This summer the ‘Building Relationships’ strand of the LIBER Digital Humanities Working Group has been exploring the theme of ‘researcher needs in digital humanities’, asking how libraries know what these needs are, and how we can meet them. This has involved considering area such as potential engagement activities for digital humanities services; how libraries work…
From 2018-2020, LIBER’s Working Group on Digital Skills surveyed and interviewed colleagues across Europe to identify examples of good practice in Open Science skilling and training programmes. The case reviews have been gathered and published on Zenodo and highlight the many different approaches taken to Open Science upskilling across Europe. The case studies describe the…
A number of European recommendations – including the LERU’s advice paper “Citizen Science at Universities: Trends, Guidelines and Recommendations” – highlight the importance of creating a single point of contact for citizen science within the institution. In this webinar, organised by LIBER`s Citizen Science Working Group, four speakers share what they are doing to devise…
Covid-19 has left research libraries scrambling to support a swift and unprecedented switch to digital teaching. The transition to fully online learning has exacerbated existing problems, namely a lack of appropriate copyright legislation (as LIBER flagged in April), and sky-high prices for digital textbooks. To highlight the problems faced by librarians, LIBER’s Copyright & Legal…
The Association of European Association of Research Libraries (LIBER) applauds the cOAlition S announcement of a Rights Retention Strategy: a move which will allow authors to retain copyright to their work and, at the same time, will accelerate progress towards LIBER’s goal of Open Access as the predominant form of scholarly publishing by 2022. Under…
Optical character recognition (OCR) and handwritten text recognition (HTR) are processes most libraries are familiar with when digitising (large volumes of) text. The automated software recognises characters, which are then available for e.g. keyword search and computational analysis. The rise of machine learning applications saw a corresponding rise in HTR and improvements in OCR quality. …
Are you planning a new library building project? Are you looking for inspiration? Help? Advice? LIBER and the LIBER Architecture Group (LAG) have today launched Library buildings in Europe, a website dedicated to inspiring and supporting anyone working on a library building project – a new building, an extension, a renovation, or a reworking of…
LIBER’s Innovative Metrics Working Group has published a new report for those based in libraries who are trying to address challenges of metrics in relation to research with senior management. The report highlights common pitfalls when discussing metrics as well as new approaches — DORA, the Leiden Manifesto, the Metric Tide —being adopted by certain…
LIBER’s 2019-2020 Annual Report is online! We are delighted to share our activities, progress and achievements for the period June 2019 to May 2020. In the past year, we’ve strengthened network ties, in many ways. For example, by: securing a role for research libraries in EOSC; intensifying our cooperation with the International Alliance of Research…
The Chair of LIBER’s FIM4L Working Group, Jos Westerbeke, was recently invited to present the group’s work on federated authentication with Single Sign-On (SSO) to the United Nations Library and Information Network for Knowledge Sharing (UN-LINKS). UN libraries were interested in the work of LIBER’s FIM4L group because, together, they are actively searching for the…
Europe’s incoming Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market contains two new exceptions allowing text and data mining (TDM). The Directive is currently being implemented by all member states and must come into force no later than June 2021. Article 3 grants universities, educational establishments and libraries the right to mine in-copyright works to…
A main outcome of the SSHOC Project, in which LIBER is a partner, is the creation of a SSH Open Marketplace: a first-class research environment offering tools, services, training materials, research papers and other useful resources for digital researchers, particularly those working in the social sciences and humanities. To ensure the SSH Open Marketplace matches…
