News and Events in Scholarly Communication
See also:
2013
- "Orphan Works" (Feb 2012). The US Copyright Office has posted a "notice of inquiry" on orphan works and mass digitization. Comments are due Feb. 4, 2012.
2012
- Skyrocketing Cost of Journals at UMass (Dec 2012). The cost of journals has increased exponentially. While some of the increases are attributable to rising costs in production, the larger impact has come from the consolidation of journals into a small number of commercial publishers that increase profits, thereby driving up costs for primary customers, notably research libraries. These rises in costs and in the amount of material published each year place pressure on the UMass Amherst Libraries. UMass has participated in several bundled online journal ‘deals’ in recent years. While these ‘deals’ offer faculty much greater access to online content, the price for the three largest journal packages - Elsevier, Springer and Wiley-Blackwell - has risen 25% in the past five years, a rate that exceeds the consumer price index as well as inflationary adjustments made to the Libraries’ materials budget.
Elsevier’s ScienceDirect package is up for renewal at the end of 2012. The package will cost $1,138,901 in 2013, and this amount will increase by 21% by 2017. To the left are the most expensive journals in Elsevier’s package. While use of the journals in the packages is very high, the Libraries remain concerned about the sustainability of the annual price increases. UMass Libraries have tried to negotiate to keep prices affordable and are committed to providing the broadest access possible within our budget. However, as researchers, writers and reviewers, UMass Amherst faculty can exert influence over the cost of scholarly materials and publishers by refusing requests for reviews and choosing alternative publishing venues. ... UMass Research Council Newsletter, Issue 1, Fall 2012.
- "Orphan Works" (Dec 2012). The US Copyright Office has posted a "notice of inquiry" on orphan works and mass digitization. The Scholarly Communication Office is drafting a comment explaining the interests and projects of the Five Colleges in using orphan works. Please contact Laura Quilter if you work, or would like to work, with orphan works, and would like to be represented in or informed about the Comment. Comments are due Feb. 6, 2012.
- Copyright News from 2012 (Dec 2012) - 2012 brought great news from the copyright front in several significant copyright cases. In November, the court finally issued its order dismissing the case in the AIME v. UCLA case. (The second amended complaint, in case you're counting.) In short, it was another big victory for libraries. The court affirmed all its earlier reasoning, and deepened its reasoning in a few key areas. Learn more ...
- Kirtsaeng v. Wiley Update: Oral Arguments at the Supreme Court (Oct. 29, 2012).
- Open Access Week (Oct. 2012).
- Authors Guild v. HathiTrust (Oct. 12, 2012) - Big victory for library nonprofit, providing disability access, backup copies to libraries, and search capability for digitized books.
- AIME v. UCLA (Nov. 2012) - Victory for UCLA, defendant for videostreaming content for university courses.
- Cambridge University Press v. Becker (May 2012) - Victory for Georgia State University, defendant for its ereserves program.
- Harvard Memo on Periodical Subscriptions (April 17, 2012) - Memorandum on Journal Pricing from Harvard Faculty Advisory Council, "Major Periodical Subscriptions Cannot Be Sustained". Urges faculty to support open access publishing, with submissions, editorial contributions, and professional association advocacy.
Last Edited: 2 February 2013
