European Commission’s Open Science Policy Platform

On Friday 13 October, I attended the European Commission’s Open Science Policy Platform (OSPP) in the Kultuurikatel (Creative Hub) in Tallinn, Estonia. The Presidency of the Union is currently held by Estonia and the theme of the meeting was to discuss how Europe can embrace Open Science (Open Scholarship). Open Science is the movement to make scientific research, data and dissemination accessible to all levels of an inquiring Society, amateur or professional (Wikipedia). I was there as the representative of LERU (League of European Research Universities), of which UCL is a member.

The agenda covered three Reports from Working Groups of the Platform, which commented on fuller reports from High Level Expert Groups. The three Reports were on Rewards, Skills and New Metrics. A substantial part of my role as Pro-Vice-Provost (UCL Library Services) is to seek to embed Open Science (Open Scholarship) approaches across the whole University. The three Reports were generally accepted. I hope that they will be published soon on the Commission’s OSPP website.

There are a number of high level issues which I will be taking forward in UCL in the wake of the discussions on Friday. Two are particularly relevant to the Library. First is Skills. The Skills Report identifies what new skills and knowledge are required from all colleagues in UCL to engage with Open Science (Open Scholarship). Two immediate deliverables from this will be (a) further engagement with the UCL Doctoral School and (b) the organisation of Open Science (Open Scholarship) Workshops in UCL to advocate for Open Science approaches.

The second area of immediate interest to the Library is the Report on New Metrics. This document looks at how we identify success in an Open Science (Open Scholarship) world and what measures can be used to document that success. This has immediate interest for the UCL Bibliometrics Working Group, which is drawing up a Bibliometrics Policy for UCL with plenty of examples of good practice.

The OSPP will be producing further Reports in the coming months and I look forward to seeing these, particularly the Report on the future of Scholarly Publishing – as UCL is seen as a European leader in this field. Open Science (Open Scholarship) represents a real change in culture in how universities work, collaborate, share, engage with Society and are transparent in their activities. It will be an important journey in the coming months and years. Open Science (Open Scholarship) is already embedded in the forthcoming revision of UCL’s Research Strategy and will, I am sure, be an important part of the new Library Strategy.

Paul Ayris

Pro-Vice-Provost (UCL Library Services)

Text Mining: the role for libraries?

Time: 14:00 – 16:30

Date: 23/11/2017

Location: Room 417, DMS Watson Science Library

Text mining – also known as Text Data Mining, Text analytics and Distant Reading – refers to a broad range of processes for extracting information from text. This includes visualization of a single text, finding patterns in large corpora and topic modelling.

Text Mining presents exciting opportunities for researchers across all disciplines.  The expanding volume of literature, the growing interdisciplinary nature of research and the ever-decreasing cost of computing power makes text mining an increasingly powerful tool for researchers. However, despite the potential benefits, the use of text mining in research is still limited.

There are a number of reasons for this; legal barriers, difficulty accessing materials and a lack of knowledge on potential tools and techniques are some of the major ones. Is there a role for libraries to play in overcoming these barriers?

The Research Data Management team have been working with colleagues from the library and Research IT services on a session exploring the potential role libraries could play in supporting Text Mining.

The session will provide:

– an introduction to (potential) uses of text mining in research (Daniel van Strien)

– an outline of some of the legal issues surrounding text mining (Chris Holland Copyright Support Officer at UCL)

– examples of some of the research being done using text mining approaches by UCL researchers in collaboration with Software Developers from Research IT services (Tom Couch, RITs and Raquel Alegre, Research Software Development Group)

The session will allow time for discussion around the potential role of libraries in supporting text mining and present some options for further activities.

If you would like to attend please send an email to d.strien@ucl.ac.uk

The Library as a leader in cultural change across UCL

As we start a new academic year, I want to lay out some of the tasks that I have been asked to take on as Pro-Vice-Provost in UCL Library Services. These are objectives which are additional to those in the Library Strategy and to my role as head of UCL Library Services. The theme of all these objectives is ‘The Library as leader across the institution and beyond’.

Open Science

Open Science is the process by which ‘Open’ approaches to undertaking research, education and outreach are embedded in the daily work of academic and academic support staff. I have been asked to lead on a number of policy developments: revision of the UCL Research Data Policy and construction of a new UCL Bibliometrics Policy. I look forward to working with Library colleagues, particularly with those involved in open access, research data management, bibliometrics, academic liaison and public engagement/outreach across UCL.

I have also been asked to study the reporting of trials data (especially clinical trials) and, particularly, negative results. In conventional publishing, it would be unusual to report negative findings, but the underlying data may well be of importance to further research. So ‘Open’ approaches encourage the publication of negative results. I look forward to working with colleagues in UCL Press and those involved in academic liaison to take this forward. And, finally, the Library has been asked to lead on the organisation of a half-day Open Science Workshop for UCL in Term 2.

Collections and Culture

In terms of Collections and Culture, UCL hopes to continue discussions in the University of London regarding collaborative activity over Rare Books, Manuscripts and Archives.

I will be pressing ahead with these discussions. I also hope to work with colleagues in UCL Culture to identify further modes of collaboration and joint working. Of course, in terms of digital collecting the Library has one of the best digital library offerings of any university in the UK. We will continue to develop this, with a particular emphasis on e-book offerings. In 2016/17, ReadingLists@UCL achieved a remarkable target – 65% of all courses present in Portico had an online Reading List. This is a great achievement, but of course going forwards we want to do even better.

Open Access publishing

In UCL Press, we have the first open access University Press in the UK. We now want to develop the Press’s offering and we plan to do this in two ways. First, we want to re-invent the concept of a journal in the digital age, and in 2017/18 we will be developing an Open journals platform to allow UCL academics and others to construct their own peer reviewed journals. Second, we want to re-invent the textbook for an Open, digital age. In this regard, we have already initiated a call for UCL textbooks and we hope to build on the submissions to create a new mode of delivery for textbook materials. We also intend to further develop our links and collaborative working with the UCL IOE Press.

UK Scholarly Communications Licence

And finally, I have been asked to lead in UCL on consideration of the UK Scholarly Communications Licence (UKSCL). Indeed, I chair the national UKSCL Steering Group.

Via this licence, if adopted, each staff member would grant to UCL a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide licence to make manuscripts of his or her scholarly articles publicly available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial v4 (CC BY NC) licence. The benefits of adopting this licence are significant, the main ones being that

• academics submitting to REF 2021 can more easily comply with REF’s Open Access requirements
• a complete record of the full-text of academics’ publications is available
• research outputs can be used more easily in taught course programmes

The licence is based on a similar development at Harvard University and Princeton University has recently adopted a similar position. Discussions with publishers about the implementation of the licence are ongoing. I look forward to working with our copyright and open access teams in the Library as well as with all colleagues engaged in academic liaison to take this debate to academic colleagues.

The role of Pro-Vice-Provost in the Library is a recognition of the immense contribution that the whole Library makes to the corporate life of UCL in offering leadership and secure learning environments and services. The areas outlined above are ones on which I will be concentrating in the coming months, alongside the day-to-day running of the family of libraries in UCL Library Services. I look forward to many interactions with colleagues as we take this ambitious agenda forward.

Paul Ayris

Pro-Vice-Provost (UCL Library Services)

 

The future of monograph publishing

The future of the scholarly monograph is much debated in academic and publishing circles. Dwindling print sales and pressure on library acquisition funds mean that the future of the scholarly monograph as a unit of output is in some doubt. A recent report, The Academic Book of the Future, underlined the drop in sales figures being experienced by such monographs.

In a recent letter, published by the THE (Times Higher Education), 17-23 August 2017, p. 29, I offered evidence from the experiences of UCL Press to cast light on this thorny topic. Here is the letter as it was published:

Open optimism

In her article “Open access monograph dash could lead us off a cliff” (Opinion [in THE], 27 July), Marilyn Deegan warns of the dangers of open access monograph publishng”. As head of UCL Press, the UK’s first fully open access university press, let me look at some of these concerns in more detail.

UCL Press has been in existence as an open access press since June 2015. In that time, we have published 42 books. These have been downloaded, along with our journals, 448,524 times. The most downloaded book, How the World Changed Social Media, has been downloaded 127,836 times. It is still possible to purchase copies of all UCL Press books in other formats, digital and paper, and these comprise 4,795 copies to date – an average of just over 114 per title. In addition, UCL Press titles are downloaded in 218 countries and dependencies around the world.

If it is true, as The Academic Book of the Future report shows, that monograph sales have fallen from an average of 100 to 60 per book in the UK in the past decade, the figures from UCL Press seem to show that open access represents a lifeline. Far from killing the book, open access is a possible route to salvation in an area of publishing that otherwise seems to be in terminal decline.

Paul Ayris

Pro-Vice-Provost

If you have any queries or problems please contact the team by e-mail:

lib-buildings@ucl.ac.uk monitored Mon-Fri 07:15-17:15

Over the last year, we have created an additional 579 study spaces across various locations in UCL to enhance the user experience!

There is a lot to celebrate in the Library Buildings Team Year End Review for 2016-17! Following investment of over £1M, we have been able to make major progress towards the Library’s Sustainable Estate component of the Library Strategy. A further update will document the (nearly) completed PCs for Students project, which has been a significant undertaking this summer. Below are some highlights on projects we have completed in the last 12 months:

• Creating a new Special Collections reading room in Bloomsbury. Whilst the majority of our Special Collections material is based at The National Archives in Kew, we host a number of visitors on campus to look at some of our treasures. In order to provide facilities befitting our worked-class collections, the former Records Office in the South Junction was converted into a high-quality reading room. With a new reception desk, two well-appointed reading rooms and staff office space, the area feels light and spacious thanks to floor to ceiling glass doors. In order to guarantee an excellent user experience and to ensure the preservation of our rare books and archives, the reading room is fitted with special security systems, regulated temperature, a cloakroom area and lockers for visitors’ storage.

• Cruciform Hub –
  • a new glass partition now provides more privacy (and quiet) for the Library Desk, where staff can assist users with library and IT enquiries a new display area for busts of former professors of UCL was set up in order to provide another nod to the history of UCL Medical School. The busts on display were salvaged from the store in 140 Hampstead Rd and were conserved by UCL. The students seminar rooms were redecorated to ensure that the Hub continues to look and feel like a fresh and innovative learning environment Bench seating was added in the seminar area in order to increase seating capacity in the Hub improved accessibility to the self-service machines in order to allow wheelchair users full access to the equipment
• IOE Library
  • new reception desk and self service area to create a more accessible student and staff area Level 4 staff office, upgraded furniture, to create a better working environment ensuring the space is used to its full potential.
• Main Library
  • Art and Economics: created additional study spaces by re-arranging book shelves in Donaldson reading room: installed power to new desks and new lighting on the pillars installed an additional water fountain at the end of the History corridor installed three additional toilet suites, including the first set of male toilets ever in the Main Library
  • The Portico Doors have been refurbished, with new glass doors fitted to enable views of the Flaxman Gallery and the Front Quad.

    New Portico Doors April 2017

• School of Pharmacy – replaced and upgraded quiet study area, increasing the number of study spaces
• Science Library
  • Learning Lab: in a 2-phase refurbishment, the space has been transformed following UX principles, based on Customer Journey Mapping work undertaken by the Customer Service Team. The refurbishment created a new access route for membership and unified the Enquiry, ISD, Help Point and Collection Point desks. The project also enabled the installation of a new autosorter, student and staff pods for individual work, group work and for consultation. Three Laptop Loan machines containing 48 laptops in total were introduced for student use.   A Sodexo Café opened within the Learning Lab, which incorporates flexible seating, and is being used this summer to host a research exhibition. Finally, the project replaced carpets and redecorated throughout, and introduced a new LED lighting system.
  • Lighting Project – A full lighting upgrade for the all floors 1^st – 4^th floors staff and student spaces, they had their lamps changed to low energy LED lamps which give natural feeling lighting. Daylight sensors dim the lights when its bright outside and motion sensors to turn the lights off when no one is present. The project will save 270 tonnes of CO2 per year, about the same produced from powering 40 average households!
  • The first floor toilets were refurbished
  • The Stores and Records Office area were refurbished, creating a combined Stores and Records Office
• Wickford Stores – repaired and upgraded roller racking

The Research Data Management (RDM) team recently ran two training sessions on RDM aimed at library staff. The first of these sessions was aimed at subject liaison librarians. The second was organised by Angela Young as part of the series the Summer School and was primarily aimed at library staff working in biomedical libraries.

Both sessions aimed to provide an introduction (or reminder) of the aims behind RDM, the services available at UCL to support researchers and to discuss how library staff can support RDM. As part of our ongoing work to develop the services we offer to support researchers with RDM, we are trying to increase the amount of subject specific resources and guidance available. Different disciplines can have very different types of data, different approaches to working with data or a perception that they don’t work with data. Working with colleagues in the library who support researchers across the disciples represented at UCL should help us develop better support for researches.

As part of both of the sessions, we had a number of different exercises. One of the exercises involved mapping out the interactions library staff and services have with researchers at different stages of the research lifecycle. We asked participants to work in groups to discuss whether the lifecycles accurately reflected the research process and decide on their preferred model. We then asked participants to annotate their chosen lifecycle with points where they may have interactions with researchers.

One of the challenges for the RDM team is trying to engage researchers earlier in their research process so we can help advocate for good practices in storing and collecting data which in turn makes data sharing easier at the end of a project. Mapping out the lifecycles with colleagues from the library gave us useful insights into where potential opportunities may be available for RDM advocacy. During the sessions, we also discussed how existing activities carried out by library staff (training, open access advocacy, signposting, research support…) and the existing skills of library staff can complement RDM advocacy.

We are planning to collate the research lifecycles produced during the sessions and turn it into a resource for us to use when planning advocacy. If you are interested in contributing to developing a lifecycle model with us send an email to lib-academicsupport@ucl.ac.uk.

On Monday 5th June a panel discussion “Émigrés from Revolution” took place at the British Library. It was a joint event between UCL SSEES Library and the British Library and was inspired by our collections.

The year 2017 marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution. One of the main events “in the library world”, to focus on the centenary is a major exhibition at the British Library: “Russian Revolution: Hope, Tragedy, Myths”. The exhibition is accompanied by various events, panels and seminars. That provided a great opportunity for UCL Library Services to co-organise, with the British Library, a public event, which would highlight our collections. To make it more lively and interesting we wanted it to be presented by the descendants of emigrants from the Russian Revolution, so that they could reflect, after one hundred years, on how the history of their grandparents has influenced and still influences them and their families. It provided us with the opportunity to showcase some of our archival holdings, especially as many of the descendants had very successful careers. We are lucky enough to have in our archives documents that were donated by world famous actress, Dame Helen Mirren. Her grandfather, Colonel Pyotr Vasilievich Mironov, initially came to the UK with the aim of buying arms for the Russian Army during World War One. Another example is the memoir of Prince Paul Ivan Lieven, that belonged to the grandfather of well-known historian, Professor Dominic Lieven. We were very lucky once again as both Dame Helen Mirren and Professor Dominic Lieven accepted invitations to the event. Princess Katya Galitzine, whose grandparents escaped via Yalta on a British warship sent to rescue Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna also accepted the invitation. However, there is also another “library link” as Katya is a co-Founder of The Prince George Galitzine Memorial Library.

Our fourth guest was successful translator Nicolas Pasternak Slater, the son of Boris Pasternak’s sister Lydia, and the grandson of painter Leonid Pasternak and Rosa Isidorovna Kaufman, an accomplished pianist. Martin Sixsmith, former BBC foreign correspondent based in Moscow at the end of the Soviet Union, moderated the discussion, while Professor Simon Dixon from UCL SSEES provided an introduction to the event and highlighted UCL SSEES Library’s archive collections.

The event was a success. The panel was excellent and the attendance was very good. It was a very good way to promote our collections. It also enabled us to foster good working relationships with colleagues from the British Library, especially Jon Fawcett, Head of Events, and Katya Rogatchevskaya, Lead Curator of East European Collections. The cooperation was very successful so it may also lead to another joint event in the future. Of course for us it is not the end. UCL SSEES will hold a major conference later this year to commemorate the centenary of the Revolution and we need to focus on that and build on the success of the event. We would like to digitise selected items from our collection, so that they can accompany the main UCL SSEES Conference. During the panel I had a chance to talk to Helen Mirren and her sister Kate and managed to obtain permission to digitise the documents of Colonel Pyotr Mironov. Professor Lieven has also given permission for the memoir of Prince Paul Ivan Lieven to be digitised. Together with colleagues from Digital Curation, Mat Mahon and Amy Howe, we are working on digitising some other collections from our archives.

Our aim is that by the time of the conference we can create a high-quality, professional and academic resource. During 2017 there will be many events dedicated to the Revolution. However it is noteworthy to say that UCL SSEES is one of the best well-known and recognised institutions in the world for its expert knowledge on Russia. Therefore, December’s conference organised by UCL SSEES will attract a lot of attention. This provides UCL SSEES Library with the momentum we need to maximize to our benefit, so that we can effectively publicize our work and our unique collections to the world audience.

The latest briefing on Transforming Our Professional Services has been released and is available at TOPS_LeadershipBriefing_Edition8_v1.0.

Since my last update, two colleagues from the Library Senior Management Team (June Hedges, Head of Liaison and Support Services, and Kate Cheney, Head of Site Library Services) attended the TOPS “world café event” on Research Support for academics, which was held on 24/05. Feedback from academics about the Library’s Open Access work and support for researchers was very positive, including references to subject librarians and local support across UCL.

 

As previously advertised, the Library SMT meets on 7th June and TOPS will be presenting on their findings in relation to Library Services and any potential impact. Given TOPS’ goals to enhance UCL processes and efficiency of many central UCL services including HR, Finance, IT and Estates, I believe we can expect to benefit from the programme.

I am arranging to meet separately with Geoff Dunk, Faculty Manager for Brain Sciences and one of the Design Leads (in tandem with Paul Ayris) for the TOPS Library Services work stream, since Geoff cannot join the Library SMT meeting. Following these two meetings, we will be in a better position to clearly explain how the Library workstream will be progressed, in line with the principles previously outlined by Paul Ayris and myself. The current functioning of the library, which perform very well, should not be disturbed by any new TOPS arrangements. Where there are opportunities to deliver better services in partnership with Professional Services, for instance in the areas mentioned in my previous paragraph, these should be pursued.

Do you have any thoughts or questions about TOPS?

If there are aspects of TOPS which you feel would be particularly helpful to explore further within Library Services or if you would like to submit any suggestions or queries to the TOPS team ahead of the meeting next week, please either contact me before 06/06 or, if you wish to share ideas with the TOPS consultants directly, you can write to Lee Bakewell.

The seventh edition of the TOPS Fortnightly Leadership Briefing is available online:

TOPS_LeadershipBriefing_Edition7_v1.0[78536]

The TOPS team will now be coming to the Library SMT meeting on 7th June to outline the work which they are undertaking and discuss how this relates to Library Services. If you have any questions for the TOPS team, please let us know and we can ask these on your behalf at the meeting.

I had a briefing meeting with our TOPS consultant earlier this week and was satisfied to hear that the anecdotal feedback TOPS have received at UCL about Library Services has been consistently positive; I believe that this reflects the commitment of staff to providing an excellent service. It is understood that current library operations, which perform very well, should not be disturbed by any new TOPS arrangements.

Library colleagues in the relevant teams will be formally invited to participate in the Finance, People/HR and Estates workstreams to consider the impact and opportunities for the improvement of services at UCL where Library Services is an internal customer.

All Library Services staff are welcome to submit ideas for improvements in the following areas:

Information and Technology Services	Submit my ideas!
Planning, Policy and MI Services	Submit my ideas!
Legal Services	Submit my ideas!
Culture Services	Submit my ideas!
Communication and Marketing Services	Submit my ideas!

Some colleagues may be aware of a survey about the Library which was open on TOPS’ Vision and Design site (alongside the areas listed above). This was erroneously opened without input from Library Services and has now been de-activated. Library Services senior colleagues are in discussion with TOPS about how we might engage with a workstream focused on the research lifecycle (which starts with researchers identifying and applying for funding and concludes with communicating research outputs, including publication management).

Two consultation exercises relating to UCL East are currently underway, and Library Services colleagues are invited to take part in both:

• Help shape the website for UCL East

The UCL East programme is currently creating a new website, which will have the majority of the content that you can see on the site now, as well as the latest information about UCL East and an updated look and feel.

To make sure that the new website is relevant and helpful – and has all the information that you would like to know – the team would love to hear your views on our current site, how it can be developed and any suggestions for the future.

To give your thoughts and feedback, take a look around the current site and complete this survey – there are nine short questions, and it will only take a few minutes to complete.

• Find out about the plans for the first building at UCL East

Pool Street West makes up part of the first phase of UCL East and will feature student accommodation, academic, retail, community and engagement uses for UCL students and staff and the public. The building will feature a London Memory Archive, a partnership between Culture Lab and Library Services which will include digitization facilities, an oral history recording booth and exhibition space. There will also be a Library to support the students and staff based on the new campus, which we are working to develop in tandem with ISD Student & Registry Services to provide joined-up services to students on site.

Public consultation meetings have been scheduled for the first UCL East building on Pool Street will take place on 17-20^th May. Times, dates and locations are provided below.

Pool Street West – Road Show Exhibition Details

Wednesday 17 May, 11am – 2pm

UCL Bloomsbury | South Quad In front of the Print Room Café

Thursday 18 May, 11am – 2pm

UCL Bloomsbury | Main Quad South Side, in front of the Wilkins Building

Friday 19 May, 11am – 2pm

Stratford Broadway In the public space adjacent to St John’s

Saturday 20 May, 11am – 2pm

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park At Waterworks Place, adjacent to the play fountain

If you are planning to attend the events in Stratford, further information can be found in this leaflet: stage1-roadshow-events-flyer.