UCLA Litbrarian

It’s that time of year again.  The Los Angeles Archives Bazaar is coming up in about a month.  In the past two years, the bazaar took place at the Huntington Library. This year it is moving to USC.  See the announcement below for details. I really recommend this event to Southern California history and literature scholars. 

Southern California history comes alive in exhibits by 65 historical collections and archives on Saturday, October 25 at the USC -Davidson Conference Center.  Browse rare collections, consult with experts, learn about family genealogy, preserving your own history, and numerous other topics.  Presented by L.A. as Subject, a research collective hosted by the USC Libraries, the Bazaar offers a wealth of resources for exploring Los Angeles history, including educational programs, panels and book signing by authors, and documentary films about the hidden stories of Los Angeles neighborhoods will be shown throughout the day.

FREE Admission.

Archives Bazaar visitors receive FREE admission to Exposition Park museums, including the California African American Museum, the California Science Center, and reduced admission to the Natural History Museum (NHM).  The NHM provides Teachers, Active Military and USC students FREE admission with photo ID, courtesy of NHM.

For more information visit http://www.usc.edu/arc/lasubject

Location: USC -Davidson Conference Center, 3415 S. Figueroa St. (at Jefferson Blvd), Los Angeles, CA 90089.  Suggested Parking is Parking Structure D, immediately east of Davidson Center. http://web-app.usc.edu/maps/?id=8

Date: Saturday, October 25, 2008

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Admission: FREE

As you head into the new quarter, don’t forget to check this blog and the UCLA Library website for upcoming workshops, resources, and events to support your research and teaching.  For those of you who are teaching, don’t forget that yours truly is available to help conduct research instruction sessions in your classes, as are other subject specialists here at Young Research Library. 

Also, as we head into spring, be sure to let me know what you think of our literature-related collections here at UCLA Libraries.  Although I purchase resources throughout the year, spring is the big collections spending push before the end of the fiscal year.  If you think there are important resources we are lacking, let me know.  The budget is very tight this year–and promises to get tighter in the next couple years, thanks to the dismal State budget–so I can’t promise that I will get everything you suggest.  However, bringing these resource needs to my attention will help inform the difficult spending decisions I make over the coming months.

Have a good break!

During the month of February, UCLA has access to Oxford Islamic Studies, a database which contains literature-related resources. You may access it from any UCLA IP address (please note that it may not work via proxy server).  Let me know if you have trouble accessing it.  And if you do give it a try, please let me know what you think.

As usual, keep in mind that with a limited budget for electronic resources, the Library cannot purchase subscriptions to everything for which we get a trial.  That said, if I know that a resource will be of use to UCLA scholars, I will place it higher on the priority list.  Also keep in mind that for very expensive resources which are purchased at theUniversity of
California level, license negotiations may take up to a year or more.  Another reason to fight hard for open access resources…

The Council on Library and Information Resources is offering funding for graduate students writing dissertations based on research in original sources.  There is more information on the CLIR site: www.clir.org/fellowships/mellon/mellon.html.

Michael Colacurcio, distinguished professor in the English Department, is being featured this month in the Faculty Exhibit Case located in the lobby of Young Research Library. The exhibit honors his recent nomination to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and features many of his past and forthcoming publications, along with a short biography and selected bibliography.

Colacurcio was nominated alongside colleague Debora Shuger, professor of English, who will be featured in the exhibit case later this quarter.

An interesting article came out in Inside Higher Ed this week about the American Anthropological Association’s decision to move its journals from UC Press to Wiley-Blackwell, a commercial publisher. Literature scholars should sit up and take note, if they haven’t already. Even though there may be disciplinary differences between anthropology and English or comparative literature, the events discussed in the article reflect trends in scholarly publication that affect all fields and disciplines in the academy. According to the article, the association’s decision to move its journals has sparked criticism from various circles:

Some object to the move from a university press to a commercial entity and fear a lessening of commitment to important scholarship that may not make money. Others see this as a sign that the anthropology association–which has won praise for the online offerings of its journals–is taking a hard line against the open access movement embraced by many of its members (and the library world). Still others see the move as a sign that scholarly societies are facing tough decisions about their missions–without good mechanisms for involving the academic rank and file in making decisions.

For literature scholars, the considerations are similar: How can we ensure that everyone can have access to the articles we write? How can we make our journals financially viable in the face of limited budgets? How can we ensure that scholars–the graduate students, faculty members, and independent scholars who author these articles–have the greatest possible control over the fruits of their labors? Who has the last word in the discipline: the scholarly association or the scholars it purports to represent?

At a premier research institution like UCLA, there is an expectation that the campus community will have access to everything. The Research Library certainly attempts to live up to this expectation, but doing so is becoming increasingly difficult as commercial publishers continue to raise the price tags of licensed electronic resources. And for scholars at smaller institutions, the situation may be much worse. The open access movement is attempting to remedy this situation, seeing business models that support free access to scholarship without sacrificing financial viability.

One of the most important points raised in the article is that most scholars, including those serving as editors, “are concerned but in the dark.” This article will shed some light. If you interested in hearing more, look for scholarly communication information on the Library website.  Here are some places to start:

Scholarly Communication Update: UC Report on Value-Based Journal Prices

Managing Intellectual Property: What Faculty Need to Know to Publish and Teach in the Digital Age

Also, keep an eye out for future scholarly communication workshops offered by the UCLA Library in the upcoming academic year. I will be sure to announce them here.

I’ve gotten some suggestions and thought of some others. Do any of these strike your fancy?

WordGal
WordGirl
Litbrarian
Lit Lifeline
LiterYRL [would you presume this is pronounced “literal”?]
Lit Source
CELL: Comparative and English Language Literature
UC-ELL-A