Wer heute das Feuilleton der Süddeutschen Zeitung aufschlug, hat es vielleicht bemerkt: Mark Greif, laut SZ „einer der wichtigsten jüngeren Essayisten Amerikas“ hat seinem doppelspaltigen Artikel über die Occupy-Bewegung ein kleines wunderbares Loblieb auf die öffentliche Bibliothek als Institution und Symbol des Gemeinsinns eingeschriebem. (Mark Greif: Eine uralte Sehnsucht. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, Nr. 3/04.01.2012, S. 11) Ein bedrohtes Symbol übrigens, wie die polizeiliche Aussonderungs- und Auflösungsaktion an der Occupy-Bibliothek im Zuccotti Park nur noch einmal mit dem Vorschlaghammer vorführte. Die Occupy-Camps erscheinen Mark Greif als Reanimation des ur-amerikanischen Formats der Zivilgesellschaft: Das Gemeinwesen einer Kleinstadt „mit ihrem Postamt, ihrer städtischen Bücherei, dem Speiselokal – jenen Orten, an denen sich die Bürger der Stadt in einem informellen Rahmen begegnen konnten.“ Der Bestand dieser Bibliotheken ist tatsächlich Medium, nämlich der Vermittlungsgrund auf dem das kommunikative Zusammentreffen, aus dem sich Öffentlichkeit in ihrem politischen Sinne ergibt, entsteht.

Die Räumungsaktion der Bibliothek im Zuccotti-Park ist für Mark Greif gleichermaßen ein Symbol für die Auflösung der Institution Public Library in den USA allgemein:

„Die Bibliothek von Zuccotti Park ist in derseben Weise in den Müll gewandert, wie auch andere Bibliotheken in den USA verschwinden. Bibliotheken, deren Buchbestände aufgelöst werden, um jene „Technikzentren“ zu errichten, die man aufsucht, um auf Facebook und eBay zu gehen und das Netz nach Steuertipps und Pornographie zu durchstöbern – so wie das andere Bürger in den eigenen vier Wänden tun; und Bibliotheken, die man deshalb schließt, weil man sie bei der städtischen Budgetplanung nicht mehr berücksichtigt hat.“

Abgesehen von der etwas sehr moralisierenden Spitze auf das konkrete Nutzerverhalten, tritt in diesem Zitat deutlich ein Strukturwandel in der Bibliotheks- und Medienöffentlichkeit zu Tage, der – bisher abgeschwächt – auch in der Bundesrepublik spürbar ist. Dieser nimmt der in der Kombination von digitalen Rückkanalmedien und Ökonomisierung tatsächlich öffentliche Institutionen – Mark Greif erwähnt auch noch die US Post, der so langsam das Verhältnis von infrastrukturellem Aufwand zu Bilanz entgleitet und für die es rührende Rettungsaktionen gibt – zunehmend von der Bildfläche und bevorzugt bestimmte Lebensstilgruppen gegenüber anderen. Dass diese neben höherer Bildung (also idealerweise höherem Einkommen) auch eine größerer Affinität zu bestimmten Erlebnisformen und besonders zum Konsum allgemein aufweisen, liegt in der Natur der Sache.

Denn hinter dieser Entwicklung steckt in gewisser Weise die umfassende Entfaltung kapitalistischer Prinzipien in unser post-traditionellen Sozialsphäre: Mediennutzung und Kommunikation werden privatisiert und in dieser privaten Variante zugleich massiv in ehemals oder noch öffentliche Räume getragen. Digitale Medien tragen zweifellos auch zur Erhöhung von Teilhabechancen bei. Das internetfähige Smartphone ermöglicht es aber auch, in eine Allgegenwart des Geldausgebens zu tauchen. Die digitale Revolution liegt immer auch in den Händen von den Vodafone, Facebook und Apple. Die dominanten Strukturen und Akteure lassen bestimmte Spielräume zu, bauen zugleich jedoch auf die Erzeugung von Abhängigkeiten. Die Instrumente des Personal Branding, der Selbstvermarktung in den Sozialen Netzwerken von XING bis Twitter, totalisieren den Wettbewerb gegenüber der Gemeinschaft. Ein Facebook-Profil und -Netzwerk sind Anlagen des persönlichen (sozialen) Humankapitals und in den AGBs stecken die Spielregeln für Teilhabe an der digitalen Weltgemeinschaft so wie im BGB die für das nationale Miteinander.

Der Buchbestand einer kommunalen Bibliothek lässt sich nicht zuletzt als manifestes gemeinschaftliches Vermögen auch in der Bedeutung potentiellen Orientierungs- und Handlungswissens verstehen. Die digitalen Kommunikationen und Zugriffe auf Medienschnipsel sind dagegen unüberschaubar virtuell, permanent in Veränderung und hinterlassen in jeder Browserverlaufsgeschichte andere Spuren. In der konkreten Nutzung mag der Unterschied gar nicht mal so gravierend sein. Auf der symbolischen Ebene ist es jedoch eine gewaltige Verschiebung. Und das nicht nur, weil in digitalen Netzen jeder Zugriff protokolliert, bewertet und bei Bedarf abgerechnet werden kann.

Das Ersetzen des Eigenwertes der öffentlichen Bibliothek als Baustein der Gemeinschaft durch den Erwartungshorizont der Kosten-Leistungsrechung und Budgetierung führt schließlich bisweilen dazu, dass man sie als obsolet aus den kommunalen Finanzplanungen, die eben weitgehend vordergründig berechenbare Werte heranziehen, einfach streicht. Dadurch aber, dass man dabei eben nicht nur eine städtische Luxusausgabe reduziert, sondern ein grundlegendes Symbol von Gemeinschaft löscht, stützt man bestimmte gesellschaftliche Tendenzen, gegen die sich unter anderem die Occupy-Bewegung ausspricht. Der Stadtkämmerer berücksichtigt diese Dimension naturgemäß in den seltensten Fällen. Er freut sich seiner professionellen Spezialisierung entsprechend, wenn er Kosten externalisieren oder verringern kann. Im Sinne eines sozialen Ausgleichs ist jede Schließung einer Bibliothek aber ein deutliches politisches Signal gegen die Gemeinschaft. Das Verschwinden öffentlicher Räume, von denen öffentliche Bibliotheken eine Variante sind, steht immer auch für das Verschwinden einer Alternative zum rein Ökonomischen. Nach der Erosion von Tradition und Glauben bleibt uns dahingehend nicht mehr viel. Die Occupy-Bewegung in den USA versucht sich nun einen solchen Raum zurückzuerschließen und – so Mark Greif – an die Idee der Demokratie in Amerika wieder ernsthaft anzuschließen. „Aber kann [...] das“, so der Essayist, „überhaupt gelingen ohne unsere Bibliothek, ohne die Bücher, die wir liebgewonnen haben und die unsere Spuren tragen, ohne einen Ort, an dem wir Fremde treffen können, die dieselbe Idee von Amerika haben wie wir, ohne den Anspruch auf ein kleines Fleckchen Land, kurz: ohne unseren Park?“

Das kalifornische Newport Beach ist nicht nur die Wahlheimat Jürgen Klinsmanns sondern momentan auch dafür bekannt, dass sie die dortige Public Library zwar public bleibt, jedoch zugleich zur bookless library wird. Wie die Los Angeles Times am verdächtigen 01.04. aber doch wohl wahrheitsgetreu berichtete, ergab eine Analyse des Nutzungsverhaltens, dass der Griff zum Buch nicht mehr Kern der Benutzung ist. (Mike Reicher (01.04.2011): Tomes’ time might be up at Newport Beach library. latimes.com) Vielmehr wird die Bibliothek hauptsächlich als gratis Internet-Café benutzt:

“Most visit the branches to study, to plug their laptops into work spaces or to use computers with Internet connections.”

Was freilich die Frage aufwirft, inwieweit sich die Bibliothek dann noch von einer Starbucks-Filiale unterscheidet. Vielleicht dadurch, dass es in einer von beiden keinen Skinny Caramel Macchiato gibt. Und in der anderen keinen Kamin. So ganz ohne Bücher muss die leergeräumte Newport Public Library aber auch dann nicht bleiben, denn die Nutzer können sich bei Bedarf noch ein Exemplar von extern liefern lassen:

“So Newport Beach is weighing a Netflix-like system in which readers could order books and then pick them up from lockers at an “electronic library,” a 2,200-square-foot room with a central fireplace and a kiosk where patrons could select titles online.”

So gemütlich hat man sich die “elektronische Bibliothek” dereinst in den frühen Bibliotheksutopien selten vorgestellt. Der On-Demand-Service ist jedoch nur konsequent und bei genügender Nachfrage könnte man sich nach ein paar Jahren vielleicht überlegen, einen kleinen Handapparat mit einem Präsenzbestand einzurichten. Was das Personal angeht, so geht man von einer Art Call-Center-Prinzip aus:

“Instead of a reference librarian, patrons would be greeted by a kiosk equipped with video-calling software that would allow them to speak with employees elsewhere.”

Selbst den Beteiligten Akteuren ist unklar, inwieweit die buchfreie Bibliothek tatsächlich auf Gegenliebe stößt, auch wenn die Bestandsnutzung sich mitunter nur noch wie folgt darstellt:

“One person slipped into the stacks — but only to make a cellphone call in private.”

Begleitet wird die kalifornische Neuererbewegung übrigens, wie so oft, durch Sparauflagen.

Neben der Frage nach dem Erfolg des Modells (“Past attempts to change the traditional library model have not always worked out.”) stellt sich für uns eine zweite, nämlich, inwieweit ein solcher Trend auch auf das deutsche Bibliothekswesen übertragbar wäre. Der Artikel in der LA Times enthält möglicherweise einen entscheidenden Hinweis:

“You don’t want to be like the railroads and go out of business.”

Vielleicht ticken Kulturen in bestimmten Bereichen doch verschieden.

In a move that underscores the vibrancy and international nature of the information field, the iCaucus has announced the host institutions for its upcoming conferences.

iConference 2012 will take place in Toronto, Canada, hosted by the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information. iConference 2013 will return to the U.S., where it will be hosted by the College of Information at the University of North Texas, in Denton, TX. For 2014 the iConference will move to Berlin, Germany, where it will be hosted by the Berlin School of Library and Information Science at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, in partnership with the following European iSchools: the School of Information and Library Studies at University College Dublin (Ireland); the Royal School of Library and Information Science (Denmark); and the Information School at the University of Sheffield (England).

“On behalf of the iCaucus, I would like to express our gratitude to the hosts of our upcoming seventh, eighth, and ninth annual conferences,” said iCaucus Chair Harry Bruce, dean of the Information School at the University of Washington. “The iConference is a signature event for iScholars and information researchers, and in its first decade has grown into a significant international gathering. Ours is a multidiscipline field, and the iConference serves to bring together information scholars and professionals from myriad backgrounds.”

The iConference is an annual gathering of information researchers and professionals who share a passion for making a difference through the study of people, information, and technology. It attracts faculty, students, and researchers, as well as government and private-sector professionals. All are welcome to join this shared, onsite experience that fosters interaction, spontaneity, reflection, and forward movement.

This year’s conference, iConference 2011, is hosted by the University of Washington, and takes place in Seattle, WA, February 8–11. Registration is open now at http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/registration/

Plans are already underway for iConference 2012, which will be hosted by the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. Dates will be announced shortly. This seventh annual gathering represents the first time the iConference has taken place outside the U.S.

Information on iConference 2013 in Denton, TX, and iConference 2014 in Berlin, Germany, will be forthcoming as available.

For more information, contact iCaucus Communications Specialist Clark Heideger at (206) 685-8746; iclark@uw.edu.

We’re pleased to announce that the complete conference agenda for the iConference 2011 is now available at

http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/program/

Topics for papers, workshops and posters at iConference 2011 include:

Collaboration
eGovernment
Health information and informatics
Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience Design (HCI/UX)
Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D)
Information management
Information security
Information in society
Knowledge organization
Social media

In addition to two keynotes from visionaries in the field of information
science, Colin B. Burke and Susan Dumais, the conference will also feature
industry panels on “Privacy in the Cloud” and “Big Data.” Also
offered is an insider tour of the Microsoft Corporate Campus.

Attendees who register by December 14 receive a discount on registration.
Full-time students may attend at a discounted rate.

http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/registration/

*************************************************************

iConference 2011: Early-bird registration available through Dec. 14, 2010

8-11 February, 2011, Seattle, USA

http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/2011index/

*************************************************************

Register today for the iConference: http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/registration/

iConference2011_RegisterToday

The 6th International Digital Curation Conference will be held from 6th to 8th December 2010 at the Chicago Mart Plaza, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Its theme, *Participation and Practice: Growing the Curation Community through the Data Decade*,* *focuses on the way in which data curation practices are evolving and spreading throughout the disciplines and, consequently, what institutional structures and communities are needed to help support these developments.
Registration for the conference is open at http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/conferences/6th-international-digital-curation-conference

*/Register as an early bird by 19th November and save $50.00 !
*/ A reduced rate of $150.00 will also be available for a limited number of postgraduate and postdoctoral research students.

– Maeve Reilly
Research and communications coordinator
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
University of Illinois
mjreilly@illinois.edu
(217) 244-7316

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Jean Tague Sutcliffe Doctoral Student Research Poster Competition
Submission Deadline:  October 1, 2010
Notification of Acceptance:  November 1, 2010

About the Jean Tague Sutcliffe Doctoral Student Research Poster Competition

The Doctoral Student Research Poster Competition offers doctoral
students an opportunity to share information about their research
projects with the LIS community.  Posters will be judged on the
significance of the research topic to the LIS field, the
appropriateness of research design and methodology, and a concise
description of the results, as well as on the organization, clarity,
and aesthetics of the poster.

This competition has been established in memory of Jean Tague
Sutcliffe, professor and former dean of the Graduate School of Library
and Information Science at the University of Western Ontario (now the
Faculty of Information and Media Studies). During her thirty-year
career, Professor Sutcliffe’s research on the measurement of
information made significant contributions to the theoretical,
methodological and practical foundations of library and information
science.  This award, established by students at UWO in 1997, also
recognizes Professor Sutcliffe’s dedication to the education of
information professionals by awarding a certificate and a $250 cash
prize to the first-place winner.

Eligibility

Only one submission per student is permitted.
Only doctoral students who have completed or are near completion of
their doctoral dissertation research (e.g., the core data have been
analyzed; the student is at the stage of drawing conclusions from the
research findings) are eligible to enter this competition.
Students whose posters are accepted must submit a final copy of the
poster as a PDF by November 29, 2010. Failure to submit a poster at
this time will result in elimination from the competition.
Students whose posters are accepted are required to register for and
attend the ALISE 2011 Conference in San Diego, CA on January 4-7,
2011.
Submission Requirements

To enter the Jean Tague Sutcliffe Doctoral Student Research Poster
Competition, please submit a 500 word structured abstract in plain
text format via the online form at

https://surveys.scilsnet.rutgers.edu/TakeSurvey.asp?SurveyID=33H6861I3n2KG

No submissions will be accepted via e-mail; all submissions must be
sent through the online form listed above.
The final submission deadline is October 1, 2010, and posters are
accepted on a first-come first-served basis.
Judging Criteria

Posters will be judged according to the following criteria on a scale of 1-5:

Practical, theoretical and statistical significance:  The discovery
has broad application and benefit for practice, forwards the
understanding of theory or sets important new theoretical direction,
and results are statistically significant or provide a persuasive
basis for argument.
Design and Method:  Design is logical and appropriate to the problem
or research question(s), and method(s) of data collection and analysis
are appropriate, well-described and demonstrate meaningful results.
Oral Presentation:  Presentations are clear and to-the-point, no
longer than necessary to describe broadly the overall nature of the
problem, the design and methodology, the results and their
implications.
Organization, clarity and aesthetics of visual materials:  Posters
should be well-organized, attractive, could be interpreted without
oral presentation, and are coherent with oral presentation.
Poster Guidelines

The Doctoral Poster Session Co-conveners are currently evaluating
additional poster guidelines pending information about the venue in
San Diego.  Students whose abstracts meet submission requirements will
be notified about final sizes and formats as soon as possible.

Questions?

Please direct any questions regarding the ALISE Jean Tague Sutcliffe
Doctoral Student Research Poster Competition to:

Nicole Alemanne (nalemanne[at]fsu.edu) or

Nicole Cooke (Nicole.Cooke[at]Rutgers.edu)

iConference 2011
An open conference sponsored by Information Schools of North America, Europe,
and Asia.
Seattle, Washington, USA
February 8 – 11, 2011

http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/2011index/

***SUBMISSION DEADLINE: August 30, 2010***

Greetings to everyone!

We are now just two weeks from the August 30 submission deadline for iConference
2011. This is the date on which full papers will be due, as well as poster
abstracts and alternative events proposals.

The 2011 iConference will be our sixth annual gathering of researchers and
professionals who share the goal of making a difference through the study of
people, information, and technology. The event will showcase diversity in
research interests and approaches, and demonstrate how the field creates
leadership and impact on a global scale.

The four days will include peer-reviewed papers, posters, and alternative
events. Also being organized is a Doctoral Student Colloquium (the application
deadline is November 1) and a Junior Faculty & Postdoc Colloquium. The event
will be held at Seattle’s Renaissance Hotel, locally hosted by the University of
Washington Information School. Papers and poster abstracts will be published in
the ACM Digital Library.

Authors and organizers can now submit full papers, poster abstracts, and
alternative events proposals at http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/participation/.
The link for author registration and the submission process appears under the
“Instructions for Authors” header. All submitting authors must also provide
basic information and agree to copyright parameters as a condition of acceptance
and publication.

Preconference workshop ideas can be emailed directly to Program Co-Chair Karen
Fisher: fisher@uw.edu.

The iConference is sponsored by the iCaucus, a growing association of over 25
Schools, Faculties, and Colleges in North America, Europe and Asia that focus on
Information. Sponsors include Microsoft Research, Intelius, Serials Solutions,
WebJunction, Washington Research Foundation, and The Seattle Public Library. Our
aim is to build community and promote and share excellence in research on
information challenges and opportunities.

Timeline:
August 30, 2010:  Deadline for Full Papers, Poster Abstracts, Alternative Event
proposals, Preconference Workshops

November 1:       Authors notified; Doctoral Colloquium applications due
December 1:       Final versions submitted

6th International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC10)
“Participation & Practice: Growing the curation community through the data decade”.
6 – 8 December 2010, Chicago, USA

**************************************************************************
We are pleased to announce that the Paper Submission date for IDCC10 has been extended by 2 weeks. The Call will now close at 1700 BST (that’s 1600 UTC, 1800 CEST, 12pm EDT, 9am PDT) on Monday 9 August 2010.
Submissions can be in the form of an abstract (maximum of 1000 words) for practice based papers or a full paper (maximum 12 pages) for research based papers.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) will provide limited travel awards for graduate students whose papers are accepted for the conference.

Presenting at the conference offers you the chance to:-
- Share good practice, skills and knowledge transfer
- Influence and inform future digital curation policy & practice
- Test out curation resources and toolkits
- Explore collaborative possibilities and partnerships
- Engage educators and trainers with regard to developing digital curation skills for the future
Full details and a submission template can be found at

http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/conferences/6th-international-digital-curation-conference/papers

The Call for Poster/Demos will close on 1 September 2010

Details of the draft programme can be found at:-

http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/conferences/6th-international-digital-curation-conference/programme

Conference registration will open on 1 September 2010

Sent on behalf of IDCC10 Programme Committee
Co-chaired by Kevin Ashley – Director of the Digital Curation Centre (DCC), Liz Lyon – Associate Director of the DCC, Allen Renear and Melissa Cragin – Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois, Clifford Lynch, Executive Director of CNI

– Maeve Reilly
Research and communications coordinator
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
University of Illinois
mjreilly@illinois.edu
(217) 244-7316

Seattle, Washington, USA, February 8 – 11, 2011

http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/2011index/

***SUBMISSION DEADLINE: August 30, 2010***

Greetings to everyone!
We are now accepting submissions for iConference 2011, our sixth annual gathering of researchers and professionals who share the goal of making a
difference through the study of people, information, and technology. The event
will showcase diversity in research interests and approaches, and demonstrate
how the field creates leadership and impact on a global scale.

The four days will include peer-reviewed papers, posters, and alternative
events. Also being organized is a Doctoral Student Colloquium and a Junior
Faculty Camp; Postdoc Colloquium, popular venues at past iConferences. The event will be held at Seattle’s Renaissance Hotel, and the local host is the
University of Washington Information School. Papers and poster abstracts will be
published in the ACM Digital Library.

Authors and organizers can now submit papers, poster abstracts, and alternative
events proposals at http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/participation/. The
link for author registration and the submission process appears under the
“Instructions for Authors” header. All submitting authors must provide basic
information and agree to copyright parameters as a condition of acceptance and
publication. Preconference workshop ideas can be emailed directly to Program Co-Chair Karen Fisher: fisher@uw.edu.
The iConference is sponsored by the iCaucus, a growing association of over 25
Schools, Faculties, and Colleges in North America, Europe and Asia that focus on
Information. Sponsors include Microsoft Research, Intelius, Serials Solutions,
WebJunction, Washington Research Foundation, and The Seattle Public Library. Our aim is to build community and promote and share excellence in research on
information challenges and opportunities.

Call for Participation: Information Interaction in Context IIiX 2010, New
Brunswick, NJ

==============================
Information Interaction in Context 2010
http://www.iiix2010.org/
==============================

[Early bird registration: July 31, 2010]

[Conference August 18-22, 2010]

Conference program: http://www.iiix2010.org/program/

The Information Interaction in Context conference ( IIiX ) explores the
relationships between and within the contexts that affect information
retrieval and information seeking, how these contexts impact
information behavior, and how knowledge of information contexts and
behaviors improves the design of interactive information systems.

The intention of IIiX is to foster an integrated approach to
information access by bringing together members of the research
communities in information seeking behavior, interactive information
retrieval, and information retrieval system design.

Registration information: http://www.iiix2010.org/registration/

HCIR WORKSHOP

The 4th Annual Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction and Information
Retrieval (HCIR 2010) will be held in conjunction with IIiX 2010. HCIR
is the study of information retrieval (IR) techniques that bring human
intelligence into the search process. It combines research from the
fields of human-computer interaction (HCI) and IR, placing an emphasis
on human involvement in search activities. Additional details can be
found at: http://www.iiix2010.org/hcir-workshop/ .

IMPORTANT DATES (ALL 2010)

JULY 31 Early bird registration deadline
AUGUST 18-22 IIiX Conference, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Call For Participation for iConference 2011, slated for Feb. 8-11 in Seattle.

The goal of iConference 2011 is to create an unparalleled intellectual experience that focuses on information challenges and opportunities, while at the same time promoting excellence in research and building community. Our four-day format will include papers, posters, workshops and myriad alternative events. Also being organized is a Doctoral Student Colloquium and a Junior Faculty & Postdoc Colloquium, popular venues at past iConferences. All will be offered in a shared, onsite experience that fosters interaction, spontaneity, reflection, and forward movement.

Mehr Informationen gibt es unter:

http://www.ischools.org/iConference11/participation/

Visiting Research Professor / Scientist

School of Information Sciences

University of Pittsburgh

The School of Information Sciences (http://www.ischool.pitt.edu) at the University of Pittsburgh is seeking a one year visiting research scientist to engage in collaborative research projects with faculty members in the School, for all or part of the 2010-2011 academic year.

The position could supplement a sabbatical leave for a senior scholar or provide the entire funding for a less senior scholar (e.g., assistant or associate professor) or post-doctoral fellow. Rank and title will be subject to the successful candidate’s qualifications. The School is seeking candidates with a strong commitment to research in areas such as cyberinfrastructure, sustainable computing, digital libraries, geoinformatics, health informatics, human centered computing, information privacy and security, intelligent information access, semantic web, social computing, or related topics (such as the new doctoral studies emphasis in “working memory”). A record of collaboration with other scholars is required, as the visiting scholar will be engaged in research projects and the development of multi-disciplinary collaborative proposals by faculty within the School.

The School of Information Sciences is a top ranked information school (iSchool) offering a wide variety of multidisciplinary opportunities, including programs leading to Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees. The iSchool at Pitt emphasizes the synthesis of people, information and technology, and offers opportunities for research, instruction, and service spanning the diverse needs and interests of an information-intensive, multi-cultural, and increasingly digital society.

Applicants should send a letter of interest, their curriculum vitae and the names (including address, e-mail and phone number) of three references to the search chair, Dr. Daqing Hé, at sisvisit@sis.pitt.edu. For full consideration, applications must be received by May 1, 2010. However, the position will remain open until filled. The position is open to renewal for additional years, dependent on the incumbent’s record of achievement and the availability of both internal and external funding.

The University of Pittsburgh is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer and strongly encourages women and candidates from underrepresented minorities to apply.

by Mellina Stucky

University of North Texas College of Information will become the first public university in the state to begin a focused discussion on an open access policy for faculty’s scholarly articles when it hosts its Open Access Symposium at 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. May 18 at the Gateway Center. The symposium is intended to move UNT and other academic institutions in Texas forward in consideration of institutional open access policies which make faculty members’ scholarly articles available to the public for free. During the symposium, faculty members and administrators will be presented with the benefits, opportunities, and implications of adopting the policies.

Sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, the College of Information and UNT Libraries, the symposium may be the catalyst to position UNT as a state leader in open access, says Martin Halbert, dean of the UNT Libraries.

Before becoming the dean last fall, Halbert was director of digital innovations for the libraries at Emory University in Atlanta, where the Faculty Council approved a motion last year to allow the Library Policy Committee and Center for Faculty Development and Excellence to embark on a series of open access conversations with faculty groups before developing an open access/rights retention policy for the university.

Scholarly journal publishers are increasingly allowing authors to place copies of their peer-reviewed publications in the institutions’ digital repositories on the World Wide Web. The universities’ repositories are usually maintained by their library staffs.

“A UNT plan toward open access to materials created by faculty will depend on how progressive our faculty wishes to be in promoting their research,” Halbert says. “Campus repositories are not intended to replace publishers of scholarly journals, but they do offer many advantages for digital dissemination and preservation of published research. By implementing an open access policy at UNT, our researchers will have a greater impact by reaching a much broader audience.”

Past research has shown that scholarly articles that are the easiest to find on the Internet tend to be the most frequently cited by other scholars and journalists, he says.

William Moen, an associate professor in the College of Information and co-organizer of the Open Access Symposium, says electronic access to a scholarly article doesn’t threaten the article’s copyright. The copyright protects intellectual property even if access is given openly on the Web, he says.

“Many scholarly association publishers already allow authors to self archive versions of their articles in an institution’s repository, but faculty members may be violating publishers’ copyright policies when they place their articles on their personal web sites,” Moen says. “A faculty member can still put the name of the article on his or her web site and the link to the institutional repository.”

More information about the symposium and its speakers and open access can be found at http://openaccess.unt.edu, or contact Moen at 940-565-2473 or William.moen@unt.edu.

Office of External Affairs and Alumni Relations
University of North Texas College of Information
1155 Union Circle #311068
Denton, TX 76203-5017
www.coi.unt.edu
940.565.3565

Die Anmeldungen für die iConference 2010 in Illinois (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) laufen. Hier noch einige Informationen über die keynote speaker:

For more information on the iConference, visit
www.ischools.org/iConference10/2010index/.