Ray has researched this topic in depth, has been on the steering committee for SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) for a number of years. Through articles in print and online, speaking engagements, and committee work, he strongly advocates for supporting open access journals.  At our conference, he estimated (based a recent study) that 20% of currently published, peer-reviewed journals are open access.

If the estimate is accurate or close, it’s pretty significant for libraries and for scholars. If open access gains wider acceptance by scholars in the future, it could mean broad changes in how academic libraries present information, as well as improve the budget picture for library materials, budgets that are currently predicted, even here at UAF, to decline in future years.

I would like to encourage faculty on campus to read about, think about, and discuss among themselves, the movement toward open access scholarly publishing. I will pull a few literature reviews on the topic and post them here for convenience, and I encourage all in the UAF community to add their thoughts about open access, including what they think about the current efforts, their own acceptance (or not) of the concept, or any other discussion about scholarly publishing.

Wikipedia Article in Information Today, Ind.

Rather than delineate here all the varied methods each web site uses to offer these alerts, you might want to just start checking out the ones you use most often. If you run into difficulty - and some are certainly not intuitive! - please ask a Reference Librarian for assistance. I have used most of the search alerting systems in our current suite of databases, so I am more than happy to assist you in setting them up.

If you currently use email alerts only, I strongly recommend you try at least one RSS feed. There are a number of ways to do these; you can get separate RSS readers to install on your computer, or you can use features within web browsers to deliver the RSS feeds. At this particular moment, I prefer RSS Reader - it’s a free download, doesn’t bombard me with updates, and just sits there working all the time; I don’t have to do anything. It’s easy to add a new feed, and I get an alerting sound and popup when something comes in. Then when I feel like looking at it, I click on the program icon and glance through. It doesn’t fill up my email box and I don’t have to organize or delete anything. Most publishers and databases are now using RSS as an option.

Example: University of Chicago Press

RSS is pretty easy to set up; if you need assistance, ask at the library’s Reference Desk.

I haven’t heard of a library in the U.S. actually pulling the book, but it is indeed no longer for sale through any online bookseller, so it really has been “banned” from wider readership. Incidentally the authors’ credentials are excellent and the book’s sources are well-cited. I won’t verify or negate any particular charge the authors make; in fact I haven’t read the book, so I can’t state my opinion of the authors’ conclusions. But I won’t prevent its being read by others, as the British libel settlement would do in England! The letter to the library and a facsimile of the book cover are on the Banned Books Week display at the library, 4th floor.

Other books are “banned” by being restricted from wide markets, such as Walmart, for example Jon Stewart’s “America : A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction,” restricted from sale by Walmart for spoof nudity. You’ll find plenty of other examples by searching news sources, both mainstream and on the left and right, all throughout history. I apologize if I’ve omitted your favorite banned book case from my display; I could spend the rest of my life putting materials out for you to look at, but I had to pick and choose. Send me your thoughts about a theme for next year’s display!