(This conference is now concluded - for details of the current conference SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE ACADEMY please click here)

FOURTH BLOOMSBURY CONFERENCE ON E-PUBLISHING AND E-PUBLICATIONS,
24 & 25 JUNE 2010

Valued Resources: Roles and Responsibilities of Digital Curators and Publishers

An independent conference organised from the Centre for Publishing/Department of Information Studies at University College London, co-sponsored by the US Institute of Museum and Library Services

Videos of the presentations below can be seen here courtesy of River Valley TV.

Theme of the Conference:

This fourth conference in a highly successful series, this year co-sponsored by the UCL Department of Information Studies and the US Institute of Museum and Library Services, is centred on datasets and databases, on how scholars create and use them, on how librarians through repositories aim to organise, maintain and preserve the content, and how publishers are beginning to want to link their publications to these resources and also bring their own skills to bear on the processes involved. A central concept is digital curation, a concept that provides a comprehensive view of the creation and management of digital data.

It is however recognised that data in its various forms is only one resource valued by scholars in addition and closely related to publications and speakers will have been asked to keep the wider picture in view. It is also recognised that practices among researchers in different disciplines vary considerably and there will be a number of presentations on the second day of the conference describing how scholars in particular areas create, share and maintain their datasets or contribute to disciplinary databases and databanks

This conference is unique in its breadth of coverage and its independent and scholarly approach to practical implementation. It will be essential for those scholars, publishers and librarians who wish to understand the role of data in the research cycle and their own responsibilities in relation to datasets and databases

Contributions of scholars themselves are particularly sought. There are special rates from those from academic addresses. Scholars from different disciplines or even research teams have very different ways of creating and using data – see for example LINL{http://www.rin.ac.uk/news/press/life-scientists-information-use-one-size-does-not-fit-all}TO{http://www.rin.ac.uk/news/press/life-scientists-information-use-one-size-does-not-fit-all}. The realities of scholar behaviour must be understood by the information professionals seeking to serve scholarship.

Publishers have always emphasised the value they add in the creation of publications but they are now beginning to understand publications as one part of the research process albeit an important one. To provide scholars with a seamless process of discovery they have to link to content in datasets and databases but what and how and how also do they deal with the supplementary materials now more and more coming their way. What are their responsibilities?

Archiving and preservation has always been seen as a central responsibility for librarians. Executing this traditional role in the digital environment and in the context of the changing nature of the profession has challenged the way librarians relate to scholars and to publishers. The changing role of repositories and the potential for e-university presses to become part of institutional based endeavours are areas where pilot projects are being actively pursued. Part of the aim of the conference is to share understanding within the wider community which registrants will represent.


Programme

As in previous events in the series, the conference will be an international one with a strong transatlantic flavour and there will be a mix of research presentations intended to provide a clear conceptual framework interspersed with other presentations reporting on exemplary projects and on experience in specific disciplines or sub-disciplines.

All speakers listed are confirmed.

There will breaks during both days for refreshments and networking and lunch is provided for attendees on both days. There will be time at the end of each session for questions and discussion


DAY ONE: THURSDAY 24 JUNE

09-00 Registration and Coffee

09-45 to 10- 30 Welcome to the Conference from Professor David Nicholas of CIBER/UCL, the director of the department of Information Studies, Dr. Joyce Ray of the Institute of Museums and Library Studies in Washington DC and Professor David Baker, Deputy Chair of the Board of JISC followed by an introduction to the conference by the chair and organizer Anthony Watkinson (Senior Lecturer, Centre for Publishing, University College London)

10-30 to 12-30 Framing the Discussion – Different Perspectives from Kevin Ashley. Director of the JISC Digital Curation Centre, Wilma Mossink the legal advisor of the Surf Foundation in the Netherlands, and Dr. Eefke Smit, Director of Technology and Standards International Association of Science Technical and Medical Publishers.

12-30 to 13-30 Lunch

13-30 to 15-30 Research on Researchers by three leading information scientists drawing on recent studies. The presentations by Professor Carol Tenopir of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Professor Carole Palmer of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Dr. Michael Jubb the director of the Research Information Network will be pooling their knowledge of the use of data by scholars.

15-30 to 16-00 Break for Refreshments

16-00 to 18-00 Context. In this session Ed Pentz the Executive Director of CrossRef will examine identifiers and concepts of trust followed by Adam Farquhar the head of Digital Library Technology at the British Library, who will concentrate on the DataCite consortium. The session will be concluded the consultant Neil Beagrie on the archiving and preservation of data in particular the Dryad project

All speakers and those attending the conference are invited to a reception at University College London for further discussion of the themes of the conference, which will take place following the final session of the day.


DAY TWO – FRIDAY 25th JUNE

9-30 to 11-15 Digital Curation. From Penn State University, the co-directors of the office of digital scholarly publishing Mike Furlough the assistant dean for scholarly communications, and Patrick Alexander the director of the university press describe their collaboration and the projects they are involved with. In the same session Scott Brandt the associate dean for research in Purdue University Libraries, and Charles Watkinson the director of the university press, describe their own collaboration, existing and future plans.

11-15 to 11-45 Break for Refreshments

11-45 to 13-00 Disciplinary practices and different content I. In this session and the session after lunch, authorities on particular disciplines will describe the way scholars in their area create, use, share and keep data and other valued resources. Questions and discussion will be at the end of the session after lunch. In this first session Toby Green (Head of Publishing at OECD) will describe the special place of data from official sources and Dr. Bill Town of Kilmorie Consulting who will provide an overview for the chemical sciences

13-00 to 14-00 Lunch

14-00 to 15-30 Disciplinary practices and different content II continued from morning sessions will include as speakers Dr. Claire Warwick, Director of the Digital Humanities Centre at University College London, who will look at the humanities, and Dr. Peter Burnhill, director of EDINA, who will consider the social sciences.

15-30 to 16-00 Break for Refreshments

16-00 to 18-00 Future hopes and visions from Professor Stefan Gradmann of Humboldt University Berlin, Dr. Paul Ayris, Director of the Library Services at University College London and member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force and concluding with a vision from Dr. Clifford Lynch, Director of the Coalition for Networked Information .



Audience:

The conference is intended for publishers, librarians and other professionals, students in appropriate areas including those from the PRATT-SILS/UCL summer school that concludes with this event – see www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/epublishing-summerschool - and of course scholars themselves. Those based in universities and other research institutions will be offered special discounts.

Location:

Sir Ambrose Fleming Lecture Theatre, Roberts Building, University College London – London’s Global University – and associated facilities. This lecture theatre is room G06 in the Roberts Building and is best accessed at the south of the main UCL campus via Torrington Place (opposite Waterstone's bookshop). The entrance to the building is immediately on your left in Malet Place as you enter the UCL campus.

Conference fees and Registration see the downloadable registration form and conference fees at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/e-publishing/fees/regform.doc.

For further information and pre-registration enquiries please email: infostudies-conferences@ucl.ac.uk

RELATED CONFERENCE
Library and Information Science Research Coalition first national conference, 28th June
'Evidence, Value and Impact: the LIS Research Landscape in 2010'
The Library and Information Science Research Coalition are launcing their first national conference on 28th June this year, immediately following our conference. The title for their conference is 'Evidence, Value and Impact: the LIS Research Landscape in 2010' and it will take place at the British Library Conference Centre. The one day conference will consider perspectives on the LIS research landscape and may be of considerable relevance to those interested in our conference. .