Copyright and the Digital Library
This article by Jeff Erwin describes the legal and technical issues which bedevil the creation of online libraries, particularly in relation to copyright. It discusses the Google Books settlement of October 2008 and a number of divergent views on its value or problems for libraries. Read More
The Library and the Bazaar: Open Content and Libraries
This article examines the current roles libraries take in promoting Creative Commons and Open Access, and possible future roles, as well as how libraries organize and share open access works and develop relationships with others producing or developing content. It focuses on the reasoning behind supporting new models and methods… Read More
Web 2.0 and Scholarly Communication
This article by Mark Ware, Director, Mark Ware Consulting Ltd, examines the ways in which Web 2.0 tools and services – including blogs, wikis, social bookmarking and tagging, social networking and data interoperability and re-use – are affecting scholarly communication, with examples and usage data where available. The article finds… Read More
Exploring new frontiers of electronic publishing in biomedical science
This article by Prof Ng Kwan Hoong, Editor, Singapore Medical Journal, presents a brief discussion on the evolution and status of electronic publishing. A glimpse of the future publishing landscape has revealed that scientific communication and research will not remain the same. The internet and advances in information technology will… Read More
Outsource to get lean – and survive the recession
In the light of changing technological, information and commercial environments, all sectors are focused on maintaining their market share. Outsourcing, offshoring and shared services looked promising for areas such as learning, research, information management and data mining to help companies have a competitive edge. Specific offshore models such as Knowledge… Read More
Social Media – to manage your online reputation
For some business owners, managing online reputation necessitates a whole new skill set. This includes monitoring online conversation and engaging with customers and the tech-savvy to promote your business in the best channels. These skills are becoming more and more essential for mainstream businesses. According to a survey conducted by… Read More
A threat to scientific communication
This article by Zoë Corbyn looks at elite scientific journals’ huge influence and control over just about every facet of scientists' lives - grant funding to the peer review, publication, reproduction and public dissemination of research results. But have these gatekeepers for what counts as acceptable science become too powerful?… Read More
Scientific publishing is no longer just about printing journals
This article by Juliet Walker, assistant web editor, bmj.com, discusses a recent talk given by Timo Hannay at University College London. Scientific publishing is no longer just about printing journals but increasingly includes online publishing, broadcasting, and creating online communities. As the amount of content online grows publishers will become… Read More
Analysing the Global Ranking of Publishers
The book industry has completely reoriented itself within just a few years when it comes to handing “professional information” (which includes STM, science, journals, and a lot of other pragmatically useful content). In this article publishing consultant Rüdiger Wischenbart analysis the latest ranking, focusing on how the changing dynamics between… Read More
Reprints: An Interesting Way of Looking at Sharing Science-Related PDFs
One of the things I can't stand about non-open access publishers is that federally-funded scientific results (federally subsidized in multiple ways) are locked behind a publisher's for-profit firewall. Given the high prices of journals and universities' need to cut expenditures, library budgets are getting slashed..... Read More
