November 2007 | Main | March 2008
December 20, 2007
Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography
In case anyone is still reading....
http://www.digital-scholarship.org/sepb/sepb.html
Posted by Beth Stanley
Posted by colldev at 09:47 AM
December 06, 2007
Conventionalism and Scholarly Communication
What part do conventional acedemic values play when considering the advantages and disadvantages of online journals versus print? I came across this article entitled, "The Influence of Academic Values on Scholarly Publication and Communication Practices."
According to this article peer review still figures in highly with regards to the values of acedemic institutions. Some faculty may equate the lower cost of online journals with lower quality. Quality is still very important and quality control has become questionable. Some question if there is a compromise in quality when peer review moves outside of the institution. High profile print journals continue to have an important role in the acedemic community. Online only journals are in some cases not accepted simply because they are new and have not yet established a highly regarded reputation as in the case of print.
A study of the University of California-Berkeley faculty on this subject was conducted in the 2005-2006 acedemic year.
I highly recommend this article to anybody in the Library Sciences. The study was funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Link to the full article at http://http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=jep;view=text;rgn=main;idno=3336451.0010.204
Posted by Donna Stallings
Posted by colldev at 11:22 PM
The Quaker Librarian's Priceless Pages
Instapundit points to a recent editorial controversy at Wikipedia (original article in The Register) and notes, "In any well-functioning anarchy you'll find an old boys' network." While Wikipedia has always faced criticism (and deals with it on a meta-level), this incident points out again the difficulty of providing open access, current material without neglecting the benefit of input from a large body of users. An informative, comprehensive, and reliable site must navigate between the (traditional) rock of dictator-like editorial policies, and the hard place of unmitigated vandalism and triviality. Finnegans Wake - that most apparently anarchic, yet most extensively engineered, novel - provides an example of how this challenge (and others) affects scholarly communication.
By a series of clicks long since forgotten, I wound up wanting to look for some FW resources (the initial motivation for that? - also lost). There are many, including several versions of the full text (or if you'd like some annotations (but if you're pressed for time (or you're REALLY pressed for time))).
As there are books and more books, it is interesting to see that the James Joyce Scholars' Collection makes many secondary works freely available as well (sadly, not Atherton's The Books at the Wake).
Most impressive in conception, perhaps, is the FW Notebooks project at SUNY Buffalo, first announced in 2002. Although an electronic edition is promised, things do not seem to be moving very quickly. As the project is interested in "allow[ing] critical feedback," a collaborative environment makes perfect sense (especially since there will be 55 volumes, currently priced at $116 each). There already exist several such sites for FW, such as Finnegans Wiki and FWEET, and even a nascent attempt at annotating a notebook page. This will present a great challenge to the editors, as Wiki communities break down the more they venture into debate, ambiguity, and controversy.
Are issues of copyright holding back such an electronic edition? FW's copyright status seems to be viewed ambiguously. There have already been extensive copyright issues with Joyce's works, due not only to a copyright extension in the EU, but also to the difficulty of his Joyce's grandson - an article in The New Yorker asked whether he were "suppressing scholarship." As he has already effectively killed the Digital Ulysses Project, and current cop even unintentionally right law can unintentionally doom many works, one wonders whether a return to Macaulay's idea of a more limited term for copyright might not benefit research and the reading public. Otherwise, similar projects may face greater hurdles in the future.
Finally, as the "invisible hand" model of mass action gets criticized enough academically, perhaps it is a good idea to remind ourselves of the dangers of command economies, whether industrial OR informational, by revisiting Hayek's classic The Road to Serfdom ... this version not only open access, but "In Cartoons"!
And the title of this Wake-length post? It's from the "Scylla and Charybdis" episode of Ulysses, naturally.
-- James Gergel
Posted by colldev at 05:13 PM
"Scholarly Communication in Turmoil"
What is the fate of print journals in the face of the tremendous new wave of technology (RSS feeds, podcasts, blogs, institutional repositories, etc.) that is luring authors and subscribers away from the traditional format?
This is the issue that Miriam A. Drake discusses in "Scholarly Communication in Turmoil" in the February 2007 issue of Information Today. Drake discusses several different valid points that explain why print journals are in danger from modern trends. Drake says that "the current state of scholarly publishing is marked by confusion, uncertainty, and the lack of a clear path for the future." She draws information from two different experts in the field: Sally Morris and Michael Mabe. Drake goes on to say that libraries, after years of buying bundled journals to save money, are starting to demand the right to chose what kind of periodicals they want to include in their "big deal". Drake discusses the increasing rate of new journal growth and its effect on professional organizations. Drake also says that both experts are concerned about threat to scholarly print publishing in the form of institutional repositories and self-archiving, as well as open access. Finally, Drake discusses copyright and the increasing issue of who owns the article: the author or the journal?
Drake's overview of the new issues facing traditional scholarly communication today is an interest read that provides a tremendous amount of information for the curious reader. I highly recommend this article to anyone who is interested in the fate of traditional scholarly communication.
Posted by--Amy Hopkins
Posted by colldev at 04:35 PM
Learning Lab Lore
Vannevar Bush, in his 1945 essay As We May Think, spoke of the necessity of being able to access science's "... millions of fine thoughts, and the account of the experience on which they are based ..." Traditional journals documented these "fine thoughts," but information that did not rise to the level of a publishable report - protocols and tips, lab lore, history, and even negative results - still is transmitted in an inefficient and haphazard manner. However, there are a number of sites seeking to address this issue, and below are some interesting examples.
• Tools of Brain Research - a "down-and-dirty lab manual" covering information usually somewhat difficult to track down, including "all the gory details of procedures, photographs, movies, where to buy reagents, catalog numbers, names and telephone numbers of salespersons, et cetera."
• Open Wetware seeks to share "information, know-how, and wisdom among researchers and groups who are working in biology & biological engineering," which they hope will facilitate collaboration between groups.
• Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's Memory Board, "an experiment in interactive storytelling," uses personal anecdotes to document the history of the research at the lab, and provide it with a more human face as well.
Sites like these have difficulty acquiring a critical mass of information, due to the effort required by scientists and their reluctance to divulge "trade secrets," but the benefit to the next generation of researchers is undeniable.
-- James Gergel
Posted by colldev at 02:28 PM
Faculty Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Scholarly Communications
Faculty Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Scholarly Communication: Survey Findings from the University of California
http://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/responses/activities.html
There are options to download the full report (124pp!) or the executive summary and summary of findings. There is also a copy of the survey itself.
I found this study very interesting as this issue figured prominently in our institutional repository assignment. This study surveyed 1118 faculty members in the University of California system to discover faculty knowledge and opinions on issues in scholarly communications.
The overall results of the survey, generally speaking, were that faculty felt there are lots of problems in scholarly communications which don't apply to them personally. Many felt that other disciplines were affected more than their own. They also said that in spite of the cost of journals and questions of copyright retention, they were unlikely to discontinue publishing in peer reviewed journals. The most significant reason for this reluctance was skepticism that tenure and promotion processes would adjust to the open access system.
Apparently, university administrations need to weigh in on the question of tenure and promotion through open access publishing to encourage faculty to make the leap. Then this decision must be communicated to faculty clearly and repeatedly, as survey results indicated that administration outreach has thus far been ineffective in educating faculty.
ETA posted by Julie Wyatt
Posted by colldev at 11:19 AM
December 05, 2007
Get Involved!: New Librarians and Scholarly Communication
Donovan, Georgie, and Karen Estlund. "New Librarians and Scholarly Communication: Get Involved." College and Research Libraries News 68, no. 3 {March 2007}. http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/
backissues2007/march07/newlibrarians.cfm (accessed December 4, 2007).
How can new librarians become advocates for change within the scholarly community to ensure that scholarly information is as accessible as possible?
In this article, two early-career academic librarians, Georgie Donovan and Karen Estlund, discuss this issue and their own experiences with the inequality of access to information both in the United States and in other countries. Donovan and Estlund describe what they have done at their own institutions to bridge the "knowledge divide" and provide examples of other early-career librarians who are active in the movement. In addition, some tips are provided on the steps that new librarians can take to become involved at their own institutions and within the scholarly community.
In 2001, Georgie Donovan taught English language and literature at the University of Atacama in Copiapo, Chile. The students could not afford to purchase many textbooks; therefore, Donovan tried to utilize sources available on the Internet. However, there were very limited scholarly writings available for free at that time on the Internet. Donovan believes that if more open-access journals had been available as they are today, she would have been able to better teach her students utilizing scholarly writings. Since coming back to the United States and receiving her library degree, Donovan has become an advocate for the open-access movement.
Karen Estlund believes that new models of scholarly communication are essential for bringing about change and providing access to information and quality education for as many people as possible. Estlund has responsibility over the University of Utah's institutional repository with the medical and law libraries and is on a scholarly communications committee at the university.
Other examples of early-career librarians who are active in scholarly communication initiatives:
* Cat McDowell (M. Archival Science 2001) has been compiling data on institutional repositories in the United States. She has researched and analyzed data about how they function and their role within various institutions and has presented her findings at several library and information science conferences.
* KT Vaughan (MSLS 2001) and Stefanie Warlick (MSLS 2006) have been conducting surveys with the health science faculty at UNC and Duke University to reveal why certain professors choose to publish in open-access journals. Their project should reveal the factors that influence scholars. This research can be used to promote publication in open-access journals.
Suggestions for new librarians (& experienced librarians) who want to get involved:
* Write letters to legislators or meet with them to request that they pass legislation supporting scholarly communication initiatives.
* Start up a discussion group or brown bag series at your institution to discuss important issues relating to scholarly communication.
* Discuss the issues with your colleagues and form a network of partnership for those interested in more equitable access to scholarly communication.
* Start or assist with an institutional repository.
* Join in the efforts already underway at your institution.
--Posted by Andrea Gales
Posted by colldev at 04:47 PM
The Coming Revolution in Scholarly Communications
The August issue of CT Watch Quarterly was entirely devoted to issues in scholarly communications. A pdf of the issue can be downloaded here.
I found the article titled "Reinventing Scholarly Communication for the Electronic Age" particularly interesting. It discusses new tools which are making it possible to link to actual data within the body of an electronic publication.
-posted by Julie Wyatt
Posted by colldev at 06:56 AM
December 04, 2007
Scholarly Communication On The Go
It makes sense to use a cell phone for communication. Almost everybody has one nowadays, and a few rely on their cell phone exclusively as their telecommunications device. Most people center themselves around this little handheld device--recently the phone has become a hub for text messages, voicemails, and even email. However, even with all of the abilities that these little gadgets have, the cell phone is not often seen as a mechanism for scholarly communication.
Enter the world of web applications, or webapps. A generation of smartphones are all over the market now, and have been able to surf the internet for a good while, but only recently have people been really formatting webpages specifically for these phones. The advent of new markup languages such as Wireless Markup Language (WML) and the expansion of XHTML to mobile devices have made making these websites relatively accessible.
Consider the iPhone. While not an example of a phone for which a programmer can really let loose on, it is a central point for several developers who have taken liberties to create new forms of communication by using the internet, specially formatted for cell phones. While many social networking distractions are abound (read: Facebook) there are new ways of communication that may--for being conveyed on what many consider a novelty device--prove to be a bit more scholarly.
There is an awful lot of talk about making the iPhone a medium for physicians to learn and communicate. On the other side of the spectrum there are several applications for the same device that unite specialty groups of workers, including wait staff at restaurants. Google-esque Find It and the actual Google Maps app for iPhone make it easy to find information on-the-go and call contacts from search results from the interface.
While all of the above references are specific to Apple's iPhone, many more exist, albeit less standardized. Many are very helpful--including several ebook readers--but as yet there is a lack of a central authority for these independent webapps. Perhaps all this will come with Google's Android platform... but until then the world of cellular webapps is still largely unexplored.
:: Jamion Williams
Posted by colldev at 06:40 PM
What's the Use?: A New Look at the Impact of Scholarly Communication
Coleman, Anita Sundaram and Cheryl Knott Malone. "Scholarly Communication and the Matter of Use." Journal
of Education for Library and Information Science 47, no. 1 {Winter 2006}: 1-3. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.
com.proxy.lib.utk.edu:90/hww/shared/shared_main.jhtml?_requestid=51495 {accessed December 3, 2007}.
The prevalent view among academics is that the citation of their scholarly writings by other scholars is the only type of use that really counts or has an impact. The primary reason for this is that citation is very important for tenure and promotion at most major universities. Anita Coleman, an assistant professor in the School of Information Resources and Library Science at The University of Arizona, argued in her presentation at the 2006 conference of the Association for Library and Information Science Education that this narrow view of the impact of scholarly communication is missing out on other types of uses that really matter, such as how many times an article is read or viewed online or the impact that an article available in an open-access database has on research in developing countries.
For her research, Dr. Coleman examined the usage statistics of several articles originally published in the Journal of Education for Library and Information Science and later digitized and made available through dLIST, an open-access repository. In the first year of open access, the abstracts were viewed 5,008 times and the articles were downloaded 1,035 times. One article from 1996 was viewed 527 times and downloaded 111 times in its first year on the Internet. Its abstract has been viewed at least once in every one of the thirty-one countries that dList is available in and the full text of the article has been viewed in many of these countries, including Brazil and Indonesia. An added benefit of placing the articles in an open-access database for those concerned about being cited is that after becoming openly accessible, two of the articles were cited in scholarly journals.
Several conclusions can be drawn from Dr. Coleman's presentation. The first one is that a multidimensional model for evaluating scholarly articles and the journals that publish these articles needs to be developed that focuses more on usage statistics and other important factors. Coleman notes that some progress has been made in this area. Usage statistics have recently started to play a significant role in evaluating journals for collection development purposes in libraries. The second conclusion is that academics need to become more open to publishing their scholarly writings in open-access journals so that these articles can be available to many more people, especially those in developing countries who cannot pay for access but would benefit from it. Coleman also stated in her presentation that an additional benefit of open-access journals for scholars is that many more people have access to them and having people read their work is always gratifying to any author!
Article available at the UTK Libraries via Education Full Text (Wilson Web).
--Posted by Andrea Gales
Posted by colldev at 05:19 PM
Review: "Who's Selecting Now?"
The Phoenix Library System turns its material selection over to its vendors...
Hoffert, Barbara. "Who's Selecting Now." Library Journal. September 1, 2007, vol. 132, number 14, p. 40-43.
This article discusses the Phoenix Public Library System's decision to completely turn the selection of new materials over to its vendors. There are risks and benefits to making such a move, but the Phoenix system decided that ultimately, when staff time and tasks were considered, it was best if selection was left to the vendors, with staff having the final options to accept or deny individual items. A similar policy had previously been considered in Hawaii, but had ultimately been rejected because librarians felt that while such a move virtually guarantees the selection of best-sellers, specialized (and quite often very needed) items are often left off of vendor lists.
While the policy shocked some library patrons, the author explains that the Phoenix system spent over six years researching its selection processes and trends before reaching its decision. Today, though the process is constantly changing, the general plan seems to be running smoothly for the branch. Some problems have arisen and have been dealt with (for example, the librarians felt that the vendors were making the selection lists too branch-specific at first), but in general, the library staff is satisfied because allowing the vendors to have selection control has freed the staff's time for other projects, including collection analysis. By having more time to analyze the current collection, the librarians can me more helpful and informed when reviewing the vendor-supplied selection list.
This article raises several very interesting issues that we face as library professionals. Although it remains highly controversial, allowing vendors control over selection makes sense for some library systems. Several factors must be taken into consideration, including additional cost, objectivity of recommendations, and the argument that librarians are more familiar with the collection and customer needs if they select the items themselves. Ultimately, if a library system decides to allow vendors any say in the selection process, contracts are essential, as they outline exactly what is expected of each party.
-Sarah Beth White
Posted by colldev at 04:08 PM
ACRL & Scholarly Communication
I started to post about ACRL's Scholarly Communication Toolkit but thought sending a link to the ACRL's entire Scholarly Communication page would be a better resource. The ACRL has many resources discussing the recent issues involved with scholarly communication and it is interesting to see their efforts to solve some of these issues.
"ACRL is committed to working to reshape the current system of scholarly communication, focusing in the areas of education, advocacy, coalition building and research. In January 2002, ACRL launched its Scholarly Communication initiative, with goals of creating increased access to scholarly information; fostering cost-effective alternative means of publishing, especially those that take advantage of electronic information technologies; and encouraging scholars to assert greater control over scholarly communications."
http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/scholarlycomm/scholarlycommunication.cfm
--posted by Beth Stanley
Posted by colldev at 10:15 AM
December 03, 2007
Open Access to Book about Open Access
The Association of Research Libraries has decided to offer online open access to the content of Scholarly Communication Education Initiatives, #299 in the SPEC Kit series. The print version will still cost $45, or #35 for ARL member libraries. ARL uses member library surveys and in-depth research to publish SPEC Kits, which track changes and trends among research libraries and provide guidance to libraries as they negotiate these changes. Scholarly Communication Education Initiatives provides a survey of outreach activities among ARL member libraries and gathers examples of documentation from respondents in the form of proposals for education initiatives, scholarly communication and copyright Web pages, job descriptions, and education materials. To view the full content for free, click here. The page also lists other Freely Accessible Institute Resources.
-posted by Paula Heaney
Posted by colldev at 11:15 PM
The nature of scholarly blogging....
An interesting take on blogging and the legal scholarly community...
Is the Future of Legal Scholarship in the Blogosphere?
While skimming blogs to find a topic for this post I found a link to Margaret A. Schilt's Is the Future of Legal Scholarship in the Blogosphere? an online post of an article found in the August 31, 2007 edition of "Legal Times". The title was catchy and I decided to read on, despite the lack of "library" in the title. I'm glad I did because Schilt discusses something very pertinent to the modern and future concept of scholarly communication: is blogging actually scholarly?
Schilt first answers this question by defining who the scholarly bloggers actually are--most people think about new and young academics who have grown up in the internet-savvy '90s but in reality most of the scholarly blogs in the legal world are posted by the middle aged tenure professors who have earned their places in the scholarly world via more traditional means. Next, she discusses the worth of the blog as a scholarly tool- should non-tenured academics even blog at all? Schilt points out that blogging has many benefits such as: wide distribution, immediate feedback, immediate scholarly discussion of current events, increased name recognition in your field, as a tool for teaching, and as way to reach the non-academic public. Finally, Schilt discusses how "Blogging contributes to the shortened life cycle of a theory or idea...". Basically, where articles of a 100 pages were not uncommon, shorter articles are becoming more popular or even being demanded by scholarly law journals.
Schilt's examination of the scholarly nature of blogging opened my eyes to how blogs can truly influence an academic community. Anyone interested in this topic would enjoy reading this article found at law.com.
Enjoy!
--posted by Amy Hopkins
Posted by colldev at 07:15 PM
What Can We Do To Improve Scholarly Communications?
Those involved with scholarly communications today are faculty, authors, editors, reviewers, and students. But what about the user? How can the user, which may include all of the above, effectively play a role in this transformation from print to online journals and articles? After all, isn't it ithe user who will ultimately determine how all this eventually plays out in the information community? We as students are some of the primary users of this "new format" for exchanging learned information. We can play a significant role in this debate. Blogs such as these are one way.....
Here are a few more ideas from the University of Washington Libraries :
As Users of UW Libraries, You Can ...
1. Support UW Libraries' cancellation of expensive low-use titles and encourage colleagues to do the same.
2. Invite library participation in faculty departmental meetings and graduate seminars to discuss scholarly communication issues.
3. Include librarians when meeting with publishers' representatives.
4. Familiarize yourselves with studies of journal costs, such as these:
http://o UAmerican Mathematical Society, 2004 (mathematics)
University of Wisconsin Libraries Journal Value Project, 2004 (sciences and social sciences)
LISU Journals Pricing Analysis, 2004 (12 publishers)
More information on this topic can be found at:
http://www.lib.washington.edu/scholcomm/todo.html#users
Happy blogging!
posted by Donna Stallings
Posted by colldev at 01:04 PM
December 01, 2007
Review: "What's an MLIS Worth?"
Some interesting information about job availability and salaries...
Maatta, Stephanie. What's an MLIS Worth? Library Journal, October 15, 2007, vol. 132, no. 17.
This article takes a look at 2006 employment and salary statistics for library professionals in the United States and Canada. The author discusses recent speculation of an entry-level gap, meaning that there are more recent graduates than available entry-level jobs; however she says that none of the school survey respondents for the article reported any problems with placing graduates. Rather than being concerned with finding a job, most of the graduates surveyed reported that their primary areas of concern were finding a competitive salary and a job that matched their interests. Some graduates reported taking part-time jobs and even non-professional positions.
Other interesting findings included a 57.8% rise in information technology positions over previous years, the continued decline of the number of graduates reporting minority status, and as is typical in most professions, the gender inequity between salaries. In our profession, the salaries of women are on average 6.5% behind those of our male counterparts.
One of the most interesting components of the article was a profile of Deborah Lilton, a 2006 MLIS graduate of the University of Alabama, now working at the Heard Library at Vanderbilt University. Deborah had previously received a master's in English from Rutgers and wanted to go back to school, but didn't want to work on a Ph. D. She says that her decision to enter library school and her time as a student were enriched by the mentors she had, including Sybil Moses of the Library of Congress and Carla Hayden, the then-president of ALA. Deborah says that, "Libraries will change dramatically. The library today is like those transformer toys of the 1980s: there are many more versions of them than meet the eye - and more to come, too.
One other point mentioned is the continuing struggle between the "information science" and "library science" terms. Over 1550 2006 graduates were asked to define how they viewed their positions. Seventy-two percent believed their job to be library science, 12% considered themselves information science, and 16% believed that they fell into other categories.
This article is very statistics-heavy, but is nonetheless fascinating. It can be viewed as a great tool for students and recent graduates, as it includes extensive amounts of salary information compiled directly from recent graduates in the field (UT's 2006 grads were surveyed in addition to those from forty-two other library schools in the United States and Canada. There are charts detailing job placements, salaries, gender demographics, geographic data, and comparisons of the statistics. Additionally, the insight provided by Deborah Liltes was very valuable, because she brings up several good points that are at the forefront of the profession.
-Sarah Beth White
Posted by colldev at 10:42 AM