LISNews: Librarian News

The Library Copyright Alliance today released “The Impact of the Supreme Court’s Decision in Costco v. Omega on Libraries.” Prepared by Jonathan Band, the concise, informative paper examines the much-discussed Costco v. Omega non-decision, which left in place a controversial 9th Circuit ruling that could have significant consequences for library lending practices.

Read the Press Release here. Includes a link to the paper.

Shifting Sands: Science Researchers on Google Scholar, Web of Science, and PubMed, with Implications for Library Collections Budgets , Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, Fall 2010
Authors: Christy Hightower, Christy Caldwell

A study done by two librarians named Christy at UC Santa Cruz in Issues in Science & Technology Librarianship. Interesting implications for content budgets and publishers...

Abstract:
Science researchers at the University of California Santa Cruz were surveyed about their article database use and preferences in order to inform collection budget choices. Web of Science was the single most used database, selected by 41.6%. Statistically there was no difference between PubMed (21.5%) and Google Scholar (18.7%) as the second most popular database. 83% of those surveyed had used Google Scholar and an additional 13% had not used it but would like to try it. Very few databases account for the most use, and subject-specific databases are used less than big multidisciplinary databases (PubMed is the exception). While Google Scholar is favored for its ease of use and speed, those who prefer Web of Science feel more confident about the quality of their results than do those who prefer Google Scholar. When asked to choose between paying for article database access or paying for journal subscriptions, 66% of researchers chose to keep journal subscriptions, while 34% chose to keep article databases.

READ IT HERE

Interview with Sayeed Choudhury of Johns Hopkins University on the recent change by the National Science Foundation requiring researchers to submit data-management plans with their grant proposals.

In the Chronicle of Higher Education. Read it here.

If you happen to be in the Portland, OR area and have an unwanted/unused Kindle, take it to Microcosm Publishing book and zine store and leave with an equivalent value in printed books....

Details here

I think the whole LOL thing is mostly annoying but I thought this was amusing. Maybe because I'm familiar with so many of the positions.....

From a site called LOLBytes
Laptop Kamasutra

Interesting collaboration between Seth Godin and Amazon....that I just heard about.

"...with 170,000 books published a year, how is it possible that anyone
finds *any* book?"

Why wasn’t I told? – the domino
project

Amusing video about an imaginary interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it4WZ68MlkU

From a recent articlea in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Nat Hentoff is really not happy with the ALA. I don't know enough about the situation to have an opinion and certainly not one as curiously strong as his.

Read more about it here.

Over 100 highlights, including literary, historical, music-related and scientific documents - alongside illuminated manuscripts and sacred texts. Each is presented through high-resolution images, allowing the viewer to zoom in and explore in detail.

Literary highlights include Charles Dickens’s handwritten draft of Nicholas Nickleby and Jane Austen’s teenage writings, while key historical documents include 2000-year-old Oracle Bones from China and an original Magna Carta of 1215. The section devoted to music includes manuscript scores from some of the best-known classical composers, such as Handel, Purcell, Mozart and Schubert.

Available across multiple mobile platforms: iPhone, iTouch, Android and, in an HD version, the iPad.

More info here: http://www.bl.uk/app/index.html