Category Archives
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
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
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
December 03, 2007
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
November 25, 2007
Students and Scholarly Communications
Gavin Baker, scholarly communications consultant with Baker Open Strategies, LLC, outlines several ways that students make use of the scholarly communications system, primarily through journal use. He also discusses the growing involvement of students in the serials crisis and how librarians can more effectively involve this group in open access and scholarly communications issues.
Since 2003, students have been taking a more active role in the scholarly communications issues. There has been a growing involvement of student government organizations in the serials crisis. At least one group has made an official statement supporting open access.
Although student organizations have less influence than faculty members in this area, it is important for librarians to recognize this group when seeking out allies for open access support. It is also important that librarians present open access to students when introducing library services and not solely focus on library-purchased materials such as electronic journal articles.
SPARC as an organization is also enhancing its outreach to this group. They are promoting open access through campaigns and video contests intended to target students.
For more information, please see the full article, Baker, Gavin. "Student Activism: How Students Use the Scholarly Communications System." C&RL News, Vol. 68, No. 10, November 2007.
-posted by Annie Powell
Posted by colldev at 12:08 PM
November 20, 2007
Law journals are going to the comics...
Apparently law education journals aren't spiffy enough for law students anymore.
The September 28, 2007, Chronicle of Higher Education edition includes an article entitled "Bam! Pow! Footnote!" that mentions a new direction in law journal communications.
Two California Western School of Law professors decided to use the comic book format for their essay in the Journal of Legal Education. In fact, the article itself was about branching out of the somewhat stiff and dry legal essay writing style that has prevailed for over a hundred years--the essay is called "The Orthodoxy of Format: Some Sketches on Legal Scholarship."
The illustrations depict two professors walking and talking about the "scholarly merits of illustrated essays." (Oddly enough, the art was drawn by two Chileans, which makes me wonder how the authors got in touch with them.)
Is this the future of legal journal communications? I don't think so, nor do I think the authors are really advocating it. They are exploring how to get more law students actually reading the scholarly communication. Many of the complex concepts in law would be difficult to explain in this format, but it's definitely a fun side trip and experiment along the way.
Before considering the format for other journals, I'd like to know how many law students are interested in comic books or manga and whether or not generational differences come into play. It'd also be interesting to know how many people actually read the essay and what were their responses. However, a comic book style does stand out from the long paragraphs of normal legal essays, so this might be the perfect format to catch a lot of readers' attention. Journals in other fields may want to branch out and try this format, especially with simpler concepts than the law.
I personally am not a fan of comic books or manga, but if I were living the daily grind of a law student, this essay might be a nice change of pace.
-- Marla Ballou
Article available via LexisNexis Academic at the UTK Libraries.
Posted by colldev at 09:31 PM
Scholarpedia vs. Wikipedia
For years, teachers and professors for all grades have complained about the perceived but unproven authority of Wikipedia (http://wikipedia.org), which is perpetuated by their students, who use the contributor-derived entries as sources for projects and papers. Now, professional knowledge workers and their peers have an alternative for publication and research- Scholarpedia (http://scholarpedia.org/).
But wait there's more...
According to their main page, Scholarpedia works on the same technology as its popular counterpart amateur encyclopedia, allowing writers to modify and add articles to the collection with a few simple steps. Unlike Wikipedia though, each article is contributed by a field expert, who is either invited or elected by a public poll, and then anonymously peer reviewed for accuracy and authentication. All modifications to an article must be approved by the author, who acts as a curator for the article and is held primarily responsible for its content.
This offers not only an opportunity for grand variety in individualized and scholarly reviewed information sharing, like in Institutional Repositories, but also makes way for current and timely updates via the open source network of experts working together. One must ask the question, though, why reinvent the wheel?
Wikipedia is readily available for scholars and experts and their vast expanse of knowledge. If they adopted this popular venue, they would reach a greater audience and the dissemination of information would spread to amateur and inspiring scholars who may bring a different perspective on studies and research than the traditional and academic.
There could be two reasons why Scholarpedia has opened its own venue rather than adding to the large compendium readily available. Firstly, the authors could be focused on preserving peer review as a means of professional advancement in an open source environment than traditional expensive scholarly publications. While Institutional Repositories could provide one such venue, Scholarpedia is more global, touching experts from all over the world.
Alternately, Scholarpedia could be seen as a branch off of the Wikipedia trunk, which hosts four particular subcollections- Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience, Encyclopedia of Dynamical Systems, Encyclopedia of Computational Intelligence and Encyclopedia of Astrophysics. On its homepage, it claims to not be a rival of Wikipedia, but rather a complementary source.
Whether it can be seen as the experts' answer to the open source authority question or simply a special collection within the larger scheme of the on-line "encyclopedia", Scholarpedia offers academics and educators an opportunity to authorize information published electronically. Perhaps one day, the Internet will be considered a mostly trustworthy source with Scholarpedia leading the trend.
- posted by Christi Underdown IS 560
Posted by colldev at 04:56 PM
November 07, 2007
Helpful Hints for Librarians
"Scholarly Communication: Science Librarians as Advocates for Change" by Elizabeth C. Turtle and Martin P. Courtois published in Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship Summer 2007 (http://www.istl.org/07-summer/article2.html).
Turtle and Courtois wrote this article for science librarians. However, the principles within this article can be used for all librarians who are concerned about the future of scholarly communication. What started out as subscription price increases ended up encompassing "a complex set of issues that includes legislation, public policy, authors rights, institutional repositories, access to scholarship, and new publishing models." This article provides helpful hints for librarians who wish to become advocates for scholarly communication. Tips include staying informed and educating library users (including faculty) about open access, authors rights, copyright, institutional repositories, etc.
This article mentions many of the concepts we have covered in class.
--posted by Beth Stanley
Posted by colldev at 09:19 PM
November 04, 2007
This Business of Information Science
"Merchandising, merchandising, merchandising!", exclaims one of Mel Brooks' characters from the 1987 film, "Spaceballs". Library and Information Science has produced its own merchandising subculture ripe with quirky sayings, both encouraging and discouraging stereotypes and, of course, fantastic graphics. These days, to truly know one's library patrons and colleagues means to not only provide access and preservation, but also t-shirts, bookbags, and baseball caps, as well.
In my own closet, I have two shirts announcing loyalty to both Simmons and University of Tennessee's Schools of Information Science, as well as a t-shirt proclaiming, "She Blinded Me with Library Science", which features a mousy, but coy, bespectacled, book-laden librarian.
Cafepress, an on-line middleman, provides an generalized venue for all individual and capitalist adventures, which are born from such random catchphrases and ideas. Using its format, Library Avengers was founded by Erica Olsen to fund her own IS Master's Degree in 2001. Olsen writes "Librarians: more powerful than a Google search, friendlier than AskJeeves, and the best natural language processor on the market." For profit and propaganda, she has the cook's aprons, panel prints, and hooded sweatshirts to advertise her point.
Mild-mannered LIS schlock can produce controversy, as well as profit. To promote user patronage, Wyoming Libraries are using podcasts as well as clever bumper stickers, some of which feature the traditionally Mac truck limited image of "Mud Flap Girl". Accroutrements depiction of the sensible shoe-wearing, bun-bedecked librarian action figure, based on the real-life information professional Nancy Pearl, complete with Sshing action, has caused both highly defensive and good-natured humorous reactions.
Speaking of getting a few laughs, who would have suspected two "guybrarians" to have gleaned a daily on-line and print readership for their comic strip about the workings of a public library in the small fictional town of Mallville. 22,197 people receive "Unshelved" via e-mail subscription, RSS feed or LiveJournal every day. In addition, Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum produce not only original characters, but sell book collections, prints, and jackets.
To explore more creative products of the LIS world, pull out your credit card and click here:
Librarian Avengers Store: http://www.cafepress.com/librarian
Wyoming Public Library System: http://www.cafepress.com/wyominglibrary/3537232
Archie McPhee (for Librarian tattoos and more): http://www.mcphee.com/cgi-bin/mcphee/archie-search.cgi
Cafepress- with the search word "librarian". Themes include "Library Worship", "Baby's Got Book",
"This is My Librarian Costume", etc.:
http://www.cafepress.com/buy/librarian/-/cfpt2_/copt_/cfpt_/source_searchBox/x_0/y_0
Unshelved: http://www.unshelved.com/store.aspx
Christi Underdown
IS 560
3 November 2007
Posted by colldev at 12:49 PM
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 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 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
September 24, 2007
Publishing Trends of Top Economic Scholars
I came across this entry in Dani Rodrik's blog that discusses an NBER White Paper by Glenn Ellison. Ellison takes a look at the publishing trends of Harvard economists and recounts his findings on their increasing use of the Internet to publish research findings versus the use of peer reviewed journals. The comments on the blog are interesting and discuss the necessity of publishing to achieve a tenured rank, the "problem" of revisions, and the value of peer review.
To access the actual white paper, please access the UT Library Database page for Business and Economics and scroll down to NBER Working Papers. The Ellison paper was published during July 9-16, 2007 and is entitled Is Peer Review In Decline?
--posted by Robbi De Peri
Posted by colldev at 11:10 PM
September 18, 2007
Wikis and Professional Knowledge Sharing
In an article written in Volume 1, Issue 1 of the Journal of Web Librarianship Anne-Marie Deitering and Rachel Bridgewater present the Library Instruction Wiki. Their goal with this wiki was to capture the curiosity and knowledge that librarians' today share.
Anne-Marie Deitering and Rachel Bridgewater set up the Librarian Instruction Wiki for the Oregon Library Association's Library Instruction Round Table (OLA/LIRT) and used this article, titled "Stop reinventing the Wheel: Using Wikis for Professional Knowledge Sharing," to chronicle their process. They chose a wiki in an effort to eliminate the gatekeeper effect that can occur in other forms of knowledge sharing and chose to limit the number of barriers for those contributing (i.e. they did not make it a members only site). Their feelings were that they were dealing with a group of people who may never meet or interact with each other, but who still had an abundant amount of information to share and this technology provided the best opportunity for these geographically disperse group to share their knowledge. They use this article to weigh out the pros and cons of several wiki engines; ultimately choosing MediaWiki partially because it is the engine used by Wikipedia. The information they put out there regarding their selection criteria will be useful for anyone wishing to attempt a similar project in the future. Also of use are their implementation techniques, which were heavily dependent on feedback from their future user group, and the ultimate outcome of the project. The wiki was officially launched in the summer of 2005 and had immediate positive feedback and was written up in several journals and websites. However, since it's unveiling, use of the wiki has flagged. This could be blamed on the lack of publicity since its initial launch, but the schedules of those contributing the wiki and what the feel will be gained from it are also important factors to take into consideration. The authors are re-evaluating the use of the wiki and hopefully will see a rise in use of it with an increase of publicity in the future.
You can click here to take a look at the Library Instruction Wiki.
-- posted by Lauren Seney
Posted by colldev at 10:30 PM
Sink or swim: Are academic libraries ready to head upstream?
Would we face rough waters if we work our way upstream or would the current carry us along? The latest issue of D-Lib Magazine includes two articles by Anna Gold of MIT that explore the cyberinfrastructure of scientific research and data dissemination. An especially provocative suggestion made by Gold is that while the historical role of academic libraries in the support of scientific progress was to provide access to published scientific materials (downstream in the publication cycle), there is also an opportunity for libraries to manage and provide access to prepublished scientific data (upstream in the publication cycle). Bonita Wilson's editorial in that same D-Lib issue points to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education that those among us who want to learn more about the ways in which scientific research has changed since World War II and the subsequent impact on uses of research data will want to read in addition to the Gold articles. (UT's login and password for the online Chronicle are available through the e-journals section of the UT library website.)
The main product of upstream scientific work is data; with or without metadata, large-scale or small, raw or in context. Upstream involvement would require libraries to develop the staff, the digital storage solutions, the policies and procedural guidelines, and the carefully articulated role needed to successfully incorporate such prepublication research data into existing collections. Because there are known issues with format of data in this context (including preservation tribulations and interoperability concerns to say the least), positioning academic libraries as data repositories in addition to storehouses of finished research reports in the form of journal articles in a time when the future of libraries' role in the present scholarly communication model is already dangerously uncertain is a bold suggestion.
As Gold suggests, libraries might be the best institutions for such an undertaking due to the skills and information-processing framework that libraries already possess. This could be just the opportunity that academic libraries need to secure their place in tomorrow's scholarly communication cycle, and if they were successful the result could be a more deeply rooted, systemic, and stable role than the one held today. Libraries with close ties to the researchers whose work they help organize, promote, and preserve might be in a position to contribute to the blossoming of scientific learning to an even greater extent than libraries in the current publication-based collection model.
Gold identifies some specific liabilities that libraries have as possible custodians of upstream data. Are libraries really prepared to staff and fund such an ambitious undertaking? Do they have a talent pool of individuals with training in both information science and the various scientific fields in which research is taking place, or the ability to develop such a labor force in time? Is there funding for planning and development to allow for a well-designed upstream transition? Is there funding available for the sustenance of an upstream initiative once it is in place? The benefits of providing access to research data through the familiar portal of academic libraries may be significant, but for institutions that are fighting for the funding to maintain their current collections, the bottom line is the bottom line. The money just might not be available.
What will it really take for libraries to manage collections of prepublication data, including raw data and massive datasets? What place would scholarly associations and commercial publishers have if libraries received such prepublication data directly from researchers? Is the possibility of holding research data really not that different from routine library materials processing if each dataset is considered as an archive of sorts for each individual research project? There are more questions than answers at this point, but that's precisely why libraries have such an opportunity to determine their fate.
posted by Maria Sochor
Posted by colldev at 10:10 PM
September 06, 2007
Clarification by Definition
I love dictionaries and was thrilled to be introduced to ODLIS - Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science through Dr. Allard in IS 530. I turn to definitions for the comforting peace of knowing what specifically a term means, especially when it pertains to a school assignment.
-- posted by Gypsy Moody
scholarly communication
The means by which individuals engaged in academic research and creative endeavor inform their peers, formally or informally, of the work they are engaged in or have accomplished. Following a tradition that began with the Academy in ancient Athens, scholars communicate by writing monographs and journal articles for publication, presenting conference papers that may subsequently be published in proceedings and transactions, submitting reports in fulfillment of grant requirements, creating and maintaining Web sites for the academic community, and corresponding with peers via e-mail and electronic mailing lists. Broadly defined, the process includes not only the creation and dissemination of scholarly works but also evaluation of quality (peer review) and preservation for future use. One of the goals of academic libraries is to facilitate scholarly communication in all its forms. Click here to read the statement of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) on Principles and Strategies for the Reform of Scholarly Communication (C&RL News, September 2003). See also: Information Access Alliance and SPARC.
With this definition in hand I go investigating...
-- posted by Gypsy Moody
Posted by colldev at 04:55 PM
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
