Adopting and Implementing an Open Access Policy: The Library’s Role

With the support of the library, the faculty, and the administration, Allegheny College recently adopted the strongest type of Open Access policy, a mandate for all faculty scholarship to be placed in the college’s institutional repository. The library’s Head of Technical Services tells how the policy came to be approved and how it is being implemented by the library.     

Scientific Communication in the Developing World in an Open Access Mode: The SciELO Model

[Abstract） This paper introduces the Scientific Electronic Library Online （SciELO） program and its three main objectives. Then the paper presents the methodology of open access to scientific information by the SciELO. At last, it shows the perspectives of open access in developing countries.     

“I've Never Heard of It Before”: Awareness of Open Access at a Small Liberal Arts University

Small colleges and universities, often late adopters of institutional repositories and open access initiatives, face challenges that have not fully been explored in the professional literature. In an effort to gauge the level of awareness of open access and institutional repositories at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (UWEC), the authors of this article surveyed fellow faculty members at this small liberal arts university before the 2011 Open Access Week. The survey results reveal that faculty members at UWEC do not share the same level of awareness concerning open access and institutional repositories that was found in the existing scholarly literature.     

Review of “The State of Open Access,” interviews by Richard Poynder

Abstract

Moves occur due to a variety of reasons. There can be changes in the mission, budget cuts, restructuring issues, changes in the staff, or the changes that technology brings about that are either forced on or desired by the library. Acceptance, helpful participation, and a conscious effort must be made to engage the staff in accepting what will be happening, participating in the areas that affect them, directly or indirectly, and motivating them to buy into the process. This is necessary or the success of the move will be in jeopardy. The level of change that occurs is more than what you might expect. Maneuvering between mission changes and having the collection reflect those changes takes planning, teamwork, use of volunteers, and some hard work.     

“Disarticulations” in the Information Society: Barriers to the Universal Access to Information Highways in Developing Countries

The author supports the opinion that full benefit may be derived from the technological potential on condition that serious attention is given to the social, political and ethical aspects, which are often barriers to the free and multi-directional access to information, especially in developing countries. Causes of these barriers — “disarticulations” within a society — are listed and their importance in developing countries emphasized. Possible different communication structures in a society and their effects are examined. The author concludes that the traditional, principle of free flow of information is not sufficient in the advancing information society; there is a need for a, principle which deals more specifically with the “activation”, “mediation”, and “networking” of the needs and opinions at the different levels of society.     

Balancing Evolving “Real” and “Virtual” Patron Needs: A Challenge for Access Services in Academic Libraries

ABSTRACT

Academic libraries are at a crossroads, facing increasing competition from other student services within their institutions and from commercial entities that duplicate their services. Examining some broader trends in education leads to suggestions as to how libraries might re-examine legacy services and assumptions and consider new directions. Specifically, the contributions that might be made by areas traditionally considered part of access services are considered. An annotated bibliography is included.     

When We Was Red: Good Bye Lenin! and Nostalgia for the “Everyday GDR”

In former Eastern Bloc nations, nostalgia is often seen as a dangerous pining for days under totalitarian regimes in the face of rocky transitions to democratization. This paper questions these judgments and instead proposes that the complexities of waxing nostalgic in post-communism will help us understand these transitions better. East German culture, in particular, has been at the forefront of post-communist nostalgia through its ostalgie movement. Wolfgang Becker's film Good Bye Lenin! has been touted as the most representative example of ostalgie, and is used here as a text to examine the complex questions about looking back on everyday life during communism's fall. Through its use of nostalgic themes, the film simultaneously embraces and derides the Western values that became an indelible part of the post-1989 landscape, and thus serves as a reminder that a distinct East German identity may still exist.     

EARwitness Testimony: Applying Listener Perspectives to Developing a Working Concept of “Localism” in Broadcast Radio

Ever since the introduction of new technologies such as satellite, Internet and cable radio, the concept of “local” has been at the center of a debate in the radio industry. Ownership consolidation has led to concerns about the loss of “local identity.” Broadcast radio news providers are operating under the assumption that the geographical location of the origin of news plays an increasingly smaller role. Through an Internet survey of 485 radio listeners nationwide, this study re-defines the concept of “local” as applied to broadcast radio and confirms the value of each station's physical connection to the area it serves.     

Parents,ICTs, and Children's Prospects for Success: Interviews along the Digital “Access Rainbow”

Interviews with 52 parents of varying income levels and positions on the digital “access rainbow” are used to explore how parents discuss the widespread belief that ICT (information and communication technologies) access affects their children's prospects for success. While all parents agreed that ICT competence is important, differences emerged along socioeconomic lines regarding how parents conceptualized the computer/success relationship. While upper-income parents demonstrated greater ICT proficiency and access and assumed that their children needed ICT proficiency for success, parents in the lower-income groups saw the need for ICT proficiency as more context-dependent and adopted broader definitions of success. All parents expressed concerns about the negative attributes of ICTs as entertainment rather than educational media; for lower- and middle-income families, however, this objection justified limits on use or access among children.     

Truth vs. Authenticity: Dealing with More “Good” Books Going “Bad” and Seeking Opportunities for Catalog Record Enhancement

ABSTRACT

Discusses the challenges and opportunities inherent in enhancing the catalog record for books that have developed documented reputations at odds with earlier certifications of authenticity, credibility, and quality. Librarians, as historically arbiters only of order and access, are reluctant to engage books beyond their organization and their facts. The author features a number of books and authors whose reputations have been recently and rightly sullied and argues that libraries should approach these works with the goal and giving them new contexts for the patron.