working in a con- cific projects as funding allows. Several research, teaching, and service that I am years ago, Don King and I established most proud of. sulting company. Collaboration between clients and staff and between staff mem- the Tenopir-King Research Excellence ATG: And obviously, you haven’t bers with different expertise was essential Fund in the UT Center for Information slowed down! What research projects are in juggling a variety of projects and find- and Communication Studies. I want to you currently working on? What other ing the best way to proceed. This means thank those organizations and individuals exciting projects are on the horizon? that I got into the collaboration habit early who have helped this fund grow so I can CT: My view of the information that on. Besides the fact that I just like to work employ a research assistant, typically a researchers need to do their work has grad- with other people, in collaborations each recent graduate from the School of In- ually expanded over the years, from A&I person brings a different perspective and formation Sciences who is interested in databases, to journal articles and other different strength that improves the proj- getting experience in research activities. formal information sources, to less formal ect as a whole. As an academic I have ATG: More broadly, we wonder where sources, to research data. Currently I am the opportunity to work with teams of you see the future of library research finishing up some decade-long research researchers and students from around the going? Are there specific issues that projects on how scientists’ and academic world and from many different disciplines. you see as most critical and worthy of libraries’ practices and perceptions re- It just makes sense to work with research- exploration? garding research data have changed over ers from Finland, for example, when I CT: The research that I am most the decade. I am also finishing the latest am studying how Finnish researchers use interested in that is relevant to libraries results that build on the multiple decades information, or with librarians when we and librarians often involves the moti- long work on the role of research informa- are studying library research data services, vations and behaviors of the people who tion sources for work-related purposes that or with engineers when we look at how to use information products and services, as Donald W. King and I worked together improve information instruction for engi- well as the value and role of the library on for many years. Don died in fall 2019 neering students. I have also been blessed now and into the future. This means not and I owe him a debt of gratitude for his with strong mentors over the years and I only measuring behaviors now, but also mentorship and collaboration for so many try to repay that by serving as a mentor figuring out ways to anticipate changes years. to others. in the future based on technological and Upcoming, I would like to continue ATG: How do you and your collab- societal changes. Libraries and publishers with some of the work I did with my orators decide on your next project? continued on page 51
50 Against the Grain / February 2020
Against the Grain / February 2020
What changes will be required of and a Half Cheers for A&I Services libraries and librarians? Column Editor: Myer Kutz (President, Myer Kutz Associates, Inc.) CT: Libraries and librarians that
8 Library Services That Will... “ Things always go smoothly with Make You Smile. Emery-Pratt. Their people are 1) Publishing Sources - Almost 200,000 at our disposal 2) New Title Selection Plan - Immediate notifi cation knowledgeable, 3) Electronic Ordering - Simple online ordering system and always provide 4) Early Release Program - Immediate availability guarantee friendly, rapid 5) Cataloging - We do the busy-work for you service.” 6) Comprehensive Reporting - Up-to-the-minute Cameron University Lawton, OK order status 7) Duplicate Order Alert - We’re on guard, you avoid hassles 8) Paperback Reinforcement & Binding Avoid expensive wear & obsolescence Dependability. Reliability. Smileability. For more details, visit: emery-pratt.com 1966 W M 21, Owosso, MI 48867-9317 Phone: 800 248-3887 • Fax: 800 523-6379 emery-pratt.com
Trouble was, BIOSIS didn’t know how she said, but expressed doubts similar The Scholarly Publishing Scene to even create an electronic database of to mine. from page 52 its own legacy materials. I worked with A couple of days later she took owner- Diane on a potential new product — a staff continued to do the indexing by ship of the doubts — I’ll give her the last database associated with methods used hand. It was very expensive, but the word — and sent me this email: “HA! in life science laboratories. The idea product was authoritative. Now that you have got me thinking again, was to cull lists of researchers who used I followed up on my own question, are In the nineties, BIOSIS was one particular methods. An objective of this A&I services relevant in the age of full of the most important A&I services. service was to enable researchers to see text access and Google. Well, that is a Chemical Abstracts, Engineering how a method was adapted by someone simple statement given I did not state Index (Compendex), Psych Abstracts, else to perform another experiment in relevant to whom and for what. But the Reader’s Guide, and the Derwent the most effective way. Unfortunately, it appears that they ARE relevant to patent database were some of the oth- when Thomson bought BIOSIS, it had researchers for validating the value of ers. Libraries paid the bills for these little interest in this intriguing product. journals in which they publish, especially services, which they always had done, BIOSIS Previews, which combines when they are up for tenure. Who knew? and Diane’s predecessor, Art Elias, Biological Abstracts — it covers some “Librarians still value them for things focused marketing more on librarians 5,000 journals — with Biological Ab- like ‘undiscovered drugs,’ species infor- than researchers. That, together with the stracts/Reports, Reviews, Meetings mation (some species have only been name change from Biological Abstracts (BA/RRM), is now part of something reported when first seen in, for example, to BIOSIS, caused some loss of recog- called Clarivate Analytics Web of Sci- 1973), older materials of relevance, etc. nition among researchers. ence. At the end of my long conversa- HOWEVER, new things do not appear By now, of course, younger research- tion with Diane, we wondered who uses in the A&I scientific databases because ers wanted everything digital. Engineer- BIOSIS anymore. I brought up my old the time to publish new findings is so ing Index and Chemical Abstracts, for doubts about A&I services, which now long, and then you can add on an addi- example, went digital in the mid-1990s. are focused on their viability in this age tional 6-8 months to appear in an A&I Diane thought that BIOSIS’ missed of Google and the availability, partic- service. So sometimes newspapers and opportunity was to not build an online ularly on major research campuses, of conference proceedings are a better way service that combined A&I with other the full texts of journals. “A&I services to find new research than retrospective tools, such as notebooks, methods, etc. are still being created for librarians,” databases.”
Against the Grain / February 2020
by Mark Y. Herring (Dean of Library Services, Dacus Library, Winthrop University)
t didn’t start out in any intentional way. planned an event that spread over two could meet Mr. Haley and treat his foot. To In fact, it was entirely unintentional and days and brought hundreds of people to his credit, Mr. Haley made all our events. Iunintended. Some forty years ago as I the campus. When he got on the plane the following sat in a class about academic Friends of the Thus began a six year reign of increas- Monday, I breathed a sigh of relief and Library (FoL) programs, I made a written ingly popular programs and led to a con- thought I had dodged a bullet. Dodged, vow I’d never get involved. As the professor siderable financial claim on that library’s that is, until I returned home and had many went on about FoLs and how they worked future. It wasn’t all a bed of roses, or, rather well-wishers wanting to know what I would and why every librarian should be interest- it was, but with many thorns. Consider but be doing for an encore the next year. ed, I, between notes, and so much smarter, one example, the first bloom, as it were. An encore was the last thing on my of course, wrote in my crabbed griffonage, mind. As it turned out, we had a pretty good “Never bother with anything like this.” Haley was a great guest, though on the Saturday I picked him up, my career nearly run. The next year I had famed Watergate I wrote that with all the careful sincer- ended before it began. Here’s why. plumber, John Ehrlichman, whose book ity of any twenty-something. I was more (Witness to Power) and a slight change of Mr. Haley did not want to fly into our high-minded, more certain that I could con- heart, had just appeared. He was followed very small airport, so I had to drive over vince any overlord I might have to answer by Templeton Award winner Michael No- one hundred miles away to pick him up at to why libraries are important, and why he vak. Kathryn Koob, whose book Guest of a much larger one. His flight was due at or she would need to fund my enterprise the Revolution appeared, was our author the about 6 p.m. that Saturday evening, coming the way I thought it should be. Oh, the year following. Our fourth year we snagged in from Ghana where he had been the last certitudes of youth! the great children’s writer Madeline L’En- couple of weeks. My longsuffering wife By now you’ve guessed that I held firm gle (A Wrinkle in Time). Our event included and I drove to get him. When his plane children who had read her stories and drew to this vow until I got my first job and landed, I waited expectantly as some 200 you’d be exactly right. Like a virgin on her posters that she judged. Of course, we had passengers deplaned. No Mr. Haley. This many parents in attendance. The biggest wedding night (I assume the simile still has was before cellphones, so I had no choice meaning somewhere in our sexual revolu- coup occurred a year later when by some but to wait the next flight in. That flight strange and providential fortune, the con- tion), I gave it up only when the inevitable arrived just before 9 p.m. and I waited, less proved unavoidable. My first real job, servative pundit William F. Buckley Jr. upbeat but prayerful. Again, no Mr. Haley. agreed to come at the height of his popular- after a couple of fits and starts in various The next flight, arriving in about 10:30 short-term library occupations, was a very ity. We not only had those who loved him, p.m., had to be the one since there wasn’t but those who loved to hate him. That one small liberal arts college in the mountains another until the next day. I was sweating of a southern state. night alone we grossed over $60,000 at a bullets by this time, thinking about all the school of by then 450 students. Small really doesn’t do it justice. people who were counting on this event. I Through some whiplash of misfortune, this was only a few years into my stint at this Arthur Schlesinger Jr. followed him college had about 300 full-time students college, so things were looking a bit grim. the next year, and then I resigned, not only to go back and get a doctorate — what I felt and a budget to match. It had just come off Not only was this the last flight, we a near-death experience and was on a very at the time was the union card for academic still had that 100+ mile drive back, and the settings — but also to get away from this al- rocky road to recovery. Even its most loyal festivities, so to say, began at 7:30 a.m. the hangers-on were not at all sure it should batross. I did not get back to Friends dinner next morning at breakfast with students. I until later in the 2000s. This past year we survive under new management that the old was in a panic when the last passenger got guard didn’t exactly trust. It did survive, had the famed chef, Vivian Howard and off the plane, followed about five minutes her award-winning book, Deep Run Roots. but only barely. After a year or so of trying later by the crew and the pilots. I turned to fund everything that I thought should be, While catering prices have just about made to my wife and said something like, “Just such events impossible to make any seri- I admitted defeat and began my first Friends shoot me,” when her eyes didn’t exactly of the Library program in earnest. ous money, we did have a huge crowd and brighten, but surely saw something. garnered strong publicity for the university. I still held to the high-minded notion I turned and there was our guest … in Are there any lessons here? The most that this program could be literary in nature, a wheelchair. As it turns out, Mr. Haley’s obvious one is never say never. Perhaps and so I thought I would write some well- last day on a beach in Ghana included a the next lesson is don’t say you can’t until, known authors (oh, the hubris of youth!). nice stroll at dawn. An odd looking fish, or well, you can’t. I cannot say that author It happened that I learned about that same so he said, had washed ashore and he went events still work today as well as they time that a very well-known and highly over to examine it. The seemingly dead did in the eighties, but something like it celebrated author had a connection with one fish stung him on his foot. It didn’t seem must. It has to. I am in my last semester of our students, so I wrote him, fairly certain serious until he made the 12-hour flight as dean, retiring in June, and my budget I could not afford him, could not get him to back to the states. His foot was the size of this year was constrained more than it ever come, and would likely a basketball, and he could has been in the other nineteen years here, never hear back from him. put no weight on it. and this during a white-hot economy such Imagine my surprise This inauspicious as the U.S. has never seen. Unless one is when Alex Haley (yes, beginning did turn out content to struggle through tight budgets, an of Roots fame — millen- well. Before we left, I enterprising dean will have to come up with nials will need to Google called the ER back home another idea to supplement this budget, or that name) agreed. I and got a physician who continued on page 55 54 Against the Grain / February 2020
Column Editor: Jared Alexander Seay (Media & Services Coordinator, Addlestone Library, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424; Phone: 843-953-1428)
he idea of spending the better part of much as one conceptualizes how state is the mental state in which a an evening with friends immersed in students perceive one’s sessions, person performing an activity is Tan interactive system of interlocking these are preconceptions cloud- fully immersed in a feeling of puzzles and strategy, while mutually maneu- ed in bias and largely self-ful- energized focus, full involve- vering through a narrative, and competing filling. Practically, they don’t ment, and enjoyment in the against the crafty machinations of other minds amount to much in the way of process of the activity.”2 envelopes me in warm fuzzies. The skill, the useful data. I needed useful data. Oh, that a BI session could scheming, the tactics, the decisions and the So, as the students filed into the be so. marvel of it all — I simply love to play board classroom, I discreetly ensconced myself at While intently observing a class session games. Oh, the humanity! a table in the back of the room and prepared in action, one can start to get the rhythm of The one thing I love more than playing to experience student perspective. the class as it ebbs and flows. It is evident games is tinkering with them. I spend a Let me start off by saying that Geoff is a early on if the class is in synch. Speaking as significant amount of my free time (and native Brit, and his delightful accent gives an idealist, students should not just “get it,” probably a great deal of other time that should him a leg up on anyone who talks regular but enjoy “getting it.” There is no greater joy be productive or actually free) designing American.1 Wearing a pirate costume would than students who give you their full attention, games. To be honest, most of the time is not have made him any more endearing. The laugh genuinely at all your jokes, and become spent examining someone else’s game design session was about evaluating websites, and profoundly engaged with the session. This is or turning a situation or subject into a game. Geoff got the students’ attention right off rare. But, unfortunately, the converse “class I see a game in almost every situation and a by letting them know that this session was from hell” is far too common, responding game as a creative way to discover solutions. going to give them a great deal of CRAAP. with only dead silence and blank stares. William Shakespeare said, “all the Capitalizing on the smattering of groans he The fault could be in the students (8am world’s a stage, and all the men and women got, he quickly reeled them in by relating class), or the instructor (8am class), or the merely players.” Well, I think Bill got it half a brief tale of his English mother, how she material (BI session) or some combination right. We are all players to be sure. But, came across some dubious information from thereof. Can anything possibly overcome we are not just on a stage. We are up there the Internet and was keen to inform her son this? Perhaps a bit of judiciously applied playing a giant game with each other — or about it. Of course, this led right into (major interactivity? more applicably, playing multiple games si- course objective) to what degree one should As Geoff thundered on, I was furiously multaneously. That is how I see the universe, “trust” such information. He had used the old scratching notes into my spiral notebook (be- anyway. It is easy to understand why I pursue trick of shifting “the blame” from the students cause analog is invigorating). My game-ob- the idea of using games as a tool to teach. (who, no doubt accepted a significant amount sessed mind whirred into action with each It was to this end that I asked to sit in on of Internet information themselves without point Geoff made that induced an interested a colleague’s bibliographic instruction (BI) confirmation) to an “obviously” somewhat twist of a student’s head. Indeed, Geoff’s ev- session. Geoff Timms (Librarian for Marine clueless (to their mind) person who accepted ery narrative pivot that coincided with a pos- Resources, College of Charleston), thought (probably) biased Internet “facts.” Besides itive student reaction got my ink’s attention. it was because he was going to get a needed recognizing others (like their own parents or When the students started answering Geoff’s colleague evaluation he could use to put in grandparents) in this anecdote, who doesn’t inquiries with actual interest, my ludological3 his professional packet. Boy, did I have him enjoy a good yarn about an English mother? mind ran wild across my notebook: snowed. Actually, I was thinking of a way This brings us to a bit about “flow.” In What about increasing student interaction to game a BI session, and I needed to see it game design, a major concept that informs by creating student teams with an interactive being taught in the wild. an understanding of how and why a game mechanic that allows them to quickly be ac- I have taught BI sessions for many years works as it does is called flow state or more knowledged by the instructor and answer or myself. But, teaching and being taught are commonly, flow. First coined by psychologist respond to a question (without disrupting the different experiences. I have learned that, as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1975, “a flow continued on page 57
including our president, needed a linguistic hand-wringing over what could go wrong Little Red Herrings lesson and so buttonholed everyone fairly or already had. I would not, however, trade from page 54 severely, even before they had said hello. all the authors I met over the years, both the One speaker opined to our president that great and the up and coming, for anything. really any budget anywhere. We are, all we did not serve alcohol at the event, on I think our work as deans or directors often of us in academic venues, in the same very a campus that strictly forbade it. Oddly, it means taking chances. Not all of them leaky budget boat. was the only thing that president remem- will work, and perhaps another column The ride, however, has been worth it. bered of the event. can chronicle my failures. But this chance At nearly every event, we had some inter- Still, it not only proved enjoyable, but paid off, and I wouldn’t trade it for all the esting, if not trying, memorable episode. also entertaining and even fun, though I money in the world. Well, okay, almost. One guest felt that everyone on campus, must admit that most of my time was spent
Against the Grain / February 2020
Column Editor’s Note: Thanks to all of the Charleston Confer- others at sessions, introducing me to the Conference Directors, and ence attendees who agreed to write short reports highlighting ses- encouraging me to come to the Health Sciences Lively Lunchtime sions they attended at the 2019 Charleston Conference. Attempts Discussion. The SSP group also welcomed me, and even invited were made to provide a broad coverage of sessions, but there are me to join their Chat with the Chefs panel. This incredible in- always more sessions than there are reporters. Some presenters troduction to the scholarly communications ecosystem truly made posted their slides and handouts in the online conference schedule. me feel honored and challenged to participate in the conversation. Please visit the conference site, http://www.charlestonlibrarycon- ference.com/, and link to selected videos, interviews, as well as to SPONSORED LUNCH blog reports written by Charleston Conference blogger, Donald Hawkins. The 2019 Charleston Conference Proceedings will be THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019 published in 2020, in partnership with Purdue University Press: http://www.thepress.purdue.edu/series/charleston. Gale Table Talks: How Academic Libraries Play a Prominent Even if not noted with the reports, videos of most sessions as Role in Advancing Digital Humanities on Campus — well as other video offerings like the “Views from the Penthouse Moderated by Library Journal, the panel included: Doug Suite” interviews are being posted to the Charleston Conference Duhaime (Yale University), Paige C. Morgan (University of YouTube Channel as they are completed, and are sorted into Delaware), Marc Cormier (Gale, a Cengage Company) playlists by date for ease of navigation. Note: This was a sponsored lunch not listed in the conference In this issue of ATG, you will find the first installment of 2019 schedule that was open to those who registered. It was held conference reports. We will continue to publish all of the reports on Thursday of the Charleston Conference during which received in upcoming print issues throughout the year. — RKK highlights from a recent partnered research study and white paper by Gale and Library Journal were provided. GENERAL Reported by Audrey Powers (University of South Florida) Conference reflections from the Society for Scholarly
Note: This was a preconference session for which registration was required. Tebbe and Lewis began the session with a broad overview of best practices for data management, followed by questions Reported by Lynnee Argabright (University of North Carolina to consider when developing a data analysis project. Attend- at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science) ees were then invited to participate in small group activities
This session was basically a “chalk and Considering Games ... talk” in which the information was explained Endnotes from page 55 and described, and there was little time for 1. My editors want you to know that I active engagement. The instruction itself am not completely daft (only partially). “flow” of the class)? A blinking light? Create was brilliant, and Geoff managed most of Yes, I know Americans talk “English.” a method such that when a team responds the time to keep all of them engaged. Still, But, is this phrase not cute? Ok, don’t to a question, that team advances and/or my wandering eye detected one or two rouge answer that. receives a point — could go in combination websites and several instances of “phonus 2. Flow (psychology) (n.d.). In Wikipe- with a “leaderboard” / tracking chart that is interuptus” (texting). Like most BI sessions dia. Retrieved January 25, 2020, https:// 4 visible to the class. across the land, keeping students engaged en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology). In my mind, I was putting students into in a session is difficult. A more workshop, 3. Ludology is the study of games, the act teams (competition), creating a quick and hands-on session would not itself have guar- of playing them, and the players and cul- interesting way for responding to questions anteed the elimination of rouge activities. ture surrounding them. I don’t know if the (blinking light or waving flag), giving them But maybe, by making a website evaluation adjective “ludological” actually exists or if it has ever been used in human history. immediate visible feedback (tracking system) game in which students had to uphold the and an instant feeling of accomplishment (lea- honor of their team, while avoiding zombies, 4. These are the actual transcribed scrib- derboard). It was gamification if not an actual the students would be inspired to devote ALL blings that I frantically wrote down in Geoff’s session. Only writing in italics game. That could come later. Though many of their attention to it. No doubt the game is not my strong suit. So, I put those in of these flash ideas may never see the light of would necessarily involve blinking lights and later for effect. day, they illustrate how understanding the flow a Pirate costume. and operations of a class session can generate potentially interactive game mechanics.
Against the Grain / February 2020
by Prof. Casey D. Hoeve (Associate Professor, Head of Content & Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and formerly Content Development Librarian for Arts, Architecture, & the Humanities, Kansas State University)
Column Editors’ Note: This column features IGI Global au- curred, when the department head for Content Development & thor, Prof. Casey D. Hoeve, the Head of Content & Collections, Acquisitions resigned to accept another job opportunity. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA, and a contributor to the With a reduced budget and fewer faculty and staff available publication Supporting Digital Humanities for Knowledge Acquisi- (Sowell, 2014), it was decided by K-State Libraries administra- tion in Modern Libraries, edited by Prof. Kathleen L. Sacco from tion that an interim head of Content Development & Acquisitions State University of New York at Fredonia, USA. — BH & LW would not be named. In lieu of that position, an acting head of Content Development & Acquisitions was briefly installed until ll too often, the internal organization of collection devel- a reorganized department structure could be established. opment departments are ignored. Perhaps inadvertently, Astutely pointed out by Fisher (2001), libraries are still at- Amore pressing issues of budgets, resource renewals, and tempting to effectively position collection development within vendor negotiations divert our attention; yet at the same time, libraries. Under K-State’s past organizational model (Hoeve et. the completion of these initiatives require capable and efficient al, 2014), content development, acquisitions, and interlibrary loan faculty and staff. were included as one department, similar to structures outlined Burnout, now classified by theWorld Health Organization by Sohn (1987) and Bryant (1987). Meeting with K-State Li- as a “syndrome conceptualized resulting from chronic workplace braries administration, it was decided that Content Development stress that has not been successfully managed,” (WHO, 2019) is would be absorbed in the Academic Services (subject specialists) appropriate to juxtapose against the organization of collection Department, and acquisitions would be transferred to Metadata, development departments. As self-care is vital to our health, Preservation, and Digital Initiatives. Interlibrary Loan agreed to the same question of vitality should be applied in collection join User Services. The process was to be implemented for six development departments — an investigation of the value and months and then revisited for assessment and potential continua- lifecycle of organizational structures presently in place. tion. It was implicitly understood that an Associate Dean would At Kansas State University (K-State) Libraries, external be hired before any major collection development organizational and internal department stressors bear considerable importance changes would occur. and examination. Since 2010, these libraries have experienced Under the newly restructured departments, Content Devel- over a million dollars in budget reductions due to defunding of opment & Acquisitions remained in the same working area. It higher education by the state. In addition, the Libraries have was deemed critical that these units remain in close proximity to also witnessed a decrease of over 35 faculty and staff positions continue interacting on projects, particularly major database and combined as a result of attrition. journal cancellation reviews. Reflecting upon this arrangement, Withstanding these setbacks, K-State Libraries have man- content development librarians learned how to serve as a bridge aged to shift content (collection) development and acquisitions between public (Academic Services) and technical services departments to adjust to these challenges, absorbing the depart- (Acquisitions) sides of the Libraries. ments into existing organizational structures to collaborate in The Academic Services Department supports three teams. (1) innovative ways to manage essential functions. By employing Arts, Humanities & Design, (2) Social Sciences, and (3) Sciences, practices of flexibility, collaboration, and patient execution, con- with each having a team supervisor. Content Development was tent development librarians were able to come full circle through designated as a fourth team, but decided to take a more egalitar- multiple reorganizations and emerge as a new department ian approach, reporting to the department head, rather than with administration support. This has minimized burnout having a team lead. and empowered the content development group to find help After six months of working in the Academic Ser- from unexpected places within the Libraries. vices Department, Libraries administration and the K-State Libraries’ narrative affirms Aladebu- College Committee on Planning (CCOP) met to moye’s (2016) experience with collection devel- approve the creation of a Content Development opment organization, in which retirements and Department, consisting of three content devel- position changes can cause chaotic conditions opment librarians and a department head. This within a library but also the opportunity for tran- was also approved by the University Provost, but sitions and rethinking strategy. In spring 2017, no official date of implementation was defined. the Associate Dean for Content Development Two major events then proceeded that vastly Management and Scholarly Communications reshaped the Libraries. The head of Academic retired. After a failed search, another setback oc- continued on page 59
58 Against the Grain / February 2020
60 Against the Grain / February 2020
❏✓ Yes! Enter My Subscription For One Year. ❏ Yes, I am Interested in being a Reviewer. Name______Title______
Phone: 303-282-9706 • Fax: 303-282-9743 • Fax: 303-282-9706 Phone: Organization______6180 East Warren Avenue • Denver, CO 80222 • Denver, Avenue 6180 East Warren Address______City/State/Zip______Phone______Fax______
Subscribe to The Charleston ADVISOR Today! Email______Signature______
Oregon Trails — Booksellers Real and Fictional
Column Editor: Thomas W. Leonhardt (Retired, Eugene, OR 97404)
n the occasion of my acquisition of the crowning jewel vocabulary (possibly enriched during his years at Oxford as a in my Christopher Morley Collection, a first edition Rhodes Scholar) but because I feel a strong connection to him Oof Parnassus on Wheels, I emailed Brainerd F. Phil- — his humanity and his love of literature and of all things Books lipson, the bookseller who had furnished my new treasure. — writers, publishers, publisher’s reps, booksellers, librarians, Upon shipment, he had thoughtfully informed me when to and readers. expect the book and explicitly told me how it was wrapped to The book that first endeared me to Morley is Parnassus on avoid damage. I wrote to him in response, telling him that the Wheels, published in 1917, about an itinerant bookseller, Roger book had arrived in perfect condition and I signed for it a day Mifflin, working from a horse-drawn wagonful of books that he earlier than predicted. deemed worthy of sale. He would frequent rural areas bereft My reply, meant to show appreciation for what for me was of bookstores and libraries. He would engage his customers in more than a mere business transaction — trading money for conversation, recommend books to them, and on occasion refuse something of value — contained several references to booksell- to sell a book before its time. “Last time I was there [a farm] ers I have known, both real and fictional, men who depend on he wanted some Shakespeare, but I wouldn’t give it to him. I readers for a living — courageous or foolhardy? — and who are didn’t think he was up to it yet.” readers themselves and also scholars in the best sense of Roger Mifflin’s philosophy was simple: “…when you the word. The best of them are also what libraries sell a man a book you don’t sell him just twelve ounces of used to call reader’s advisors and perhaps still do paper and ink and glue — you sell him a whole new life.” in the more enlightened sanctuaries. Christopher Morley (1890-1957) was a In 1919, Morley wrote a sequel called The Haunted writer (poetry, essays, fiction) who could slip Bookshop, that Roger Mifflin established in Brooklyn the words “hebdomadal” and “sanhedrin” into to better accommodate his marriage and increasing age. a sentence without it seeming the least bit “The Haunted Bookshop was a delightful place, espe- affected or pretentious, but still making the cially of an evening, when its drowsy alcoves were kindled reader reach for an unabridged dictionary. I with the brightness of lamps shining on rows of volumes.” don’t collect Morley because of his extensive continued on page 62
Against the Grain / February 2020
62 Against the Grain / February 2020
The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to The entire book progresses through the Build the World’s Greatest Library Hardcover — Edward Wilson-Lee March 12, 2019 — nonstop procession of marvels, ordeals, and ISBN-10: 1982111399 — ISBN-13: 978-1982111397 apparitions from the voyages of discovery while so many other things were happening at the same time: the onset of the Spanish he title was intriguing and I thought it ed up in the islands of the Caribbean. On his Inquisition in Spain, Luther wrote his 95 the- would be about the building of Hernan- return, not having found what he was seeking ses in Germany, and in England, Henry was Tdo Columbus’s library in Seville, Spain. but something else instead, he had a bit of a divorcing Catherine. It was a time of immense I expected a historical treatise, and it is that. sales job to accomplish. He promoted the is- intellectual excitement in European history and However, there is a great deal more between lands as an Eden, a paradise flowing with rich- the book does a wonderful job of capturing that these covers which make it a fascinating, albeit es. Isabella and Ferdinand anointed him the epic time. Renaissance thinking was originally slow going, read. It is in some ways a dual Admiral of the Ocean Sea, a title later removed. guided by medieval viewpoints and the ency- biography of Hernando Columbus (AKA Columbus was a wily man and showed his son clopedias and scriptural commentaries of the Ferdinand Colon) that combines the love of that well-ordered knowledge bestows power. time. Knowing this, Christopher Columbus a son for an eccentric and hard driving father During the fourth voyage the crew desperately wrote The Book of Prophecies which argued (Christopher Columbus or Christof Colon), needed food and the hostile Taino were unwill- that his discovery of the New World was part the Renaissance passion for making order of ing to supply it. However, using an almanac he of a divinely ordained plan. It was superbly the world, the adventures of discovery of the had on board, Columbus was able to prophesy done and many of the predictions came true. New World now known as the Americas, and a lunar eclipse, threatening the Tanio with his It recasts Bible passages to make Columbus a philosophical justification and rebuilding of power if they did not provide the supplies. It nearly mythical hero of the coming apocalypse. his father’s often tarnished reputation. It was emphasized to young Hernando the power of This was another important teaching for Her- the beginning of the grand age of European knowledge held in books. nando. In an age of abundant and unreliable exploration, the emergence of the printing with Without Hernando Columbus, much of information, the person who can impose order a printing press, collecting books and scrolls what we know today of his famous father, can shape history. into modern libraries, and the beginnings of Christopher, and the information on the Hernando Colón had a mind perfectly the global world as a concept. Of course, how Spanish interaction with the new world would suited to gathering and organizing the world’s Hernando conceived, assembled, and created be lost. Hernando was largest library. He loved an organization system for his library is the 18 when his father died. making order of the central thesis of the book. He created “the Columbus was not al- complex world he lived largest private library of the day” and became ways welcomed back in. He created lists, a master of cataloging and classification: a to Spain. While he was grids, inventories, alpha- modern librarian! away exploring, others bets, hieroglyphs, maps, Hernando Colón (1488-1539) was the laid claim to his discov- registries, and shelving beloved illegitimate son of Christopher eries. He had to strug- systems. Hernando’s Columbus and his partner Beatriz Enriquez gle to keep his family’s lists of authors and de Arana. Christopher’s first wife had died claim to wealth from the works, book indexes, a birthing their son Diego and he never remar- profits of the voyages. hieroglyphic code used ried. Hernando was given to the Spanish court Hernando spent much in an early version of the as a companion for Prince Juan, perhaps as of his life fighting to card catalog, keywords, security, during the first voyage ofColumbus preserve his father’s leg- and content summaries in 1492. Hernando therefore was provided acy and territorial claims allowed readers to find an excellent education alongside the crown and papering over his the volume they needed. prince. When Prince Juan died he became a father’s excesses. In As the master li- page to Queen Isabella. Hernando became a order to restore the rep- brarian, he was the first trusted courtier in public life. He started early utation of Columbus’s known collector to put as an avid collector focusing on the prints and legacy, battered by court books in specially built books he loved. From the ages of 13-15 he politics and additional “bookcases,” spine out, accompanied his father on his fourth and last New World explora- and on end instead of voyage to the Caribbean and saw the New tions, Hernando wrote storing them flat. He World first hand. It is throughHernando that a biography of his father collected throughout his we have learned most of what we know about entitled Life and Deeds of the Admiral in 1530. world and arranged a system to have others the explorer’s life. Hernando would eventu- It was widely distributed. The book showed the gather material for him. His collection went ally make two other trips west, one with his Admiral in a favorable light and was published far beyond books and manuscripts to include half-brother Diego, as Diego assumed colonial for wider circulation in 1571. pamphlets, poems pasted on columns, street administration of Hispaniola, and once later in Hernando’s various European journeys ballads, menus, pornographic images, flyers life to rebury his father’s remains in the city and compulsive acquisition of the world’s sold by street hawkers, and every other bit of he founded. Diego, just like his father, did not knowledge into a library to rival that of the printed matter. He added to his collection items survive well in the colonial administration. lost Library of Alexandra was supported like the questionable The Story of the Blonde The general story of Christopher Colum- intermittently by the crown and regularly by and the Brunette. He paid dearly for Hypnero- bus is well known. In 1492 he sailed west from him. He cataloged everything he acquired tomachia Poliphili, now widely regarded as the Spain with a fleet of three ships, the Niña, Pinta so when the ship bringing his 1,637 newly most beautiful of all Renaissance incunabulas, and Santa Maria, on what he believed would be acquired treasures was lost at sea in 1622 he but at the time just a sexual fantasy. His col- a shortcut to the Far East. Instead of reaching still had a catalog of what was lost and could lection policy was… everything! the incredible riches of India and China he end- acquire those items again and did! continued on page 64 Against the Grain / February 2020
64 Against the Grain / February 2020
by Marian Taliaferro (Digital Scholarship Librarian, William & Mary Libraries, 400 Landrum Drive, Williamsburg, VA; Phone: 757-221-1893)
he phrase “open access” (OA) has been moving increasing- Clearly, having people dedicated to the task helped at William ly into the lay vocabulary. Among an array of options for & Mary. In a small library (~60 staff), it’s also important to Tfaculty to contribute to open access is “green archiving,” work together on projects. We had several opportunities to do meaning to deposit copies of scholarship in a scholarly repository. so via partnerships between staff in several library departments, Aside from subject repositories such as arXiv and federal repos- including Content Services, Special Collections, Instruction and itories like BioMed Central, other options include institutional Research, with branch librarians and the administration. repositories. At William & Mary, W&M ScholarWorks (https:// In 2018, we decided to rebrand the IR, enhance it and roll scholarworks.wm.edu/) serves as the university’s open access out a new look. We made the site more visually interesting and institutional repository (IR). William & Mary is a small, liberal did more to promote archiving works there. Additionally, we arts university, with nearly 9,000 students. In the context of our coordinated the relaunch with Open Access Week and a project campus discussions on open access and “Big Deals,” faculty adding over 5,000 W&M theses and dissertations from a large and students are encouraged to deposit their scholarship in the retrospective digitization project. repository as a low-effort way to promote access to their work while benefitting from the OA citation advantage. Concurrent with the rebranding and retrospective digitization project, several new research and instruction librarians were While conversations about submitting scholarship to the hired and an updated model for their roles was established. New repository now take place frequently, in 2015, staffing for the responsibilities for instruction and research librarians included repository was minimal. At that time, there were only 282 publi- engagement and scholarly communications. The Digital Schol- cations in it, and no one staff was dedicated full-time to promoting arship Librarian worked together with the new and the remaining it. By fall 2017, not only were two full-time librarians dedicated instruction and research librarians to get them up to speed on to ScholarWorks, but there was additional support from a number scholarly communications issues, such as open access, fair use of other staff and through a number of activities. Resultingly, and the repository, and also to promote the newly named W&M publications added to the repository increased as indicated in ScholarWorks in departmental presentations to faculty. Figure 1 and it now houses over 14,000 publications. In this article, we offer a few strategies for your consideration and which Making the Pitch you might take to build up your own repository. The Science Librarian at William & Mary Libraries is a member of the Instruction & Research Department and liaises with the physics, applied science, biology, geology, and chemistry departments. A new librarian started in this role in 2017, just as W&M ScholarWorks was becoming an institu- tional priority. Through conversations with the Digital Scholarship Librarian, it was decided that ScholarWorks would be marketed in initial introductory meetings with faculty. Through these conversations with faculty, it became apparent that the low participation in ScholarWorks was due to a lack of aware- ness rather than a lack of interest. Many of the meetings yielded CVs, which were sent along to the library team for processing. Fac- ulty became excited when they heard about the advantages of putting their publications in ScholarWorks. Over the course of the continued on page 66
Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
66 Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
by Max Mosterd (Head of Operations & Analytics, Knowledge Unlatched)
pen Access (OA) for books is still in its infancy, but etc.), different times of ingesting KU books (ORL is only in publishers and institutions who wish to accelerate its beta since mid-2019) and of course the different usage metrics Oadoption are becoming increasingly interested in analytics and methods applied. These are important reasons which make of OA content. Such analytics can help publishers and libraries any attempt to compare usage on a platform-level problematic. to make informed decisions around open access books, such as That said, KU does wish to provide analytics on a more gen- in which discipline to start an OA publishing program or where eral level, so took the decision to aggregate the different usage they should be investing in order to increase the impact of their metrics into to one single figure which we call “Interactions,” content. Knowledge Unlatched (KU) is addressing this issue meaning the total sum of all Investigations, Chapter Downloads, by combining usage data from a variety of different hosting Chapter Views, Book Downloads, etc. It is clear that this is by platforms. Quarterly usage reports help publishers to review no means an ideal way of analysing usage, but it does allow us the OA use of their titles, and libraries to track the usage by to observe trends across several dimensions. their own patrons. Table 2: Usage of KU Select HSS Collection Books Total Interactions from 2017 – 2019 from 2017-01 until 2019-12, by Platform for KU Select HSS Books Over the last three years, Knowledge Unlatched has reported on usage data from several platforms for its open access books on a monthly basis. The focus of these standard reports has been on the direct relation of user interactions on a title basis. How- ever institutions and publishers are also interested in how these interactions translate to a specific region or a certain discipline, such as which disciplines show the highest uptake of OA books. To date, the Knowledge Unlatched KU Select HSS collec- Total Interactions over Time tions have made 1,049 books available open access, of which 968 At KU, the monitoring of and reporting on usage is becoming books include interactions between 2017 and 2019 (see Table 1 increasingly important. Institutions funding these OA collections below). The remaining 81 books are either still to be published, require impact reporting to provide to their administrations and have no interactions as yet or lack certain metadata tags and thus to justify the investments which have been made. Hence therefore have to be excluded from the analysis. It is important one of the key metrics tracked by KU is the average number of to stress that even if the period covered for this analysis is the interactions per title, the aim of which is to increase the total same for all titles, the publication dates will have an impact on year-on-year as more books are made available. Figure 1 shows usage (e.g., books from the KU Pilot in 2013 have been online how this has developed over the last three years, showing that far longer than e.g., KU Select 2017 HSS Frontlist Books). At the total interactions per title has almost doubled each year. We the same time we can expect to see different usage patterns for assume that this effect is in part driven by the inclusion of more backlist and for frontlist books. new titles and platforms, but is also due to better indexing and thus increased visibility of the content to researchers. Table 1: Usage of KU Select HSS Collection Books from 2017-01 until 2019-12 Figure 1: Average Interaction per Title
The OA books analysed are hosted on a variety of platforms. The platforms to which titles are continuously uploaded, and thus where usage data is available, are JSTOR, OAPEN, Project MUSE and the Open Research Library/Bibliolabs (prior to ORL) — all of which are COUNTER conformant. The OAPEN platform currently hosts the most titles, although a few titles are still missing — which might indicate that no interactions were found for the timeframe 2017-01 to 2019-12. There are many differences across these platforms making it something of a chal- To get a better idea of the long-term trends regarding interac- lenge when attempting to compare the usage – including varying tions on a title level, the top performing title is displayed in Figure publisher admission policies (MUSE focuses on non-profit 2. As could be expected the highest usage takes place within the presses, JSTOR only accepts content from its member presses continued on page 68 Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
The Ideological Battle: OA by Business Model and Size of Publisher KU Select encompasses books from 78 publishers from the period 2017-2019, including big and small ones, not-for-profits (largely University Presses) and for-profits. A particular area of interest was how title interactions performed according to each publisher category. And we were pretty surprised at the results: Regional Developments of Interactions titles submitted by non-commercial publishers performed 13% Looking at the geographical dimension, most of the interactions better than the average across all 968 titles. The group of mono- originate from North America. This is not surprising seeing as KU graphs from commercial publishers however underperformed Select’s customer base includes many institutions from this region the average by -23%. (see Figure 3). Over the course of the three years North America Our study cannot yet provide evidence to explain the reasons has also increased most in terms of total usage worldwide with behind these differences, and we will have to leave it to future an increase of 621% in 2019 compared with interactions in 2017. research to investigate these further. The continent ranking second in terms of increase in interactions is Africa, starting with 17,000 Interactions in 2017 and increasing Figure 5: Interactions by Publisher’s by 440% to 70,000 interactions in 2019. Europe (340%), Asia Commercial Status (355%) and Oceania (316%) all follow the same trend, while South America has “only” increased the actual use of KU select content over time by 110%. A possible reason for this might be that all KU Select books are published in English, while the dominant languages in South America are Portuguese and Spanish hence there is less uptake of KU Select books over time. Obviously, the inclusion of more platforms also helps to boost visibility to researchers and thus increase the total number of interactions. Figure 3: Total Interactions over Time by Region
Looking at usage based on publisher size the results were also surprising, at least at first sight (Figure 6). According to this analysis the group of monographs from small publishers shows the best performance compared with the interactions of the complete sample, with a standard deviation of +18%. While the books from medium-sized contributors performed in line with the average (+1%), those of the larger publishers significantly continued on page 69 68 Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
a future?” Out of 43 total votes, 93% (40 Rumors com/entertainment/books/ct-books-bib- votes) said yes; 6.98% (3 votes) said no. from page 45 lioracle-0216-20200210-fdrdtzhlafct3jb- mmohjcy3txa-story.html https://against-the-grain.com/2020/02/ atg-i-wonder-wednesday-given-the-grow- library; Visiting a museum; Visiting a Not sure how many of you pay attention ing-availability-of-pre-print-servers-in- zoo; Visiting a national park; Visiting a to ATG’s I Wonder Wednesday — short stitutional-repositories-and-open-ac- casino? It’s going to the library — by a yes and no type questions. One that we had cess-publications-do-publishers-have-a- lot. According to a Gallup poll completed last month had a significant number of re- future/ in December 2019, on average, Americans sponses. Here’s the question: “Given the went to the library 10.5 times a year. The growing availability of pre-print serv- Here’s another thing to which to pay next closest was going to the movies at ers, institutional repositories and open attention! EBSCO Information Ser- 5.3 times. https://www.chicagotribune. access publications, do publishers have continued on page 72 Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
by Don Brower, Sandra Gesing, Rick Johnson, Natalie Meyers, Jessica Meyerson, and Mikala Narlock
nstitutional repositories (IRs) have proliferated over the There are still hurdles. Convincing researchers to self-de- past two decades. University, disciplinary, and professional posit can be an uphill climb. Supplementing self deposit with Isociety users depend on IRs for preservation and dissem- mediated workflows, pre-generated DOIs, and offering prompts ination of scholarly research objects. Yet, IR growing pains against harvested citations to encourage postprint deposits breaks are well known and vociferously lamented.1 Under-resourced down barriers and lowers data entry burdens. Concurrently, in- repositories easily become vulnerable and difficult to upgrade if formation maintainers are repairing, caring for and documenting their code-base or feature sets obsolesce. Regardless of these a wide variety of knowledge systems beyond IRs pain points, whether developed and operated to facilitate access and optimize user experi- in-house, on the cloud, or delivered under ence. These can be complementary software platform as service (PAAS) contracts, re- systems: library catalogs, federated discovery positories are evolving. IRs have moved systems, identity management solutions, 3rd beyond end-of-life preservation toward party repositories, digital humanities and transparently supporting the entire media-arts projects, knowledge management research data lifecycle. IRs now play systems, intranets, or documentation stores. important organizational roles2 as For an IR maintainer, these activities may preprint services, data repositories and overlap and can include ontology updates, distinct sociotechnical systems reflecting institutional standards or include prompting individual users or crowd-source project and norms. Thus, the IR writ broadly continues to be a strategic participants to accept and enhance auto-harvested or machine investment, especially when viewed in the context of “Next learning-generated content. IRs continue to evolve in novel ways, Gen Repositories,”3 “Scholarly Communication Resources”4 through broad collecting policies as well as filling important roles and “Beyond the Repository”5 services. as reliable preservation systems remain strategically important to researchers. To What Purpose Asking if institutional repositories have the same purpose IRs as Stabilizing Force in a Rapidly as when they were first established is a red herring. Clifford Evolving Landscape Lynch described institutional repositories in 2003 as “...a set of At first glance, researchers continue to trust IRs in ways that services that a university offers to the members of its community appear to contradict CNI round table conversations about the for the management and dissemination of digital materials creat- future of IRs.17 In the PresQT Needs Assessment, we were sur- ed by the institution and its community members.”6 Since then, prised to find that researchers identified their institutions above that set of services has varied for each institution over time, and funders and journal publishers when asked about who has the it isn’t possible to make an absolute judgement on how well infrastructure required to provide long-term public access to our own or others’ older repositories have served their purpose research data (See Figure 1).18 over the last twenty years. Early developers and adopters have expanded the formats they accept or made their content more findable. Others who implemented IR platforms using second or third wave repository frameworks that leverage community infrastructure7 readily support a multiplicity of deposit formats with robust, contemporary data citation features. Still others have separate repositories for papers, data and images. Some prefer an all-in one solution.8 General purpose IRs with broad collecting and preservation policies, like ours at Notre Dame (Curate.ND.edu), can offer researchers a single, simple place for grant-funded research outputs that might not have a disci- plinary best-fit repository. We refer out to best-fit solutions that complement our repository’s strengths and don’t concern ourselves with whether our IR “competes” against discipline FIGURE 1. PresQT Needs Analysis Responses to Ques- specific (ICPSR,9 Neurovault10), general (Dataverse,11 Dryad,12 tion: In your estimation, which of the following currently have Figshare,13 Mendeley Data,14 Zenodo15) or special purpose the infrastructure required to provide long-term public access to repositories like SuAVE.16 Instead, we consider the whole as your research data? 19 a rich scholarly ecosystem. continued on page 71
70 Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
In the subsequent 2019 Research Data Alliance (RDA) Exposing Data Management Plans survey,20 respondents again indicated high trust in institutional repositories, selecting General Institutional Repo as their repository of preference when asked “What would be your preferred mechanism/method(s) for pub- lishing DMPs?” (See Figure 2.)
FIGURE 3. Explanation of broken links to data on open data badged journal articles (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000re- search.13477.2) This story helps researchers and decision-makers alike understand the risk of treating journal platforms as de facto preservation systems. Registries like OpenAIRE23 and re3data.org24 can help identi- fy best-fit preservation solutions. Certifications like CoreTrust- Seal25 and nestorSeal26 along with standards like ISO 1636327 provide certainties to stakeholders. Evaluators28 are emerging which enable tests of a repository’s support for the FAIR prin- ciples (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable).29 As repositories become standards-compliant, certified and “FAIR- ify” their systems, the re-usability of preserved data grows. So too does the interoperability potential between our repositories and their ability to connect beyond the repository services. The Repository Ecosystem Repository developers and maintainers are responding to changes in scholarly communication norms and intersecting more closely with the researcher toolchain than ever before as we engage with “beyond the repository” services. We also focus FIGURE 2. RDA Exposing Data Management Plans now on how researchers will re-use repository content. For Needs Assessment Responses to Question: What would be example, at Notre Dame we encourage the use of cloud services’ your preferred mechanism/method(s) for publishing DMPs? connected platforms like the Open Science Framework (OSF. (Select all that apply). io)30 for active project and data management to meet researchers Researchers’ trust in IRs appears to be steady, while at the where they are. On OSF researchers can access their files on same time libraries and disciplinary societies are increasingly cloud storage like Box,31 Dropbox,32 Google Drive,33 OneDrive34 seeking publisher and vendor provided solutions in an effort to or ownCloud35 and share data in consortial digital projects. As reduce duplication of effort and community-wide expenditures researchers are increasingly expected to share not just their data, on repository platforms. Data packaged alongside articles but also their scripts and code, we appreciate that on OSF they badged and promoted as “open data” in reputable journals on a can version software through code-repository add-ons (e.g., commercially-supported platform appears as “safe as data can Github,36 Gitlab,37 or Bitbucket38) and associate it with their be.” However, when such data is lost, stakeholders directly projects. Hosted static PDFs and source code alone do not often experience the difference between sharing and preserving their offer immediate computational or visualization experiences for data. In Badges for sharing data and code at Biostatistics: an re-use. So, we turn to other “beyond the repository services” observational study,21 Rowhani-Farid and Barnett observed when needed. Platforms like SuAVE, Earthcube’s CINERGI that 49 out of 76 (64%) badged articles articles at Biostatistics Data Discovery Studio,39 CodeOcean,40 Papers with Code,41 and had broken links. At Statistics in Medicine, 21 out of 53 (40%) WHOLETALE42 are all changing the hitherto static expectation had broken links. Upon inquiry, Biostatistics indicated that when of scholarly communication. These services facilitate bundled the publisher (Oxford) switched to a new publishing platform ways to interactively experience publications, scripts, methods in January 2017, some of the supplemental material was lost in and visualizations. Some leverage Jupyter notebook integra- the transfer.22 tions allowing users to execute code while concurrently sup- porting reproducibility of scientific methods. Such platforms are increasingly integrated with publishers’ journal delivery continued on page 72
Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
at OCLC. More recently Zepheira been bad myself, but Anthony Watkin- Rumors provided the technical leadership for the son, Ann Okerson, and many others have from page 69 Library of Congress in developing the cheered me on. Subscribe. Not for the BIBFRAME Linked Data standard for faint of heart! https://mailman.panix.com/ vices (EBSCO) has announced that it has bibliographic data. Zepheira’s linked listinfo.cgi/read20-l entered into a definitive agreement to ac- data technology allows library data to be quire Zepheira, a provider of large-scale, Don’t miss Nicole Ameduri and Lisa referenced on the open web and in knowl- decentralized linked data infrastructure. Hinchliffe’s Food and Beverage column edge panels by service providers such as Zepheira’s mission is to connect libraries, online as you head to Austin for ER&L! Google. Founder and CEO of Zepheira archives and museums to make the world a https://against-the-grain.com/ is Eric Miller. https://librarytechnology. smarter place. The team behind Zepheira org/pr/24950 All of my positive thoughts to all of were leaders within the Semantic Web you. Here’s hoping we all avoid the Co- If you don’t know about the marvel- Initiative for the World Wide Web Con- rona virus! Love, Yr. Ed. sortia (W3C) while at MIT and co-found- ous Peter Brantley’s Read20-1 you are ed the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative missing a lot of the inside scoops! I have
72 Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
by Donald T. Hawkins (Freelance Conference Blogger and Editor)
large crowd gathered on September 19, 2019 to celebrate Charles said that today’s students will reach their peak earning the opening of the new Charles Library at Temple Uni- years around 2050, and if we consider that computing process- Aversity in Philadelphia. Four of the major participants in ing power is doubling every 18 months, our world will be very the building and design of the library gave brief presentations on different in 2050. His hope is that their roles in the project. this library can facilitate the inter- Joseph Lucia, Dean of the Li- sections between all disciplines in brary, said that Temple University ways that our students will need to is an extraordinary place, and he know how to think. As we move feels an outpouring of love for it into artificial intelligence, the ethi- and the library. He considers the cal, humanitarian, and legal impli- library as a vision that has become a cations are huge, and this library is reality that was designed especially a place where we can discuss them for students. He acknowledged the and think about what we need to Stephen Charles be doing next so that we are part of following major supporters who Joseph Lucia made the library possible: the knowledge economy, which will require different ways of working and scholarship. We need people who will be narrow • Stephen Charles, who made a significant donation of 1 and deep as well as others who are good at seeing horizontally $10 million to support the building and for whom it is and making connections — both are necessary and one does not named, detract from the other, and this is the place that can symbolize • The library Board of Visitors (advisors to the Dean), that. So although this library is a dream come true, it is also a many of whom are also donors, beginning, and there is much work to do. • The architects and construction crews, who turned the Craig Dykers, founding partner of vision into reality and did it with outstanding high-qual- the architectural firmSnøhetta , said that ity workmanship, although building of the library was a • The Project Delivery Group who managed the job on two-year project, that was only the con- a daily basis, struction phase; planning began about six years ago. Even before that, other people • The library’s professionals who made the challenging were thinking about the project, so it is transition from the former building to the new one really a legacy. seamless and almost flawless, and Snøhetta is celebrating 30 years as a • The university administrative officials, such as the Craig Dykers company. Its first project was the revival President, Provost, and Board of Trustees. of the Bibliotecha Alexandrina in Egypt, Lucia closed by committing to making the library the cross- which is the foundation of much of Western culture. Therefore, roads and intellectual heart of the campus. it was especially fitting for him to complete 30 years with the JoAnne Epps, Temple University Provost, commented designing of the Charles Library. Dykers said that librarians on the large number of people attending the celebration and are the most innovative people he works with, and Temple’s said that it was a witness of what the library has become to the library was built around the vision of its librarians. Libraries are students. It is truly a dream come important centers of cross-pollination where we can get outside of true and an exploratory laborato- our usual worlds; they always have energy that we can connect ry that will be shared across the to. Even though the Charles Library is modern in many ways, entire campus by all disciplines. many classical elements are incorporated into its architecture, Even the location of the library in such as the overhead oculus which is similar to the one in the a central place on the campus is Pantheon in Rome, the rotunda, and the colonnades. All these significant, not only for the Tem- are part of our heritage which we have brought to life again. ple community but also for the Habitat features, such as a roof terrace with plantings, have JoAnne Epps Philadelphia community, which also been incorporated into the building. They are not only an is also welcome here. Epps also aesthetic feature but are also a functioning landscape that is giving acknowledged the generosity of Stephen Charles and even life not only to the knowledge inside but also to the habitat that suggested that the library should be referred to as “The Charles” surrounds the building. Libraries are all about life. It is easy instead of “Charles Library”! to get focused on your field of study and academia and forget Expressing his pleasure at being back at Temple, Charles about life, but you can find life in this building. It is not only noted that he was a student that left and was not very successful your window to the world, but it is the world’s window to you. for about 20 years, but once his company began to prosper, he found his way back. He is now on the Board of Trustees Watch for an interview with Steven Bell, Associate University and chairs the Strategic Direction and Long Range Planning Librarian at Temple University, in a forthcoming issue of ATG. committees. continued on page 76 74 Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
Jane Burke Early life: I come from a family of teachers and both of my parents Vice President, Strategic Initiatives always assumed I would be a teacher too. I rebelled by becoming a librar- Ex Libris, a ProQuest Company ian, but in the long run ended up as a teacher after all. 1350 E Touhy Avenue, Suite 150 W Professional career and activities: My professional career Des Plaines, IL 60018 has gone from consultant to librarian to LIS educator, each focused on Toll-free number: 1 (800) 762-6300 a variety of issues surrounding e-resources, information technology, and Phone: (847) 296-2200 scholarly publishing. The Association for Information Science & Technolo- Fax: (847) 296-5636 gy (ASIST) has been my main professional society throughout, but I have
Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
Ex Libris (USA), Inc. reading-list solution and campusM mobile campus solution. The Ex Libris 1350 East Touhy Ave., Suite 150 W business unit is comprised of approximately 900 employees worldwide Des Plaines, IL 60018 and is led by Bar Veinstein, reporting to ProQuest CEO Matti Shem Tov Phone: (847) 296-2200 and supported by a team comprised of both Ex Libris management and Fax: (847) 296-5636 ProQuest Workflow Solutions management. As one company, we will help www.exlibrisgroup.com us fulfill our commitment to empowering researchers and transforming re- search around the world. Affiliated companies: ProQuest (parent), Innovative. In January of 2020, Ex Libris completed its acquisition of Innovative, a Bar Veinstein (President), Yaniv Alus (VP Finance), Yair Am- Officers: leading provider of integrated library systems for public, academic, and sterdam (COO), Oren Beit-Arie (Chief Strategy Officer), Sarit Olmay (VP specialist libraries. Innovative is now a business unit within Ex Libris. To- Human Resoures), Jane Burke (VP Strategic Initiatives). gether we will provide more opportunities for libraries. NISO. Association memberships, etc.: Ex Libris creates products based on relevant standards for interoperabil- Key products and services: Alma, Primo, Summon, Leganto, ity rather than leveraging through proprietary techniques for commercial RapidILL, Esploro, RefWorks, Pivot, Research Professional, campusM. advantage. We embrace the idea that standards are, at least partially, Core markets/clientele: Higher Education, Special Libraries. intended to encourage innovation and fair competition to the benefit of the community of students, researchers, and academicians – the raison Number of employees: 1,300 d’être for the academic library marketplace. Over thirty years and more History and brief description of your company/pub- than 7,000 libraries later, we believe that the academic library community Ex Libris, a ProQuest Company is a leading lishing program: agrees with this approach. provider of library automation solutions, offering the only comprehensive product suite for the discovery, management, and distribution of all ma- That academic community is the lifeblood of Ex Libris, and virtually all of terials-print, electronic, and digital. Dedicated to developing the market’s our effort and experience is tied to it. Over time, Ex Libris has adapted to most inventive and creative solutions, Ex Libris leads the way in defining the changing needs of the research community, and continues to focus and designing efficient, user-friendly products that serve the needs of ac- its business efforts, organizational structures, and fundamental product ademic, research, and national libraries today, enabling them to transition philosophies on serving that market. into the future. Ex Libris has been providing library services since 1986; Our company has decades of experience at implementing library solu- this is our primary business. tions at academic institutions the world over. From large ARL libraries, to ProQuest, an information solutions provider central to global research, consortia, to museums and government agencies, to academic libraries completed its acquisition of Ex Libris Group in December 2015. The of every size, we have installed our software, converted the library’s data, businesses’ complementary assets are now integrated, enabling existing trained library staff, and provided project management and support to the services to be enhanced and sparking the creation of all-new solutions institutions that adopt our products. that will help libraries seize opportunities in rapidly changing technology, Ex Libris’ vision of information technology is based on a concept of interop- content, and user environments. erability. We maintain full ownership of our technology; all of our products ProQuest formed a new business unit – Ex Libris, a ProQuest Compa- are developed in-house, promoting interoperability and quality assurance. ny – which will continue to support the broad selection of products that customers depend on, including Alma, Aleph, bX, Intota, Primo, Rosetta, SFX, SIPX, Summon, 360 Link, Voyager, and the newly launched Leganto profiles continued on page 77
Our Digital Heritage, (Information Today, 2013) and Co-Ed- Temple University Celebrates ... itor of Public Knowledge: Access and Benefits (Information from page 74 Today, 2016). He holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley and has worked in the online information industry for over 45 years. Donald T. Hawkins is an information industry freelance writer based in Pennsylvania. In addition to blogging and writing about conferences for Against the Grain, he blogs the Computers in Libraries and Internet Librarian conferences for Endnotes Information Today, Inc. (ITI) and maintains the Conference 1. https://news.temple.edu/news/2018-03-13/temple-new-library- Calendar on the ITI Website (http://www.infotoday.com/cal- named-steve-charles-gift endar.asp). He is the Editor of Personal Archiving: Preserving
76 Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
University of Tennessee, Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience School of Information Information Behavior, Information Literacy, and Information Retrieval Sciences Information Communication Technology in Developing Economies 1345 Circle Park Drive, Information Policy and Intellectual Property 451 Communications Bldg. Library and Information Science Education Knoxville, TN 37996-0341 Open Source Software and Communities Phone: (865) 974-2148 Scholarly and Scientific Communication https://sis.utk.edu/ Social Justice and Information Services Background/history of the school: https://sis.utk.edu/ Social Media and Social Informatics about Youth Informatics and Youth Services Accredited by the American Library Association for nearly half a century, https://sis.utk.edu/sis-research the UT School of Information Sciences has achieved regional, national, MSIS students at UT are and international recognition through its award-winning faculty, students Available Internships/residencies: encouraged to take a 3-6 credit practicum to engage in professional expe- and alumni; innovative teaching and research; commitment to diversity rience at a workplace relevant to their interests. In addition to a wide range and inclusion; and personalized, online program options. of libraries and other information intensive organizations, many students The School of Information Sciences began in 1928 when the UT College complete practica or internships with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12, of Liberal Arts launched an undergraduate school library media education USGS, and related government organizations. program. The Department of Library Service was established in 1944 as part of the UT College of Education. In 1971, the Department became Partnerships with other professional programs: The University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences is one of four the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), and one Schools in the College of Communication and Information. We collaborate year later, the program was accredited by the American Library Associa- with our colleagues in CCI (Communication Studies, Journalism & Elec- tion. Finally, in 2002, the GSLIS joined the College of Communication and tronic Media, and Advertising & Public Relations) as well as with research- Information as one of four Schools, the School of Information Sciences. ers in Engineering, Arts & Sciences, Agriculture, and other colleges. Our Currently, we offer a Master’s of Information Sciences (MSIS), a Bachelor’s students can earn an Interdisciplinary Graduate Minor in Computational of Information Sciences (BSIS), and participate in a college-wide PhD in Sciences in partnership with mathematics, statistics, computer science, Communication and Information. and domain sciences. We have grants from the Institute of Museum & Number of faculty: 13 full time (to be 17 as of August 2020) and Library Services that partner with other iSchools (including the University many adjuncts. of Denver and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) in order to Curriculum tracks; key courses: All master’s students take better educate information professionals together. 3 required courses (Information Concepts and Foundations; Information What do you think your information/library school Organization and Retrieval; Information Technology Foundations) and then will be like in five years? The School will become larger and are able to specialize in one of our pathways or devise their own individu- more diverse. We will educate a broader range of students and prepare alized pathway. The current designated pathways are: them for a greater variety of careers in the ever-expanding information Academic Librarianship workforce. Faculty expertise will continue to diversify, and our research Assessment Librarianship and service footprints will grow. We will maintain our close connection to Data Curation and Data Management libraries and other cultural institutions, and continue to integrate the values Digital Collections these organizations represent into everything we do. Geographic Information What excites or concerns you about the next five Information Organization years? As UT SIS Director Diane Kelly wrote in a recent SIS alumni newsletter: “In the upcoming decade, we will continue to face challeng- Public Librarianship es related to information representation, access, and use. In addition, we Science Information will face new challenges created by biased data and discriminatory in- User Experience (UX) formation systems, and ineffective (and nonexistent) privacy policies. As Youth Services librarians and information professionals, we are uniquely positioned to ad- Unique programs: Certifcate in Youth Informatics; coursework and dress these issues because of our strong orientation to community service, lab facilities for User Experience our passion for implementing and maintaining ethical and fair information practices, and our deep technical expertise.” Primary areas of research: The faculty of the School of Infor- mation Sciences is committed to conducting basic and applied research Is there anything else you think our readers should that promotes the generation of new knowledge, services, and technology. know? About two-thirds of our master’s students are distance education The School also encourages research that strengthens its instructional and students, earning their MSIS degrees from many different locations while public service programs. Areas of research specialization include: paying in-state Tennessee tuition. For those who come to campus there Academic Libraries and Librarianship are many opportunities for assistantships on-campus or in the nearby sci- Data Curation and Data Management ence agencies such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Evaluation and Assessment of Libraries and Information Services and Systems Geographic and Scientific Information
Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020
Column Editor: Jim O’Donnell (University Librarian, Arizona State University)
he mighty work is done: at ASU, work range from group-study-friendly ally become more and more — a working we’ve spent $90 million over the zones on lower floors to the book-sur- home away from home for people doing Tlast three years on the wall-to-wall rounded private — and silent — study the most serious work of their lives. And renovation — we call it “reinvention” — top floor. Whenever we survey students, that’s what it still is — only moreso. It’s of the Charles Hayden Library, our sig- they all tell us they want both group and a place of welcome and safety and support nature building at the center of our oldest private study places, at different times for and opportunity. campus. We opened the doors on January different purposes.) We have a variety of So I walk around the building smiling a 13 at 7 a.m. and the first student entered university classrooms and library instruc- lot — smiling to see half a dozen students at 7:03. A few minutes later a second tional rooms scattered around the building, and a whiteboard, one of the students writ- student came in and turned out to be the but our principle is that when a room like ing down equations way beyond anything brother of the first one — but neither one that is not in scheduled use, it’s open for in my limited experience and the others all expected the other to be there! We took all comers as work space. Figuring that pitching in with comments and questions their picture. out did in fact take the students exactly one and corrections and explanations. That’s That was Monday morning. By extra day. They’re smart. (We knew that.) what we’re here for. So now we surround Wednesday, we had 10,000 students com- But here’s the other discovery: for users with the environment they need and ing through the building in a day and by a huge number of our users and a huge want: librarians, books, and high-tech Friday we had the glamorous local news number of uses, the new building makes opportunities. We’ve added geospatial reporter dragging the University Librarian no immediate or superficial difference. data and data science to our offerings in in at 7 a.m. for a live report on the early Users are still logging in to our licensed the last couple of years, expanded the news program. The following Tuesday, resources, still ordering books from ILL thronged maker space, upgraded the video we had our first reported case of student or high-density shelving, or using our studios, and held back some space for the misconduct, mild enough in a way but the Ask-a-Librarian chat service, undeterred. next technologies and brainstorms. We’ve sort of thing you don’t report in a family For them and for those uses, not a wobble. also improved the food, the bathrooms, magazine like ATG. Whoa! Yikes! $90M and lots of peo- the furniture, the lighting and upgraded to So it’s real now, we’re back. What are ple don’t even notice? Yes, and that’s as much more sustainable air conditioning. our first takes on having a moment to catch it should be. We take this as a validation And the books. I need to wait a while breath and wonder what we’ve gotten for of our strategy. The physical facility that before writing about our innovative con- all that money? houses library staff and users really is struction and presentation of the print First, the students go from surprise to only a part of the much larger and more collection, but here I’ll say that it’s very loving it to taking it for granted in some- ambitious strategy for the provision of much part of the mission to make sure that thing like milliseconds. By the second services. While we knew that, it’s actu- students connect with print culture on mul- day, we could see students come in who ally reassuring to see it proven in reality. tiple levels. That means that every book didn’t look left or right, went straight to the The central facility isn’t the necessary in the building is there for two reasons: elevator, punched point of departure to be itself a coherent structured piece of their floor, and got for inquiry, not a intellectual achievement and resource — off, head down, compulsory place and also to be a marketing device, to cry marching straight to go for various out to a passing student, “hey there, look at for their favorite purposes. In the me! I’m the kind of thing that smart people place to work. many decades like you want to get to know.” We need to They were ready when it was those see how our innovations go, and we’ve got for us. (Those fa- things, it was also good ideas for improving those book-to- vorite places to — and had gradu- student conversations. Stay tuned. And meanwhile, of course, there’s a punch list: all the little things that need tweaking. After a $90M renovation, the ADVERTISERS’ INDEX first part of the building that needs ren- ovating is... the University Librarian’s 27 accessible Archives 13 cold Spring Harbor Lab Press 21 The MIT Press office. I’m still squatting until we can get 2 acs Publications 53 emery-Pratt 11 Modern Language Association some things fixed that just went astray in the construction process. (It happens, oh, 5 aTG 3 gobI Library Solutions 9 osa – The Optical Society it happens.) Every day, I enjoy the great 79 aTG Media 33 INFORMS 7 Project MUSE stuff, the cool stuff, and the exciting stuff while I am at times tempted to wonder 61 The Charleston Advisor 15 International Monetary Fund why the trash cans are there and why do 8 The Charleston Report 80 Midwest Library Service the motion detectors turn off the lights in the middle of class, and a lot of other For Advertising Information Contact: Toni Nix, Ads Manager,
78 Against the Grain / December 2019 - January 2020