Heather Moulaison Sandy

High-Quality Metadata and Repository Staffing: Perceptions of United States–Based OpenDOAR Participants

ABSTRACT Digital repositories require good metadata, created according to community-based principles that include provisions for interoperability. When metadata is of high quality, digital objects become sharable and metadata can be harvested and reused outside of the local system. A sample of U.S.-based repository administrators from the OpenDOAR initiative were surveyed to understand aspects of the quality and creation of their metadata, and how their metadata could improve. Most respondents (65%) thought their metadata was of average quality; none thought their metadata was high quality or poor quality. The discussion argues that increased strategic staffing will alleviate many perceived issues with metadata quality.

The Importance of Interoperability: Lessons from the Digital Public Library of America

ABSTRACT The Digital Public Library of America enables the discovery of digitized content held by the U.S. cultural heritage institutions by aggregating metadata contributed from participating organizations. Significant interoperability issues exist when gathering metadata at a national scale, which the Digital Public Library of America mitigates through use of its metadata application profile. In its latest release, the metadata application profile permits the storage of uniform resource identifiers, helping the Digital Public Library of America make the move to linked open data. This article examines these Digital Public Library of America developments through a case study of the Missouri Hub, which facilitates the aggregation of metadata from Missouri-based institutions into the Digital Public Library of America.

Information Sources of Latin American Immigrants in the Rural Midwest in the Trump Era

Since the 1920s, Latin American immigrants to the United States have frequently settled in established communities in border states and large urban areas. Since the 1990s, however, Latin American immigrants, documented and undocumented, have been settling in the rural Midwest. We begin this article by considering Trump-era rhetoric and actions affecting Latin American immigrants and the historical context for that immigration. Next, we present information sources and locations (i.e., information grounds) used by the rural midwestern immigrants we interviewed. Finally, we discuss the roles that libraries have taken across the nation in providing information to immigrants, but we contrast that with the limited role of libraries as information sources for Latin American immigrants.

Personal digital archiving: an analysis of URLs in the .edu domain

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider personal digital archiving (PDA) from an academic perspective. Although elements of research data management and personal information management are relevant, it is unclear what is available on university websites supporting PDA. The following question guided the research: where is “PDA” content housed in the top-level .edu domain and what is the format and nature of the content made available? Design/methodology/approach This descriptive study analyzed Google hits yielded by searching “PDA” within the .edu domain. Results were analyzed to determine where content was housed and its format and nature. Placement in the domain, delivery methods, topics, and the nature of the most highly ranking Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) were analyzed. Findings In the academy, PDA is not exclusively of interest in libraries; not quite half of the .edu URLs (45 percent) pointed to a library site. Scholarly papers were the most returned content, followed by blogs and conferences information. Closer analysis of the top 20 URLs showed that libraries are popular and papers, and blogs continue to be dominant. Research limitations/implications The results suggest good PDA practices and recommendations are evolving. Academic librarians should examine these practices, refine them, and make them available and discoverable on the web. Originality/value This is the first paper, to the knowledge, to consider PDA content from the perspective of universities and university libraries.

The Role of Public Libraries in Self-Publishing: Investigating Author and Librarian Perspectives

Little is known about self-publishing authors and about the concerns of public librarians regarding how best to support library self-publishing initiatives. This article presents and analyzes a survey of authors participating in programming at the Woodneath Library Center/Woodneath Press. It also presents and analyzes the results of a survey of public librarians. Findings suggest that self-publishing authors in this case study would benefit from author services support, and that librarians require targeted training to provide such support. As libraries explore this potential new role, more needs to be done to support author services in public libraries appropriately.Little is known about self-publishing authors and about the concerns of public librarians regarding how best to support library self-publishing initiatives. This article presents and analyzes a survey of authors participating in programming at the Woodneath Library Center/Woodneath Press. It also presents and analyzes the results of a survey of public librarians. Findings suggest that self-publishing authors in this case study would benefit from author services support, and that librarians require targeted training to provide such support. As libraries explore this potential new role, more needs to be done to support author services in public libraries appropriately.

Creating Personas on Which to Build Services for Latinx Users: A Proof of Concept

ABSTRACT The current article presents a proof of concept wherein personas were created that could support library services and collections for Latinx community members in the Midwestern United States. Personas are first described and their use in the library literature is explored. The reproducible method employed in creating the personas is then presented in detail, followed by a short discussion of the results of the persona creation. Next, a high-level discussion of the project is presented, as well as reflections on how librarians can adapt this process in efforts to design products and services to meet the needs of specific groups.

Bringing Content into the Picture: Proposing a Tri-Partite Model for Digital Preservation

ABSTRACT Digital preservation is a complex field that is rapidly maturing and increasingly focusing on content as well as the human element of digital preservation. This conceptual article examines a number of digital preservation models meeting a variety of needs created by different communities. Given the guidance these models have afforded digital preservation, considering the present, and looking to the future, this article proposes a tri-partite model for thinking about digital preservation in an era of robust community involvement: the Digital Preservation Triad. The Triad focuses on 1) Management, including elements relating to documentation and human resources; 2) Technology; and 3) Content.

Nullis in Verba: Advancing Research through Transparency and Openness

ABSTRACT Nullis in verba was chosen as the motto of the Royal Society, as it embodied the culture of transparency and collaboration that were the hallmarks of the Royal Society and of the scientific method it promoted. Communication, using the tools of the day, was essential to this community of scientists as they created and shared new knowledge. Almost three hundred years later, libraries continue to advance principles relating to the importance of collaboration and transparency. This two-part article series, published jointly in International Information and Library Review and Technical Services Quarterly explores notions of transparency and collaboration in research and how these ideas are impacting the world of librarianship – from information creation, organization and access perspectives.

Making a case for open research: Implications for reproducibility and transparency: Making a Case for Open Research: Implications for Reproducibility and Transparency

Scientific work is time‐consuming and expensive. However, after data has been collected and reports have been written, science becomes an information problem. There are thousands of journals and funding agencies across specialized disciplines with different requirements for data transparency. Science‐focused domains substantiate research findings through defined research methods and data analysis techniques, and emerging practices around data storage and code publishing now allow other scientists to see exactly how researchers come to their conclusions. These new practices not only increase transparency of the scientific process, they also enable replication and derivative research. Despite these emerging practices, the work of research transparency does not always easily enable reproducibility.

North Africa: Implications for Information Creation and Access

Column Editors Notes The “Advances in Library Data and Access” column examines technological advances internal and external to libraries. The focus is on how library data is created and used. The strength of the column is its broad, international focus and contributors are encouraged to explore issues and recent advances in information technology relevant to their geographical region, as well as the larger, global audience. Interested authors are invited to submit proposals and articles to the column editor at moulaisonhe@missouri.edu. Please include “IILR Submission” in the subject line of the email. ABSTRACT North Africa is a vibrant and storied region located on the Mediterranean. This column looks at North Africa in general, with examples largely drawn from Egypt and Morocco in particular, in considering cultural and historical aspects of the region relevant to access to information writ large. This column begins by considering the unique history and context of the people of North Africa, especially as they pertain to the creation and use of knowledge. It then looks to intellectual property, a topic relevant to information access, and ends by considering some challenges to information access and use in North Africa.