December 6, 2022 – 21st Century Library & Information Science Network

IDEAS for transforming Higher Education: An overview of ongoing trends and challenges

ideas-for-transforming-higher-education-an-overview-of-ongoing-trends-and-challenges Download

Data Science in the Library: Tools and Strategies for Supporting Data-Driven Research and Instruction

In the last decade, data science has generated new fields of study and transformed existing disciplines. As data science reshapes academia, how can libraries and librarians engage with this rapidly evolving, dynamic form of research? Can libraries leverage their existing strengths in information management, instruction, and research support to advance data science?

Data Science in the Library: Tools and Strategies for Supporting Data-Driven Research and Instruction brings together an international group of librarians and faculty to consider the opportunities afforded by data science for research libraries. Using practical examples, each chapter focuses on data science instruction, reproducible research, establishing data science services and key data science partnerships.

This book will be invaluable to library and information professionals interested in building or expanding data science services. It is a practical, useful tool for researchers, students, and instructors interested in implementing models for data science service that build community and advance the discipline…

F1000 launched Health Open Research

Health Open Research is now open for submissions from researchers, practitioners and policy makers working in health, medical and social care research across the world. It provides a dedicated space for researchers to publish all their research findings openly, in a way that helps to minimize duplication and waste and maximize the potential for real world impact for patients.

F1000 announced Health Open Research, an expansion of the former Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) Open Research, the open research publishing venue that “accelerates the real-world benefits of medical research”. Open research is a key belief of F1000, which stresses its importance to society as a whole as a social good…

Should librarians be interested (or not) in Knowledge Management?

In the opinion of Denise Carter, Managing Director of DCision Consult and a long-time information professional, the answer is yes, librarians should be interested in KM, but they should consider why and when, plus what value that interest could deliver for them.

As an information professional, I am convinced we all need to be aware of other related information and knowledge disciplines. Librarians, records managers, archivists, information managers and knowledge managers share a passion for getting the right information—the right knowledge—to the right people, at the right time, in the right format.

I believe we all also share an ethical and values-based approach in how we perform our roles within our respective communities or organizations. I have been a librarian, an information manager and, latterly, a competitive intelligence professional. And I know I am not alone in shifting paths as careers evolve and different opportunities come into view.[…]

A crisis has been quietly developing over the past several years in academic institutions around the world, and it needs to be addressed urgently. As part of research that we at MoreBrains have recently completed on behalf of Jisc in the UK, we estimated that researchers and administrators waste around 55,000 person days a year just on rekeying information about publications, grants, and projects into university systems. That equates to nearly £19 million (~$23 million USD) of waste. Similar work we did earlier this year on behalf of the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) and the Australian Access Federation (AAF), found similar levels of waste — 38,000 person days, or $24 million AUD (~ $16 million USD). This is clearly unsustainable in terms of both time and money, and it has real consequences for the health of the higher education and research sector. […]

‘Our mission is crucial’: meet the warrior librarians of Ukraine

When Russia invaded Ukraine, a key part of its strategy was to destroy historic libraries in order to eradicate the Ukrainians’ sense of identity. But Putin hadn’t counted on the unbreakable spirit of the country’s librarians.

The morning that Russian bombs started falling on Kyiv, Oksana Bruy woke up worried about her laptop. Bruy is president of the Ukrainian Library Association and, the night before, she hadn’t quite finished a presentation on the new plans for the Kyiv Polytechnic Library, so she had left her computer open at work. That morning, the street outside her house filled with the gunfire of Ukrainian militias executing Russian agents. Missile strikes drove her into an underground car park with her daughter, Anna, and her cat, Tom. A few days, later she crept back into the huge empty library, 15,000sqft once filled with the quiet murmurings of readers. As she grabbed her laptop, the air raid siren sounded and she rushed to her car.[…]