University of Michigan’s provost Phil Hanlon, along with his counterparts in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, recently expressed their support for open access in a piece for Inside Higher Ed. In their statement, the provosts of the eleven CIC institutions voiced their concerns about restrictive legislation like HR 3699 (the Research Works Act) and their disappointment in the academic publishers (Elsevier being perhaps the most talked about example, but by no means the only one)…
Posts Categorized: What We’re Reading
How many of us in the world of libraries or publishing have heard friends or family members casually assert that “everything is online” or that “print books are obsolete” thanks to their newly acquired Kindle or Nook? If you’ve ever found yourself struggling for an incisive response, this post (“Why Your Printed Book Isn’t an E-Book [Yet]”) from the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Lingua Franca blog lays out the issues quite nicely. According to Carol…
Mathematician Timothy Gowers recently started a project to allow academics to publicly pledge that they will not publish in Elsevier journals, serve as referees, or do editorial work for Elsevier publications. The list of signatures has grown quickly, including a number of individuals affiliated with the University of Michigan. Gowers explains his reasoning for the project in a detailed blog post. The boycott has also received coverage in Forbes, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and…
In case SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, hasn’t given you enough heartburn, here’s another development on the legislative horizon to be concerned about–H.R. 3699, the Research Works Act. The Association of American Publishers has provided a summary of what they hope the bill will accomplish, which is a frightening read for those of us committed to the principles of Open Access. It appears that H.R. 3699 would seriously threaten public access to federally funded…
Today the House Judiciary Committee is debating SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act (also known as H.R. 3261). The bill would allow rights holders and the US Department of Justice to take legal action against websites alleged to be facilitating copyright infringement. Here are a two recent opinion pieces on SOPA and its potential effect on content producers and consumers: Marvin Ammori, “Should Copyright Be Allowed to Override Speech Rights?,” The Atlantic …Congress is considering…
In the Library with the Lead Pipe, a blog with consistently well written coverage of issues important to libraries and librarians, offers a thoughtful summary of the Authors Guild v. HathiTrust debacle in a recent post: As with any large membership organization, the Authors Guild operates under the guidance of a board, executive director, and legal counsel. Certainly within our own profession, our organizations have taken action or made statements with which we, as individuals,…