Academic Libraries and the Textbook Taboo: Time to Get Over It?
Has the time come for academic libraries to start thinking seriously about providing textbooks to their student patrons? A few are already doing so–why not more?
Accessing Publisher Resources via a Mobile Device: A User’s Journey
How do users access content on mobile devices? While many surveys have been done on mobile usage, documenting the user’s experience via “journey mapping” provides a picture of the challenges that remain in using IP authentication in the institutional setting.
NYPL Shows Academic Libraries What "Public Domain" Means
The New York Public Library has now opened up hundreds of thousands of their digitized public-domain documents to unrestricted access and reuse, encouraging members the general public to exercise all the rights in those documents that the law gives them. Why aren’t more academic libraries doing the same thing?
The Objectives and Organization of Scholarly Communications Functions in Research Libraries
Academic libraries today invest in scholarly communication in a variety of ways, pursuing an array of objectives and taking on a variety of roles. The variety of objectives that academic libraries have for scholarly communications is to some degree a reflection of the different levels of engagement and prioritization that their parent universities have on these issues.
How Important Are Library Sales to the University Press? One Case Study
A study of sales data for 2012 imprints from the University of Chicago Press offers tantalizing hints about the importance (or lack thereof) of library sales to university presses — particularly with regard to scholarly monographs.
University Presses: "Under Fire" or Just Under the Gun (Like the Rest of Us)?
Are university presses really “under fire,” or are they simply experiencing the natural consequences of doing the wrong things at the wrong time in a marketplace that has evolved away from them?
PDA and the University Press — Final Study Now Available
Joe Esposito, with his colleagues Kizer Walker and Terry Ehling, has been working on an analysis of patron-driven acquisitions (PDA) for the past year. Joe has been posting early drafts of sections of the report on this research on the Kitchen. The full report is now available and can be downloaded here.
(Re)Defining the Library, Part 2: How?
After exploring why the library requires redefinition, this second part of a two-part post offers a new taxonomy for allocating library functions and roles.
Bike Sharing Comes to the Academic Library
At Cornell University, you can rent a bicycle from the circulation desk. Should the library be peddling a different brand?
The Digitized Book Corpus and the Cracking Dam
A new report from OCLC underscores how much water is already over, and how fragile the foundation has become.
So You Want to Be An Academic Librarian? A Parody
The CHE features some of the parody videos about academic life, including this one about academic librarians.
State of the Art I — The Future of Academic Librarians
ACRL’s Kara Malenfant to publishers: “Don’t think of librarians as those who hold the purse-strings, because that is not how librarians view themselves.”
The Mismeasure of Man, Funds, and Open Access Experiments
After one year, most COPE funds remain unspent. Is it time to revise the policy?
Easier Access for Small and Medium Enterprises
Access to the scientific literature by small and medium-sized businesses is good, although it could be a lot easier, according to a new report.