March 2004 - LIS-Forum - ncsi.iisc.ernet.in

GlobalSpec, a specialized online resource for engineering
by Mailing List Manager 30 Mar '04

30 Mar '04

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 10:25:35 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> March 29, 2004 - GlobalSpec, a specialized online resource for engineering, has launched a new interface, added more powerful search functionality, and has introduced a specialized search engine it is calling "The Engineering Web," which it says provides "engineering context and relevancy" and access to Hidden Web resources. The newly introduced engine searches more than 100,000 engineering and technical Web sites and provides searching of specialized content the company says is not available on any other search engine-application notes, patents, material properties, and standards. In announcing the enhancements, Jeffrey M. Killeen, GlobalSpec chairman and CEO said: "We have built the specialized search engine and content repository for engineers and technical buyers-everything of relevance, expertly classified and indexed in one place. In fact, we believe we have built the definitive search platform for the engineering community." John Schneiter, president and co-founder of GlobalSpec, said: "Extensive research of our online community, as well as our own engineering experiences, told us that engineers and technical professionals are frustrated with general search engines and having to wade through pages of irrelevant results. We have built what they asked us for-and what we frankly wished we had ourselves as practicing engineering professionals-The Engineering Search Engine." The company's proprietary SpecSearch allows users to search by specification more than 60 million parts in 1,000,000 product families from more than 10,000 supplier catalogs. GlobalSpec says it now has more than 1,000,000 registered users for SpecSearch (registration is free). Suppliers of the catalogs pay annual fees to GlobalSpec so that searchers can discover these products for free. New with this launch is the ability to compare products in suppliers' catalogs in tabular form and even compare specific parts across suppliers. SpecSearch is proprietary technology that has been developed by GlobalSpec over the last 8 years. Schneiter said that the company built its own extensive taxonomy as well, and continues to expand it organically as needed. The company also developed its own engine to search "The Engineering Web," though the results page looks and feels very similar to a results page at Google. However, a feature that offers suggestions to "Refine your Results" presents terms and topics that are generated on the fly from search results. As a feature of The Engineering Web engine, users have the option of searching specifically for information in companies' notes about their applications. An application note is a document that describes the use of a product, and may contain quite detailed information and drawings. It may list detailed design specifications, as well as data describing how the product functions in different situations and with different variables. GlobalSpec uses an automatic text classification system to identify candidate application notes from all of the sites identified for inclusion in The Engineering Web. To provide the other specialized content-patents, material properties, and standards-from the Hidden Web, GlobalSpec has partnered with other content companies. Abstracts of patents are available for free online and complete documents are available for purchase from its partner, MicroPatent. Patent information from the following sources are included: - USPTO (U.S. Patent & Trademark Office): Granted patents from 1982 - present; Applications from 2001 - present - EP (European Patent Office): 1982 - present - WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization): 1982 - present Access to standards is available through a partnership with IHS (Information Handling Services), which provides "the world's largest file" of active and historical standards, specifications, drawings, handbooks, and related technical documents. Users can search and see abstracts for free. Complete copies of technical standards are available for purchase, as hardcopy or as electronic downloads. IHS specializes in enterprise subscription sales, so this represents an additional distribution network for its products. Corporate customers of MicroPatent and IHS run the risk of their engineers paying piecemeal to obtain patents or standards via GlobalSpec that the company already has access to through enterprise subscriptions. GlobalSpec admitted this could be an issue, with companies paying twice for the same information when employees were unaware of available resources. But, thinking on the spot, Killeen said it was conceivable they could work with their partners to get the ISP addresses of customers and then send a notice if this was about to occur. GlobalSpec users can also search and get free abstracts of material property information for industrial materials, specifying attributes such as flexural modulus, flexural strength, hardness, density, deflection temperature, electrical resistivity, conductivity, heat capacity, etc. for any given material. The full text can be accessed for free by clicking a link over to the MatWeb site (http://www.matweb.com). MatWeb is a free searchable database designed by engineers. (The advanced features and tools on its site are available to those who register and to Premium users, who have full access for $49.95.). Killeen said GlobalSpec plans to add Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) to the site sometime in the second quarter of 2004. The company is also in active discussions with key engineering publishers to add full-text journal content. Many technical articles, tutorials, and white papers are now included in the section of the site called "Tools & Useful Links," which also offers research and reference links, calculators, and links to other engineering and technical sites. GlobalSpec, founded in 1996, is a privately-held company with about 130 employees based in Troy, New York (near Albany). While GlobalSpec's management feels that its search platform really has no competition, engineering professionals will continue to use other complementary resources as well. Engineering Village 2 provides comprehensive database searching and linking to full text, for example. Other sites, such as Engineering.com (which offers software, services, news, directories, etc.) will continue to fill a niche as well. Scirus, the science-only search engine includes engineering as a subject. But, given the accelerating rate of new user registrations on GlobalSpec, the growth in numbers of searchable parts, and the number of online visitors to the site, the company is obviously filling a need in the engineering community and has found a business model that is working.

1 0

FW: Benefits of Open Access Archiving
by Mailing List Manager 30 Mar '04

30 Mar '04

Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 16:03:49 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> Friends: In response to messages to the Health Information Forum discussion list [ <mailto:hif-net@who.int> hif-net(a)who.int] on Open Access benefits, we would like to add the following comments: The two parallel Budapest Open Access Initiatives paths (Open Access Journals/Publishing and Open Access Archiving) both aim to achieve the same objective - the freeing of the research literature from access tolls - but use very different mechanisms to achieve it. Perhaps the two routes should be dissociated in our discussions, since discussing both routes under the common term 'open access' can create confusion. The messages from Ayo Onatola and others are focussing on Open Access journals, but we would like to draw attention again to the benefits of Open Access Archiving for developing countries. Open Access Archiving is the archiving of already published and refereed research papers in interoperable, minimal-cost institutional archives. The advantages of this are: [1] Nothing need change regarding the future of the publishers (because they will continue to publish as before and in parallel with the OA Archives - as already proven to be successful in physics through the 13-year old archive <http://arxive.org> <http://arxive.org> and the major physics journals. Over 60% of publishers have agreed to the institutional archiving of already published papers in OA Archives, including Elsevier and Nature Publishing); [2] Nothing need change for the authors (because they can continue to publish papers in their favourite journals). However, the impact of their work will be hugely increased if they also archive their full text publications in institutional archives using the free software that allows interoperable searching across all archives. Authors would be wise to publish in one of the majority of journals that agree to OA Archiving in order to benefit from this much increased international impact. OA-compliant archives are now also searchable through the Yahoo search engine. [3] The research output of the authors' institutes will be greatly enhanced through the establishment of institutional OA Archives, show-casing their academic publications. OA Archives are set up using free software and there are many support organisations offering help if needed. Note: there are three major workshops on setting up Open Access Archives being held this summer in Brazil, China and India. [4] If institutes are unable to set up their own institutional archives, authors may archive their *already published* research in any of the established archives (eg Cogprints, Bioline International etc). It does not matter at all where papers are archived, since the archives are all interoperable. However, establishing institutional archives has the advantage of additionally promoting the research output of the institutes. [5] As more and more archives are established, more and more of the world's research becomes internationally accessible for free. Harnad of Cogprints says 'Archive unto others as you would have them archive unto you'. For the developing country institutes, sharing their research with countries facing similar research priorities has clear benefits, and making their research 'visible' internationally will lead to many other advantages. In summary, archiving already published research in interoperable institutional archives greatly benefits global science at almost no cost. This could be done now, without changing established publishing practices. For developing country science and medical research this offers enormous opportunities. Maybe WHO should consider supporting the setting up of an OA Archive for medical research publications so that all developing countries can benefit from free access? Useful OA institutional archives links: Registry of institutional eprints: <http://archives.eprints.org/eprints.php> <http://archives.eprints.org/eprints.php> Developing country bioscience archive: <http://bioline.utsc.utoronto.ca> <http://bioline.utsc.utoronto.ca> BOAI self(institutional)-archiving FAQ: <http://www.eprints.org/self-faq/> <http://www.eprints.org/self-faq/> Eprints software: <http://software.eprints.org/> <http://software.eprints.org/> Eprints Handbook for setting up institutional archives: <http://software.eprints.org/handbook/> <http://software.eprints.org/handbook/> Budapest Open Access Iniative <http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml> <http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml> Subbiah Arunachalam, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, India Leslie Chan, University of Toronto, Canada Barbara Kirsop, Electronic Publishing Trust for Development <http://www.epublishingtrust.org> <http://www.epublishingtrust.org>

1 0

address info
by Mailing List Manager 29 Mar '04

29 Mar '04

Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 16:30:16 +0530 From: prafulla(a)nisc.co.in Dear All: I am searching for the contact info of National Center for Children's Literature located in New Delhi. I shall appreciate any help in this regard. Have a nice day! T.V. Prafulla Chandra Senior Editor National Center for Children's Literature, New Delhi --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NISC Export Services Pvt. Ltd. (an affiliate of NISC International, Inc. USA) S-1 Ballad Estates, St.Ann's School Road, Tarnaka, Hyderabad 500 017 Andhra Pradesh, India - Tel:+91 40 27001517 Tel/Fax:+91 40 27002538 WWW.NISC.COM A company in service to NISC worldwide. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 0

Fwd: PRESS RELEASE: Wiley InterScience Launches The Biotechnology, Biochemistry
by Mailing List Manager 29 Mar '04

29 Mar '04

Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 06:07:34 +0000 (GMT) From: "[iso-8859-1] MALLIKARJUNA, C" <hbmallikarjuna(a)yahoo.co.in> Please find below, a press release from Wiley that may be of interest to your readership. **** Wiley InterScience Launches The Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Biophysics Backfile Collection; 50 years of leading research now available from the convenience of the desktop. Hoboken, NJ, 25 March 2004 - Global publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc., today announced the launch of its latest collection of digitized journal backfiles - The Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Biophysics Backfile Collection on its dynamic online publishing platform, Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). Spanning more than fifty years of content across fifteen leading journal titles, the collection provides a backfile resource for core research across the biotechnology, biochemistry, biophysics and chemical engineering disciplines, and includes full coverage, back to inaugural issues, of seminal titles, including Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Proteins, Biopolymers, the AIChE Journal, Chemie Ingenieur Technik and Chemical Engineering & Technology. With a quarter of a million digitized pages, the Backfile Collection contains more than 40,000 research articles and provides a unique historical perspective to this progressive field of study. Susan King, Ph.D., Vice President, Scientific, Technical and Medical Marketing, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., says that the launch of the Backfile Collection meets two important objectives of Wiley's backfile program: "Crucial historical research is preserved for generations of researchers to come. Research at the intersection of the life and physical sciences is rapidly evolving, but researchers need to be able to look back to its roots to help direct current and future pursuits. The digitization of this legacy information, serves to improve the research pathway - ensuring discovery is as seamless and time efficient as possible. The dynamism of Wiley InterScience as a web resource means researchers can access vital archival information quickly and simply from the convenience of their desktop." Presented in fully searchable PDF format, with abstracts, essential bibliographic content, and literature citations all available in HTML, the backfile collection provides enhanced searchablity and linking capabilities. Reference links include internal linking to cited content located on Wiley InterScience and to the content of more than 290 scientific, technical and medical publishers via CrossRef. The Wiley InterScience Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Biophysics Backfile Collection is the latest addition to a growing collection of journal backfile content, created to ensure ongoing access to fundamental research material in the research communities’ format of choice. "All our Backfile Collections are the result of informed dialogue with our customers to ensure we provide solutions of lasting value to them", said Reed Elfenbein, Vice President and General Manager, Wiley InterScience and Global STM Sales. "Digital backfiles ensure collections can remain complete while saving our customers the shelf space and administrative burden associated with millions of pages of print content." An ongoing initiative, Wiley InterScience will release four additional Backfile Collections over the course of 2004: the Chemistry Backfile Collection, Analytical Chemistry Backfile Collection, Neuroscience Backfile Collection and the Materials Science Backfile Collection. Together with the Polymer Backfile Collection and the Angewandte Chemie Backfile, Wiley has already made available more than one million pages of digitized legacy scientific content. Note to editors: Journals included in the Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Biophysics Backfiles Collection are: Acta Biotechnologica, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering & Technology - CET, Chemie Ingenieur Technik - CIT, (CET and CIT are both edited and supported by the German Chemical Society (GDCh), the Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (DECHEMA e.V.) and the Society for Chemical Engineering and Process Technology (GVC)), Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology (an official journal of the Society of Chemical Industry - SCI), Biospectroscopy, Biopolymers, Cell Biochemistry and Function, Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, Journal of Molecular Recognition, Journal of Peptide Science (an official journal of the European Peptide Society - EPS), Proteins: Structure, Function and Genetics, and Yeast.. An update in June 2004 will incorporate the AIChE Journal and Process Safety Progress - both official journals of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, now published by Wiley effective in 2004. About Wiley InterScience Since its commercial launch in January 1999, Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) has earned its reputation as a world-leading Internet resource for quality research material promoting discovery across the spectrum of scientific, technical, medical and professional endeavors. Today Wiley InterScience features a vast reservoir of must-have content from more than 1000 journals, books, reference works, databases and Current Protocols laboratory manuals. About Wiley Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., provides must-have content and services to customers worldwide. Its core businesses include scientific, technical, and medical journals, encyclopedias, books, and online products and services; professional and consumer books and subscription services; and educational materials for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Wiley has publishing, marketing, and distribution centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols JWa and JWb. Wiley's Internet site can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com. *** C.MALLIKARJUNA, ISEC LIBRARY, INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE NAGARABHAVI BANGALORE-560 079. hbmallikarjuna(a)yahoo.co.in Office:080+3215468 EXT-301 Mobile:080+36757228 Win an evening with the Indian cricket captain: Yahoo! India Promos. --0-371865072-1080281254=:38994 Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit <DIV><BR><BR><B><I>Ann Okerson <aokerson(a)pantheon.yale.edu></I></B> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 17:44:14 -0500 (EST)<BR>From: Ann Okerson <AOKERSON(a)PANTHEON.YALE.EDU><BR>To: liblicense-l(a)lists.yale.edu<BR>Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Wiley InterScience Launches The Biotechnology,<BR>Biochemistry<BR><BR>Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 09:34:41 EST<BR>From: KimAllan(a)wiley.co.uk<BR>Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Wiley InterScience Launches The Biotechnology,<BR>Biochemistry and Biophysics Backfile Collection<BR><BR>Please find below, a press release from Wiley that may be of interest to<BR>your readership.<BR><BR>****<BR><BR>Wiley InterScience Launches The Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Biophysics<BR>Backfile Collection; 50 years of leading research now available from the <BR>convenience of the desktop.<BR><BR>Hoboken, NJ, 25 March 2004 - Global publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,<BR>today announced the launch of its latest collection of digitized journal<BR>backfile! s - The Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Biophysics Backfile<BR>Collection on its dynamic online publishing platform, Wiley InterScience<BR>(www.interscience.wiley.com).<BR><BR>Spanning more than fifty years of content across fifteen leading journal<BR>titles, the collection provides a backfile resource for core research<BR>across the biotechnology, biochemistry, biophysics and chemical<BR>engineering disciplines, and includes full coverage, back to inaugural<BR>issues, of seminal titles, including Biotechnology and Bioengineering,<BR>Proteins, Biopolymers, the AIChE Journal, Chemie Ingenieur Technik and<BR>Chemical Engineering & Technology.<BR><BR>With a quarter of a million digitized pages, the Backfile Collection<BR>contains more than 40,000 research articles and provides a unique<BR>historical perspective to this progressive field of study.<BR><BR>Susan King, Ph.D., Vice President, Scientific, Technical and Medical<BR>Marketing, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., says that the lau! nch of the Backfile<BR>Collection meets two important objectives of Wiley's backfile program:<BR>"Crucial historical research is preserved for generations of researchers<BR>to come. Research at the intersection of the life and physical sciences is<BR>rapidly evolving, but researchers need to be able to look back to its<BR>roots to help direct current and future pursuits. The digitization of this<BR>legacy information, serves to improve the research pathway - ensuring<BR>discovery is as seamless and time efficient as possible. The dynamism of<BR>Wiley InterScience as a web resource means researchers can access vital<BR>archival information quickly and simply from the convenience of their<BR>desktop."<BR><BR>Presented in fully searchable PDF format, with abstracts, essential<BR>bibliographic content, and literature citations all available in HTML, the<BR>backfile collection provides enhanced searchablity and linking<BR>capabilities. Reference links include internal linking to cited content<BR>located on Wiley InterScience and to the content of more than 290<BR>scientific, technical and medical publishers via CrossRef.<BR><BR>The Wiley InterScience Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Biophysics Backfile<BR>Collection is the latest addition to a growing collection of journal<BR>backfile content, created to ensure ongoing access to fundamental research<BR>material in the research communities’ format of choice.<BR><BR>"All our Backfile Collections are the result of informed dialogue with our<BR>customers to ensure we provide solutions of lasting value to them", said<BR>Reed Elfenbein, Vice President and General Manager, Wiley InterScience and<BR>Global STM Sales. "Digital backfiles ensure collections can remain<BR>complete while saving our customers the shelf space and administrative<BR>burden associated with millions of pages of print content."<BR><BR>An ongoing initiative, Wiley InterScience will release four additional<BR>Backfile Collections over the co! urse of 2004: the Chemistry Backfile<BR>Collection, Analytical Chemistry Backfile Collection, Neuroscience<BR>Backfile Collection and the Materials Science Backfile Collection.<BR>Together with the Polymer Backfile Collection and the Angewandte Chemie<BR>Backfile, Wiley has already made available more than one million pages of<BR>digitized legacy scientific content.<BR><BR>Note to editors:<BR><BR>Journals included in the Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Biophysics<BR>Backfiles Collection are: Acta Biotechnologica, Biotechnology and<BR>Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering & Technology - CET, Chemie Ingenieur<BR>Technik - CIT, (CET and CIT are both edited and supported by the German<BR>Chemical Society (GDCh), the Society for Chemical Engineering and<BR>Biotechnology (DECHEMA e.V.) and the Society for Chemical Engineering and<BR>Process Technology (GVC)), Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology<BR>(an official journal of the Society of Chemical Industry - SCI),<BR>Biospectroscopy, Biopolymers, Cell Biochemistry and Function, Journal of<BR>Cellular Biochemistry, Journal of Molecular Recognition, Journal of<BR>Peptide Science (an official journal of the European Peptide Society -<BR>EPS), Proteins: Structure, Function and Genetics, and Yeast.. An update in<BR>June 2004 will incorporate the AIChE Journal and Process Safety Progress -<BR>both official journals of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers,<BR>now published by Wiley effective in 2004.<BR><BR>About Wiley InterScience<BR><BR>Since its commercial launch in January 1999, Wiley InterScience<BR>(www.interscience.wiley.com) has earned its reputation as a world-leading<BR>Internet resource for quality research material promoting discovery across<BR>the spectrum of scientific, technical, medical and professional endeavors.<BR>Today Wiley InterScience features a vast reservoir of must-have content<BR>from more than 1000 journals, books, reference works, databases and<BR>! Current Protocols laboratory manuals.<BR><BR>About Wiley<BR><BR>Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., provides must-have content and<BR>services to customers worldwide. Its core businesses include scientific,<BR>technical, and medical journals, encyclopedias, books, and online products<BR>and services; professional and consumer books and subscription services;<BR>and educational materials for undergraduate and graduate students and<BR>lifelong learners. Wiley has publishing, marketing, and distribution<BR>centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The<BR>Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols JWa and<BR>JWb. Wiley's Internet site can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com.<BR><BR>***<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><BR><DIV> <DIV> <DIV> <DIV> <DIV> <DIV> <DIV> <DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff>C.MALLIKARJUNA,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff>ISEC LIBRARY,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff>INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff>NAGARABHAVI</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff>BANGALORE-560 079.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff><A href="mailto:hbmallikarjuna@yahoo.co.in">hbmallikarjuna(a)yahoo.co.in</A></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff>Office:080+3215468 EXT-301 </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff>Mobile:080+36757228</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT> </DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV><p><font face=arial size=-1> <a href="http://in.rd.yahoo.com/specials/mailtg/*http://pepsizone.yahoo.co.in/pepsi3…" target="_blank"> Win an evening</a> with the <b>Indian cricket captain</b>: <a href="http://in.rd.yahoo.com/specials/mailtg2/*http://pepsizone.yahoo.co.in/pepsi…" target="_blank"> Yahoo! India Promos</a>.</font> --0-371865072-1080281254=:38994--

1 0

A champion of OA i9s honoured
by Mailing List Manager 29 Mar '04

29 Mar '04

Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 11:07:29 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> Friends: Carl Lagoze of Cornell University, a key player in the open access movement, is honoured. Please join me in congratulating him. On this happy occasion let us all resolve to adopt open access and to set up and quickly populate interoperable institutional archives in all major Indian higher educational and research institutions. Best wishes. Arun 2004 LITA Frederick G. Kilgour Award winner announced Carl Lagoze of Cornell University is the winner of the Frederick G. Kilgour Award for Research in Library and Information Technology for 2004. The award is sponsored by OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc., and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the American Library Association. "The Kilgour Award Committee takes great pleasure in acknowledging the important work and contributions of Carl Lagoze, whose research has lead to significant achievements in the areas of distributed digital collections, the harvesting of metadata, and establishment of open standards," said Mark Farrar, chair of the award committee. Mr. Lagoze's achievements include the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) which he co-created with Herbert Van de Sompel. This initiative promotes interoperability standards for metadata harvesting, with the specific goal of enhancing the ability to access all forms of digital material. The project has lead to renewed interest in shared metadata and the increased ability of scholars to locate relevant digital assets regardless of geographical location. Carl Lagoze and Sandy Payette co-invented the Flexible and Extensible Digital Object and Repository Architecture (Fedora). This project is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with prior support from the National Science Foundation, and is being co-developed by Cornell University and the University of Virginia. Fedora is open source software for creating digital object repositories which allow the accessing of content through a distributed and dynamic infrastructure. Fedora plays an important role in the creation of digital and institutional repositories and is being used or adapted in various academic and corporate settings. The Distributed Interactive Extensible Network Server for Technical Reports (Dienst) was co-invented by Carl Lagoze and James Davis. Dienst is both a protocol and software that were freely distributed for non-commercial use. While Dienst was an early effort in using metadata, the web and distributed content servers, it proved to be instrumental in further developments in these areas. Carl Lagoze received his Master of Software Engineering from the Wang Institute of Graduate Studies in 1987. Mr. Lagoze founded the Cornell Digital Library Research Group (CDLRG), and he is currently a Senior Research Associate in the Information Science program at Cornell University . The award was established to honor the achievements of Frederick G. Kilgour, the founder of OCLC and a seminal figure in library automation. The award is given to a person who has amassed a significant body of research in the field of library and information technology. Particular recognition is given to research which results in a positive and substantive impact on the publication, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information. The award consists of $2,000, an expense paid trip to the ALA Annual Conference, and a citation of merit. Mr. Lagoze will be accepting the award at the LITA President's Program on Monday, June 28, 2004 at the ALA Annual Conference in Orlando.

1 0

A SFC article on open access
by Mailing List Manager 29 Mar '04

29 Mar '04

Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 10:50:11 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> Friends: Here is an article from San Francisco Chronicle. Please see <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/2 8/BAGQE5SL3I1.DTL>. Arun The staggering price of world's best research Bay Area universities leading charge against publishers, arguing the knowledge in academic journals must be kept within reach Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer <mailto:cburress@sfchronicle.com> Sunday, March 28, 2004 An alarm bell is ringing in the ivory tower. Something's gone terribly wrong, frustrated scholars say, when scientific journals cost as much as new cars and diamond rings. Critics are complaining with growing intensity that the most important advances in human knowledge -- the new research and discoveries of top universities -- have been in effect seized and are being held for ransom by commercial publishers. The companion journals Nuclear Physics A & B cost the same as a 2004 Toyota Camry sedan -- $23,820, according to a "sticker shock" calculator from UC Berkeley. The calculator is "our way of raising hell," university librarian Thomas Leonard said. Theoretical Computer Science goes for $5,619 a year, enough to buy an 18- diamond gold ring from Tiffany's, according to a similar calculator from Cornell University. An academic rebellion simmering for half a dozen years has begun to boil over, with much of the heat generated in the Bay Area and California. "It is ironic," said a Stanford faculty resolution passed last month, "that many Stanford scholars -- like scholars throughout higher education -- volunteer their articles and labor in the production, review and editing of journal content, only to have the final product sold back to Stanford, sometimes at exorbitant prices." University libraries are suffering from journal price increases in recent years that have far outstripped inflation while library budgets starve. They've been forced to slash book and periodical purchases so much that they say the quality of their collections has become compromised. The public also is cheated, many critics say, because much of the research is funded by government grants, yet taxpayers -- say, breast cancer patients seeking the latest treatment breakthroughs -- "cannot freely access the published results of research financed by their own tax dollars," Stanford biochemistry Professor Patrick Brown wrote in a March 2 statement released by the campus. A recent letter from UC officials called the present system "incontrovertibly unsustainable." The university cut book purchases 26 percent and journal purchases 6 percent from 1986 to 1999. The 10-campus UC system claimed a temporary victory in January when it used its combined clout to win something virtually unheard of -- a reduction in the price it pays to the publishing giant of scientific and medical journals, the Elsevier arm of the British-Dutch conglomerate Reed Elsevier. Elsevier has about 1,800 titles, or about 20 to 22 percent of the most expensive segment of the market -- science, technical and medical journals. Its titles include Nuclear Physics A & B and Theoretical Computer Science, and its prices range from the $105-a-year Nurse Leader to Brain Research for $21, 269, with the average last year being $525, according to company data. Harvard, Columbia and a consortium of North Carolina universities have recently balked at Elsevier prices and threatened to curtail purchases. The Stanford resolution singled out Elsevier and called for a boycott of pricey journals, while the UC Santa Cruz faculty called for a boycott of Elsevier in October. "There is no serials crisis," said Elsevier spokesman Eric Merkel-Sobotta. "What there is, is a library funding crisis." Library budgets fell from about 4 percent of university spending in 1982 to about 3 percent in 2000, he said. He acknowledged that the company makes a "healthy" profit but added that production costs are rising with increased research spending, highly specialized editing and peer-review responsibilities, as well as the technology needed to keep pace with the growing online use of the journals. Over the past 16 years, according to UC Riverside chemistry Professor Christopher Reed, the average price of Elsevier journals has increased at three times the rate of the Consumer Price Index. "Elsevier profits were up 26 percent in 2002," he wrote in the Chronicle of Higher Education. UC is Elsevier's second-largest customer, UC officials say, and last year, the university paid the company about $10 million for about 1,400 journals in one "bundle," a method of purchasing that has replaced individual journal subscriptions at many universities. With growing reliance on online subscriptions, many libraries also have had to reduce or eliminate paper copies to save money. Under its new Elsevier contract, UC will receive only one print copy of each journal, to be kept in a central repository for use by all campuses. Half of UC's online budget has gone to Elsevier, even though its titles account for only 25 percent of the use of such journals, according to UC data. Academic journals are published both by commercial firms and by scholarly nonprofit societies like the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which sponsors the journal Science. Though most of the criticism is focused on firms like Elsevier, complaints are directed also at the nonprofit scientific societies. The societies, whose journals generally cost less than commercially published ones, say they have to charge more than publishing costs in order to pay for other activities. Leading the attack on the current system is the "open access" movement, which seeks to publish top-quality, peer-reviewed articles free on the Internet. An influential example is the San Francisco-based Public Library of Science (PLoS), which launched its first journal, PLoS Biology, amid fanfare in October. Under the PLoS model, the article's author pays a $1,500 fee, ideally paid by the writer's university or a grant, while the rest of the publishing costs come from other sources, such as private foundations or federal education dollars now siphoned off to offset high-priced subscriptions to commercial publishers. Merkel-Sobotta of Elsevier said open access is "dangerous" because it depends precariously on charity and cannot muster the resources needed for rigorous scientific review and long-term survival. Some scientists also question the viability of open access and the sustainability of such journals' archives. In a statement earlier this month, former Stanford President Donald Kennedy, now editor of Science, said open access deserves support as an experiment that should coexist with nonprofit journals but that it faces the sustainability problem. One of the toughest barriers to changing the current approach, many scholars say, is the publish-or-perish mandate that keeps professors -- especially those seeking tenure or promotion -- aiming for highly prestigious journals controlled by commercial publishers. Open access was challenged March 16 in a joint statement issued in Washington, D.C., by leading U.S. science and medical societies. The statement, representing 48 nonprofit publishers and more than 600,000 scientists and clinicians, called for "free access" to research through "many publishing models" and opposed a system where the publishing costs are "borne solely by researchers and their funding institutions." The issue is stirring heated debate also in Europe, where a Parliament committee in the United Kingdom is investigating scientific publications. "Whether or not open access ultimately gains ground as an alternative," reported Outsell Inc., an information industry research firm, "it's clear that the current model is breaking up." Elsevier disagrees. Merkel-Sobotta said the firm and similar publishers show robust growth and "take their guardianship of the intellectual heritage very, very seriously." E-mail Charles Burress at cburress(a)sfchronicle.com <mailto:cburress@sfchronicle.com>.

1 0

Elsevier Foundation Grants for attending International TICER School
by JK Vijayakumar 26 Mar '04

26 Mar '04

Dear All, The course "Electronic Resources and Electronic Publishing" will take place at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, from Tuesday evening 10 August up to and including Friday afternoon 13 August 2004, with an optional programme on Tuesday afternoon. Details are available at http://www.ticer.nl/04elres/index.htm Elsevier Foundation Grants (Last Date15 June 2004) Participants from developing countries can apply for an Elsevier Foundation Grant for the course "Electronic Resources and Electronic Publishing", made available by the Elsevier Foundation. The Elsevier Foundation are willing to sponsor 4 participants from Asia, Africa or South America. You can only apply for a grant if you originate from a country which is mentioned in the first five columns of the OECD "DAC List of Aid Recipients as at 1 January 2003", countries indicated in this list as developing countries and territories (official development assistance). The grant includes: the course fee (including 3 lunches and 3 dinners); accommodation in a student room for the duration of the course;an economy class return flight to an airport near Tilburg;travel and health insurance during your stay in Tilburg. The sponsorship does not cover costs which are not mentioned above, e.g., visa fee, transportation in your own country, public transport in the Netherlands from the airport to Tilburg and back, breakfasts, remaining dinners and lunches, and personal expenses. If you want to apply for this grant, please send an email to the course coordinator Ms. Anja Huijben at Anja.Huijben(a)uvt.nl before 15 June 2004. The email should contain the following information: -what organisation you work for; -what your job title is and what your work entails; -what country you are from; -a short biography or curriculum vitae; -your motivation to apply for this course; -why you are the right person to sponsor; -how you intend to distribute the knowledge your gained during this course in your country; -what kind of activities your institute develops in the field of digital libraries. Incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration. Please do not fill out the official application form as well, because you will then be treated as a normal applicant and will thus receive an invoice for your participation. The following international experts have confirmed their contribution to the course. The list is continuously updated. Jonathan Clark Technology Director, Elsevier, Netherlands Hans Geleijnse Chief Information Officer, Director IT Services and Librarian, Tilburg University, Netherlands Emanuella Giavarra Copyright lawyer, Chambers of Mark Watson-Gandy, United Kingdom Arnold Hirshon Executive Director, NELINET, United States Donald W. King Research Professor, University of Pittsburgh, School of Information Sciences, United States Teun Nijssen Security Advisor, Tilburg University, IT Services, Netherlands Mark Patterson Senior Editor, Public Library of Science, European Bioinformatics Institute, United Kingdom Thomas W. Place Deputy Librarian, Tilburg University, Library, Netherlands Hans E. Roosendaal Professor of Scientific Information, University of Twente, School of Business, Public Administration & Technology, Department of Computer Science, Netherlands Sylvia Van Peteghem Chief Librarian, University of Ghent, Library, Belgium Herbert Van de Sompel Digital Library Research & Prototyping, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Research Library, United States Details are available at http://www.ticer.nl/04elres/index.htm Ticer B.V., PO Box 4191 5004 JD Tilburg The Netherlands telephone +31-13-466 83 10 telefax +31-13-466 83 83 e-mail Ticer(a)uvt.nl http://www.ticer.nl ---------- J.K.Vijayakumar INFLIBNET __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html

1 0

Websites of UGC Infonet
by JK Vijayakumar 26 Mar '04

26 Mar '04

Dear All, Details of University Grants Commission's new initiative -UGC Infonet and E-Journal Consortia are available at the following websites. http://www.ugcinfonet.ernet.in http://web.inflibnet.ac.in/econsortia/index.htm http://web.inflibnet.ac.in/info/ugcinfonet/ugcinfonet.jsp -INFLIBNET __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html

1 0

Re: [LIS-Forum] FW: [BOAI] New PLoS/OSI institutional membership grants
by Mailing List Manager 25 Mar '04

25 Mar '04

Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 03:44:43 -0800 (PST) From: JK Vijayakumar <vjkjk(a)yahoo.com> George Soros is founder and chairman of the Open Society Institute and the Soros foundations network (http://www.soros.org/)Soros foundations are autonomous institutions established in particular countries or regions to initiate and support open society activities. The priorities and specific activities of each Soros foundation are determined by a local board of directors and staff in consultation with George Soros and OSI boards and advisors. As per the guidelines the fundings will go to the countries where Soros Network is active.Unfortunately India is not covered under this catagory (http://www.soros.org/openaccess/grants.shtml) I hope Shri Arun can utilise his international relations in open access initiative to activate Soros network in India, and then ask for fundings. > India is again excluded as was done earlier > with HINARI and AGORA! > > Arun

1 0

[DIGLIB] New and Old Articles About Innovative Information Systems
by Mailing List Manager 24 Mar '04

24 Mar '04

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 10:47:47 -0600 From: Gerry Mckiernan <gerrymck(a)iastate.edu> I am pleased to announce the publication and availability of self-archived copies of two of my SCI-5 columns devoted to Innovative Information Systems: "New Age E-Journals, Indexes, and Services," Science & Technology Libraries, Vol. 21, No. 3/4, 2001 [2003], pp. 223-233. [ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/EJIS.pdf] "Scholar-Based Initiatives in Publishing," Science & Technology Libraries, Vol. 22, No. 3/4, 2002 [2003], pp. 181-191 [ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/SBI.pdf ] **************************************************************************** I am also pleased to announce the availability of self-archived copies of previously published articles that profile other Innovative Information Systems, etc: "eCONF: The SLAC Electronic Conference Proceedings Archive," Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 18 No. 5, 2001, pp. 16-23. http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/eCONF.pdf ABSTRACT To promote the publication and expedite the availability of conference proceedings, an experimental archive titled eConf has been established under the auspices of the SLAC Technical Information Services department. At this time, the eConf archive is limited to proceedings in high-energy physics and related fields. The archive presently contains the conference papers of two proceedings: the 19th International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies (LP 99) and 20th International Linac Conference. http://www.slac.stanford.edu/econf/ **************************************************************************** "EnergyFiles: The Virtual Library of Energy Science and Technology," Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 20, No. 1, January/February 2003, 30-36. http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/EnergyFiles.pdf ABSTRACT The targeted audience for EnergyFiles is end users and organizations having a need for energy-related scientific and technical information. Anticipated primary users include researchers, scientists, project managers, program, managers, academic (educators and students), and associated information professionals. NOTE: Review of previous version of interface and system http://www.osti.gov/EnergyFiles/ ************************************************************************** "Library Database Advisors - Emerging Innovative Augmented Digital Library Services," Library Hi Tech News Vol. 19, No. 4, May 2002, pp. 27-33. "Why should we make our users hunt down the best resource for a given information need and learn how to use its particular options for searching? Why not provide them with a simple way to get started?" || Roy Tennant || http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/LDBA.pdf **************************************************************************** "Web-based Journal Manuscript Management and Peer-Review Systems and Services," Library Hi Tech News Vol. 19, No. 7, August 2002, pp. 31-43. "* [A] paperless system would significantly reduce delays in all aspects of the dissemination cycle. The composition process itself should be speeded up and so should the whole interaction among writers, publishers, and referees." || F. W. Lancaster || [Lancaster, F.W., Toward Paperless Information Systems ( Academic Press: New York, NY, 1978), 127.] http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/PeerSoft.pdf **************************************************************************** And BTW: For the Irish amongst us, as well as those who wish they were [:-)]: Happy St. Patrick's Day! Enjoy! /Gerry Gerry McKiernan New and Old Irish Librarian Iowa State University Ames IA 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu

1 0