Open Access Week: Monday, October 22

This week is the sixth International Open Access Week – a global event highlighting the importance of open access to information. We’re offering four events this week that focus on different aspects of Open Access. Today’s event is a webcast cosponsored by SPARC and the World Bank – it’s a 90-minute panel and Q&A moderated by Heather Joseph, the Executive Director of SPARC. The World Bank recently was named a SPARC Innovator for its open access policy and launch of an open data repository. The panelists are:
  • Michael Carroll, Professor of Law, American University and founding Board Member, Creative Commons
  • Matt Cooper, President, The National Association of Graduate-Professional Students
  • Maricel Kann, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland and member, PubMed Central National Advisory Committee, NIH.
  • Carlos Rossel, Publisher, The World Bank
  • Neil Thakur, Special Assistant to the Deputy Director, Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
We’ll be streaming the webcast in the DMC AV Circle #1 (the one with the puzzle-piece wall); refreshments will be served. It’s a 90-minute event, from 4:00-5:30 pm. You’ll also see a table set up in the lobby all week at lunchtime (11:30-1:30), staffed by me and some of our liaison librarians – stop by for lots of information about Open Access and free giveaways! Information about the full week is on our website at http://library.northeastern.edu/openaccess.

All Shakespeare, All the Time!

Watch the entire BBC Shakespeare Collection in the comfort of your own home, dorm, or subway seat! We’re very excited to now own the entire BBC Shakespeare collection available online, through streaming video. These productions include some of Britain’s most distinguished performers, and productions range from quite traditional to more adventurous: View the plays in their entirety, or link to specific Acts for teaching and presentation.  You can also turn Closed Captioning on or off with a single click — an excellent way to see the specifics of Shakespeare’s language unfold before your eyes. We also have the entire collection on DVD, so tell us what you think.

New Resource for Students and Practitioners in Counseling, School Psychology, Psychiatric Nursing, and More!

Counseling and Therapy in Video Volume 1  from Alexander Street Press (current NU only) is now available. This valuable resource includes over 400 hours of training videos, reenactments, and real-life therapy sessions. Counseling and Therapy in Video Volume 1 is a great tool for counselors-in-training, as it allows one to observe, in face-to-face sessions, subtleties of body language, facial expressions, behavior, speech patterns and intonation. Some of the perks: every video includes a synchronized transcript. Users can create, edit, and share playlists or clips. Videos are searchable by keywords and subjects, and arranged by easy-to-browse topical subject areas and therapeutic methods. For example, you could search for Gestalt, Solution Focused, or Family Therapy sessions. You could search for clips where a client diagnosed with depression uses the word drink.  Or you could compare and contrast how cognitive-behavioral therapists and client-centered therapists treat a similar condition. You can browse all titles or search by subject or therapy type. This resource is listed on the A-Z Index (under the FIND menu) and on my psychology subject guide. The subject guide includes my contact information– I am interested to hear your comments and questions about this new acquisition.

Open Access Week 2012 is coming!

In just a few weeks, we’ll be celebrating the sixth annual international Open Access Week, held this year October 22-26, 2012. As in previous years, we’re planning events and displays that will highlight the importance of sharing information freely, without restrictions like subscription costs.

Keynote Event: Breakfast with David Weinberger

Noted author and speaker David Weinberger will join us to celebrate Open Access Week on Thursday, October 25. David is a senior researcher at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for the Internet and Society, where he writes about networking knowledge and the effect of technology on ideas, business and society. He is the author of Too Big to Know, Small Pieces Loosely Joined, Everything Is Miscellaneous, and a coauthor of The Cluetrain Manifesto. This event is open to all – please click here for further details. Photo by Allan Shedlock Stay tuned for announcements of other Open Access Week events, including an opportunity to meet with representatives of open access journal publishers!

What is Open Access?

“Open Access to information – the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need – has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry are conducted. It has direct and widespread implications for academia, medicine, science, industry, and for society as a whole. Open Access (OA) has the potential to maximize research investments, increase the exposure and use of published research, facilitate the ability to conduct research across available literature, and enhance the overall advancement of scholarship. Research funding agencies, academic institutions, researchers and scientists, teachers, students, and members of the general public are supporting a move towards Open Access in increasing numbers every year.”

— SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition

 Check out my other blog posts about Open Access!

New Outlets, Quiet and Silent Areas in Club Snell

Over the summer the library began a series of initiatives in response to the results of a survey administered in the spring semester, where students identified a number of areas they would like to see improved. The library is using the feedback to update different parts of Club Snell with both physical changes as well as addressing how the space is used. Several concerns were addressed in this summer’s renovations; one change came from both survey responses as well as noise complaints made by students. These concerns have resulted in the rebranding of the third and fourth floors, from the “quiet floors”; to the quiet and silent floors, respectively. The third floor, now the “quiet” floor, will allow for whispered conversation and the fourth floor, now the “silent” floor will prohibit noise or conversation of any kind. The library will continue its policy that phone calls be taken on the first and second floor and not in the stairwells, as they disturb those working on the upper floors of the building. With this in mind, students will still be able to check out laptop locks at the first floor desk of Snell in order to ensure that their laptops remain secure while they are taking phone calls. The number one concern expressed by students was the number of power outlets, and as a result hundreds of new outlets have been installed all over the library. With the highest number of outlets concentrated in areas where there are many tables and desks. The redesigned space will soon feature several new, smaller tables as suggested by students. This will increase the overall seat count to just over 1,700 with more than 800 tables for students to work and study at. But the exciting renovations don’t stop there! As you probably know the second floor of Snell has been completely redesigned, for more information on these improvements check back soon, we’ll have more information about that soon. In the meantime any concerns or comments can be tweeted @ClubSnell or please feel free to speak up in the comments here.