Open source + open access + open standards = open publishing

I've been looking for a term that goes beyond "open access" or "open source" to capture what I think the academic library's role should be in the future of scholarly communication. So what I've come up with is "open publishing." Open publishing encompasses these better known buzzwords, but goes beyond them.

Open publishing suggests that academic libraries should participate in publishing activities. They should do publishing, they should become publishers. Even though most libraries were not publishers in the print age, it is appropriate in the digital age because digital information behaves differently than print information. In the print age, publishers performed many roles that libraries simply couldn't, especially the mass production of millions of physical volumes. Publishers distributed these to vendors to be sold to consumers, including libraries.

In the digital age the mass production of thousands of physical artifacts is completely collapsed. The mass distribution of a digital document can be achieved merely by placing it on a web server. This enables it to be distributed throughout the globe and replicated millions of times over, without having to resort to a printing process. Once cost is sunk into the development of a digital library or publishing system, the marginal cost of producing one more digital resource is significantly lowered. Yes, publishers do perform other functions that are difficult and/or expensive for libraries to perform, such as editing, design, peer-review, and building digital publishing systems.

But even though it is expensive and challenging, and libraries traditionally haven't performed this function, it is more important now than ever for libraries to get involved in publishing.

First of all, in the digital age, the agency that publishes a document is the same agency that archives it for preservation and serves as the gatekeeper for access. Over the past couple of decades, libraries have allowed publishers to move to a licensed model in which libraries do not ever own (or host if you prefer) the digital artifacts that they pay for. Let me be blunt: Academic librarians have failed to maintain our professional values in this regard. We have failed to build our collections and promote access to those collections in the same way we did in the past.

Second, by offering open publishing services, academic libraries can fill a need by providing an alternative to commercial publishing. We can offer open publishing to editors and faculty who would prefer to publish open access documents, using open source systems and open standards. I am not saying everyone should do this or will want to do this, commercial publishing will always fill a need. I'm just saying that this is an option that should be available to those that want it. There are clear, communicable benefits to open access, open source, and open standards, and there are plenty of authors and editors who would be interested in these services from libraries.

Third, the time has come for the professional library community to get with the program and adapt to the digital age. Librarians need to be engaged in the modern culture of scholarly communication. We need to develop the skills to address the tough problems of information in the online world: How do we build high-quality digital collections? What are the best methods for providing access? How do we preserve these collections for the future?

My motivation for addressing this topic is a philosophical one regarding the definition of and purpose for the academic library. What is an academic library? Are they necessary in the digital world? What role should they play? What values are important to us as professionals and how can we promote those values in a wired world?

My answer to these questions is that academic libraries should be first and foremost libraries, with the implication that we need to develop collections of high quality scholarly content. To exist as libraries, we have to build our own digital collections, we can't rely on licensed collections forever. We have to build collections of born-digital resources. We can't rely on digitizing our special collections to sustain us forever. Academic libraries have to learn how to preserve digital information, in much the same way we preserve our physical artifacts. We must learn to preserve items that were born digital in their native format. We shouldn't just print them out as Michael Gorman once suggested. Digital resource behave differently, have different qualities than physical items, and as a species, we are smart enough to figure out a way to do this. As academic librarians, we promote democratic access to collections. Yet commercially developed licensed collections have restrictions on top of restrictions placed on them that are, in a sense, artificial in the online environment. To satisfy the values of our profession, we should pursue open publishing, making new knowledge easily accessible through the use of the web.

Some of us are starting to understand this. One of the best discussions of this need that I've seen is in an editorial that came out today in the Chronicle of Higher Education. It is "A Risky Gamble With Google" by Siva Vaidhayanathan. Unfortunately, the Chronicle requires a subscription, it is not open access, which I find a little ironic.

Position announcement: Metadata Coordinator at Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University Libraries
Position Announcement

Metadata Coordinator

Texas A&M University Libraries are seeking an innovative and dynamic individual to lead the university in the analysis and use of metadata. This is a tenure track position with faculty status and rank.

Responsibilities:
Reporting to the Associate Dean for Digital Initiatives, Research and Technology, the individual will work closely with the Digital Initiatives staff, as well as a variety of constituents within the library system and the university. The librarian advises on the application of appropriate metadata schema for digital objects ; assists in defining digital project parameters; provides descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata needed to support the university's expanding digital collections; trains others on metadata creation and management; and works with others to translate metadata between formats and participates in the integration of metadata from a variety of sources for search and display within and across collections. The librarian participates in local efforts to educate the university community on digital library issues and participates in state and national metadata initiatives and library committees, communicating with relevant selectors, curators, and subject specialists regarding metadata in digital libraries.

Qualifications:

Required:
Masters Degree from an ALA-accredited program or equivalent. Knowledge of the concepts and applications used in the standards and practices of organizing information. In addition to MARC, experience with one or more of the following standards: Dublin Core, METS/MODS, OpenURL, OAI-PMH, TEI, or others. Experience with creation and/or management of digital objects in various text, image, sound, and/or video formats. Knowledge of institutional repositories and open access publishing. Ability to work independently as well as collegially in a complex, rapidly changing and culturally diverse environment with various groups of library staff. Excellent written and oral communication skills. Ability to plan, coordinate, and implement projects. Good organization skills and an aptitude for complex analytical and detailed work. Ability to meet the requirements of a tenure-track appointment.

Preferred:
Experience in one or more of these areas: Institutional repository systems, particularly DSpace; XML and XSLT; programming languages, particularly PHP or Java; UNIX; grant proposal writing/managing.

Environment:
Texas A&M University Libraries is a member of the Association of Research libraries (ARL) and is the University's principal research and information center, providing 3.1 million volumes, 5.4 million microforms, 7,000 current print journal subscriptions, 39,910 electronic journal subscriptions, 272,500 electronic books, and over 500 databases. There is a total staff of 251, including 79 librarians with faculty status. Librarians work in a sophisticated online environment utilizing Voyager, the Vignette Content Management System, and a full range of automated information retrieval services.

Founded in 1876, Texas A&M University has an enrollment of over 44,000 students making it the fifth largest university in the nation. An integral part of the twin cities of Bryan and College Station, the University is situated less than two hours from Houston and Austin. The campus is only a few hours drive from the attractions and sources of recreation in the Texas Hill Country, the Piney Woods of East Texas, and the Texas Gulf Coast. Nearby are Houston's Johnson Space Center, Galveston's Moody Gardens and historic Strand district, Austin's vibrant music scene, San Antonio's River Walk, and many ways to experience the state's rich cultural heritage

With the traditional strengths of a land-grant institution, the university has set for itself an ambitious goal to be among the top public academic institutions in the nation by the year 2020.

Benefits & Salary:
Salary is dependent on qualifications and experience, but at a minimum starting salary of $40,000 for 12 months, plus a comprehensive benefits package, choice of retirement programs, including TIAA-CREF, 12-15 paid holidays and 12 vacation days per year; no state or local income tax. This is an academic, tenure-track appointment carrying full faculty status and responsibilities including research and publication requirements of the University.

Application Deadline:
Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Send letter of application addressing the above qualifications, along with a vita, and the names, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers of three professional references to Joyce K. Thornton, Director of Personnel, Texas A&M University Libraries, 5000 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-5000, or email to jkthorn@tamu.edu.

An Equal Opportunity Employer, TAMU Libraries is committed to employing quality faculty who will enhance the rich diversity of our academic community

For more information about the library, see: http://library.tamu.edu, about the university http://www.tamu.edu, and about the communities, consult http://rtis.com/reg/bcs.

Geoffrey Nunberg now at Berkeley SIMS

Last night I was listening to Fresh Air and was surprised to hear that the affiliation of house linguist Geoffrey Nunberg had changed from Stanford to Berkeley's School of Information Management and Systems (SIMS). Wow, when did that happen? I checked his website and found that he's still a researcher at the Center for Study of Language and Information at Stanford, but he puts his affiliation with Berkeley at the top.

SIMS was an ALA accredited library school until 1994, but they decided to let the accreditation lapse. Choosing to encompass research on the impact of information in all areas of society, their activities are far broader than traditional libraries, and I think they are better for it. Maybe I'm pessimistic or unaware of what's going on in library schools, but I can't imagine a traditional ALA accredited program hiring a linguist as an adjunct. On the flip side of this, I can't imagine a popular public intellectual being attracted to a traditional library school.