A Guide to Distributed Digital Preservation (open access)

A Guide to Distributed Digital Preservation

This text is a collection of essays that gives an overview of the reasons for considering distributed digital preservation (a system which maintains copies of digital objects in multiple geographic locations) as well as considerations for implementing this kind of digital preservation. According to the back cover, "Readers may use this guide to gain both a philosophical and practical understanding of the emerging field of distributed digital preservation, including how to establish or join a network."
Date: 2010
Creator: MetaArchive Cooperative
System: The UNT Digital Library
Something About Marybell... (open access)

Something About Marybell...

Children's book about a young girl with a tail and her adventures with a winged cat.
Date: 2011
Creator: Yonemaru, Tomoko
System: The UNT Digital Library
Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Digital Repositories: Recommended Practice, Issue 1 (open access)

Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Digital Repositories: Recommended Practice, Issue 1

This document is a technical Recommendation to use as the basis for providing audit and certification of the trustworthiness of digital repositories. It provides a detailed specification of criteria by which digital repositories shall be audited. The OAIS Reference Model contained a roadmap which included the need for a certification standard. The initial work was to be carried out outside CCSDS and then brought back into CCSDS to take into the standard. In 2003, Research Libraries Group (RLG) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) created a joint task force to specifically address digital repository certification. That task force published Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification: Criteria and Checklist (TRAC—reference [B3]), on which this Recommended Practice is based. Through the process of normal evolution, it is expected that expansion, deletion, or modification of this document may occur. This Recommended Practice is therefore subject to CCSDS document management and change control procedures, which are defined in the Procedures Manual for the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems. Current versions of CCSDS documents are maintained at the CCSDS Web site: http://www.ccsds.org/
Date: September 2011
Creator: CCSDS Secretariat, Space Communications and Navigation Office, 7L70
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Introduction to Data Science (open access)

An Introduction to Data Science

This book provides non-technical readers with a gentle introduction to essential concepts and activities of data science. For more technical readers, the book provides explanations and code for a range of interesting applications using the open source R language for statistical computing and graphics"--Resource home page.
Date: 2012
Creator: Stanton, Jeffrey M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Net.Lang : Towards the Multilingual Cyberspace (open access)

Net.Lang : Towards the Multilingual Cyberspace

This publication is an educational, political and practical guide to policy and practice to understand key issues of multilingualism in cyberspace. Multilingualism is the new frontier of the digital network. This book presents the issues, and provides suggestions for a cyber-presence This publication, supported by UNESCO, will contribute to interdisciplinary dialogue among various stakeholders, open up new horizons for better understanding the importance of linguistic diversity, raise awareness about new developments linked to the Internet, and most importantly, convey the message that multilingualism contributes to wealth creation, social transformation and human development.
Date: 2012
Creator: Vannini, Laurent & Le Crosnier, Hervé
System: The UNT Digital Library
Oral Literature in Africa (open access)

Oral Literature in Africa

This revised edition makes Finnegan’s ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, "drum language” and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa. This volume is complemented by original recordings of stories and songs from the Limba country (Sierra Leone), collected by Finnegan during her fieldwork in the late 1960s,
Date: 2012
Creator: Finnegan, Ruth H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Open Access (open access)

Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Open Access

UNESCO issued this publication to demystify the concept of Open Access (OA) and to provide concrete steps on putting relevant policies in place. Building capacities in Member States for Open Access is a necessary but not sufficient condition for promotion of the concept. Creating an enabling policy environment for OA is therefore a priority. This publication will serve the needs of OA policy development at the government, institutional and funding agency level. The overall objective of the Policy Guidelines is to promote Open Access in Member States by facilitating understanding of all relevant issues related to Open Access. The guidelines are not prescriptive in nature, but are suggestive to facilitate knowledge-based decision-making to adopt OA policies and strengthen national research systems.
Date: 2012
Creator: Swan, Alma
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Digital Public Domain: Foundations for an Open Culture (open access)

The Digital Public Domain: Foundations for an Open Culture

Digital technology has made culture more accessible than ever before. Texts, audio, pictures and video can easily be produced, disseminated, used and remixed using devices that are increasingly user-friendly and affordable. However, along with this technological democratization comes a paradoxical flipside: the norms regulating culture's use — copyright and related rights — have become increasingly restrictive. This book brings together essays by academics, librarians, entrepreneurs, activists and policy makers, who were all part of the EU-funded Communia project. Together the authors argue that the Public Domain — that is, the informational works owned by all of us, be that literature, music, the output of scientific research, educational material or public sector information — is fundamental to a healthy society. The essays range from more theoretical papers on the history of copyright and the Public Domain, to practical examples and case studies of recent projects that have engaged with the principles of Open Access and Creative Commons licensing.
Date: March 2012
Creator: De Rosnay, Mélanie Dulong & De Martin, Juan Carlos
System: The UNT Digital Library

The Digital Squeeze: Libraries at the Crossroads: the Library Resource Guide Benchmark Study on 2012 Library Spending Plans

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
The second annual benchmark study of library spending plans from Library Resource Guide explores the wide range of spending and priorities decision-making taking place in 2012 budgets for public, academic and special libraries. Includes year-to-year comparative data. Learn where peer institutions are focusing their scarce investments, based on a study of over 700 participating North American institutions.
Date: April 2012
Creator: McKendrick, Joseph
System: The UNT Digital Library
Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) (open access)

Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS)

This document is a technical Recommended Practice for use in developing a broader consensus on what is required for an archive to provide permanent, or indefinite Long Term, preservation of digital information. This Recommended Practice establishes a common framework of terms and concepts which make up an Open Archival Information System (OAIS). It allows existing and future archives to be more meaningfully compared and contrasted. It provides a basis for further standardization within an archival context and it should promote greater vendor awareness of, and support of, archival requirements. CCSDS has changed the classification of Reference Models from Blue (Recommended Standard) to Magenta (Recommended Practice). Through the process of normal evolution, it is expected that expansion, deletion, or modification of this document may occur. This Recommended Practice is therefore subject to CCSDS document management and change control procedures, which are defined in the Procedures Manual for the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems. Current issue updates document based on input from user community (note). Current versions of CCSDS documents are maintained at the CCSDS Web site: http://www.ccsds.org/
Date: June 2012
Creator: CCSDS Secretariat, Space Communications and Navigation Office, 7L70
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hacking Secret Ciphers with Python (open access)

Hacking Secret Ciphers with Python

The book teaches complete beginners how to program in the Python programming language and it features the source code to several ciphers and hacking programs for these ciphers. The programs include the Caesar cipher, transposition cipher, simple substitution cipher, multiplicative and affine ciphers, Vigenere cipher, and hacking programs for each of these ciphers. The final chapters cover the modern RSA cipher and public key cryptography.
Date: 2013
Creator: Sweigart, Al
System: The UNT Digital Library
Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries (open access)

Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries

Sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and conducted by Ithaka S+R, this study provides insight into how ARL libraries are managing and funding the hundreds of digitized special collections they have created and that they believe to be critical to their futures. This is the first survey of ARL institutions that specifically attempts to understand and benchmark the activities and costs of supporting these collections after they are created. By looking at questions of management, costs, funding sources, impact, and outreach, the survey offers data that will deliver insight to all those engaged in sustaining digitized special collections.
Date: February 2013
Creator: Maron, Nancy & Pickle, Sarah
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey 2012 (open access)

The Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey 2012

The Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey has focused since its inception on capturing an accurate picture of faculty members' practices, attitudes, and needs. In the fifth triennial cycle, fielded in fall 2012, the survey focused on research and teaching practices broadly, as well as the dissemination, collecting, discovery, and access of research and teaching materials. Findings from this cycle of the Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey will provide colleges and universities, libraries, learned societies, and academic publishers with insight into the evolving attitudes and practices of faculty members in the context of substantial environmental change for higher education. The development of the 2012 questionnaire was guided by an advisory committee of librarians, publishers, policy makers, and a scholarly society executive. The overall project was supported by some 20 colleges and universities, learned societies, and publishers / vendors.
Date: April 8, 2013
Creator: Housewright, Ross; Schonfeld, Roger C. & Wulfson, Kate
System: The UNT Digital Library
Library Publishing Directory 2014 (open access)

Library Publishing Directory 2014

The first edition of the Library Publishing Directory provides a snapshot of the publishing activities of 115 academic and research libraries, including information about the number and types of publications they produce, the services they offer authors, how they are staffed and funded, and the future plans of institutions that are engaged in this emerging field. In documenting the breadth and depth of activities in this field, this resource aims to articulate the unique value of library publishing; establish it as a significant and growing community of practice; and to raise its visibility within a number of stakeholder communities, including administrators, funding agencies, other scholarly publishers, librarians, and content creators. Specifically it is hoped that this Directory will: • Introduce all readers to the emerging field of library publishing and help articulate its unique characteristics as a distinctive "publishing field." • Facilitate collaboration among library publishers and other publishing entities, especially the university presses and learned societies that share their values. • Alert authors of scholarly content to a range of potential publishing partners dedicated to supporting their experimentation with new forms of scholarly communication and open access business models. The Directory is also available Open Access in several electronic …
Date: September 26, 2013
Creator: Lippincott, Sarah K.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Born Digital: Guidance for Donors, Dealers, and Archival Repositories (open access)

Born Digital: Guidance for Donors, Dealers, and Archival Repositories

The report provides recommendations to help ensure the physical and intellectual well-being of materials created and managed in digital form ("born digital") that are transferred from donors to archival repositories. The report is presented in four sections, each of which provides an overview of a key area of concern: initial collection review, privacy and intellectual property, key stages in acquiring digital materials, and post-acquisition review by the repository. Each section concludes with two lists of recommendations: one for donors and dealers, and a second for repository staff. Appendixes provide more specific information about possible staffing activities, as well as a list of resources and ready-to-use checklists that incorporate recommendations from throughout the report. Ten archivists and curators from institutions in the United States and United Kingdom collaborated on the report.
Date: October 2013
Creator: Redwine, Gabriela; Barnard, Megan; Donovan, Kate; Farr, Erika; Forstrom, Michael; Hansen, Will et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Research Data Management Principles, Practices, and Prospects (open access)

Research Data Management Principles, Practices, and Prospects

This report examines how research institutions are responding to data management requirements of the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies. It also considers what role, if any, academic libraries and the library and information science profession should have in supporting researchers’ data management needs. University of North Texas (UNT) Library Director Martin Halbert opens the report with an overview of the DataRes Project, a two-year investigation of data management practices conducted at UNT with colleagues Spencer D. C. Keralis, Shannon Stark, and William E. Moen. His introduction is followed by a series of papers that were presented at the DataRes Symposium that UNT organized in December 2012.
Date: November 2013
Creator: Asher, Andrew; Deards, Kiyomi; Esteva, Maria; Halbert, Martin; Jahnke, Lori; Jordan, Chris et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Searching for  Sustainability:  Strategies  from Eight  Digitized Special  Collections (open access)

Searching for Sustainability: Strategies from Eight Digitized Special Collections

This report aims to address one of the biggest challenges facing libraries and cultural heritage organizations: how to move their special collections into the 21st century through digitization while developing successful strategies to make sure those collections remain accessible and relevant over time. Through a cooperative agreement as part of the National Leadership Grants Program, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), in partnership with Ithaka S+R, to undertake in-depth case studies of institutions that have worked to build the audience, infrastructure, and funding models necessary to maintain and grow their digital collections. The eight collections profiled provide useful models and examples of good practice for project leaders to consider when digitizing their own materials. We hope that these case studies will encourage greater discussion among individuals in the academic library and cultural heritage communities about the reasons why they invest so much time and energy in the creation and ongoing management of their digitized special collections, the goals they set for them, and the planning needed to realize those aims. These questions become even more pressing in an environment where the traditional sources of funding for digitization are beginning to wane. …
Date: November 2013
Creator: Maron, Nancy & Pickle, Sarah
System: The UNT Digital Library
Come back, cat! (open access)

Come back, cat!

Children's book detailing the adventures of an independent cat.
Date: 2014
Creator: Lilje, Karen; Rijsdijk, Nicola & Scarborough, Sam
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fast Lane to Python: A Quick, Sensible Route to the Joys of Python Coding (open access)

Fast Lane to Python: A Quick, Sensible Route to the Joys of Python Coding

This book aims to enable the reader to quickly acquire a Python foundation. The material particularly feel quite comfortable to anyone with background in an object-oriented programming (OOP) language such as C++ or Java. Even if ones lack this background, they will still be able to read these sections, but will probably need to go through them more slowly than those who do know OOP. Some Linux knowledge would also be helpful, but it certainly is not required. Python is used on Windows and Macintosh platforms too, not just Linux. So, most statements here made for the Linux context will also apply to Macs as well. The author acknowledged that programming is a personal, creative activity, so everyone has his/her own view.
Date: 2014?
Creator: Matloff, Norm
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pengiuns (open access)

Pengiuns

Children's non-fiction book about penguins. Several types of penguins are described with their eating habits, natural habitats, physical desriptions, and family structure.
Date: 2014
Creator: La Croix, Aleyna; Jones, Michael A.; Bradley, Hannah & Hall, Chelsea E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sleepy Mr Sloth (open access)

Sleepy Mr Sloth

Illustrated children's book about a sloth trying to find a place to sleep.
Date: 2014
Creator: Kennedy, Paul; Paterson, Graham & Mulgrew, Nick
System: The UNT Digital Library
Vann Victorian Collection: An Exhibit at UNT Libraries Special Collections (open access)

Vann Victorian Collection: An Exhibit at UNT Libraries Special Collections

The Vann Victorian Collection is a treasure of the University of North Texas Libraries and an exceptional resource for the study of Victorian literature. This exhibit showcases some pieces from the collection, including rare first editions, part-issue editions, and association copies. Dr. J. Don Vann, Professor Emeritus at UNT, curated this exhibit. Don and Dolores Vann began collecting Victorian books in 1962, when they acquired a first edition of Dickens’s Bleak House. They spent the summer of 1965 in London, conducting research in the British Library and buying first editions of works by Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray. During their subsequent trips to London, the Vanns came to know many of the city’s booksellers and were offered first editions they kept hidden from all but their most favorite customers. In 2004 Don and Dolores established the Vann Victorian Endowment to provide a permanent fund to purchase Victorian books for the Vann Victorian Collection in Special Collections at the University of North Texas Libraries. Since 2004 the Vanns have made additional contributions to the collection, most recently in 2014.
Date: 2014
Creator: Vann, J. Don (Jerry Don), 1938-
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Beginner’s Guide to Persistent Identifiers (open access)

A Beginner’s Guide to Persistent Identifiers

The essay discusses specific concerns of digital humanists in hopes of bridging the gap between how library directors and digital humanities researchers think. It suggests many ways to respond to the needs of digital humanists, and creating a Digital Humanities center is appropriate in relatively few circumstances. The essay recommends that a “Digital Humanities-friendly” environment may be more effective than a Digital Humanities Center but that library culture may need to evolve in order for librarians to be seen as effective Digital Humanities partners. The authors conclude that what we call “The Digital Humanities” today will soon be considered “The Humanities.” Supporting Digital Humanities scholarship is not much different than supporting digital scholarship in any discipline. Increasingly, digital scholarship is simply scholarship.
Date: February 2014
Creator: Schaffner, Jennifer & Erway, Ricky
System: The UNT Digital Library
Does Every Research Library Need a  Digital Humanities Center? (open access)

Does Every Research Library Need a Digital Humanities Center?

The essay discusses specific concerns of digital humanists in hopes of bridging the gap between how library directors and digital humanities researchers think. It suggests many ways to respond to the needs of digital humanists, and creating a Digital Humanities center is appropriate in relatively few circumstances. The essay recommends that a “Digital Humanities-friendly” environment may be more effective than a Digital Humanities Center but that library culture may need to evolve in order for librarians to be seen as effective Digital Humanities partners. The authors conclude that what we call “The Digital Humanities” today will soon be considered “The Humanities.” Supporting Digital Humanities scholarship is not much different than supporting digital scholarship in any discipline. Increasingly, digital scholarship is simply scholarship.
Date: February 2014
Creator: Schaffner, Jennifer & Erway, Ricky
System: The UNT Digital Library