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NEWS FROM THE FIELD

C&RL News, March 2007
Vol. 68, No. 3

by Stephanie Orphan

Maryland’s Center for Intellectual Property launches blog portal
The Center for Intellectual Property (CIP) at the University of Maryland University College has launched a new blog portal addressing the cultural, political, and legal context of copyright issues: ©ollectanea. The blog will serve as an online discussion platform for current and future CIP scholars, which currently include Georgia Harper, a leading copyright scholar and CIP 2006–2008 Intellectual Property Virtual Scholar. The CIP blog furthers the center’s mission to provide timely copyright resources for educators. Although the blog will address the needs of the education and library communities, all are welcome to engage in the discussion and contribute. To share your thoughts on copyright issues, visit the ©ollectanea blog at chaucer.umuc.edu/blogcip/collectanea/.

Princeton joins Google Book Project
Princeton University Library has signed on as the 12th institution in the Google Books Library Project. Through the partnership, approximately 1 million books in Princeton’s collection will be available online in a searchable format. With an eye towards opening its resources to an international audience, the library will work with Google over the next six years to digitize books that are in the public domain and no longer under copyright. One of the goals of Google’s library project is to make it easier for scholars and the public to find books they would not be able to find elsewhere.

ARL publishes “Know Your Copy Rights”
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published “Know Your Copy Rights—What You Can Do,” a brochure that gives faculty and teaching assistants in higher education an easy-to-scan explanation of when and how they can legally use intellectual property in their teaching, often without requesting permission or paying fees. The brochure was developed by ARL and attorney Peggy Hoon, a well-regarded copyright specialist. Hoon is based at North Carolina State University and serves as ARL visiting scholar for campus copyright and intellectual property. Panels of leading university counsels and copyright educators in research libraries also provided advice on the project. Topics covered in the brochure include fair use, the advantages of linking to (instead of copying) works, and special provisions for displaying or performing works in classes. ARL will be rolling out a broader “Know Your Copy Rights” campaign in the coming months, aimed at helping librarians implement strategic copyright education programs on campus.

Ordering information for the “Know Your Copy Rights” brochure is available at www.knowyourcopyrights.org/.

ACRL offering new online course on teaching portfolios
ACRL is offering a new online course April 9 to 28—“Teaching Portfolios for Librarians.” Participants in the three-week course will learn the concept and structure of teaching portfolios, articulate their teaching philosophy, identify supporting materials to include in their portfolio, and more. The course will provide the opportunity to learn from one another through online peer interaction and review. Instructors are Judith Arnold, Wayne State University; Joan Ruell, Hollins University; and Beth Woodard, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Teaching Portfolios for Librarians” is being delivered through WebCT; participants will be able to work through weekly materials as their schedule allows, as well as attend live chat sessions. Registration fees range from $135 for ACRL members to $195 for nonmembers. For more information and to register, go to www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlproftools/portfolios.htm.

Columbia University Archives joins the libraries
Effective July 1, 2006, the Columbia University Archives joined the Columbia Libraries as part of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The merger will benefit both repositories, allowing them to share and consolidate staff expertise and plan strategically to better serve the university and scholarly communities. The combined collections of the two repositories comprises some 45,000 linear feet of archival and manuscript collections. The University Archives (formerly known as the University Archives and Columbiana Library), established in 1988, appraises, collects, describes, preserves, and provides access to records that document the evolution of all aspects of the university. The collections include official university records, alumni memorabilia, publications, photographs, and the records of student organizations, which will become part of the libraries holdings and will benefit from access to library staff expertise in conservation, management, and development.

Wiley celebrates 200 years of publishing
Publisher John Wiley and Sons, Inc. has reached its bicentennial, a milestone reached by only a small number of companies. Decades after Charles Wiley opened a print shop in lower Manhattan in 1807, he and son John were publishing such authors as James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, and Edgar Allen Poe. The company also developed critical scientific, technical, and engineering knowledge during the second Industrial Revolution. Today, Wiley serves a global community of customers, authors, and society publishing partners. Wiley launched its bicentennial celebration at the end of January with the worldwide distribution of a video about the company. On May 1, Wiley’s leadership will enter its new fiscal year by ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange, where its shares are traded. Also in May, the company will publish an illustrated history book, Knowledge for generations: Wiley and the global publishing industry, 1807–2007, by Timothy C. Jacobson, George David Smith, and Robert E. Wright. For more information about Wiley and its bicentennial, visit the company’s 200th anniversary Web site: www.wiley.com/go/bicentennial.

Updated Texas A&M science fiction database provides access to 75,000+ items
Texas A&M University Library loaded an updated version of its Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Database December 31, 2006. The database provides author, title, and subject access to more than 75,000 individual items related to the fields of science fiction and fantasy, drawn from books, journals, newspapers, fanzines, the Internet, and, occasionally, unpublished manuscripts. The database is based heavily upon the Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection in the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives and collections in the Sterling C. Evans Library at Texas A&M, with the substantial assistance of the Interlibrary Loan department of the University Libraries. Material acquired for indexing from other sources is archived in “Science Fiction: Collected Papers,” the research file of compiler and science fiction curator Hal W. Hall. The database is available online at library.tamu.edu/cushing/SFFRD/default.asp.

Rutgers releases Women Artists Archives National Directory
Rutgers University Libraries has developed and released the Women Artists Archives National Directory (WAAND), an online directory to archival materials on women visual artists and artists’ organizations in the U.S. WAAND made its public debut in February, in conjunction with the 2007 annual meeting of the College Art Association. Initial funding for the project was from the Getty. WAAND unites online information on archival repositories into a single union catalog. Partnering with more than 80 institutions that include the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Library of Congress, and the National Association of Woman Artists, WAAND currently directs users to information on approximately 800 discrete collections indexed to more than 5,000 individual artists’ names. Outreach to identify and enlist the support of additional archival institutions will follow the initial release. WAAND is available online at waand.rutgers.edu.

Emerald selects Manuscript Central for peer review
Emerald, publisher of academic and professional literature in management, library services, and engineering, has selected ScholarOne’s Manuscript Central as its online peer review system. Manuscript Central offers a number of features to address scholarly publishers’ needs, enabling users to submit, review, annotate, and format technical manuscripts in innovative ways. ScholarOne, which was recently acquired by Thomson Scientific, provides workflow management systems for scholarly journals, books, and conferences. The Manuscript Central user base includes 2.6 million registered users worldwide.

CrossRef DOIs surpass 25 million mark
CrossRef, the citation linking service, has announced that there are now more than 25 million content items registered in the CrossRef system, which began in early 2000. Although the majority of these Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are assigned to online journal articles, there are more than 2 million DOI strings assigned to conference proceedings, components, and books. CrossRef has also been supporting assignment of DOIs to technical reports, working papers, dissertations, standards, and data elements. The 25 millionth DOI, 10.1093/fh/6.1.106, was registered by Oxford Journals, Oxford University Press, for the journal French History. CrossRef hit the 10 million DOI mark in January 2004, after roughly four years in operation. Since then, the rate of growth in DOI creation across the scholarly publishing community has accelerated considerably, with the next 10 million DOIs being created and registered in just over two years. Of the five million DOIs created and assigned during the past year, a large number are associated with archival journal articles. The Royal Society, for instance, recently registered its complete journal back-file. In so doing, it joins several CrossRef member publishers who have recently completed, or are in the midst of, vast retro-digitization initiatives, including Elsevier, Springer, Sage, Kluwer, Wiley, Blackwell, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and JSTOR, among others.

Academic libraries among 2007 WebFeat award winners for innovation in federated search systems
Bowdoin College, Dartmouth College, and Northumbria University received top honors in the academic library category of the 2007 WebFeat President’s Awards for Innovation, which recognize innovation in design and function in WebFeat clients’ state-of-the-art information systems. Seven libraries in all were chosen from among 30 nominees for bold innovation in the design of their federated search interfaces and functionality, as well as for the quality of integration of WebFeat with the libraries’ existing Web pages. Bowdoin College Library’s Cast-a-Net powered by WebFeat can be found at library.bowdoin.edu/; Dartmouth College Library’s Search 360 is online at library.dartmouth.edu/; and Northumbria University Library’s NORA is at northumbria.ac.uk/sd/central/library/.

Washington Office offers how-to guide for podcasting
In December, the ALA Washington Office debuted the District Dispatch Podcast, a regularly updated audio program containing news and commentary about recent library-related legislation. Since initiating the series they have had requests for information on how to create a podcast. They’ve responded by creating “A step-by-step guide to creating a podcast,” which was posted to the District Dispatch blog on February 14. The direct URL to this post is blogs.ala.org/districtdispatch.phptitle=ala_washington_office_tips_for_creating_&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1. To listen to District Dispatch podcasts, go to blogs.ala.org/districtdispatch.php?cat=191.

Cambridge Information Group acquires ProQuest Information and Learning
Cambridge Information Group (CIG) has completed its acquisition of ProQuest Information and Learning from ProQuest Company. CIG will combine its Bethesda-based CSA subsidiary with ProQuest Information and Learning in Ann Arbor to create a new, privately held company, ProQuest-CSA. The new company will serve a combined customer base of more than 30,000 institutional customers and their users. The company will continue to operate from both locations. In addition to ProQuest-CSA, CIG’s operating companies include R.R. Bowker, RefWorks, and Sotheby’s Institute of Art.

^{The 2006 New York Times Librarian Awards, announced in December,
for the first time included 3 academic librarians among the 25 recognized.
The award winners were celebrated at a ceremony and reception at
which each was given $2,500 and a commemorative plaque from
the Times. Pictured here are, from left to right, Pamela Snelson,
ACRL president and college librarian at Franklin & Marshall College,
and the three academic library award winners: Myrna J. McCallister,
dean of the library, Indiana State University Library; Jennifer Duvernay,
coordinator of instruction, outreach and marketing, Arizona State
University Libraries; and Paul Owen Jenkins, director of library services,
Archbishop Alter Library, College of Mount St. Joseph.
Photo © 2006 Paul M. Gaykowski—All rights reserved.}

Academic freedom center established at NYU library
A new center for the study of academic freedom has been established at New York University’s Division of Libraries. The Frederic Ewen Academic Center will sponsor scholarly research and public programs to raise awareness of threats to intellectual freedom. Funded by a major gift from Herbert Kurz, chairman of the board of the Presidential Life Insurance Company, the center is housed at NYU’s Tamiment Library, an archive devoted to research on labor history and the history of other progressive political movements.