Library News - Scholarly Communications

RefWorks is 'forever': Use it and don't lose it after graduating

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:00:17 -0500

Like the forever stamp, one of your library services stays with you, at the same price (free) forever.

One of the many tools VCU Libraries provides students is RefWorks. This web-based citation management tool stores citation and reference information in personal databases. The individual can manage references in folders for individual topics, courses, grants or collaborative projects. It automatically generates bibliographies in various formats (MLA, APA, Chicago).

All VCU-affiliated users who have VCU and/or MCVH-VCU email accounts may set up free accounts.

If you have a RefWorks account, your references are yours forever. Whether you go onto graduate school at another institution or go into the workplace, you can still have access to your references via the RefWorks Alumni Program. You can continue to use RefWorks to manage research materials of all kinds--whether you are in school or on the job.

Members of the class of 2013: Remember to set up a RefWorks Alumni account before graduation to continue to have this benefit of your VCU Libraries relationship.

Details about the RefWorks Alumni Program

Students, faculty and staff with RefWorks accounts who leave VCU may continue to have access to RefWorks through the RefWorks Alumni Program. As a participant in the program, you receive:

One free RefWorks account
New updates and feature releases
200 MB of file attachment storage
Use of RefShare to share your folder(s) or account
Free Web-based training
Technical support from RefWorks staff

To request participation in the RefWorks Alumni Program, submit an Ask Us email or contact your RefWorks administrator:

Marilyn Scott, James Branch Cabell Library, mjscott@vcu.edu, (804) 828-9049
Jennifer McDEaniel, Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences, jamcdaniel@vcu.edu, (804) 827-1150

New research librarians focus on sciences and engineering

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:13:35 -0500

Julie Arendt and Martha Roseberry are VCU Libraries' new research librarians for the sciences and engineering. They join Ronke Lawal, engineering and science collections librarian.

Arendt and Roseberry will work closely with science departments in the College of Humanities and Sciences, the School of Engineering, VCU Life Sciences, and colleagues on the MCV Campus to meet teaching and research needs of faculty and students in the sciences and engineering. They will collaborate with teaching faculty and colleagues in the VCU Libraries to develop and deliver course-integrated instructional content, as well as extend research consultation services and provide customized, discipline-specific research assistance. They also will help develop the print and digital reference collections supporting the sciences and engineering, and will work closely with colleagues at Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences to meet the needs of faculty and students in sciences and engineering throughout the university community.

Arendt (right) brings a foundation of experience to her new role with the VCU Libraries. As science and engineering reference librarian at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, she was liaison to several departments including mechanical engineering and energy processes, chemistry, physics and psychology. She provided specialized reference services, discipline-specific information literacy instruction and online content. Arendt also taught a course on information literacy and use of the library. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and psychology from the University of Wisconsin and a Master of Science in Information from the University of Michigan.

Roseberry (left) brings strong background in science to her new role with the VCU Libraries. Her experience includes co-authoring an article published in the International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos and work as a research assistant as part of the National Science Foundation's Research Experiences for Undergraduates. While working at a practicum at Oberlin College's Science Library, she produced an extensive collection of subject guides as part of a transition to Subject Plus and assisted with library instruction for biology students. Roseberry holds a B.A. in physics from the College of Wooster and Master of Library and Information Science from Kent State University.

Roseberry and Arendt aim to offer flexible and responsive research assistance to the science and engineering communities of VCU. They are available to contribute to the instruction of science and engineering classes and can consult with faculty and students on all phases of the research process, including grant proposals and final reviews of paper submissions. Roseberry and Arendt will collaborate with individuals and groups to meet their unique needs.

Like all VCU Libraries' research librarians assigned to work closely with academic departments, Roseberry and Arendt create and update online research guides and present workshops and create new ones as needs are identified.

"I've created a General Science research guide to help non-scientists locate scientific information and I'm working on a guide to highlight resources in statistical sciences and operations research," said Roseberry. Arendt is preparing a workshop on keeping current by using databases alerts. "We'd love to hear from students and faculty about workshops, or other services, they need," she said.

Contact Information for librarians focused on science and engineering:

Julie Arendt, (804) 828-1539, jaarendt@vcu.edu

Ronke Lawal, (804) 828-8739, ilawal@vcu.edu

Martha Roseberry, (804) 828-2347, mroseberry@vcu.edu

All VCU Libraries Liaisons, subject matter experts who work with faculty and students

Open Access Week: Oct. 22-26

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:30:55 -0500

VCU Libraries joins scholarly colleagues globally in marking Open Access Week, Oct. 22 - 26. This international observance promotes free access to academic research. It encourages academic publishers to make research available online for free, increasing its reach for students, researchers and the public.

Open Access Week is sponsored by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition and has participants in almost 100 countries. A self-described catalyst for action, SPARC is made up of some 225 academic and research library members that promote easier and more affordable sharing of scholarship. According to its mission statement: "SPARC believes that faster and wider sharing of outputs of the research process increases the impact of research, fuels the advancement of knowledge, and increases the return on research investments. ... Its pragmatic agenda focuses on collaborating with other stakeholders to stimulate the emergence of new scholarly communication norms, practices and policies that leverage the networked digital environment, expand the dissemination of research findings and reduce financial pressures on libraries."

To reduce barriers to the access, sharing and use of scholarship, the organization's strategy is to educate people about the problems facing scholarly communication, to advocate for policy changes and dissemination of scholarship as an essential component of the research process and to help develop new publishing models that benefit society.

Take a moment during this week to learn more about Open Access publishing.

New to the Collection: Index of Christian Art

Fri, 11 May 2012 14:50:27 -0500

The Index of Christian Art catalogs art found within a broadly defined Christian context. In its digital form, the index contains some 80,000 full-text records and more than 100,000 images dating from 30 CE to 1550 CE. Founded in 1917 and continuously updated, this resource is maintained by Princeton University.

New to the collection: Slavery and abolition online archive

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:55:17 -0500

Just as the nation is poised to mark Emancipation Day in mid-April, a significant database of digital resources about slavery and abolition is now available to researchers through VCU LIbraries.

"Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive" (SAS) traces the history and ongoing cultural impact of slavery. It provides access to thousands of full-text primary source documents and archival records, including those from:

The American Missionary Association Archives from 1839-1882;
The Office of the Secretary of the Interior Relating to the Suppression of the African Slave Trade from 1854-1872;
Amistad Research Center in New Orleans covering the array of documents related to one of the most important slave rebellions and trials in American and world history.

Ultimately millions of pages of information will be available in SAS, letting VCU researchers search across all documents in each part in one seamless interface, according to Kevin D. Farley, Ph.D., assistant professor and collection librarian for the humanities. "The result will be unexpected and important contributions to the scholarly dialogue about American slavery and its local and global ramifications."

Farley notes that the addition of this collection is timely. During the sesquicentennial period marking the American Civil War, and given the centrality of the slave trade to Richmond history, he expects this database at VCU will deepen the study and teaching of these events in unprecedented ways. "In placing slavery practices against the longstanding U.S. and European efforts to abolish slavery, SAS allows researchers to see all aspects of this crucial and far-reaching history."

The database now consists of Part I, "Debates over Slavery and Abolition," and Part II, "Slave Trade in the Atlantic World." Two additional sections are being developed: Part III, "Institution of Slavery," and Part IV, "Age of Emancipation."

The online collection includes a small group of images, including the woodcut shown above of Underground Railroad leader and abolitionist Harriet Tubman. And, this rare photograph of two young American slave boys, mid-19th century.

How to access VCU Libraries databases:

VCU students, faculty and staff can access the database through either the A to Z Guide to Databases or using this link, http://library.vcu.edu/search/1158 from any computer with a VCU IP address.
Off-campus, VCU users must first log into myVCU, then go to the VCU Libraries home page, click on Databases and drill down the database you want. Or go directly to http://library.vcu.edu/search/1158
If you are not a member of the VCU academic community, you can gain access to databases on campus by joining the Friends of the Library.

Scifinder Scholar now with unlimited simultaneous users

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:29:56 -0500

Scifinder Scholar, the world's most renowned search and discovery tool for chemistry and related disciplines, is now being offered to the VCU community with unlimited access points. VCU Libraries has been subscribing to Scifinder Scholar since 1999, but for only a maximum of five simultaneous users.

As of April 1, 2012, Scifinder Scholar can be accessed by unlimited simultaneous users.

The operating hours remain the same and are:

Sunday 1 p.m. until Saturday 10 p.m.
On the first Saturday of each month, Scifinder Scholar will be available until 5 p.m. and will not be accessible again until 1p.m. the following Sunday.

March 30: Open access scholarly publishing workshop

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:08:37 -0500

Is your scholarly research only for those wealthy enough to afford the journal you publish in? How many in your local community can access your research published in expensive online journals? How many in your professional community without well-funded library access can read your work? How about your school's alumni? Would you rather have your work freely accessible to all without charge, while still published in a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal?

On Friday, March 30, from 3 to 4 p.m. VCU Libraries presents a workshop for faculty (but open to all) entitled "Open Access Scholarly Publishing for Faculty."

The workshop will be conducted by Dan Ream, VCU librarian and past president of the VCU Faculty Senate.

As journal subscription costs have increased dramatically, fewer and fewer libraries can afford every journal that is needed, including some that are considered prestigious and essential. Faculty worldwide, especially in the sciences, but also increasingly in the social sciences and humanities, have responded by creating and publishing their research in open access, peer-reviewed journals that charge no fee to their readers.

Faculty senates from Harvard to Berkeley to the University of Virginia have endorsed open access publishing for their faculty.

This one-hour session will introduce faculty to this revolution in publishing of open access, peer-reviewed journals and demonstrate how to locate them in almost any discipline, as well as discuss the potential benefits of worldwide free access to faculty research. Options for faculty retention of copyright will also be discussed.

This workshop will be held in library classroom/lab 319 on the third floor of James Branch Cabell Library. No advance registration is necessary. Address questions to Dan Ream, or call 828-6545 for more information.

Open Access Week focuses on the new norm in academic publishing Oct. 24-30

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:37:46 -0500

In concert with libraries and universities worldwide, VCU Libraries marks Open Access Week Oct. 24-30. This global event, now in its fifth year, promotes open access as the new norm in scholarship and research.

Open-access publishing is defined best by Peter Suber as scholarly and creative work that is "online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. What makes it possible is the internet and the consent of the author or copyright-holder." Open Access Week is sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries' Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system.

Virginia Commonwealth University is one of more than 200 North American members of SPARC and VCU Libraries endeavors to promote faculty and student awareness of copyright retention options and how scholarly work can be published in peer-reviewed journals that allow anyone free access to VCU scholars' work. Through open-access publishing, VCU faculty and students can better share with the world our research and scholarly work.

Recent examples of the VCU community's work with open-access publishing include these.

VCU Libraries membership in Hindawi Publishing, which enables all VCU faculty a complete waiver of authors' fees when publishing in any of their 300+ peer-reviewed journals in a wide range of academic disciplines. Here is a list of VCU faculty who have recently published in Hindawi journals.
The VCU Faculty Senate in December, 2010 passed a resolution endorsing open-access publishing, encouraging that "VCU Promotion and Tenure committees should recognize that publication and editorial effort in open access, peer-reviewed journals or republication of peer-reviewed articles in an open access repository offers added value and greater public good than scholarship made only available in expensive journal publications."
The Center for Teaching Excellence posted a podcast with VCU librarian Dan Ream about peer-reviewed open-access publishing;
Dr. Jonathan Becker, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, led an October, 2010 CTE Brown Bag Lunch conversation (archived here) entitled "Publishing 2.0:Open Access, Digital Scholarship and Public Intellectualism."
VCU librarian Dan Ream spoke on copyright retention and open access publishing at the Oct. 11, 2011 VCU Presidential Inauguration Research Lecture Series at the Larrack Center.

On Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011 at 1 p.m. VCU librarian Dan Ream will offer a one-hour presentation on Open-Access Scholarly Publishing for VCU faculty, students, and staff. This event is also open to the general public.

Pioneer in Soviet Studies, Expert in Russian demographics and health donates papers to VCU Libraries

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:47:14 -0500

Sputnik was launched in 1957, the same year that Murray Feshbach embarked on a career during which he became an important scholarly voice on the Soviet Union. His work took him from military service, where he mastered the Russian language, to service with the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. State Department, from academic think tanks to Georgetown University. He was also the first Sovietologist-in-residence in the office of the Secretary-General of NATO.

Currently a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, Feshbach has donated his papers to VCU Libraries.

The collection includes some 23 linear feet of papers, including research and teaching materials from the later part of the 20th century. The papers are in Russian and English, and cover Feshbach's research into the population, health and environmental crises of the Soviet Union and Russia. In addition to the papers, Feshbach donated approximately 400 books and statistical volumes, including materials from the Soviet and Russian census. Many items in the collection are unique and out-of-print, including personal correspondence with Soviet and Russian researchers and government officials, representing a priceless resource to scholars and policy analysts world-wide.

Feshbach's research in the demographics of the Soviet Union--the health and welfare of its people--offered insight into the closed society of the USSR during the tumultuous years of the Cold War. He retired from government service in 1981, some 10 years before the collapse of the Soviet Union and before Gorbachev, perestroika and glasnost. He was a research professor at Georgetown University until 2000 when he retired as professor emeritus. He continues to publish and consult with government agencies, both in the United States and around the world.

His prominent scholarship combines an intriguing educational background: Feshbach studied history at Syracuse University, holds a master's degree in diplomatic history from Columbia University, and earned his doctorate in economics at American University.

The Feshbach Collection strengthens holdings at VCU that focus on recent U.S. history and support teaching and research by VCU faculty in related fields. President emeritus Dr. Eugene Trani, who retired in 2008, published extensively on 20th century Russian history, and Dr. Judy Twigg in VCU's Wilder School is an internationally recognized expert in health and demographics of contemporary Russia. According to Twigg, "Murray is the undisputed global authority on matters related to human capital in the former Soviet Union and Russia. He has served as a mentor to so many of us who strive to emulate his meticulous data collection and analysis. The donation of these materials is just one example of Murray's continual intellectual and personal generosity, and it's an honor for VCU to benefit from it."

New for Researchers: Fall collections wrap-up

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:02:55 -0500

VCU Libraries, serving the Monroe Park Campus and the MCV Campus, offers major new collections of e-resources (e-books, streaming audio, streaming video, and databases). A comprehensive list of new collections--acquired during 2010-11--and available now is posted. All databases in the A-to-Z Guide. Some notable additions to the collections include:

Eighteenth Century Collections Online
Methods in Enzymology
New England Journal of Medicine
American History in Video
Classical Scores Library
Classical Music Reference Library
African American Music Reference
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online
Berg Fashion Library
International Bibliography of Art
Stratfor
The Left Index
Alternative Press Index
Index Islamicus
Designinform
Access Medicine
Access Science
Access Engineering
Material Connexion
SPIE Digital Library
Grzimek's Animal Life encyclopedia
Underground Comics & Graphic Novels
World News Collection
LWW Nursing Health Assessment Video Series

PLoS One named as the new SPARC Innovator

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 09:39:12 -0500

SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, has named the Public Library of Science's PLoS One journal as the latest recipient of the SPARC Innovator award. The announcement states that the recognition is "for blazing a new trail in open-access journals, inspiring broader change in scholarly publishing, and thriving along the way."

A profile of PLoS One is available on the SPARC website, along with information on the Innovator program and other recipients.

National Academies Press: 4,000 free e-books

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:00:00 -0500

The National Academies Press -- the publishing arm of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council -- are dedicated to distributing their books to as wide an audience as possible.

Effective June 2, 2011, PDFs of books that are currently for sale on the National Academies Press (NAP) website and PDFs associated with future books will be offered free of charge to all web visitors. NAP produces more than 200 books a year on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and health, capturing the best-informed views on important issues. NAP will continue to sell hard-copy versions of their books. One popular title with researchers is Prudent Practices in the Laboratory: Handling and Management of Chemical Hazards, which costs $99.95 in hardcover.

Former AAUP President Sandy Thatcher commented in the Chronicle of Higher Education story on NAP's announcement that "NAP was the first member of the Association of American University Presses to post books online for free beginning in the mid-1990s, becoming thereby a pioneer in the open-access movement, and this new step only adds to its luster as a leader in this worthy cause."

The VCU Libraries catalog currently lists over 2,000 online books and over 1,200 hard-copy books from the National Academies Press.

Journal prices trending up again

Tue, 17 May 2011 15:26:48 -0500

The Periodicals Price Survey reports that 2011 prices for academic journal titles have again increased and pricing for 2012 will likely go up from seven to nine percent. The survey is compiled annually for publication in Library Journal.

Google Books settlement rejected

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:01:50 -0500

U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin has rejected the settlement between Google and groups of authors and publishers designed to allow Google to make a vast collection of books available online. In his statement, Judge Chin cited concerns of copyright and antitrust, but also suggested that with certain revisions, the settlement might be legally acceptable.

For news reports and commentary on the case, visit these websites:

Faculty Senate endorses open access publishing

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 10:13:01 -0500

In a vote at its December 7 meeting, the VCU Faculty Senate passed the following resolution urging Promotion and Tenure Committees to consider the value of open access publishing in the evaluation of faculty scholarly efforts:

Whereas, the faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University are dedicated to achieving the greatest public good by making their research and scholarship as widely available as possible;

Whereas, commercial publishers of scholarly journals have drastically increased subscription prices to many of the journals where VCU faculty now publish their research and scholarship beyond the affordability of many individuals and institutions; and

Whereas, faculty have many options for publishing their research and scholarship in open access journals, hybrid journals, or in open access repositories so that the world can have free access to it if they negotiate to retain their copyright of their work;

Therefore, the Faculty Senate of Virginia Commonwealth University recommends:

VCU Promotion and Tenure committees should recognize that publication and editorial effort in open access, peer-reviewed journals or republication of peer-reviewed articles in an open access repository offers added value and greater public good than scholarship made only available in expensive journal publications.

Open access scholarly publishing workshop

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 11:43:23 -0500

Is your scholarly research only for those wealthy enough to afford the journal you publish in? Or would you rather have your work freely accessible to all without charge, while still published in a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal?

On Tuesday, November 9th, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., VCU Libraries will present a new workshop for faculty (but open to all) entitled "Open Access Scholarly Publishing for Faculty." The workshop will be conducted by Dan Ream, VCU librarian and past president of the VCU Faculty Senate.

As journal subscription costs have increased dramatically, fewer and fewer libraries can afford every journal that is needed, including some that are considered prestigious and essential. Faculty worldwide, especially in the sciences but also increasingly in the social sciences and humanities, have responded by creating and publishing their research in open access, peer-reviewed journals that charge no fee to their readers. Faculty Senates from Harvard to Berkeley to the University of Virginia have endorsed open access publishing for their faculty. Perhaps VCU's Faculty Senate may some day do so as well.

This workshop will be held in library classroom/lab 319 on the third floor of Cabell Library. No advance registration is necessary. Address questions to Dan Ream, or call 828-6545 for more information.

Open access podcast from VCU CTE

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:51:55 -0500

VCU's Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) has posted a podcast about Open Access publishing, featuring an interview with Dan Ream of VCU Libraries. Dan and Jeff Nugent of the CTE discuss issues driving the practice of open access publishing and retention of author copyright in higher education, look at some examples of successful university projects, and briefly discuss what VCU is doing in the field of open access publishing. Links to the mp3 file and nine open access-related Web sites are provided at the CTE "What's New" blog.

Open access scholarly publishing workshop

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 09:37:03 -0500

On Friday, October 15th, from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., VCU Libraries will present a new workshop for faculty (but open to all) entitled "Open Access Scholarly Publishing for Faculty." The workshop will be conducted by Dan Ream, VCU librarian and past president of the VCU Faculty Senate.

Federal public access bill proposed

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:22:02 -0500

A revived Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Mike Doyle (D-PA). Like the earlier version in 2009, the bill would require peer-reviewed articles resulting from federal research dollars to be made available free online within six months of their publication.

The mandate would apply to research from all federal agencies with extramural research budgets over $100 million. Agencies that fall into this category include the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, and others.

The National Institutes of Health has had a similar policy for the last two years that requires deposit of final manuscripts into PubMed Central within one year of publication.

For more information and updates on FRPAA, visit the Alliance for Taxpayer Access. The full text of the bill, along with a summary of actions and status, can be viewed through the THOMAS legislative information system.

University of Virginia Faculty Senate Approves Open Access/ Authors Rights Resolution

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:13:07 -0500

As reported in the Cavalier Daily on March 1, 2010 the University of Virginia's Faculty Senate unanimously voted on February 24th to endorse University faculty members retaining more rights to their published works and allowing those articles to be more accessible to the public. The Resolution on Scholarly Publication and Author's Rights states that faculty members may provide electronic versions of their work for an open access electronic repository. This facility will be run by the University of Virginia's library, the Office of the Provost and the Faculty Senate's Task Force on Scholarly Publications and Authors' Rights. The resolution passed was a revision of a resolution on scholarly publications that was brought to the Faculty Senate in November,2009. Faculty Senate Task Force Chair Brian Pusser is quoted in the Cavalier Daily report as saying, "Originally, the resolution said participation would be mandatory by default but that faculty members could sign a waiver to opt out of it. The policy then was revised so that faculty members simply could decide if they wanted to contribute to the repository."

Video: Google's Goal - Digitize Every Book Ever Printed

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:16:59 -0500

PBS Newshour has produced a video report on the controversial Google Book Search project. The story aired on Dec. 30, 2009.

White House Extends Deadline to Jan. 21 for Comments on Public Access Policies

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:06:06 -0500

The Office of Science and Technology Policy, within the Executive Office of the President, has set a new deadline of Jan. 21, 2010 for community input on public access to federal research publications. For more information and instructions on how to comment, visit the Alliance for Taxpayer Access website.

White House Seeks Input on Public Access to Federal Research

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:39:06 -0500

Individuals, institutions and organizations are being asked for input to help develop policy on open access to archived publications from research funded by federal science agencies. You can comment online through the Public Access Policy blog before January 7, 2010. For more details and access to the blog, visit the Alliance for Taxpayer Access web site.

Open Access Week - Oct. 19-23, 2009

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:09:17 -0500

The first international Open Access Week is intended to raise awareness of the benefits of free, open, online and immediate access to scholarly research. Celebrate by learning more about Open Access at the following sites: Open Access Week Organization SPARC: The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition VCU Libraries - Open Access Resources

University of Virginia Faculty Senate Considers Open Access

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:11:29 -0500

The University of Virginia Faculty Senate discussed a draft resolution on open access to scholarship at their September 23rd meeting with the intention that senators vote on it in November. The resolution was presented by the senate's Task Force on Scholarly Publication and Authors' Rights, represented by Edmund Kitch, a law professor, and committee chair Brian Pusser, a professor at the Curry School of Education. As reported by UVa Today on September 28th, "Under the proposed resolution, U.Va. faculty members would assign to the rector and Board of Visitors "a nonexclusive, irrevocable, non-commercial global license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of her or his scholarly articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do the same, provided the articles are not sold for profit." The policy would apply to all scholarly articles written by faculty members while at U.Va., except pieces that were written before the policy is adopted and remain under "incompatible" licensing agreements. All other articles would be turned over to the provost's office in electronic form and made generally available no sooner than 12 months after their journal publication. "Scholarship is done for the benefit of mankind and it should be accessible to everyone," Kitch said. There are many avenues for disseminating scholarly work, particularly with the Internet, he said. Authors should be aware of their rights, which they often sign away to the publisher. Because of this, he said, many authors have no right to post their material on the Internet. Authors should be aware of the rights they have to their works, he said, and should specify, as an example, that they want the rights to revert to them when the material goes out of print. "Raise questions with your publisher," he said. Madelyn Wessel, special adviser to the University librarian and a member of the task force, said the current resolution is based on a similar policy at Harvard University. She said there is great potential to put scholarly work on the Internet and also urged faculty authors to negotiate with their publishers." For more information on authors' rights, see the VCU Libraries' Copyright and Authors Rights guide to resources, specifically the "Author's Rights" section.

NIH Public Access Mandate - One Year Later

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:41:58 -0500

April 7, 2009 marked the one-year anniversary of the NIH Public Access Mandate. An editorial published in Nature this week describes some of the results so far and highlights some of challenges. Excerpt: "One year on, advocates of free public access to scientific literature are calling a law that requires researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to make their manuscripts publicly available at the PubMed Central repository a success. At the same time, the measure continues to be challenged by a senior congressman and some publishers." Read the full editorial… VCU Libraries has created a Resource Guide on the NIH Public Access Policy with information and additional links to helpful sites.

First U.S. Public Access Policy Made Permanent

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:02:27 -0500

With the signing of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, President Obama has made permanent the NIH Public Access Policy. Previously the policy was subject to annual renewal. A press release is available from the Alliance for Taxpayer Access.

Peter Suber’s Predictions for 2009

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:45:14 -0500

In the December issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter, Peter Suber offers his predictions for open access in the coming year, focusing on what to expect from the Obama administration and the worldwide recession.

Bringing Tenure into the Digital Age

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:16:27 -0500

Christine L. Borgman, author of "Scholarship in the Digital Age" is interviewed by the Chronicle of Higher Education in this free article. Ms. Borgman's book was published by MIT Press in 2007 and is available at Cabell Library on the third floor, call number AZ195 .B67 2007.

Google Settles Book-Scanning Lawsuit

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:28:15 -0500

Last month Google announced that it had settled the lawsuits brought by the Author’s Guild and the Association of American Publishers over its book-scanning project. A U.S. District Judge has given preliminary approval of the settlement which is now scheduled for a hearing next June. The lawsuits claimed that Google’s mass digitization of works in major U.S. research libraries infringed upon the copyrights of authors and publishers. Terms of the settlement include payment of $125-million by Google to set up a Books Rights Registry, pay authors and publishers for scanning of any copyrighted work, and provide for legal costs. The settlement would apply to works registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and scanned by Google before January 5, 2009. Google plans to continue scanning books in the public domain and copyrighted out-of-print books. The Registry will be run by representatives of authors and publishers and will make payments to rightsholders. The deal also provides rules regarding how much of the full-text Google can allow users to see. Users at U.S. public and university libraries will be able to freely search and preview portions of works online. In many cases, individual users will be able to purchase online full-text access. Institutions will be offered a subscription service to allow their users access to the complete text. Details regarding the prices for these services are not yet available. The 200+ page settlement is complex and generating reaction and comments from copyright experts, librarians, publishers and scholarly groups. But, if approved, the deal could potentially make many more out-of-print works available to U.S. readers while benefiting the rightsholders through compensation. Related Links: Complete Settlement with Attachments Joint Public FAQ Chronicle of Higher Education Article, 10/29/2008 A Guide for the Perplexed: Libraries and the Google Library Project Settlement Peter Suber’s Open Access News

New ARL/Ithaka Report on Digital Scholarly Communication

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:24:56 -0500

From an ARL press release: Current Models of Digital Scholarly Communication ARL Releases Final Report from Ithaka Study Washington DC--The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has released the final report from a study that ARL commissioned Ithaka to conduct, Current Models of Digital Scholarly Communication, by Nancy L. Maron and K. Kirby Smith, along with the database of exemplars that the study produced. In the spring of 2008, ARL engaged Ithaka's Strategic Services Group to conduct an investigation into the range of online resources valued by scholars, paying special attention to those projects that are pushing beyond the boundaries of traditional formats and are considered innovative by the faculty who use them. The networked digital environment has enabled the creation of many new kinds of works, and many of these resources have become essential tools for scholars conducting research, building scholarly networks, and disseminating their ideas and work, but the decentralized distribution of these new-model works has made it difficult to fully appreciate their scope and number. Ithaka's findings are based on a collection of resources identified by a volunteer field team of over 300 librarians at 46 academic institutions in the US and Canada. Field librarians talked with faculty members on their campuses about the digital scholarly resources they find most useful and reported the works they identified. The authors evaluated each resource gathered by the field team and conducted interviews of project leaders of 11 representative resources. Ultimately, 206 unique digital resources spanning eight formats were identified that met the study's criteria. The study's innovative qualitative approach yielded a rich cross-section of today's state of the art in digital scholarly resources. The report profiles each of the eight genres of resources, including discussion of how and why the faculty members reported using the resources for their work, how content is selected for the site, and what financial sustainability strategies the resources are employing. Each section draws from the in-depth interviews to provide illustrative anecdotes and representative examples. Highlights from the study's findings include: * While some disciplines seem to lend themselves to certain formats of digital resource more than others, examples of innovative resources can be found across the humanities, social sciences, and scientific/technical/medical subject areas. * Of all the resources suggested by faculty, almost every one that contained an original scholarly work operates under some form of peer review or editorial oversight. * Some of the resources with greatest impact are those that have been around a long while. * While some resources serve very large audiences, many digital publications--capable of running on relatively small budgets--are tailored to small, niche audiences. * Innovations relating to multimedia content and Web 2.0 functionality appear in some cases to blur the lines between resource types. * Projects of all sizes--especially open-access sites and publications--employ a range of support strategies in the search for financial sustainability. The report is freely available on the ARL Web site at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/current-models-report.pdf.

Introduction to author rights for journal article authors

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:45:01 -0500

Author's Rights, Tout de Suite, the latest Digital Scholarship publication, is designed to give journal article authors a quick introduction to key aspects of author's rights and to foster further exploration of this topic though liberal use of relevant references to online documents and links to pertinent Web sites. http://www.digital-scholarship.org/ts/authorrights.pdf It is under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License, and it can be freely used for any noncommercial purpose, including derivative works, in accordance with the license.

PLOS and SPARC release new "Voices of Open Access" video series

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:55:48 -0500

From a SPARC press release: PLOS AND SPARC RELEASE NEW “VOICES OF OPEN ACCESS” VIDEO SERIES Clips describe a rich new world where access to research is open San Francisco, CA and Washington, DC – October 14, 2008 – A new video series presents six unique perspectives on the importance of Open Access to research across the higher education community and beyond. SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and the Public Library of Science (PLoS), the organizers of the first Open Access Day with Students for FreeCulture, today released the series of one-minute videos capturing why teachers, patient advocates, librarians, students, research funders, and physician scientists are committed to Open Access. The “Voices of Open Access” series defines Open Access as a fundamental component of a new system for exchanging scholarly research results, where: health is transformed; research outputs are maximized to their fullest extent; efficiencies in the research process enable faster discoveries; the best science is made possible; young people are inspired; access transcends the wealth of the institution; cost savings are realized across the research process; and medical research conducted for the public good is made available to everyone who needs it. The videos are available for the public to view, download, and repurpose under a CC-BY license at http://www.vimeo.com/oaday08. They are also available as a single file for viewing at events.

New Open Access Monograph: Economics and Usage of Digital Libraries: Byting the Bullet

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:42:44 -0500

A press release from the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library: New Open Access Monograph: Economics and Usage of Digital Libraries: Byting the Bullet The Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library is pleased to announce the availability of a new open access monograph, Economics and Usage of Digital Libraries: Byting the Bullet , edited by Wendy Pradt Lougee (University Librarian, University of Minnesota) and Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason (Arthur W. Burks Collegiate Professor of Information and Computer Science, School of Information, University of Michigan). In the late 1990's, researchers and digital library production staff at the University of Michigan collaborated on deploying the Pricing Economic Access to Knowledge project (PEAK), a full-scale production-quality digital access system to enable usage of content from all of Elsevier's (then about 1200) scholarly journals, and at the same time to conduct a field experiment to answer various questions about the interplay between pricing models and usage. The experiment culminated in a lively conference that engaged scholars, library practioners and publishers. This volume captures some of the most interesting and provocative discussions to come out of that conference. PEAK was a ground-breaking effort in its day, and references to the project have continued over time. It raised important questions about the potential for highly functional journal content and new economic models of publishing. In today’s context of socially-enabled systems and open-access publishing, the motivating questions of PEAK remain relevant. This monograph is part of the SPO Scholarly Monograph Series , an interdisciplinary collection of original, open-access scholarly monographs and essays. The University of Michigan Library, through its Scholarly Publishing Office , provides academic publishing services that are responsive to the needs of both producers and users, that foster a sustainable economic model for academic publishing, and that support institutional control of intellectual assets.

BioMed Central Bought by Springer

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:49:27 -0500

Scientific American's news blog reports that open access publisher BioMed Central has been sold to Springer. For other reports on the acquisition see LJ Newswire and Open Access News.

First Open Access Day to be Held Oct. 14, 2008

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:36:25 -0500

From the SPARC press release ..... "SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), the Public Library of Science (PLoS), and Students for FreeCulture have jointly announced the first international Open Access Day. Building on the worldwide momentum toward Open Access to publicly funded research, Open Access Day will create a key opportunity for the higher education community and the general public to understand more clearly the opportunities of wider access and use of content." For details visit the Open Access Day web page.

Comments on NIH Public Access Policy Released

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:27:56 -0500

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) released its Analysis of Comments and Implementation of the NIH Public Access Policy on September 30, 2008. The report summarizes findings from the open meetings held earlier this year. It also addresses the actions NIH has taken on the concerns including updates to the website and the release of new tools to assist with deposits.

APA Suspends New Policy on PubMed Central Deposit Charge

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:59:22 -0500

The American Psychological Association recently announced that it would charge authors $2500 for depositing articles into PubMed Central. But the Association has apparently decided to rethink the new policy. According to APA's website, the policy is "currently being re-examined and will not be implemented at this time." The Chronicle of Higher Education reported the policy on July 15, 2008 and its blog quickly filled with comments. According to The Chronicle , authors publishing in APA journals were told not to deposit the articles themselves and that the fee would be billed to the author's university. Authors who receive funding from the National Institutes of Health are now required to submit articles arising from the funded research into PubMed Central, the National Library of Medicine's digital archive. For more information, visit the VCU Libraries' page on Navigating the New NIH Mandatory Public Access Policy.

Open Access: Opportunities and Challenges Handbook published

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:56:59 -0500

Just Published: Open Access: Opportunities and Challenges--a Handbook A Joint publication of the European Commission and the German Commission for UNESCO, 2008 The English version of the handbook, a joint publication with the European Commission's Science in Society Programme, has just been published. The publication is available in print and electronic versions. The handbook aims to provide information about the opportunities and challenges offered by Open Access, and to present a wide array of issues and positions under debate. The English version of the handbook is a translation of the handbook in German, published by the German Commission for UNESCO in 2007. Download the book here or here. More details about the book: http://www.unesco.de/openaccess-en.html [source: Diglib announcement from Anup Kumar Das, 2008-07-09]

Open Access Directory (OAD) Wiki Now Online

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:45:43 -0500

Those interested in open access publishing can create and maintain simple factual lists about the open access movement in science and scholarship with the Open Access Directory (OAD) wiki, created by Peter Suber and Robin Peek. Suber is a Research Professor of Philosophy at Earlham College, and Peek is an Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at Simmons College. They conceived the project in order to collect OA-related lists for one-stop reference and searching. The wiki started operating with about half a dozen lists such as-- conferences devoted to open access, discussion forums devoted to open access, and journal "declarations of independence"-- and has now grown to include... * Acronyms * Blogs about OA * Disciplinary repositories * Discussion forums * Events * Free and open-source journal management software * Free and open-source repository software * Guides for OA journal publishers * Institutions that support open access * Jobs in open access * Journal declarations of independence * Lists maintained by others * OA by the numbers * OA speakers bureau * Proposed lists. * Research in progress * Research questions * Services to support repository managers * Statements by learned societies and professional associations * Wikis about OA

Scholarly Communication Innovations Highlighted in ARL Bimonthly Report

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:07:48 -0500

From an ARL news release: New approaches to scholarly communication are featured in the June 2008 issue of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Bimonthly Report, no. 258. In the lead article, Duke University Scholarly Communications Officer Kevin L. Smith offers pragmatic strategies that authors and their institutions can use to manage authors' copyrights to fulfill the requirements of the new National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy. Karla L. Hahn, Director of ARL's Office of Scholarly Communication, discusses the results of her study of publishing services provided by ARL member libraries. Additionally, brief summaries are provided of the recently released SPARC-Science Commons guide to creating institutional open access policies and of ARL's new agenda for developing research library support for e-science.

Periodicals Price Survey 2008

Wed, 21 May 2008 14:28:12 -0500

The annual survey of periodical prices has been published in Library Journal. The survey found that prices of subscription-based journals increased nine to ten percent for 2008 and similar increases can be expected for 2009. In the related commentary, Lee Van Orsdel and Kathleen Born highlight the events of the past year that have impacted journal publishing.

NPR's Science Friday interviews Harold Varmus

Mon, 19 May 2008 13:32:14 -0500

Ira Flatow of NPR's "Science Friday" talked with former NIH director Harold Varmus, a leading proponent of open access to research and one of the founders of the Public Library of Science, an open-access scientific journal. The original broadcast was Friday, April 11, 2008.

NIH Updates its Public Access Policy FAQ

Fri, 16 May 2008 16:01:58 -0500

Significant revisions were made to the NIH Public Access Policy Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on May 2, 2008. The revisions were intended to provide additional clarity on the compliance process and do not point to any changes in the policy itself. Among the changes are clarification about the PMCID number and who should submit the paper in the event of multiple authors. For a list of the new changes and revisions, consult the information provided by SPARC.

NIH Seeks Input on Public Access Policy Mandate

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:55:20 -0500

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has formally requested input from the community regarding the Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting From NIH-Funded Research (NIH Public Access Policy). The Policy requires that all peer-reviewed articles arising from NIH funding be deposited into PubMed Central, the National Library of Medicine's public digital archive. The mandate takes effect April 7, 2008 and applies to articles based on work directly funded by an NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in Fiscal Year 2008 (Oct. 1, 2007 - Sept. 30, 2008). The notice asks for comments from all stakeholders regarding the implementation, monitoring and training for compliance with the Policy. Comments are due by May 31, 2008. For additional information, see the VCU Libraries guide to Navigating the New NIH Mandatory Public Access Policy or the VCU Office of Research page on compliance. Submit a Comment to NIH View Comments Received Federal Register Notice

NIH Public Access Policy: March 7 Webcast on Institutional Compliance

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:36:56 -0500

VCU Libraries will host a webcast on Friday, Mar. 7 from 1-2 pm on the institutional issues involved with compliance with the new NIH Public Access Policy. This webcast will explore the legal aspects of author rights management within the context of the new policy that will be effective April 7, 2008. The policy will have many benefits for research institutions, including better documentation of publications resulting from funded research. However, institutions confront a key set of issues raised by the need to ensure that authors maintain the legal rights required to allow compliance with the new policy. The intended audience for this webcast is vice presidents of research, administrators and staff in funded research and grants offices, campus compliance officers, and others who will be responsible for fulfilling their organizations' compliance obligations as NIH grantees. The webcast is sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries and the National Association of State University and Land-Grant Colleges. For more information, visit the web site at http://www.arl.org/sc/implement/nih/webcast/ VCU Libraries will present the webcast on both campuses. No registration is necessary. MCV Campus: Tompkins-McCaw Library, Rm. 2010 Monroe Park Campus: Cabell Library, Rm. 320 Contact Lynne Turman, 828-0638, luturman@vcu.edu, for special accommodations or additional information.

Berkeley Announces Financial Support of Faculty Open Access Publishing

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:12:52 -0500

From their web site at http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/brii/ the University of California has announced a pilot project co-sponsored by UC Berkeley's Vice Chancellor for Research and the University Librarian. The brief announcement reads as follows... "The Berkeley Research Impact Initiative (BRII) supports faculty members who want to make their journal articles free to all readers immediately upon publication. An 18-month pilot program, BRII will subsidize, in various degrees, fees charged to authors who select open access or paid access publication. The pilot will also yield data that can be used to gauge faculty interest in, as well as the budgetary impacts of, these new modes of scholarly communication on the Berkeley campus." Additionally offered is a new program announcement, a program description, frequently asked questions and instructions for application and reimbursement.

Database of Electronic Scholarship Surpasses 5 Million Downloads

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:48:14 -0500

The Chronicle of Higher Education's Wired Campus e-newsletter reports that the University of California's eScholarship Repository has recently exceeded five million full-text downloads, according to the university. The eScholarship Repository, a service of the California Digital Library, allows scholars in the University of California system to submit their work to a central location where any users may easily access it free of charge. Catherine Mitchell, acting director of the CDL publishing group, says the number shows that both content seekers and creators have embraced the service, allaying concerns that researchers wouldn't contribute to the repository.

NIH Public Access Mandate Made Law

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:47:29 -0500

With the signing of the omnibus appropriations bill, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is directed to make mandatory its policy for funded investigators to submit final versions of their manuscripts to PubMed Central, the National Library of Medicine's digital archive. Previously, researchers were encouraged to make submissions to the publicly accessible database but the new provision will require all NIH grantees to deposit their research papers within 12 months after publication. The legislation comes after many years of lobbying by advocacy groups for such open access language and just as many years of opposition by publishers. The NIH maintains a website with information and tutorials on the Manuscript Submission System and the Public Access Policy at http://www.nihms.nih.gov/ For additional information, see the news release from the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, Dec. 26, 2007

White Paper on Educational Fair Use

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:34:39 -0500

From the press release dated Dec. 12, 2007 ..... The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has released a white paper, "Educational Fair Use Today," by Jonathan Band, JD. Band discusses three recent appellate decisions concerning fair use that should give educators and librarians greater confidence and guidance for asserting this important privilege. In all three decisions discussed in the paper, the courts permitted extensive copying and display in the commercial context because the uses involved repurposing and recontextualization. The reasoning of these opinions could have far-reaching implications in the educational environment. The paper is freely available for download from the ARL Web site at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/educationalfairusetoday.pdf.

OA Article on Dietary Supplements Downloaded Over 16K Times in Less Than One Month

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:03:32 -0500

An open access article on dietary supplements published in BioMed Central's Nutrition Journal has been downloaded more than 16,000 times since it was published on the journal's website on Oct. 24, 2007. Matthew Cockerill, publisher of BioMed Central, comments on the significance of this fact in his blog post. For examples of other BioMed Central articles that have received a wide readership, see the publisher's Most Viewed page.

Intellectual Property Seminar on Oct. 10

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 16:33:18 -0500

VCU Tech Transfer is hosting a seminar on Intellectual Property Strategy, "What is Right for You?," presented by John Calvert, administrator for the Inventor Assistance Program, United States Patent and Trademark Office, on Wednesday, Oct. 10, in Sanger Hall, Auditorium 2-020, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Open to VCU faculty, postdocs, graduate students and staff. For more information, visit the VCU Office of Research.

Center for Intellectual Property Announces Online Workshops

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 20:39:26 -0500

The Center for Intellectual Property at the University of Maryland has announced its 2007-08 schedule of asynchronous online workshops. The first workshop, Copyright and Academic Culture: New Issues and Developments, will be held from Oct. 1-12 and will be moderated by Siva Vaidhyanathan, PhD, Associate Professor of Media Studies and Law, University of Virginia. The deadline for registration is Sept. 28. For a complete list of upcoming workshops along with registration information, visit the Center’s web site.

PRISM Initiative Launched by Publishers to Oppose Policies on Open Access

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 21:40:21 -0500

A coalition of publishers has announced the formation of PRISM, The Partnership for Research Integrity in Science and Medicine, to lobby against perceived threats to science and scholarly publishing. The PRISM website states that PRISM was "established by The Executive Council of the Professional & Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) to educate policy makers and the American people about the risks posed by government intervention in scholarly publishing." The initiative has drawn fire from researchers and other publishers. And at least one academic has resigned in protest from the editorial board of a journal published by PRISM supporters. The Association of Research Libraries has prepared an Issue Brief on the PRISM coalition and open access advocate Peter Suber has reported extensively on the topic in his blog.

Open Access: Quick Stats, Fast Facts

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:10:17 -0500

How much open access is there already? Answer: lots!! The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) lists over 2,800 titles, and is growing at a rate of more than one title per calendar day. http://www.doaj.org An OAIster search encompasses more than 12 million records in over 800 repositories. http://www.oaister.org/ Scientific Commons includes more than 16 million publications from over 6 million authors in over 800 repositories. http://www.scientificcommons.org/ The world's largest open access archive is PubMed Central, which exceeded the one million mark in June 2007. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov Re-posted with permission from Heather Morrison, MLIS The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com Originally posted on Aug. 18, 2007

House Bill Includes Language that Mandates Open Access for NIH Research

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:58:31 -0500

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill that will require free online access to publications of research supported by NIH. The provision is part of the appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, and it mandates that NIH provide public access to research findings within 12 months of publication. Similar language appears in the appropriations bill to be considered by the Senate later this summer. In a press release from the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, advocates characterize this action as a "major advance for scientific communication." However, the move is not without its critics, including the Association of American Publishers who opposed the legislation. A related article on the legislation appears in the July 24 edition of Inside Higher Ed.

SPARC Innovators Recognized

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:39:51 -0500

From the Press Release dated June 5, 2007 ..... SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) has recognized Ted Bergstrom and Carl Bergstrom as the new SPARC Innovators. The father-son team advances the open sharing of scholarly information through original research and the creation of innovative tools that are used widely by the academic community to assess the value of research. Ted and Carl are best known for their collaborations on Ted's journal pricing Web pages and, more recently, on the Eigenfactor.org Web site produced by Carl's research lab. Ted's journal pricing page, which offers data reporting price per article and price per citation for about 5,000 academic journals, has centralized pricing information so it can be explored and compared in ways that were previously impossible. The site has become a vital resource for researchers and librarians alike. Carl's Eigenfactor.org site offers a completely new and innovative approach to assessing the value of journals; it provides researchers, librarians and others a new mechanism to evaluate based on a diverse array of criteria. The SPARC Innovator program recognizes advances in scholarly communication realized by an individual, institution, or group. For further information or a list of previous SPARC Innovators, please see the SPARC Web site at http://www.arl.org/sparc.

Copyright Resources on the Internet

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:12:07 -0500

A selective guide to web resources on the topic of copyright appeared recently in College and Research Libraries News. According to the author, "the resources presented here offer librarians, educators, and other information professionals a wide range of information on copyright from the introductory, to the practical, to the philosophical." The article is available from the journal's website.

Online Tool for Author's Copyright Addendum

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:39:09 -0500

From the Press Release dated May 17, 2007....... Science Commons and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) have announced the release of a new online tool to help authors exercise choice in retaining critical rights in their scholarly articles, including the rights to reuse their scholarly articles and to post them in online repositories. The Scholar's Copyright Addendum Engine is an online tool created by Science Commons to simplify the process of choosing and implementing an addendum to retain scholarly rights. By selecting from among four addenda offered, any author can fill in a form to generate and print a completed amendment that can be attached to a publisher's copyright assignment agreement to retain critical rights to reuse and offer their works online.

Stanford Launches Copyright Renewal Database

Fri, 18 May 2007 19:57:13 -0500

"An online database that enables people to search copyright-renewal records for books published in the United States between 1923 and 1963 has been launched by Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (SULAIR)." Complete press release - http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/april4/copy-040407.html Copyright Renewal Database - http://collections.stanford.edu/determinator/

Petition for Public Access to Publicly Funded Research in the U.S.

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 21:43:20 -0500

The Alliance for Taxpayer Access and several leading American associations are sponsoring an online petition to call for strong support of open access. The petition builds on a similar European initiative and "is written to support public access to research funded by the U.S. government as well as the reintroduction and passage of the Federal Research Public Access Act," according to Heather Joseph, Director of SPARC.

April 13, 2007 - Open Forum on Teaching and Publishing in the 21st Century

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 21:24:55 -0500

As online access to scholarly information continues to grow, traditional publishing methods, the meaning of copyright, and notions of ownership are being challenged. What are the advantages of faculty publishing in Open Access electronic journals? How does peer review impact Open Access publishing? How do these developments affect what students perceive as authentic, reliable scholarly information? Join in the discussion of these and other questions in the final session in the Web Fluency, Authority and Publishing in the 21st Century series sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence and the VCU Libraries. Date: Friday, April 13, 2007 Time: 12 - 1:30 pm Location: University Student Commons, Forum Room To register: http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/training/it/search.asp and select CTE as sponsor

Fair Use in Higher Education - Audio Conference on April 5, 2007

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 11:42:16 -0500

"Fair Use in Higher Education: Applying Copyright Laws in Your College" Thursday, April 5, 2007 1:00 - 2:00 PM ET Cabell Library, Room B-35 The correct application of Fair Use in the college and University setting is often confusing and difficult to determine. In this informative, 60-minute audio conference you will discover: ** Clear instructions for making fair use determinations ** How fair use affects materials in the digital environment ** How to create policies that comply with the law ** Real-life examples of applying fair use in higher education Presenter: Carl Johnson, Director of the University Copyright Licensing Office at Brigham Young University

Higher Ed Officials React to FRPAA Bill

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:01:49 -0500

Officials from higher education institutions in the U.S. are showing their support – and opposition – to the proposed Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA), S.2695. More than 100 university presidents and provosts, including VCU Provost and VP of Academic Affairs Stephen Gottfredson, have gone on record in support of the legislation. FRPAA would require researchers who receive funding from federal agencies to make their research articles available freely online within 6 months of publication in a peer-reviewed journal. However, support is not unanimous among the higher education community and senior officers from at least 10 academic institutions have registered concerns in a letter of their own. The letter expresses the view that mandating free access to publications could have negative consequences for scientific publishers and ultimately undermine the peer review process and the integrity of the scientific record. For more information on FRPAA, check the following sites: The Alliance for Taxpayer Access SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition

Google Book Project Expands

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 08:53:59 -0500

Details of the recent contract between Google and the University of California reveal that as many as 3,000 books per day may be provided for scanning. The story was reported in the Aug. 25 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Create Change - Web Resource Revised

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 14:31:27 -0500

From a press release issued June 22, 2006 by SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and ARL (Association of Research Libraries):

The Create Change Web site, a popular resource on scholarly communication issues ... has been updated to provide faculty with current information, perspectives, and tools that will enable them to play an active role in advancing scholarly information exchange in the networked environment. The new Create Change Web site is based around the idea that the ways faculty share and use academic research results are changing rapidly and irreversibly. By posing the question, "Shouldn't the way we share research be as advanced as the Internet?" the site outlines how faster and wider sharing of journal articles, research data, simulations, syntheses, analyses, and other findings fuels the advance of knowledge. It also offers practical ways faculty can look out for their own interests as researchers. The Create Change Web site includes sections on digital scholarship and new modes of communication; examples of change in diverse fields; and ways to stay informed on new developments. It offers tailored guidance for researchers who play many roles in their professional lives -- as researcher, author, reviewer, editor, editorial board member, society member, faculty member, or teacher. The site features selected news items; an ongoing series of interviews with scholars from different disciplines; and scores of links to other Web sites and resources.

Data Deluge

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 15:47:59 -0500

One of the changes brought about by computer technology is the (sometimes) overwhelming generation of scientific data. An article in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education talks about some of the issues and management possibilities. You can participate in an online discussion of this topic on Thursday, June 22 at 2 p.m. on the Chronicle's Colloquy site. A transcript will be made available at the site following the discussion.

Open Peer Review Experiment at Nature

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:19:04 -0500

The prestigious science journal Nature has announced a 3-month trial for a new form of peer review. Authors will have the choice of posting their article submissions on a preprint server for open comments by others in the field. The trial will not affect the traditional closed review process and it will not influence the likelihood of publication. At the same time, the journal has set up a forum for readers to discuss and debate issues on the topic of peer review.

Federal Research Public Access Act Introduced

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 16:16:36 -0500

Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) introduced legislation in early May that would require many federal agencies to ensure that articles resulting from funded research are made freely available online within 6 months of publication. The Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) would apply to agencies with extramural research budgets of more than $100 million and would include the National Science Foundation and the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, and Transportation, among others. You can read the full text of the Act at Senator Cornyn’s web site. For more information and links, see the special web page on FRPAA created by The Alliance for Taxpayer Access. The Association of American Publishers is one of the publishing groups who has voiced opposition to the Act.

Upcoming Conference: Copyright at a Crossroads

Thu, 04 May 2006 16:42:36 -0500

The Sixth Annual Symposium on Intellectual Property will be held June 14-16, 2006 in Adelphi, MD. The theme of the conference this year is

Copyright at a Crossroads: The Impact of Mass Digitization on Copyright and Higher Education

For more information on the conference and registration details, see http://www.umuc.edu/cip/symposium/index.html Early registration deadline is May 19.

Is Peer Review Broken?

Fri, 10 Feb 2006 14:44:48 -0500

"Submissions are up, reviewers are overtaxed, and authors are lodging complaint after complaint about the process at top-tier journals. What's wrong with peer review?" Read the complete article by Alison McCook published in February's issue of The Scientist.

New Copyright Booklet

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 14:26:39 -0500

A new booklet on copyright issues for colleges and universities is now available at no charge -- Campus Copyright Rights and Responsibilities: A Basic Guide to Policy Considerations (PDF format).

Updated Version of Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography Available

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 14:06:44 -0500

Video and Materials from Intellectual Property Symposium Available

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 09:42:27 -0500

Streamed video and other materials are now online from the recent UCLA Symposium on "Managing Intellectual Property: What Faculty Need to Know to Publish and Teach in the Digital Age."

Publishers Propose an Alternative to the NIH Submission System

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 09:28:34 -0500

The group of publishers that have signed on to the "DC Principles" have presented a proposal to NIH as an alternative to the agency's manuscript submission system.

Google Print Gets a New Name

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 11:19:31 -0500

Google has changed the name of Google Print to Google Book Search

Open Access: Impact on One Association

Fri, 11 Nov 2005 10:58:47 -0500

An editorial by T. Scott Plutchak describes his investigation into the impact of having the Medical Library Association's journal available on PubMed Central.

OA Publisher to Launch Clinical Trials Journal

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:06:09 -0500

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) has announced plans for its sixth, peer-reviewed, open access journal -- PLoS Clinical Trials.

Research Report on Open Access Publishing

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 08:22:41 -0500

A report on alternative business models for scholarly publishing has been released by the ALPSP.

Springer hires open access pioneer

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 08:59:47 -0500

Jan Veltrop, publishing director of BioMed Central is joining Springer as the new director of open access.