Thursday 26 May 2011

Library opening hours on Monday 30th May

The Library will be open on Monday 30th May from 11am until 8pm to assist LSHTM students in the run-up to the examination period. School ID will be required to enter the building, as the School will be officially closed - visitors will not be able to access the School on that day.

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Wiley Open - New Series of Open Access Journals




Wiley Publishing have now joined the Open Access journal route with their Wiley Open series of journals. At present they list 3 journals Brain and Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution and Microbiology Open with hopefully a lot more soon. So now we have

Springer Open

BMJ Open

Sage Open

Scientific Reports from Nature Publishing

So all the big publishers apart from Elsevier have responded to the challenge that PLoS One threw down. Like PLoS One all move the charge from the reader to the author with fees upwards of £1,500. Of course such Open Access fees should be included in any funding applications from the beginning. If you intend to publish in such a journal please contact Andrew Gray andrew.gray@lshtm.ac.uk for advice on keeping your copyright. Hopefully one day we will also see a reduction in subscription fees as a result of publishers being paid upfront

Monday 23 May 2011

Reminder - Photo Competition 2011

The closing date for the 2011 photo competition is 31 May 2011. Staff & students are are encouraged to submit photos that represent the theme of the competition: Life and work at the School - this can be interpreted fairly widely to reflect work activities - both in London and overseas, studying at the School, social activities and living in London.



The winning entry, chosen by a judging panel, will appear in a forthcoming issue of Chariot and on the website and the photographer will receive a £25 gift voucher. All entries will be available to staff and students to view in PhotoLibrary.








Friday 20 May 2011

Information regarding Internet Explorer 9 & Web of Knowledge

Thomson Reuters, the suppliers of the Web of Knowledge database interface do not support Internet Explorer version 9. The Web of Knowledge does not work well with this version of the browser. If you are having problems using the databases on the Web of Knowledge (Web of Science, Biosis Previews), please check which version of the browser you are using.
The Web of Knowledge has provided the following work around:

Currently the Web of Knowledge platform does not support Internet Explorer version 9 browsers. Therefore, in order to view the results using this version of the browsers, users need to turn on the compatibility mode in the browsers or switch to a different browser that is compatible. For example: Firefox 3.5.

The users can enable the compatibility mode in the browser as follows:
  1. Click on Tools menu
  2. Click on Compatibility View Settings 3. Type 'isiknowledge.com' in the textbox and click on Add
The operating systems and browsers supported by Thomson Reuters are:

Windows XP or Windows Vista Operating System / Browsers
- Microsoft® Internet Explorer, v7.0 and v8.0
- Mozilla Firefox, v3.5

Macintosh® OS X 10.5 or 10.6 Operating System / Browsers
- Safari, v4.0
- Mozilla Firefox, v3.5


Wednesday 18 May 2011

Open Access Publishing Workshop



http://www.flickr.com/photos/wingedwolf/


It was good to meet people at the Open Access Publishing workshop and talk I gave, lots of questions and so little time!! However the slides are now available on slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/andrewtgray/oaworkshop

I also gave asked a few True of False questions around Open Access, which are listed below.

1. OA means that you lose your copyright
2. OA increases your citations
3. The reader of an OA article pays to read
4. If you are funded by the Wellcome Trust you can choose to make your research OA
5. ESRC Economic and Social Research Council require that you make your data OA
6. Once you leave LSHTM you can still access all the e-journals
7. You can make your article OA by putting it up on your staff page
8. Publishers own the copyright to your articles

answers at the bottom of the post.

There was also 2 scenarios for people to consider

Scenario 1:
You have received funding for your research from Wellcome Trust and decided you want to publish in a journal owned by the publisher Wiley Fox. Your article has been accepted and as required by your funder you ask for the article to be made OA. The publisher informs you that they do not have an OA option. What do you do?

Scenario 2:
You have produced some groundbreaking research and you are eager to share your findings via an article. You want to have the maximum reach and impact and believe that OA is essential. However your research has not been funded and therefore you do not have funds to pay for OA. How would you approach making your article OA?

While there are no true definitive answers, possible solutions could be...

Scenario 1:
• Contact the publisher and let them know that your funder requires that you make your research publicly available and would they consider allowing this if the funder paid for this. If not you could find out if the publisher/journal allows the deposit of your article in UKPMC, a repository or on your staff website after 6 months. To do this check Sherpa Romeo, enter in the name of journal or publisher and then look at the information. If publisher still will not allow this you need to find another journal. Look at Directory of Open Access Journals and/or Sherpa Romeo to discover which journal will allow OA. Insist on retaining your copyright, use the SPARC addendum. If you need any assistance, advice or help contact your Library or Institutional Repository.

Scenario 2:
• Make a selection of journals that you would like to publish in. Check on Sherpa Romeo and DOAJ for their position on OA and whether they need payment. If a journal is not Open Access check to see if they will allow you to deposit your own author manuscript (after peer review) into a repository or your personal website after 6 months. Ideally any embargo should not be for more than 6 months. If a journal charges a fee, contact them and explain that you do not have the funds and whether they would be happy to waive the fee. Insist on retaining your copyright, use the SPARC addendum.If you need any assistance or help contact your Library or Institutional Repository

True of False Answers:

1.False 2. True 3. False 4. False you must make your research OA 5. True 6. False 7. True if you keep your copyright/False if you give away your copyright 8. False unless you sign away your copyright!

Monday 16 May 2011

Essential Estates work in the Library this weekend (21st-22nd May)

Estates staff will be undertaking emergency lighting work in the Library Reading Room this weekend (21st/22nd May). There will inevitably be some disruption to Library users as furniture is moved and a tower erected to allow access to the lights, so users seeking quiet study space may wish to work elsewhere whilst this essential work is carried out.

Friday 13 May 2011

EBSCO Databases on your smartphone


Download the EBSCOhost app to search databases available on the EBSCO platform. The app allows you to search the databases, limit your results and email them to whatever email address you want.

More details are available at the EBSCOhost mobile page.

We currently subscribe to the following databases on the EBSCO platform:
  • CINAHL Plus
  • Africa-Wide Information
  • Greenfile
  • LISTA

Wednesday 11 May 2011

Repository Software and Host










I'm pleased to announce that after reviewing a number of repository softwares and vendors we have commissioned University of London Computer Centre ULCC to develop, build and host our repository using Eprints software

The next few months will see us working closely with ULCC to configure and develop a repository that best suits the School. For more information please contact Andrew Gray andrew.gray@lshtm.ac.uk

Monday 9 May 2011

Survey on Open Access




In partnership with the United Kingdom Council of Research Repositories (UK-CoRR) http://www.ukcorr.org/ and the Repositories Support Network (RSP) http://www.rsp.ac.uk/ we are c0nducting a survey on attitudes and experiences of Open Access. Even if your knowledge of Open Access is minimal or non existent! please do complete the survey since this will help us to develop information and guidance around Open Access.

The survey is open until 30th June and you can find it here

https://www.survey.lshtm.ac.uk/openaccess

If you have any problems, want to know more or give feedback please contact the Repository Manager Andrew Gray andrew.gray@lshtm.ac.uk 020 7598 8193

Thursday 5 May 2011

Get the World Bank on your iPhone or iPad

The World Bank has just released a number of mobile apps for iPhone and iPad. If you frequently need access to the World Development Indicators, or just want an easy way to stay up to date with World Bank publications, they may be for you.

Details of each of the apps and how to download them onto your mobile device can be found on the World Bank Mobile Apps webpage.

This follows on from the launch of the OECD Factbook app, and an increasing number of apps and mobile sites from PubMed and the National Library of Medicine.

We are interested in finding out about other relevant apps and sites for mobile devices. If you know of any, let us know in the comments.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Interested in finding out more about LSHTM Archives?

If so, why not listen to our podcast which provides an interesting introduction to the LSHTM Archives Service.


In the podcast, LSHTM archivists Victoria Cranna and Emma Golding talk to Sarah Maxwell about their roles, some of the fascinating collections held in the School's archives and how they can be accessed.

To listen go to: http://lshtm.ac.uk/news/audio