March 25, 2008

Purdue Press publishes third open-access journal

"First Opinions - Second Reactions: Reviews of Recent Children's and Young Adult Literature," was published online this month, said Tom Bacher, director of Purdue University Press.

Open-access journals deliver valuable research content online at a reduced cost. This allows researchers to access newly published research materials without having to pay the often-exorbitant costs that commercially published research can carry.

"Typically in universities, faculty will publish research in journals, and other researchers and university libraries have to buy subscriptions. Those can be very expensive, and the fees are increasing," Bacher said. "So by publishing open access journals online, we're essentially giving more people an avenue to use and build on research that is conducted here at Purdue and reduce the overall system cost for scholarship."

"First Opinions" joins a list that includes nine volumes of "CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture," and the first volume of “The Journal of Problem-Solving."

"First Opinions" is a collaboration between Purdue professors Jill P. May, a professor of literacy education, and Janet Alsup, a professor of English, and former Purdue professor Christine King, who is currently working at Iowa State University. The journal reviews contemporary children's and young adult literature.

"We hope to provide a forum for teachers, scholars and students to learn about books that they may not otherwise encounter and to allow them to integrate exciting, new titles into their curricula or scholarly works," a note from the editors reads at the beginning of the journal. "Second, we want to provide a space not only for the publication of quality reviews, but also for the reactions of teachers and scholars to these reviews after the materials have been introduced to students at various instructional levels. In this way, we are striving to create a dialogue between all who are interested in the study and classroom teaching of children's and adolescent literature."

In "First Opinions," each issue revolves around a topic or issue relevant to contemporary children's and young adult literature. The issues center on international literature, or literature written by, for or about individuals from around the world. Commentary from literary scholars, writers and educators in Australia, Israel and India open this issue. Then, reviews of books written by authors and illustrators from Mexico, Central America, Australia, Israel and the United States, are provided. Classroom teachers and youth librarians respond to the reviews and books.

"We hope these commentaries, reviews and reactions enrich your teaching and thinking about children's and adolescent literature depicting the myriad experiences of children and adolescents around the world," the editors wrote.

All open-access journals from Purdue Press are housed online at e-Pubs, Purdue’s online research repository, and can be accessed at https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/thepress/. "The Purdue Press is committed to exploring new models of publishing, including open access," notes Bacher. "Adapting to the changing nature of research and dissemination will help the Press, and Purdue University, continue to foster an environment of learning and discovery."

Writer: Jim Bush, (765) 494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu

Sources: Thomas Bacher, (765) 494-8251, bacher@purdue.edu

Janet Alsup, (765) 494-3777, jalsup@purdue.edu

Jill P. May, (765) 494-2355, jillmay@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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