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Open-source science
by Mailing List Manager 25 Jul '06

25 Jul '06

Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 07:48:11 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> Here is a news story from Peter Suber's blog on open source science (scientists in far off places collaborating using open source software). The Internet and the web provide new opportunities and we must take advantage of them. Arun ------ More on open-source science Sarah Everts, Open-Source Science, Chemical & Engineering News, July 24, 2006. Excerpt: Scientists from Sydney to San Francisco have created an online research collaboration to develop cures for tropical diseases, using the "open source" programming model that produced freeware like Linux and Firefox, the award-winning Web browser. The motivation is straightforward: Tropical diseases are low priority for big pharma because the return on drug development is so small. Patients in developing nations just don't have the financial ability to pay for patented drugs. The structure is radical: Online discussions will prioritize a list of experiments that anyone can take on. Raw data will be posted online and discussed. Members of the consortium will solicit further ideas and expertise, hoping the greater research community steps up to the plate. The group, which operates under an umbrella website called Synaptic Leap [blogged here 6/3/06], hopes that volunteered time, computer power, and reagents will eventually result in a portfolio of drug leads that will be made freely available for development. Currently, members of Synaptic Leap are describing projects online and asking others for help and advice. Participants in open-source collaborations give up their ability to patent discoveries by definition, because their data are public as soon as they are posted. But some argue that when it comes to neglected diseases, there's nothing to lose, because there was never any income to gain.... If the group publishes raw data online in the pursuit of virtuous science, does this negate the ability to publish in a peer-reviewed journal? Will scientists put their raw data, and possibly their reputations, online? These and other issues were raised by University of Sydney chemist Matthew H. Todd and his Synaptic Leap colleagues in a recent essay entitled "Open-Source Research - The Power of Us" (Aust. J. Chem. 2006, 59, 291).... When it comes to the issue of publishing, [Jean-Claude] Bradley [who blogs his research data] argues that open-source discussions are similar to conferences, where people openly discuss unpublished research and do not fear being denied the right to publish in a journal, assuming the science is good. Todd says the biggest misconception is that proponents of open source are antagonists of peer review. "I think the value of peer review is clear, and I would want to publish whatever work came out of the open-source research. The question is whether the journals will allow it."

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Free access to journals help Brazil do better in science
by Mailing List Manager 25 Jul '06

25 Jul '06

Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 07:35:08 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> Friends: Brazilian scientists in 180 institutions get FREE ACCESS to more than 10,000 journals and 16 databases. That has helped Brazil do better in science. Please read the news item appended below and download the full article as well. Every developing country should find a way to provide such access to a very large number of journals and databases to its scientists and research students. In many developing countries people talk endlessly about digital libraries but in Brazil there was some action. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] -------------------------------- CAPES Journal Portal and the growth of Brazilian science The Brazilian scientific research growth by 19% in 2005, and by about 50% in the past five, was celebrated by the President of CAPES, Jorge Guimar�es, in a collective interview given in the SBPC annual meeting. Measured by the number of publications indexed in the Thomsom-ISI database, the Brazilian scientific production in 2005 represented 1.8% of the world production and ranks 17th in the list of countries. Access to scientific information is one of the main lines of action promoted by CAPES to support the development of graduate courses and scientific research in Brazil. The CAPES Journal Portal has been in continuous operation since its launching in 2000; it provides, to over 180 academic institutions, free access to more than 10 thousand titles of scientific journals and to a selection of 16 major international referential databases. Roughly 5.5 million articles were downloaded in the first 5 months in 2006. The crucial role played by the portal to promote democratic access to scientific information is publicly acknowledged by the UNIFESP and BIREME read the full article

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One laptop per child - India has reservations
by Mailing List Manager 25 Jul '06

25 Jul '06

Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 18:03:50 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> One laptop per kid not feasible for India! 20 July 2006 India's Education secretary Sudeep Banerjee's letter to his counterpart in the Planning Commission , Rajiv Ratna Shah, strongly disapproving of the 'One Laptop Per Child' idea USD100 each, cost to be borne by government for one million pieces floated by MIT, had instead asked the plan panel to invest similar money for universalisation of secondary education. Complete with technical problems pointed out by IIT, Madras, pedagogical suspicions raised by NCERT and first-hand experience of a senior HRD official, who found that the laptops have not even crossed the prototype stage, Banerjee had said OLPC may actually be detrimental to the growth of creative and analytical abilities of the child. The education secretary had said, if the Planning Commission has the kind of money that would be required for this scheme, it would be appropriate to utilise it for universalisation of secondary education, for which a concept paper has been lying with the PC for approval since November 2005, and on which, he also made a presentation in the Planning Commission, presided over by the deputy chairman. A detailed report by a senior HRD official, who attended the OLPC workshop in Massachusetts in May, found a series of faults with the concept and strongly recommended against accepting it. Since the laptops are in the prototype stage, the official found that hardware and functionality testing, using open-source Linux software, is still to begin. He also found out that due to the price of the battery and other hidden costs, the laptops might actually cost USD200. It also needs to be checked and certified in real time whether the connectivity distance between the local server and these laptops would be 0.5 km or 3 km as claimed. Another functional problem is that these laptops cannot be upgraded without changing the motherboard , which would entail an expenditure of nearly 40% of the total cost. The maintenance of these laptops will also require a substantial investment and reserve stocks. Source: Economic Times Why not examine the feasibility of using Simputers instead of the Negroponte computers?

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Researcher attitudes to open access
by Subbiah Arunachalam 25 Jul '06

25 Jul '06

Friends: Please spread the word. Pass this on to publishing scientists - professors, research associates, Ph D students, laboratory scientists and so on. The world should know that Indian (and developing country) researchers are overwhelmingly in favour of open access and free and unfettered flow of knowledge! Best wishes. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ----------------------------------- Online survey of researcher attitudes toward OA A research team from University of Arkansas and the University of Munich has launched an online survey on Open Access & Science Publishing. You can take it, in English or German, until August 11. (Thanks to Yong Liu.) From the background page: Our research interest is with the attitudes toward and perceptions of Open Access of scientists in their double role as readers and authors of scientific publications.... Following a pragmatic as well as a theoretical approach, we are interested in identifying underlying barriers to the adoption of Open Access publications by individuals and in finding ways to overcome these barriers. At the same time we want to be alert to emerging business models for publishers and institutions in the future. More specifically, we are exploring: [1] Scientists' attitudes toward and current practices of Open Access, [2] Identification of the barriers that are mostly responsible for the relatively low diffusion and adoption of Open Access publications, [3] Identification of opportunities and ways to overcome these barriers, and [4] Research of country/subject specific-differences. Friends: Please spread the word. Pass this on to publishing scientists - professors, research associates, Ph D students, laboratory scientists and so on. The world should know that Indian (and developing country) researchers are overwhelmingly in favour of open access and free and unfettered flow of knowledge! Best wishes. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ----------------------------------- Online survey of researcher attitudes toward OA A http://openaccess-study.com/en_authors.html research team from University of Arkansas and the University of Munich has launched an online survey on http://openaccess-study.com/ Open Access & Science Publishing . You can take it, in English or German, until August 11. (Thanks to Yong Liu.) From the http://openaccess-study.com/en_project.html background page : Our research interest is with the attitudes toward and perceptions of Open Access of scientists in their double role as readers and authors of scientific publications.... Following a pragmatic as well as a theoretical approach, we are interested in identifying underlying barriers to the adoption of Open Access publications by individuals and in finding ways to overcome these barriers. At the same time we want to be alert to emerging business models for publishers and institutions in the future. More specifically, we are exploring: [1] Scientists' attitudes toward and current practices of Open Access, [2] Identification of the barriers that are mostly responsible for the relatively low diffusion and adoption of Open Access publications, [3] Identification of opportunities and ways to overcome these barriers, and [4] Research of country/subject specific-differences.

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One laptop per child - India has reservations
by Subbiah Arunachalam 24 Jul '06

24 Jul '06

One laptop per kid not feasible for India! 20 July 2006 India's Education secretary Sudeep Banerjee's letter to his counterpart in the Planning Commission , Rajiv Ratna Shah, strongly disapproving of the 'One Laptop Per Child' idea USD100 each, cost to be borne by government for one million pieces floated by MIT, had instead asked the plan panel to invest similar money for universalisation of secondary education. Complete with technical problems pointed out by IIT, Madras, pedagogical suspicions raised by NCERT and first-hand experience of a senior HRD official, who found that the laptops have not even crossed the prototype stage, Banerjee had said OLPC may actually be detrimental to the growth of creative and analytical abilities of the child. The education secretary had said, if the Planning Commission has the kind of money that would be required for this scheme, it would be appropriate to utilise it for universalisation of secondary education, for which a concept paper has been lying with the PC for approval since November 2005, and on which, he also made a presentation in the Planning Commission, presided over by the deputy chairman. A detailed report by a senior HRD official, who attended the OLPC workshop in Massachusetts in May, found a series of faults with the concept and strongly recommended against accepting it. Since the laptops are in the prototype stage, the official found that hardware and functionality testing, using open-source Linux software, is still to begin. He also found out that due to the price of the battery and other hidden costs, the laptops might actually cost USD200. It also needs to be checked and certified in real time whether the connectivity distance between the local server and these laptops would be 0.5 km or 3 km as claimed. Another functional problem is that these laptops cannot be upgraded without changing the motherboard , which would entail an expenditure of nearly 40% of the total cost. The maintenance of these laptops will also require a substantial investment and reserve stocks. Source: Economic Times Why not examine the feasibility of using Simputers instead of the Negroponte computers? One laptop per kid not feasible for India! 20 July 2006 India's Education secretary Sudeep Banerjee's letter to his counterpart in the Planning Commission , Rajiv Ratna Shah, strongly disapproving of the 'One Laptop Per Child' idea USD100 each, cost to be borne by government for one million pieces floated by MIT, had instead asked the plan panel to invest similar money for universalisation of secondary education. Complete with technical problems pointed out by IIT, Madras, pedagogical suspicions raised by NCERT and first-hand experience of a senior HRD official, who found that the laptops have not even crossed the prototype stage, Banerjee had said OLPC may actually be detrimental to the growth of creative and analytical abilities of the child. The education secretary had said, if the Planning Commission has the kind of money that would be required for this scheme, it would be appropriate to utilise it for universalisation of secondary education, for which a concept paper has been lying with the PC for approval since November 2005, and on which, he also made a presentation in the Planning Commission, presided over by the deputy chairman. A detailed report by a senior HRD official, who attended the OLPC workshop in Massachusetts in May, found a series of faults with the concept and strongly recommended against accepting it. Since the laptops are in the prototype stage, the official found that hardware and functionality testing, using open-source Linux software, is still to begin. He also found out that due to the price of the battery and other hidden costs, the laptops might actually cost USD200. It also needs to be checked and certified in real time whether the connectivity distance between the local server and these laptops would be 0.5 km or 3 km as claimed. Another functional problem is that these laptops cannot be upgraded without changing the motherboard , which would entail an expenditure of nearly 40% of the total cost. The maintenance of these laptops will also require a substantial investment and reserve stocks. Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshowcnews/1779354.cms Economic Times Why not examine the feasibility of using Simputers instead of the Negroponte computers?

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St Agnes College (Mangalore) Information Centre: Website hosted
by Gopakumar Velayudhanpillai 24 Jul '06

24 Jul '06

As requested by the Librarian of St Agnes College, Mangalore I am providing the following information, which was published in English daily for information of Lis-forum members. Please visit the website and inform your suggestions to the Librarian. St Agnes College Information Centre: Website hosted. St Agnes College Library, Mangalore has provided a benchmark for undergraduate libraries by hosting its own Information Centre Website. The features of the library webpage includes the listing of books,110 journals, 140 CDS and regular intake of magazines, and news paper clippings on various subjects can now be accessed on the World Wide Web. St.Agnes College is the first in Karnataka among undergraduate Information Centres to develop their own Website providing not only the list of the library holdings but a catalogue and book database on a Website. So for St. Agnes College having its own library website has a dual function; its catalogues are available internally, but outsiders can access the Website and can become at a later stage on line members if the modalities are worked out. The purpose of this is to keep in step with the staggering possibilities of internet and Web connectivity, so that when digitization becomes economically feasible, the library can take advantage of it. A right direction is what this recent advance means. You are most welcome to visit the site on the following URL. http://www.stagnescollege.org/library/heading.htm For any query regarding the website please contact me through bk.vishala(a)gmail.com. VISHALA.B.K. Sr.Librarian, St.Agnes College Mangalore-575002 DK Karnataka Gopakumar.V Research Scholar Department of Library & Information Science Mangalore University Mangalagangotri gopakumar.v(a)rediffmail.com Mobile No: 09447056713 As requested by the Librarian of St Agnes College, Mangalore I am providing the following information, which was published in English daily for information of Lis-forum members. Please visit the website and inform your suggestions to the Librarian. St Agnes College Information Centre: Website hosted. St Agnes College Library, Mangalore has provided a benchmark for undergraduate libraries by hosting its own Information Centre Website. The features of the library webpage includes the listing of books,110 journals, 140 CDS and regular intake of magazines, and news paper clippings on various subjects can now be accessed on the World Wide Web. St.Agnes College is the first in Karnataka among undergraduate Information Centres to develop their own Website providing not only the list of the library holdings but a catalogue and book database on a Website. So for St. Agnes College having its own library website has a dual function; its catalogues are available internally, but outsiders can access the Website and can become at a later stage on line members if the modalities are worked out. The purpose of this is to keep in step with the staggering possibilities of internet and Web connectivity, so that when digitization becomes economically feasible, the library can take advantage of it. A right direction is what this recent advance means. You are most welcome to visit the site on the following URL. http://www.stagnescollege.org/library/heading.htm For any query regarding the website please contact me through bk.vishala(a)gmail.com. VISHALA.B.K. Sr.Librarian, St.Agnes College Mangalore-575002 DK Karnataka Gopakumar.V Research Scholar Department of Library & Information Science Mangalore University Mangalagangotri gopakumar.v(a)rediffmail.com Mobile No: 09447056713 http://adworks.rediff.com/cgi-bin/AdWorks/sigclick.cgi/www.rediff.com/signa… http://adworks.rediff.com/cgi-bin/AdWorks/sigimpress.cgi/www.rediff.com/sig…

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Manipur University Recruitments
by rupesh kumar 22 Jul '06

22 Jul '06

Dear All, Manipur University calls for various faculty positions (Professors, Readers, Lecturers) in various subjects including Library and Information Science. The Last Date for submission of applications extended till 10th August 2006. Further Details on the University website: http://www.manipuruniv.ac.in/recruitment/recruitment.htm Regards, Rupesh Kumar A Department of Library & Information Science Bangalore University a_rupeshkumar(a)yahoo.com http://lislog.blogspot.com http://a.rupeshkumar.googlepages.com --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Get on board. You're invited to try the new Yahoo! Mail Beta. Manipur University calls for various faculty positions (Professors, Readers, Lecturers) in various subjects including Library and Information Science. The Last Date for submission of applications extended till 10th August 2006. Further Details on the University website: http://www.manipuruniv.ac.in/recruitment/recruitment.htm http://www.manipuruniv.ac.in/recruitment/recruitment.htm Regards, Rupesh Kumar A Department of Library & Information Science Bangalore University mailto:a_rupeshkumar@yahoo.com a_rupeshkumar(a)yahoo.com http://lislog.blogspot.com http://lislog.blogspot.com http://a.rupeshkumar.googlepages.com http://a.rupeshkumar.googlepages.com Do you Yahoo!? Get on board. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=40791/*http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/handr… You're invited to try the new Yahoo! Mail Beta.

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OA in India vs. OA in the world
by Subbiah Arunachalam 22 Jul '06

22 Jul '06

Friends: I am reproducing below a short but very important news item from Peter Suber's blog. It talks about the rapid growth of open access archiving. In less than three weeks one million records were added to the OAISter collection. Currently there are more than 8.75 million records from 668 institutions. But what is the share of India? Less than 20,000 papers, may be [Can someone at OAIster give me the right figure please?]. We keep cribbing about our papers not being read or cited, but we do not take the simple step of making our papers widely known. Both Dr D K Sahu and Dr Murari Tapaswi have shown that making papers - papers by Indian authors - available via open access leads to a manifold increase in the numbers of their downloads and viewing. Dr Sahu has also shown that Indian papers on OA are cited far more often than those which are available only via toll-access journals. Others like Alma Swan and Stevan harnad and his colleagues at Southampton and elsewhere have shown that OA papers are read and cited far more often than non-OA papers. And yet Indian scientists and librarians are reluctant to set up open access archives. Of course there are exceptions. Matscience set up a mirror site for the well-known arXiv (the central archive for many areas of physics, astrophysics, mathematical biology, etc.) many years ago. IISc in Bangalore was the first institution in India to set up an institutional archive. Three CSIR labs (NCL, NAL and NIO) have their own archives, as do RRL, IIA, IIMK, NIT-R, and a few others. Incidentally, NIT-R has a mandate on open access archiving. But for a country of more than a billion people and hundreds of universities and research labs what we have done so far is miniscule compare to what we should have done. Subbiah Arunachalam -------------------------------- Rapid new growth at OAIster Heather Morrison, Dramatic Growth: July 20th Brief Update, Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics, July 21, 2006. Excerpt: On June 30th, I reported that OAIster had grown by more than half a million records in the previous quarter, for a total of 7.6 million records, and predicted that OAIster would exceed a billion records sometime in 2007. The pace of growth in the past few weeks has been dramatic indeed - OAIster now lists 8,754,367 records from 668 institutions - growth of more than a million records in less than 3 weeks. At this rate, an OAIster search will pass the billion mark much, much sooner than expected, likely in 2006. The list of new institutions harvested recently is long, and impressive. Friends: I am reproducing below a short but very important news item from Peter Suber's blog. It talks about the rapid growth of open access archiving. In less than three weeks one million records were added to the OAISter collection. Currently there are more than 8.75 million records from 668 institutions. But what is the share of India? Less than 20,000 papers, may be [Can someone at OAIster give me the right figure please?]. We keep cribbing about our papers not being read or cited, but we do not take the simple step of making our papers widely known. Both Dr D K Sahu and Dr Murari Tapaswi have shown that making papers - papers by Indian authors - available via open access leads to a manifold increase in the numbers of their downloads and viewing. Dr Sahu has also shown that Indian papers on OA are cited far more often than those which are available only via toll-access journals. Others like Alma Swan and Stevan harnad and his colleagues at Southampton and elsewhere have shown that OA papers are read and cited far more often than non-OA papers. And yet Indian scientists and librarians are reluctant to set up open access archives. Of course there are exceptions. Matscience set up a mirror site for the well-known arXiv (the central archive for many areas of physics, astrophysics, mathematical biology, etc.) many years ago. IISc in Bangalore was the first institution in India to set up an institutional archive. Three CSIR labs (NCL, NAL and NIO) have their own archives, as do RRL, IIA, IIMK, NIT-R, and a few others. Incidentally, NIT-R has a mandate on open access archiving. But for a country of more than a billion people and hundreds of universities and research labs what we have done so far is miniscule compare to what we should have done. Subbiah Arunachalam -------------------------------- Rapid new growth at OAIster Heather Morrison, http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2006/07/dramatic-growth-july-20th-brief… Dramatic Growth: July 20th Brief Update , Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics , July 21, 2006. Excerpt: On June 30th, I reported that http://oaister.umdl.umich.edu/o/oaister/ OAIster had grown by more than half a million records in the previous quarter, for a total of 7.6 million records, and predicted that OAIster would exceed a billion records sometime in 2007. The pace of growth in the past few weeks has been dramatic indeed - OAIster now lists 8,754,367 records from 668 institutions - growth of more than a million records in less than 3 weeks. At this rate, an OAIster search will pass the billion mark much, much sooner than expected, likely in 2006. The list of new institutions harvested recently is long, and impressive.

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Library associations back open access
by Subbiah Arunachalam 22 Jul '06

22 Jul '06

Eight major North American Library Associations representing a vast majority of American and Canadian librarians are supporting open access. When will the Indian librarians lend their support to open access? When will they persuade the government - UGC, DST, DBT, CSIR, and other funding agencies and apex bodies - to mandate open access self-archiving of all publicly funded research? Best wishes. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ---------------------------------- From Peter Suber's blog Library groups support FRPAA Eight major North American library associations have released their July 12 letter to Sen. Susan Collins in support of FRPAA. The letter will soon be online here and here. Meantime I'm quoting from a copy that John Ober sent as an attachment to the ScholComm list. Excerpt: We write in strong support of the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 (S. 2695)....S. 2695 would promote widespread, affordable, and effective dissemination of scientific and scholarly research results. For this reason, we encourage the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to conduct hearings on S. 2695. Federally funded research is a public resource collected at public expense. Importantly, increased access to this research accelerates the pace of discovery and innovation and fosters economic growth. It is critical that this new research be readily available to physicians, researchers, and members of the public, including those who are unaffiliated with or working in locations remote from libraries that subscribe to in increasingly expensive journals and databases developed from federally funded research. Indeed, results of a recent Harris Interactive poll show that the majority of U.S. adults believe that federally funded research findings should be available for free to doctors and the general public.... [T]he Internet offers an unprecedented and cost-effective means to accelerate scientific advancement. S. 2695 recognizes this potential and helps to facilitate its realization. Its key beneficiaries include: a.. Scientists and scholars, whose research will be more broadly read and who will have fewer barriers to obtaining the research they need. b.. Funders, who will gain from accelerated discovery, facilitation of interdisciplinary research methodologies, preservation of vital research findings, and an improved capacity to manage their research portfolios. c.. Taxpayers, who will obtain economic and social benefits from the leveraging of their investment in scientific research through effects such as enhanced technology transfer, broader application of research to health care provision, and more informed policy development.... This legislation is not a threat to journals and the peer review process. The Federal Research Public Access Act contains two key provisions that protect journals and the peer review process: a.. A delay of up to six months in providing access to articles via the public archive (versus immediate access for journal readers). b.. Inclusion in the public archive of the author's final manuscript rather than the publisher's formatted, paginated version preferred for citation purposes. In some disciplines, freely accessible online archives have proven to supplement journal readership, not replace it. In physics, for example.... If Congress were to pass S. 2695, the most significant day-to-day effect on investigators would be improved access to research and increased impact for their own work. A growing number of studies demonstrate that research is cited more often when it is openly accessible on the Web. The process by which investigators deposit their work is expected to be relatively simple. NIH, for example, estimates that submitting a manuscript to their archive usually takes an investigator just 3-10 minutes. This legislation will not take funding away from research to any material extent. The NIH, for example, estimates that the cost of its public access program would be $3.5 million if 100% of the 65,000 eligible manuscripts were deposited annually. That is a tiny fraction (about 0.01%) of the agency's $28 billion budget. It is also a small fraction of the $30 million per year the agency spends on page charges and other subsidies to subscription-based journals.... The organizations signing the letter are the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), American Library Association (ALA), Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL), Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Medical Library Association (MLA), and the Special Libraries Association (SLA), and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC). Eight major North American Library Associations representing a vast majority of American and Canadian librarians are supporting open access. When will the Indian librarians lend their support to open access? When will they persuade the government - UGC, DST, DBT, CSIR, and other funding agencies and apex bodies - to mandate open access self-archiving of all publicly funded research? Best wishes. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ---------------------------------- From Peter Suber's blog Library groups support FRPAA Eight major North American library associations have released their July 12 letter to Sen. Susan Collins in support of http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.02695: FRPAA . The letter will soon be online http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/scholarlycomm/action.htm here and http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/washingtonwatch/washingtonwatch.htm#… here . Meantime I'm quoting from a copy that John Ober sent as an attachment to the http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/scholarlycomm/scholcommdiscussion.htm ScholComm list. Excerpt: We write in strong support of the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 (S. 2695)....S. 2695 would promote widespread, affordable, and effective dissemination of scientific and scholarly research results. For this reason, we encourage the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to conduct hearings on S. 2695. Federally funded research is a public resource collected at public expense. Importantly, increased access to this research accelerates the pace of discovery and innovation and fosters economic growth. It is critical that this new research be readily available to physicians, researchers, and members of the public, including those who are unaffiliated with or working in locations remote from libraries that subscribe to in increasingly expensive journals and databases developed from federally funded research. Indeed, results of a recent Harris Interactive poll show that the majority of U.S. adults believe that federally funded research findings should be available for free to doctors and the general public.... [T]he Internet offers an unprecedented and cost-effective means to accelerate scientific advancement. S. 2695 recognizes this potential and helps to facilitate its realization. Its key beneficiaries include: Scientists and scholars, whose research will be more broadly read and who will have fewer barriers to obtaining the research they need. Funders, who will gain from accelerated discovery, facilitation of interdisciplinary research methodologies, preservation of vital research findings, and an improved capacity to manage their research portfolios. Taxpayers, who will obtain economic and social benefits from the leveraging of their investment in scientific research through effects such as enhanced technology transfer, broader application of research to health care provision, and more informed policy development.... This legislation is not a threat to journals and the peer review process. The Federal Research Public Access Act contains two key provisions that protect journals and the peer review process: A delay of up to six months in providing access to articles via the public archive (versus immediate access for journal readers). Inclusion in the public archive of the authors final manuscript rather than the publishers formatted, paginated version preferred for citation purposes. In some disciplines, freely accessible online archives have proven to supplement journal readership, not replace it. In physics, for example.... If Congress were to pass S. 2695, the most significant day-to-day effect on investigators would be improved access to research and increased impact for their own work. A growing number of studies demonstrate that research is cited more often when it is openly accessible on the Web. The process by which investigators deposit their work is expected to be relatively simple. NIH, for example, estimates that submitting a manuscript to their archive usually takes an investigator just 310 minutes. This legislation will not take funding away from research to any material extent. The NIH, for example, estimates that the cost of its public access program would be $3.5 million if 100% of the 65,000 eligible manuscripts were deposited annually. That is a tiny fraction (about 0.01%) of the agency's $28 billion budget. It is also a small fraction of the $30 million per year the agency spends on page charges and other subsidies to subscription-based journals.... The organizations signing the letter are the American Association of Law Libraries ( http://www.aallnet.org/ AALL ), American Library Association ( http://www.ala.org/ ALA ), Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries ( http://www.aahsl.org/ AAHSL ), Association of College & Research Libraries ( http://www.ala.org/acrl/ ACRL ), Association of Research Libraries ( http://www.arl.org/ ARL ), Medical Library Association ( http://www.mlanet.org/ MLA ), and the Special Libraries Association ( http://www.sla.org/ SLA ), and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition ( http://www.arl.org/sparc/ SPARC ).

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Congrats to Stevan harnad
by Subbiah Arunachalam 22 Jul '06

22 Jul '06

Friends: Stevan Harnad has won an award for the best poem in English in a competition (for poems on science and technology) held at the recently held Euroscience Oen Forum, Munich. Here is the poem. Publish or Perish As Science is mere structured common sense (http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CAA38.htm) her means but trial-and-error made intense, the only virtue setting her apart, and raising her above (some think) mere Art, Is her convergence ever on consensus: collective, self-corrective her defenses. A flagellant, she boldly does defy Reality her schemes to falsify. And yet this noble jousting were in vain, and all this pain would yield no grain of gain if Science were content, a shrinking violet, her works from all the world 'ere to keep private. Instead, performance public and artistic, restraining all propensities autistic, perhaps less out of error-making dread, than banal need to earn her daily bread. For showbiz being what it is today, work's not enough, you've got to make it pay. What ratings, sweeps and polls count for our actors, no less than our elected benefactors, for Science the commensurate equation is not just publication but citation. The more your work is accessed, read and used, the higher then is reckoned its just dues. Sounds crass, but there may be some consolation, where there's still some residual motivation to make a difference, not just make a fee (http://openaccess.eprints.org/) the World Wide Web at last can make Science free. Stevan donated the 300 Euro he won to the Alliance for Taxpayer Access in the US so that, in his words "in a small way Euroscience (thanks to the Andrea von Braun Foundation) can lend a hand to promoting the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) in the United States. Subbiah Arunachalam Friends: Stevan Harnad has won an award for the best poem in English in a competition (for poems on science and technology) held at the recently held Euroscience Oen Forum, Munich. Here is the poem. Publish or Perish As Science is mere structured common sense ( http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CAA38.htm http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CAA38.htm ), her means but trial-and-error made intense, the only virtue setting her apart, and raising her above (some think) mere Art, Is her convergence ever on consensus: collective, self-corrective her defenses. A flagellant, she boldly does defy Reality her schemes to falsify. And yet this noble jousting were in vain, and all this pain would yield no grain of gain if Science were content, a shrinking violet, her works from all the world 'ere to keep private. Instead, performance public and artistic, restraining all propensities autistic, perhaps less out of error-making dread, than banal need to earn her daily bread. For showbiz being what it is today, work's not enough, you've got to make it pay. What ratings, sweeps and polls count for our actors, no less than our elected benefactors, for Science the commensurate equation is not just publication but citation. The more your work is accessed, read and used, the higher then is reckoned its just dues. Sounds crass, but there may be some consolation, where there's still some residual motivation to make a difference, not just make a fee ( http://openaccess.eprints.org/ http://openaccess.eprints.org/ ): the World Wide Web at last can make Science free. Stevan donated the 300 Euro he won to the Alliance for Taxpayer Access in the US so that, in his words "in a small way Euroscience (thanks to the Andrea von Braun Foundation) can lend a hand to promoting the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) in the United States. Subbiah Arunachalam

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Fwd: IFLA Knowledge Management Section newsletter now available!
by Bhojaraju G 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Karen Muller <kmuller(a)ala.org> Date: Jul 18, 2006 10:57 PM Subject: [KMDG-L] IFLA Knowledge Management Section newsletter now available! Colleagues-- The latest copy of the IFLA Knowledge Management Section newsletter, Issue no. 2, July 2006, is now available in PDF format from the IFLA website at the following location: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s47/pub/KM-Newsletter2.pdf For more information about the work of the IFLA Knowledge Management Section, please visit the IFLA website: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s47/index.htm Please accept my apologies for the cross-posting of this message. -- Karen Muller, MLS Librarian and Knowledge Management Specialist American Library Association 50 East Huron Street Chicago, IL 60611 USA kmuller(a)ala.org Toll free: 1-800-545-2433 x 5031 Direct: 312-280-5031 Fax: 312-280-3255 http://www.ala.org/library A "Gathering at the Waters" Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) October 11-15, 2006 in Dallas, TX. www.ala.org/jclc Regards Bhojaraju G Knowledge Management-Lead *********************************************************************************************************************************************************** Cognizant Technology Solutions | Techno Complex | 5/535, Old Mahabalipuram Road | Okkiyam | Thoraipakkam | Chennai – 600 096. Tel: +91 44 4209 6000 X: 8270 | VNET: 448279 | www.cognizant.com *********************************************************************************************************************************************************** KM Cyberary: http://www.bhojarajug.freeservers.com/cyberary.html KM-Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KM-Forum/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhojarajug ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Karen Muller < mailto:kmuller@ala.org kmuller(a)ala.org > Date: Jul 18, 2006 10:57 PM Subject: [KMDG-L] IFLA Knowledge Management Section newsletter now available! Colleagues-- The latest copy of the IFLA Knowledge Management Section newsletter, Issue no. 2, July 2006, is now available in PDF format from the IFLA website at the following location: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s47/pub/KM-Newsletter2.pdf http://www.ifla.org/VII/s47/pub/KM-Newsletter2.pdf For more information about the work of the IFLA Knowledge Management Section, please visit the IFLA website: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s47/index.htm http://www.ifla.org/VII/s47/index.htm Please accept my apologies for the cross-posting of this message. -- Karen Muller, MLS Librarian and Knowledge Management Specialist American Library Association 50 East Huron Street Chicago, IL 60611 USA mailto:kmuller@ala.org kmuller(a)ala.org Toll free: 1-800-545-2433 x 5031 Direct: 312-280-5031 Fax: 312-280-3255 http://www.ala.org/library http://www.ala.org/library A "Gathering at the Waters" Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) October 11-15, 2006 in Dallas, TX. http://www.ala.org/jclc www.ala.org/jclc Regards Bhojaraju G Knowledge Management-Lead *********************************************************************************************************************************************************** Cognizant Technology Solutions | Techno Complex | 5/535, Old Mahabalipuram Road | Okkiyam | Thoraipakkam | Chennai – 600 096. Tel: +91 44 4209 6000 X: 8270 | VNET: 448279 | http://www.cognizant.com www.cognizant.com *********************************************************************************************************************************************************** KM Cyberary: http://www.bhojarajug.freeservers.com/cyberary.html http://www.bhojarajug.freeservers.com/cyberary.html KM-Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KM-Forum/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KM-Forum/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhojarajug https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhojarajug

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Publications
by SRELS 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Dear Moderator : Kindly arrange to announce the publication of the following books by the Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science for the benefit of Lis-Forum Members. Yours sincerely, K.N. Prasad Executive Officer Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science 702, 42nd Cross, III Block, Rajajianagar, Bangalore 560 054 1.. Natural Language Processing : An Information Access perspective by Dr. Kavi Narayana Murthy (xiv+371,HB; ISBN: 81-7000-485-3; Rs.850/-) This is an introductory book on Natural Language Processing, also known as Computational Linguistics and Language Engineering. This is a highly multi-disciplinary field, borrowing as it does, from such varied disciplines as Linguistics, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence. Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics and Engineering. This book is aimed at beginners in any of the related subjects. The book is written in simple, easy-reading, almost conversational style. No background is assumed. It is hoped that this book will be useful for all those interested in human language computing. The book covers foundations of natural language processing as also applications such as Information Retrieval, Information Extraction, Text Categorization, Automatic Summarization and Machine Translation. Linguistic as well as statistical view points are included. Examples and illustrations are drawn from Indian Languages. Current state and future directions are indicated. There is enough material in the book to be used as a text book for a first course on the topic within library and information sciences, linguistics, computer science, artificial intelligence and other related disciplines. Parts of the book should also be useful for more advanced courses. 2.. Computer Based Library Information Systems Designing Techniques Revised Edition by Prof. Madan Mohan Kashyap (xiii+521, HB; ISBN : 81-7000-484-5; Rs. 1175.00) The Purpose of this book - Computer Based Library Information Systems Designing Techniques (Revised Edition) is to give accounts of systems theory to help one to understand the process of systems analysis and design as well as design better information technology based systems in libraries: to describe the methodology for conducting systems study and to explain the use and application of systems analysis and design tools and techniques. This book is written, keeping in mind the practicising librarians who are faced with the responsibility of evaluating library programs and procedures to identify the problem areas, that is, the situations where there are gaps or deviations between what is expected, what could or should be and find means to bridge the gaps. The second audience to whom this book is addressed is the library and information science students who may join a course in Computer Application in Libraries. Library Systems Analysis and Design or Library Systems Study and re-engineering Technique and Library Database Design and Development Approach. For Copies, please contact : Ess Ess Publications 4837/24, Ansari Road Darya ganj NEW DELHI 110 002 tEL: 011) 23260807 ; Fax : (011) 23274173 E-mail : info2essessreference.com url: http://www.essessreference.com Dear Moderator : Kindly arrange to announce the publication of the following books by the Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science for the benefit of Lis-Forum Members. Yours sincerely, K.N. Prasad Executive Officer Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science 702, 42 nd Cross, III Block, Rajajianagar, Bangalore 560 054 Natural Language Processing : An Information Access perspective by Dr. Kavi Narayana Murthy (xiv+371,HB; ISBN: 81-7000-485-3; Rs.850/-) This is an introductory book on Natural Language Processing, also known as Computational Linguistics and Language Engineering. This is a highly multi-disciplinary field, borrowing as it does, from such varied disciplines as Linguistics, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence. Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics and Engineering. This book is aimed at beginners in any of the related subjects. The book is written in simple, easy-reading, almost conversational style. No background is assumed. It is hoped that this book will be useful for all those interested in human language computing. The book covers foundations of natural language processing as also applications such as Information Retrieval, Information Extraction, Text Categorization, Automatic Summarization and Machine Translation. Linguistic as well as statistical view points are included. Examples and illustrations are drawn from Indian Languages. Current state and future directions are indicated. There is enough material in the book to be used as a text book for a first course on the topic within library and information sciences, linguistics, computer science, artificial intelligence and other related disciplines. Parts of the book should also be useful for more advanced courses. Computer Based Library Information Systems Designing Techniques Revised Edition by Prof. Madan Mohan Kashyap (xiii+521, HB; ISBN : 81-7000-484-5; Rs. 1175.00) The Purpose of this book Computer Based Library Information Systems Designing Techniques (Revised Edition) is to give accounts of systems theory to help one to understand the process of systems analysis and design as well as design better information technology based systems in libraries: to describe the methodology for conducting systems study and to explain the use and application of systems analysis and design tools and techniques. This book is written, keeping in mind the practicising librarians who are faced with the responsibility of evaluating library programs and procedures to identify the problem areas, that is, the situations where there are gaps or deviations between what is expected, what could or should be and find means to bridge the gaps. The second audience to whom this book is addressed is the library and information science students who may join a course in Computer Application in Libraries. Library Systems Analysis and Design or Library Systems Study and re-engineering Technique and Library Database Design and Development Approach. For Copies, please contact : Ess Ess Publications 4837/24, Ansari Road Darya ganj NEW DELHI 110 002 tEL: 011) 23260807 ; Fax : (011) 23274173 E-mail : info2essessreference.com url: http://www.essessreference.com http://www.essessreference.com

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ALA 2006 and Google
by Sukhdev Singh 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Some of you would like to know How Google is interested in libraries and librarians? They had just participated in American Library Association's annual conference in New Orleans. Check out some of the Movies at http://www.google.com/librariancenter/librarian_movies.html and well as at Google Video. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-894250368419059367&hl=en Enjoy Sukhdev Singh, NIC. http://openmed.nic.in

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Open access to research papers gets a boost - The Hindu
by Sanjo Jose 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Please have a look on The Hindu about "Open access to research papers gets a boost" at http://www.hindu.com/seta/2006/07/20/stories/2006072000031400.htm Also have info on Blu-ray media in "Hands-on with high definition". at http://www.hindu.com/seta/2006/07/20/stories/2006072000041400.htm\ Sanjo Jose --------------------------------- Find out what India is talking about on Yahoo! Answers India. http://www.hindu.com/seta/2006/07/20/stories/2006072000031400.htm Also have info on Blu-ray media in "Hands-on with high definition". at http://www.hindu.com/seta/2006/07/20/stories/2006072000041400.htm\ Sanjo Jose Find out what India is talking about on http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/in/mailanswersshare/*http://in.answers.yahoo.co… Yahoo! Answers India.

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Fwd: World Online Book Fair
by Bhojaraju G 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Dear All, Good news for book lovers. World's first Online Book Fair has started on 4 th July 06. This book fair will be for a month. E-books will be available for free access / download. Do not miss this opportunity! *http://worldebookfair.com/ * <http://worldebookfair.com/ > One can download the books from this site till Aug 4th, 2006. The World eBook Library Consortia Collection shelves more than 330,000 PDF eBooks in 100+ languages contained in 112 of the finest eBook and eDocument collections published on the Internet today. All the collections: http://worldebookfair.com/Collections.htm Technical E-Books: *http://worldebookfair.com/Technical_eBook_Colleciton.htm *<https://xnet.infosys.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://worldebookfair.co…> . Enjoy Reading.......... Thanks and Regards Bhojaraju G Knowledge Management-Lead ******************************************************************************************* KM Cyberary: http://www.bhojarajug.freeservers.com/cyberary.html KM-Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KM-Forum/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhojarajug Skype Me: bhojarajug Dear All, Good news for book lovers. World's first Online Book Fair has started on 4 th July 06. This book fair will be for a month. E-books will be available for free access / download. Do not miss this opportunity ! http://worldebookfair.com/ http://worldebookfair.com/ One can download the books from this site till Aug 4 th , 2006. The World eBook Library Consortia Collection shelves more than 330,000 PDF eBooks in 100+ languages contained in 112 of the finest eBook and eDocument collections published on the Internet today. All the collections: http://worldebookfair.com/Collections.htm http://worldebookfair.com/Collections.htm Technical E-Books : https://xnet.infosys.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://worldebookfair.co… http://worldebookfair.com/Technical_eBook_Colleciton.htm . Enjoy Reading.......... Thanks and Regards Bhojaraju G Knowledge Management-Lead ******************************************************************************************* KM Cyberary: http://www.bhojarajug.freeservers.com/cyberary.html http://www.bhojarajug.freeservers.com/cyberary.html KM-Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KM-Forum/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KM-Forum/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhojarajug https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhojarajug Skype Me: bhojarajug

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InfoNation: Choose a Career in Libraries
by Mailing List Manager 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:01:44 +0530 From: "Thapar, Amit" <amitt(a)niper.ac.in> http://www.cla.ca/infonation/welcome.htm Here's how the Canadians are recruiting people for the profession. Along with job descriptions and the skills for success, it offers real librarians ("trust us, you can't make this stuff up") talking about their work life, and a sampling of librarian blogs so people can see what issues librarians are talking about online. amit@urservice Cell: 9855701060 e-mail: amit_thapar(a)yahoo.com

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Prof. C N R Rao on the status of science in India (fwd)
by Mailing List Manager 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 07:07:18 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> >From The Indian Express, New Delhi. [Prof. C N R Rao is the President of TWAS, a Fellow of the Royal society and a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. He is the Chairman of the Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.] 'The best of us in government consider science as a budget item, possibly a non-productive expenditure' [Posted online: Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 0000 hrs] The past few months have seen science and technology, in various forms and at various levels, under threat from government action and policy. It prompted a letter from Prof CNR Rao, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, to Manmohan Singh expressing his concerns on the situation and suggestions for improvement. We publish extracts from the letter: For full story, visit http://www.indianexpress.com/story/8817.html

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Bill Gates puts an OA condition on AIDS research grants
by Subbiah Arunachalam 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Friends: Bill Gates supports open access once again! But details are awaited. Arun ------ From Peter Suber's blog "Open Access News" Bill Gates puts an OA condition on AIDS research grants >From yesterday's press release from the Gates Foundation on a new funding program for an HIV/AIDS vaccine. Five central facilities will be established, including three laboratory networks for measuring the immune responses elicited by vaccine candidates, a research specimen repository, and a data and statistical management center. As a condition for receiving funding, the newly-funded vaccine discovery consortia have agreed to use the central facilities to test vaccine candidates, share information with other investigators, and compare results using standardized benchmarks....In addition, the grantees are developing global access plans to help ensure that their discoveries will be accessible and affordable for developing countries, where the vast majority of new HIV infections occur. Also see Marilyn Chase, Gates Won't Fund AIDS Researchers Unless They Pool Data, Wall Street Journal, July 20, 2006 (accessible only to subscribers). Excerpt: Frustrated that over two decades of research have failed to produce an AIDS vaccine, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates is tying his foundation's latest, biggest AIDS-vaccine grants to a radical concept: Those who get the money must first agree to share the results of their work in short order.... So far, attempts to come up with a vaccine that produces protective antibodies to block infection by the wily and shape-shifting AIDS virus have been a "miserable failure," says Nick Hellmann, interim director of HIV projects at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Now, Mr. Gates's family foundation is putting $287 million new, five-year grants behind the notion that pooling results can surmount the massive technical hurdles that have hindered individual, sometimes-competing efforts....Through such data sharing, Dr. Hellmann says, rival teams can build on successes, avoid pitfalls and eliminate redundancy. Even so, he says that a vaccine is "at least 10 years away."... Grant recipients and outside observers were unsure whether data-sharing requirements of the grants could pose potential legal or patent conflicts with Mr. Gates's vow to respect intellectual property. Foundation officials said this week researchers would still be free to commercialize their discoveries, but they must develop access plans for people in the developing world. The foundation declined to make its attorney available to address these concerns.... Enforced data sharing, Dr. [Steve] Self predicted, "increases the pace of discovery enormously rather than waiting for the process of writing formal journal articles, waiting for them to be published, and [confirmed] by other labs."... Peter Suber's Comment. Kudos to the Gates Foundation. This is a big step forward, recognizing the truth that OA accelerates research and applying the principle that the more knowledge matters, the more OA to that knowledge matters. I have some questions about the program, but I expect that answers will emerge shortly. It's pretty clear that the Gates Foundation will host its own OA repository and require grantees to deposit their data in it. It appears that the requirement will apply only to data, not to articles published in peer-reviewed journals. I'd welcome clarification on that. I can't tell what steps the foundation will take, if any, to insure data interoperability. I can't tell whether the free online access will be universal, limited to developing countries, or some of each for different kinds of information. I'll blog more as I learn more. Friends: Bill Gates supports open access once again! But details are awaited. Arun ------ From Peter Suber's blog "Open Access News" Bill Gates puts an OA condition on AIDS research grants >From yesterday's http://www.gatesfoundation.org/GlobalHealth/Pri_Diseases/HIVAIDS/Announceme… press release from the http://www.gatesfoundation.org/ Gates Foundation on a new funding program for an HIV/AIDS vaccine. Five central facilities will be established, including three laboratory networks for measuring the immune responses elicited by vaccine candidates, a research specimen repository, and a data and statistical management center. As a condition for receiving funding, the newly-funded vaccine discovery consortia have agreed to use the central facilities to test vaccine candidates, share information with other investigators, and compare results using standardized benchmarks....In addition, the grantees are developing global access plans to help ensure that their discoveries will be accessible and affordable for developing countries, where the vast majority of new HIV infections occur. Also see Marilyn Chase, http://online.wsj.com/google_login.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Fa… Gates Won't Fund AIDS Researchers Unless They Pool Data , Wall Street Journal , July 20, 2006 (accessible only to subscribers). Excerpt: Frustrated that over two decades of research have failed to produce an AIDS vaccine, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates is tying his foundation's latest, biggest AIDS-vaccine grants to a radical concept: Those who get the money must first agree to share the results of their work in short order.... So far, attempts to come up with a vaccine that produces protective antibodies to block infection by the wily and shape-shifting AIDS virus have been a "miserable failure," says Nick Hellmann, interim director of HIV projects at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Now, Mr. Gates's family foundation is putting $287 million new, five-year grants behind the notion that pooling results can surmount the massive technical hurdles that have hindered individual, sometimes-competing efforts....Through such data sharing, Dr. Hellmann says, rival teams can build on successes, avoid pitfalls and eliminate redundancy. Even so, he says that a vaccine is "at least 10 years away."... Grant recipients and outside observers were unsure whether data-sharing requirements of the grants could pose potential legal or patent conflicts with Mr. Gates's vow to respect intellectual property. Foundation officials said this week researchers would still be free to commercialize their discoveries, but they must develop access plans for people in the developing world. The foundation declined to make its attorney available to address these concerns.... Enforced data sharing, Dr. [Steve] Self predicted, "increases the pace of discovery enormously rather than waiting for the process of writing formal journal articles, waiting for them to be published, and [confirmed] by other labs."... Peter Suber's Comment . Kudos to the Gates Foundation. This is a big step forward, recognizing the truth that OA accelerates research and applying the principle that the more knowledge matters, the more OA to that knowledge matters . I have some questions about the program, but I expect that answers will emerge shortly. It's pretty clear that the Gates Foundation will host its own OA repository and require grantees to deposit their data in it. It appears that the requirement will apply only to data, not to articles published in peer-reviewed journals. I'd welcome clarification on that. I can't tell what steps the foundation will take, if any, to insure data interoperability. I can't tell whether the free online access will be universal, limited to developing countries, or some of each for different kinds of information. I'll blog more as I learn more.

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Re: Alma Swan elected to Euroscience governing board
by Subbiah Arunachalam 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Congratulations Alma! You now have one more forum through which to advance the cause of open access. Arun ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stevan Harnad" <harnad(a)ECS.SOTON.AC.UK> To: <JISC-REPOSITORIES(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK> Sent: Friday, July 21, 2006 1:23 AM Subject: Alma Swan elected to Euroscience governing board > Reproduced from Peter Suber's Open Access News > http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2006_07_16_fosblogarchive.html#115341867… > > Alma Swan elected to Euroscience governing board > > Alma Swan has been elected to the Governing Board of Euroscience (the > European Association for the Promotion of Science & Technology). > http://www.euroscience.org/ > > Her election was announced at the Euroscience Open Forum 2006, which > concluded in Munich yesterday. > http://www.esof2006.org/ > > (BTW, the meeting had an important session on OA, organized by > Hélène Bosc.) > http://www.esof2006.org/scientific_session_detail.php4?ID=146 > > Alma is a biologist-turned-consultant on scholarly > communication with a commitment to the advance of science and its > communication. Her studies of open access for Key Perspectives are > among the most important empirical studies of OA to date. > http://www.keyperspectives.co.uk/openaccessarchive/reports.html > > Alma is also a member of Euroscience Working Group on Science > Publishing (convened by Hélène Bosc). > http://www.euroscience.org/WGROUPS/SC_PUBLISHING/index.htm > > Congratulations, Alma! > > Permanent link to this post Posted by Peter Suber at 7/20/2006 01:48:00 > PM. > http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2006_07_16_fosblogarchive.html#115341867…

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What is the 1% rule?
by ++ Mukesh Anand ++ 20 Jul '06

20 Jul '06

Dear Professionals You may find it interesting ! The Guardianhttp://www.guardian.co.uk What is the 1% rule? It's an emerging rule of thumb that suggests that if you get a group of 100 people online then one will create content, 10 will "interact" with it (commenting or offering improvements) and the other 89 will just view it. Consider, too, some statistics from that other community content generation project, Wikipedia: 50% of all Wikipedia article edits are done by 0.7% of users, and more than 70% of all articles have been written by just 1.8% of all users, according to the Church of the Customer blog (http://customerevangelists.typepad.com/blog/) Bradley Horowitz of Yahoo points out that much the same applies at Yahoo: in Yahoo Groups, the discussion lists, "1% of the user population might start a group; 10% of the user population might participate actively, and actually author content, whether starting a thread or responding to a thread-in-progress; 100% of the user population benefits from the activities of the above groups," So what's the conclusion? Only that you shouldn't expect too much online. Certainly, to echo Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come. The trouble, as in real life, is finding the builders. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1823959,00.html?gusrc=rss ++ Mukesh ++ - - Mukesh Anand Monitor Information Services http://monitorlinks.typepad.com Dear Professionals You may find it interesting ! The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk http://www.guardian.co.uk What is the 1% rule? It's an emerging rule of thumb that suggests that if you get a group of 100 people online then one will create content, 10 will "interact" with it (commenting or offering improvements) and the other 89 will just view it. Consider, too, some statistics from that other community content generation project, Wikipedia: 50% of all Wikipedia article edits are done by 0.7% of users, and more than 70% of all articles have been written by just 1.8% of all users, according to the Church of the Customer blog ( http://customerevangelists.typepad.com/blog/ http://customerevangelists.typepad.com/blog/ ). Bradley Horowitz of Yahoo points out that much the same applies at Yahoo: in Yahoo Groups, the discussion lists, "1% of the user population might start a group; 10% of the user population might participate actively, and actually author content, whether starting a thread or responding to a thread-in-progress; 100% of the user population benefits from the activities of the above groups," So what's the conclusion? Only that you shouldn't expect too much online. Certainly, to echo Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come. The trouble, as in real life, is finding the builders. http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1823959,00.html?gusrc=rss http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1823959,00.html?gusrc=rss ++ Mukesh ++ - - Mukesh Anand Monitor Information Services http://monitorlinks.typepad.com http://monitorlinks.typepad.com

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New Journal: "Journal of 9/11 Studies" (Jun 2006+
by Puttaraj Choukimath 20 Jul '06

20 Jul '06

Dear Friends, Greetings! New Journal Title : Journal of 9/11 Studies, Vol.1. Jun 2006. Editors : Prof. Steven E. Jones & Prof. Judy D. Wood. Availability : The Journal of 9/11 Studies is a peer-reviewed, open-access, electronic-only journal covering the whole of research related to 9/11/2001. All content is freely available online. Please Visit : http://www.journalof911studies.com/ Best Regards, Puttaraj. Mr.Puttaraj, A. C. Asst. Librarian (Periodicals) SDTM Library, TATA Institute of Social Sciences, P.B. No.8313, Deonar, MUMBAI - 400 088 INDIA Tel: +91-22-2556 3290, Ext.285 (O) Fax: +91-22-2556 2912 Email: puttuc(a)yahoo.com, choukimath(a)tiss.edu URL: www.tiss.edu --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Next-gen email? Have it all with the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta. Dear Friends, Greetings! New Journal Title : Journal of 9/11 Studies, Vol.1. Jun 2006. Editors : Prof. Steven E. Jones & Prof. Judy D. Wood. Availability : The Journal of 9/11 Studies is a peer-reviewed, open-access, electronic-only journal covering the whole of research related to 9/11/2001 . All content is freely available online. Please Visit : http://www.journalof911studies.com/ http://www.journalof911studies.com/ Best Regards, Puttaraj. Mr.Puttaraj, A. C. Asst. Librarian (Periodicals) SDTM Library, TATA Institute of Social Sciences, P.B. No.8313, Deonar, MUMBAI - 400 088 INDIA Tel: +91-22-2556 3290, Ext.285 (O) Fax: +91-22-2556 2912 Email: mailto:puttuc@yahoo.com puttuc(a)yahoo.com , mailto:choukimath@tiss.edu choukimath(a)tiss.edu URL: http://www.tiss.edu www.tiss.edu Do you Yahoo!? Next-gen email? Have it all with the http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=42241/*http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/handr… all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.

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Position Announcement for Library & Website Management Specialist
by Maruthu Pandian 20 Jul '06

20 Jul '06

Dear Friends Position Announcement for Library & Website Management Specialist The Urban Health Resource Centre (UHRC) is committed to address the needs of the urban poor by working with key partners to raise awareness and mobilizing resources for improving health of the urban poor. UHRC has been institutionalized from the USAID-supported Environmental Health Project (EHP India) and continues the program activities of EHP India with ongoing USAID support. The goal of UHRC is to bring about sustainable improvements in Maternal and Child Health conditions among the Urban Poor through a consultative and knowledge sharing approach in partnership with Government and Civil Society. A major component of UHRCs activity is to enhance attention on health of the urban poor among government and non-government agencies and academic institutions through increased dissemination of urban poor specific health information. Position - 1 : Library & Website Management Specialist UHRC is looking for a dynamic individual to manage its Library & Information Centre and website. UHRC Library has a growing collection of urban health related literature. UHRC website available at www.uhrc.in is a favored location of researchers and program planners related to various aspects of urban health. Key Responsibility: Ø The incumbent will be managing the library, Ø Providing information services to UHRC staff, Ø Assisting in publication of UHRC reports, Ø Disseminating UHRC publications widely through print and electronic media, Ø Periodically update and maintain the website, prepare e-newsletters, etc. Essential Qualification & Skills The right candidate should be a post-graduate, preferably in Public Health/Social Science, with a degree in Library and Information Science or AIS from NISCAIR. He/she should have basic understanding of content management systems and open source software. He/she should be a team player with good verbal and written communication skills. Experience 2 year+ experience working in library/information management/website management, preferably in development sector Compensation: Gross cost to the organization ranging from Rs.18,000/-pm to Rs.21,000/-pm based on qualification and experience. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Applications can be sent by email to jobs(a)uhrc.in or by post to Urban Health Resource Centre (UHRC), F 9/4 Vasant Vihar, New Delhi 110057 latest by July 30,2006. With Regards, Maruthu Pandian, B Urban Health Resource Centre F-9/4, Vasant Vihar New Delhi-57 Ph:011-4101 0920,4101 0921(Ext.245) Fax:011-4166 9281 --------------------------------- Find out what India is talking about on Yahoo! Answers India. Position Announcement for Library & Website Management Specialist The Urban Health Resource Centre (UHRC) is committed to address the needs of the urban poor by working with key partners to raise awareness and mobilizing resources for improving health of the urban poor. UHRC has been institutionalized from the USAID-supported Environmental Health Project (EHP India) and continues the program activities of EHP India with ongoing USAID support. The goal of UHRC is to bring about sustainable improvements in Maternal and Child Health conditions among the Urban Poor through a consultative and knowledge sharing approach in partnership with Government and Civil Society. A major component of UHRCs activity is to enhance attention on health of the urban poor among government and non-government agencies and academic institutions through increased dissemination of urban poor specific health information. Position - 1 : Library & Website Management Specialist UHRC is looking for a dynamic individual to manage its Library & Information Centre and website. UHRC Library has a growing collection of urban health related literature. UHRC website available at www.uhrc.in is a favored location of researchers and program planners related to various aspects of urban health. Key Responsibility: Ø The incumbent will be managing the library, Ø Providing information services to UHRC staff, Ø Assisting in publication of UHRC reports, Ø Disseminating UHRC publications widely through print and electronic media, Ø Periodically update and maintain the website, prepare e-newsletters, etc. Essential Qualification & Skills The right candidate should be a post-graduate, preferably in Public Health/Social Science, with a degree in Library and Information Science or AIS from NISCAIR. He/she should have basic understanding of content management systems and open source software. He/she should be a team player with good verbal and written communication skills. Experience 2 year+ experience working in library/information management/website management, preferably in development sector Compensation: Gross cost to the organization ranging from Rs.18,000/-pm to Rs.21,000/-pm based on qualification and experience. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Applications can be sent by email to jobs(a)uhrc.in or by post to Urban Health Resource Centre (UHRC), F 9/4 Vasant Vihar, New Delhi 110057 latest by July 30,2006. With Regards, Maruthu Pandian, B Urban Health Resource Centre F-9/4, Vasant Vihar New Delhi-57 Ph:011-4101 0920,4101 0921(Ext.245) Fax:011-4166 9281 Find out what India is talking about on http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/in/mailanswersshare/*http://in.answers.yahoo.co… Yahoo! Answers India.

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Need some info....
by Parinita Samant 20 Jul '06

20 Jul '06

Dear All, Here's a question I would like to have an answer to: Say, you are on a short (2 hrs) or a long (20 hrs) flight / train / car etc journey. How would you like to, or how would you spend your time? I am planning to build a separate section for our frequent travelers, and need ideas for building this collection. Could you help? Thanks & Regards Parinita Samant *************************************************************************************************************************** This e-mail communication and any attachments may be privileged and confidential to Hexaware and are intended only for the use of the recipients named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not review, disclose, disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail and attachments. If you have received this email in error, please delete the same alongwith all attachments thereto and notify us immediately at mailadmin(a)hexaware.com . *************************************************************************************************************************** Need some info.... Dear All, Here’s a question I would like to have an answer to : Say, y ou are on a short (2 hrs) or a long (20 hrs) f light / train / car etc journey. How would you like to , or how would you spend your time? I am planning to build a separate section for our frequent travelers , and need ideas for building this collection. Could you help? [A] Thanks &� Regards � Parinita Samant *************************************************************************************************************************** This e-mail communication and any attachments may be privileged and confidential to Hexaware and are intended only for the use of the recipients named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not review, disclose, disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail and attachments. If you have received this email in error, please delete the same alongwith all attachments thereto and notify us immediately at mailadmin(a)hexaware.com . ***************************************************************************************************************************

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Request for MBA (E-commerce) Syllabus
by Dabas Bharat K 20 Jul '06

20 Jul '06

Dear Sir/Madam, Good Morning! Our university is planning to start MBA (E-commerce). If any of the institute is presently running the course is requested to send a soft copy of the syllabus to help us in framing a competitive and up-to-date syllabus. With great thanks and regards! Bharat Kumar Librarian Mody Institute of Technology & Science Lakshmangarh â 332311, Disst â Sikar, Rajasthan Phone no - 01573-225001-12 (12 Lines) Ext 283 (M) +91-9414390757 Bharat Kumar Librarian Mody Institute of Technology & Science (A Deemed University u/s 3 of the UGC Act 1956) Lakshmangarh - 332311. Disst - Sikar. Rajasthan. India. Phone No - (O) +91-1573-225001-12 Ext-283 (M) +91-9414390757 --------------------------------- Groups are talking. We´re listening. Check out the handy changes to Yahoo! Groups. Dear Sir/Madam, Good Morning! Our university is planning to start MBA (E-commerce). If any of the institute is presently running the course is requested to send a soft copy of the syllabus to help us in framing a competitive and up-to-date syllabus. With great thanks and regards! Bharat Kumar Librarian Mody Institute of Technology & Science Lakshmangarh â 332311, Disst â Sikar, Rajasthan Phone no - 01573-225001-12 (12 Lines) Ext 283 (M) +91-9414390757 B harat Kumar Librarian Mody Institute of Technology & Science (A Deemed University u/s 3 of the UGC Act 1956) Lakshmangarh - 332311. Disst - Sikar. Rajasthan. India. Phone No - (O) +91-1573-225001-12 Ext-283 (M) +91-9414390757 Groups are talking. We´re listening. Check out the http://pa.yahoo.com/*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=41144/*http://groups.yahoo.… handy changes to Yahoo! Groups.

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Refresher Course
by Mailing List Manager 20 Jul '06

20 Jul '06

Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2006 17:39:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Pijushkanti Panigrahi <panigrahipk(a)yahoo.com> Department of Library and Information Science, University of Calcutta UGC-Academic Staff College, University of Calcutta is going to organize a refresher course on Academic Library Services : Today and Tomorrow during September 01-21, 2006 at the Department of Library & Information Science, 3rd Floor Asutosh Building, University of Calcutta, 87/1 College Street, Kolkata. All eligible and interested Librarians/ Asstt Librarians/ Lecturers are advised to apply directly on prescribed Application form (downloadable from http://www.geocities.com/ugc_asc_cu/selected.htm) to: The Director Academic Staff College, University of Calcutta, Rajabazar science College, 92 A P C Road, Kolkata immediately. Prof Arjun Dasgupta Dr Pijushkanti Panigrahi Co ordinators, DLISc, Cacutta University Dr Pijushkanti Panigrahi, Reader, Dept of Lib and Inf Science, University of Calcutta, 87/1 College Street,Kolkata - 700 073, West Bengal, India, email : panigrahipk(a)yahoo.com, Res : Qtr No. C1/78 IIT Campus, Kharagpur - 721 302, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India, Ph : +91 (03222) 278852 (M) : +91 94342 43522.

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