Organizations & Consortia

Administration Takes Faster Action on Access to Federally Funded Research

By Meredith Schwartz on February 22, 2013 Leave a Comment

In a policy memorandum released today, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director John Holdren directed Federal agencies with more than $100 million in research and development spending to develop plans to make the published results of federally funded research freely available to the public within one year of publication, and requiring researchers to better account for and manage the digital data resulting from federally funded scientific research.

In one swoop, Holdren may have achieved many of the aims of the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), the recently introduced legislation which many feared is likely to die in committee as its predecessor FRPAA repeatedly did.

Filed Under: Open Access, Organizations & Consortia Tagged With: OSTP

FASTR Aims to Speed Open Access to Government-Funded Research

By Meredith Schwartz on February 21, 2013 1 Comment

The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR) was introduced on February 14 in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. If passed, FASTR would require government agencies with annual extramural research expenditures of more than $100 million make electronic manuscripts of peer-reviewed journal articles based on their research freely available on the Internet within six months of publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Filed Under: Academic Libraries, Legislation, Open Access, Organizations & Consortia Tagged With: FASTR, FRPAA

Obituary: Brooke E. Sheldon

By Blanche Woolls on February 19, 2013 1 Comment

Brooke E. Sheldon, dean and library educator, passed away on February 11 after a long and courageous battle with uterine cancer.

Filed Under: Library Education, Organizations & Consortia, People

Six Questions for Joseph Kraus and a Board of Creative Librarians

By Meredith Schwartz on February 14, 2013 Leave a Comment

The Journal of Creative Library Practice (JCLP) is a new open access project edited by Joseph R. Kraus of the University of Denver, Amy Buckland of McGill University, Barbara Fister of Gustavus Adolphus College, Colleen Harris of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and Marie Kennedy of Loyola Marymount University. LJ caught up with Kraus to find out what inspired the project and what the library community can expect to read in its (virtual) pages.

Filed Under: Academic Libraries, Library Education, Open Access, Organizations & Consortia

Urban Librarians Unite Plants Mini Libraries, Plans Conference

By Meredith Schwartz on February 13, 2013 Leave a Comment

ULU mini library at Brooklyn Public Library's closed Red Hook branch

Urban Librarians Unite (ULU) collected more than 20,000 children’s books to help replace library collections damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The library advocacy and support group, founded by 2012 LJ Mover & Shaker Christian Zabriskie, also placed Mini Libraries in front of libraries that were closed by storm damage. Locations include Queens Library branches in [...]

Filed Under: Advocacy, Organizations & Consortia, Shows & Events Tagged With: Brooklyn Public Library, Hurricane Sandy, mini libraries, nypl, Queens Library, Urban Librarians Unite

Library Books: Ask Your Doctor for Details

By Meredith Schwartz on February 12, 2013 Leave a Comment

In the U.K., patients who consult their doctor about mental health issues may be prescribed a book from the library instead of, or in addition to, medication or counseling. The plan, called Books on Prescription, will start in May. Doctor’s prescriptions will give patients immediate membership at the local library, and include recommended titles from a list of 30 compiled by nonprofit The Reading Agency. They include both medical nonfiction and feel-good fiction, according to The Independent.

Filed Under: Library Services, Marketing, Organizations & Consortia Tagged With: health, UK

Press Sues Librarian Over Negative Evaluation

By Meredith Schwartz on February 11, 2013 1 Comment

In 2010, Dale Askey was a tenured associate professor at Kansas State University (K-State) when he made a blog post about Edwin Mellen Press. Since removed from the blog, the post called Mellen a “dubious publisher,” saying that the press occasionally publishes a worthy title and is not technically a vanity publisher, but that “much of what they publish is simply second-class scholarship.” Askey removed the post in March 2012. Three months later, Edwin Mellen Press filed two libel lawsuits in Ontario’s Superior Court.

Filed Under: Academic Libraries, Litigation, Organizations & Consortia, People Tagged With: academic freedom, Dale Askey, Edwin Mellen Press, EMP, K-State, libel, McMaster University

ALA Midwinter Rundown: Ebooks, Dues, and Library/Vendor Relations

By Meredith Schwartz on February 1, 2013 Leave a Comment

Despite conventional wisdom that conferences held on the coasts draw smaller crowds and complaints from some vendors that show floor traffic was down, Keith Michael Fiels, executive director of the American Library Association (ALA), reported that this year’s Midwinter attendance totaled 10,731. That’s up slightly from 2012’s 9,929 and 2011’s 10,110, though below 2010’s high of 11,095.

Filed Under: ALA, ALA Conferences and Meetings Tagged With: ALAMW13

Interrogating the American Library Association’s “Core Values” Statement | Peer to Peer Review

By Rick Anderson on January 31, 2013 12 Comments

Over the past couple of decades, we in libraries have been asking a lot of soul-searching questions about how we can best carry out our functions in a radically changed (and still-changing) information environment. This self-examination has led to many interesting conclusions and some pretty dramatic shifts in the ways libraries do business—almost always in the context of reaffirmations of the library’s core mission and values. Less frequently have we asked ourselves whether the core principles that underlie traditional library service remain relevant and essential in and of themselves.

Filed Under: Academic Libraries, ALA, Future of Libraries, Peer to Peer Review

UK Debuts Copyright Center

By Meredith Schwartz on January 31, 2013 Leave a Comment

A new center that will examine the changing nature of copyright and the need for new business models in the digital age launched January 31 at the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

Filed Under: Academic Libraries, Copyright and Fair Use, Organizations & Consortia