Required Reading:

• OCLC : Starting the Conversation: University-wide Research Data Management Policy
  • “A call for action that summarizes the benefits of systemic data management planning and identifies the stakeholders and their concerns. It suggests that the library director proactively initiate a conversation among these stakeholders to get buy-in for a high-level, responsible data planning and management policy that is proactive, rather than reactive. It also addresses the various topics that should be discussed and provides a checklist of issues to help the discussion result in a supportable and sustainable policy.”
• Chronicle : Born Digital, Projects Need Attention to Survive
  • “A team . . . often based in academic libraries or digital-scholarship centers-has to conduct regular inspections and make sure that today’s digital scholarship doesn’t become tomorrow’s digital junk.
    . . .
    Mr. Daigle advises scholars who want to pursue digital-humanities work to consult with their librarians and put long-term archiving strategies in place early on. ‘Think about the life cycle of preservation,” he says. “The more you do that, the longer it’s going to be around, and that is time well spent.'”
• The Tyee : What’s Driving Chaotic Dismantling of Canada’s Science Libraries?
  • On the ongoing dismantling of government research libraries in Canada
  • “I saw a private consultant firm working for Manitoba Hydro back up a truck and fill it with Manitoba data and materials that the public had paid for. I was profoundly saddened and appalled.”