Newsletter 2673 Issue 2673200957143956

In this Issue

Editor's Note

Following up on our ARL budget roundup from last week, numbers released by the Purdue University libraries indicate that they are facing a $1 to 1.2 million shortfall in their 2010 budget. Absolutely worth reading is the scholarly communications FAQ that gives some great answers about the shortfall's potential impact on the library's materials budget allocation.

In other news on the journal front, word spread this week of Elsevier's Merck-sponsored publication of the Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine. The journal was published between 2003 and 2005, and lacked proper disclosure of the pharmaceutical company's backing, though in the Financial Times Elsevier said yesterday that the publication did not meet the company's own standards for "accuracy and transparency." It has since adjusted its editorial policies.

As I considered some of the difficulties in safeguarding the open exchange of research and information, I came across an excellent piece by John Mark Ockerbloom on the Google Book Search settlement that asks, "Do we need a 'reader’s rights registry'?" Ockerbloom poses relevant questions about the role librarians can play in defending the rights of readers and researchers on the largest scale imaginable. As always, enjoy the Newswire, and send us your thoughts.—Josh Hadro, Editor, Academic Newswire

• Consortium Asks Journal Vendors for Price Reductions
  Statement from NorthEast Research Libraries is the latest to ask vendors to take academic library budgets into account.
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• Amazon Launches Kindle DX
  Will the larger screen, better for displaying electronic textbooks, appeal to students?
  more » » » 



Academic Librarian Salary Survey Released
The survey is the first to be conducted according to the new job description definitions developed by the ACRL CUPA-HR Position Descriptions of Academic Librarians Task Force formed in 2006.
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From the Bell Tower: Fine Tuning Higher Education
The Lumina Foundation’s Tuning USA project may help fix higher education’s systems of assessment and accountability, writes Steven Bell.
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Peer to Peer Review: The Vanishing Book Review
When it comes to expectations for academic book reviews, says Barbara Fister, the goal posts aren’t just being moved—they’re being blown up.
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People
News on the latest appointments and awards in the library world.
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Best Sellers in Botany-Zoology
August 2008 to date as identified by YBP Library Services.
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