Sunday, April 20, 2003

Delivering electronic journals I just downloaded the zinio reader and downloaded an sample issue of Business Week. The software was easy to install and use. The reader flips through pages much as you would physically. Unless you have a large monitor, you have to zoom in to read a column of text (again easy). Find function highlights text making it easy to find. I couldn't help but think that our professional journals should be delivered in this manner. Currently, downloading each article in pdf format is time consuming and it is difficult to search multiple pdf documents. Currently, pdf documents downloaded from the major journals have nonsensical names like "564.pdf". I'm convinced that our journals need to change their publishing policies and change them quickly. The current system of authors working for free won't be teneable over the long run. 7:41:01 AMGoogle It!

Julie Claire Diop, Librarians Target Science Publi ... Julie Claire Diop, Librarians Target Science Publishers, Newsday, April 18, 2003. A brief overview introducing the mainstream audience to the dysfunctional market in scholarly journals, with vollies and replies from each side. Publishers think scholars and librarians don't appreciate the value they add. Librarians think they are being gouged. "Stanford biochemistry professor Patrick Brown has tried to change the paradigm by co-founding the Public Library of Science, which plans to offer its online journals for free by charging professors $1,000 to $1,500 per published article. 'We intend for Reed Elsevier to change or die,' Brown said. Reed Elsevier said if it really were so cheap to offer journals online, the Public Library of Science would not have needed a $9 million grant for start-up costs." [FOS News] 7:14:20 AMGoogle It!