Monday, September 24, 2007

Open Access resources are available

Open-access literature is digital literature, both peer-reviewed and popular, that is available on the web, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. Committing to open access requires dispensing with the financial, technical and legal barriers that are designed to limit access to scientific research articles to paying customers.

The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for
copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the
integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and
cited
. - from the Pakistan National Digital Library

Here are some resources for educators and researchers made possible by open access principles.

National Science Digital Library
Library of Congress National Digital Library Program

More websites or directories listing open access journals
Auraria Library Open Access info
BioMed Central
Library Publishing Media
Directory of Open Access Journals
Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek Universitaet Regensburg
FFT: Free Full Text
PhysNet
Public Library of Science
PubMed Central

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

First Close Look at Colleges' Digital Pirates

The First Close Look at Colleges' Digital Pirates by BROCK READ, Chronicle of Higher Education, 7 September 2007 http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i02/02a00102.htm (Aurarians use this link to find the password you'll need)

"Ms. Elzy and Mr. Arbogast wanted financial support from the industry, and they got it. The Digital Citizen Project, as Illinois State calls it, has benefited from considerable entertainment-industry financing, including an influx of several hundred thousand dollars that came shortly after the meeting. . Later, Illinois State secured promises that the information the university collects will not be used to prosecute students."

SPARC letter to members on the PRISM anti-open access effort

Press Release: SPARC letter to members on the PRISM anti-open access effort
Date: September 6, 2007
To: SPARC Members
From: Heather Joseph, SPARC Executive Director
Re: PRISM anti-open access effort
http://www.arl.org/sparc/advocacy/07-0907prism.html

"I'm writing to bring to your attention the recent launch of an anti-open access lobbying effort. The initiative, called "PRISM - the Partnership for Research Integrity in Science and Medicine" ( http://www.prismcoalition.org), was launched with development support from the Association of American Publishers and specifically targets efforts to expand public access to federally funded research results - including the National Institute of Health's Public Access Policy."