March 2024
NISO Open Teleconference
Open Webinar: TRANSFER
Monday, March 11, 2024, 12:00pm - 1:00pm (Eastern Standard Time, US & Canada)
Please note the time change from our usual afternoon to noon, Eastern time, this month only. Note also time change in North America means this teleconference will be held at 4 pm UK and 5 pm Central Europe!
Our topic will be the Transfer Code of Practice, a NISO Recommended Practice now on its 4.0 version. Transfer was initially created by the UKSG in 2007 and moved to NISO in 2014. More information is available at the NISO Standing Committee web pages.
Our conversation will be with Transfer Standing Committee co-chair Sophia Anderton.
The Transfer Code of Practice is a voluntary code of conduct and best practices for jurnal publishers, which contains guidelines for key steps to take when journal owners transfer their journal content to and from one another. It seeks to address the technical and communication issues that arise during these transactions, with a goal of eradicating any disruption of access to journal content by end users. Support tools developed by the Transfer Standing Committee and other supporters include several services to notify librarians and other interested parties of journal moves.
Transfer encompasses three areas of work:
- The Transfer Code of Practice
- Publishers that currently endorse the Code
- The Transfer Alerting Service, designed to facilitate communication of journal transfers, now hosted by the ISSN International Centre.
NISO Webinar
More Accessible: Beyond PDF As We Know It
Wednesday, March 13, 2024, 11:00am - 12:00pm (Eastern Standard Time, US & Canada)
The Portable Document Format (PDF) has been a ubiquitous method for document sharing due to its universal compatibility to preserve document formatting across different platforms and systems. However, the format has drawbacks and alternatives to the PDF can offer improved collaboration and accessibility. This informative and instructional program aims to identify alternatives and explore the enhanced experiences and inclusive work flow available for consideration.
Confirmed speakers include Shamsi Brinn, UX Design Manager with arXiv.org of Cornell University and Jonathan Lazar, Executive Director of the Maryland Initiative of Digital Accessibility (MIDA) and Professor of Information Studies, University of Maryland. This program is being coordinated under the leadership of NISO Education Committee member, Jamie Lin, who will also serve as the program moderator.
April 2024
NISO Training Series
AI & Prompt Design: A 2024 NISO Training Series
Thursday, April 4, 2024, - Thursday, May 23, 2024, 11:00am - 12:00pm Noon (Eastern Standard Time, US & Canada)
This course will introduce students to prompt engineering with large language models, or LLMs. It is designed for students with no coding knowledge. It presumes no knowledge about machine learning or large language models (LLMs). Because the course focuses on prompt engineering, or the way in which you design and tailor a message to an LLM to perform a specific task, a basic knowledge of machine learning will be helpful. This course will, therefore, bring students up to speed with all the necessary terminology and concepts.
This course will be hands-on, meaning it will be divided between instruction and hands-on lessons where students will apply the material as they learn it. LLMs are stochastic, meaning they can behave unpredictably and inconsistently due to the randomness inherent in them. This can make it challenging to reproduce results. While this may introduce some inconsistencies for students during the course, it is an opportunity to learn. We will discuss the issues and challenges that surface to understand better how and why these issues occur and how to address them.
When working with students across different operating systems, hardware, and experience, it is challenging to work with open-source software and machine learning models. For this reason, the course will require students to have a subscription to ChatGPT for the duration of the course (2 months). This will ensure that all students are working with the same resources and eliminate potential challenges. That said, this course will devote a week to introducing students to the world of open-source machine learning so that they may explore it independently after the course concludes.
Because the field of machine learning is advancing rapidly, this course outline may change between its construction (January 2024) and its use (April–May 2024). Nevertheless, the core structure is expected to remain the same.
Training Facilitator, William Mattingly, Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Institution's Data Science Lab.
NISO Workshop
Spring 2024 ODI Conformance Statement Workshop for Libraries
Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 1:00pm - 2:00pm (Eastern Standard Time, US & Canada)
Struggling to fill out the ODI Conformance Statement for Libraries? Need some help in determining how to approach this work for your institution? Join ODI Standing Committee Library Representatives for a one-hour presentation to learn more about ODI and library conformance, get tips on how to approach each area of conformance, and use a provided worksheet to create an action plan for next steps in preparing and publishing your institution’s conformance statement.
Confirmed speakers: Teresa Hazen, Department Head, Collection Services, University of Arizona; Geoffrey Morse, Interim Head of Research Services, Northwestern University; and Ken Varnum, Senior Program Manager and Discovery Strategist, University of Michigan.
NISO Webinar
Sustainability in Publishing
Wednesday, April 17, 2024, 11:00am - 12:00pm (Eastern Standard Time, US & Canada
Explore key questions that investigate the publishing and information sharing industry's primary concerns and challenges related to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Hear about publisher initiatives being undertaken to promote sustainability and address equity, access, and environmental concerns, as well as what obstacles and opportunities are being navigated to create lasting change. Discuss collaborative programs happening in the industry and explore strategies that foster greater global inclusivity. Join us to explore how we can shape a sustainable future for publishing.
Confirmed speakers include Kaveh Bazargan, Director, River Valley Technologies; Dana Compton, Managing Director and Publisher of Publications & Standards, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE); Dr. Haseeb Irfanullah, esteemed independent consultant on environment, climate change, and research systems; and Charlie Rapple, Chief Customer Officer & Co-Founder of Kudos. The program is being coordinated by Alice Meadows, MoreBrains Communications & Outreach Director and co-founder. She will also serve as the program moderator.