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Happy 2012 Open Access Movement! December 31, 2011 Dramatic Growth of Open Access
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2011
Imagine a world where anyone can instantly access all of the world’s scholarly knowledge – as profound a change as the invention of the printing press. Technically, this is within reach. All that is needed is a little imagination, to reconsider the economics of scholarly communications from a poetic viewpoint.
Highlights
There are over 7,000 peer-reviewed fully open access journals as listed in the DOAJ, still growing by 4 titles per day and over 6,000 of these are in English, as listed by Open J-Gate. Electronic Journals Library keeps track of more than 32,000 free journals. There are over 2,000 repositories, linking to more than 30 million items, growing at the rate of 21 thousand items per day, which can be searched through the snazzy new Bielefeld Academic Search Engine search options. PLoS ONE, having become the world’s largest journal last year, outdid themselves by doubling the number of articles published this year. PubMedCentral, arXiv, RePEC, and E-LIS growth was in the 10-15% range for the year. This issue of Dramatic Growth adds a new feature, a first attempt at comparing compliance rates with a few medical funders’ open access policies – so far, Wellcome Trust is looking good!
By Heather Morrison
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
A Great Quote from Eric Burns
“The library is not, as some would have it, a place for the retiring of disposition or faint of heart. It is not an ivory tower or a quiet room in a sanitarium facing away from the afternoon sun. It is, rather, a command center, a power base, a board room, a war room, an Oval Office for all who preside over their own destinies. One does not retreat from the world here; one prepares to join it at an advantage.”
Eric Burns – The Joy of Books: Confessions of a Lifelong Reader
Aboriginal culture focus of second agreement in Delta
5:00 PM 01/10/2012
DELTA – A feast was held today to celebrate the signing of a second Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement (AEEA) for Delta, with partners committing to support Aboriginal student success and bring a greater awareness of Aboriginal culture and history to all students.
Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreements are a commitment by school districts, local Aboriginal communities and the Ministry of Education to work together to support Aboriginal students. Delta’s first agreement was signed in 2005, and the initiative has proven to be successful. Over the past ten years, six-year completion rates have risen for Aboriginal students in the district from 37 to 60 per cent.
With the new AEEA, the commitment to Aboriginal students is being enhanced. During the past year, community members, students, parents and educators came together to develop this second AEEA for Delta. The new AEEA is based on information learned from the first agreement and answers to the question, “What would success look like for our students?”
Province of British Columbia Newsroom: BC’s Online News Source
Vancouver forum on child poverty: Jan. 25th
The Vancouver Sun January 11, 2012. 2:59 pm • Section: Report Card
A second public forum on child poverty will be held in Vancouver this month to discuss B.C.’s dismal performance on this front.
It’s a continuation of a discussion sparked in September by Seymour teacher Carrie Gelson when she wrote an open letter to the people of Vancouver on behalf of her disadvantaged students.
The forum will be held Jan. 25, 7-9:30 p.m. at Langara College. Panelists include Gelson, Clyde Hertzman of the Human Early Learning Partnership at UBC and Dr. Barbara Fitzgerald, a UBC pediatrician, among others.
Find full details here.
Fitzgerald is behind a movement called Mom-to-Mom, which sees professional women, mainly from the UBC area, helping mothers living in poverty. Read about that here.
By Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
jsteffenhagen@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
THIS JUST IN: New Book at Education Library
Writing Power: Teaching Writing Strategies that Engage Thinking
“Writing Power shows teachers how to encourage students to consider the reader’s thinking as they write. The book is organized around five thinking strategies — Connect, Question, Visualize, Infer, and Transform. Lessons based on these strategies illustrate how students can engage and invite their readers’ thinking through their writing. Based on the fundamentals of the Writing Process and Six Traits models, this book offers a wide range of effective writing techniques with suggested “anchor books” for each lesson. Complete with scripted, sequential lessons, recommended anchor books, blackline masters and assessment rubrics.”
Publisher: Pembroke Publishers
Author: Adrienne Gear
Year: 2011
Language: English
Category: Education & Teaching
ISBN: 978-1-55138-263-0
Book information and review here.
UBC Catalogue information here.