Honorable Mentions: The LJAN Top Ten Stories of 2008, 4-10

Andrew Albanese -- Library Journal, 1/7/2009

(This article first appeared in the January 6 issue of the LJ Academic Newswire.)

After nearly 100 issues and 400 articles in 2008, we had a lot to choose from in selecting our top ten stories of the year. The list continues below:

4) The Launch of the HathiTrust

It is the library community’s most ambitious digital collaboration ever. In a groundbreaking venture, some two dozen large research libraries announced in October the launch of a single, shared repository of digital collections, including scanned books, articles, special collections, and a range of “born digital” materials. The HathiTrust (incorporating the Hindi word for elephant), seeded largely by the University of Michigan’s work with Google, contains more than two million books and roughly a billion pages, nearly 16 percent of which is in the public domain and available to read freely online.

The project is worth watching for a few reasons; notably, its collaborative model, sharing everything from funding to technology and expertise, suggests that, after years of experimentation, libraries at last understand and grasp the needs and challenges facing them in the digital future. It may not always work smoothly, but HathiTrust suggests that libraries are finally pulling in the same direction.

5) NIH Public Access Policy Enacted, Challenged

In a major victory last April, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) public access policy, fought for by librarians since 2004, at last went into effect. The policy has had an immediate impact: monthly submissions to PubMed Central skyrocketed, more than tripling the monthly deposits over the previous, ineffective voluntary policy.

As they warned, however, publishers pushed back against the policy last fall. In what turned out to be a remarkable piece of political theater, on September 11, a Congressional subcommittee heard testimony on a bill titled the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act, which would bar federal agencies from requiring the transfer of copyright in order to get public funding. If passed, the bill would essentially ban public access policies like that of the NIH.

News of the hearing was first reported in the LJ Academic Newswire. Raising tensions, however, the bill’s text was not released until days before the hearing. In testimony, Ralph Oman, a former register of copyrights,bluntly and dramatically told lawmakers the NIH mandate would “destroy the market” for commercial scientific journals. Oman’s testimony, however, seemed mostly to raise a larger question: where was the current Register, Marybeth Peters, on this bill? Outgoing NIH director Elias Zerhouni strongly defended the policy, joined by SPARC executive director Heather Joseph. Letters of opposition to the bill poured in, from copyright experts, researchers, public advocates, as well as librarians.

In 2009, the controversial “Fair Copyright” bill will continue to face nearly universal opposition. Nevertheless, Association of Research Libraries  associate executive director Prue Adler told the LJ Academic Newswire that advocates of the NIH policy should not underestimate the bill’s chances to resurface in 2009.

6) The Move Toward Open Source

While public libraries have made greater strides in adopting open source integrated library systems (ILS), in 2008, the Robertson Library at the University of Prince Edward Island became the first academic library to use Evergreen in production. Meanwhile, Project Conifer involves four Canadian universities, including Laurentian University, which is collaborating with Georgia Public Library Service, developer of Evergreen.

Also in 2008, the 15 academic libraries in the Westchester Academic Library Directors Organization (WALDO) have selected Koha ZOOM for their next integrated library system (ILS) and union catalog; LibLime agreed to substantially enhance Koha to meet the requirements of academic libraries.

Meanwhile, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded a $475,700 grant to the Duke University Libraries to lead the design of “a next-generation, open source library system,” known as the Open Library Environment (OLE) Project. While many academic libraries have implemented new search interfaces like Endeca, Primo, and AquaBrowser, OLE sponsors said purchasing and implementing a second OPAC is too burdensome.

The Mellon Foundation–funded eXtensible Catalog (XC) project from the University of Rochester, NY, a new metadata manager and interface tool for bibliographic information, has received a major upgrade to its web presence. The XC, geared toward academic libraries and scheduled to be released in summer 2009, will help manage many different kinds of library metadata, including MARC, Dublin Core, and FRBRized records. In a sign of convergence, LibLime agreed to work with the University of Rochester to provide full interoperability between Koha and the XC project.

Also coming to prominence in 2008 with a Mellon Award for Technology Collaboration was Villanova University's VUFind, a next-gen catalog project. Early installations involve the National Library of Australia catalog, Georgia Tech, and Villanova’s Falvey Memorial Library, which replaced its public catalog with VUFind. Expect more on both the catalog and ILS fronts in 2009.

7) The Section 108 Report

In April, 2008, the Section 108 Study Group at last delivered its long-awaited report. The diverse 19-member panel was chartered in 2005 to inform legislative changes to update the Copyright Act’s exception for libraries and archives for the digital age. Overall, the report reflected significant work and discussion on a range of issues relating to libraries and copyright. But mostly, it seemed to highlight deep, ongoing tensions between publishers and libraries.

There were some victories in the report. It recommended the Section 108 exception be extended to museums, for example, which are currently ineligible. That, however, represented one of the few unambiguous recommendations. Most others included broad language that could be interpreted many ways by legislators. For example, the report suggested Section 108’s “three copy rule,” which permits libraries make up to three copies of a published work for replacement purposes, be amended to allow “a limited number of copies as reasonably necessary” to create and maintain “a single replacement copy.” That point is even further conditioned, however, on a library determining that a replacement copy is not available at a “fair price.”

What will happen with the report in 2009? No one’s sure. But with the Google settlement winding its way to approval, and the Georgia State litigation pending, no one should expect much—if any—legislative movement.    

8) EPA Libraries Reopen

It may be too little too late, but it was cause for celebration nevertheless after five regional Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) libraries reopened in September, two years after EPA officials began prematurely closing agency libraries in an overly dramatic response to a drastic proposed 80 percent funding cut by the Bush administration. Under orders from Congress, which blocked the administration’s controversial plan in 2007, and ordered funding and services restored, EPA reopened regional libraries in Chicago, Dallas, and Kansas City and also reopened a chemical library and its own headquarters library in Washington, DC. 
Still, while grateful that Congress intervened to reverse to restore service, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) associate director Carol Goldberg said in a statement that the battle over EPA libraries left in its wake scattered and incomplete collections that may never be reassembled, as well as less robust services. Most of the re-opened libraries will be housed in less space than previously afforded them.

With government library services likely to feel the pinch in 2009 as the economy falters, however, the EPA reversal is something to hang on to, as is the recognition by Congress that access to government information and library service are essential.

9) South Carolina Slashes PASCAL

We know times are tough. We know library budgets are always under pressure. But in June, 2008, The LJ Academic Newswire reported on a devastating funding cut to PASCAL (Partnership Among South Carolina Libraries), a consortium that offers database access and other services to South Carolina’s academic libraries that, even after ten years of covering library budget cuts, had us scratching our heads.

In short, South Carolina legislators eliminated a $2 million appropriation, a small line in the state’s overall budget, but a cut that eviscerated a program that paid for databases and library services for all of South Carolina’s 58 institutions, public and private, two-year and four-year—some 300,000 students—and delivered $7 in return access for every dollar spent. In a column in the November 1 issue of Library Journal, South Carolina librarians detailed how they’ve been coping.

As it turns out, South Carolina was just getting a head start on an impending global economic crisis. The lesson for 2009, however, is loud and clear: make sure your legislators realize your consortium’s real value, or the ax may fall on you, too.

10) The Sad Story of Orphan Works

We’ve been covering efforts to open up access to orphan works for years, but in 2008, legislation came close to passage—and in dramatic fashion. The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Bill of 2008 passed late on September 26. As Congress headed into overtime in late September to address the troubled financial markets, a flurry of activity in the House of Representatives seemed to open the door to a passage. Ultimately, significant differences between the House and Senate on competing orphan works bills, as well as a well-organized, fear-inducing campaign against the bill by artists and photographers, and a late letter from the Motion Picture Association of America squelched any would-be deal.

Still, the issue remains vital. If passed, an orphan works bill would reduce liability for those who make use of copyrighted works provided they make, and document, a reasonably diligent effort to find the owner. For libraries, this would ease the burden on large-scale archival digitization efforts. Publishers, meanwhile, at odds with libraries on many issues in 2008, also embraced and worked on the bill.

With economic and international crises sure to command Congress’ attention in 2009, it’s questionable whether orphan works will rise again anytime soon. Nevertheless, this year’s effort, the result of continuous hard work and some masterful politicking by library groups and their allies, stands as an achievement worth noting, and at the very least establishes a benchmark for continuing efforts. 

Read more Newswire stories:

The Library Journal Academic Newswire Year in Review, the Top Ten Academic Library Stories for 2008

More Libraries and Publishers Join SERU Agreement from NISO for E-Resources

Google Deal Debate: Strengthened Partnerships or Diminished Access?

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