January 8, 2008
Provost invites discussion on scholarly communication
Purdue faculty, staff, students, and researchers are invited to discuss scholarly communication issues using a recently launched blog. Interim Provost Vic Lechtenberg has appointed and charged a task force to inform campus on issues related to scholarly communication. The task force, chaired by Dean of Libraries James L. Mullins, created the blog, http://scholarly.lib.purdue.edu, for campus feedback and discussion.
Scholarly communication is the process by which faculty members, students, researchers, and academics conduct their research, collect the information from that research into a publishable format (print or electronic), have their research reviewed, and distribute it. Various issues are associated with this process: the rising price of journal subscriptions; protecting and retaining author's rights; use of alternative methods of publishing and the impact on tenure evaluation; and open access to research information.
The scholarly communication task force at Purdue is working to educate campus about these issues. The blog they have created discusses the key issues and gives examples of how Purdue is addressing them.
There also are resources for more information and examples of how these issues can affect research practices.
Other members of the task force include: Tom Bacher, director of Purdue University Press; George Bodner, professor of chemistry and chair of the University Senate; Nancy Bulger, assistant provost; Peter Dunn, associate vice provost for research; Donna Ferullo, director of the University Copyright Office; John Larson, professor of history and director of graduate education; Beth McNeil, associate dean of information resources and scholarly communication, Libraries; Cindy Nakutsu, interim dean of the graduate school and professor of agronomy; Bernard Tao, Indiana Soybean Board Professor in Soybean Utilization Research and past chair of the University Senate.
The task force is planning a Scholarly Communication Forum, which will be held at Purdue on May 6. More information about the forum will be posted on the blog as it is available.
To visit the scholarly communication blog, click here: http://scholarly.lib.purdue.edu.