Center for Digital Scholarship

CDS is pleased to announce the launch of the Journal of Melittology, a new open access, online journal dedicated to research on bees. Founded and edited by Michael Engel, Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, the Journal of Melittology “seeks to rapidly disseminate the results of research conducted on bees (Apoidea: Anthophila) in their broadest sense.” The journal utilizes the Open Journal System platform to help manage the article submission, peer review, and publication process, and publishes articles individually as they are ready for publication. The journal is hosted by CDS as part of our digital publishing support service.

This image was extracted from a JOGs map, many of which the KU Libraries hold as georeferenced images. They are useful for base maps and fairly detailed. See index at: http://geocommons.com/maps/154865#

Check out updated and new datasets out with ArcGIS 10.1: http://guides.lib.ku.edu/content.php?pid=52111&sid=2894015, including U.S. and European census data. Many of these layers are useful reference data such as county boundaries, cities, etc.

KU students, staff and faculty can consult with the Libraries’ GIS Specialist for assistance with any data/maps/GIS-related class or research project. Contact Rhonda Houser at rhouser@ku.edu or call 864-1238. Find more spatial news at: http://guides.lib.ku.edu/gis.

Auslegung: a journal of philosophy is now available in KU ScholarWorks. Auslegung has been published by the Graduate Association of Students in Philosophy at the University of Kansas since 1973. Papers are reviewed by faculty from universities in the U.S. and Canada. The online archive, freely available except for the last thee published volumes, contains 500 items and will continue to be updated as new issues are published.

For more information about the journal, see the Auslegung home page.

Sign the White House petition: http://wh.gov.6TH

The Obama Administration is actively considering taking action to open up the results of research funded by taxpayer dollars, by making scientific articles freely available online.

As of May 30, more than 21,000 people have signed a petition (wh.gov/6TH) on the White House “We the People” website that calls for Public Access to all Federally Funded Research. If the petition garners 25,000 signatures by June 19, it will be reviewed by White House staff, and considered for action. We’re more than three-quarters of the way to the goal!

Consider signing the petition today, and encourage your colleagues, friends and family to do the same. You are eligible to sign if you are at least 13 years old, and have a valid email address.

Want to learn more? Here’s a great one-minute YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FoYxzPZDuw

Congratulations to the authors of the 10 most popular items in KU ScholarWorks during February, 2012! The top 10 listing is now available on the KU ScholarWorks web site.

Congratulations to the authors of the 10 most popular items in KU ScholarWorks during February, 2012! The top 10 listing is now available on the KU ScholarWorks web site.

The Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities (IDRH) will offer the popular Digital Jumpstart Workshops again on February 29-March 2, 2012. These free workshops are intended to provide faculty, staff, and graduate students with hands-on introductions to digital tools and practices in order to help capture and digitize data, discover and analyze patterns in data, and present and disseminate results. All skill levels, from beginner to seasoned digital humanist, are welcome. Four 1/2-day workshops and One two-day workshops will be offered:

• Introduction to Mapping and Data Visualization (Wednesday, February 29, 2pm – 5pm)
• Using New Media Technologies to Foster Participation in/out of the Classroom (Thursday, March 1: 9am -noon)
• Introduction to Digital Collection Tools (Thursday, March 1: 1pm – 4pm)
• Digital Humanities in the Undergraduate Curriculum (Friday, March 2: 9am – noon)
• Analytical Methods in XML (Thursday, March 1 and Friday, March 2: 8:30am – 4pm — *two-day workshop*)

For more information, and to register, see http://idrh.ku.edu/workshops2012

Congratulations to the authors of the 10 most popular items in KU ScholarWorks during January, 2012! The top 10 listing is now available on the KU ScholarWorks web site.

The proposed Research Works Act (RWA) works against open access to taxpayer-funded research.

On the heels of the White House’s Office of Science & Technology Policy’s Request for Information–issued in December 2011 and completed January 12, 2012–two Congressmen who have received several donations from a large commercial publisher sponsored this bill in Congress seeking to essentially outlaw public access policies like that of the National Institutes of Health. Please read the Alliance for Taxpayer Access’s information at http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/action/action_access/12-0106.shtml and see the collection of resources compiled by the Harvard Open Access Project, Harvard Law School at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/hoap/Notes_on_the_Research_Works_Act .

There are a couple of opportunities to register your opposition to the RWA:

1. In order for the White House to take action, 25,000 signatures are needed on the petition at whitehouse.gov by February 22, 2012. Please go to http://bit.ly/yFtntP and sign!   You will need a whitehouse.gov account in order to do this.  Registration is quick and easy.
2. There is a second petition you can sign to show your opposition to the RWA:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/207/support-the-open-access-movement-stop-the-research-works-act/

In October, KU Libraries hosted a week of events for KU faculty, graduate students, and others who wanted to learn how open access to scholarship affects them as authors, scholars and citizens.

Please see http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/handle/1808/8330 for video highlights, handouts, and presentations from the events scheduled during Open Access Week, including The Future of Scholarly Publishing: Alternative Perspectives to the Commercialization of Knowledge, a panel discussion featuring three national experts on open access and scholarly publishing.