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Creative Librarian » 2004 » August

Archives

Monday, August 30, 2004

Medicine Access

Vinod Scaria has launched a beta version of Journal Central, a portal and search engine for open-access medical journals. The site is still under construction but already has separate lists of journals that are free for all and journals that are free for developing countries. It also has a useful subject index of all the journals listed. Vinod tells more about his plans in a posting on his blog.

Via Open Access News (Formerly: FOS News)

Open Access — laura


Knowledge Ownership

Who should own medical knowledge

We are part of a grassroots movement of doctors and researchers who believe that medical research results should be a freely available public resource. Governments worldwide invest billions of dollars in medical research every year�the National Institutes of Health in the United States will alone spend $28bn (�15bn; �23bn) in the fiscal year 2004,2 yet the results largely remain in private hands, locked behind access fees and restrictions.

Why is it so urgent to unlock this treasury of knowledge? Taxpayers deserve free access to the results of research that they have financed. Patients have the right to know the results of studies in which they participated and which are relevant to their condition. Researchers should be able to share knowledge to promote more efficient scientific progress�the Human Genome Project (www.nhgri.nih.gov) is a great example of what can be achieved when researchers worldwide can freely share their data. And giving health workers in developing countries access to reliable health information may be the single most cost effective and achievable strategy for sustainable improvement in health care.

Medical and scientific publishing companies, however, are reluctant to free their articles, which make them about $7bn a year.4 Subscription prices outpace inflation again and again, and many medical libraries have had to cut back on titles. Between 1990 and 2000, medical journal subscription prices rose by 184%.

Open Access — laura


Friday, August 27, 2004

Writing for the Profession

Many information professionals, understandably busy with both day-to-day responsibilities and keeping up with our rapidly-changing
field, may feel overwhelmed by the idea of making original
contributions to the profession. One of the best ways to remain
current and connected, however, is by taking the time to contribute
through writing for publication. Our research and writing activities
also allow us to engage in the time-honored library tradition of
sharing information with others — only, in this case, with our
colleagues. Writing for the library literature allows us to stretch
our minds and to think about our profession and where it is headed. It
allows us to contribute to our ongoing professional conversation,
which in turn helps define the underpinnings of our field.

FreePint Newsletter 166 - Olympics and Writing, Writing for the Profession

Career Info — laura


Thursday, August 26, 2004

Mybrarians

I saved TechnoBiblio: More mybrarian thoughts…. until I had the time to really read it . And I’m glad I did. The concept of a “mybrarian” as well as the real life Radical Reference team are exactly the kinds of things creative librarians should be doing. Libraries were created when all information was in printed materials and money was much more valuable than time. Now, information comes from a wide variety of sources and time is the number one commodity. Librarians are still well-able to meet the communities needs if we can just change our focus and tell them about it.

Library Links — laura


Chronicle Careers

Chronicle Careers is a subset of “The Chronicle of Higher Education.” It contains jobs from more than 800 institutions is a searchable and categorized database. My favorite part is that the categories have their own RSS feeds. You can let the job ads come to you.

Career Info — laura


Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Classroom Blogging

The New York Times >In the Classroom, Web Logs Are the New Bulletin Boards looks at the experiences of teachers using the technology instead of in-class discussions or essays. It mentions several advantages, such as involving the children in updates instead of the teacher being solely responsible and “leveling the playing field” so that all of the children interect, including the shy ones.

Anything that makes learning more active is a good thing. There is nothing more boring than being lectured at, particularly for small children.

Education — laura


Monday, August 23, 2004

PNAS and OA fees

One of the most-cited reasons against the open-access model is that authors wouldn’t pay the fees to publish their articles rather than rely on traditional methods. Open Access News has a nice post on evidence to the contrary from journals giving authors the choice.
(more…)

Open Access — laura


Weblogs and Non-Profits

You can become a trusted information source. The more you add useful links to your weblog, the more you become a trusted source for information. For example, Oceana’s weblog provides useful and regular information from experts pointing to studies, projects, and other information that I would not be able to find on my own. I therefore see the organization as credible, and that credibility transfers to its other efforts, including fundraising.

A Weblog gives readers a reason to visit your Web site regularly. The useful information you post gives visitors a reason to come back regularly. Frequent visitors are more likely to engage with your organization’s efforts online and off-line.

TechSoup - Articles: Web Building - Weblogs: The Promise for Nonprofit Organizations

Yes! So true and beautifully said. You must read this article. Thanks to Steven for the pointer.

Blogging — laura


Friday, August 20, 2004

ALA Blogs!

The Shifted Librarian: ALA OITP Is Blogging and RSSing!

It’s for the Copyright Advisory Network

Blogging — laura


Thursday, August 19, 2004

Educational blogging

Weblog Tools Collection » Educational blogging as a research tool

I believe that educational blogging is a very powerful vehicle to collect and aggregate research and assignment information as well as a powerful means to assimilate and search the stored information by a worldwide audience.

Education — laura


Auto Bibliographies

Via Library Stuff, Furl now let’s you export your bookmark list in citation format. Let’s hear it for tools that create bibliographies for us!

For those wondering there’s an about page.

Web Tools — laura


Sunday, August 15, 2004

Topic Maps

Dorothea presents tech and information topics in an understandable way. Now that she’s started library school, the combination is particularly suitable for this site’s readers.

Caveat Lector Topic maps and libraries is the latest offering.

Library Links — laura


Thursday, August 12, 2004

Feed to JavaScript

Feed to JavaScript takes a RSS url and gives you the javascript needed to display the feed on another webpage.

Web Tools — laura


Friday, August 6, 2004

Aggregation for the Masses

zlog: ‘Aggregation for the Masses’ is an excellent introduction to web syndication and why it is so useful.

Web Tools — laura


Tuesday, August 3, 2004

Free Advertising

RSSTop55 - Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites - Robin Good’ Sharewood Tidings, Where To Submit My RSS Feeds And Weblog URLs To Get More Exposure, Visibility And Reach.

The beauty of the Internet is that it allows us to reach people around the world as easily as our own community. The resources listed are a quick and easy way of getting out word where surfers, and possibly community members can find it.

Web Tools — laura


Monday, August 2, 2004

Usability Testing

Get Tooled Up:’Testing Web Page Design Concepts for Usability’, Ariadne Issue 40. Dey Alexander and Derek Brown demonstrate how the layout of a Web page has a direct influence upon users’ capacity and willingness to engage with a Web site.

Website Design — laura


OA Impact

Digital publishing and the knowledge process

The impact of Open Access initiatives could have a profound impact on scholarly knowledge distribution. The process will be both liberating and disruptive, but in the short term will undoubtedly be a hybrid situation for access to and distribution of knowledge. Liberating in that it could release a large amount of scholarly material in a variety of forms globally without the financial barriers imposed by multinational publishers. Disruptive in the sense that major changes will be required in scholarly practice to change the paradigms of scholarly communication.

Open Access — laura


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