Harvard Library: subscriptions too costly, faculty should go open access
By John Timmer
arstechnica
2/23/2012
excerpt:
“The problems with state funding may be hitting public schools hard, but even some parts of elite private institutions are feeling the sting of rising prices. That was the message sent by the Harvard Library’s Faculty Advisory Council, which says the costs of subscriptions to major research journals “cannot be sustained.” It says that the cost of these journals has gone up by 145 percent over the last six years and, if things continue at that pace, it’ll be forced to cut back…” http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/04/harvard-library-advises-its-faculty-to-go-open-access.ars
Pew study finds that “librarians and library websites” are the two places contemporary readers are the least likely to seek reading recommendations. Story, data, graphics, etc., at:
http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/04/04/the-rise-of-e-reading/
-from–
Michael Saler
History Department
The 2012 Eugene Lunn Memorial Lecture will be given by Professor Robert Darnton on Wednesday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Alpha Gamma Rho Hall, Buehler Alumni Center. (Reception to follow.) He will speak on “Books, Digits, and Dollars: A Design for the Future.” The lecture is free and open to the public.
Robert Darnton is the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the Harvard University Library. A winner of the MacArthur Prize and numerous other awards, he has written notable works, including: The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future ; The Great Cat-Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History ; The Literary Underground of the Old Regime ; Poetry and Police: Communications Networks in Eighteenth Century Paris ; The Business of Enlightenment .
Eugene Lunn was, prior to his untimely death in 1990, a member of the Davis Department of History. In his twenty years here, he distinguished himself as a scholar in the field of modern European intellectual history. He was a passionate and productive scholar, but no less an engaged and inspired teacher. In his memory, a fund was assembled to support an annual memorial lecture. Its purpose is to honor the profession of teaching and to present to a broad and varied campus audience an exemplary discussion of issues of high significance in contemporary intellectual life.
This is the twentieth Lunn lecture, following upon those of such well-known scholars as Carl Schorske, Hayden White, Martin Jay, Saul Friedlander, Laura Engelstein, Lawrence Levine, Lynn Hunt, Thomas Bender, Bonnie Smith, Wendy Doniger, Cemal Kafadar, William Cronon, Fred Wakeman, Jan Goldstein, Suzanne Marchand, Louis Menand, Thomas Laqueur, and Mark Mazower.
The lecture, thanks to the generosity of many people, has become an important annual event at Davis. We want to take this opportunity once again to thank all of you who have previously supported this undertaking. We are currently facing a severe funding shortage, however, so if you find it possible to make a new (or renewed) contribution to the lecture fund, however small, we will be very grateful indeed. You may write a check to the “UC Regents (Lunn Memorial Fund)” and send it to Monica Fischer in the Department of History.
“Travel Awards 2012
The ARTstor Travel Awards are back! Five winners will receive $1,500 each in support of educational and scholarly activities, such as flying to a conference. The contest is open to graduate students, scholars, curators, educators, and librarians in any field.
To apply, submit one or more ARTstor image groups and a single essay that creatively and compellingly demonstrates how the image group(s) is useful for teaching, research, or scholarship. The five winning submissions will be determined by ARTstor staff and will be featured in the Digital Library. More details and the entry form can be found at artstor.org/travelawards”
Bernadette Swanson found this official French government circular announcing the administrative decision to abandon “mademoiselle” as a term of address in official contexts, effective February 21st, 2012. The same will be true of other terms of address, like “nom d’epoux” and “nom d’epouse,” which will be replaced by “nom d’usage.” The German term “Fräulein” was officially rejected decades ago.
http://circulaire.legifrance.gouv.fr/pdf/2012/02/cir_34682.pdf
“UK RED captures the reading tastes and habits of the famous and the ordinary, the young and the old, men and women. The texts range from books and newspapers to ephemera such as playbills and tickets, and from illuminated manuscripts, novels and poetry to tombstone inscriptions and graffiti.”
For about 30,000 open access records documenting reading and reading practices in the UK, 1450-1945, see http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/
Step into Peter J. Shields Library and you may see the future. On display in the lobby are architectural renderings of a potential library-to-come, visions conceived and illustrated by UC Davis architecture students.
Professor Mark Kessler (teaching Design 180A) has created a course that focuses attention on the real world challenges of designing the research library of tomorrow. One of the assignments in his course encourages his students to make better use of the front of the library: the entrance, the lobby, stair case and first and second floor spaces. The students studied existing plans, researched the library design and architecture literature, observed the social use of our spaces, and interviewed librarians and library users to come up with designs that might accommodate the multiple, and sometimes, competing demands of an academic library.
The results of this assignment are on display. Come see how this talented group of students imagined a redesigned Peter J. Shields and let us know what you think as we plan the research library of tomorrow.
Send comments to:
Daniel Goldstein
Arts and Humanities Librarian
University Library, UC Davis
dgoldstein@ucdavis.edu
