Ask The Chefs: What is The Role of Social Media in Scholarly Publishing?
The role of social media in scholarly communications is a continuous debate. Is there value? See what the Chefs have to say and then let us know what you think!
Can You Coko? An Interview with Kristen Ratan of the Collaborative Knowledge Foundation
If you haven’t already heard of the Collaborative Knowledge Foundation (CKF or Coko for short), chances are you soon will. Find out more in this interview with co-founder Kristen Ratan.
Textbooks in Academic Libraries: The Publisher’s Case
This post presents a case for why publishers would want to participate in a program to sell textbooks to academic libraries. The plan would include a means for publishers to retain their profitability, albeit on a lower sales volume, by taking advantage of digital technology and by “repairing” some broken elements in the current marketplace, e.g., the market for used and pirated books.
Building a Repository in Partnership with Elsevier: The University of Florida’s Perspective
The University of Florida and Elsevier have entered into a partnership to build links between the institutional repository and ScienceDirect, which has received quite a bit of criticism in recent weeks.I have found it useful to try to understand the different sides of what seems to me to be a debate about how best to utilize the increasingly mature infrastructure and programmatic capacity for scholarly communications.
Paying for Compliance: A Potential Path Forward for Institutional Repositories
A pilot between Elsevier and the University of Florida suggests solutions for long-running failings of institutional repositories.
Copyright, Expectations, and Economics — Can Taylor Swift Help Us Find Our Backbone?
Expectations of free content are entrenched, but artists, authors, and publishers are all hurting because of it. The basic problem? It’s leading to a lack of trust in the future.
Libraries May Have Gotten the Privacy Thing All Wrong
What can academic libraries learn from Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn? The aim of this merger is to collect end-user data from corporate accounts. Libraries are facing a similar situation when publishers develop end-user strategies that compromise the privacy of library patrons.
Rethinking Authentication, Revamping the Business
IP authentication is the most important mechanism for authorizing access to licensed e-resources resources. Substantial business and policy issues for libraries and publishers alike connect up to IP authentication. Today, there is substantial interest in eliminating IP authentication, so it is timely to examine the implications if we were soon to see its end.
Reinventing Scholarly Communications: A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action?
Charlie Rapple celebrates the many conversations underway to re-imagine scholarly communications – and asks how we can better act on the ideas generated
The Publishing Industry is Mature, but Publishing Companies are Not
While it certainly is the case that scholarly publishing is a mature business, some of the companies operating in this industry have found new avenues for growth by expanding beyond the publication of content into data science. This is an opportunity that is only available to the larger companies with enlightened management.
Ask The Fellows: What Did You Learn At This Year’s SSP Annual Meeting?
We’ve heard from the Chefs about their take on the Annual Meeting, but what were the take-home messages for our early career and student Fellowship Award winners? Come see what the Fellows’ fresh perspective led them to say when asked: What Did You Learn At This Year’s SSP Annual Meeting?
Ask The Chefs: What Did You Learn At This Year’s 2016 SSP Annual Meeting?
This year the SSP held its Annual Meeting in Vancouver, BC. It was a great success and held insights and lessons for all. Come see what the Chefs had to say when asked: What Did You Learn At This Year’s SSP Annual Meeting?
Vitamins, Painkillers, and the Entrepreneurial Library
What does it mean for libraries to be competitive and “entrepreneurial”? And is the very concept a Trojan horse for neoliberalism? Does it matter?
Why Knowledge for The Pure Sake of Knowing is Good Enough to Justify Scientific Research
Duke University’s Sheila Patek makes an elegant argument in favor of funding basic research.
Bitcoin: A Solution to Publisher Authentication and Usage Accounting
The technology developed to create a crypto-currency may be used to solve two intractable problems in scholarly publishing: authenticating users and counting usage.