February 2007 | Main | September 2007
August 31, 2007
Google Library Project Hit by Copyright Challenge from University Presses
Some might say it had to happen. Extending the Google Print program to the digitization of five of the world's largest university research libraries, including copyrighted as well as non-copyrighted material, would inevitably seem to lead to a challenge of copyright violation. Oddly enough, the challenge has come from the less commercial publishers--the nonprofit university presses. On May 20, Peter Givler, executive director of the Association of American University Presses (AAUP; http://www.aaupnet.org), an organization with 125 member publishers, sent a letter to Alexander Macgillivray, Google's house counsel for intellectual property. The letter challenged Google to defend its position on what would appear on the surface as a massive copyright violation and infringement on publishers' rights and revenues. However, in researching this story, the issue of author copyrights has emerged as a possible major factor.
In this article Barbara Quint presents another side of the argument against the Google digitization project. Not only are authors and publishers concerned, university presses are also against this massive initiative.
Read the full article:
http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbreader.asp?ArticleID=16195#top
--posted by Deborah Lyon
Posted by colldev at 05:57 PM
August 27, 2007
An Interview with the Designer of Google Scholar
Since its inception, Google Scholar has made deep inroads within the academic community within a very short period of time and is often the first search tool used by researchers and students. While many of the traditional databases charge significant fees for their availability to the academic community, Google Scholar offers their services for free and continues to update and improve their services and the content that they make available. New features that Google Scholar has recently announced include the Google Scholar digitization project, a "key author" feature, expansion into non-English content, and the indexing of Elsevier's Science Direct collection.
Barbara Quint, of Information Today uncovers these developments in her interview with Anurag Acharya, the designer behind Google Scholar.
The complete interview can be located here.
--Posted by Robbi De Peri
Posted by colldev at 01:56 PM
August 18, 2007
"University Publishing in a Digital Age" Noted by Chronicle of Higher Education
A new study by Ithaka, a nonprofit group that promotes the use of information technology in higher education, University Publishing in a Digital Age, was noted by Jennifer Howard in the August 3, 2007 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education (p. A14). Howard quotes from the study: "In American colleges and universities, access to the Internet and World Wide Web is ubiquitous. Consequently, nearly all intellectual effort results in some form of "publishing.'"
Scholarly publishing may now appear on the Web, in an institutional repository, as well as in a traditional peer-reviewed journal or monograph. While some scholars have been quick to adapt to this rapid transformation, administrators are giving little attention to the changing environment. The report suggests that the scholarly publishing industry may be out of step with the values of the academy.
See the complete report at: http://www.ithaka.org/publications/UniversityPublishingInADigitalAge.
--posted by Linda Phillips
Posted by colldev at 02:58 PM