OA Librarian

Campus Outreach to Scholarly Society Leaders, Editors, and Members: new ARL resource

2009-07-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

ARL SPEC Kit on Authors' Addenda

2009-07-03T07:08:00.000-07:00

The Association of Research Libraries has just published a SPEC Kit on Author's Addenda. The table of contents and Executive Summary are available online. Highlight: author's addenda are in use by authors of at least 35 ARL institutions, 50% of the institutions responding to the survey.

Hat tip to the Open Access Tracking Project.

July 2009 SPARC Open Access Newsletter

2009-07-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

Peter Suber just released the July 2009 SPARC Open Access Newsletter. Peter's feature article this month is on Open Access for Digitization Projects, a thorough piece on the philosophical elements underlying OA and digitization, such as balancing public access / public domain and private rights. For example, when public funds are used to digitize material under private copyright, the public funder has every right to expect concessions to the public rights that come with public funding; some projects may need to allow private parties embargoed rights to move forward, however the embargo period should be much less than what is allowed under copyright, and when projects are competing for funds, the public funder has every right to prioritize projects that provide the best public benefits, such as little or no embargo. Highly recommended reading for anyone involved in digitization.

PKP 2009 Conference: Full Program now available

2009-06-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

The full program for the 2009 PKP Conference is now available for download here.

U.S. Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) re-introduced

2009-06-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

In the U.S., Senators Cornyn and Lieberman have teamed up to re-introduce the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA). This is huge; FRPAA would require all U.S. federal funding agencies with significant research spending portfolios to develop public access acts, similar to NIH.

Stay tuned to Open Access News for a summary and comments as well as updates like this one.

E-LIS Team wins OAI6 Poster Prize!

2009-06-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

The E-LIS team won the Poster Prize at OAI6! Very impressive, as there were many excellent poster sessions on innovative open access projects - details can be found here. Congratulations to Imma Subirats, Antonella de Robbio, Fernanda Peset and Zeno Tajoli (and of course all of the E-LIS team, editors and contributors alike).

[Disclosure: I am part of the E-LIS team].

June 2009 SPARC Open Access Newsletter

2009-06-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

Peter Suber just released the June 2009 SPARC Open Access Newsletter. This month's feature is an in-depth analysis of the defeat of the University of Maryland proposed OA mandate.

PKP Conference 2009 - Early Bird Registration Ends June 8

2009-05-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

PKP Conference 2009 - Early Bird Registration Ends June 8

Planning to attend the Second International PKP Conference in Vancouver from July 8 - 10, 2009? If so, you should register soon, as the Early Bird rates will be ending June 8!

If not, you might want to take a closer look at our outstanding program with over 50 sessions by a truly international caste of speakers from 6 continents, including experienced library and open access publishers, and leaders in academic publishing technologies and initiatives.

Our prestigious international speakers include:

- John Willinsky, PKP Director and Professor at both the Stanford University School of Education and the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia;
- Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Internationally renowned author and Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature as well as the Director of the International Center for Writing and Translation at the University of California, Irvine;
- Ana Maria Cetto, Investigator, Physics Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and Technical Cooperation Leader and Subdirector of the International Atomic Energy Agency;
- Gregg Gordon, Social Science Research Network President and CEO;
- and many more:
http://pkp.sfu.ca/ocs/pkp/index.php/pkp2009/pkp2009/schedConf/presentations

This year's conference combines a stimulating mixture of both the theoretical and practical, with several pre-conference and post-conference workshops on Open Journal Systems, Lemon8-XML, Creating Open Access Journals, Networkshops for Editors, Librarians, and Software Developers, and Walking the Talking with the CLA Open Access Interest Group:
http://pkp.sfu.ca/ocs/pkp/index.php/pkp2009/pkp2009/schedConf/workshops

Additional conference highlights include:

- An early look at the latest PKP software application, the Open Monograph Press;
- Opportunities for face to face meetings with the PKP Team;
- A software "hackfest" for developers to get together, experiment, and innovate;
- A special focus on graduate students and scholarly publishing;
- And, of course, the beauty of Vancouver in the summer!

http://pkp.sfu.ca/ocs/pkp/index.php/pkp2009/pkp2009/schedConf/travel

We very much hope to see you in July!

Heather G. Morrison
Planning Committee, 2nd International PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
Project Coordinator
BC Electronic Library Network
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phone: 778-782-7001
Fax: 778.782.3023
Email: heatherm@eln.bc.ca
Web: http://www.eln.bc.ca

Don't miss! the
2nd International PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
Vancouver, July 8-10, 2009
http://pkp.sfu.ca/ocs/pkp/index.php/pkp2009/pkp2009

Library faculties now in the lead in departmental OA mandates!

2009-05-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

The library faculty of Gustavus Adolphus College have adopted an open access mandate, the 4th such mandate. According to Peter Suber, library faculty are now in the lead with the most open access departmental policies!

Why not teach students to use OA resources?

2009-05-11T12:31:00.001-07:00

Dorothea Salo asks: why bother teaching students to use toll access databases when they won't have access to them after they graduate?

My perspective: information literacy is a key skill for the knowledge age, and the need for librarians to develop and provide instruction will only grow. But why not focus primarily on open access resources, since this is what they will have access to for sure after graduation?

Many librarians, for that matter, are looking for information on how to search for open access information. The top question I've been getting at recent presentations, where I tend to cover just how much OA there is - more than 4,000 journals in DOAJ, over 2.6 million items available in fulltext from PubMed alone, >26 million publications available through Scientific Commons is: so how do I find this stuff? Hint: great topic for a future conference presentation proposal...

Hat tip to Open Access News.

ALA, ACRL, and ARL ask judge to assert vigorous oversight of proposed Google Book Search settlement

2009-05-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

Excerpt:

The associations asserted that although the settlement has the potential to provide public access to millions of books, many of the features of the settlement, including the absence of competition for the new services, could compromise fundamental library values including equity of access to information, patron privacy and intellectual freedom. The court can mitigate these possible negative effects by regulating the conduct of Google and the Book Rights Registry the settlement establishes.

May 2009 SPARC Open Access Newsletter

2009-05-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

Peter Suber has just released the May 2009 SPARC Open Access Newsletter, highlighting the Open Access Tracking Project at Connotea. OA Librarians everywhere, please join us in the ever-growing task of tracking OA developments, through the OA Tracking Project and the Open Access Directory.

We'll be needed, as on July 1 Peter Suber will be moving on to a full-time commitment to open access at Harvard, as a Berkman fellow. Peter will continue to write the SPARC Open Access Newsletter and contribute from time to time to Open Access News. Congratulations and best wishes to Peter, and to Harvard.

ACRL new website (Scholarly Communications section)

2009-04-14T09:34:00.001-07:00

ACRL has just launched a completely revamped website. The Scholarly Communications section looks well-organized and useful!

Happy one-year anniversary to NIH Public Access (mandatory) policy

2009-04-07T20:17:00.001-07:00

The NIH Public Access policy's being strengthened to a mandate is now one year ago - and the results are a tripling of author deposits to PubMedCentral, as reported by Meredith Wadman in today's Nature News. Great chart for anyone tracking the dramatic growth of open access!

E-LIS now has over 9,000 documents

2009-04-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

Another milestone to report: The Directory of Open Access Journals went over the 4,000 journal mark a day or so ago and now there is a note on the E-LIS home page that E-LIS now contains over 9,000 documents. It would have gone over this mark sometime in the last 12 hours or thereabouts; as of last night, the number was 8895. Congratulations to E-LIS (and DOAJ).

This is also the 500th post on OA Librarian.

Clear up OA MIsunderstandings with April SPARC Open Access Newsletter

2009-04-02T11:54:00.001-07:00

Peter Suber has just released the April 2009 SPARC Open Access Newsletter, featuring a thorough treatment of still all-too-common OA misunderstandings.

Dramatic Growth of Open Access: March 31, 2009

2009-03-31T23:09:00.000-07:00

** with apologies for cross-posting **

I just posted the Dramatic Growth of Open Access for March 31, 2009

Synopsis:

This quarter, the growth of open access has been dramatic in open access journals, open access archives, and, perhaps most noteworthy, open access policies. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is on the verge of an important milestone - 4,000 fully open access, peer-reviewed journals, double the number of the largest commercial publisher. DOAJ is growing at the rate of 2 titles per day. OpenDOAR lists 1,373 repositories, an increase of about 70 this quarter. Scientific Commons now encompasses 26 million items, an increase of 2 million. 663 journals are now voluntarily participating in PubMedCentral, an increase of 119 (22%) this quarter. 447 journals provide immediate free access through PubMedCentral, an increase of 29 (7%) this quarter. There are 11 more open access policies, for a total of 72 policies worldwide, and 4 more proposed policies, for a total of 14 proposed policies. One decrease is noted - not in open access per se, but rather subscription journals providing free back issues: Highwire Press seems to have 212,000 fewer free articles, a decrease of 10%. This is a bit puzzling, as Highwire has added 1 more completely free site, and there is an increase of 11 sites providing free back access. Any background on what is happening here would be most appreciated.

For details and links, go to:
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2009/03/dramatic-growth-of-open-access-march-31.html

YouTube.EDU

2009-03-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

New YouTube Channel, just for higher ed videos! Thanks, You Tube - Chronicle of Higher Education - and Open Access News.

Richard Poynder Interviews Helene Bosc!

2009-03-27T18:42:00.000-07:00

Richard Poynder has just published an interview with early open access pioneer (and librarian) Hélène Bosc.

U.S. OA Librarians: ATA Legislative Action: Oppose Conyers Bill

2009-03-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

The Alliance for Taxpayer Access has created a Legislative Action Centre that makes it easy to oppose the Conyers bill with just a few clicks!

Hat tip to Peter Suber on Open Access News.

2nd International PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference: Preliminary Program Available

2009-03-20T13:02:00.001-07:00

PKP Conference Program Available

The Public Knowlege Project is pleased to announce the preliminary program for the Second International PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference, to be held in Vancouver from July 8 - 10, 2009:
http://pkp.sfu.ca/ocs/pkp/index.php/pkp2009/

Highlights include:

- An opening keynote address by PKP founder and principal investigator, Dr. John Willinsky

- Pre-conference Workshops on various PKP software applications and communities:
http://pkp.sfu.ca/ocs/pkp/index.php/pkp2009/pkp2009/schedConf/workshops

- A post-conference Workshop on creating open access journals led by Dr. David Solomon and Dr. Caroline Sutton:
http://pkp.sfu.ca/ocs/pkp/index.php/pkp2009/pkp2009/schedConf/workshops#coaj

- A day-long series of sessions from the Open Humanities Press on monograph publishing:
http://pkp.sfu.ca/ocs/pkp/index.php/pkp2009/pkp2009/paper/view/184

- A wide range of sessions for editors, libraries, and developers, from speakers from around the world:
http://pkp.sfu.ca/ocs/pkp/index.php/pkp2009/pkp2009/schedConf/presentations

Spaces are limited for the workshops and the conference, so please register early to avoid missing out on what promises to be a fascinating conference:
http://pkp.sfu.ca/ocs/pkp/index.php/pkp2009/pkp2009/schedConf/registration

I look forward to seeing you in Vancouver!

Heather G. Morrison
PKP Conference Planning Committee /
Project Coordinator
BC Electronic Library Network
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phone: 778-782-7001
Fax: 778.782.3023
Email: heatherm@eln.bc.ca
Web: http://www.eln.bc.ca

April Issue of Learned Publishing online, with some open access

2009-03-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

The April issue of Learned Publishing is now online. Kudos to Editor-in-Chief Sally Morris and the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) for going as far with open access as they think they can - some content is provided free by ALPSP, other content through author choice. All content is freely available after one year. Learned Publishing was the early leader in developing an author-friendly license to publish that is still a good model.

Make all academic research databases free for everyone

2009-03-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

A call for open access from outside of academe! Article by Chris Bowers, Open Left.

Thanks to Gilbert Bede.

OA Librarian Movers & Shakers - Library Journal 2009

2009-03-16T12:59:00.001-07:00

Library Journal's latest Movers and Shakers includes OA Librarian's own Dean Giustini and noted OA librarian Dorothea Salo. Congrats, Dean & Dorothea!

Hat tip to Peter Suber on Open Access News.

Open Access Week: October 12 - 23, 2009

2009-03-06T13:03:00.000-08:00

Mark your calendars and start your planning for Open Access Week 2009!