Search

Accessibility to information for disabled human users has increasingly become a legal and ethical concern for public education institutions. The Americans with Disabilities Act guarantees freedom from discrimination for disabled Americans, and recent lawsuits and formal complaints about inaccessible website content have propelled enforcement from an historically reactive stance to one that is proactive. Librarians pride themselves on providing information to all users, and the profession has long understood the need to structure data for other applications. However, many of us fail to use even the simple features built into software packages that can ensure accessible documents and presentations from the point of creation. This failure sets up a paradigm of perpetual effort required to remediate content for accessibility. Effective use of accessibility tools in document creation solves two accessibility problems for two audiences at once: humans and machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic libraries fail to take advantage of the network effect because they manage too many digital repositories locally. While this argument applies to all manner of digital repositories, this article examines the fragmented environment of institutional repositories (IRs), in which effort and costs are duplicated, numerous software platforms and versions are managed simultaneously, metadata are applied inconsistently, users are served poorly, and libraries are unable to take advantage of collective data about content and users. In the meantime, commercial IR vendors and academic social networks have shown much greater success with cloud-based models. Collectively, the library profession has enough funding to create a national-level IR, but it lacks the willingness to abandon local control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the results of two surveys, which gathered data about the reporting practices for institutional repositories (IR). The surveys were completed by library directors and IR managers, and questions were asked about strategic importance, content scope, and the methods and mechanisms libraries utilize to evaluate and report on IR use and impact. Data from the surveys helped inform the research of the project team and led to the development of the web service called the Repository Analytics & Metrics Portal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fifty years of the compounding effects of Moore's Law have led to enormous advances in computer processing power. Increased network speeds, the availability of big data, and machine learning techniques have accelerated the development of artificial intelligence; this promises to dramatically change many industries, including libraries. This article offers some thoughts on the effects of automation on employment, the social and political fallout, and the threats and opportunities for academic and public libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semantic Web Identity (SWI) is proposed as the condition in which search engines recognize the existence and nature of entities. The display of a Knowledge Graph Card in Google search results is an indicator of SWI, as it demonstrates that Google has gathered verifiable facts about the entity. Such recognition is likely to improve the accuracy and relevancy of Google's referrals to that entity. This article summarizes part of the research conducted for a recent doctoral dissertation, showing that SWI is poor for ARL libraries. The study hypothesizes that the failure to populate records in appropriate Linked Open Data and proprietary Semantic Web knowledge bases contributes to poor SWI. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article contextualizes the leadership concept of creative tension by describing the acquisition, processing and digitization of the Ivan Doig Archive at the Montana State University Library. The project is framed as an illustration of strategies that can generate and sustain momentum toward achieving ambitious goals while building staff confidence. Perspectives from library staff and faculty who worked on the project are included alongside the view of the dean and an external organizational development manager. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A primary impact metric for institutional repositories (IR) is the number of file downloads, which are commonly measured through third-party Web analytics software. Google Analytics, a free service used by most academic libraries, relies on HTML page tagging to log visitor activity on Google's servers. However, Web aggregators such as Google Scholar link directly to high value content (usually PDF files), bypassing the HTML page and failing to register these direct access events. This article presents evidence of a study of four institutions demonstrating that the majority of IR activity is not counted by page tagging Web analytics software, and proposes a practical solution for significantly improving the reporting relevancy and accuracy of IR performance metrics using Google Analytics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Researcher services have proliferated in recent years and numerous free or fee-based sites now promise increased visibility and impact for authors or contributors of publications and other research products. Not all services have the same goals, however, and it can be difficult to know with which services researchers should engage. In this article we establish three categories (author/researcher identification, academic/professional networking, and reference/citation management) and examine nineteen services that fit into those categories. Column Editor's Note This JLA column posits that academic libraries and their services are dominated by information technologies, and that the success of librarians and professional staff is contingent on their ability to thrive in this technology-rich environment. The column will appear in odd-numbered issues of the journal, and will delve into all aspects of library-related information technologies and knowledge management used to connect users to information resources, including data preparation, discovery, delivery and preservation. Prospective authors are invited to submit articles for this column to the editor at kenning.arlitsch@montana.edu [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to tolerate ambiguity is an important attribute of successful leaders. In this article the metaphor of off-road motorcycling is used to introduce the concept of ambiguity and the virtues of becoming tolerant and comfortable with the uncertainty that has become a hallmark of information age organizations. Tolerance of Ambiguity is a known leadership concept that also extends to employees. Many employees want to be involved earlier in the planning and decision making process of the organization, but may be uncomfortable with the ambiguity characteristic of early stage planning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This JLA column posits that academic libraries and their services are dominated by information technologies, and that the success of librarians and professional staff is contingent on their ability to thrive in this technology-rich environment. The column will appear in odd-numbered issues of the journal, and will delve into all aspects of library-related information technologies and knowledge management used to connect users to information resources, including data preparation, discovery, delivery and preservation. Prospective authors are invited to submit articles for this column to the editor at kenning.arlitsch@montana.edu. The cost of building library collections continues to increase, forcing librarians to think differently about their budget models. Increasing costs of IT infrastructure needed to connect to information resources also adds to budget concerns. The idea of changing the emphasis of collections budgets to one of broader access is not new, but formally acknowledging the need to support local technology infrastructure and other means of access may offer a new way of promoting the collections budget to university administrators. We propose a budget model that acknowledges these broader requirements and includes concepts of surfacing and discovery, provision, creation, and acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Google is the single largest driver of traffic to library Web sites and digital repositories, and librarians would do well to listen when the search giant reveals information about its practices or makes recommendations. Recently, Google announced that it would begin to favor Web sites that use the secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) in its search results rankings. HTTPS encrypts data transmission and one of Google's stated reasons for this change is to help make the Web safer and minimize data theft. Similar announcements by Google have sometimes been ignored by librarians, to the peril of the visibility and use of library products and services on the Web. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that library data interchange protocols have hurt the relevance of libraries by limiting the utilization of the Internet to connect with patrons. The author argues that libraries' thorough metadata standards and data interchange protocols are not applicable to online search engines, and he is critical of the inconsistency of data interchange efforts such as Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC), the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), and the Encoding Archival Description (EAD).

A new toolkit that helps libraries establish baseline measurements and continuous monitoring of the search engine optimization performance of their digital repositories is one of the products of research funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The "Getting Found" Cookbook includes everything necessary for implementing a Google Analytics dashboard that continuously monitors SEO performance metrics relevant to digital repositories. While the Cookbook has been created for use with Google Analytics, the principles and practices described can be applied to any page tagging analytics software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]