Janet has also been the acting director of the Hatfield Marine Science Center, which isn’t mentioned in the press release.

Message from the Oregon Library Association:
To: Oregon State University Libraries
From: Oregon Library Association Honors, Awards and Scholarship Committee
Re: Press Release regarding Oregon Librarian of the Year Award
Date: April 29, 2013

OLA Distinguished Service Award
The Oregon Library Association has awarded Janet Webster, Hatfield Marine Science Center Head Librarian, the 2013 OLA Distinguished Service Award. This award is given to an Oregon librarian or library staff member for exceptional service over many years. Webster is being recognized for her decades of outstanding leadership in a wide array of community and library organizations. She has been a particularly effective advocate for federal, state and local policy and legislation which allows libraries to better serve their communities. The OLA awards are announced each year at the association’s annual conference (held this year as a joint conference with the Washington Library Association). OLA is the state association of library professionals comprised of 1200 members pursuing a mission to promote and to advance library service through public and professional education and cooperation.

Congratulations, Janet!

Barb Butler

Dear IAMSLIC Colleagues,

This is a call for Conference Travel Support proposals and Project-related Grant proposals. Please kindly note that Project-related Grant proposals will be accepted from members not affiliated with a regional group.

The total funding available for Guin Travel Grants this year is US$ 5,000.
The total funding available for 2013 Project Grants is US$ 1,000 only.

Since the IAMSLIC would like to support several participants, we encourage you to apply for partial (up to US$ 1,500) rather than full support. Please make sure that you check with your Regional Representative (http://www.iamslic.org/people/regional-groups) first regarding the availability of regional grants.

For proposal details and format please see our website at: http://www.iamslic.org/activities/grants
The deadline for submitting your proposal is 27th of May 2013.

Best regards,

Maria Kalentsits
IAMSLIC President 2012-2013

I will be retiring April 1, 2013. It is hard for me to believe 31 years have passed so quickly here at Texas A&M University at Galveston, and for the majority of those years (since 1983?) I have been an IAMSLIC member. Our organization has made a huge difference in my professional life, and I have many personal friends as well from our membership. this is a wonderful organization; I am hoping to be able to attend our annual conference in Florida this year, so I will look forward to seeing many of you there.

Natalie Wiest
Texas A&M University at Galveston USA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ranit Schmelzer

February 22, 2013 202-538-1065

sparcmedia@arl.org

SPARC APPLAUDS WHITE HOUSE FOR LANDMARK DIRECTIVE

OPENING UP ACCESS TO SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Ensures that Taxpayer-Funded Research Available to Public

Washington, D.C. – The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) today applauded President Obama for issuing a landmark Directive to ensure that the results of taxpayer-funded research – both articles and data – are made available to the general public to freely access and fully use.

The action today comes about after a ten-year campaign by the “Open Access” movement – scientists, universities, libraries, technology leaders, patient advocates, entrepreneurs, students, and every-day Americans – aimed at making taxpayer-funded scientific research freely accessible and fully reusable in a digital environment.

“ This is a watershed moment. The Administration’s action marks a major step forward towards open access to scientific research,” said Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC, which works to broaden public access to scholarly research . “The Directive will accelerate scientific discovery, improve education, and empower entrepreneurs to translate research into commercial ventures and jobs. It’s good for our nation, our economy, and our future.”

“Knowledge is power. It’s the power to innovate, to advance scientific discovery, to promote economic growth, and to create jobs. In 2013, we should be taking full advantage of the digital environment to disseminate the results of publicly funded research, not keep this knowledge locked away.”

Every year, the federal government uses taxpayer dollars to fund tens of billions of dollars of scientific research that results in thousands upon thousands of articles published in scientific journals. The government funds this research with the understanding that it will advance science, spur the economy, accelerate innovation, and improve the lives of our citizens. Yet most taxpayers – including academics, students, and patients – are shut out of accessing and using the results of the research that their tax dollars fund, because it is only available through expensive and often hard-to-access scientific journals.

The potential economic benefits of opening up access to this research are estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. In instances where this kind of open access has already been enabled, remarkable examples demonstrate how powerful open access can be. Placing the Human Genome Project in the public domain, for example, enabled scientists everywhere to access the data. The $3.8 billion investment in the project has had an estimated economic impact of almost $800 billion.

Details of the White House Directive

The White House Directive affirms the principle that the public has a right to access the results of taxpayer-funded research and calls on all federal agencies with annual research and development budgets of $100 million or more to provide free and timely online access to the results of that research. Articles reporting on the results of publicly funded scientific research must be made available after a 12 month embargo period.

The Directive builds on the progress made by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the first federal agency to require public access to taxpayer-funded research. Since its implementation, the NIH policy enabled more than 90,000 new biomedical manuscripts to be made publicly available each year, resulting in millions of Americans having access to vital health care information. Demand for this information is extremely high, with more than 700,000 unique users accessing material from this repository each weekday.

The Directive comes as the bipartisan Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), is making is way through the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

“The Directive is a major achievement for both open access and open government. We should now take the next step and make open access the law of the land. We commend Senators Cornyn and Wyden and Representatives Doyle, Lofgren, and Yoder for introducing FASTR and call on Congress to pass it without delay,” said Joseph.

To follow the conversation on Twitter use the hashtags #openaccess or #OA. Media questions can be directed to @SPARC_NA or sparcmedia@arl.org .

Joe Wible

Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University

Dear colleagues,

 Further to the information about the upcoming IODE OTA MIM training course on Digital Asset Management sent out a few weeks ago, I would like to bring your attention to the fact that in addition to supporting participants from developing countries, IODE now provides full or partial support to a limited number of participants from developed countries.  An application deadline has been extended to 28th of February 2013. Please take advantage and apply for this course. 

 The course description, topics covered, learning outcomes and prerequisites are available on the leaflet attached and also at www.oceanteacher.org and www.iode.org.

 Best regards,

 Maria Kalentsits

 IAMSLIC President 2012-2013

In early January I got an urgent request from Carla Robinson, our outgoing SAIL representative, to ask if I would be willing to be her stand-in for a presentation to the IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] ) meeting in Playa del Carmen, Mexico January 29-31, 2013. This specialty meeting was concerning the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem/Regional Ecosystem Monitoring Program and its information and data management objectives. I agreed to do this with the backing of a Power Point program Carla had already put together.
When I looked more closely at the audience and the time slot allotted I decided I needed to add to the collection and hoped I had enough interesting information to fill a full hour’s presentation – to an audience that, as it turned out, included only myself as a librarian, but was composed of fishery and ecosystem data and information managers from 22 of the countries that are in the Caribbean marine ecosystem.
Since I was spreading IAMSLIC/SAIL propaganda and making offers of helping with this project, I thought you would like to know a little more about my presentation.
I started with a description of who we are, the institutional types we represent, and the geographic regions that make up IAMSLIC. Since the MOU between IOC and IAMSLIC had just been approved we can claim my presentation as an example of how we, as an IAMSLIC/SAIL organization, are sharing our knowledge and expertise with the wider marine science and IOC community.
The Aquatic Commons was front and center as an example of shared information. The Z39.50 catalog and Union List of Serials, and excerpted usage statistics, demonstrate a working project within Latin America.
I demonstrated my emerging data and mixed documents storage capability with the Texas Digital Library. This fledgling project deals with the Sargassum (seaweed) challenge of predicting when large rafts of sargassum will be covering the beaches of Galveston, and whether or not the management practices for dealing with it affects beach erosion.
With NSF and NIH mandates for public availability of scientific data, its management will certainly be of great interest to all of us. I hope this will be a topic of rich discussion and sharing of ideas for our upcoming professional conferences.
From conference presentations, the “3×3” management matrices for ecosystem management considers the transboundary problems of: Unsustainable exploitation of fish and other living resources; Habitat degradation and community modification; and Pollution. Those problems are considered for the three ecosystems: Reef Ecosystems (including mangroves & seagrasses); Pelagic Ecosystems; and Continental Shelf Ecosystems.
Bob Glazer of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute demonstrated the portal he has developed to support governance of the shared living marine resources of the Wider Caribbean with references to data and information on ecosystems and environment. You can see the beta version of this portal at: http://clmeims.gcfi.org/ In this world of high technology, his presentation (and all of the rest of us too) was being simulcast on Internet TV, and who should be listening in but our colleague Pauline Simpson in the Caymen Islands. Ever on top of information technology, she immediately emailed me with a request for information from the GCFI; could I get the metadata and documents Mr. Glazer was talking about, so they could also be made available on Aquatic Commons! Of course I was glad to help in that quest, and so was Mr. Glazer so I was soon emailing Pauline the metadata to make that happen. What a small world! And what a nice addition for Aquatic Commons.
As an example of big science, Doug Wilson demonstrated the GOOS (Global Ocean Observation System, from IOC/IODE) for the Caribbean. Frans von der Dunk joined us via Skype for a very interesting presentation on the legal issues concerning the many different nations surrounding the Caribbean, proposing a European Union kind of solution to working together for the common good. Marvin Fonseca from Costa Rica made a marvelous presentation on the success story of artisanal fishermen working together to solve their common problem and conflict between tourism and large shrimping organizations. Carlos Torres from the Mexican Oceanographic Data Center demonstrated the Ocean Biogeographic System which allows users to search marine species datasets from all of the world’s oceans. Check it out at www.iobis.org.
I am writing my summary without benefit of the official minutes of the meeting. I hope this is making sense to you; no expense to IAMSLIC or SAIL was involved, and the IOC/CLME-IMS-REMP (and permission of my home institution) made my attendance possible. I was very pleased to be included as a representative of IAMSLIC/SAIL at the table with the marine information and data managers. I hope more of my IAMSLIC/SAIL colleagues may be able to participate in the future.
For further reference, you can see my Power Point presentation at: http://repositories.tdl.org/tamug-ir/handle/1969.3/28451. The Aquatic Commons database is at: www.aquaticcommons.org; and the inputter’s manual is at: www.aquaticcommons.org/AquaticCommons_Quickstart.pdf.

Natalie Wiest
Texas A&M University at Galveston

Dear colleague,

We are pleased to inform you that the period for applications for the following Training Course is open between 7 January and 15 February 2013:

• Digital Asset Management, which will be held in Ostend, Belgium, between 13-17 May 2013.

We therefore invite you to share this information amongst potential interested candidates in your country.

The courses’ description, topics covered, learning outcomes and prerequisites are available on the leaflet attached and also at www.oceanteacher.org and www.iode.org.

Interested candidates can register for the course by following the instructions described at OceanTeacher Academy website, under Registration.
Registration implies the submission of the following documents:
- Application form
- CV
- Endorsement letter (in case of asking for sponsorship)

Both full- and co-sponsoring are available for a limited number of participants. Sponsored participants will receive one or a combination of the following cost items: 1) air ticket, 2) living and accommodation support, 3) tuition fee and 4) medical insurance.
The selection of participants who will be sponsored will take into consideration:
- Applicant country’s development status (preference will be given to LIFDCs)
- Endorsement of the candidate’s application by his/her employer
- Expected impact of the training for the applicants’ institution
- Possibility of any co-sponsorship

Co-sponsorship is an asset for selection.

Complete applications should be sent by e-mail directly to the OceanTeacher Academy Training Coordinator within the deadline (15 February 2013).

Kind regards,
Claudia Delgado

Ocean Teacher Coordinator, IOC Project Office for IODE
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC)
Wandelaarkaai 7/61
8400 Oostende
BELGIUM
Tel: +32 59 34 01 58
Fax: +32 59 79 52 20 or Fax: +32 59 34 01 52
E-mail: claudia.delgado@iode.org

url: www.iode.org / www.oceanteacher.org

Below is a message from long-time IAMSLIC member, Jan Heckman. We want to thank Jan for all of his efforts in IAMSLIC, including hosting the 29th conference in Mystic, Connecticut and his active involvement in the resource sharing committee. We hope he will continue to participate in IAMSLIC activities and wish him all the best in his retirement.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a picture of Jan dropping into the pond in Fiji (as he mentions in his letter) but here he is with Mary at the banquet.

Maria & Sally

To IAMSLIC,

I am retiring as of Feb.1 2013. No health issues just a life decision. I have appreciated my membership in IAMSLIC so much that it represents some of the high points of my career. There has always been some satisfaction from helping UConn patrons, an abiding feeling of helping folks navigate the in’s and out’s of information access. There are other local library efforts that I’m proud of but will spare you the details. Being a member of IAMSLIC and being able to contribute will always be something I can reflect upon as positive. IAMSLIC always took the high ground and knew support of its members was very important. Always amazed at how fast and how many times members replied with ILL articles (usually needed ASAP, under pressure from patrons). Should make OCLC a little jealous. Everybody made me look good, or I was able to help them, all good, a team effort.

Loved the conferences, made all my colleagues somewhat jealous, loved the jokes, the adventures (rope drop into pond in Fiji a highlight) also the boat trip back from snorkeling in Fiji, more praying going on then than at all IAMSLIC conferences combined I suspect. Met so many different and interesting folks from around the world. Saw cultures and countries from a different perspective than a tourist. Had the chance to host a conference and even though I lost my voice, heard it went well. All that extra lobster at the banquet not planned, but in the end because of health department rules, I think almost all the lobster you can eat is a treat.

I will always cherish my time with IAMSLIC. One nice story is when Mary and I arrived at Victoria after being married in Alaska (newlyweds) on an inside passage cruise; we were checking in at the desk and some IAMSLIC’ers (you know who you are) came up to congratulate us. This was Mary’s first conference. The clerk overheard the conversation, which I’m sure was somewhat loud and she took our key back. Then proceeded to hand us the penthouse key, you know what that means, PARTY IN THE PENTHOUSE.

I can be contacted at jehmvs2@ct.metrocast.net

Check out the following story reporting the estimated $100 million Elsevier has tendered to buy Mendeley.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/17/elsevier-mendeley-education/

Joe Wible
Hopkins Marine Station

Many of you know about this, but Skidaway will be moving under the University of Georgia, effective this summer.

http://www.usg.edu/news/release/regents_align_skidaway_institute_of_oceanography_with_uga

Janet Webster
Oregon State University