Posts by: Katherine Morley
Thanksgiving break is here at last, which means Hirsh will be going on a short break next week too! We will close at 5pm on Wednesday, November 21st and will re-open for our regular hours on Sunday, November 25th at 12pm.
Here’s a full breakdown of next week’s schedule:
Monday 11/19: 7:45am-11:00pm (regular hours)
Tuesday 11/20: 7:45am-11:00pm (regular hours)
Wednesday 11/21: 7:45am-5pm
Thursday 11/22: Closed
Friday 11/23: Closed
Saturday 11/24: Closed
Sunday 11/25: 12-10pm (regular hours)
We hope you all have a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving!
It’s our favorite time of year! Yes, that’s right. It’s turkey time!
Starting at 12pm this Thursday 11/15 and Friday 11/16, you can stop by the Library Service Desk and create your own feathered friend to bring home to Mom (or back to your study carrel). We’ll have a variety of materials out so you can create anything your heart desires, from the simple and majestic hand turkey (our personal favorite) to some 3D pinecone poultry.
You’ve probably heard the term open access – maybe it’s the reason you were able to get the full text of that article you needed? Maybe it’s the reason so many people read your latest article?
Open access (OA) is about making research literature freely available on the Internet with few copyright or license restrictions. In honor of Open Access Week (happening right now!), here are the top 10 reasons to publish OA…
10. Improve discoverability
Open articles commonly show up more places than just the publisher’s website, for example, in subject repositories or ResearchGate or the Tufts Digital Library, and therefore can more readily be found by search engines and through web surfing, not just through traditional articles databases, like PubMed or Web of Science. In addition, search engines can more readily crawl the entire full text of open articles, beyond just the citation information and abstract.
9. Enlarge readership
Since open access materials can be easier to find and the full text is available to all, more people are likely to read them. You didn’t spend all that time on research and writing to lock away your findings, did you?
8. Diversify readership
Those who have access to paid journal subscriptions represent a limited demographic that does not necessarily correlate to those who will most benefit from and contribute to the research. Removing paywalls removes these misguided filters on readership.
7. Increase citation numbers
Many times, open articles have the opportunity to be cited more by others due to their increased visibility. In addition, since they are often available ahead-of-print, citations can start accumulating earlier in the process.
6. Enhance collaboration
More readers and diversity of readers can lead to more and richer collaboration. Open access can help identify critical colleagues otherwise not reached through traditional publishing communication channels.
5. Drive innovation
What does Google Scholar always say? Stand on the shoulders of giants! Our greatest world achievements are rarely standalone accomplishments. Scholars feed off one another, learn from one another, and grow from one another through sharing and collaboration, which is enhanced by open access.
4. Increase usefulness
Broadening the reach and impact of research makes all those tireless hours of effort that went into creating it all the more worthwhile. I’ll reiterate my early question: You didn’t spend all that time on research and writing to lock away your findings, did you?
3. Shift the economics
Publishers provide added value to a manuscript, through editing, formatting, promotion, and some discoverability services, which incur some cost. For many though, the business model has fallen out of balance. Much research is supported by taxpayers and authors and peer-reviewers are not paid for their publications. Open access realigns the business model so that the research conducted as a public good is available to the public.
2. Join the 21st century
We take advantage of several cutting-edge technologies just to tell our friends how good our lunch was, why would we rely on an antiquated print-based model for communicating important research findings? While many journals are available electronically today, the present system artificially treats them as if they were just as encumbered to obtain and create as their print counterparts when they are clearly not.
1. Save the world!
Yes, this is a bold statement to make, but who knows what accelerated and enhanced collaboration and innovation can lead to? Better addressing climate change? Ending world food insecurity? Curbing pandemic diseases? The only way to know is by opening the communication channels and sharing more.
Have questions? Want to learn more? Read up on Open Access on the Scholarly Communication at Tufts site.
Post contributed by Judy Rabinowitz
This year’s theme for Open Access Week, which we are celebrating from October 22nd – 28th, 2018, is “Designing Equitable Foundations for Open Knowledge.” It’s a mouthful, so let’s work through what this means and more importantly, what it means for us here in the Tufts community.
As Nick Shockey, founding Director of the Right to Research Coalition, among other things, noted in his blog post about it, “This year’s theme reflects a scholarly system in transition.” There is great opportunity and already great evidence of this transition incorporating open access as the default, not the outlier, in publishing. Nevertheless, we can further leverage the opportunities of transition to intentionally design new systems that are more equitable, more inclusive, and with less bias.
So perhaps you’re thinking that you are not in a position to be designing new scholarly systems. What’s your role? If you are someone who creates scholarly literature, be critical of where you publish your manuscripts. Consider whether you are supporting systems that promote access beyond just to the privileged, affiliated with well-endowed institutions, but also scholars and practitioners, many of whom live internationally, that could benefit from your work, provide diverse perspectives, and innovate in ways beyond your initial scope. You, as the creator of content, can take control of how well that content is disseminated and utilized, and ultimately how impactful it can be.
There are traditional measures that are often used to evaluate journals and guide someone in deciding where to publish. Some are quantitative like Journal Impact Factors, or other research impact metrics. Some are more qualitative, such as recommendations from peers or venerated colleagues. I challenge you to also assess a journal’s value, prestige, and appropriateness based on its equity as a system. Whose voices are prioritized? Who is excluded? How are some scholarship decisions the journal makes perpetuating bias?
Do these questions spark some questions for yourself? Ask Us! And, Happy Open Access Week!
Post contributed by Judy Rabinowitz
We know you’re stressed, so we’re having a second Fun Lab this month! That’s right! You have another chance to take a creative break and feel a bit festive with pumpkin painting. Hirsh Pumpkin Patch will open at the Library Service Desk at 12pm on Thursday and Friday with all the supplies you need to make a gorgeous gourd. See you there!
Study carrel feeling lonely? Assignments got you down? Why not make a little buddy to help cheer you up? That’s right, Hirsh’s favorite pom pom critters are back for two days only! Stop by the Library Service Desk this Thursday 10/11 and Friday 10/12 starting at noon and make a fluffy friend for yourself or someone else! We have all the sequins and googly eyes you need, so all you have to do is decide one thing–will it be spooky or sweet?
Image source: https://pixabay.com/photo-514998/
Agonizing over an abstract?
Stumped about starting your personal statement?
Rattled by your research paper?
Then we have a workshop for you!
On Wednesday 10/3 at 12pm in Sackler 851, Christine Smith, our writing consultant, will give a one-hour workshop on how to approach the writing process. She’ll provide you with a general framework that can be applied to any writing project as well as insight into how to prepare for a session with a writing consultant. Some light refreshments will be served and you can feel free to bring your lunch! Please RSVP here. Registration is not required, but is appreciated so we can have an idea of how much food to order. Hope to see you there!
Although summer temperatures linger, fall officially starts this Saturday! Wouldn’t it be nice to have a custom cozy to decorate your favorite seasonally-spiced hot drink? Stop by the Library Service Desk starting at 12pm on Thursday 9/20 and Friday 9/21 to create a cozy that’ll cradle your to-go cups and protect your hands in style. All you need to bring is your creativity!
The Fall Data Lab Assistants schedule is here! Student Data Lab Assistants provide walk-up help on the 5th floor of the Sackler building and can answer questions about Geographic Information Systems (GIS), statistics and data visualization, and troubleshoot basic problems with related software. You can view their hours on the Data Lab calendar (use the arrow in the upper right corner of the calendar to limit view to Boston Campus).
For additional support, please email Tufts Data Lab: DataLab-Support@elist.tufts.edu
We are pleased to welcome Katie DeFord as our new part-time reference assistant! Katie joins us after 5 years working at Dartmouth’s Health Sciences Library and a summer position in Harvard’s Resource Sharing department. While at Dartmouth, she had an article published in Marketing Libraries Journal.
In her free time, she likes to crochet, cook, geocach, and send postcards all over the world. Be sure to say hello next time you see her at the Library Service Desk!
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