Mergent Intellect, a database providing basic company facts on over 20 million North American companies and over 70 million global companies, is now available through MIT Libraries. Mergent Intellect provides essentially the information as Hoovers Online using data from Hoovers and Dun and Bradstreet but with additional downloading capabilities not available through Hoovers Online. Hoovers Online will be no longer be available at MIT after November 2013.

Key features of Mergent Intellect include:

• location, estimated sales and number of employees, industries, and other basic data on companies
• exporting of up to 2,000 company records per download
• Dun & Bradstreet data including D-U-N-S identifier numbers and corporate “family tree” details
• executive contacts and biographies

For more sources of company information, visit the MIT Libraries’ Companies research guide.

New Resources

• New search tool  Finding library resources just got easier with BartonPlus. It brings together many library collections in one search interface–searching most MIT-licensed e-resources like e-books and full-text articles, as well as collections in the classic Barton catalog like books, theses, music, DVDs, and more. 

• More options for borrowing  Borrow Direct, a partnership that allows library materials to be shared between member institutions, has expanded to include the University of Chicago. MIT users can search over 50 million volumes owned by Borrow Direct libraries through MIT’s WorldCat.

• New guide to APIs for scholarly resources  Many scholarly publishers, databases, and products offer APIs to allow users with programming skills to more powerfully extract data to serve a variety of research purposes. With an API, users might create programmatic searches of a citation database, extract statistical data, or dynamically query and post blog content. Learn more in the APIs for Scholarly Resources guide.

• Music Oral History Project  For over 100 years music has been a vibrant part of MIT’s culture. A new website features in-depth interviews with faculty, staff, and former students about their musical experiences at the Institute, as well as their professional careers in music or other fields.

• New e-resources  Find a number of new online resources including: the National Geographic Archive, Smithsonian Global Sound, several new titles in the Gale Virtual Reference Library, the Encyclopedia of Environmetrics, and Encyclopedia of Hydrological Sciences in the Wiley Online Library, and more.

Improved study spaces

• Upgrades to Hayden Library  The window bays in Hayden have gotten a facelift! The windows have been cleaned, frames painted, and new shades have replaced the curtains. Also check out the  new artwork by Dennis Oppenheim that adorns the first floor wall. Additionally, a number of tables and study carrels in Hayden were refinished this summer. Coming up – we hope to reupholster some of the comfy seating on the 1st floor.

• Finding locations, hours, and study spaces  New and improved webpages make it easier to locate current and future library hours with a date-picker option. Also find and reserve study spaces online and learn about what each location has to offer.
  

Upcoming events

• Music & Theater Arts Composer Forums  During the fall term the Lewis Music Library will host MTA Composer Forums. Stop by the library at 5pm on Oct. 9, Oct. 23, Nov. 6, Nov. 20 to hear from featured musicians.

•  Fall workshops Throughout the month of October the Libraries will offer a series of workshops on subject-specific resources. See the event calendar for details.
  

Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest news!

Fiona Murray

Last month, Dell released its first Gender Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI), a report analyzing conditions that help women entrepreneurs flourish in various countries. The United States was the top-ranked nation in the list, though the report notes there is room for improvement in all countries because “women and men are not on a level playing field in terms of access to resources, which continues to impact women’s ability to start and grow businesses.” In light of the GEDI study, MIT News recently spoke with Fiona Murray, a professor in the Sloan School of Management, about her research and MIT’s role in supporting women entrepreneurs.

Explore Professor Murray’s research in the Open Access Articles collection in DSpace@MIT, where it is openly accessible to the world.

Since the MIT faculty established their Open Access Policy in March 2009 they have made thousands of research papers freely available to the world via DSpace@MIT. To highlight that research, we’re offering a series of blog posts that link news stories about scholars’ work to their open access papers in DSpace.

For banks in OECD-member countries, from the OECD: http://libraries.mit.edu/get/oecdbank
Access data since 1979 on classification of bank assets and liabilities, income statement and balance sheet and structure of the financial system for OECD-member countries.   This is just one of many statistical databases you can access from the OECD.

For U.S. banks, from Wharton Research Data Services:

1. Bank Regulatory Database: http://libraries.mit.edu/get/bankreg
   Provides accounting data for bank holding companies, commercial banks, savings banks, and savings and loans institutions.
2. FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Datasets: http://libraries.mit.edu/get/fdic
   Historical financial data for commercial banks, savings banks, and savings and loans.
3. Federal Reserve Bank Reports: http://libraries.mit.edu/get/wrds-frbr
   Includes: Foreign Exchange Rates (H.10 Report), Interest Rates (H.15 Report), and FRB-Philadelphia State Indexes.

For more Libraries’ guides related to banking, see:

• Tips on researching banking in Ask-Us! – Quick Answers
• Economics
• Finance

Looking for corporate social responsibility data?  ASSET4 ESG (“Environmental, Social, and Governance”) provides company-level data on 3,400 public companies worldwide, including some of the largest companies in the US. There is a minimum of 4 years of data for most companies and up to 1,000 datatypes are available across the following categories:

ASSET 4 ESG is available via the Thomson Reuters Datastream workstation located in Dewey Library. From within Datastream, ESG is included as a Datatype option under the Equities category. See the Libraries’ Sustainable Business Research Guide or Thomson Reuters’ ASSET4 ESG fact sheet (PDF).

Interested in the world economy or international relations?  Then become an OECD Student Ambassador!  Deadline: April 1st.

Student Ambassadors are undergraduates who engage with the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) and plan on-campus activities to raise awareness of the Organization and its work. Based on their performance, two outstanding Student Ambassadors will be selected to attend the OECD Forum in Paris in May 2014.

All Student Ambassadors attend an initial training in Washington, DC, June 8-9 and will receive a certificate of participation and a letter of recommendation.  Expenses for trips plus a budget related to promotional activities on campus will be paid by the OECD.

For more information see: the OECD Student Ambassador Program 2013-2014 Guidelines

Deadline for applications: April 1, 2013

Download the OECD Student Ambassador Program 2013-2014 Application

Email application materials to Elodie Turchi at elodie.turchi@oecd.org. For further questions, contact Ms. Turchi or Katherine McNeill, Economics Librarian, at mcneillh@mit.edu.

Need to expand your skills in statistical methods and quantitative analysis? Attend the ICPSR Summer Program! Each year, ICPSR provides a comprehensive, integrated program of studies in research design, statistics, data analysis, and social science methodology. Registration is now open for the 2013 session.

For a listing of course offerings and application information, see the ICPSR Summer Program web site.  New and ongoing courses this year include:

• Assessing and Mitigating Disclosure Risk for Confidential Data
• Monte Carlo Simulation and Resampling Methods
• Network Analysis: An Introduction

Note that while most courses are held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, the following three will be held nearby, in Amherst, MA or New York, NY:

• Analyzing Developmental Trajectories
• Designing, Conducting, and Analyzing Field Experiments
• Hierarchical Linear Models I: Introduction
• The Workflow of Data Analysis using Stata

———————————————

And don’t forget ICPSR as a source of quantitative data on a range of topics: from consumer behavior, election statistics, health, international relations, social attitudes and behavior, and more!  Recently added datasets include:

• Congressional Record for 104th-109th Congresses: Text and Phrase Counts
• Eurobarometer 73.1: The European Parliament, Biotechnology, and Science and Technology, January-February 2010
• Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century
• National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), 1994-2008
• State Vaccination Requirements and Exemption Law Database, 2011

In other news, ICPSR now is releasing all of its new data files in R software format.

For further information, contact Katherine McNeill, Social Science Data Services Librarian, at mcneillh@mit.edu.

• Researching soil chemistry properties in the scholarly literature? What database does the Chemistry guide suggest?

• Not sure what the first settlers in Massachusetts grew in their gardens? Try the Historical Newspapers guide.

• Want to do market research on produce? Have you seen the Do-It-Yourself Market Research guide?

We even have guides about organizing your references, managing your data, getting published, and so much more! Seriously, think of a topic – any topic. Yep, we probably have that, too.

And you’re always welcome to ask us for help!

Statista provides statistics on a wide range of topics, including industries, markets, demography, countries & economies.  It harvests data from market researchers, trade associations, scientific publications, and government sources, and compiles it in a central place for you to search.  Download data in tabular or graphical form and link to original data sources and related reports.  Find statistics such as:

• Global market share held by the leading smartphone operating systems in sales to end users from 1st quarter 2009 to 4th quarter 2012
• Percentage of U.S. population who has (or ever had) cancer, 1999-2011, by age
• U.S. organic food sales growth forecast from 2010 to 2014
• Monthly unemployment rate in the U.S. from January 2012 to January 2013 (seasonally-adjusted)
• and more…

Access Statista at: http://libraries.mit.edu/get/statista.

Researching local areas in the United States?  Govistics provides spending, revenue, employment and crime data for state and local governments and school districts across the U.S., pulling together data from different sources.  Find data such as the following for the City of Cambridge:

• Government spending and number of employees in all areas, including social services, education, and public safety
• Number of violent and property crimes
• Investment portfolio of the city’s retirement system, with data on membership and contributions
• and more…

Access Govistics at: http://libraries.mit.edu/get/govistics.

Need data on your research topic but have no idea who collects it?  Try the Statistical Abstract of the United States!  This online reference source provides summary statistical tables of everything under the sun, and detailed citations to the original source for you to find more detailed data.  Search not only by subject but also filter your results to those available at certain demographic (e.g., age, sex, race, education, marital status), geographic (e.g., state, smsa), and economic (e.g., industry, occupation) breakdowns.  Find data such as:

• Nonfatal occupational injury and illness cases in private industry by type of injury or illness and days away from work: 2010
• Coastline counties most frequently hit by hurricanes: 1960 To 2008
• Municipal solid waste generation, materials recovery, combustion with energy recovery, and discards: 1980 to 2010
• Research and development expenditures in science and engineering at universities and colleges: 2000 to 2010

Access the Statistical Abstract at: http://libraries.mit.edu/get/stat-abstract.

Want further information on statistics and data resources?  Try Social Science Data Services or other data resources listed on our subject-oriented research guides.

Within Desal Data you will find desalination plant listings, incorporating the IDA Inventory (a catalogue of desalination facilities contracted and under construction since 1945, based on over 25 years of annual industry surveys), market analysis and economic forecasting from Global Water Intelligence, company profiles and desalination news from countries worldwide.

You can find DesalData in VERA or use this URL http://libraries.mit.edu/get/desaldata

We welcome your feedback and hope this product supports the desalination work on campus!

Researching energy industries?  Need statistics, market analysis, news, company information, and financial deals?  Try our suite of eTrack databases:

• Alternative Energy eTrack
• eTrack Nuclear
• eTrack Oil and Gas
• eTrack Smart Grid
• Petrochemicals eTrack
• Power eTrack

eTrack provides data and reports on energy industry sectors worldwide. Each database contains numerous statistical databases; detailed information on companies, deals, and key events; plus in-depth industry research.   Find detailed statistics and generate lists such as:

• Wind farms in Argentina (showing the generation capacity of each)
• Planned oil exploration blocks, showing the country, area, operator, and acreage
• Nuclear power reactors to be decommissioned (including shutdown year and decommissioning cost)

Note: To download tables, copy and paste them into Excel page by page.

Want further information about energy?  Attend one of our energy IAP workshops and try the other resources on our Energy Research Guide.

If you use Google Scholar, you already know it’s a great tool for finding citations to literature in your research area. It’s a massive index of articles, books and other publications of a scholarly nature. (It doesn’t cover ALL the scholarly literature in any discipline, however, so be sure to include the Libraries’ databases in Vera in your literature search.)

Many of the articles in Google Scholar are licensed by the MIT Libraries through our subscriptions, so – in many cases – the full text is available to you. If you are on campus, you’ll see this link in your results list:

Are you working off campus?   To take advantage of this feature, click on Settings and then Library Links.

Type MIT in the search window; select it; click Save.  You should now see the full text link in your results list for articles in any of MIT’s paid subscriptions.

To focus your Scopus search in the social sciences literature click the Social Science and Humanities button on the search screen:

Start searching Scopus now.

Explore Professor Lo’s research in the Open Access Articles collection in DSpace@MIT, where it is openly accessible to the world.

Since the MIT faculty established their Open Access Policy in March 2009 they have made thousands of research papers freely available to the world via DSpace@MIT. To highlight that research, we’re offering a series of blog posts that link news stories ab

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is coming to MIT!

Attend a presentation on OECD Information resources by Kathleen DeBoer, Deputy Head of the OECD Washington Center

When: Friday, October 5, 2012, 10-11AM
Where: 14N-132
Register at: http://libcal.mit.edu/event.php?id=163387

Learn about the OECD iLibrary (http://libraries.mit.edu/get/oecd) and:

• Information the OECD provides on countries around the world, in areas such as:
  • Development
  • Employment
  • Energy
  • Environment
  • Trade
  • and more…

•  How to efficiently extract data from their vast array of statistics

Note: For those interested in working for the OECD (http://www.oecd.org/careers), Ms. DeBoer will be available to meet in the afternoon to discuss the application process; if interested, contact her at Kathleen.DEBOER@oecd.org.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems. Today, 34 OECD member countries worldwide regularly turn to one another to identify problems, discuss and analyse them, and promote policies to solve them. It is one of the largest economics publishers in the world.

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data), the St. Louis Fed’s economic database, has now developed the FRED App – available free for iOS and Android Devices. The FRED app lets you access their full range of economic data – anytime, anywhere.

In addition, FRED just surpassed a new milestone–with over 50,000 economic time series in its database–and is expanding every month. Recently added data include: Eurostat’s harmonized indices, gold prices, more consumer credit data, and vehicle miles traveled data.  FRED data can be searched in many ways and the system contains several tools for mapping, graphing, and exporting data.

Want to explore our full range of economic data sources?  See our Economics Research Guide.

Do you rely on the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Country Intelligence (libraries.mit.edu/get/eiu) for frequent forecasts of economic and political conditions?  Have you used their monthly Country Reports or their annual Country Commerce reports?  Now you can get even more frequent updates using EIU’s new events-driven analysis articles.

EIU provides two new kinds of articles commenting on issues and events arising since their last written Country Report:

1. Featured analysis: ~1000 words providing detailed analysis of an issue
2. Forecast updates: ~300 words providing:
• Brief description of the notable event
• Analysis of the event
• Expected impact on the next forecast

These both can be accessed from the home page for a particular country.

In addition, one can create a Country Report on the fly to include these latest updates.  On the home page for a country, see: Reports > Generate Country Report.  To access reports from previous months or years, see: Reports > All Reports (takes you to the old EIU platform).  Note: EIU will be consolidating all of its reports onto the new platform towards the end of this year.

For more sources of country information, see the Libraries’ guide to Country Data & Analysis.

Date:  Monday, Nov. 7th
Time:  2-3pm
Place: 6-120

Bio: G. Sayeed Choudhury is the Associate Dean for Library Digital Programs and Hodson Director of the Digital Research and Curation Center at the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University. He is also the Director of Operations for the Institute of Data Intensive Engineering and Science (IDIES) based at Johns Hopkins. He is the Principal Investigator for the Data Conservancy, one of the awards through NSF’s DataNet program. He has oversight for the digital library activities and services provided by the Sheridan Libraries at Johns Hopkins University.

NYC Parcels

Detailed tax lot data for New York City from 2002 – 2011 is available through the MIT Geodata Repository.  Attributes include ownership information, building characteristics (number of floors, total units, year built, etc.), valuations for tax purposes, and more. Easily find available datasets by using borough names, like Manhattan, to search.

Business analyst data for Boston's Back Bay neighborhood

This package combines detailed data about business, consumer spending, demographics, segmentations, and major shopping centers with tools for analyzing geographically.

Find out more about the data types available and its capabilities.

Business Analyst Desktop is available in the MIT GIS Lab for teaching and research purposes. Business Analyst Online is also available for teaching in MIT classes. Contact gishelp@mit.edu with questions or if you would like access to Business Analyst Online for a class.

New resources

• Have a smart phone? Now you can go to the MIT Mobile Web to search for and request books and more.
• Find out how to use and cite images (and other content) with a new guide on copyright & fair use.
• Need help managing your data? Get assistance, attend workshops, or schedule an individual consultation on the guide for finding and managing data.
• Download new ESRI ArcGIS 10 software and improved MIT Geodata Search Tool for ArcGIS. Find GIS lab hours, workshops and more.

Library hours & study space

• The Hayden Library group study room (14E-311) is now equipped with a touch-screen reservation system and new video conferencing equipment.
• Study under the Dome: new group study rooms on the 8th Floor of  Barker Library open soon.
• Longer hours have returned!  See hours for all library locations.
• Get answers to all your questions about borrowing with helpful new FAQs: Circulation FAQ and Course Reserves FAQ.
• Questions? Ideas or Comments?

Upcoming Events

• We’re offering a wide variety of events throughout the fall.  Find out about scheduled readings, talks, workshops, exhibits and more.

View the What we did on your summer vacation flyer (pdf).

Come learn about creating maps and doing geographic analysis!

Register for the Fall GIS workshop series.

Workshops include:

• Introduction to GIS – Friday, Sept. 23, 1-3:30 pm or Tuesday, Sept. 27, 4-5:30 pm.  This session will introduce students to open source and proprietary GIS options.
• Introduction to GIS for Architecture – Wednesday, Oct. 12, 12:30-2 pm
• Discovering and Using US Census Data – Tuesday, Oct. 18, 1-3:30 pm
• Exploring Spatial Patterns using ArcMap – Tuesday, Nov. 1, 1-3:30 pm
• Introduction to Spatial Statistics Tools and Analysis in ArcMap – Tuesday, Nov. 8, 1-3:30 pm
• Introduction to Regression Analysis in ArcMap – Tuesday, Nov. 15, 1-3:30 pm

MIT Libraries now subscribes to reports from IDC, a leading provider of research on information technology and consumer technology markets worldwide.  IDC reports provide industry data, analyses, and forecasts about the following technology markets:

• manufacturing
• retail
• energy
• financial services
• healthcare
• government

The most straight-forward method for searching for reports from within IDC is to select the “Advanced” search button on the homepage to use the advanced query options for entering keywords and geographic areas.

For assistance with IDC or other market research sources contact a librarian via Ask Us! Access IDC via Vera or its shortcut URL at http://libraries.mit.edu/get/idc.

The cancellation also applies to subsets of Orbis, including the following databases: Amadeus (European companies), Icarus (US companies), Osiris (public companies worldwide), and Bankscope (banks worldwide).  Access to these databases ceased on June 30, 2011 via their native interfaces and also via the WRDS platform.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause MIT faculty, staff, and students who work with these resources.  However, their cost in FY2012 is double that of FY2010.  Such an unprecedented rate of increase would have required the cancellations of multiple other resources which are necessary to support research and teaching in management and social sciences and which are more fairly priced for academic customers such as MIT.  While regrettable, the cancellations of Orbis and Zephyr will enable us to continue to support a range of content in all disciplines, on reasonable terms, to the MIT community in the future.

Alternatives to Orbis and Zephyr

The MIT Libraries currently subscribe to other databases that provide content similar to Orbis and Zephyr.  Hoovers Online provides profiles of over 80 million companies worldwide.  LexisNexis Company Dossier provides profiles of over 40 million companies worldwide and includes options for exporting data. SDC Platinum available at a workstation in Dewey Library and via client software, provides access to information on mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, joint ventures and other deals worldwide.  Other databases for company information and financial data are listed in the following research guides:

• Finance & Investment: http://libguides.mit.edu/finance
• Companies:  http://libguides.mit.edu/companies

We will continue to evaluate new products for potential purchase to provide additional access to company and deals information worldwide.

For questions about the cancellation or for research assistance, please contact Alex Caracuzzo, MIT Sloan, Management, and Finance Librarian at alex3@mit.edu, or visit Ask Us!.

Use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to make maps and analyze spatial information. Learn more about using GIS for your teaching at research at MIT GIS Services.

Started in 2008, the HathiTrust digital library currently contains over 8.5 million digitized volumes representing the collections of partner institutions. HathiTrust’s collections include both copyright and public domain materials digitized by Google, the Internet Archive, and Microsoft, as well as partner institutions.  Founded by twelve universities from the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the University of California system and the University of Virginia, the partnership has now grown to include fifty-five institutions.  MIT and Harvard are two of the most recent universities to join.

Through the HathiTrust website, the public can search the full-text of 8.4 million digitized volumes, and get full online access to 2.2 million volumes that are in the public domain.  With the MIT Libraries membership, the MIT community will have the added benefit of being able to download full volumes of public domain works in PDF format, and also build and share collections using the Collection Builder feature.  Access will be provided to MIT users, with authentication through Touchstone, later this year.

Joining HathiTrust is one of several steps the MIT Libraries have recently taken to expand access for MIT faculty and students to print or digitized resources beyond the holdings of MIT.  In January, the Libraries announced their membership in Borrow Direct, a partnership with Ivy Plus libraries that gives the MIT community access to nearly 50 million print items. In February, MIT and Harvard libraries jointly announced an expanded alliance to explore collaborations for sharing library materials, advancing digital preservation collections practice, and developing future off-site storage facilities and services.

“In today’s interdisciplinary learning environment, it’s essential for our faculty, students and researchers to have access to an even wider array of information resources than ever before.  By collaborating with other outstanding research libraries, we can offer the resources necessary to support the cutting edge research and education that is MIT’s hallmark,” said MIT Director of Libraries, Ann Wolpert.

Wolpert added that it is important for universities to take a leading role in shaping digital libraries. “Libraries have been stewards of the scholarly record for centuries,” she said.  “We’re committed to the long haul.”

The MIT Libraries are actively involved in open access initiatives that support MIT’s mission to make scholarly knowledge openly available to the world.  Partnering with HathiTrust, an organization committed to collecting, organizing, preserving, communicating, and sharing the record of human knowledge, is in line with the Libraries principles of supporting the long-term curation of the cultural record, and furthering global scholarship and research.

Want to learn about GIS online, on your own time? The MIT community has access to many virtual campus courses from ESRI. Courses can help students learn many skills including: using ArcGIS, working in 3D, raster analysis, programming with Python, and creating mobile GIS applications. The virtual campus addresses a variety of topics including getting started with the basics of GIS and working with HAZUS – using GIS technology to estimate physical, economic, and social impacts of disasters.

The MIT community can sign up for ESRI virtual campus courses for free by emailing gishelp@mit.edu. For a listing of available courses visit the MIT GIS Services website: http://libraries.mit.edu/gis/teach/esrivc.html

For updates about GIS related events, new GIS data and software, and more subscribe to mitgis@mit.edu by visiting: http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/mitgis

For a listing of course offerings and application information, see the ICPSR Summer Program web site.  For further information, contact Katherine McNeill, Social Science Data Services Librarian, at mcneillh@mit.edu.

New agreement reflects physical proximity, cross-registration, joint programs, and research affinities

The Provosts of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have charged their respective library systems to explore expanded collaborations for sharing library materials, advancing digital preservation and collection, and developing future off-site storage facilities.

Both institutions have identified increased collaboration between and among their complementary libraries as an essential element in developing the research library of the 21^st century. While an ambitious level of collaboration is anticipated, each library system will remain engaged with and guided by the respective missions and priorities of each university. While enhanced collaboration may serve to reduce prospective costs, the focus of the collaboration is on the future of 21^st-century library services, technologies, and collections.

“No single library system can expect to meet the full intellectual needs of the academic and research communities of MIT and Harvard,” stated Harvard Provost Steven E. Hyman. “A wide-ranging exploration of all opportunities for collaboration is of great interest to both institutions.”

Both formal and informal relationships already exist between the MIT and Harvard libraries. MIT has shared in the use of the Harvard Depository since its inception in 1985. A 1995 agreement between Harvard College Library (HCL) and MIT brought reciprocal borrowing privileges to faculty, researchers, and graduate students in both institutions. An April 2010 pilot program extended those privileges to undergraduate students.

While traditional library materials have been the focus of prior agreements, digital materials are at the forefront of the new alliance.

“The increasing primacy of digital materials brings its own urgency to our collaboration, ” observed MIT Provost L. Rafael Reif.  “As new models of online information delivery emerge, Harvard and MIT can support joint programs for open-access as well as joint acquisition and licensing approaches that are appropriate for education and academic research.”

Under the agreement, the two libraries will develop a four-tiered action plan by the end of 2011.  The four tiers are:

Reciprocal access to circulating collections

By developing linked access between Harvard and MIT library catalogs and implementing reciprocal privileges that extend to Harvard’s graduate and professional school libraries, library patrons can anticipate full access to 20 million volumes that users will experience as a single collection.

Enhancing digital preservation and collection practices

MIT and Harvard have earned leadership roles through their open access programs and repositories and through their respective approaches to digital preservation. High priority areas for collaborative growth include digital archives of faculty papers and web-based publications.

Developing wider access to electronic information

Questions of electronic serials pricing, and the costs of building digital information management and delivery systems, point to opportunities for Harvard and MIT to investigate new models for licensing agreements, as well as alternative, open access forms of publication that reflect each institution’s commitment to the dissemination of new knowledge.

Envisioning joint off-site storage facilities for the future

Harvard and MIT have shared the Harvard Depository for high-density, non-browsable, off-site storage since 1985. Together, the two universities could effectively anticipate both a new service model and an additional facility for off-site storage.

“We’ve enjoyed a collaborative working relationship with Harvard’s libraries for many years,” said Ann Wolpert, Director of the MIT Libraries.  “This new agreement builds on our successes and underscores the commitment we share to provide our communities with the best and broadest range of resources possible, and to be at the forefront of advancing the digital preservation of scholarly work.”

“In several ways, the libraries of Harvard and MIT are already united by proximity and affinity,” said Helen Shenton, Executive Director of the Harvard Library. “Our new agreement supports the distinct priorities of two very singular universities. At the same time, it challenges us to collaborate on a sustainable information ecosystem for the 21st century.”

How this affects your access:

• Whether you are on- or off-campus, you must use either the shortcut URL for JSTOR (http://libraries.mit.edu/get/jstor) or use the JSTOR link in Vera in order to be recognized as a subscriber.
• Your current MIT status will be verified as you are passed through to the JSTOR site.
• This change will take effect by Wednesday, January 12, and as early as Monday, January 10.

If you find you have any problem with access, please email econtrol-lib@mit.edu.

The incidents that prompted this change involved the use of a robot, which is prohibited by JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use . Additionally, these incidents violated MITnet Rules of Use. Continued access to JSTOR and other resources is dependent on the MIT Community complying with these policies.

Thank you,
Steve Gass
Associate Director for Research & Instructional Services
MIT Libraries