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October 25, 2007
Technology, Libraries, and Scholarly Communication
On October 3, 2007, John Dupuis' blog Confessions of a Science Librarian featured an interview with Richard Akerman, Technology Architect at the Canada Institue for Scientific and Technical Information. Among the many topics discussed were the role of technology in academic libraries and the changing nature of scholarly communication.
Akerman discussed his past experience in libraries and his current role in the technology world. When asked about the future role of librarians, Akerman responds, "I think there was a big, big intermediation role that libraries just have to let go of. It isn't coming back." When quizzed about the future of scholarly publishing and the peer review process, Akerman presents an interesting future. "I think in the short term, journals become much more semantically-rich online documents, with linkages out to data and analysis tools, as well as to other articles and relevant content."
In addition to the interview with Richard Akerman you may also be interested in visiting Akerman's blog, which focuses on the use of technology for science libraries and publishers.
Posted by Lisa Burley
Posted by colldev at 11:57 AM
October 23, 2007
Social Science Research Network provides site for Humanists to share ongoing research
The Social Science Research Network (SSRN) has created a way for Humanists (i.e. philosophers, classicists, and literary scholars) to share ongoing research online.
SSRN's new endeavor, the Humanities Research Network (HRN), allows authors to upload abstracts and working papers and review similar uploads from other authors. In the past research was shared among humanists through emails and mailing lists.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education on October 22, 2007, Lesley Dean-Jones, a professor of classics at the University of Texas - Austin and director of the Classics Research Network (a part of the HRN) said that the HRN promises to be like "a huge ongoing conference, where you never miss the presentation of the paper you want to go to."
The HRN hopes to fill a hole in the world of scholarly humanities research by allowing scholars to share their papers and research in a timely, free, and open way. For more details on this development see the Chronicle article here (password required): http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/10/430n.htm. And visit the HRN at SSRN's sites for English and American Literature (http://www.ssrn.com/lit/index.html), philosophy (http://www.ssrn.com/prn-/index.html), and classics (http://www.ssrn.com/crn/index.html).
-posted by Tom Lamb
Posted by colldev at 09:33 PM
October 21, 2007
The Data Curation Continuum
Managing Data Objects in Institutional Repositories
This article describes the work currently underway at Monash University to rethink the role of repositories in supporting data management. It first describes the context within which the work has taken place and some of the local factors that have contributed to the inception and continuation of this work. It then introduces the idea of a Data Curation Continuum and describes the various continua that might be applicable in a repository data management context. The article then discusses some of the implications of this approach, before reviewing related work.
The work being done at Monash University on rethinking the role of repositories in supporting data management has grown out of a number of local factors that distinguish Monash University from other institutions: its size and focus on e-Research, an Information Management Strategy, and a range of inter-related and innovative projects.
Read more: href="http://www.dlib.org//dlib/september07/treloar/09treloar.html">http://www.dlib.org//dlib/september07/treloar/09treloar.html
Posted by: Deborah Lyon
Posted by colldev at 02:15 PM
October 16, 2007
New 2006 Study of Faculty Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Scholarly Communications
The University of California Office of Scholarly Communications has released a new study of UC faculty and their perseption and barriers relating to scholarly communications issues.
The University of California Office of Scholarly Communications has recently released a new study of UC faculty and their perseption and barriers related to scholarly communication issues. This study analyzes their current practices and barriers (such as promotion and tenure processes at UC) that hinder them from making needed changes to the scholarly communications process.
In general, interest is strong in scholarly communications issues. Approximately 1,100 scholary communication surveys were returned, which is approximately 23% of solicited faculty and 13% of overall OC faculty. However, knowledge and awareness about current scholarly communications issues are more limited. The majority of faculty do not feel that scholarly communications issues affect them directly and most are unwilling to change their habits and activities from what is normally and currently done.
Awareness of alternatives in scholarly publishing is low, but those that have an interest in alternatives to traditional scholarly publishing have a strong base at UC. Approximately 21% of respondents have published in open access journals and about 14% have posted their peer-reviewed work to an institutional repository.
The study concluded that senior faculty and faculty in the Arts and Humanities were more willing to change their behaviors related to scholarly communications. The university will use the data gathered from this study to inform discussions throughout the university about challenges and opportunities related to scholarly publishing and providing insight into the University e-scholarship publishing review.
An abstract of the study can be found at http://www.arl.org/news/enews/enews-augsep07.shtml#5 and the full study, an executive summary, and the text of the survey can be found at http://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/responses/activities.html
posted by Annie Powell
Posted by colldev at 09:39 PM
The Economics of Ecology Journals
"The Economics of Ecology Journals" was published nearly a year ago, but it is still timely and relevant to the scholarly publishing discussion. The article may also be somewhat noteworthy because it was NOT written by librarians.
The authors are scientists who present detailed results from their research into how much prices for on-line access to scholarly publications have risen over the last decade.
"Why is monopoly pricing sustainable? Why are new entrants, charging lower subscription prices, not more readily able to attract authors and subscribers away from overpriced incumbents? Why do authors persist in submitting their papers to high-priced journals?"
These are some of the questions the authors attempt to answer. They discuss the feasibility of a coordinated effort on the part of scholars to seek to publish their works in lower-priced, non-profit journals. They also point out that scholars benefit from wide distribution of their work. Since more libraries can afford to subscribe to the lower-priced, non-profit journals, publishing in these journals would increase exposure.
A full-text version of the article is available (without charge) at http://octavia.zoology.washington.edu/publications/BergstromAndBergstrom06.pdf
---Posted by Kay Mann
Posted by colldev at 09:22 PM
October 14, 2007
NetLibrary Gains Content; Yale University Press Spreads Knowledge
The Book Standard (www.thebookstandard.com) reported on Friday that Yale University and NetLibrary/OCLC have partnered to digitize the press' works and make them available through OCLC.
The article quotes the Director of Yale University Press as saying "It's fitting that as we enter into our second century, we begin to establish partnerships that will help us fulfill our founding mission--to aid in the discovery and dissemination of knowledge--well into the future." It is a nice reminder of the basic role of libraries and presses - to disseminate knowledge.
While many people continue to fret about the role of libraries in the new digital era and the imminent diappearance of the "book," we should remember that books and libraries are truly only containers for knowledge - that knowledge is not disappearing it is simply being reformatted. It is an exciting time when access to works from prestiguous presses are available instantly, whenever and wherever they are needed.
Tom Lamb
Posted by colldev at 05:02 PM
Oxford Open to Reduce 2008 Prices for Eight Online-Only Journals
As announced in the August-September issue of E-News for ARL Directors, under the title "Oxford University Press's Hybrid Journal Program Yields Returns for Subscribers," Oxford Open is reducing prices for eight online-only journal subscriptions for the 2008 publishing year.
This price adjustment and the implications it carries could have important repercussions on the larger scholarly communications community due to the massive scope of influence across the world and across disciplines for which Oxford University Press is known. If OUP can make online access to journals (even if for just a handful of titles) not just hold steady in price but decrease, then making access to big-name journals affordable seems in reach.
While newly created journals are being built to better withstand the current environment of escalating expense by incorporating structural elements that promote sustainability and wide (or at least wide enough) access, established journals that are particularly important to the fields of study for which they report must also be a part of the scholarly communication strategic evolution if the scientific record is to be supported in fullness and depth. For this reason, Oxford Open's efforts to find ways to carry existing OUP journals through the scholarly communications crisis intact and possibly even in a more robust state than before is an important element of the overall range of revolutionary efforts being made to preserve and promote scholarly journals now and in the future.
Of the four initiative foci given on the Oxford Open web page, the first is to "[e]xplore the viability of Open Access as a long-term publishing model that is financially sustainable (for publishers, institutions, and authors)." That language aligns well with the SPARC imperative to "[stimulate] creation of better, faster, and more economically sustainable systems for distributing new knowledge" to the advantage of four stakeholder groups, identified by SPARC as researchers, publisher partners, libraries, and society.
The inclusion in SPARC's statement of society as a stakeholder reflects the broader commitment that SPARC has to scholarly research from the cradle to the grave, so to speak; from the intertwined processes of absorption and creation (as researchers read others' work and allow that existing knowledge to shape new inquiries) to the wider effects of publicized research as it permeates into society in general, beyond boutique educational and research communities, through popular literature and emerging products and processes.
If reducing the cost of a journal directly or indirectly increases access to the material in that journal, then Oxford Open's success in the pricing arena could benefit not only the three groups Oxford considers as its stakeholders but also the larger set of users, in the broadest sense of the word, that SPARC supports.
posted by Maria Sochor
Posted by colldev at 04:17 PM
October 11, 2007
Open Access Allies Strike Back at Publishers
The Chronicle of Education, October 4, 2007
"Anti-Open-Access Effort by Publishing Group Loses Another University Press"
http://chronicle.com/news/index.php?id=3182
Ellen Faran, director of the MIT Press, has stepped down from the executive council of the Association of American Publishers' Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division. "Ms. Faran told The Chronicle in an e-mail message, 'The Prism Web site continues to give the incorrect impression that it has the unanimous support of the Executive Council.'"
Prism is an anti-open access lobby sponsored by the AAP, and states that "serving the needs of the academic community is best achieved through a wide array of business models, competing in an open marketplace."
Faran's resignation follows that of James D. Jordan of the Columbia University Press. Other critics of Prism include Cambridge University Press and Rockefeller University Press.
---posted by Paula Heaney
Posted by colldev at 01:22 PM
October 07, 2007
Seed Money for Open Access Publication Fees
Many well known open-access publications require a publication fee to offset publication costs. An example of this is the Public Library of Science whose publication fees and FAQs about them can be found here. These fees can be a deterrent to prospective authors who do not have the funds to pay them.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Office of Scholarly Communication and Publication is promoting the use of library seed money to support open-access publication fees and digital publishing for its faculty and staff. This money can be used to pay publication fees and to provide matching funds/seed money for the publication of open-access books, conference proceedings, and new electronic journals. Guidelines for publishing open-access items that receive this support as well as examples of library funded projects can be found on the library's website under the heading "Seed Money for Open Access." It will be interesting to see if these funds will overcome author deterrents and to see if other institutions follow in the University of Wisconsin's footsteps.
--posted by Lauren Seney
Posted by colldev at 08:15 PM