Against the Grain
Volume 22 | Issue 6 Article 3
December 2010 If Rumors Were Horses Katina Strauch Against the Grain, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/atg Part of the Library and Information Science Commons
Recommended Citation Strauch, Katina (2010) "If Rumors Were Horses," Against the Grain: Vol. 22: Iss. 6, Article 3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/2380-176X.5681
This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. c/o Katina Strauch 209 Richardson Avenue MSC 98, The Citadel Charleston, SC 29409 ALA MIDWINTER issue TM
volume 22, number 6 DECEMBER 2010 - January 2011
ISSN: 1043-2094 “Linking Publishers, Vendors and Librarians” Sustainability in Collection Development: Seeing the Forest and the Trees by Karen Christensen (CEO, Berkshire Publishing; Phone: 413-528-0206)
ne of the things that makes academic ran recently (see preliminary details on p.16) well-known publishing such a pleasure is that we shows much emphasis on reducing paper use for her work Ocreate new ways for people to get infor- but little awareness of the impact of digital in the library mation from the world’s experts, and new ways technologies. We seem still to be, quite liter- community, for those experts to reach a wider audience. I ally, seeing only the trees. I wrote about this contributes myself became an expert on environmental liv- issue in Against the Grain last January, as well an overview on “Practicing Sustainable Envi- ing, and a “green” author with books published as in the UKSG Serials journal, and now pres- ronmental Solutions.” in many languages, because as a young mother ent a group of articles in this “Sustainability” A useful case study of how sustainability in London I asked so many questions about my issue that will help readers see the forest — the issues are being incorporated into many pro- baby’s food, water, air, and future. bigger picture. grams and disciplines has been contributed Today, I continue to ask questions and Our focus here is environmental sustain- by Roxanne Spencer of Western Kentucky have the privilege of working with hundreds ability, which means using resources and University, and we include a summary of of experts on all aspects of environmental interacting with the natural world in ways results from the survey that was circulated sustainability. I’m dazzled by the range of that will not reduce what is available to future to all contributors and contacts for Berkshire analysis that’s being done. When it comes generations. Merilyn Burke, University of Encyclopedia of Sustainability, to Berkshire’s to understanding the impact of our everyday South Florida, provides a fine overview of library contacts, and via Against the Grain’s choices, however, we haven’t come far enough. collection development challenges, while Tony e-newsletter. Statistican Justin Miller, a doc- There’s far more knowledge of specific issues Horava, University of Ottawa, digs into how continued on page 16 than there was 20 years ago but not much more sustainability affects collection management. awareness of the big picture. We see the trees, In “Getting There from Here,” environmental What To Look For In This Issue: but we still are not seeing the forest. historian Michael Smith, Ithaca College, also That expression has a concrete application looks at travel and professional conferences in The Dual Mission Paradigm: A when it comes to libraries and publishers. The terms of social welfare, an aspect of sustainable Ranganathanian Critique...... 44 “Building Sustainable Libraries Survey” we development. Maria Jankowska, UCLA, The Future of the Textbook...... 45 How do you eat an elephant? or If Rumors Were Horses eContent and the Future of the Academic Book Vendor...... 59 hew! This fall/winter has been a (MD) offices. Product names will remain the Toward a Modest Agenda: Academic whirlwind! First was the 30th same, but will begin to include the ProQuest Library and University Press WCharleston Conference that went brand in 2011. Customers can find answers Collaborations...... 61 very well (except for the rain, only the second to their questions about the transition from Papa Abel Remembers...... 64 time in 30 years!), then the christening of my LexisNexis to ProQuest at www.proquest. granddaughter (9 months), and then Thanks- com/go/CISUPAinfo. Can Open Access Save Us?...... 74 giving and Christmas! What’s next. Oh yes, www.against-the-grain.com/ The Temptations of Netflix...... 83 2011, coming up! Plus, it was great to hook up with the Interviews Let’s see. Big news that Congressional sexy Simon Beale of ProQuest during the Moshe Pritsker...... 49 Information Service (CIS) and University Charleston Conference Gala Reception on Publications of America (UPA) have been Thursday night! Jud Dunham...... 52 acquired by ProQuest from LexisNexis And just heard from the incredibly hard- Profiles Encouraged just after Thanksgiving. CIS and UPA edito- working Beth Bernhardt who says that her Moshe Pritsker...... 50 rial staff members will join daughter Anna is engaged! James proposed to ProQuest and Anna Monday night a few weeks ago! I guess will continue Beth is already shopping for her mother-of-the- to be based in bride trousseau! (or am I out of date?) their Bethesda continued on page 6 1043-2094(201012/201101)22:6;1-C and Martin Marlow (etextbooks). Our interviews are with Moshe Pritsker and Jud From Your (Brrrr) Editor: Dunham. Our usual columnists have written about among other things, econtent (Biz of Acq), collaboration (University Presses), writing (Booklover), data man- It is freezing in Charleston! Where did this weather come from? I have worn my agement (Standards), Netflicks (Technology), book approval plans and eBooks winter coat constantly for the past six weeks! I am ready for the Charleston heat. Or (Library Collections in the 21st century), open access (Red Herring), copyright in at least some snow if we have to put up with this weather! the digital age (As I See It), and many others! And Richard Abel returns to continue Of course, the weather was an excuse to stay inside and work on this great issue of the Tale of the Richard Abel Company. ATG — Sustainability in Collection Development — guest edited by the awesome Oops! They are telling us the weather is supposed to go down to the teens Karen Christensen. We have articles by Merilyn Burke, Roxanne Myers Spencer, tonight and there may even be snow in the upstate! I have to open up my husband’s Michael Smith, Maria Jankowska, Whitney Bauman, and Tony Horava. Our Op grandmother’s cedar chest and get out more warm clothes! Brrrr…. Ed is by Liz Lorbeer and Heather Klusendorf. We have some great special reports Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and here’s hoping that 2011 is the best by Patrick Carr (the mission of libraries in the 21st century) and Sara Killingworth year ever! Much love to all y’all, Yr. Ed.
Letters to the Editor Rumors from page 1 Send letters to
ticipating in a local Greek bake sale. Mmm But it was the holidays and I just couldn’t Rumors good! Juliette loves to bake. Next year she help myself! I always buy books for presents. from page 26 will be going to college and her number one What else is there? And much as I love Ama- choice is Sweet Briar, a beautiful school that zon (my family must be keeping them in busi- As you might have gathered, many of the has a subscription to ATG! ness!) there is no place like a real bookstore! videos from the 30th Charleston Conference I have to confess that I agree with Professor So, I went to several and even bought a color plenaries are up for all to see!!! Go to www.ka- Nardini about eBook devices. I think eBook Nook for my husband for Christmas (don’t tell tina.info/conference. Many of the powerpoints readers are great if you have too many books to him). It is way cool! Problem is, though, as and presentations are also up at slideshare. I carry, have a bad back, like gizmos, don’t want the astute Michael Pelikan points out in his tell you what! The Charleston Conference to advertise what you are reading (did you read column this time (see p.86), when you buy a (most notably my great staff!) has gotten their that Romance is experiencing an upsurge with book it is tied to the device so you don’t re- (not my) act together and they are almost out eBooks?), have a good battery and/or access ally own the book. You own the book on that of control with all their innovations! to electricity, and travel a lot. But, au fond, I device. Michael seems to have one of each (for One of the great Conference videos stars do NOT think that the eBook will replace all his research, no doubt) – three generations of the lovable Athena Michael playing you- print books. See my recent interview with Jack Kindles, a Sony eReader, an iPad, etc. Mi- know-who during the skit on Friday afternoon. McHugh. http://www.johnbmchugh.com/ chael wishes for a personal unique identifier Check it out. In her spare time, Athena tells Oh – And be sure and read Bob’s column, it’s that would allow us to read the same book on me that she and her daughter Juliette are par- called PRINT, this issue, p.77. continued on page 40 38 Against the Grain / December 2010 - January 2011
he ecological footprint (discussed in without some sort of eco-systemic collapse) some normative assumptions about what “the terms of the library profession on page of the Earth. The measurement is based upon good life” is that fails to take into account the T28) is a measure of how much land and the acres of biologically productive area it diversity of peoples and environments on the water area a human population (or individual) would take to sustain a population that uses X planet? requires to produce the resources it consumes amount of resources. On the one hand, the ecological footprint and to absorb its wastes on an annual basis. Though there has been some controversy is a valuable yardstick for measuring the The result of this assessment — a simple quiz over what “carrying capacity” is, it has aided absurdity of the consumer lifestyle. On the — provides the number of Earths that would be in the development of methods for offsetting other hand, the tool is rife with scientific necessary to support a given lifestyle. carbon emissions for activities such as flying and ethical lacunae. For example, there is The concept of the “ecological footprint” and driving. Though there are environmental no doubt that Vice President Al Gore has a (EF) was developed in 1996 by Mathis Wack- justice issues related to offsetting emissions, the huge footprint, given that he travels all over ernagel and William Rees and outlined in Our tool is effective for use in many communities. the world to deliver his message about global Ecological Footprint. It suggests that in order (Carbon offsetting does not take into account climate change. But is not this very message to tread lightly on the Earth, we must measure the distribution of environmental ills: one power intended to change people’s lives toward liv- our true footprint, which includes energy and plant that does not use all of its pollution credits ing in more sustainable ways? The EF does resource consumption. Wackernagel and could sell its credits to another plant so that it not take into account these complexities. As Rees developed a measurement tool — a could pollute more than its alloted credits. Some another example, would the very development quiz, available at http://www.myfootprint.org communities would then have to deal with of the EF by Wackernagel and Rees be within — that calculates the ecological footprint of higher amounts of pollution than others.) the “one planet” scenario of sustainability? individual humans and organizations (such as The tool assumes a certain level of resource Probably not, given that the idea and tool businesses, communities, cities, and countries). use, but the question remains whether or not were developed over several conferences, At the end of the assessment, one is that level of resource use is and its very dissemination depends upon the told how many Earths would necessarily conducive to energy necessary to run a computer with an be needed if everyone on human and nonhuman Internet browser and connection. In a sense, the planet lived a certain progress and whether the legacy of the EF still remains to be seen, way. The concept of or not a specific level but its message is clear: We must stop living the ecological footprint of resource use can or as if there is more than the one planet upon depends upon the theory should be used for all which we live. of limited resources or a 6-plus billion people on limited carrying capacity the planet. Does sus- (the limit to how much tainability, according to Adapted from the Berkshire Encyclope- human consumption of the ecological footprint dia of Sustainability, Volume 1. (Berkshire resources is possible measure, smuggle in 2010.)
Rumors Something to Think About — from page 38 Anything Goes! different devices. I agree. How many numbers and passwords can a person Column Editor: Mary E. (Tinker) Massey (Serials Librarian, remember? And how many times do we Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Jack R. Hunt Library) need to buy the same book regardless of
40 Against the Grain / December 2010 - January 2011
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Op Ed change this, forcing publishers to create sites creating an increasingly open research environ- from page 42 that allow content to be crawled so users can ment where sharing rather than locking data is unearth supplemental materials that reside the norm. Undoubtedly, this will place pressure on within the publisher’s online environment? database and Web discovery providers to The burden remains for libraries, publishers manufacture online tools to draw attention to and online indexing services to be able to point Endnotes linkouts to supplemental materials that exist the public to supporting data that produced beyond the confines of the controlled search the published manuscript. How data is being 1. Open science data. Wikipedia. Accessed October 18, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/ environment. Right now, some providers offer shared, especially among research communi- wiki/Open_data value-added features on their sites to expose ties, may require a significant change to long- 2. Davis, Phil. Ending the Supplemental data within their depths, such as Elsevier’s standing practices. As authors willingly share Data “Arms Race” on The Scholarly Kitchen. SciVerse platform. Retrieving results outside their scholarly output, and make their research Accessed October 18, 2010. http://scholar- of the provider’s site will require user-designed more visible, they must also guard their rights lykitchen.sspnet.org/2010/08/16/ending-the- engines to crawl content. Historically, pub- on how the data can be used. Academic and supplemental-data-arms-race/ lishers and vendors have looked unfavorably research centers pay careful attention to how 3. Announcement Regarding Supple- upon Web crawlers due to additional stress that their data is exposed to deter any lost income mental Material. Accessed October 18, such traffic can place on a system, temporarily from potential inventions. Librarians can be 2010. http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/ shutting down a school’s Internet Protocol ad- the gatekeepers who can help to preserve, full/30/32/10599 dress to cease crawling activity. Can standards protect, and make available supplemental data,
Rumors d) 61% of trade/consumer publishers support I: One for Books and One for Bytes. Ain’t from page 40 the EPUB standard. 18% more than any other it the truth? publisher type. e) 64% of all publishers are of- Continuing with my schizophrenia – You gling to maximize profits from this fast-grow- fering titles in eBook format. Up 11% from the know – Books are not just words, groups of ing digital sector. Inefficient print production first survey. To find out full results of this survey: words or sections of words. Books are artifacts processes are hampering scalable, affordable http://www.aptaracorp.com/ebook-survey2/ of our civilization, memories, communication digital output. c) Only 7% of publishers are ?elq=b7dca85d436544b8a1ed469c3c163609 tools. One of the speakers at the Charleston implementing enhancements to their eBooks. So – you may have noticed their schizo- Conference (Allen Renear) said: “There is Suggesting that most publishers are not aware of phrenic nature or these Rumors – between too much to read; text mining and strategic the EPUB standard’s inherent support for con- print and e! Reminds me of the 2002 Charles- reading are necessary. We need disaggregated tent enhancement, including audio and video. ton Conference theme – TWO FACES HAVE continued on page 51
Against the Grain / December 2010 - January 2011
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Interview — Moshe Pritsker Rumors from page 50 from page 43 changes did not affect the principal structure and format of the sci- enhanced reading. We will see sentences from many different articles entific article, and this is where JoVE wants to make a difference. brought together.” This is the power of the computer technology. Still, A number of new initiatives were made in the scientific community the artifact must remain for future generations. information space. For example, there were a few attempts to create http://www.katina.info/conference/video_2010_trust.php science-oriented Facebook-like social network sites (e.g., Epernicus. Which brings me to the word “stewardship.” I only took note of two com and Labmeeting.com) and YouTube-like community video sites Plenary speakers using that word during the 30th Charleston Confer- (e.g., SciVee.tv and DNAtube.com). We are yet to see how much these ence. The first was Brian Schottlaender who made stewardship the initiatives will be adopted by the scientific community. centerpiece of his talk – Full Spectrum Stewardship of the Scholarly From my experience, to be adopted, any new offering in science Record. And the second was Jon Orwant from Google Books. Stew- communication has to align with current professional incentives of ardship (and not just patron-driven materials) must come back into our scientists and students: getting grants, publishing in scientific jour- vocabulary. http://www.slideshare.net/CharlestonConference/full-spec- trum-stewardship-of-the-scholarly-record-by-brian-e-c-schottlaender- nals, finding the next job, or receiving better grades. Otherwise, it university-of-california-san-diego will not work. Speaking of which – did you hear Jon Orwant’s (Engineering Man- ATG: Please speculate on the future for the journal. ager, Google Books) talk at the 30th Charleston Conference this past MP: I am optimistic since the JoVE receives more and more ac- year? It was Friday afternoon late and it was fascinating! The auditori- ceptance among scientists, students, and librarians. We will expand ums were packed even though it was 5:30 to 6:15 on Friday! Jon says by increasing the scope and rate of the video publication. Specifically, that he estimates that you can read 7,000 books in your lifetime. That’s we plan to establish new JoVE sections for major areas of biomedical a lot of Kindle and Nook and iPad purchases! research such as Oncology and Bioengineering, in addition to Neurosci- http://www.katina.info/conference/video_2010_orwant.php ence and Immunology that are being built now. We should consider Welcome to the circumspect Alex Holzman (did you see him in Charles- expanding to other areas such as Psychology. ton?) who is the new editor of the University Press column in ATG! Bringing I think that sooner or later, following the JoVE growth, big STM up words and all, I was interested in the column in this issue, p.61, by Richard publishers will try to massively integrate online video into their prod- Brown which talks about the need for librarian/university press collaboration, ucts, although it will require significant technology developments and REAL collaboration. Brown points to the use of casual metaphors (e.g., organizational changes on their part. From this point of view, JoVE university press as dinosaur, printed books as relics). He urges that we be serves as a pioneer and a catalyst of change for the entire industry. more careful with our language. Books/Words are more than bits and bytes. In the end, video will become an important component of the STM They are expressions of an author’s/writer’s/groups’ thoughts. publishing. continued on page 53 Against the Grain / December 2010 - January 2011
Column Editor’s Note: Many thanks to this issue’s MM review- professor Lee Raus Gandee, Montgomery’s ers, Joey van Arnhem, Jerry Spiller, and Eleanor Cook. Season’s own spiritual teacher, and a Virginia granny- greetings and happy reading, everyone! — DV woman whom we know by the pseudonym Sarah Ramsey. Montgomery, Jack. American Shamans: Journeys with American Shamans will be appealing to read- Traditional Healers. Ithaca, NY: Busca, Inc., 2008. ers with interests in the magical and religious 978-0-9666196-9-0. 304 pages. $19.95. healing practices, as well those focused on anthro- pological fieldwork or local histories of areas covered. The book may Reviewed by Jolanda-Pieta (Joey) van Arnhem, M.F.A. be of particular interest to those researching American folk practices, especially the traditions explored by Montgomery: African American (Instructor & Training Coordinator, College of Charleston root doctors in the South and Powwow healers in areas of German Libraries)
n American Shamans: Journeys with Traditional Healers, Jack Montgomery relates detailed personal accounts of working with No Shelf Required: E-Books in Libraries, ed. Sue Polanka. Ishamans and magical healers in the United States. The research Chicago: ALA, 2011. 978-0-8389-1054-2. 200 pages. $65.00. leading up to this book began with Montgomery’s undergraduate work in religious studies at the University of South Carolina in the mid-1970s. Reviewed by Eleanor I. Cook (Assistant Director for Collections Many of his chronicles focus on healers in midland and Lowcountry and Technical Services, Joyner Library, East Carolina University) South Carolina, near his hometown of Columbia and his alma mater. These detail encounters with root doctors or Hoodoo practitioners of African American traditions. His fieldwork also illuminates similar his book captures a moment in time and does a good job of docu- traditions of Powwow men or hexenmeisters coming out of German menting the evolving nature of eBooks. Unfortunately, because immigrant traditions in South Carolina and Pennsylvania. Tof the fact that the ground is constantly shifting, some of what is described here may already be out-of-date. One of the book’s strengths Montgomery offers his firsthand ethnographic research, giving is that it collects information about how different types of libraries are insight into classic ethnographic methodologies including journal writ- experimenting with eBooks. It also covers issues related to eBook ing, tape recording interviews for later transcription and analysis, and vendors, standards, and presents specific case studies. Preservation the tenuous process of building relationships with potential informants concerns are also addressed. whose names may require disguising for their privacy and protection. The author himself works as a shaman and spiritual healer, and is often The case studies are of particular interest as they get at the thought more a participant than observer in the tales. He spends some time processes behind the steps for actually circulating eBook readers at remarking on the need for holistic approaches to societal as well indi- two libraries, one public and one academic. Much collaboration and a vidual strife. He asks the reader to keep an open mind with regard to his dose of “logistical ingenuity” is needed between departments in order subject matter, calling for openness to the often different, even opposing, to do this successfully. It would have been nice to have had more case worldviews of science and the various faith healing traditions. studies included. Researched histories of traditions in South Carolina and Pennsyl- As an excellent follow-up, editor Polanka edits a blog with the same vania, given further context by Montgomery’s commentary, provide a name as the book for further musings and developments with eBooks cultural background for the author’s recounted fieldwork and numerous and e-readers: http://www.libraries.wright.edu/noshelfrequired/. short anecdotes about noted healers. The reader will be entranced by The blog received First Place in the Salem Press Academic Blog such remarkable and charismatic figures asDoctor Buzzard, high sheriff Award: http://salempress.com/Store/blogs/blog_home.htm. James E. McTeer, Granny Slice, and Conrad Matthai. Perhaps the The blog is a great place to keep up with everything about eBooks. most exceptional and rewarding passages of his research are transcrip- Those of us struggling with how to incorporate eBooks into our library tions of interviews with South Carolina Powwow man and retired should definitely keep this blog on our list of must-reads!
cal site in Winchester. It is a delightful town Interview — Jud Dunham Rumors with a fantastic fish and chips take-out place. from page 52 from page 51 Richard is not really retiring! From 1 January 2011, STM has announced that Richard will partners. These applications aim to improve But, not to worry, Sandy Thatcher, now assume responsibility for STM’s Outreach researcher workflow and enrich content avail- retired from Penn State UP and so the uni- Programmes, Research4Life and patientIN- able to our users. versity press column, will still be contributing FORM access initiatives, the ARDI patent a column from time to time. In fact there will We are also exploring bringing other project and STM’s activities with library orga- be a Sandy column in the February issue of nizations. The hard-working Maurice Long publishers’ content into SciVerse Hub in the ATG! Stay tuned! future. Right now, our focus is on improving had developed many of these programs and will Hub and growing the Applications Market- Let’s see. A couple of people have retired! be retiring from STM at the end of 2010. The place and Developer Network ecosystem, to The highly competent Richard Gedye has re- firecrackerMichael Mabe is the CEO of STM. provide our current SciVerse ScienceDirect tired from Oxford University Press and sends The energetic Doug LaFrenier told me and SciVerse Scopus customers with some of his new email address
Against the Grain / December 2010 - January 2011
“I write. I write that I am writing. Mentally I am unsure why my friend suggested this that places a story on paper is currently sur- I see myself writing that I am writing, and I particular novel by Vargas Llosa, as it has real for me. For the last year or so I have had can also see myself seeing that I am writing. I been almost 15 years since I first read the the distinct pleasure of assisting a dear friend remember writing and also seeing myself writ- novel, for he is better known for his ability in crafting a story he needed to tell. To read ing. And I see myself remembering that I see to blend social consciousness and political a book in development has placed me on a myself writing, and I remember seeing myself activism with literature. He even ran for the sunny window seat with a voyeur’s view remembering that I was writing, and I write President of Peru in 1990 advocating privatiza- into this world of writing. Words, research, seeing myself write that I remember having tion. Conversation in the Cathedral, The Feast sentence structure, point of view (omniscient seen myself write that I saw myself writing that of the Goat, and The Green House are more or close third person), dialogue, character I was writing and that I was writing that I was typical of this social/political blend. He has development, read, discuss, more words. And writing that I was writing. I can also imagine now left the political arena and concentrates the process continues until the story begins myself writing that I had already written that I on the writing: “Nothing better protects a hu- to dance on the page and I find myself living would imagine myself writing that I had written man being against the stupidity of prejudice, in the historic mystical world my friend is that I was imagining myself writing that I see racism, religious, or political sectarianism, creating. When I emailed him this column for myself writing that I am writing.” Salvador and exclusivist nationalism than this truth that review he responded with a challenge that he Elizondo’s words define the page prior to the invariably appears, in great literature: that had posed to his writer’s group: “Do books title page of Mario Vargas Llosa’s La tía Julia men and women of all nations and places are sometime choose writers to bring them to life? y el escribido (Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter) essentially equal.” This novel, however, takes Google ‘writers, writing’ and you will find a and sets the reader up for the complexities of a little bit different direction. It is a love story, majority are about the books that ‘have’ to be writing layered in a humor-spiced love story. a love for an older woman entwined with a love written; that ‘demand’ to be written. One year The Swedish Academy awarded Mario for the profession of writing. ago I went to an annual writer’s conference Vargas Llosa the 2010 Nobel Prize in litera- The story begins: “I was very young and with four book projects that I was working ture “for his cartography of structures of power lived with my grandparents in a villa with white on. Three of the four got good critiques and and his trenchant images of the individual’s re- walls in the Calle Ocharcán in Miraflores.” encouraging comments and had the enthu- sistance, revolt, and defeat.” My introduction The storyteller is studying law, but “deep siastic support of friends and families. The to Vargas Llosa was on a trip to Tampa to visit down what I really wanted was to be a writer fourth had none of the above. In fact it had a good friend. The introduction was courtesy someday. I had a job with a pompous-sounding nothing going for it except that it demanded to of this friend, who shares a passion for reading title, a modest salary, duties as a plagiarist, be written. So I wrote it. I set aside the other all types of literature and is also immersed in and flexible working hours: News Director of projects, neglected family responsibilities Latin American literature. She knew of my Radio Panamericana.” His fascination with and friends, and surrendered my life to this affection for Garcia Marquez’s works and writers emerges with every word, sentence, doubtful book just because it told me to. This felt I could expand my horizons south of the and point of view on the page, and then he year I went back to the same conference and Colombian border into Peru. An interesting meets Aunt Julia, a recently divorced relative found out that the book was right.” Then he recommendation, as Vargas Llosa’s works that is several years his senior. He hated her set out to discover quotes by famous authors are considered more “realistic” than Garcia instantly. But this love story, based loosely on about the profession of writing, the obsession Marquez and because there is an unresolved his own life, has all the elements of a soap op- of writing, the passion for writing. A fantastic rivalry between the two friends. What began era: passion, family disgrace, May-December dark comical foray into the minds of famous as a friendship ended with an argument and a marriage, and melodrama as the story merges writers. I will leave you the quote he credited black eye for Garcia Marquez at the hand of with his obsession for Pedro Camacho’s radio to Toni Morrison, another Nobel laureate in Vargas Llosa in Mexico City’s Palacio de las serials and the creative process required to tell literature, which most addresses the point: Bellas Artes in 1976. So I read. I see myself a good story. “If there’s a book you really want to read, writing about reading. Mentally I see myself Rereading Vargas Llosa’s story about the but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must reading on that trip to Tampa, and I type. scriptwriter’s journey into the creative world write it.”
for this set. As in past editions the entries From the Reference Desk end with a valuable list of references and/or Rumors from page 55 suggested readings and “see also” references. from page 53 This edition seems to have more emphasis on Congress and the Nation series is found at biographies with “63 of the most distinguished CALENDAR!) so he is not disappearing. http://www.cqpress.com/product/Congress- persons in the history of Psychology” covered Hooray! And Doug sent a great Holiday card and-the-Nation-Series-1945.html.) in individual articles, and 543 others listed in from American Institute of Physics about a separate section of brief entries noting their the vortices created by airplane wingtips. dates, research interests, and areas of expertise. The image from D. Harris, V. Miller, and The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology A sense of serious scholarship and a desire Charles Williamson is from the January 2010 (2010, 978-0470170243, $700) is now in its to inform, the cornerstones of past editions, Physics Today. fourth edition. Published by Wiley, the lat- are equally evident here. This new edition http://blogs.physicstoday.org/ deserves full consideration from academic est version of this four-volume set keeps the The vivacious Eleanor Cook won the emphasis on psychology (there is no “and libraries whether they own prior editions or ABC-Clio/Vicky Speck Charleston Confer- Behavioral Sciences” in the title of the new not. (It is also available from the Wiley Online ence Leadership Award this year! Eleanor edition) while maintaining the set’s interna- Reference at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com. has contributed so much to the Conference tional flavor. EditorsIrving B. Weiner and W. nuncio.cofc.edu/book/10.1002/97804704792 over the years not the least of which are the Edward Craighead mix updated entries from 16/homepage/Order.html.) skits. Congratulations, Eleanor! past editions with new articles commissioned continued on page 75 56 Against the Grain / December 2010 - January 2011
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if that remains a key ingredient in higher educa- Imagine the shared resources of all the world’s Little Red Herrings tion in the future . academic institutions online and at one’s fin- from page 74 If these benefits were not enough, open gertips! Some will argue that the quality of access repositories also allow for more on- such offerings would be small compared to its is available, and enterprising libraries have campus collaboration that simply cannot be vast size, but I would argue that they haven’t found it. But we need a privatized version of done via the Web without it. For example, a spent much time in academic publications something like the old Library Services and math professor might log on and discover that a already in print. I would further argue that it Construction Act (LSCA), — say a three year professor in art and design is painting fractals. would at least rival what’s been printed and, start-up — for this to work on the scale that They two might work together to create an quite possibly, be much better. it must for all to benefit equally. Why three interactive presentation. Students, too, would Can open access save us? I think it can, but years? Most IR software is purchased on a be able to see what faculty are working on and it’s going to require something like this — if subscription basis. The three-year start-up offer assistance on projects that truly interest not this exactly — to make it work. Without it, allows time for institutions to fold the cost them. It strikes me as a win-win equation. academics will remain the indentured servants into their current budgets with a proven track Lastly, this addition would vastly improve of the publishing world, while academic librar- record of the software doing what it claims it the chances of bringing to reality Robert ies are held hostage to their high prices. can do. Three-year start-up funding would Darnton’s National Digital Library (NDL) allow institutions to assign oversight of the (http://bit.ly/b7PeWV). Darnton views the repository to an internal entity. NDL as a “digital equivalent of the Library Endnote I can think of no better oversight entity than of Congress.” But it can’t happen without OA, 1. Published simultaneous in Against the Grain the library, since it is, after all, about informa- or rather I should say it won’t happen as eas- and at http://dacuslibrary.wordpress.com. tion and shared knowledge. With funding ily and quickly without it, if it happens at all. like that in place, libraries could arrange the repository in such a manner that would al- low various levels of participation, secure the Creative Commons licensing, and organize Forgot! Be sure to vote for Xan Arch who — read catalog — the available resources in an Rumors is running for ALA Council. easy-to-find and manageable way. With large, from page 56 Also — be sure to look at the magnificent medium and small institutions contributing to Don Hawkins’ blog. scholarly communication, the pressure would And, we had nearly 367+ first-timers in www.theconferencecircuit.com be effectively applied to publishers to reduce Charleston this year among our over 1,300 pricing substantially or get left out altogether registrants! For the first time this year, we I have run out of room for this time. Be (as they are about to be with digital textbook published profiles of the first-time attendees sure and visit the ATG Website for updates. publishing). I also imagine that the large-scale (online and some were printed). The profiles In the meantime, Happy ALA Midwinter and participation would in many ways legitimize that we received are loaded on the Conference Happy New Year! the process for tenure and promotion purposes, Website. http://www.katina.info/conference/ Much love, Yr. Ed. continued on page 79
Against the Grain / December 2010 - January 2011