Michael K. Organ

Download statistics - what do they tell us? The example of research online, the open access institutional repository at the University of Wollongong, Australia

A study was undertaken of download and usage statistics for the institutional repository at the University of Wollongong, Australia, over the six-month period January-June 2006. The degree to which research output was made available, via open access, on Internet search engines was quantified. Google was identified as the primary access and referral point, generating 95.8% of the measurable full text downloads of repository content. Further long-term studies need to be carried out to more precisely identify factors affecting download rates of repository content. This data will assist institutions and faculty in measuring research impact and performance, as an adjunct to traditional bibliometric tools such as citation indexes. Disciplines Arts and Humanities | Social and Behavioral Sciences Publication Details This article was originally published as Organ, MK, Download Statistics What Do They Tell Us? The Example of Research Online, the Open Access Institutional Repository at the University of Wollongong, Australia, D-Lib Magazine, 12(11), November 2006. Original journal available here. This journal article is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/asdpapers/44 Download Statistics What Do They Tell Us? The Example of Research Onlin...ccess Institutional Repository at the University of Wollongong, Australia Search | Back Issues | Author Index | Title Index |

Academic Library Seating: A Survey of Usage, with Implications for Space Utilisation

ABSTRACTBetween June and October 1996 the University of Wollongong Library conducted a survey of patron seating usage with the aims of quantifying such use; and identifying areas where seats could be removed to accommodate the growth of the collection. The survey indicated that maximum usage of the 648 seats available for study was 66%. This supported a conservative reduction of seating numbers by 12%, resulting in minimal impact on patrons. The removal of seats enabled the installation of additional shelving and a compactus. The survey findings have assisted in accommodating collection expansion for a further five-year period.

Outsourcing open access: Digital Commons at the University of Wollongong, Australia

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to outline the experiences of an Australian university in selecting a proprietary solution for its open access digital repository requirements. Design/methodology/approach – An overview is presented of the environment leading up to the decision to select Digital Commons over an open source software solution. The paper also outlines subsequent experiences during a one‐year period in operating the outsourced solution. Findings – Outsourcing is an appropriate digital repository option for higher education institutions when costs are considered and compared with open source solutions, and especially when on‐site IT support is limited. Outsourcing allows local staff to concentrate on liaison with faculty in promoting and populating the repository. Practical implications – A useful resource for those considering the use of proprietary or open source software for their institutional repository. Originality/value – This papers deals with a little discussed area of the relatively new subject of open access institutional repositories.

Surfing the Internet and Academic Research: What Use for Historians?

ABSTRACTThe Internet is a relatively new phenomenon whose value has yet to be proven in an academic research environment. Many scholars remain sceptical of its uses beyond entertainment and the supply of general information. Through the example of historical research, this paper attempts to reveal both the present limitations and future scope of the new technology.

W.B. Clarke as Scientific Journalist

This paper comments on W.B. Clarkes role as a scientific journalist in Sydney, 1839-1878. It also argues that Clarke has been misrepresented over time because large sections of his published work specifically anonymous and signed newspaper articles have not been considered in analyses of his life and assessments of his place in the history of Australian science.

Tolkien’s Japonisme: Prints, Dragons, and a Great Wave

The original September 1937 George Allen & Unwin edition of The Hobbit features artwork by J.R.R. Tolkien along with an accompanying dust jacket. This latter work is a modern, stylized graphic design composed of a not entirely symmetrical view of a Middle-earth landscape (night to the left, day to the right), with the Lonely Mountain rising in the distant center, flanked by steeply sloped, snow-covered Misty Mountains and in the foreground Mirkwood’s dense, impenetrable forests. Additional features include a crescent moon, the sun, a dragon, eagles, a lake village, and a rapier-like path—a straight road— heading toward a darkened, megalithic trapezoidal door at the base of the mountain.1 The runes which form the border read: “The Hobbit or There and Back Again, being the record of a year’s journey made by Bilbo Baggins; compiled from his memoirs by J.R.R. Tolkien and published by George Allen & Unwin.”

Embed and engage! Delivering a digitisation program at the University of Wollongong Library

The digital environment is growing rapidly, through ubiquitous and increasingly powerful personal computing devices, and the demand for information to be accessible. Libraries and archives, as traditional providers and storehouses of content, are adapting to this changing environment by adopting new and innovative digital content delivery mechanisms to unmask their special collections. In 2012, the University of Wollongong Library implemented a comprehensive digitisation program for its unique archival and research collections. Film, photographs, documents, artworks and audio are being made available online through several platforms and delivery tools in combination, complementing the increasingly important role played by the library in supporting research, education, and community engagement. The implementation of a Digital Collections Portal has channelled Australian and international audiences to the librarys digital content. Open access to collections is a key library goal, with success measured in part by the amount of material made available and the number of times it is downloaded. With a focus on building collections, prominent issues such as format shifting, metadata production, and methods of open communication have been resolved as the library develops expertise and knowledge in managing an embedded digitisation programme.

Confrontational continuum: modernism and the psychedelic art of Martin Sharp

ABSTRACT The Australian artist Martin Sharp (1942–2013) produced a series of psychedelic artworks in London between 1966 and 1968, the most famous of which were the Disraeli Gears record cover for rock group Cream and the Bob Dylan Blowin’ in the Mind poster. Sharp’s work exemplifies the connection between early twentieth century Modernist art movements, Pop art and acid-induced psychedelia of the 1960s. In addition, the poster Max Ernst: The Birdman from 1967, represents a homage to Dada and Surrealism, with special reference to anarchy, desire, and freedom of expression. In the spirit of Dada, the poster is meaningfully confrontational, exposing the darker side of the 1960s countercultural revolution in Western societies. This aspect of the youth movements of the 1960s is part of a continuum, drawing upon ideas and activities championed during the late 1910s and early 1920s by proponents of Dada and Surrealism. These resurfaced within the multifaceted counterculture of the 1960s, spurred on by Cold War tensions, rejection of 1950s conservative mores, opposition to nuclear proliferation, the conflict in Vietnam, an explosion in popular music, and the widespread use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD. Sharp’s art is part of this confrontational continuum.

Leveraging ERA to Increase Repository Content

The legacy of Australia’s national research quality assessment process – Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) - at the University of Wollongong is improved integration between the institutional repository and research management systems, and a move towards digitisation of the Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) process with consequent flow on of metadata and digital objects to the institutional repository. Whilst ERA was a diversion from the task of securing open access content through faculty promotion and one-on-one contact with researchers, it nevertheless gave rise to a semi-automated process which promises improved rates of content acquisition.

Light from the Tunnel: Collecting the Archives of Business and Labour at The Australian National University

In May 1986 I was one of a group of 20 University of New South Wales archive diploma students who travelled from Sydney to Canberra for a three day tour of facilities in the nation’s capital. Memorably, the bus pulled up outside the National Film and Sound Archive, an art deco building formerly housing the Institute of Anatomy, but now with yellowing posters of Chips Rafferty, Peter Finch and Dad n’ Dave lining its walls. Next stop was the suitably imposing Australian War Memorial, where we enjoyed an encounter with original warrelated maps, diaries, photographs and memorabilia. The National Library of Australia left the impression of a magnificent new Greek temple, whilst the Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies was a collection of weatherboard buildings, though both facilities contained a wonderful collection of manuscripts and assorted archival material. Our visit to the nation’s premier archives of business and labour at the Australian National University brought us to a cavernous and dimly lit space built as an underground car park but never used as such and containing what seemed like hundreds of rows of shelves straining under the weight of pale brown and cream archive boxes. We were enthralled. Twenty years on, a reading of the Barry Howarth and Ewan Maidment edited Light from the Tunnel brings forth from the many personal reminiscences contained therein, fond memories of warming to archives as a profession, and of listening intently under that low concrete ceiling in 1986 to a doyen of Australian archives, the white-haired Michael Saclier. Beyond that, Light from the Tunnel reveals the often extraordinary effort required in preserving the archives of a nation.