Pesky Publishers

They're at it again, those pesky publishers, specifically those belonging to the Association of American Publishers (AAP). They're trying to preserve their profits at the expense of the public who has already paid for the government-funded research they're publishing. They're currently behind a legislative effort to overturn the NIH Public Access Policy, the federal requirement that authors of government-funded research deposit their manuscripts in PubMed Central where they will be made public after a 12-month embargo period.

Shouldn't government-funded research be freely accessible by the public in open-access journals, rather than sequestered in expensive subscription-based journals? Of course...a no-brainer. And by the way, I think the 12-month embargo period is way too long. But this is what publishers are supposed to do. They're not in business for their health. They're in business to stay in business, and that means making money. And this is what librarians, academics, researchers and other clear-thinking people are supposed to do: protest and point out the errors in the AAP's collective thinking.

I'm letting my Representative know what I think about this proposed legislation, HR 3699, the Research Works Act. How about you other clear-thinking people?

Yay, LibGuides!

Take a look at our Consumer Health Guide (click the blue Consumer Health link in the widget below), the library's latest masterpiece. It was created by librarian Liza Ly with the assistance of the LibGuide software. Our relatively inexpensive subscription to LibGuides enables us to create these fantastic-looking sites, all without benefit of html or xhtml knowledge or whatever the heck it takes to build websites,and about which I know nothing.

We think the applications are endless, and not just for libraries. Plus, LibGuides has a mobile site builder which enables you to create a mobile-enhanced site, the sine qua non of web presence these days. Let me know if you want more details about this product.

Google Vs. Librarian

This is the message that greets you (imprinted on the carpet) when you step in the door at the Gungahlin Public Library in Canberra, Australia. Ironically, I immediately Googled Neil Gaiman to see who he was and what his credentials were for making such a strong statement about the value of librarians.

Turns out he's one of the top ten living post-modern writers, according to the Dictionary of Literary Biography. So he should know what he's talking about, I would say.

That being said, I would also say there's no contest here: no adversarial relationship between Google and librarians. Google is the librarian's best friend, and I frankly can't remember what we librarians did in the days before Google. I do remember, though, that it took us a lot longer to do it than it does now.

Yea for National Academies Press

The National Academies Press, the organization that publishes reports for the National Academies of Sciences, the Instutute of Medicine, and the National Research Council, announced last week that it is making all of its published reports freely downloadable to all. They used to provide free content in underdeveloped countries, but the policy change now makes their content free to everyone everywhere. This includes their current offerings plus all future reports published by the Press.

According to NAP's Executive Director, Barbara Kline Pope, "Our business model has evolved so that it is now financially viable to put this content out to the entire world for free. This is a wonderful opportunity to make a positive impact by more effectively sharing our knowledge and analyses." The free PDFs are available exclusively from the NAP’s website, http://www.nap.edu/

Happy National Library Week

That's right, all week this week, you'll find us librarians celebrating in the stacks. And those of us who don't have stacks will be feeling equally festive in front of our computer screens.

A recent blog post by CNN Librarian Kerith McFadden pointed out that librarians are not only heroic (example: Alia Muhammad Baker, the chief librarian of Basra, Iraq, who removed 30,000 books from the city's main library before it was destroyed during the 2003 invasion of Iraq), but also powerful. According to a character in Spider Robinson's "The Callahan Touch", one of "Librarians are the secret masters of the universe. They control information. Never piss one off."

Michael Moore adds this more ominous note, "I really didn't realize the librarians were, you know, such a dangerous group. ... You think they're just sitting at the desk, all quiet and everything. They're like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn't mess with them"

So we'll carry on here with the celebrating. LOUD and PROUD as my friend and colleague Lauren Maggio, Clinical Librarian at Stanford's Lane Medical Library, suggested on the back of the above postcard she sent me. Thanks, Lauren. If you hadn't sent that card, the entire week might have gone by without celebration.

Visit Open Access Week

AND don't forget to visit our information table on Thursday, October 21st, 1-2 p.m., Bldg. 3, room 505. If the weather's nice, we may opt for the covered entrance in front of Carr Auditorium. We'll have cookies, stickers, pens, t-shirt giveaways, and, oh yes, information on why you should consider publishing in Open Access journals or, at the very least, depositing your postprints in OA archives such as the UC eScholarship repository

Podcast

Powered by Podbean.com
I just learned how to create podcasts using a few free online resources: Audacity, Freemusic, and Podbean.