Yumma Darruwa Ngunnawal

Welcome from Ngunnawal and Ngambri country.

A proposal for an Indigenous Project Officer for the Division has been approved. It will be a 9-month project with a dedicated leader. The project includes:

·       developing a culture that embeds the University's commitment to Indigenous culture in our daily practice

·       increase the awareness of SIS staff relating to Indigenous knowledge and ways

·       review services and products to recommend a program to best support ANU graduate attribute on Indigenous culture and knowledge

·       assess and analyse best practice in relevant comparable institutions

·       develop a plan to implement actions to align services and products with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing and needs

·       engage in appropriate consultation

·       develop a systematic approach for collections embedded in guidelines and a new framework

·       ensure resources in the collection containing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage are identified consistent with a new framework including assessment of risk and significance

·       ensure that resources are described and made accessible consistent with the framework

·       identify service changes that need to be embedded operational practices

·       adopt a workface plan that reflects better practice in relation to developing capabilities for staff to understanding and maintain awareness of Indigenous knowledge in relation to education and research in a world class university.

All staff will be engaged in discussions through the project.

ANU COVID-19

COVID inspections are no longer required. If you see supplies are running low of hand sanitiser or masks do let the relevant people know in your building.

Please read all the messages from the university about COVID 19.

All COVID updates will be communicated to staff and students via the weekly On Campus email newsletter. You can find previous staff On Campus and student On Campus editions here.

Library Staff Consultative Committee

The next meeting will be on 10 October. We currently have one vacancy in the category “Five members between the levels ANUO1 and ANUO4”.

SIS symposium

You can now book your spot at our fabulous symposium on 11 October. Visit Eventbrite for more details and to book!

SIS staff meeting

The next staff meeting is scheduled for Thursday 21 September at 1.30pm. Speakers and topics are:

·       How does ANU make decisions and govern itself? Belinda Farrelly (ANU Secretary) on Governance

·       Megan Easton (policy guru) on ANU policies

WHS

A call for nominations will be out shortly for a Health and Safety Representative (HSR) now that Peter has retired.

Library Advisory Committee

The Committee will meet in September. Thanks to all who prepared papers – the agenda includes:

·       Terms of reference of the Committee - membership

·       Open Access

·       SIS Business Planning

·       Student voice and feedback

·       Supporting the ANU Learning and Teaching Strategy and Graduate Attributes

·       Indigenous knowledge: SIS strategic approach

·       Chifley Flood collection replacement report

·       Storage    

·       Resource sharing

·       Reports on: Library, Digitisation and Archives and Records

Rain and remediation

The regular updates on the work at the Menzies Library show all is on track. Thanks to everyone for their good work.

Visit the Library news page to keep up-to-date on all hail remediation works.

Academic Quality Assessment Committee

A special meeting was held last week. Papers included:

·       2016 – 2020 Cohort analysis of undergraduate (Bachelors only) and

·       postgraduate coursework retention, attrition rates and completion rates,

·       and 2016 – 2021 success (progress) rates.

·       Undergraduate awards

·       Graduate awards.

Congratulations to Broderick

Broderick submitted a winning entry to ‘Gale’s Historical Cooking Competition’, baking a banana pudding with pineapple meringue from the book Original recipes and cooking helps from 1907. Well done Broderick!

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CAUL & CONZUL

·       Matthew Davis has been appointed University Librarian at the University of Newcastle. Matthew has been interim University Librarian at Newcastle since March 2023.

·       ALIA/CAUL/NSLA submission with input from ASA and CAARA regarding the Academy of Social Sciences to the ASSA  Decadal Plan for Social Science Research Infrastructure 2023-32 is now online.

·       Nominations for the CAUL awards are on the website CAUL Awards. The award categories are:

o   Indigenous Leader Award

o   Emerging Leader Award

o   Outstanding Library Team Award

o   Distinguished Service Award.

Copyright

·       Summary Judgment, affirming the decision of the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) to deny Dr Stephen Thaler copyright protection for an artwork that was generated entirely by artificial intelligence (AI). The Court held that copyright protection is available only to works that are authored by a human. Read a commentary here.

·       Italian Supreme Court’s “floral fractal” case – one commentary concludes “Italian Supreme Court in RAI vs. Biancheri has stated that the mere argument of being a graphic work generated via machine learning does not exclude per se the protectability under copyright laws” while noting that the decision has clarified that “there is the need for a factual analysis to evaluate the level of human intervention in the creation of graphic works via AI systems, in order to allow access to copyright protection for such works”.

Exciting new additions to the Library collection!

It has been five years since the devastating flood in the Chifley Library.

Since that time, the ANU community have done incredible work to rebuild our collections, buildings, and facilities.

In the first semester of 2023 an enormous number of new resources have been made available through the ANU Library catalogue! In addition to physical materials, the Library has replaced many resources in online format, enabling far greater discoverability and accessibility than was possible previously. Collections have not only been replaced, but dramatically improved.

Key subject areas for which there are new resources include:

See the full list of new titles and materials on Library news.

Feedback

On the millionth visitor to Hancock:

Congratulations to you and your wonderful colleagues in the Hancock Library!

I know our students receive excellent service from the Hancock librarians – thank you to you and your team for everything they do!

---

Roxanne Missingham

Director, Scholarly Information Services

Coming events

ALIA Digitisation and Preservation: Engagement

When? Wednesday 13 September 1pm AEST

Where? Online

More details. Hear speakers from Trove, Wikimedia, and the Biodiversity Heritage Library discuss internal and external engagement for digitised collections. A recording of the webinar will be made available online. More information is available on the ALIA website.

Mis & disinformation in Australian academic libraries

When? Wednesday 11 October 1pm AEST

Where? Melbourne

More details. A research review seminar with Dr Nicole Johnston (Edith Cowan University). More information is available on the ALIA website.

From HR

The Carers' Career Development Assistance Fund (CCDAF) Round 3, 2023 is currently open, closing 5pm Friday 8 September.

The CCDAF is for individual academic and professional staff with caring responsibilities who require support to participate in significant national or international conferences, workshops or symposia that contribute to their careers.

Grants of up to $2,000 are available for reasonable costs relating to care of dependants where existing care arrangements are not available.

Types of costs covered may include:

·       child care costs

·       care costs for dependants other than children

·       airfares for the dependant to accompany the staff member

More information is on the HR website, and any queries go to HRD.Development@anu.edu.au

The Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor’s Annual Awards open today, closing 5pm Monday 9 October.

The Awards are a celebration of the depth and diversity of talent within the ANU staff community. They are an opportunity for the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor to recognise the achievements of professional and academic staff for their impact to the ANU, as well as the local, national and international community.

Award categories include accomplishments such as early career academic excellence, impact and engagement, health and safety, excellence in advancing research, service to the campus community and more. Sponsors can nominate individuals or teams, but be sure to check eligibility before putting in a nomination.

I am also pleased to announce the introduction of two new awards in 2023, with the addition of the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Sustainability, alongside the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Culture Champion.

Further information for each award, including how to make a nomination, is on the HR website, and any queries should go to awards@anu.edu.au

Kind regards,

Kate Witenden

Chief People Officer

ARDC

Translation Pathways Between Research, Industry and Government

At the first ARDC Leadership forum for 2023, speakers shared insights on improving environmental data collection and flow to enable optimal translation to government and industry.

Read more here

Help Shape a National Persistent Identifier Strategy for Better Research

The ARDC has coordinated a draft national strategy for persistent identifiers (PIDs), a core component of word-class information infrastructure for research and innovation.

Read more here

Experts Workshop Infrastructure for Ecology

Explore the outcomes of a Planet Research Data Commons workshop on the digital research infrastructure needs of Australia's ecological and biodiversity modelling research community. 

Read more here

ANU Press and open access

Survey: status quo and developments in open access policy for books

Despite their important role in scholarly production and research communication – especially in the social sciences and humanities – academic books stand somewhat apart from the OA transformation: in strategies, policies and funding guidelines, OA monographs tend to find a back seat. The EU-funded PALOMERA project is conducting a survey to investigate the reasons for this state of affairs and, based on this, aims to derive recommendations for future policy measures at European, national and institutional level. Read more here.

Asia Pacific Regional Workshop Equity in Open Access

Report prepared by Janet Catterall & Virginia Barbour, August 2023. Participants were asked to discuss challenges to global equity in open access publishing in reference to four broad themes:

·       pricing/cost sustainability: for authors, universities (and publishers)

·       support for models of open access/bibliodiversity/ corporate ownership of publishing

·       marginalisation of Indigenous research/exclusion of global south

·       barriers to change/incentives in research/disciplinary differences/problematic publishing practices.

New titles

Subjects and Aliens: Histories of Nationality, Law and Belonging in Australia and New Zealand edited by Kate Bagnall.

East Asia Forum Quarterly: Volume 15, Number 3, 2023

Resisting Indonesia’s Culture of Impunity: Aceh’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Edited by: Jess Melvin, Sri Lestari Wahyuningroem, Annie Pohlman

Southern Limestones under Western Eyes: The Modern World Evolving in Southern Australia. Authored by: Brian McGowran

Open repository

Open Access Week 2023

“Community over Commercialization” is the theme for this year’s International Open Access Week (October 23-29): The website is up now.

New research resources

·       Measurement-induced Boolean dynamics and controllability for closed quantum networks

·       Tuning and fine morphology control of natural resource-derived vertical graphene

·       Managing underground transfer of floods for irrigation: A case study from the Ramganga basin, India

·       Inferring structural variant cancer cell fraction

·       Minimizing the Maximum Charging Delay of Multiple Mobile Chargers Under the Multi-Node Energy Charging Scheme

Keeping up to date

Appeals Court rules that Library of Congress can no longer require deposit of published works

Oh my goodness. Legal deposit has been fundamental to building national collections – this is very concerning. Read Rick Anderson’s commentary online.

IFLA World Library & Information Congress

Selected papers and the opening and closing ceremonies of the Congress held in Rotterdam from 21-25 August 2023 are available online.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Institute curricular framework and success metrics

The Association of Research Libraries has published a final report outlining the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Institute curricular framework and success metrics. ARL DEI Institute Framework and Metrics final report.

Joint statement about unlawful data scraping from platforms

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and eleven other data protection and privacy regulators worldwide have issued a joint statement about unlawful data scraping from platforms (especially social media platforms) and other publicly accessible sites.It reinforces that:

·       platforms and other sites have obligations to protect publicly available personal information from unlawful data scraping; and

·       data scraping incidents can constitute notifiable data breaches under various privacy and data protection laws.

Read more about how this impacts digital platforms, publicly accessible websites and the use of personal information for AI training.

Generative AI and Copyright: are you taking the right precautions?

AI we are all using it – this article contains practical steps that can be taken to reduce risk in using AI generated content. These include:

·       searching to determine how different your AI generated content is from existing, potentially protected works

·       ensuring that key issues such as privacy and confidentiality are not breached by your use of the AI

·       fact checking the outputs of the AI

·       ethical use of the AI, including not using the AI as a tool to copy or mimic the art style of another person or company

·       keeping detailed records of what the generative AI was used for. Including details of prompts, intermediate outputs, manual edits, etc.

 Read more here.

AI Regulatory Roundup: what you missed in AI news while you were gone for the summer

Reports on developments in Canada, EU, China, Australia, NZ Singapore and some recent cases. Read more here.

College & Research Libraries

The September 2023 issue is now freely available online both as a full issue PDF and as individual articles. Articles include:

·       Hidden Barriers: The Experience of Academic Librarians and Archivists with Invisible Illnesses and/or Disabilities - Katelyn Quirin Manwiller, Amelia Anderson, Heather Crozier, and Samantha Peter

·       Authorship in Academic Librarianship Journals, 2015–2019: Evaluating Author Occupations, National and Institutional Affiliations, and Coauthorship - Erin Owens.

Redressing relationships with the historically marginalized

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), and Ithaka S+R published an issue brief: “Redressing Relationships with the Historically Marginalized/Redresser les relations avec les personnes historiquement marginalisées”.

This new publication provides four focused examples about specific institutions that have worked to address the imperative to redress their relationships with historically marginalized communities.

Read more here.

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