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EC report on sci publishing
by Subbiah Arunachalam 12 Apr '06

12 Apr '06

From Information Today Arun ------ European Commission Releases Key Scientific Publishing Report by Robin Peek April 10, 2006 - The European Commission has finally released its report on scientific publishing and now has firmly placed itself in the international discussion of where such publishing should go in the future. In June 2004, the European Commission began a study to examine the economic and technical evolution of scientific publishing in Europe. Originally the results were going to be made available in 2005, but the final report was released in January 2006. It was only made available to the public on March 31, 2006. The study was carried out by a consortium led by Mathias Dewatripont of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. The study, undertaken by the directorate-general for research, sought to determine the conditions for "optimum" operation of the scientific sector and to assess how the Commission could help meet those conditions. European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik said: "It is in all our interests to find a model for scientific publication that serves research excellence. We are ready to work with readers, authors, publishers, and funding bodies to develop such a model." It was not the intent of this study to replicate the "voluminous existing literature" but to focus upon the "state of the art." In the balance, this report does a good job of not hammering us over the head with things that are already well-known and well-reported. However, this is not a frothy report, and the analysis in this 100-page document is from an economic perspective. This report even tackled the thorny issue of long-term preservation, which is largely absent from many other discussions. The report acknowledged that much of the scientific research conducted in Europe is publicly funded and hence recommended that access to such research should be guaranteed. The report contains numerous recommendations; there are too many to be listed here. But some are noteworthy because they validate other proposals or offer new insights into mechanisms for guiding the future of scholarly research. The first recommendation is: "Guarantee public access to publicly-funded research shortly after publication." Note that the following actions could be taken at the European level: "Establish a European policy mandating published articles arising from EC-funded research to be available after a given time period in open access archives." Secondly, explore with Member States and with European research and academic associations whether and how such policies and open repositories could be implemented. Next, the report encouraged that there be a "level-playing field" so that different business models in publishing can compete fairly in the market. "It seems desirable to allow for experimentation and competition between various possible business models." The report noted that monies should be allocated to libraries to subscribe to reader or library-pay journals "but also to authors to pay for publication costs in author-pay journals, and to researchers in the reader-pay model." The report also recommended that ranking of journal quality be raised beyond "scientific quality, stritco sensu." While citation counts should remain the dominant criterion, "dimensions related to the quality of dissemination (self-archiving authorization, publisher archiving provisions, copyright provisions, abstracting and indexing services, reference linking, etc.) could be tracked explicitly and possibly valued by research funding bodies." Another recommendation is to guarantee perennial access to scholarly journal digital archives by promoting the creation of "not-for-profit long-term preservation archives which balance interests among publishers, libraries, and scholars." To this end, the report encourages an investigation into the feasibility/desirability of creating a European preservation organization that would be "JSTOR-like." The report recommended the promotion of pro-competitive pricing strategies, noting that the limited savings that libraries obtain for canceling subscriptions "does make it hard for newcomers to have access to library budgets." It is suggested that simple rules could be followed. For example, the "price of electronic access should not depend on the historical number of print subscriptions" but instead should be related to "transparent indicators, like usage or the number of faculty [and] students, as is the case for JSTOR." In addition, the development of electronic publications should be promoted by eliminating the "unfavorable tax treatment of electronic publications" by either reducing the VAT rate or introducing a tax refund. The differences in VAT rates applied to print versus electronic journals "induced a bias in the libraries' decisions to continue subscribing to print journals, along with the electronic version." The authors noted that the "higher rate applied to electronic delivery of information in Europe strongly affects European research institutions, especially when compared to other countries where electronic services are exempt from tax." Furthermore, public funding and public-private partnerships should be formed to create journal digital archives in areas when there is little commercial interest, such as in the social sciences and the humanities. The report also strongly favored the development of open access archives, noting that they provide "immediate, free, and maximal access to research results, whether published or not, to anyone with an Internet connection." And, those institutional repositories contribute to "raise the profile of the institutions, making their research output visible and accessible, and provide a potential research assessment tool." In turn, this enhanced visibility and accessibility "may lead to higher citation," noting that recent studies show that open access increases impact. However, there are concerns about the archival quality of the open access archives. Observing that the installation costs are low, the "maintenance costs are more difficult to plan, as they will vary with the number of records, and the long term preservation purposes." Specific actions at the European level to improve visibility include "establish[ing] a European policy mandating articles funded from European sources to be available in open access archives, for instance by mean of author's self-archiving." Also, there is a need to "specify standards that will insure that the archives are [accessible], interoperable, and have cross-searching facilities. In addition, set up a general European archive for researchers with access to a subject-based or institutional archive." The European Commission is keen to hear the views of all interested parties. It is therefore calling for reactions to the study and contributions on other issues linked to scientific publications. Contributions should be sent to rtd-scientific-publication(a)cec.eu.int by June 1, 2006. The study and its public feedback will be at the center of a conference on scientific publication to be held in autumn 2006. SINAPSE, the Web interface between the scientific community and Europe's policymakers, will also host a debate on the subject. (See the SINAPSE Web site at http://europa.eu.int/sinapse.) The study, entitled "Study on the economic and technical evolution of the scientific publication markets in Europe," is available for downloading at http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/pdf/scientific-publicati…. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robin Peek is associate professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College. She is also writes the Focus on Publishing column for Information Today. She can be reached at robin.peek(a)simmons.edu. From Information Today Arun ------ European Commission Releases Key Scientific Publishing Report by Robin Peek April 10, 2006 The European Commission has finally released its report on scientific publishing and now has firmly placed itself in the international discussion of where such publishing should go in the future. In June 2004, the European Commission began a study to examine the economic and technical evolution of scientific publishing in Europe. Originally the results were going to be made available in 2005, but the final report was released in January 2006. It was only made available to the public on March 31, 2006. The study was carried out by a consortium led by Mathias Dewatripont of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. The study, undertaken by the directorate-general for research, sought to determine the conditions for optimum operation of the scientific sector and to assess how the Commission could help meet those conditions. European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: It is in all our interests to find a model for scientific publication that serves research excellence. We are ready to work with readers, authors, publishers, and funding bodies to develop such a model. It was not the intent of this study to replicate the voluminous existing literature but to focus upon the state of the art. In the balance, this report does a good job of not hammering us over the head with things that are already well-known and well-reported. However, this is not a frothy report, and the analysis in this 100-page document is from an economic perspective. This report even tackled the thorny issue of long-term preservation, which is largely absent from many other discussions. The report acknowledged that much of the scientific research conducted in Europe is publicly funded and hence recommended that access to such research should be guaranteed. The report contains numerous recommendations; there are too many to be listed here. But some are noteworthy because they validate other proposals or offer new insights into mechanisms for guiding the future of scholarly research. The first recommendation is: Guarantee public access to publicly-funded research shortly after publication. Note that the following actions could be taken at the European level: Establish a European policy mandating published articles arising from EC-funded research to be available after a given time period in open access archives. Secondly, explore with Member States and with European research and academic associations whether and how such policies and open repositories could be implemented. Next, the report encouraged that there be a level-playing field so that different business models in publishing can compete fairly in the market. It seems desirable to allow for experimentation and competition between various possible business models. The report noted that monies should be allocated to libraries to subscribe to reader or library-pay journals but also to authors to pay for publication costs in author-pay journals, and to researchers in the reader-pay model. The report also recommended that ranking of journal quality be raised beyond scientific quality, stritco sensu. While citation counts should remain the dominant criterion, dimensions related to the quality of dissemination (self-archiving authorization, publisher archiving provisions, copyright provisions, abstracting and indexing services, reference linking, etc.) could be tracked explicitly and possibly valued by research funding bodies. Another recommendation is to guarantee perennial access to scholarly journal digital archives by promoting the creation of not-for-profit long-term preservation archives which balance interests among publishers, libraries, and scholars. To this end, the report encourages an investigation into the feasibility/desirability of creating a European preservation organization that would be JSTOR-like. The report recommended the promotion of pro-competitive pricing strategies, noting that the limited savings that libraries obtain for canceling subscriptions does make it hard for newcomers to have access to library budgets. It is suggested that simple rules could be followed. For example, the price of electronic access should not depend on the historical number of print subscriptions but instead should be related to transparent indicators, like usage or the number of faculty [and] students, as is the case for JSTOR. In addition, the development of electronic publications should be promoted by eliminating the unfavorable tax treatment of electronic publications by either reducing the VAT rate or introducing a tax refund. The differences in VAT rates applied to print versus electronic journals induced a bias in the libraries decisions to continue subscribing to print journals, along with the electronic version. The authors noted that the higher rate applied to electronic delivery of information in Europe strongly affects European research institutions, especially when compared to other countries where electronic services are exempt from tax. Furthermore, public funding and public-private partnerships should be formed to create journal digital archives in areas when there is little commercial interest, such as in the social sciences and the humanities. The report also strongly favored the development of open access archives, noting that they provide immediate, free, and maximal access to research results, whether published or not, to anyone with an Internet connection. And, those institutional repositories contribute to raise the profile of the institutions, making their research output visible and accessible, and provide a potential research assessment tool. In turn, this enhanced visibility and accessibility may lead to higher citation, noting that recent studies show that open access increases impact. However, there are concerns about the archival quality of the open access archives. Observing that the installation costs are low, the maintenance costs are more difficult to plan, as they will vary with the number of records, and the long term preservation purposes. Specific actions at the European level to improve visibility include establish[ing] a European policy mandating articles funded from European sources to be available in open access archives, for instance by mean of authors self-archiving. Also, there is a need to specify standards that will insure that the archives are [accessible], interoperable, and have cross-searching facilities. In addition, set up a general European archive for researchers with access to a subject-based or institutional archive. The European Commission is keen to hear the views of all interested parties. It is therefore calling for reactions to the study and contributions on other issues linked to scientific publications. Contributions should be sent to rtd-scientific-publication(a)cec.eu.int by June 1, 2006. The study and its public feedback will be at the center of a conference on scientific publication to be held in autumn 2006. SINAPSE, the Web interface between the scientific community and Europes policymakers, will also host a debate on the subject. (See the SINAPSE Web site at http://europa.eu.int/sinapse http://europa.eu.int/sinapse .) The study, entitled Study on the economic and technical evolution of the scientific publication markets in Europe, is available for downloading at http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/pdf/scientific-publicati… http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/pdf/scientific-publicati… . Robin Peek is associate professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College. She is also writes the Focus on Publishing column for Information Today . She can be reached at mailto:robin.peek@simmons.edu robin.peek(a)simmons.edu .

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A LIBRI article on OA
by arun＠mssrf.res.in 12 Apr '06

12 Apr '06

Friends: An article in LIBRI, Vol. 56, No. 1, March 2006 questions the value of OA to developing country scientists. Here is the abstract of the article, followed by my response. "The Other Side of the Coin for Open Access Publishing - A Developing Country View" by JENNIFER PAPIN-RAMCHARAN AND RICHARD A DAWE Abstract. This article presents the Open Access publishing experience of researchers in an academic research institution, in a developing country, Trinidad and Tobago, namely at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine Campus. It considers UWI researchers' knowledge of Open Access, their access to the scholarly literature, Open Access Archives/Repositories at UWI and related issues of Research and Library funding and Information Communication Technology (ICT) Infrastructure/ Internet connectivity. The article concludes that whilst Open Access publishing yields some obvious and well-documented benefits for developing country researchers, including free access to research articles and increased impact and visibility of "published" Open Access articles, there are some disincentives that militate against developing country researchers fully contributing to the global body of knowledge via Open Access. It finds that Open Access Journals are beneficial for scholars who consume information but are of little benefit for developing country scholars wanting to publish in these journals because of the high cost of page charges. Inadequate and unreliable ICT infrastructure and Internet connectivity also often limit access to information. It concludes that because of technical, financial, human and infrastructural limitations, Open Access via the Green Road of self-archiving is also often not an option for developing country researchers. These researchers are therefore unable to reap the real benefits, of making their research Open Access, that of increased impact and visibility. This study is to develop and evaluate methods and instruments for assessing the usability of digital libraries. It discusses the dimensions of usability, what methods have been applied in evaluating usability of digital libraries, their applicability, and criteria. It is found in the study that there exists an interlocking relationship among effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. It provides operational criteria for effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, and learnability. It discovers users' criteria on "ease of use," "organization of information," "terminology and labeling," "visual attractiveness," and "mistake recovery." Common causes of "user lostness" were found. "Click cost" was examined. Arun's response. 1. Not all OA journals charge author side publication fees. PLoS and BMC do charge author fees. But the majority of OA journals do not charge authors. Not a single Indian OA journal charges authors, for example. In most cases, even those journals which charge authors exempt authors from developing countries if the authors make a request to waive the fees. 2. There are technical problems - such as low bandwidths and high costs, I agree. But things are improving. Moore's law is making it possible to bring down the costs of both computers and connectivity. We have seen dramatic improvements in India in the past two decades. When I was in the university, people had to wait for years to get a telephone connection and even pay bribes! But Mr Sam Pitroda made it possible for us to have STD telephone booths in every town and most villages. The advent of many private players in the telecom sector and the independent telecom regulatory authority made it possible to bring down the costs of telephone calls. Mnay higher educational institutions and research labs have reasonable Internet access. Surely there is scope for improvement, but the situation is not bad. 3. What we need are people who will not throw up their hands when faced with even minor challenges. People who will work hard to achieve what they think is good for them. If OA is inherently goodfor science, scholarship and education in the developing world, then we should all work towards achieving it. We need people who can talk to their Ministers and policymakers about the need to adopt OA in a big way and explain why. We need people who can impress upon their governments the need to provide high bandwidth Internet access to higher education and research institutes. We need teachers and librarians who can take advantage of all that is good and available free on the Net such as the Open Course Ware (of MIT and other universities) and all the OAI-compliant archives. We need people who can motivate scientists and doctoral students to adopt the culture of OA in a big way. About a century ago USA was a large territory with no notable scientific achievement. By the Second World War the USA became a formidable powerhouse of scientific research. If USA can do it, the rest of us can do it too. Let us try. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam]

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Attracting youth to science - the UK example
by arun＠mssrf.res.in 11 Apr '06

11 Apr '06

Friends: If India is to become a knowledge society we need to build our S&T enterprise. To do that we need to attract our bright young students to take up science and engineering courses. In Britain the RCUK is doing something about attracting youth to science. We may adopt it in India. Regards. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ----------------------- Research Councils launch strategy for science in society The eight UK Research Councils today publish their joint Science in Society strategy. The strategy document and accompanying highlights booklet, available at: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/sis/strategy.htm, outline both the Research Councils achievements of embedding science in society within their activities, and their plans for the future. Professor Ian Diamond, Chair of Research Councils UK, said: "The Research Councils invest large amounts of public money in research that affects everyones lives. By working together to actively engage with the public, who ultimately pay for the research we fund, we aim to raise awareness of science and innovation and find out what matters to them. The Research Councils have been at the forefront of science in society activities for many years and we plan to build on these achievements in the future." The science in society strategy consists of four strands, which provide a framework for the Research Councils to work together: finding out what people think; reaching young people and teachers; encouraging researchers to engage with the public and keeping people informed and up-to-date. The highlights booklet also details particularly successful projects and profiles some of the individuals who are the public face of research in the UK. The new faces of UK research include people such as 27 year-old Tim Gabriel. Tim is a lecturer in chemistry at the University of Huddersfield and a member of a team that aims to enthuse 14-18 years in science and engineering. Tim commented: "I can make young people sit up by putting what they learn at school in a different, fun way, and showing them how to enjoy the real chemistry which is often buried beneath the stereotypes of Bunsen burners and white coats." Professor Diamond added, "This strategy highlights the importance of the Research Councils UK Science in Society Unit which, by providing a gateway to the science in society activities and managing cross-council programmes is underpinning the individual work within each Council."

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Science in the UK
by arun＠mssrf.res.in 11 Apr '06

11 Apr '06

Friends: UK is doing well in science, says a recent report commissioned by the Office of Science and Technology. Especially in biology and health it is doing better than USA (if adjusted for investments made). Regards. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ---------------------- Research Councils welcome new report on high impact of UK research A new report on the performance of the UK research base has today shown that in some areas the impact of UK research has surpassed the United States. This represents a clear indication of the high impact of UK research according to the Research Councils, who together invest over £2.5 billion a year in research. The PSA metrics data report, commissioned by the Office of Science and Technology, shows that relative to investment in research the UK produces around 9 per cent of the worlds PhDs and papers and achieves 12 per cent of the worlds academic citations. Research productivity within the UK research community is the highest of any G8 country and ranks third globally. In 2004, the UK had the highest citation impact in biology and health. Professor Julia Goodfellow, speaking on behalf of Research Councils UK, the strategic partnership of the eight Councils, said: "I am very pleased to see that the impact of UK research is not only very high but in terms of our proportion of global citations, it is also rising. Biology and medicine are both outstanding highlights but across the board UK research is delivering high impact results for the investment being made." "However, we must make sure that we are not complacent. For example Germany has more PhD students, and we have to be aware of the obvious rise of China. It is important that both Government and private sector investment in research and development grows in the future and we invest in growing capacity in areas where we currently have skills shortages," Professor Goodfellow warned. The full report PSA target metrics for the UK research base, is available from the Office of Science of Technology: http://www.ost.gov.uk/research/funding/psa_metrics_report.pdf

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GLIC Invitation
by prafulla tv 11 Apr '06

11 Apr '06

Invitation Library Founding Committee, Gundrampally extends a hearty welcome to you to the inauguration of Gundrampally Library and Information Centre (GLIC) on Friday, April 14, 2006 at 8.30 am at Gundrampally Shri Chukka Ramaiah garu, eminent educationist, has kindly consented to declare open the library. Shri Gade Vinod Reddy garu, Chairman, Zilla Granthalaya Samstha, Nalgonda district, would light the lamp. This function would be graced by several peoples representatives and officials such as Shri Cherkupally Chandraiah garu, Sarpanch, Gundrampally, Shri A. Dayakara Reddy garu, Vice Chairman, DCMS, Nalgonda, Shri Banda Kishtaiah garu, Vice President, Mandala Parishat, Chityal, Shri Muralidhar garu, MEO, Chityal, Shri M. Manoj Kumar garu, Secretary, Zilla Granthalaya Samstha, Nalgonda and Shri Venkateshwar Reddy garu, SI, Chityal. Two eminent teachers, namely Professor N. Laxman Rao garu, Ph.D. (Department of Library & Information Science, Osmania University, Hyderabad) and Professor V. Chandrasekhara Rao garu, Ph.D. (Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences & Professor, Department of Library and Information Science, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad) would be participating in this meeting as special invitees and address the gathering. GLIC is the first library that is coming up under the 100 Village/School Libraries project launched by the Organization for the Protection of Libraries, a library advocacy group based in Hyderabad. Dr. A Kishore garu, President of OPLib, its other office bearers and library workers of OPLib would also be attending this function. An Appeal We are happy to inform you that Shri L.S. Venkatesh garu, General Manager, Edutech India Pvt Ltd, Chennai had donated an amount of Rs.5000 towards the establishment of GLIC. Library Founding Committee expresses its grateful thanks to Shri Venkatesh garu for his generosity which was instrumental in speeding up the process of establishing this library. We appeal to all library lovers to donate generously for strengthening this library. The immediate requirements of GLIC are: 1. Steel book racks 2. Reading tables/chairs 3. Development of good book collection consisting of classic works in Telugu literature 4. Development of reference books collection (dictionaries, encyclopaedias, directories, GK books, etc.) 5. 2-3 computer systems for introducing internet-based information services and for training the people on internet searching. If your donations are communicated to us by April 13, 2006, that would help us to announce the same in the inaugural function. ________________________________________________________________________ We extend a hearty welcome to one and all to the inaugural function of GLIC! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Microsoft's service to compete with Google Scholar
by arun＠mssrf.res.in 10 Apr '06

10 Apr '06

>From Peter Suber's blog: Microsoft Academic Search coming tomorrow The buzz has already started (1, 2, 3, 4), for tomorrow's release of Microsoft Academic Search, which will crawl academic journals, databases, and repositories. Peter Suber comments: I was one of many people Microsoft consulted about MAS. Don't think clone of Google Scholar. Think rival in the same space, competition that should --eventually-- crawl more content and offer more services to users.

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OA at CERN, Geneva
by arun＠mssrf.res.in 10 Apr '06

10 Apr '06

Congratulations to CERN, Geneva, and its OA champions. Arun ----- >From Peter Suber's blog: Profile of the CERN librarians Heather Morrison, The CERN Library Team: an OA Inspiration! OA Librarian, April 9, 2006. The latest installment of Heather's celebration of librarians who work for OA. Excerpt: CERN - the worlds largest particle physics laboratory and birthplace of the World Wide Web, and the CERN Library Team - currently led by Jens Vigen, has been a leader in the open dissemination of scientific results since its inception decades ago. CERNs free distribution of preprints in paper format has evolved with the technologies available, from FTP to World Wide Web distribution, to the current OAI-compliant CERN Document Server (CDS). If any discipline could afford to rest on its OA laurels, you would think it would be physics! The CERN Library Team, however, is not resting on its laurels at all, but continues to lead the way, from OA via self-archiving to a current push towards full OA publishing (and self-archiving, too). Accomplishments of the CERN library team include: [1] The CDS - CERN Document Server repository - as of April 9, 2006, CDS contains over 800,000 bibliographic records, including 360,000 fulltext documents, of interest to people working in particle physics and related areas. A whole team of hard working people have concentrated on this, filling it, harvesting, programming, scanning, managing, etc. [2] Organising (along with LIBER, SPARC, SPARC Europe, OSI and the OAI) - and hosting the OAI Workshops, one of the worlds major gathering-points for the open access archiving community....[3] High Energy Physics (HEP) Libraries Webzine (an OA publication).... CERN is now on at the least the third OA policy revision, which addresses OA journals. In 2005, the focus at CERN library was changing publication model meetings. That is, CERN - and its library - are leading the way once more in physics, to move from OA via self-archiving to full OA via OA publishing (and self-archiving too)....There are some details about CERN Library's OA history in the presentation, CERN Document Server Software: The Integrated Digital Library. For the latest on CERN librarys OA leadership, have a look at the SPARC Open Access Forum Archives - look for the thread, CERNs Historic Role in OA. CERNs Joanne Yeomans, for example, talks about current developments, including a basket (for creating ones own bibliographies) and rating system....

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[Fwd: [BOAI] Increasing Institutional Repository Content with
by arun＠mssrf.res.in 10 Apr '06

10 Apr '06

---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: [BOAI] Increasing Institutional Repository Content with "email eprint" Button From: "Timothy Miles-Board" <tmb(a)ecs.soton.ac.uk> Date: Mon, April 10, 2006 6:11 pm To: "AmSci Forum" <american-scientist-open-access-forum(a)amsci.org> Cc: EuroscienceOA(a)lists.sopinspace.net JISC-REPOSITORIES(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** Apologies for Cross-Posting ** A new feature has been built into the GNU EPrints (free) software for creating Institutional Repositories (IRs). We hope it will dramatically increase the growth rate of open access (OA) content deposited in IRs while -- perversely it may seem -- allowing authors to opt out of providing OA! It's extremely simple, and if implemented carefully by the repository can produce immediate results without additional cost or resource implications. http://www.eprints.org/news/features/request_button.php (Eloy Rodrigues, the dynamic OA activist at University of Minho in Portugal https://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/ has kindly implemented the feature in Dspace too, and will be announcing its availability for testing very shortly.) This new feature is called the "Request eprint" button. It works like this: To deposit a work using EPrints an author creates a record for the eprint by filling metadata fields in the repository deposit interface. Ideally we would of course like the eprint to be both deposited *and* made OA. However, not all authors are yet comfortable with this, so rather than have authors refrain from depositing their eprints altogether, EPrints offers authors the option of either: (1) making the eprint OA, or (2) restricting full-text visibility to designated viewers, with only its metadata visible publicly, or (3) making the full-text completely invisible, with only its metadata visible publicly (although the full-text is still stored in the system). There are a number of reasons for allowing this flexibility. One of the main hesitations authors have about providing OA -- even though 93% of journals have already given it their official green light http://romeo.eprints.org/stats.php -- is author worries about infringing their copyright agreement with the remaining 7% of journals. Institutions contemplating adopting self-archiving mandates have similar concerns. So far, none of this is new. The key need of the repository in terms of growing content is to persuade authors (or their designees) to perform the requisite keystrokes, i.e. to simply *deposit* the metadata and the eprint, without prejudice as to what else might be done with it. Once those all-important data are deposited, we can start to work with the author to maximise its usefulness and usage. This is where the "Request eprint" button comes in. Whenever record of a stored eprint tells a would-be user that an OA version of the full text copy is not accessible, a dialogue box appears inviting the user to paste in their email address and send a request to the author for a copy of the paper. This request is emailed automatically to the author, offering three choices in return: to email the requested eprint, to reject the request, or to make the eprint OA in the repository. Since the requested eprint is already in the repository, and merely invisible, a simple process enables the author to make a selection and activate that choice with a single click. This is simple for requesters, authors, repository implementers and policy makers as it allows them a full range of choices without any implications for the usual worries that otherwise deter or delay this type of dissemination. In particular, there are no implications for copyright. This furthers the objectives of increasing deposit and dissemination through the repository by reducing barriers and fears. It also gives authors valuable feedback on the degree of interest in their work (requests are counted, just as downloads of OA eprints are counted, and the statistics made available to the author). How might this affect growth of your repository? It is generally estimated that institutional repositories are capturing 15% of the annual articles that could be made OA today. There is thus an 85% gap to fill. There have been many hypotheses about the reasons for the slowness of authors in filling this gap. The "Request eprint" button enables us to overcome most of these concerns. It gives even authors who are wary of self-archiving the chance to begin depositing in their institutional repository, it improves access - even if it is not immediately OA it is better than no record at all - and it offers the prospect of conversion to OA when authors realise the level of interest in their work. This feature also makes it possible to implement the "weaker" model for an official Open Access Policy, both institutionally: http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/71-guid.html and nationally: http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Temp/weaker-OApolicy.htm ---- This message was adapted from Steve Hitchcock's text at: http://www.eprints.org/news/features/request_button.php

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PhD in LIS
by Mailing List Manager 10 Apr '06

10 Apr '06

Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 15:20:45 +0530 From: Jeetender Chandna <granthpal(a)gmail.com> Hello Friends I have just completed my MLIS from IGNOU with 58% I am looking at pursuing my PhD in LIS with the broad topic of Open Source and its impact on the LIS profession in India. What I would like is to get some guidelines and ideas from the senior and esteemed members of the LIS fora. In particularly suggestions related to the following aspects would be gladly received -- 1) Recommendation of institutions where this PhD work could be undertaken, keeping in mind that the broad IDS-Inter Disciplinary Subject is Computer Science 2) Recommendations of persons who are experts in the Open Source Movement. 3) Any suggestions to bibliographic resources for the same I thanking in advance for the help given by the fora-members. NOTE: Since such recommendations and suggestions are personal opinions, it leaves the room open for debate. Ergo, I request that solutions/suggestions be mailed to me directly at granthpal(a)gmail.com. I would be glad to summarise the findings for the forum. -- Regards Granthpal ---------------------------------------- Jeetender Chandna aka Vicky aka Granthpal Esha News Monitoring Services Pvt Ltd 10th Floor, Krushal Commercial Complex Chembur (W) Mumbai 400089 Tel: (91-22) 3245 2861 Email: granthpal(a)gmail.com

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EBSCO introduces Free Teacher Reference Center
by Mallikarjun 10 Apr '06

10 Apr '06

Dear professional After the success of LISTA,EBSCO launches Teacher Reference Center (TRC) - Journal Information for K-12 Teachers & Librarians This index of over 260 titles from the most popular teacher and administrator trade journals, periodicals, and books is now also offered free via the EBSCOhost platform. This database provides coverage on key education topics such as Assessment, Continuing Education, Current Pedagogical Research, Curriculum Development, Instructional Media, Language Arts, Literacy.Standards, Science & Mathematics, and more. For more information ,please visit http://www.libraryresearch.com Mallikarjun Dora Library and information Assistant(Trainee) Library and Information Center Indian Institute of Management,Kozhikode IIMK Campus, P.O Kozhikode-673571 Kerala contact-+91-495-2809143 Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com Dear professional After the success of LISTA,EBSCO launches Teacher Reference Center (TRC) - Journal Information for K-12 Teachers & Librarians This index of over 260 titles from the most popular teacher and administrator trade journals, periodicals, and books is now also offered free via the EBSCO host platform. This database provides coverage on key education topics such as Assessment, Continuing Education, Current Pedagogical Research, Curriculum Development, Instructional Media, Language Arts, Literacy.Standards, Science & Mathematics, and more. For more information ,please visit http://www.libraryresearch.com http://www.libraryresearch.com Mallikarjun Dora Library and information Assistant(Trainee) Library and Information Center Indian Institute of Management,Kozhikode IIMK Campus, P.O Kozhikode-673571 Kerala contact-+91-495-2809143 Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

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