NUIG's Library Research Week timed to coincide with International Open Access Week

October 18-22 will be the first Library Research Week at National University of Ireland, Galway. There will be a series of talks and seminars throughout the week, both in the Library and in research centres to promote library services and collections supporting researchers. The event has been timed to coincide with International Open Access Week, so there will be talks covering open access publishing, including our own institutional repository, ARAN. There will also be an exhibition of material from the Archives and Special Collections. For the full programme please see http://www.library.nuigalway.ie/support/supportforresearchers/researchweek/

To check out the other events being organised internationally to celebrate International Open Access Week have a look at http://www.openaccessweek.org/

Gwen Ryan
Research Support Librarian for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
National University of Ireland, Galway

Impact and Value of International University Rankings

From this week's THE:
Measured, and found wanting more
International comparisons of universities still have their detractors, but the appetite for them continues to grow. Phil Baty traces their roots and looks at how they are increasing in number and quality, while Ellen Hazelkorn considers their impact and value

Ellen's original article is available at http://arrow.dit.ie/cserart/2
Hazelkorn, E. (2009) 'Rankings and the Battle for World-Class Excellence: Institutional Strategies and Policy Choices', Higher Education Management and Policy, 21 (1)

They’re Here! E-Mail Alerts for Google Scholar Now Available Direct from Google

Until now, Google Scholar users had to use a variety of methods to create alerts to notify them of new content in Google Scholar. Well, the wait is over and as of this weekend, Google Scholar E-Mail Alerts are now available. It’s Google, of course they’re free.

NOTE: This post was update at 10 P.M. on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 after ResourceShelf chatted with Anurag Acharya, the founding engineer of Google Scholar.

Creating Alerts

1. For a “simple” alert, just run a Google Scholar search, click the search button, and get your results.

2. Click the “Envelope” icon (top left side of the page). Here, you can make changes, if needed, click “update” button and a sample of results using 2010 results with the modified search query appear below. When you’re set after deciding the amount you want returned, click “Create Alert.” You’re then taken to your page of “Google Scholar” Alert page. If you want to modify the alert at this point, you’ll need to click the cancel button and begin again.

3. Alerts appear to work with all three content options:
A) “Traditional” Google Scholar Content (with patents or without patents)
B) Legal Documents and Journals

4. For advanced Google searchers, most advanced syntax should also work in Google Scholar. The same goes for legal materials and patents. However, date limits do not work. We’re still trying to figure out a search limiting to only patent applications or awarded patents.

However, if you or those you’re working with aren’t syntax users or just want to try something different, Google Scholar alerts created by using a more complex query can also be created using the advanced search interface.

Because alerts are to find new material (independent of publication date) that has just “entered” the database, the date range limits do not work.

You can’t create an alert for only a source (at least at this time. For example, only send alerts for new entries from “The Journal of X” a no go. Anurag Acharya told us that part of the challenge in offering this feature is that Google is that a “large portion” of the Google Scholar database is built by crawling the open web and, “automated identification of articles and extraction of metadata.” Of course, others have written about major issues they have with metadata and automated identification particularly when it comes to using Google Scholar as a tool for citation counts.

5) Alerts limited by an authors name or part of a name and prebuilt “collections” (look for them on the advanced search page) appear to work correctly. Btw, Google Scholar names (with or without an alert) do not have to be inverted and as an example, these are all variants of the same name: “m cutts’” or “matt cutts” or “matthew cutts.” However, if you do get a significant number of false drops due to name issues, it’s probably time to build a new query.

6) One of the great Google info blogs is Google Operating System. There we read that Google Scholar alerts will do automatic query modification.

Google Scholar’s email alerts feature is special because Google changes your to get better results (for example, [statistical speech recognition] has been changed to [statistical intitle:"speech recognition"])
Read the full discussion here: http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/05/10/there-here-e-mail-alerts-for-google-scholar-now-available-direct-from-google/

Sources: Google, Garrett Eastman, Google Operating System, and A Computer Scientist in a Business School

Google Vs Facebook - Clash of the Titans

Interesting article recently in the Business Section of the Sunday Times


http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article7069878.ece

Free and Fabulous:

Below is a list of free resources re-posted from the Librarian in Black website. This list exemplifies the growing number of resources which can be used to support research and used for research without a huge investment.

1. Free Software for Public & Staff Computers

• Operating System (instead of Windows) – Ubuntu
• Email/Calendar (instead of Outlook) – Google Calendar & Gmail
• Web Browser (instead of IE) – Firefox, Google Chrome
• Financial Software (instead of Quicken) – GNU Cash
• Productivity Software (instead of Office) – Open Office
  • - word processing (like Word), spreadsheets (like Excel), presentations (like PowerPoint), databases (like Access), desktop publishing (like Publisher), and calculator (like, errr…, a calculator)
• Image Editing (instead of PhotoShop) – GIMP
• Typing Software – GNUTypist or TypeFaster Typing Tutor
• CD writing – Brasero or InfraRecorder

2. Free Security Software Suite

• Antivirus – AVG Antivirus
• Firewall – PC Tools Firewall Plus
• Ad-Busting – AdAware
• Anti-Spyware – SpyBot Search & Destroy, SpywareGuard, SpywareBlaster (use all three; they do different things)

3. Free Staff Scheduling Software

• Droster
• AceShift (limited to <20>
• or even Open Office’s “Calc”

4. Free Team Meeting Tools

• Voice – Skype, Google Voice
• Video – Skype, Sightspeed, Tokbox
• IM – AIM, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, & others
• Meeting Space/Chat – Today’s Meet
• Meeting Scheduling – When Is Good, Doodle
• Webcasts – Vyew

5. Free Tech Support Tools

• Embedded chat (pop it in your intranet header) – Meebo Me chat widget
• Voice or video chat (another way to contact tech support) – Skype, Ekiga, Sightspeed, or Tokbox
• Screencasts on the fly (for tech support to help you!) – Jing
• Discussion board (create a staff board re: common tech issues) – Google Groups
• Remote Support (tech support folks can log in & control/see your computer) – LogMeIn.com, TightVNC

6. Free Audio & Video Tools

• Voice/Video Chat – Skype or Ekiga
• Audio Recording/Editing – Audacity
• Video Editing – Avidemux, DVDx, Lumiera, Kino
• Video Hosting – YouTube, blip.tv, Vimeo
• Audio Hosting – OurMedia, PodBean

7. Free eLearning Tools

• Screencasting – Screencast-o-matic, Jing, Wink, Camstudio, Screencast.com
• Online Learning Environment – Moodle
• Conference Calls – FreeConferenceCall.com
• Webcasts – Ustream.tv
• Class Websites – WordPress, Blogger, PBworks, Pageflakes

8. Free “Contact Us” Tools to Communicate with Customers

• Email – Gmail, Yahoo Mail
• Instant Messaging – AIM, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk
• Chat Widgets – Meebo Me, Plugoo
• VOIP/audio – Skype‏
• Video – some IM clients (AIM video chat, Skype)‏
• Text Messaging – AIM TXT
• Social Networks – Facebook Chat
• Microblogging – Twitter – “ask us a question with @…”

9. Free Social Network & Extended Web Presence Tools

• CheckUsernames.com: check multiple networks
• Open ID and ClaimID: claim and log into multiple networks
• HootSuite, Twitter Counter, Twitalyzer: Twitter stats
• Ping.fm, Hellotxt.com, and AtomKeep: simultaneous updates
• Twitter/Facebook: can use internal settings/apps to update both simultaneously
• Filtrbox and MyBUZZmonitor: what people say

10. Free Website Management Tools

• Website recommender – del.icio.us, Evernote
• ILS – Koha or Evergreen
• Content Management System – Drupal
• Flickr slideshow – Pictobrowser
• RSS Feed and Blog Post Statistics – PostRank
• Tag Clouds – TagCrowd, Wordle
• Web Forms – Google Forms
• CSS-picker – Typetester
• Copyright-Free, Open Source, and CC-licensed Photos – OpenPhoto, Stock.xchng, Image*After, Wikipeda Commons, Flickr Image Search
• Survey Tools -Zoomerang, SurveyMonkey
• Polls – PollDaddy
• Website Statistics – Google Analytics, OneStatFree, StatCounter
• Translation Tool – Google Translate
• Events Calendar – Google Calendar
• Website Hosting – Blogger, WordPress, Bravenet, Google Sites, Bryght.com

11. Free eBooks (need to cut your eBook budget? that’s ok – there are a lot of free eBooks out there.)

• Project Gutenberg
• AudioBooksForFree
• Escholarship
• Google Books
• ManyBooks
• Memoware
• Online Books Page
• Oxford Text Archive
• and hundreds more sites too!

12. Free Articles

• ArticlesBase.com
• FindArticles.com
• + open access e-journals
• + free access through individual publication’s websites

13. Miscellaneous Other Free Stuff

• RSS aggregator – Google Reader
• Book Jackets – Book City Jackets
• File Converters – Zamzar
• Charts – LucidChart, Lovely Charts, Gliffy
• Text to Voice – Text2Speech, Google Voice
• Citation Keeper – Zotero
• Movies Online – Hulu, YouTube
• File Drop Sites – SendUIt, DropBox, YouSendIt

What's Your Name?

The massive growth in adacemic publishing in the last ten years has made it difficult for individual researchers to stand out, especially if you've got a common name; Web of Science lists 613 different J Smiths. You can be creative with your middle initial by being JX Smith, or stand out as the only J Smith in your institution. But what about when you move jobs, or if you change your name with marriage?

Publishers like ThomsonReuters and ProQuest have tried setting up resources like ResearchID, where researchers can establish unique IDs and showcase their work. But they have been held back by the old VHS vs. Betamax problem, with competing standards not being recognised by different publishers.

Now ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID has been launched, with the backing of all the major publishing companies. Its early days, so you can't create your profile yet, but lets hope that this effort gets traction and is accepted as an international standard.

Read more about it in Nature.

Valuing Research as an Intangible Asset - Frank Gannon

Reposted from Frank Gannon's Blog http://frankgannon.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/valuing-research-as-an-intangible-asset/
Once the economy took an overt turn for the worst in 2008, voices that had been mute for almost a decade came forward to question the wisdom of Ireland investing in Research and Development (R&D). As Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) had been established in 2000 as the vehicle to provide the expertise to deliver the funding to “make Ireland a world leader in research” it was inevitable that attention would increasingly focus on its activities and view them as a cost rather than an investment. Various commentators sniffed at the phrase the “Knowledge Economy” and have not been enthusiastic when the Government launched the “Smart Economy” as the way forward for Ireland “after the crisis”. Having had numerous discussions and debates on the topic, where I and other colleagues showed the beneficial consequences of the SFI activities, I cannot say that the debate has yet been won by us. I wrote an extensive blog on the problem of trying to convince ‘non-believers’ that investment in R&D is essential for Ireland’s enterprise http://frankgannon.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/belief-and-science-policy and the concept of belief and faith is perhaps appropriate, as arguing for investment in science with a skeptic must be similar to an ardent Christian arguing their cause with a convinced atheist.

Formal para-official endorsement of the science skeptics came in the report of An Bord Snip Nua (McCarthy report). This report recommended a 15% cut back in the Science Technology and Innovation (STI) budget. There remains a lot of work to get ‘System’ to understand that the academics that SFI funds today are quite different to the caricatures that are presented as the basis of the disbelief in giving money to labs as the best way of under-pinning the Smart Economy. I won’t repeat the litany of facts that support our contention that the SFI programmes are already, and ahead of schedule, providing very positive inputs to the enterprise economy. Suffice to say that the opinion of two external independent reviews support this - a Value for Money Review of Science Foundation Ireland Prepared for Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment By Indecon International Economic Consultants and Science Foundation Ireland – the First Five Years 2000-2005 Prepared by An International Evaluation Panel, both reports are available on the SFI website – www.sfi.ie

Over the plum-pudding days of Christmas the concern for the future of Ireland “after the crisis” came back to disturb me too frequently to ignore. What, I wondered, would not have happened if SFI had not been established? OK, there would be fewer publications and fewer research groups, and maybe the impressive moves up the world ranking by Irish Universities would not have taken place…..but who in the enterprise sphere really cares about that?. Would business expenditure on R&D have doubled? Would 50% of the new deals entered into by the IDA have been in the area of R&D? Would very large numbers (almost 800) of Irish companies have invested in the development of new products to help them become more competitive? Would we be able to dream of developing and attracting a greatly expanded Green/Clean industrial sector with a projection of 80,000 jobs created? I really think the answer to allthose and other practical questions is NO, or at least to do so without the extra highly trained 4th level graduates and the reputation gain from the country by having top-class research groups here would have been extremely difficult and unprecedented world-wide.

Then one day, the pfennig (I was in Germany) dropped. The problem is that SFI and research generally delivers Intangible Assets and those with an antagonistic view are only putting value on Tangible Assets. As I am not an economist, I will not give my version of what the difference between tangible and intangible assets are, although the understanding of the English words is straight-forward. Instead, I add at the bottom of this blog the Wikipedia entry on the topic. I find, in that definition, confirmation of my diagnosis. Both the legal intangibles and the competitive intangibles described there are the primary outcomes from the investments made by SFI. This is what is to be expected and matches the rational for the establishment of SFI. But this is systematically missed by those that see research as a cost rather than an investment. Perhaps they have not reflected on this essential difference. Instead the critical analysts constantly look for tangible assets such as spin-off companies, jobs created and the conversion of the intangible intellectual property to the tangible license cash income. Calls for support only of research that is of direct value to Industry have the same tangible outcome as their basis No wonder there is a miss-match in the discussions. I think it would be good, therefore, to re-engage the debate with this insight in mind.

Time was, when intangible assets had no perceived value. Today, that is completely changed and even the rigours of accounting demand that these are treated and managed like other assets. Many companies invest more in pursuit of Intangible Assets than they do in the more readily measured Tangible Assets. I hope that Irish decision makers and commentators will integrate this into their thinking. Already the SFI budget has drifted away from the multi-annual plan of the Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation (SSTI). Continuation of that trend will certainly make the intangible assets drain away and with that the tangible assets will also be lost.

“Intangible assets are defined as identifiable non-monetary assets that cannot be seen, touched or physically measured, which are created through time and/or effort and that are identifiable as a separate asset. There are two primary forms of intangibles – legal intangibles (such as trade secrets (e.g., customer lists), copyrights, patents, trademarks, and goodwill) and competitive intangibles (such as knowledge activities (know-how, knowledge), collaboration activities, leverage activities, and structural activities). Legal intangibles are known under the generic term intellectual property and generate legal property rights defensible in a court of law. Competitive intangibles, whilst legally non-ownable, directly impact effectiveness, productivity, wastage, and opportunity costs within an organization – and therefore costs, revenues, customer service, satisfaction, market value, and share price. Human capital is the primary source of competitive intangibles for organizations today. Competitive intangibles are the source from which competitive advantage flows, or is destroyed. The area of finance that deals with intangible assets is known as Intangible Asset Finance.”-from Wikipedia 9.1.2010


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A Review of Research Assessment

Below are two interesting reports which look at the research assessment process and the role the Library can play. Interestingly the pros and cons of a national assessment process can be seen in comparison between the UK and Ireland.

A Comparative Review of Research Assessment Regimes in Five Countries and the Role of Libraries in the Research Assessment Process:
http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2009/2009-09.pdf

Research Assessment and the Role of the Library
A companion report to A Comparative Review of Research Assessment Regimes in Five Countries and the Role of Libraries in the Research Assessment Process
http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2010/2010-01.pdf