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In recent years we have seen intensive debates over the changes in scholarly practice caused by increased accessibility of digital resources and tools. This has caused an evident and rapid trend towards the development of different information behaviours by scholars: what information resources they are using, how and when. Recent studies of scholarly information behaviour all show significant changes in the ways researchers communicate, publish their works, collaborate, look for information and use it. Studies describe previously unseen patterns of scholarly information behaviour (e.g. skimming, navigating, power browsing, squirrelling, cross-checking). This, in turn, can (or should) have significant impact on the development of the information tools and information services for scholars. The paper first addresses key information concepts in scholarly context (e.g. information, information need, relevance, pertinence, salience, information overload, avoiding information), presents some general characteristics of scholarly information behaviour (e.g. difference between scholars and other users of information, differences between disciplines, individuals, etc.) and some typical examples of information behaviour (e.g. browsing, berrypicking, powerbrowsing, chaining, skimming, squirreling), as well as discusses some implications for information tools and services. In the end some attention is dedicated to issues of digital scholarship.

This paper reports on a research study aiming to identify the user requirements of digital scholarship services (DSS) in university libraries. Due to the exploratory nature of this study, a case study approach was adopted as the overarching methodology. Wuhan University Library (one of the top university libraries in China) was adopted as the case study. Specifically, a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach was employed for the case analysis. A qualitative study was performed aiming to identify and qualify users' DSS requirements. The analysis of qualitative interview data pointed to 17 DSS requirements under five themes: formulating research ideas, locating research partners, writing research proposals, conducting research, and publishing results. Subsequently, a quantitative Kano model analysis was undertaken to validate, verify and prioritise the DSS requirements identified. Based on measuring individual requirements' priority, DSS requirements were classified into four types: must-be, one-dimensional, attractive, and indifference. Finally, a set of strategic suggestions for DSS development were devised. This paper is of interests to library and information science researchers, as well as library managers and professionals. Although the data were collected from a university library in China, the research findings provide useful insights and implications that can be shared across international borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British Library and Qatar National Library have been working in partnership since 2012 to make an extraordinary tranche of material available for everyone to access for free via the Qatar Digital Library. This article delves behind the scenes of the partnership, highlighting some of the operational and workflow lessons learnt when running this major digitisation programme. We look in detail at workflow management and coordination, how to use management information to find efficiencies, as well as providing a supportive team atmosphere for creative use of the collections via 'Hack Days'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key component of the Digital Humanities Librarian's work, the consultation, involves the skills of listening, questioning, parsing, and planning aided by an understanding of the broader digital humanities landscape, project requirements, and the campus environment. Productive consultations provide researchers the direction they need to get their projects started or advanced to the next stage, often resulting in sustained, collaborative engagement that makes assessing the impact of this work challenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Text mining is a method that aids in the analytic process and interpretation of research. Voyant Tools (voyant-tools.org) is an open source text-mining option that is user-friendly and well documented. This tool was chosen as a test study for one of the latest projects, entitled Trials and Triumphs, at Middle Tennessee State University. The Trials and Triumphs project has been reengineered with new content, themes, and connections relating to Tennessee's history between 1865 and 1965. Transformations are not just the subject during this historic time period but are equally met with transformative technical upgrades to the project's previous interpretative layout. Digital Scholarship Initiatives at Middle Tennessee State University's Walker Library tested the application and use of Voyant Tools to determine whether its text analysis capabilities are well suited for the Trials and Triumphs revitalization project (now called Trials, Triumphs, and Transformations: Tennesseans' Search for Citizenship, Community, and Opportunity) and whether its interoperability with Drupal was worth pursuing. The author describes the results of this test study and consequently intends this article to be a practical guide for librarians or similar scholars who develop digital humanities projects, and who are interested in beginning a text mining project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern culture of entertainment is performed across diverse practices and institutions - from Disney to gaming, Hollywood to tourism, museums to commercial consumption - and it prizes being physically and affectively ‘caught up’ in forms of play that transport participants away from everyday reality. Defined in immersive terms, entertainment is pervasive and ideologically compelling. This article explores an analogous relationship between this ubiquitous culture of entertainment and digital scholarship in the critical study of religion. The central case study is an ethnographic and archival project, Materializing the Bible, which examines the social life of scriptures, religious tourism, and processes of material religion. I argue that immersion is a shared imperative between this project of digital scholarship and the empirical phenomenon it seeks to understand. As a contribution to this special issue, the article illustrates how the affordances of working with a digital platform intersect with a theoretical commitment to better understand the relationship between religion and entertainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As knowledge-intensive institutions, universities face many challenges resulting from today's highly dynamic technological environment. While the ways in which learners and researchers engage with digital information resources are complex and diverse, there is a keen awareness of the varying levels of information and digital literacy skills amongst students and academic staff. A university-wide approach to skills development, involving all stakeholders, has been recommended as a valid approach to addressing some of the issues. At the University of Queensland, the Library has led the way with the development of a future-focused strategic framework for information and digital literacy to help shape the University's academic policies and practices. After reviewing the principles that underpin the strategic framework (collaboration, alignment, innovation, sustainability and evaluation), the paper presents some of the key strategies which have been introduced to encourage the development of digital skills in the contexts of undergraduate teaching and learning, digital scholarship and eResearch. It is argued that there is great potential for library staff to extend their reach and serve as digital facilitators, connectors and collaborators, making a significant contribution to successful outcomes in many areas of contemporary academic life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars in the digital humanities and other disciplines utilize a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods in their research. One of these methodologies - textual analysis - can be facilitated by the use of text mining digital tools, such as Voyant, ATLAS.ti, JSTOR Data for Research, and Google's Ngram Viewer. Supporting digital scholarship is an important and expanding role for academic libraries, from providing resources for text mining to collaborating with digital scholars. This paper gives a brief overview of text mining, explores some of the available tools, and discusses limitations and challenges. It also shares examples of text mining projects and examines how libraries can offer expertise and services to support this research, including the provision of corpora for text analysis and the integration of digital tools in courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The University of Connecticut (UConn) Library, in collaboration with the School of Fine Arts and the UConn Humanities Institute and with support from the Andrew W Mellon Foundation, is developing Greenhouse Studios (GS). GS is a scholarly communications research laboratory dedicated to using collaborative models and design principles in the creation of scholarly works. Scholarship laboratories that function as a combination of a scientific research lab and an art studio are a useful means of advancing the methods and outcomes of scholarly communications. We intend to examine whether flattening hierarchies through the GS model is a significant challenge for librarians who work within transactional models of interaction and are closely tied to faculty-driven service models of research support. Other participants typically thought of as supporting faculty are embedded as equal participants in the design process. We will apply qualitative methods to examine whether the GS design process facilitates development of new models of interaction among faculty, librarians, design technologists and other experts. Preliminary experience finds most participants embrace the collaborative model and are energized by the experience. Our assessment will focus on GS techniques as drivers for role and scholarly output changes, how these experiences might translate into changes in library culture or services, and on practical findings related to space, technology usage and administrative hurdles. This paper is the result of a presentation delivered at CNI (the Coalition for Networked Information) in early 20171 and encapsulates our thinking then and now (in early 2018) as we refine our assessment tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CNI-ARL Digital Scholarship Planning Workshop at Brown University, November 8-10, 2017, was an intensive, focused workshop for institutions at all stages of the digital scholarship planning process. This report, based on one participant's experience, touches on some of the highlights and takeaways from the sessions, which focused on campus needs and partnerships; staffing; governance and funding models; the applications of library and other content collections in teaching, learning, and research; student roles in digital scholarship; space and place; and the institutionalization of digital scholarship. A fundamental concept of the workshop was the acknowledgement of the wide variety of models and services digital scholarship can encompass and the critical need for each institution to pursue digital scholarship services that are in line with its strengths and the needs of its particular constituencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past several years, many libraries have been developing institutional repositories to house their Open Access publishing efforts, creating a showcase for their faculty’s research. Some of those same libraries have also been creating sizable digital collections, often built from digitized versions of materials in their special collections. The University of South Florida Tampa Library combined these two groups as a new department, Digital Scholarship Services. The marriage of these two repositories has created new synergies between staff in complementary areas of the library, combining unique skill sets from each group to offer new services to faculty. This article discusses why this change was made, examines some of the benefits and growing pains of this change, and showcases some of the unusual projects that have resulted. These collections not only highlight the university’s work but provide materials professors can use to enhance their course curricula, leveraging technology to engage students in new and innovative ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries are seeking, in fact driving, change on their campuses. The oppressive costs of information are creating the need to unleash new value from information silos and thus are driving the change. This paper identifies the barriers to that change and how, in some cases, they're being overcome. Some of the solutions are technology and some are innovative new spaces that facilitate collaboration and innovation. Examples are identified. In addition, the key roles of connections and cognitive cities are briefly explored as examples of other directions technology is leading. When combined with spaces, the result is entirely new levels of innovation in academic libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarly publishing has long been integral to the mission of the modern research university. Since 2013 Concordia University in Montreal has been working to create a new library-based scholarly press. Concordia University Press has a dual publishing model: electronic books will be made freely available without any restrictions (i.e., open access). Print versions, depending on the project, will also be available for sale to individual readers, libraries, and vendors. This article describes the work that has been done to establish the press, as well as the challenges and opportunities that it and other North American university presses face in an evolving scholarly communications landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital scholarship support in ARL member libraries is an extension of the digital humanities support. ARL member libraries established digital scholarship center by the means of extending the service, service organization restructuring, in collaboration with institutions in and out of campus. Digital scholarship center in ARL member libraries carried out some service measures, such as, establishing relations of cooperation with other departments, carrying out the digital scholarship teaching activities, establishing fellowship, further supporting research of digital scholarship projects, etc. Draw lessons from ARL member libraries, Chinese university libraries should strengthen the contact with the scholarship research institutions on campus, explore appropriate ways of establishment of digital scholarship center, recruit librarians with digital scholarship service ability, carry out digital scholarship related training, and support research of digital scholarship projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial revolution in the era of data influences all works of life, which also brings new opportunities and challenges to the development of libraries.In order to better suit the structural changes born with the new era, this seminar focuses on the changes, opportunities, and challenges faced by the libraries during the new time, discusses functionally-oriented construction of the libraries in the new age and explores strategies planning of the libraries with the core of"sharing"and"specialty".It theoretically gives the full answers to the developmental question "which direction the libraries should go"and provides the theoretical reference to the construction and development of academic libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advocates of the Open Access (OA) movement have been fighting for free and unfettered access to research output since the early 1990s. Open access is a crucial element of a fair, efficient scholarly communication system where all are able to find, interpret, and use the results of publicly-funded research. Universal open access is more possible now than ever before, thanks to networked technologies and the development of open scholarship policies. But what happens after access to research is provided? In this paper I argue that versioning scholarship across varying modes and formats would move scholarly communication from a straightforward open access system to a more engaging environment for multiple communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the advent of online social networking sites, much has been written about their potential for transforming academia, as communication and collaboration underpin many scholarly activities. However, the extent to which these benefits are being realised in practice is unclear. As the uptake of tools by academics continues to grow, there is a question as to whether differences exist in their use and if any patterns or underlying factors are at play. This article presents the results of an online survey addressing this gap. A disciplinary divide was evident in terms of preferred academic social networking platforms, while perceptions about how academics use online networking for different purposes are linked to job position. Exploratory factor analysis identified four components representing different strategies used by academics in their approaches to online networking, including maintaining a personal learning network, promoting the professional self, seeking and promoting publications, and advancing careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The web has had a profound effect on the ways people interact, with online social networks arguably playing an important role in changing or augmenting how we connect with others. However, uptake of online social networking by the academic community varies, and needs to be understood. This paper presents an independent, novel analysis of a large-scale dataset published by Nature Publishing Group detailing the results of a survey about academics use of online social networking services. An open coding approach was used to analyse 480 previously unused text responses. The analysis revealed a wide range of benefits and also problems associated with engaging with online networking, and tensions within this. The analysis provides further insight into the nuances of uptake, by exploring clusters of co-reported benefits and problems within the qualitative analysis. The findings will help move forward current debates surrounding social media use by academics from being viewed in solely beneficial terms, towards an understanding of the problems and tensions that arise through academic work online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There previously has been little research specifically about use of Open Access (OA) content in Ghana for information retrieval and for publication or information sharing, although several articles indicate that the infrastructure and the attitudes are in place. The objectives of this article are (1) to document research scientists’ awareness of OA journals, (2) to determine their attitudes toward OA journal use and publication, and (3) to determine the levels of use of OA materials. This article contributes to the growing body of literature on the potential of OA for the developing world in two ways: it provides information about OA adoption in Ghana, where little research has been done thus far, and it provides information about the beliefs of research scientists in a governmental organization, an area where little research heretofore has been done. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Digital technologies now form an integral feature of the university student experience and there is a range of studies that explore digital technology use within a higher education context. However, very few of these studies focus on how doctoral students engage with digital technologies. This article aims to throw light on the digital practices of doctoral students and advance understandings of the changing nature of digital scholarship for them. Drawing on qualitative, in-depth interviews with 12 PhD students in a UK higher education institution, the article identifies seven distinct types of engagement with digital technologies and discusses the range of issues that underpin doctoral, digital scholarship practices. Furthermore, it argues that although the stereotypical portrayal of the PhD as a “lonely journey” is seen to be in decline, doctoral students at large exist and work “in a vacuum” rather than within interactive doctoral communities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research on scholars’ use of social media suggests that these sites are increasingly being used to enhance scholarly communication by strengthening relationships, facilitating collaboration among peers, publishing and sharing research products, and discussing research topics in open and public formats. However, very few studies have investigated perceptions and attitudes towards social media use for scholarly communication of large cohorts of scholars at national level. This study investigates the reasons for using social media sites for scholarly communication among a large sample of Italian university scholars (N=6139) with the aim of analysing what factors mainly affect these attitudes. The motivations for using social media were analysed in connection with frequency of use and factors like gender, age, years of teaching, academic title, and disciplinary field. The results point out that for the most used tools the influence of the variables examined was higher in shaping scholars’ motivations. In fact, frequency of use, age, years of teaching, and disciplinary field were found to be relevant factors especially for LinkedIn and ResearchGate-Academia.edu, while gender and academic title seemed to have a limited impact on scholars’ motivations for all social media sites considered in the study. Considerations for future research are provided along with limitations of the study.

Lev Manovich posits that new media and the World Wide Web are modular or layered in nature, similar to structural computer programming in that their distinct elements are combinative while retaining independence. Modular structures and systems (such as Lego, mobile apps, computer software, and even language itself) exchange precision, specific connectivity, narrative stability, and a focus on progressive products for flexibility, general compatibility, adaptiveness and a focus on aggregative processes. These attributes are well suited for new knowledge environments: Peter Schillingsburg sees modularity at the heart of dynamic digital collaboration and Susan Brown (et al) liken the modularity of digital projects to the cumulative nature of academic periodicals but caution that such projects are still often judged “as if they were a book,” or by their apparent finishedness. While scholarly journal articles and monographs, as finished products of scholarly activity, are not often constructed to demonstrate modularity or to function as modular components in broader arenas of scholarly communication, they could be reimagined as such (beyond citation). This is something that the NewRadial environment encourages through its modular design and in the kinds of modular scholarly communication that it facilitates. Lev Manovich soutient que les nouveaux médias et le World Wide Web sont de nature modulaire et superposée, semblable à la programmation informatique structurale, en ce sens que leurs éléments distincts sont combinatoires tout en conservant leur indépendance. Les structures et les systèmes modulaires (comme Lego, les applications mobiles, les logiciels, et même le langage lui-même) échangent une précision, une connectivité spécifique, une stabilité narrative, et une attention aux produits progressifs en termes de flexibilité, de compatibilité générale, d'adaptabilité, et d'attention aux procédés agrégatifs. Ces attributs sont bien adaptés aux nouveaux environnements de connaissances: Peter Schillingsburg voit la modularité au cœur de la collaboration numérique dynamique et Susan Brown et al. font un rapprochement entre la modularité des projets numériques et la nature cumulative des revues universitaires, mais précise toutefois que ces projets sont souvent jugés « comme s'ils étaient un livre », ou d'après leur aspect fini apparent. Bien que les articles et les monographies de périodiques, comme produits finis de l'activité érudite, ne sont pas souvent édifiés de façon à démontrer la modularité ou à fonctionner comme éléments modulaires dans les arènes plus vastes de la communication érudite, ils pourraient être ré-imaginés comme tels (au-delà de la citation). C'est un concept que l'environnement NewRadial encourage par l'entremise de sa conception modulaire et dans les types de communication érudite modulaire qu'il facilite.

At Leiden University, it is increasingly recognised that effective data management forms an integral component of responsible research. To actively promote the stewardship of all the research data that are produced at Leiden University, a comprehensive, institution-wide programme was launched in 2015, which centrally aims to encourage its researchers to carefully plan the temporal storage, long-term preservation and potential reuse of their data. This programme, which is managed centrally by the Department of Academic Affairs, and which receives important contributions from academic staff, from Leiden University Libraries, and from the University’s central ICT organisation, basically consists of three parts. Firstly, a basic central policy has been formulated, containing clear guidelines for activities before, during and after research projects. The central aim of this institutional policy is to ensure that all Leiden-based research projects can effectively comply with the most common requirements stipulated by funding agencies, academic publishers, the Dutch standard evaluation protocol and the European data protection directive. As a second part of the data management programme, faculties have organised workshops and meetings, concentrating on the rationale and on the technical and organisational practicalities of effective data management in order to bring about a discipline-specific protocol. Data librarians employed by Leiden University Libraries have developed educational materials and provide training for PhDs in the principles and benefits of good data management. Thirdly, to ensure that scholars can genuinely make a reasoned selection among the many tools that are currently available, a central catalogue was developed which lists and characterises the most relevant data management services. The catalogue currently provides information about, amongst many other aspects, the organisations behind these services, the main academic disciplines which are targeted and the accepted file formats and metadata formats. The various aspects of these facilities have been classified using terminology provided by conceptual models developed by the UKDA, ANDS and the DCC. Using Leiden University’s policy guidelines as criteria, the overall suitability of each service has also been evaluated. Leiden University’s data management programme has a total duration of three years, and its basic objective is to offer a comprehensive form of support, in which the data management policy which is propagated centrally is complemented by various forms of assistance which ought to make it easier for scholars to adhere to this policy. The catalogue of data management services also aims to bolster the implementation of an adequate technical infrastructure, as the qualitative evaluations of the services enable policy-makers and developers to quickly establish gaps or other shortcomings within existing facilities.