Category Archives: Director’s Reflections

Learn about the library from the Director’s perspective

Disseminating and Sharing Research via Preprints

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This is not my first post on preprints and I suspect it will not be my last. By definition, a preprint is a draft manuscript that is shared publicly (often via a preprint server) before it has been peer reviewed. For the researcher, there are several benefits for posting a preprint to include, early credit and visibility for the research done, and an opportunity to obtain feedback prior to submitting the manuscript to a journal for publication. In my professional readings this month, I’ve noted a couple of interesting articles about preprints.

Exciting News! A new preprint server is scheduled to go live on June 25 and is now accepting manuscripts. medRxiv, a collaboration between Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Yale University, and the BMJ will focus on the medical sciences. This resource was developed with a wealth of past experience from the founders of bioRxiv, who have been working on medRxiv since 2017 to deliver a platform that would share new research while safeguarding concerns of making non-peer reviewed clinical research available. View a short video (10:55 min) from other collaborators entitled, “Research Preprint Server Launches at Yale University”, to learn more about medRxiv.

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Join the “msklibrary” on Instagram!

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A picture is worth a thousand words. The “msklibrary” is now on Instagram and we are delighted to showcase daily photos of the past, present, and future! We know this is going to be a memorable way to engage our library community and capture their attention through the photos we share. And hopefully, along the way these images will tell a story about the MSK Library, the content we provide access to, the services and resources we support, and most of all, our connections with individuals within and outside the Center.

So, don’t be shy, if you have an Instagram account, just search, find our handle and add us to your following list.  This is just another way to keep track about library and cancer-related happenings. And a fun way to interact with library staff.

The Library Website now includes links to our Instagram account in the Recent Blog Posts section (location: middle right of screen), as well as in the page footer.

We have just begun to promote our presence on Instagram and as of May 15, we have 118 followers, are following 274, and have 44 posts.  We look forward to see these numbers grow.

Donna Gibson
Director of Library Services

2019 Sci-Hub Debate: What Better Way to Reflect About this Website

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Sci-Hub, a website founded by Alexandra Elbakyan is a topic that I have previously written about. My last post on this subject was entitled “The Dangers of Using Sci-Hub” (09/28/2018) where I highlighted a guest author’s post from The Scholarly Kitchen.

I have another interesting post to share from The Scholarly Kitchen which appeared April 16, 2019. Entitled “Researcher to Reader (R2R) Debate: Is Sci-Hub Good or Bad for Scholarly Communication?”, this piece is the transcript between Daniel Himmelstein (postdoctoral fellow in genomics at the University of Pennsylvania), and Justin Spence (partner and co-founder of PSI Ltd., and the IP Registry), covering their opening debate statements and responses. Both individuals argued their positions to produce a discussion worth reading. If you prefer, you can also watch the debate in action as the video recording was made available via YouTube (debate starts at 9:20 min; total time: 58.05 min). Watch to the end to find out who was declared the debate winner – you might be surprised!

As an information professional, I feel it is important to continue to express my concerns about a Website that would allow visitors to illegally access published journal articles, and often compromise users’ credentials. Even for those who “donate” their credentials, they should understand that their actions have a ripple effect and could lead to a negative outcome, impacting their institutions. And why would a researcher go to a “pirate” site if the research was published in an open access title? Why not simply obtain the full text article from a legitimate source!

For now, we will encourage our researchers to resist the urge to use Sci-Hub or any other third-party aggregator of this nature, and instead choose our Document Delivery Service for articles not found in the MSK eJournal collection.

Donna Gibson
Director of Library Services