3.3.3 Publishing support
An article in South African Journal of Science reporting on the levels of SA authors publishing within predatory journals gave impetus for a series of presentations between June and September (“How to spot a predatory journal”). This topic culminated in expanded sessions for the UWC Research Week and at the Expanding PG Education (EPE) events held in September. In October and November, follow up sessions on journal evaluation were held with emerging researchers in groups and individually. The ongoing nature of these requests means that the library will continue to expand its advocacy to reduce susceptibility to this threat.
Training and presentations provided
· DSpace: Training new staff member to upload records to the repositories – January
· Introduction to OJS: Newly appointed journal manager – March
· Open Access and IR presentation at SRES – March
· Introduction to OJS: Linguistics department – April
· How to spot a predatory journal, presentation in the library – June
· How to spot a predatory journal, presentation in the library – July
· Online footprint presentation at LIS – July
· How to spot a predatory journal, presentation at Research Week - September
· How to spot a predatory journal, presentation at Enhancing PG Education workshop - September
· OJS training for WritingThreeSixty editors – October
· How to spot a predatory journal, presentation in the library – October
· Open Access week event – October
· Predatory journals: Journal evaluation – October
· Predatory journals: Journal evaluation – November (x4)
· OJS training for Multilingual Margins editorial team – November
· OJS presentation at JOVACET (journal) launch – November
· Researcher profiles presentation for Education Faculty – December
3.3.4 Open Journal Systems (OJS) - journal hosting service
Active steps were taken to extend the number of journals hosted by the Library. By March, the Snr Librarian: Digital Scholarship had engaged with a number of editors or managers of print-only journals. Training on the OJS system was given to the editorial and support staff of Multilingual Margins, and Writing 360. The Snr Librarian: Digital Scholarship gave a presentation at the launch conference of JOVACET (see above) in November, giving guidance on best practices for journal policy matters.
Following a workshop given by OJS in December 2016 the library pursued migration of journals to a radically new version of the software in June. While offering journal managers and submitting authors improved workflows, some of the technical applications that had been developed for the previous version of the software were not ported to the new edition. The Library IT specialist coded some static webpages to help bridge this transition. In November Stellenbosch University library convened an OJS workshop to
establish a local network of expertise for academic libraries who are offering publishing services. A Slack online workspace for ongoing exchange of ideas was created by the Snr Librarian: Digital Scholarship.
3.3.5 Research Data Management and FigShare
On a number of occasions since 2015, the library has attempted to rouse the interest of campus stakeholders in the approaching challenge of research data management. Research funders and research councils are placing increasing emphasis on the need to manage, document, secure and share research datasets. The aim is to build a global store of data that is findable, accessible, intelligible and re-usable, according to the FAIR Principle.
After an MoU was signed for a consortial project to build a Tier 2 Research Data Management Facility in the Western Cape, the matter is now at hand. The library is committed to supporting this 3 year DST funded project, renamed ILIFU,(isiXhosa, the cloud), through contribution of 0.2FTE staff time. By December, the Snr Librarian: Digital Scholarship had implemented an institutional FigShare data repository that can serve as a holding space for institutional datasets that may either be shared openly or restricted by the depositor. The library intends to address its internal capacity problem hrough the provision of earmarked funding from the HDI grants for a data specialist over a five year period. A job description was drafted for this purpose.
To keep informed on broader local initiatives, several library staff also participate in the monthly virtual meetings of the Network of Data and Information Curation Communities (NeDICC). The Deputy Director presented to the February meeting.
3.3.6 Special Collections/ Prestigious Donations
The library received $2,000 from Prof Allen Isaacman which was used towards expanding the special collection of Lusophone African materials. On 8 May the Special Collections library, in collaboration with Dr Paolo Israel (History Department) hosted the annual Library-African History/Allen Isaacman address. Reading Amicar Cabal’s Revolution epistemologically was the title of the talk given by Dr Antonio Tomas (UCT Centre for the City). The event was the first occasion that the library video live-streamed an event on YouTube. The Special Collections librarian sent Prof Isaacman an annual report.
The library is beginning to become a destination for important African history collections, but does not yet allocate sufficient human resources towards the processing of the valuable donations. Capacity problems have prevented the production of an inventory of the library of the late Prof Patrick Harries donated by his widow in September 2016. This collection comprises over 1,000 titles on Mozambique, African history, and anthropology. The intention is to integrate the most valuable of his books into the Isaacman collection
Responding to a motivation from Prof Patricia Hayes, SARCHi Chair in Visual History, the library accepted the personal library of CLH Hahn, Native Commissioner of the Ovamboland Researve in Namibia from 1921-46. The collection contains historic publications dealing with colonial rule in Africa library. Only four boxes of the 18 collected have been inventorised so far.
These valuable research materials have been neglected due to lack of the availability of staff to take on the work. The prioritisation of this function should be considered by library management to avoid embarrassment to the University.
3.4 Copyright
On 6 June the library and the Dept of Library and Information Science co-hosted a lunchtime talk, Libraries in the Digital Age: copyright and related issues. Visiting scholar Prof Tom Lipinski (Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) provided insights on the Copyright Amendment Bill before Parliament.