LIBRARY
LINK
FACULTY UPDATE FROM THE
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND LIBRARIES FALL 2015
Libraries’ Software Developers Collaborate in NSF Innovation Grant A $1,165,594 grant from the National Science Foundation
to University of Maryland researchers will fund the creation of software tools to help analyze data pertaining to the paths, speeds and distances certain animal species travel. Analysis of this “movement ecology” will inform a wide range of biological topics including population ecology, disease spread, gene flow, and wildlife management and conservation. The lack of statistical tools for extracting information from data collected in the field has long been a challenge for biologists like William Fagan, chair of the university’s Department
Bill Fagan, chair of the Department of Biology, will collaborate to develop software that will increase the understanding of how African bush elephants travel. The tool will help other scientists analyze their own datasets.
of Biology and a co-principal investigator for the grant. Other co-principal investigators are Justin Calabrese (Smithsonian and UMD Adjunct Faculty) and Babak Hamidzadeh (University Libraries). “A key mission of NSF’s Advances in Biological Informatics program is to make data resources available to a much broader community of researchers,” says Fagan. “We partnered with the University Libraries to bring together basic research seeking to quantify and understand animal movement with tool development that will allow other users, working with their own datasets, to apply the new statistical and computational approaches we are developing.” The grant will demonstrate the value of these new tools and methods through case studies of species such as African bush elephants in Kenya and the endangered khulan in the Mongolian Gobi desert. The grant also highlights how software developers at the University Libraries can provide expertise to create tools to support faculty research. “Technology influences libraries far more than most people realize,” says Hamidzadeh, Interim Dean of the University Libraries. “Librarians organize, curate and preserve information in its many forms. Creating software tools and providing programming know-how to our users and new partners is a logical extension of that.” The Advances in Biological Informatics program of the National Science Foundation seeks to encourage new approaches to the analysis and dissemination of biological knowledge for the benefit of both the scientific community and the broader public. These Innovation awards pioneer new approaches to the application of informatics to biological problems. For expert guidance, project consultation, and technical assistance on various aspects of data management and curation, contact lib-research-data@umd.edu.
Campuswide Contributions Increase Support for Faculty Authors The ‘‘ fund has
In a broad show of support for open access, all schools on campus have con-
provided me with a unique chance to make my work known to a worldwide audience.
‘‘
— Kira Gor, SLA PR School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, College of Arts and Humanities
tributed to a fund established by the University Libraries to help authors cover the article-processing charges levied by peer-reviewed open-access journals. The collaboration: l enables authors to retain their copyrights
l accelerates the online availability of peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles generated by UMD researchers l raises campus awareness about the benefits of open access More information: lib.umd.edu/oa/openaccessfund or contact Terry Owen, Digital Scholarship Librarian, towen@umd.edu
Use Open Materials in Your Teaching, Too We’ve curated and compiled (as only librarians can) many go-to sources for course materials, content modules and more. View an online guide that highlights free, quality instructional resources. Find hundreds of open source textbooks by subject. lib.guides.umd.edu/oer
Questions About Funded Research? Start Here. We believe you should spend your energy on
your research, not trying to figure out where to get the support you need. That’s why we’re developing a suite of services with faculty needs in mind. Building on foundational library offerings, these services and programs advance a new model we call the Research Commons. For example, in a new series of workshops, you can learn to create a data management plan, realize the benefits of R, write a literature review, or a nail a TED talk. A cornerstone of this new model is an online collection of integrated research resources on campus, or IRROC.umd.edu. Go there first to learn more about funded research—how to identify potential funders, prepare a proposal, comply with guidelines and more. IRROC is provided through a partnership of the Division of Research, the Division of Information Technology and the University Libraries.
OPEN ACCESS BY THE NUMBERS
$ 40,000
TOTA L P R O V I D E D TO S U P P O R T
2014 -15 UMD OPEN ACCESS PUBLISHING FUND by UNIVERSIT Y LIBRARIES, VP & CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER, PROVOST and UNIVERSIT Y DEANS ARTICLES FUNDED
28 in 2014-15 • 12 in 2013-14 $3,000 maximum funded per article Average cost per article funded $1,372
10,555 6,450
PEER-REVIEWED OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS WORLDWIDE
OA JOURNALS SEARCHABLE at ARTICLE LEVEL
17 T I T L E S
McKeldin Teaching Labs Refurbished Faculty nationwide believe
instructing students in information literacy is the most essential service academic librarians provide. Newly renovated spaces like this one in McKeldin Library with moveable furnishings and laptop computers make it easier for students to engage with each other — and the instructor. “Classrooms like this provide flexibility of layout while seating more students,” says Rachel Gammons (center), head of Teaching and Learning Services for the University Libraries. “The egalitarian setting encourages participation.”
P U B L I S H E D BY O P E N H U M A N I T I E S P R E S S I N C R I T I C A L A N D C U LT U R A L T H E O R Y
2,084,373 O P EN ACC ESS ARTIC LES
134 COUNTRIES REPRESENTED PHON E N UMBER FOR MORE I N FORMATI ON
(301) 314 -1328 (Terry Owen, towen@umd.edu)
Sources: Directory of Open Access Journals, (doaj.org) an online index that provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals; Open Humanities Press (www.openhumanitiespress.org/ journals.html); and University Libraries Digital Scholarship Librarian.