Archives
Saturday, November 29, 2003
New Services
The Digital Librarian: New Services for Digital Libraries
Great ideas!!
Library Links — laura
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Cornell axes Elsevier
Cornell axes Elsevier journals as prices rise
Knight, Nature 426, 217 (20 November 2003); doi:10.1038/426217a
A top US research university is set to cancel its subscriptions to several hundred scientific journals published by Elsevier in January, in response to spiralling subscription costs….
Netherlands-based Elsevier, which owns a quarter of the global market in scientific and technical journals, played down the importance of the move…
Profit-wise, it likely isn’t a big deal for them
Cornell’s deal with Elsevier, now priced at $1.7 million, consumes a fifth of the university’s total periodical budget. When the library tried to cancel individual Elsevier titles, university officials say, the prices of the remaining titles increased significantly, offsetting any savings. “To save a little, you have to cancel a lot,” says Cornell’s associate collections librarian, Ross Atkinson. Cornell will now return to a title-by-title plan with a vastly reduced number of journals, he says…
Cancellations by other universities are also likely, says Duane Webster, director of the Association of Research Libraries in Washington DC. “Cornell is just the first,” he says.
Among those still negotiating is Harvard University, which is unlikely to renew its deal with Elsevier, according to library director Sidney Verba. He says that the price rises will probably result in a large reduction in Elsevier subscriptions…
The pleas of librarians about increasing journal prices has fallen on deaf ears for some time. The publishers, such as Elsevier have long had the “upper hand” in negotiations because of the libraries’ need to provide material for their patrons. However, the breaking point was bound to come and it looks like it’s almost here.
Open Access — laura
CAN-SPAM
US House overwhelmingly passes antispam bill
Some think it’s for the best, some don’t but at least it’s a step in the right direction.
Computing News — laura
Monday, November 24, 2003
Rapid Navigation
Rapid Navigation in Online Documents make electronically delivered documents far easier and more practical and faster to work with, by expanding beyond the “help topics” design paradigm. This site covers information structuring; rapid navigation; and designing Help, Web pages, and documents.
Website Design — laura
Friday, November 21, 2003
Presentation Architecture
A Presentation Architecture for Individualized Content is a little dry but it’s a fascinating look into using the power of XML for individualized computer courses.
Computing News — laura
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Librarian Blogs
If you’re looking for more librarian blogs, libraristic links will keep you busy for quite a while.
Blogging — laura
Monday, November 17, 2003
Pro-Active Librarianship
Library Journal has a slew of articles worth reading this month.
- Library Journal - The SUV Idea
- The Public’s Lobby
11 Keys to Your Statehouse- The Expert User Is Dead
No more resting on our laurels, librarians in all sectors need to become more active in shaping our own world and the outside one as well.
Library Links — laura
Tuesday, November 4, 2003
IA link list
Web Design References: Information Architecture has everything you might need to get started on IA.
Website Design — laura
e-voting problems
TechnoBiblio: Free Speech Under Attack… Again
Diebold, another company more concerned with controlling the rest of the world than with fixing their product. Joy.
Computing News — laura
Downloads beat CDs
MacMegasite - US downloads beat CD sales
Legitimate download sites, such as Apple’s iTunes, the newly relaunched Napster and Musicmatch, are the most popular. They are trying to tempt fans from unauthorised free download services like Kazaa and Morpheus, which have been blamed by the music industry for falling CD sales.
This proves my theory that the music industry is suffering from their own arrogance and lack of compelling products rather than widespread piracy. Given the chance, people will download music legally if the price is right rather than stealing music. People aren’t going to go to a music store and pay almost $20 for a CD with one good song on it. Before legal downloads were widespread, people were stealing music because there was no other legal alternative.
Just think what they could do if they gave access to a broader and deeper range of music without digital rights management built in. Trusting your customers, amamzing concept.
Copyright — laura
