[Update] On June 3rd, the petition supporters reached their goal of 25,000 signatures!
This year, the Obama administration has been actively considering the issue of public access to the results of federally funded research. The administration is currently considering which policy actions are priorities that will it will act on before the 2012 presidential election season begins in earnest. Supporters of open access to research results hope to demonstrate a strong public interest in expanding the NIH Public Access Policy across all U.S. federal science agencies. As a supporter of open access to information, I agree with them.
On Monday, a petition calling for public access to federally funded research was posted on the White House’s “We the People” site. If the petition garners 25,000 signatures within 30 days, it will be reviewed by White House staff, and considered for action. I’ve signed the petition, and so have over 7,000 other people as of today.
On April 17, 2012, Harvard University’s Faculty Advisory Council on the Library issued an open memo to the Harvard community stating that “major periodical subscriptions cannot be sustained” due to high prices and unreasonable publisher practices. If this topic sounds familiar, it’s because it’s already been in the news recently – in January, mathematician Timothy Gowers-Lee blogged about these issues specifically as they relate to publishing giant Elsevier. In February, a website was created where scholars could sign on to a boycott of Elsevier; as of today over 10,000 signatures have been gathered.
The Harvard memo avoids mentioning specific companies, instead referring to “certain publishers” that receive close to $3.75 million per year from Harvard for its subscriptions to their journals. Harvard’s expenses for online journal content from just two major providers has increased 145% over the past six years. The memo states, “The Faculty Advisory Council to the Library, representing university faculty in all schools and in consultation with the Harvard Library leadership, reached this conclusion: major periodical subscriptions, especially to electronic journals published by historically key providers, cannot be sustained: continuing these subscriptions on their current footing is financially untenable. Doing so would seriously erode collection efforts in many other areas, already compromised.”
Harvard University is certainly not alone in struggling with rising subscription costs – it’s been discussed in the professional literature since the 1990s, when publishers introduced the “big deal” pricing model of requiring libraries to subscribe to less important journals along with their subscriptions to essential titles. Only recently, though, have the mainstream media begun reporting on publishers’ questionable practices. Although it’s too soon to say whether the Harvard memo will have any direct impact on the industry, it’s definitely increasing public awareness of an issue that not only affects Harvard but is jeopardizing the financial sustainability of academia as a whole.
Yesterday was May Day, internationally celebrated as a day of recognition for labor and the working class.
To learn about labor and labor history, you probably know to search NUCat for books and other items in our collection, and use our library home page discovery search box to add journal articles to your search. In addition, here are some other, perhaps lesser-known, collections and items related to labor that we have to offer in the NU Libraries.
Coop student files papers, circa 1940. Courtesy of NU Archives and Special Collections
The Archives and Special Collections help you go back in time to learn about the history of labor and labor relations in Boston. Their unique documents include Gay and Lesbian Labor Activists Network records from 1987-2001, which illustrate that organization’s campaigns against homophobia in the labor movement, and their support for benefits for domestic partners and nondiscrimination.
The Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) is another advocacy organization, started in 1986 to promote women leaders in the Massachusetts labor movement; their records, including photographs, negatives and slides, are also available in our Archives and Special Collections.
For the most up-to-date information about labor, try our research databases. Factiva (with Wall Street Journal articles) and Lexis-Nexis help you find up-to-date news, while Business Source Complete and EconLit have scholarship and research articles. For a country-by-country view of labor practices, try EIU Country Reports.
Don’t forget that the library has videos! 1-800-INDIA: Importing a White-Collar Economy, available streaming, is a great example–a fascinating look at how outsourced white-collar jobs have affected family relations, urban landscapes, women’s lives, labor practices, and economic development in India.
Courtesy Smithsonian Global Sound
Finally, celebrate May 1 by listening to some old-time labor songs. Here’s labor organizer Florence Reese, followed by Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers, with the heartfelt “Which Side Are You On?” from the album Classic Labor Songs (Smithsonian Folkways).
Over the past few weeks we have been administering a survey in order to collect information on what Library users need and want more of in terms of study space. The survey asked users questions about where they like to study and what type of spaces should the Library have more of, allowing the Library to learn what users really want for their library that will enable them to have their ideal study space. Users were able to take the survey online or on paper, which was handed out during different times of the day at the Library and other areas on campus, such as the Curry Student Center.
We’ve had a great response, reaching about 1,000 completed surveys, with respondents from all colleges and divisions of the University. A big Thank You to everyone who took the survey, in print or online! With all of your helpful responses, we have generated important information that will help shape the Library’s planning now, as well as its long term development.
Policy making isn’t always an “inside the beltway phenomenon” or the exclusive preserve of Washington insiders. Northeastern faculty and staff are frequent visitors to Congressional hearing rooms, providing expert testimony on topics as diverse as hate crimes, tobacco regulation, airline mergers, autism, the economic downturn, and human trafficking.
In 2008, President Joseph Aoun welcomed Senator Ted Kennedy, invited witnesses, and members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to NU for a hearing on access to higher education. Ensuring Access to College in a Turbulent Economy provides a verbatim record of these proceedings.
Other recent hearings with a local connection include:
FDsys: The government site for authenticated, permanent access to important document series, including the Congressional Record (1994 to present), Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, Compilation of Presidential Documents, federal budget, Statutes at Large, United States Code, etc.
HeinOnline: Historical and contemporary government documents, including Foreign Relations of the United States, treaties, Presidential Papers, and the Congressional Record and its predecessors.
