Here we go again. Another academic librarian received a letter threatening legal action over criticizing a publisher’s practices in a personal blog. But it’s not Edwin Mellen Press that’s the plaintiff this time; Jeffrey Beall, University of of Colorado, Denver librarian and author of the Scholarly Open Access blog, received the letter from OMICS Publishing Group, an OA publisher based in India (with an office in Los Angeles).
About Meredith Schwartz
Meredith Schwartz (mschwartz@mediasourceinc.com) is News Editor of Library Journal.
What is Alleged Defamation Worth? $1 Billion, on a Librarian’s Salary
By on May 16, 2013 Leave a Comment
Settlement Expands UC Berkeley Library Service to Disabled
By on May 15, 2013 Leave a Comment
Rarely are defendants in a dispute settled out of court enthusiastic about the remedies they’re required to supply. But Elizabeth Dupuis, UC Berkeley Associate University Librarian and Director, Doe/Moffitt Libraries, told LJ that the library is excited by the prospect of unprecedented access. But then, this isn’t exactly your standard adversarial legal case. Print-disabled U.C. Berkeley students David Jaulus, Brandon King, and Tabitha Mancini, represented by Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), had entered into structured negotiations—a collaborative problem-solving alternative to litigation—with the university over their inability to access materials.
Cengage May Declare Bankruptcy
By on May 14, 2013 6 Comments
Major academic content, software, and services company Cengage Learning is considering filing for bankruptcy relief, the company’s CEO, Michael Hansen, said on a call reporting third quarter financial results.
Massive Open Opportunity: Supporting MOOCs in Public and Academic Libraries
By on May 10, 2013 1 Comment
If you’re an academic librarian, you’re probably already awash, at least peripherally, in news about MOOCs—massive open online courses have been touted as the next big thing in higher ed since they burst on the scene about a year ago. If you’re a public librarian, on the other hand, you may not even have heard of them. Yet MOOCs are bringing unprecedented challenges and opportunities to both kinds of libraries already, and they’re only going to grow.
California Open Access Bill Clears Committee
By on May 9, 2013 Leave a Comment
Coursera, Publisher Pilot Offers Licensed Content to MOOC Students
By on May 9, 2013 Leave a Comment
aBeginning May 8, instructors providing Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) via Coursera will have the option to supplement their video lectures with content from major academic publishers Cengage Learning, Macmillan Higher Education, Oxford University Press, SAGE Publications,and Wiley, at no cost to their students. And that’s just the beginning: “Coursera is also actively discussing pilot agreements and related alliances with Springer and additional publishers,” the company said in a statement. This could be a sea change for both MOOCs and publishers’ business models.
Pew: Parents Love the Library
By on May 1, 2013 Leave a Comment
Virtually all parents surveyed by the Pew Internet & American Life Project for its Parents, Children, Libraries, and Reading study—94 percent—say libraries are important for their children; nearly 80 percent say they’re very important.
One First-Time World Book Night Giver’s Experience | LJ Insider
By on April 24, 2013 1 Comment
Last night I celebrated World Book Night (WBN) by handing out 20 copies of one of my favorite books, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens, adjacent to the subway entrance at New York City’s Union Square. Objectively speaking it didn’t take me long at all to give out my copies—my box was emptied in time for me to attend the World Book Night kickoff party across the park at Barnes & Noble, if I hadn’t needed to get home to dinner. But subjectively speaking, it seemed to take much longer, and presented a capsule case study in reasons for, and methods of, rejection.
Philly Free Library to Merge with Rare Book Specialist Rosenbach
By on April 19, 2013 1 Comment
The Free Library of Philadelphia plans to merge with The Rosenbach Museum & Library, which houses a rare book, fine art, and archival materials collection built around the personal library of noted dealers Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach and his brother Philip. The institutions signed a letter of intent following board approval by each of the organizations on April 16, nearly a year after the Rosenbach first approached the Free Library with the idea.
Five Great Things Libraries Are Doing With Old Books | LJ Insider
By on April 12, 2013 1 Comment
Library book sales (and their descendants, such as Better World Books) are a great institution, but they’re not the only thing libraries can do—or help their patrons do—with obsolete titles besides the dumpster. Here are five creative reuses from real libraries.
