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Past Event
September 20, 2023

Approaches to Digital Preservation Product and Service Sustainability

Comparing Alternate Approaches

How do we apply the lessons of ongoing evaluations of digital preservation sustainability within single institutions to the products and services on which this sector increasingly depends? A session at the iPres 2023 conference will look at this key question from different viewpoints to pool best practice and explore the issues to ensure the community can expect more durable systems however they are delivered. Panelists include Ithaka S+R’s Oya Y. Rieger alongside Jack O’Sullivan, Kelly Stewart, Thib Guicherd-Callin, David…
Past Event
December 9, 2021

Assessing the Reliability, Effectiveness, and Sustainability of Data Repositories

Oya Y. Rieger at USDA's Data Stewards Community of Practice Meeting

On December 9, 2021, Oya Y. Rieger will be presenting at USDA’s Data Stewards Community of Practice Meeting. Abstract is below: Assessing the Reliability, Effectiveness, and Sustainability of Data Repositories Researchers feel an increasing pressure to make research data publicly available in disciplinary or general repositories. To enable this process, there need to be standards and processes to assist them in identifying reliable data repositories to ensure that the data will be preserved and made accessible and usable for the…
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Sustainability Implementation Toolkit: About This Project

With generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Office of Digital Humanities, Ithaka S+R undertook Sustaining the Digital Humanities: Host Institution Support beyond the Start-Up Phase, a research project examining the role played by the institutional host in supporting digital humanities resources created in higher education in the United States. This research project builds on a related JISC-supported study conducted by Ithaka S+R in the UK that concluded in fall 2012. The final report from the UK-based project…
Research Report
June 18, 2014

Sustainability Implementation Toolkit

Developing an Institutional Strategy for Supporting Digital Humanities Resources

What do the digital humanities look like on your campus? What types of projects are your faculty undertaking? Which will require longer-term support, and where will that support come from? What roles do your service units, centers, and digital labs play in the various life-cycle stages, and is this clear to faculty? This toolkit will help administrators create a coherent institutional strategy for supporting digital humanities activities and the valuable outputs that they generate.To get started, follow the three steps below.…
Research Report
November 20, 2013

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…
Research Report
June 14, 2011

Funding for Sustainability

How Funders’ Practices Influence the Future of Digital Resources

"Funding for Sustainability: How Funders’ Practices Influence the Future of Digital Resources" offers an overview of funders' policies and practices, and provides a framework to assist funders and their grantees in thinking about the key elements of post-grant sustainability planning for digital resources. Over the past decade, philanthropic organizations and government agencies have invested millions of dollars, pounds, and euros in the creation of digital content in the not-for-profit sector. Their grants have facilitated major digitization efforts and encouraged innovative…
Research Report
May 1, 2008

Sustainability and Revenue Models for Online Academic Resources

There is no single formula that Online Academic Resources (OARs) can apply to achieve sustainability, no ‘one-size-fits-all’ plan that any organization can follow to reach a point of financial stability. There are, however, a variety of processes and approaches that can help to improve the likelihood of entrepreneurial success.  In an age when traditional content producers – including scholarly publishers and newspapers – struggle to maintain their financial footing in face of the challenges of the digital world, OARs cannot…
Research Report
March 14, 2024

The Research Data Services Landscape at US and Canadian Higher Education Institutions

While many universities have made substantial investments in research data services and are likely to continue to make further investments, obstacles such as decentralization and inefficiency, insufficient staffing, lack of technical expertise, and ambiguity about the needs of researchers continue to limit the impact of these investments. In light of these persistent challenges, Ithaka S+R revisited our 2020 inventory of data services and expanded our scope to include Canadian universities. Our findings presented here are based on a comprehensive review…
Blog Post
February 14, 2024

From the Ground Up

Developing Robust Student Success Programming to Boost Statewide Credential Attainment

Like many states, Texas is seeking to increase the share of adults with postsecondary degrees and credentials. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB)’s Building a Talent Strong Texas strategic plan lays out the state’s ambitious goal: by 2030, 60 percent of Texans ages 25-65 will hold a credential of value. To meet this target, the state has activated and engaged institutions, agencies, and advocates across the state (and nationally) to address the highly-varied educational needs of Texas…
Case Study
February 14, 2024

Texas Student Success Programs Poised for Impact

Highlighting High Potential

Each student enters college with their own unique set of goals, lived experiences, challenges, and hopes. Postsecondary institutions are challenged to build robust student supports that help these students each achieve their own version of success. This requires developing supports that work for a wide variety of target populations, such as for traditional-aged students entering college directly after high school as well as for returning adults seeking to build on credits they earned elsewhere a decade ago.
Research Report
January 29, 2024

The Second Digital Transformation of Scholarly Publishing

Strategic Context and Shared Infrastructure

The scholarly publishing sector is undergoing its second digital transformation. The first saw a massive shift from paper to digital, but otherwise publishing retained many of the characteristics of the print era. In this current second digital transformation, many of the structures, workflows, incentives, and outputs that characterized the print era are being revamped in favor of new approaches that bring tremendous opportunities, and also non-trivial risks, to scholarly communication. It is our objective with this paper to examine the…
Blog Post
January 16, 2024

Open Source Program Offices

Options for Housing OSPOs within a University

Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) have become a familiar concept in large technology firms and technology-forward companies in a variety of other industries. Across the past couple of decades, companies have used OSPOs as centralized hubs for their open source software-related activities. OSPOs have been useful for establishing frameworks for how companies use and contribute to open source software, as well as making sure their engagement aligns with their broader business objectives.
Research Report
September 19, 2023

Print Revenue and Open Access Monographs

A University Press Study

What happens to print sales when an OA edition of a scholarly monograph is also available on publication? This is the central focus of this report, which is authored by members and representatives from the Association of University Presses and Ithaka S+R. Beyond exploring the question of the role of print sales in OA monograph publishing, we will also touch briefly on how print sales fit into the overall financial equation of a sustainable OA book model.
Blog Post
September 11, 2023

Building College-Community Partnerships for Reentry

New ECMC Foundation Funding to Support Higher Education After Incarceration

Higher education in prison programs are receiving significant attention in light of the restoration of Pell grants, but the provision of reentry support and continuing education post release has only recently become a focus of the field. From complex college application systems and financial aid processes to meeting basic needs, students face a range of obstacles that may prevent them from completing their degrees after incarceration. Building pathways that specifically support students in achieving their educational goals post-release will be…
Blog Post
September 6, 2023

Assessing Open Education Resources Programs

New Research Project

Today we are excited to announce that Ithaka S+R is embarking on a one-year research project, funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, to assess the impact and implementation of open educational resources (OER) programs at public institutions of higher education. Through the project, we will develop a framework to guide sustainable OER adoption and implementation. At their core, OER initiatives aim to increase student learning outcomes by reducing costs. Our project aims to explore how OER strategies…
Blog Post
August 23, 2023

Reflections from the 2023 Association of African American Museums Conference

At the end of July, I flew to Nashville to attend the 45th annual Association of African American Museums (AAAM) meeting. Established in 1978, AAAM, a non-profit membership organization, provides support to African and African American focused museums and their dedicated professionals. This year’s conference delved into the significant roles of the African American community in shaping museums, music, and societal movements. As a new member and a first-time attendee, I was excited to explore the conference offerings and…
Blog Post
August 15, 2023

The Future of Annual Meetings and Scholarly Societies

New Report from Ithaka S+R and JSTOR Labs

As the pandemic recedes into memory, scholarly societies find themselves at a crossroads. For the past several years, the decision to hold hybrid or virtual meetings was dictated by outside forces: it is now a matter of choice. Though the virtual meetings of 2020-22 mostly failed to provide the rich social and networking experiences that in-conference meetings provide, they were more accessible to a much wider, and more diverse, community of scholars.
Research Report
August 15, 2023

Of Meetings and Members

The Interconnected Future of Conferences and Scholarly Societies

As the pandemic recedes into memory, societies find themselves at a crossroads. For several years, the decision to hold hybrid or virtual meetings was dictated by outside forces: it has now become a question of societies’ priorities, mission, and values. It is too early to tell whether the virtual meetings of 2020-22 were anomalies, but a casual observer might reasonably describe the “new normal” as nearly identical to the old one. A closer view suggests a more nuanced picture.
Blog Post
August 1, 2023

Assessing Open Source Program Offices’ Role in the Academic Research Enterprise

Open source software is the backbone of the digital economy and is critical to the development and maintenance of transparent, inclusive, and secure digital infrastructures. Universities and their employees rely on it daily for everything from basic communication to advanced research, and in turn make substantial contributions to the open source resources used within and beyond higher education. Over the past several decades, major corporations have created centralized offices, often known as Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs), to coordinate and…
Blog Post
July 26, 2023

Disability, Accessibility, and Higher Education in Prisons

Earlier this month, the FAFSA Simplification Act restored federal Pell grant funding for students who are incarcerated in US prisons. This has driven excitement about higher education in prisons, with pieces celebrating the revised policy in Inside Higher Ed and The Chronicle of Higher Education. While this is unequivocally good news, it is important to understand that full Pell reinstatement is propelling, and arriving amidst, rapid change in higher education in prisons,…
Blog Post
June 15, 2023

Cave Canem and Ithaka S+R to Conduct a Field Study on Black Literary Arts Organizations

Today we are excited to announce an Ithaka S+R research collaboration with Cave Canem, funded by the Wallace Foundation. The project, “Magnitude and Bond: A Field Study on Black Literary Arts Service Organizations,” will focus on Black literary arts organizations from the perspective of sustainability, community engagement, and resilience. Cave Canem, founded in 1996, is a Brooklyn-based, non-profit Black literary organization that serves as a hub for the many voices of Black poetry. Founded by artists for artists, Cave Canem…
Blog Post
June 1, 2023

Coordinating Research Data Services

Key Barriers and Questions

This spring, 107 librarians, administrators, and staff from the 29 universities participating in Ithaka S+R’s Building Campus Strategies for Coordinated Data Support project began to identify barriers to streamlining their research data support services. The project’s first two meetings brought together representatives from university units involved in supporting academic researchers: librarians, senior administrators, research officers, and research computing staff. Working primarily in small groups roughly divided by professional capacity, participants described the ways that different university units—and different institutional…
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Application

Home Topics for further understanding Research Application Representation Sample policies Publications Convenings 2016 2014 Press Application Sharon Slade and Emily Schneider Summary of Discussion Student Data and Records in the Digital Era Asilomar, CA June 15‐17, 2016 This group discussed the main areas of focus and most promising types of applications of student data for the postsecondary community over the next few…
Research Report
April 24, 2023

Common Scholarly Communication Infrastructure Landscape Review

Scholarly communication is the process through which research products and outputs (such as articles, audiovisual materials, data, code, and research methods) are created, assessed, improved, shared, disseminated, and preserved in a variety of modes including through formal and informal publications, conferences, and other academic networking methods. Shared infrastructure is a key enabler for delivering the services that authors and readers need. It is composed of standards, platforms, technologies, policies, and the communities that enable and support them.
Issue Brief
March 16, 2023

How Have Art Museums Been Impacted by Climate Change?

With climate change increasingly destabilizing environments, art museums find themselves in a highly precarious position, as they serve as a physical site for visitors, maintain their collections in perpetuity for future generations, and adapt their own practices to environmental sustainability standards. Ithaka S+R’s 2022 Art Museum Director Survey report, funded by the Kress Foundation and the Mellon Foundation, documents art museum leaders’ perspectives and strategies across a range of issues, including how museums are impacted by and planning for climate…