International Open Access (OA) Week takes place this year from October 20 to October 26, 2014, with events taking place all over the world to bring attention to what open access means for research and researchers.

The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) announced in early May that the theme would be “Generation Open” highlighting “the importance of students and early career researchers as advocates for change in the short-term, through institutional and governmental policy, and as the future of the Academy upon whom the ultimate success of the Open Access movement depends.” In addition, the “theme will also explore how changes in scholarly publishing affect scholars and researchers at different stages of their careers.” Continue reading →

In April 2012, I published a post regarding predatory publishers and shared a story where good intentions went awry. Predatory publishing is a reality and authors need to be aware of its existence.

In the Scholarly Open Access blog, author Jeffrey Beall documents many publishers he feels fit the predatory label. Of particular interest to me was his post on September 11, entitled “New Predatory Publisher Copies Look and Feel of BioMed Central”.  BioMed Research appears to be a new open access publisher based in India with twenty-one journals attributed to them. While imitation is the best form of flattery – in this case, it definitely is not. BioMed Central is the reputable open access publisher for an author‘s manuscript submission not BioMed Research. Continue reading →

I am delighted to present to our readers and Library users our second Library Progress Report highlighting our activities for 2012 and 2013. This report is a celebration of our accomplishments and marks our progress over the last two years. We hope by sharing our story, it will spark interest for MSK staff to take a few moments to explore a new resource, service, or partner with us on a project where an information professional can help contribute to the team’s success.

If you want to learn more about the MSK Library or the services we provide, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Donna Gibson
Director of Library Services