Archive for January, 2010

EThOS – British Library’s open access to electronic theses

Below is text from the EThOS “About” page. It appears downloading is free for those that have been digitized, but if they haven’t you may have to pay to have it digitized.  Once someone pays for it to be digitized, it is free to future downloaders.  I expect if it is a recent dissertation you will be able to get it here for free, but it will take a while before most older dissertations are free.  I checked to see if the 1987 dissertation I digitized for the Aquatic Commons was available here, and it wasn’t.

Joe Wible

Hopkins Marine Station

http://ethos.bl.uk/

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The aim of EThOS is:

•To offer a ‘single point of access’ where researchers the world over can access ALL theses produced by UK Higher Education
•To support Higher Education Institutions through the transition from print to e-theses
•To help UK Higher Education Institutions expand available content by digitising paper theses
•To demonstrate the quality of UK research and help attract students and research investment into UK HE\
To achieve this, EThOS offers a coherent and consistent interface by implementing a central ‘hub’ comprising an e-store and a digitisation suite at The British Library site in Boston Spa, Yorkshire. The hub automatically harvests e-theses from Institutional Repositories and digitises paper theses from participating institutions to offer the single point of access.

Many UK institutions support Open Access to their theses, so download of their digital and digitised theses is free to the researcher. A small number of participating institutions may not be able to offer Open Access and in this case the researcher may have to pay for the digitisation.

Where a thesis must be digitised before supply, you can expect a short delay. However, you will be informed when the thesis is ready for collection and you can then log on to the system and download it.

EThOS can only offer the theses of participating institutions. While we expect a large number of institutions to take part, we cannot supply from an institutions which chooses not to. In this case, you should approach the institution’s library directly to gain access to a thesis.

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January 20, 2010 · Filed under Announcements

Google’s Bid to Digitize Books Sparks Debate

This link will take you to an eight and a half minute video clip from the PBS NewHour that aired on December 30, 2009.  It discusses the Google Books project.

Joe Wible

Hopkins Marine Station

http://www.youtube.com/pbsnewshour#p/search/0/zwa9jnqcXsU

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January 14, 2010 · Filed under Announcements

Call for proposals for the 36th IAMSLIC Conference

Dear Colleagues,

The planning for the 36th IAMSLIC Conference is well underway. But we need one crucial element — you!
We invite submissions of proposals for papers, posters, workshops, and panel session.

Since the theme is Netting Knowledge: Two Hemispheres-One World , we are looking for your insights on sharing and managing marine & aquatic science data, information and knowledge and its retrieval, renewal and use. How are we adopting, negotiating, repelling, embracing and developing strategies to provide the best possible knowledge and information services to our clientele?

Some potential topics:

  • Information/knowledge services for our clients: new capabilities, new utilities, new opportunities, new problems
  • Dealing with digital media
  • Creating savvy researchers: extending theoretical knowledge to field research
  • Assessment: website performance measures; survey design; partnerships
  • Importance of research and documentation in the digital age
  • Collaboration with staff/faculty and becoming part of the publishing team
  • Disaster planning around the world
  • User advisory committees; user-driven services; improvements to existing services
  • Writing successful grant applications
  • Personnel: successful recruitment, coaching and retirement

For complete details, including what to include in your proposal, see the conference web site.

Please email conference proposals to Marcia.croyvanwely@dfo-mpo.gc.ca by April 9, 2010.

We look forward to receiving your proposal and hope you will be able to join us in Argentina in October.

Marcia Croy Vanwely, Chair/Convenor IAMSLIC 2010

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January 13, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized

Impact and Cost Effectiveness of Fisheries Journals

There is an article in the December 2009 issue of “Fisheries” put out by the American Fisheries Society titled “Maintaining the Competitiveness of the American Fisheries Society Journals: An Assessment Based on Influence and Cost-Effectiveness” that might be of interest to IAMSLIC members.  It has some nice figures with tabular data comparing fisheries journals identifying which provide the greatest value and whether they are published by non-profit or for-profit groups.

Joe Wible

Hopkins Marine Station

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January 5, 2010 · Filed under Announcements