C&RL News February 2016 58 ACRL OA policy statement available draft for comment The ACRL Research and Scholarly Environ- ment Committee is seeking input on a pro- posed ACRL policy statement about open access to scholarship by academic librarians. The proposed policy statement is available online at https://goo.gl/AghfXW. Please sub- mit comments directly in the online docu- ment by February 28, 2016. Oberlin Group, partners launch Lever Press The Oberlin Group, a consor- tium of 80 librar- ies in America’s top liberal arts colleges, togeth- er with partners Amherst College Press and Michi- gan Publishing, recently announced the impending launch of Lever Press, a collaborative open access (OA) scholarly publishing enterprise driven by the values, ambitions, and imagination of the na- tion’s top liberal arts colleges. Lever Press is committed to editorial align- ment with the mission and ethos of liberal arts colleges, a “platinum” approach to OA in which the pledging institutions rather than authors pay all publishing costs, and digitally native production processes designed to sup- port innovative projects that go “beyond the book.” As of December 2015, nearly 40 liberal arts college libraries—most of them members of the Oberlin Group, with Allegheny College and Ursinus College participating from outside the group’s membership—have committed to contribute more than $1 million to the work of Lever Press over the next five years. Sup- ported by these pledges, Lever Press aims to acquire, develop, produce, and disseminate a N e w s f r o m t h e F i e l dDavid Free University of Toronto librarians discover long-lost violin concerto Librarians at the University of Toronto’s Fac- ulty of Music Library have discovered Nor- wegian composer Johan Halvorsen’s violin concerto that was believed lost for over a century. Violinist Henning Kraggerud will perform the 21st-century premiere of the concerto under the direction of Bjarte Eng- eset in Stavenger, Norway, in July 2016 as part of the Inter- national Musico- logical Society’s annual confer- ence. H a l v o r s e n (1864–1935) dedi- cated his violin concerto to the world-renowned Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow (1890–1963). Parlow gave its first performance on August 14, 1909, in Scheveningen, Holland. Later that year, she gave two more performances of the concerto with the Nationaltheatret Orchestra in Oslo (then Christiania) under the baton of the composer himself. It is believed that there have been no further performances of the concerto since. Following her successful career as a soloist, Parlow continued her involvement with the violin as a teacher and chamber musician. She lived in Toronto from 1941 to the end of her life in 1963. Throughout this period, she was involved in the chamber music scene of the city and taught many distinguished Canadian violinists. Parlow’s papers, including her correspon- dences, photographs and music scores, were donated to the Faculty of Music Library, but the Halvorsen violin concerto was separated from the rest of the collection and housed in the library’s performance collection. Cover of the newly discovered concerto manuscript. Photo credit: Jessica Lewis. February 2016 59 C&RL News Resources from the Framework for Information Literacy Advisory Board The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Advisory Board, appointed in July 2015, has been actively working in collaboration with the ACRL Visiting Program Offi cer for Infor- mation Literacy to develop initiatives and resources to support librarians in their under- standing and evolving use of the Framework. With the formal adoption of the Frame- work by the ACRL Board of Directors at the 2016 ALA Midwinter Meeting, the Board also affi rmed its full support for the creation of professional development resources and opportunities related to the Framework, and this is a priority for the Framework Advisory Board (FAB). More information on the Board action is available on the ACRL Insider blog at www.acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider/archives/11232 . Resources available for you from FAB include: • The Framework document in HTML and PDF form is available on the ACRL website at www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework. It is also available for ppurchase as a print booklet ($15 per packet of 10). • The Framework listserv (http://lists.ala. org/sympa/info/acrlframe) is an active and collegial environment for sharing questions, ideas, and related resources. • The Framework WordPress website (http://acrl.ala.org/framework/) serves as the central point for news, resources, and updates from FAB, including a weekly feature, Spotlight on Scholarship, which highlights scholarly literature related to the Framework; an ar- chive of FAB and ACRL-sponsored webinars and presentations on the Framework; and the Framework “Executive Brief,” a two-page introductory handout. • The new Framing the Framework ACRL e-Learning series (www.ala.org/acrl /framingtheframework) initiated with a two- part webcast on how librarian-faculty teams are collaborating to connect information literacy and writing instruction (January 5 and Febru- ary 10, 2016), with other offerings to follow. Upcoming projects for spring/summer 2016 include: • The Framework “sandbox,” a collabora- tive space for librarians to share examples of Framework use and practice, with develop- ment underway and an anticipated launch by late spring/early summer 2016. • Additional blog features, including the “Framework Example of the Week” and a “Featured Framework Practitioner.” • New webinar and interactive profes- sional development offerings. • A calendar of Information Literacy Con- ferences and Events, cosponsored with the Student Learning and Information Literacy Committee. What other Framework-related professional development resources and activities would help you in your practice and research? Please send your input to Sharon Mader, ACRL visit- ing program offi cer for information literacy at smader@ala.org or to any FAB member. A listing of FAB members is available online at www. ala.org/acrl/aboutacrl/directoryofl eadership /committees/acr-tfframe. total of 60 new OA titles by the end of 2020. For further information about Lever Press, including a full list of participating institutions, visit www.leverpress.org. Project Muse launches fi rst fully open journal Project MUSE recently announced the launch of RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences as a fully open access title on the MUSE platform. A peer-reviewed journal designed to promote cross-disciplin- ary collaborations on timely issues of interest to academics, policymakers, and the public at large, RSF offers thematic journal issues fo- cusing on specifi c research questions or areas of interest. While MUSE currently hosts selected OA articles for its participating journals, RSF is the fi rst fully OA title on the platform. Its release C&RL News February 2016 60 Putting Assessment into Action ACRL announces the publication of Putting As- sessment into Action: Selected Projects from the First Cohort of the Assessment in Action Grant, edited by Eric Ackermann. Are you new to library assess- ment? Are you tasked with con- ducting an assessment project and don’t know what methods to use, or which ones are the most effective (or practical)? The methodological issues addressed in Putting Assessment into Ac- tion are based on the real world, practical experience of librarians who participated in the first cohort of the ACRL Assessment in Action program. Unlike many books on this subject, this volume allows the selection of an appropriate as- sessment method(s) based on the activity or program being assessed without requiring ex- tensive previous knowledge of research design, methods, or statistics. Twenty-seven cases are presented in arenas as varied as assessing fourth year undergraduate learning, fi rst year experience, graduate stu- dent information literacy, technology facilities, assessing outreach services and space, and more. The cases feature 25 U.S. and two Cana- dian institutions representing a wide range of institutional types from doctoral/research universities to baccalaure- ate/master’s granting institu- tions to a tribal college and a community college. Putting Assessment into Action is appropriate for professional Library and Information Sci- ence collections in all types of libraries. Putting Assessment into Action: Selected Projects from the First Cohort of the As- sessment in Action Grant is available for purchase in print, as an e-book, and as a print/e-book bundle through the ALA Online Store; in print and for Kindle through Amazon.com; and by telephone order at (866) 746-7252 in the United States or (770) 442- 8633 for international customers. will be followed by the launch of another fully OA title later this spring, Palapala: A Journal for Hawaiian Language and Literature. In addition to offering OA journals, MUSE is currently conducting research under a Mel- lon Foundation planning grant towards the development of MUSE Open, a vehicle for the distribution of OA monographs via the MUSE platform. MUSE Open hopes to lever- age new OA monograph funding models in combination with MUSE’s discoverability and usability features to provide an enriched reader experience and wide dissemination of important scholarship. CLIR invites applications for 2016 Digitizing Hidden Special Collections Awards The Council on Library and Information Re- sources (CLIR) is now accepting applications for 2016 Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives awards. The national competi- tion, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, supports digitizing collections of rare and unique content in cultural memory institutions. Grants of between $50,000 and $250,000 for a single-institution project, or be- tween $50,000 and $500,000 for a collaborative project, may be sought for projects beginning between January 1 and June 1, 2017. The initial proposal round is open, and proposals are due by 5 p.m. Eastern time on April 5, 2016. Information for applicants, including a link to the online application form, is available at www.clir.org/hiddencollections/applicants. 2016 Western Archives Institute The 30th annual Western Archives Institute February 2016 61 C&RL News riculum vita or resume (if self-nominating, you may include these materials with your nomina- tion). LRNC will request statements of interest from selected individuals prior to developing a slate of candidates. Tech Bits . . . Brought to you by the ACRL ULS Technol- ogy in University Libraries Committee Need to create a professional-looking digital fl yer or newsletter, disseminate it through e-mail and social media, and track its impact? If so, Smore is a tool that can meet your needs. Smore provides a variety of professionally designed templates that can be easily customized to your specifi ca- tions. With one click, you can add video, audio, pictures, and web links. Through Smore, your completed fl yers can be quickly shared and promoted through e-mail and a variety of social media applications. Smore’s user-friendly analyt- ics dashboard allows you to track the impact of your fl yer by reader stats, including traffi c source (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, e-mail), sections read, and readers’ locations. Smore is free with limited options, and pricing starts at $12/month with advanced features. —Marwin Britto University of Saskatchewan . . . Smore www.smore.com will be held at Santa Clara University from July 10–22, 2016. The Western Archives Institute is an intensive, two-week program that provides in- tegrated instruction in basic archival practices to individuals with a vari- ety of backgrounds, including those whose jobs require a fundamental understanding of archival skills, but who have little or no previous ar- chives education; those who have expanding responsibility for archival materials; those who are practicing archivists but have not received for- mal instruction; and those who dem- onstrate a commitment to an archival career. The institute also features site visits to historical records repositories and a diverse curriculum that includes his- tory and development of the profes- sion, theory and terminology, records management, appraisal, arrangement, description, manuscripts acquisition, archives and the law, photographs, preservation administration, refer- ence and access, outreach programs, and managing archival programs and institutions. The application deadline is Friday, March 4, 2016. For additional program information, visit www.calarchivists.org/WAI. Nominations sought for ACRL Board of Directors ACRL is dedicated to enhancing the ability of library and information professionals to dream big and shape our new future. Be a part of shaping that future. The ACRL Leadership Re- cruitment and Nominations Committee (LRNC) encourages members to nominate themselves or others to run for the position of ACRL vice- president/president-elect and director-at-large in the 2017 elections. The deadline for nomi- nations is February 15, 2016. To nominate an individual or to self-nomi- nate, send the nominee’s name and institution to LRNC Chair Erika Linke of Carnegie Mellon University at linke@cmu.edu. Once nominated, individuals will need to submit a two-page cur- RBMS candidates for 2016 The candidates for vice-chair/chair-elect of the ACRL Rare Books and Manuscripts Sec- tion (RBMS) in the 2016 ALA/ACRL elec- tion have changed since the publication of the slate in the January 2016 issue of C&RL News. The candidates are as follows: Vice-chair/Chair-elect: Danielle Cul- pepper, director of budget and fi nance, Rare Book School, University of Virginia- Charlottesville; Athena N. Jackson, asso- ciate director, Special Collection Library, University of Michigan.