Green Evolution: Creating a Sustainable Future (May 2010 - October 2010)

Spring 2010 Exhibit

Green Evolution: Creating a Sustainable Future
The Libraries' spring exhibit, "Green Evolution: Creating a Sustainable Future," examines the changing conditions of our environment while showcasing a range of sustainability research and practice that is taking place at UCI and beyond. Topics covered include global warming and climate change, energy and alternative resources, water quality and management, and the latest practices for going green.
An array of materials will be on display to illustrate the evolution of environmental science and the scope of activity that has influenced progress in the field of energy alternatives. Local research and sustainability efforts such as advocacy and public policy, public health, environmental protection and transportation will be also be showcased. Julia Gelfand, Applied Sciences and Engineering Librarian and Mitchell Brown, Research Librarian for Chemistry and Earth System Science are the curators of the exhibit.

May 2010 - October 2010
presentation | checklist (pdf) | brochure (pdf) | event photos

National Science Foundation to Mandate Data Management Plans

Scientists Seeking NSF Funding Will Soon Be Required to Submit Data Management Plans
Government-wide emphasis on community access to data supports substantive push toward more open sharing of research data

May 10, 2010

During the May 5^th meeting of the National Science Board, National Science Foundation (NSF) officials announced a change in the implementation of the existing policy on sharing research data. In particular, on or around October, 2010, NSF is planning to require that all proposals include a data management plan in the form of a two-page supplementary document. The research community will be informed of the specifics of the anticipated changes and the agency's expectations for the data management plans. [more]

The Future of NSF On Its 60th Anniversary

The Future of NSF On Its 60th Anniversary [Flash Player]
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/nsf_future

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) 60th anniversary was marked with a symposium that fortunately was captured on video and put on the NSF website. Past and present NSF Directors "reflected upon 25 years of experience and offered advice about the agency's future." Those videos can be found under "Select a Video: The Future of NSF". The videos of the discussions at the symposium can be found under "Select a Video: Discussions". The discussion videos are not always lengthy, and some are even comments from the audience
of science professionals. The video "The Role of Imagination in Science Learning" is one such video where a university science professor talks about the problem of her students' inability to imagine. She goes on to say that her experience with this prompted her to research the issue, which ultimately resulted in her university offering classes and exercises to teach students how to use their imaginations. Overall, it's an engaging
website and one that will be of general interest to a number of different groups. [KMG]

To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at http://amser.org.

Orginally posted at Scout Report

BP Spills Coffee - UBComedy

UCBComedy — June 09, 2010 — This is what happens when BP spills coffee.
More comedy videos: http://www.UCBComedy.com
Like UCB: http://www.facebook.com/pages/UCBcome...
Follow UCB: http://www.twitter.com/UCBcomedy

Director: Peter Schultz & Brandon Bassham; Writers: Gavin Speiller, Eric Scott, Erik Tanouye, & John Frusciante; Editor: Peter Schultz, Starring: Eric Scott, Nat Freedberg, Kevin Cragg, Gavin Speiller, Kate McKinnon, John Frusciante, Zhubin Parang, Devlyn Corrigan, Erik Tanouye, Rob Lathan; Producer: Todd Bieber

Category: Comedy
Tags: BP coffee spills

Nature Publishing May Face Boycott - ACS Publications

Nature Publishing May Face Boycott
Publishing: University of California libraries decry journal price hikes
Sophie L. Rovner
Published: June 11, 2010
Article Location: http://pubs.acs.org/cen/email/html/8824notw3.html

"The University of California is threatening to boycott Nature Publishing Group (NPG) journals in hopes of quashing the publisher’s attempt to raise subscription prices. NPG counters that UC is distorting the facts."
[more]

From Chemical & Engineering News http://www.cen-online.org
A service of the American Chemical Society.

Are we meeting the needs of our users? - App building for libraries

Are we meeting the needs of our users?

This June 2010 ALA Policy Brief argues for the development of hand held services in libraries to "support the information needs of our users wherever they may be..."

There’s an App for That! Libraries and Mobile Technology: An Introduction
to Public Policy Considerations
ALA Policy Brief No. 3, June 2010

http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oitp/publications/policybriefs/mobiledevices.pdf

As the information revolution continues to unfold, libraries will experiment with mobile devices and services to support the information needs of their users wherever they may be. The adoption of mobile technology alters the traditional relationships between libraries and their users and introduces novel challenges to reader privacy. At the same time, the proliferation of mobile devices and services raises issues of
access to information in the digital age, including content ownership and licensing, digital rights management, and accessibility. This policy brief explores some of these issues, and is intended to stimulate further community discussion and policy analysis.

We Must Stop the Avalanche of Low-Quality Research - CHE june 13, 2010

June 13, 2010
We Must Stop the Avalanche of Low-Quality Research

Michael Glenwood for The Chronicle

Michael Glenwood for The Chronicle
By Mark Bauerlein, Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, Wayne Grody, Bill McKelvey, and Stanley W. Trimble
Everybody agrees that scientific research is indispensable to the nation's health, prosperity, and security. In the many discussions of the value of research, however, one rarely hears any mention of how much publication of the results is best. Indeed, for all the regrets one hears in these hard times of research suffering from financing problems, we shouldn't forget the fact that the last few decades have seen astounding growth in the sheer output of research findings and conclusions. Just consider the raw increase in the number of journals. Using Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, Michael Mabe shows that the number of "refereed academic/scholarly" publications grows at a rate of 3.26 percent per year (i.e., doubles about every 20 years). The main cause: the growth in the number of researchers.
Source: We Must Stop the Avalanche of Low-Quality Research

Support for UC-Nature ban - The Scientist

Posted by Megan Scudellari

[Entry posted at 10th June 2010 03:36 PM GMT]
The Scientist
Read more: Support for UC-Nature ban - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences

University of California scientists are speaking out in favor of UC's threat to boycott Nature Publishing Group over a proposed 400 percent hike in licensing fees.

"Nature is making a very unfortunate move here," said Alex Bell, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. "Multiple-fold increases are unjustified. I think it's bordering on exploitation."

In a letter mass e-mailed to faculty earlier this week and posted on the UC Libraries website, the California Digital Library and the University Committee on Library and Scholarly Communications say the school is facing an "impending crisis," a proposed licensing price hike that would raise the cost for 67 Nature Publishing Group (NPG) journals by well over $1 million per year. The proposed new fees come at a time when UC libraries are in an economic pinch and worked all last year to reduce their electronic journal costs by $1 million per year.

Read more: Support for UC-Nature ban - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences

Nature Publishing Group Defends Its Price Increase for University of California

Nature Publishing Group Defends Its Price Increase for U. of California
The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Jennifer Howard
June 11, 2010

The Nature Publishing Group has responded publicly to the challenge issued on Tuesday by the University of California system over a proposed 400-percent rise in the cost of Nature and the group's other scientific journals. In a long, strongly worded statement http://www.nature.com/press_releases/cdl.html released to the news media on Wednesday, the publisher disputed assertions that it was unfairly increasing its prices in California's case. It accused the California Digital Library, which negotiates the UC system's subscription licenses, of sensationalism and spreading misinformation. And it said that the digital library's threat to cancel its subscriptions and organize a faculty boycott of the Nature group's journals had taken it by surprise.

Source: http://chronicle.com/article/Nature-Publishing-Group/65848/

University of California response to Nature statement [11:29 am PST]

UC threatens ‘systemwide boycott’ of Nature Publishing Group - June 09, 2010

The University of California is mulling a boycott of Nature Publishing Group in response to what it claims is a proposed 400% increase in subscription fees to the group’s journals, a letter from the university’s libraries reveals.

Dated 4 June, the letter says that unless NPG keeps to the current subscription agreement, faculty will be asked to cease submitting papers and undertaking peer review for NPG journals, to resign from all NPG editorial and advisory boards, and to not advertise jobs in NPG journals. Staff would also be urged to encourage “sympathy actions” from researchers outside the UC system.

The letter describes the proposed price increase as “of unprecedented magnitude”.

“NPG has made their ultimatum with full knowledge that our libraries are under economic distress,” it says. “...Capitulating to NPG now would wipe out all of the recent cost-saving measures taken by CDL [California Digital Library] and our campus libraries to reduce expenditures for electronic journals.”

It further points out that UC authors have produced 5,300 articles in Nature journals over the past six years and claims that these have contributed “at least” $19 million to NPG in revenue.

Speaking to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Keith Yamamoto, the executive vice dean of the School of Medicine at UC-San Francisco, points out that publisher Elsevier was forced to backtrack on proposed price rises for Cell Press journals in 2003 by a similar boycott. “There’s a strong feeling that this is an irresponsible action on the part of NPG,” he says.

Nature News has asked NPG for a response to the letter. It will be posted here as soon as we have it.

Posted by Daniel Cressey on June 09, 2010

University of California Tries Just Saying No to Rising Journal Costs

U of California Tries Just Saying No to Rising Journal Costs
The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Jennifer Howard
June 10, 2010

The University of California system has said "enough" to the Nature Publishing Group, one of the leading commercial scientific publishers, over a big proposed jump in the cost of the group's journals.

On Tuesday, a letter http://libraries.ucsd.edu/collections/Nature_Faculty_Letter-June_2010.pdf
went out to all of the university's faculty members from the California Digital Library, which negotiates the system's deals with publishers, and the University Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication. The letter said that Nature proposed to raise the cost of California's license for its journals by 400 percent next year. If the publisher won't negotiate, the letter said, the system may have to take "more drastic actions" with the help of the faculty. Those actions could include suspending subscriptions to all of the Nature Group journals the California system buys access to-67 in all, including Nature.

The pressure does not stop there. The letter said that faculty would also organize "a systemwide boycott" of Nature's journals if the publisher does not relent. The voluntary boycott would "strongly encourage" researchers not to contribute papers to those journals or review manuscripts for them. It would urge them to resign from Nature's editorial boards and to encourage similar "sympathy actions" among colleagues outside the University of California system.

See the complete article at http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-California-Tries-Just/65823/.

CLIR Report: The Idea of Order: Transforming Research Collections for 21st Century Scholarship]

The Idea of Order: Transforming Research Collections for 21st Century Scholarship
Council on Library and Information Resources Publication 147 (June 2010)

Part two of the report, "On the Cost of Keeping a Book" by Paul Courant and Matthew "Buzzy" Nielsen. is particularly interesting. Table on page 91 shows the costs for keeping a book forever. Worth thinking about in terms of shared print, digitization, etc.

Famopily by Karen Hammer

Art meets boardgame.




Famopily | 1999 | $800 until January 1, 2011, thereafter $1200

Ready to play board game: pigment inkjet prints, binder’s board

18.75 x 18.75"

Edition of 20
Family scrapbook images on game board, game cards collected by moving about board contain recollections about growing up in the 1960s.

Also available:
Famopily (codex), Inkjet prints | 1999 | $40
7.5 x 15.75" open | 7.5 x 8" closed
Wire bound book with text from game cards and photos from Famopily game board.