Minutes of April 16, 2009 Meeting
- Present:
- Grace Agnew, Tom Frusciano (recorder), Helen Hoffman, Linda Langschied, Rhonda Marker, Jim Niessen, Bob Sewell, Jeffery Triggs, and Ryan Womack
1. E-Journal Development
Linda Langschied reported on new developments regarding RUL and E-journals. Representatives of the New Jersey Historical
Commission and editorial staff of New Jersey History prompted discussions with RUIL to host the journal. The New Jersey
Historical Society, the journal's former publisher, had to cease publishing because of financial problems. Linda
suggested that RUL host the publication under the New Jersey Digital Highway umbrella. Grace and Linda performed a cost
analysis for publishing New Jersey History, and Jeanne Boyle has engaged in issues of copyright and author's agreements.
A three-person management team has been established that includes Marc Mappen, Executive Director of the New Jersey
Historical Commission, Peter Mickulas, Editor of New Jersey History, and Marianne Gaunt, University Librarian. A
memorandum of agreement between all parties has been drafted and is under review for eventual signature.
The committee held a full discussion on E-journal development at RUL in general and the specifics involved with hosting
New Jersey History. Based on past experience it was agreed in principle to require these conditions in order to
standardize workflow and keep it manageable:
- new journals should be open access only (no registration-based journals)
- there will be no customization with special features
- ideally there should be a three-party (editor, Rutgers unit, UL) or at least two-party (Rutgers unit, UL) publishing agreement
- there will be no multimedia, ie compound objects, and only flat illustrations
- we cannot provide paper editions (RUL Journal is a special case).
Grace pointed out the importance of addressing work involved with the OJS platform, including the cost of maintenance
and possible upgrade. Linda suggested that she perform the cost analysis again to get the true costs to RUL, and adjust
fees to the journal creator accordingly. The committee also strongly suggested that liaisons become involved with future
faculty proposals for new journal development.
2. Bulk Deposits
Rhonda reviewed the draft letter to the faculty that would be sent by liaisons. The committee offered several changes.
Jim said that he would implement the changes and distribute the letter at Friday's meeting of the New Brunswick
Collections Group. One issue that needs to be resolved with faculty deposits concerns technical issues regarding Google
Scholar.
3. Updates
Rhonda provided some updates on projects:
- Special Collections and University Archives have proposed five digital projects. The first of the projects, the Peter Still Papers (19th century collection regarding slavery) is underway. Spencer Crew, who presented an address on the Still family for the annual Bishop Lecture, has signed a release for that will enable RUL to use the recording of his presentation.
- Kevin Mulcahy and Rhonda met with Meredith McGill of the English Department / Center for Cultural Analysis to secure permission to digitize and ingest posters of special events into RUcore.
- Other areas to explore include Area Studies, particularly the World Language Institute and Language Laboratory; Electronic New Jersey curriculum modules developed and residing on at RUL since 1997, and medieval leaves in Special Collections. The latter have already been digitized for the consortium project Digital Scriptorium but as a condition of external funding they cannot be made available via RUcore in advance of being made available via Digital Scriptorium.
Jim provided these updates:
- SPARC announced that Open Access Week in October (after the campus forum on scholarly communication) will feature a SPARKY contest for the best video production on open access. Triveni offered to facilitate Rutgers entries, perhaps in conjunction with the Fordam Lab, and we could publicize student entries in conjunction with the campus forum. The committee applauded Triveni's initiative and encouraged her to investigate further.
- In consultation with Harry Glazer, it was agreed to approach Rutgers Focus about a news story on scholarly communication that would highlight research findings that open access increases impact. Focus responded positively, but due to the end of the semester it was agreed to delay the story until the fall and make the connection to the upcoming forum.