Open Access Books now at JSTOR

JSTOR continues to expand its offerings of scholarly materials.  An emailed announcement today from Frank Smith, Director, Books at JSTOR, says

"There are currently 63 Open Access titles available from the university presses of Cornell, California, Michigan, and University College London, and we expect to add hundreds more titles from additional partners in the coming months.  The titles are available for anyone to use without registering or logging into JSTOR, and there are no DRM [digital rights management] restrictions or chapter download limits." 

Great news to celebrate during Open Access Week!  This title caught my attention immediately:
Biostratigraphic and Geological Significance of Planktonic Foraminifera
by MARCELLE K. BOUDAGHER-FADEL
Copyright Date: 2015
Edition: 2, Revised
Published by: UCL Press
Pages: 306
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1g69xwk

We Love Open Access; featuring A.D. Goldman in PLoS Genetics

What do we mean by Open Access?  I'm so glad you asked this very timely question, during Open Access Week, Oct. 24-30, 2016.

Get the sense of Open Access immediately at Public Library of Science: PLoS.org, "a nonprofit publisher, innovator and advocacy organization."  It's an exciting place.

"Top scientists from more than 190 countries around the world have published with PLoS.  Among them, 59 Nobel Laureates.

"160,000+ peer-reviewed articles are free to access, reuse and redistribute.
Anytime, Anywhere."

Input "Oberlin College" in the PLoS Search box and get 133 results, including this recent paper from Assistant Professor of Biology Aaron Goldman:

Goldman, Aaron David and Laura F. Landweber. "What is a Genome?" PLoS Genetics 12, no. 7 (2016): e1006181.

Here's the really cool part about open access: rather than assigning copyright to the publisher, the authors retain copyright to their created work and grant free use of the material, without a barrier imposed by a subscription fee. This is an amazing transformation in the use of scholarly materials, which had for generations been accessible only to researchers affiliated with libraries who were able to pay the journal subscription. Open access materials are frequently published under the very generous Creative Commons Attribution License.

In the case of Goldman's paper: "Copyright: © 2016 Goldman, Landweber. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited."

Thanks for publishing with PLoS, Professor Goldman!

What do the authors conclude about the definition of a genome?  Since it is an open access article, I can copy that conclusion here: ... "the genome as an informational entity, often but not always manifest as DNA, encoding a broad set of functional possibilities that, together with other sources of information, produce and maintain the organism."  Read the whole article.

Gravitational-Wave Universe... lecture by Chiara Mingarelli

Dr. Chiara Mingarelli, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and California Institute of Technology, will speak at Oberlin College this coming week:

"The Gravitational-Wave Universe Seen by Pulsar Timing Arrays"

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

4:30pm

Wright Lecture Hall (W201), Wright Physics Laboratory

Science Center

Related reading in the science library collection includes:

Many others are accessible in print and online through OBIS. Search "gravitational wave*" to find a good number of them!

Looking forward to hearing Robert Krulwich on November 5

Robert Krulwich '69, co-host of Radiolab, will be the featured speaker at the Friends of the Library annual dinner on Saturday, November 5.  It is sure to be both informative and entertaining!  The talk is open to the public - arrive shortly before 8pm in the Root Room, Carnegie Building, to grab an open seat.

An example of Krulwich's ability to explain a complex and vexing topic in terms that are clearly understood is the collaboration of NPR and Odd Todd animations to create the five episodes of "Global Warming: It's All About Carbon."  Who knew that a carbon atom could have such a charming persona?  Albeit sobering in the context of too much atmospheric carbon - released through decades of use of fossil fuels - creating the greenhouse effect encircling the globe.

A keyword search in OBIS on carbon and climate yields over 1000 titles; possibly none of them are as pithy and helpful for someone new to the topic as Krulwich's videos created with Odd Todd.  Do come back to the library for in-depth understanding of climate disruption: search climatic changes or climate change mitigation for best results.  Climate change: a very short introduction is an excellent first choice, or, for a fuller review of carbon, check out Carbon age : how life's core element has become civilization's greatest threat.