tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2009:/blog/scholarcomm//29 2009-10-20T16:29:22Z Movable Type 4.261 tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2009:/blog/scholarcomm//29.3186 2009-10-20T16:09:17Z 2009-10-20T16:29:22Z

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:...

Lynne Turman 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]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2009:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2903 2009-09-30T12:11:29Z 2009-09-30T12:26:53Z

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...

Dan Ream 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. ]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2009:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2661 2009-04-10T18:41:58Z 2009-04-10T19:04:11Z

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...

Lynne Turman 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. ]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2009:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2610 2009-03-13T17:02:27Z 2009-03-13T17:08:40Z

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....

Lynne Turman Alliance for Taxpayer Access.]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2008:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2444 2008-12-19T20:45:14Z 2008-12-19T20:47:43Z

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....

Lynne Turman 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.]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2008:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2417 2008-12-09T13:16:27Z 2008-12-09T13:30:31Z

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...

Lynne Turman 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.]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2008:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2398 2008-11-26T16:28:15Z 2008-11-26T16:33:45Z

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...

Lynne Turman 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 ]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2008:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2351 2008-11-12T21:24:56Z 2008-11-12T21:29:09Z

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...

Sam Byrd 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. ]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2008:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2336 2008-11-06T20:45:01Z 2008-11-06T20:47:04Z

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...

Sam Byrd 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.]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2008:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2251 2008-10-15T00:55:48Z 2008-10-15T00:59:10Z

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...

Sam Byrd http://www.vimeo.com/oaday08. They are also available as a single file for viewing at events.]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2008:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2250 2008-10-15T00:42:44Z 2008-10-15T00:50:18Z

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...

Sam Byrd 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. ]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2008:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2232 2008-10-08T19:49:27Z 2008-10-08T20:16:34Z

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....

Lynne Turman 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. ]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2008:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2231 2008-10-08T19:36:25Z 2008-10-08T19:45:10Z

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...

Lynne Turman 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. ]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2008:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2230 2008-10-08T19:27:56Z 2008-10-08T19:36:13Z

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...

Lynne Turman 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.]]> tag:www.library.vcu.edu,2008:/blog/scholarcomm//29.2076 2008-07-19T01:59:22Z 2008-07-21T21:12:12Z

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...

Lynne Turman 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.]]>