Volume 4 Issue 2
Spring 2008

CONTENTS


Collaboration

Calendar of Events

Exposure for your Research

Access to E-Journals

Papyri on the Road

Meet the New Staff

Staff Video Pick

The Collection Connection
The Semiannual Newsletter of Trexler Library

The Importance of Collaboration

Collaboration – “1. United labour, co-operation; esp. in literary, artistic, or scientific work.”--Oxford English Dictionary

The word “collaboration” is bandied about a lot in academic settings, Muhlenberg being no exception to this idea. Conceptually the idea of collaboration has been a cornerstone of library activities for years. Through consortiums, public/private partnerships, interlibrary loan, and cooperative collection development, libraries have been developing sophisticated networks to allow the sharing of “literary, artistic, or scientific work.”

We now find that these collaborative efforts are strained as academic libraries face increasingly high costs for journals and electronic resources. During the last fiscal year academic libraries faced a stiff 12% average increase in the cost of journals; an increase that stunned even the library community that is accustomed to excessive jumps in costs from publishing houses. Results at Muhlenberg have been the continued winnowing of other resource types (i.e. books, media, etc.), more aggressive negotiations with vendors, a closer look at the return on investment, and the sad reality of cutting of available journal titles.

These changes have also come with a significant increase in interlibrary loan requesting, thus depending on other institutions for key resources. Now known as a “net borrower,” i.e. a campus that borrows far more than it lends, this weakness in our collection is beginning to concern us as we edge closer to unwelcome citizens status in the interlibrary loan world. The traditional collaboration model of Interlibrary Loan is no longer viable as our only option for meeting information shortages.

Facing similar problems, libraries across the United States have happily welcomed the National Institute of Health’s Revised Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded Research. Effective April 7, 2008, this revised guideline moves the previously voluntary submission of research information from free access on PubMed to mandatory. The summary reads:

“In accordance with Division G, Title II, Section 218 of PL 110-161 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 ), the NIH voluntary Public Access Policy is now mandatory. The law states:

The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: Provided, that the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law.”

This initiative was a collaborative effort, driven by committed scientists and librarians and others, to see that information produced at disparate institutions would be made freely available to everyone. This venture will help alleviate some of the financial strain while also providing us with new models for future collaborations. The premise behind the NIH action is laudable and should be noticed and welcomed within the academic community. It does not solve the whole problem of publishing costs but it is our hope that actions of this sort, along with the many ongoing discussions of scholarly repositories, information ownership, and tenure publishing requirements, can gently move information back to the reasonably priced, if not free, arena for future generations.

Expanding on this new collaborative model are organizations such as the Public Library of Science, self-described as a “nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource.” Covering areas of biology, pathogens, genetics and more this organization provides a large set of peer reviewed journals freely available for copy, use, and download with attribution.

Realizing that the end result of these inter-institutional collaborations is the sharing of information, one could also consider as collaborative the independent efforts of many institutions to make as much scholarly output as possible freely available to end-users regardless of institutional affiliation. For example, the Harvard Faculty Council proposed a system of open access for all professor’s scholarly works, whereby faculty would post their scholarship at a central repository for all to see. Meanwhile, Grinnell College, is piloting the development of a faculty repository through NITLE. Other models, such as the University of Illinois’ IDEALS project, provide an institutional repository not only for faculty work, but for staff, and student scholarship. And how about Muhlenberg College? Trexler Library is currently developing a scholarly communication website, in cooperation with the Provost, where scholarly output from the institution can be posted and can gain added recognition around the world.

These models of collaboration and resultant sharing are the next logical step toward open information access. It is only a start, but with time this trend will lead to greater availability of academic research and a richer information network within which new ideas can be developed.

Joyce Hommel--Library Director

Calendar of Events at the Library

How To Get More Exposure for Your Research

As mentioned earlier in this publication, President Bush signed into law a bill that mandates that all NIH-funded research be made publicly available 12 months after publication. Regrettably, this mandate applies only to health sciences. What options, if any, are available to scholars in other disciplines who seek wider exposure for their work?

Fortunately, many publishers already allow authors certain rights to republish their scholarship in some form (pre-print or post-print) on the internet for open access to the public. For a list of what publishers allow, see Project SHERPA, or consult with your publisher directly to see what open access alternatives are available or can be negotiated.

In addition, some journal publishers are publishing on an open-access model from the get-go. Many respectable, peer-reviewed journals in all disciplines now publish in this way. See the Directory of Open Access Journals for a list of titles published in your discipline.

Books and book chapters can likewise reach a much broader audience by being republished for free on the web, whether in an institutional repository or on Google Books, Amazon, or elsewhere. It is important to note, however, that books and book chapters are published under a contract that gives the publisher certain rights and the author certain rights. It is always wise to check the terms of the contract before republishing electronically or otherwise a book in part or in its entirety.

However, even if the publisher owns the copyright, the author can still negotiate after the fact to get permission to electronically republish a book or book chapter.

In all cases, it is advisable for an author to retain as many rights at the time of publication as possible, in negotiations with the publisher.

For a more complete discussion of open access, visit Peter Suber’s Open Access Overview.

--Kelly Cannon, Outreach and Scholarly Communication Librarian

Trexler Library Makes Major Shift from Print to E-Journals

Over the past several months, the college has seen a significant increase in electronic access to peer-reviewed journals. This has happened in several ways, most significantly in:

--The addition of Sage Journals Online, a collection of over 450 full text journals across the social sciences.
--The addition of a third level of JSTOR, bringing our total JSTOR access (archival only—5 yr. embargo) to 524 titles. This subscription includes titles across all disciplines.
--A new subscription to the American Chemical Society (ACS) with access to 35 core journals in the chemical sciences.

Papyri on the Road

The Rare Books collection has been the privileged repository of thirty-six pieces of ancient papyri since the early 20 th century. The papyri were acquired by a Dean of the College, Robert C. Horn, as part of a subscription plan supporting archeological digs in the Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus. Dean Horn later donated the papyri to Muhlenberg. While the pieces cover topics ranging from literary texts, to personal correspondence, to official documents, those generating the most interest over the years are three theological pieces: St. Matthew’s Gospel xii (5 th c.), St. Matthew’s Gospel iv (6 th c.), and Apocryphal Acts (5 th or 6 th c).

This past summer the library was approached to lend two of those pieces to the Korean War Memorial Museum in Seoul for an exhibit, “The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Birth of Christianity.” By late fall we signed a contract allowing for our two pieces to be part of the exhibit to run Dec. 5, 2007 - June 5, 2008, and on Nov. 30 th the pieces were picked up by international courier to make the long flight to Korea.

While the papyri, and these two pieces in particular, have received scholarly attention in the past, this exhibit allows them to reach a varied and international audience. Trexler Library is very pleased and proud to be part this fascinating exhibit. If you’re in Seoul be sure to check it out!

--Diane Koch, Special Collections and Archives Librarian

Meet the New Staff: Mary Moulton, Head of Library Systems and Information Transfer Services

Trexler Library is pleased to welcome and introduce Mary Moulton as our newest staff member. Her official title is Systems Librarian and Head of Library Systems Information Transfer Services.

Mary previously worked at Lehigh University as a Science Librarian. She also worked in the library and in knowledge management at Air Products. Mary has an MLS from the University of Rhode Island.

In her spare time, Mary enjoys knitting, gardening and hiking. Mary is happy to have the opportunity to work with the integrated library system and to bring in new technologies to the library. We all look forward to working with Mary and encourage you to stop by her office and introduce yourselves to her.

--Kristin Brodt, Interlibrary Loan Manager

Staff Video Pick

Days of Heaven
Criterion Collection

The Criterion Collection is a select group of classic and contemporary films that are picked to be restored and digitally transferred to DVD with the ultimate regard to quality. Original supplements are usually part of the set, also. These films are deemed the premium in their field. Luckily for us, we have added them to our own collection whenever possible, and due to the Parents Fund endowment, we were able to add over thirty more titles in the last month.

Recently, I had the good fortune to watch Days of Heaven (1978), an Academy Award winning film by Terrence Malick starring Richard Gere (in his pre-American Gigolo days), Sam Shepard, Brooke Adams and Linda Manz. Set near the turn of the twentieth century, Gere and Adams are boyfriend and girlfriend who go on the run after he accidentally kills his factory supervisor. They bring along Gere’s younger sister, who provides occasional narration. They end up harvesting wheat and passing themselves off as brother and sister as well. Soon, the wealthy and, dying of a mysterious disease, farm owner (Shepard) is attracted to Adams. Of course, an interesting love triangle develops as Gere is now drawn into the good life as the “brother” of his girlfriend.

All of this is great to watch, but more importantly, this is some of the most stunning cinematography you may ever see. It is beautiful in its simplicity, which includes wide shots of vast countryside. I have seen it described as “poetry on film.” A booklet that accompanies the film contains a piece from the Award winning cinematographer, Nestor Almendros. He tells of how the crew would set up lights but they weren’t used because, ultimately, the simple look of natural lighting was more in keeping with their vision for the movie.

I heartily recommend this film. It is both beautiful and tragic. Next time you are in the library don’t forget to browse our ever-expanding DVD collection, maybe another Criterion Film will catch your eye!

--Karen Gruber, Acquisitions and Budget Manager