MIT Libraries News

In a new video, two philosophers, Professor Richard Holton, Chair of the MIT Faculty Open Access Working Group, and Peter Suber, author of the MIT Press book Open Access, discuss the significance of open access to research, and the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy. The video captures a live discussion held at MIT during global open access week in October, sponsored by the MIT Libraries and the MIT Press, and moderated by Director of Libraries Ann Wolpert.

The philosophers reflected on whether their discipline has motivated their support of open access to research and scholarship. Professor Holton indicated that his role as a moral philosopher has highlighted the rare position academics enjoy with respect to their writing:

“we’re not like journalists, we’re not like novelists, or composers, who have to sell their stuff…we are in this incredibly privileged position, where we can give [our articles] away, and that only adds to the benefit to us.“

Peter Suber, Director of the Harvard Open Access Project, and a Faculty Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, said his “primary motivation” in supporting open access is not linked specifically to philosophy, but rather to his desire to seize the opportunity the web holds for scholarly publishing.

Holton explored the possibilities open access offers for this kind of change in the scholarly publishing system, identifying the “strong monopoly position” of some publishers as a key motivator for the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy. The Policy, Holton said, addresses the “mess” the scholarly publishing market is in by offering a “freely available database” of MIT-authored articles that is “indexed through Google Scholar and other search engines.” After making an article available in this database under the Policy, the author can still “go on and publish…with a scholarly journal,” which provides the “very important task as a kind of quality control.” He notes that MIT has made “about a third” of articles openly available since the faculty Policy was put in place.

Both speakers addressed the role of publishers moving forward. In Suber’s view, we need to “persuade publishers [that] adapting to the world of open access publishing is better than resisting,” a task that is becoming easier given the increasing momentum of open access. Holton emphasized that working antagonistically is not necessary, that

“there is a way forward for both us and the publishers.”

Suber and Holton agreed that the recent approach to open access recommended in the UK could be counterproductive. “I love the ambition” of making all of the UK’s research open access, Suber said, but the UK should “tweak the policy” so that it emphasizes depositing manuscripts in repositories, in addition to the current focus on publication in open access journals. Holton had reservations as well. The UK plan is “not a good way to go,” he says, and will lead to “double dipping” by some publishers and to “entrench[ing] the monopolies of these journals.”

Both philosophers continue to devote their time and energy to supporting open access to research, working towards lasting cultural change that will make open access — and thus wider and more equitable access — the norm. They look to the day when, as Suber said, it will be “unheard of to write an article and not deposit it in a repository.”

More information:

Scholarly publishing website
Podcasts & videos on scholarly publishing and copyright

Ellen Finnie Duranceau / Program Manager, Scholarly Publishing & Licensing / MIT Libraries

Two MIT School of Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences faculty members have won awards for their work. Economist Anna Mikusheva received the 2012 Elaine Bennett Research Prize from the American Economic Association. The prize honors outstanding women researchers at the beginning of their careers. Mikusheva, who has PhDs in both economics and mathematics, studies econometrics theory.

Anthropologist Stefan Helmreich has won the 2012 Rachel Carson Prize for his book Alien Ocean. The prize recognizes works of social or political relevance in science and technology. Helmreich’s book, which has won several awards, explores marine biologists’ study of microbes.

Explore Professor Mikusheva’s research and Professor Helmreich’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.

This session will provide a quick overview of the World Bank eLibrary and show you how to take advantage of its many time-saving tools for researchers.  It also will provide an update on the development of the new eLibrary website coming in 2013!

Webinar: November 29, 2012 from 10–11 AM EST

Presenters:
Devika Levy, Sales Manager, World Bank
Shana Wagger, Lead, World Bank eLibrary and eProduct Development

Registration is required to attend this event.

The World Bank eLibrary is the World Bank’s full-text collection of 8,000+ ebooks, flagship reports, journals, and other publications on social and economic development.

For more information about World Bank and other economics resources, check out our guide to economics resources and contact Katherine McNeill, Economics Librarian, at mcneillh@mit.edu.

ICPSR Summer Internship Program

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) now is accepting applications for its 2013 summer internship program for undergraduates, an NSF-funded program.

• Explore a research question from start to finish — including literature searches, data analyses, and creation of a conference-ready poster on your research findings
• Work in small groups and with faculty mentors
• Gain experience using statistical programs such as Stata, SAS, and SPSS
• Stipend given

For an example, see a video of a past ICPSR intern presenting on his research project.

Applications are now being taken through an on-line application portal. Two letters of recommendation are required, and can also be sent over the Web.

Deadline for application is January 31, 2013.

For more information, see ICPSR’s page on the program or contact Katherine McNeill, Social Science Data Services Librarian, at mcneillh@mit.edu

ICPSR Research Paper Competition for Undergraduate and Master’s Students

Using data from ICPSR for one of your classes?  Submit your paper to the ICPSR Research Paper Competition and get a chance to win a $1,000 cash prize.

ICPSR sponsors the competition to highlight the best undergraduate and master’s student research papers using quantitative data from ICPSR.  The objective is to encourage students to explore the social sciences by means of critical analysis of a topic supported by quantitative analysis of a dataset(s) held within the ICPSR archive and presented in written form.

Deadline for submission is January 31, 2013.

For details on the competition and for help finding data in the ICPSR archive, see ICPSR’s page on the competition or contact Katherine McNeill, Social Science Data Services Librarian, at mcneillh@mit.edu.

The Hayden 24-hour study room will be closed for maintenance from 12am-8am on Wednesday, Nov. 20th. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Additional 24 hour study space is available at Dewey Library (E53-100).

Have questions?  Ask us!

All library locations will close early on Wednesday, November 21st, and will close for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, November 22nd and Friday, November 23rd.  Details are as follows:

• Reduced hours for Wednesday, Nov. 21: All library locations will close at 5:00pm (with the exception of the Institute Archives & Special Collections, which will close at 4:00pm).
• All library locations closed Thursday, Nov. 22 and Friday, Nov. 23.
• All libraries resume regular hours on Saturday, Nov. 24.

Visit our hours page for a complete list of library locations and hours.

The MIT Libraries web site, Barton catalog, Vera, and access to electronic licensed resources will continue to be available during the holiday closing.

Have questions? Ask Us!

Tom Maglieri. "Suitcase." 8/25/09. Flickr.

1. Go Mobile
Get popular library services on your smart phone through MIT Mobile Web, iPhone app, or Android app!  Search for, request, and renew books; manage Your Account; ask questions and so much more.

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Access electronic licensed library resources from just off campus, or the far corners of the globe.

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Get seamless access to journal articles by downloading LibX or by adding MIT to your Google Scholar library link settings.

4. Can’t find it at MIT?
Get almost any book or article in existence!

5. Help yourself
Discover our comprehensive list of resources by topic. From Aeronautics to Zotero, these resources gather all different information sources on one topic in one place for you! Find the best tools for market research or compare different citation management tools.

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Set up RSS feeds and email alerts to help you find out about new literature in your research field. Or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Detailed computer simulation shows how a patch of nutrients gets distributed in turbulent water. Image courtesy of Roman Stocker and John Taylor

Scientists have long believed that ocean-dwelling microorganisms need not move to gather food because turbulence distributes nutrients uniformly. Using a computer model that simulates a turbulent sea, Civil and Environmental Engineering associate professor Roman Stocker and colleague John R. Taylor have shown that some bacteria swim for food and others don’t, and that there are advantages and disadvantages to both. The study, published in the journal Science last week, is the first to show how the ocean environment affects feeding strategy. “We’re working at the interface between microbiology and fluid dynamics,” Stocker told the MIT News.

Explore Professor Stocker’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 viaDSpace@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.

On Monday, November 12, the following libraries will open at noon (12pm):

• Barker
• Dewey
• Hayden (Humanities & Science)
• Lewis Music
• Rotch

All other library locations will be closed. Libraries resume regular hours on Tuesday, November 13.

Have questions? Ask Us!

A map in DistrictBuilder

As Americans head to the polls, few will give much thought to how their voting district was created, and almost none will have had any direct input in defining its boundaries. Voting districts are often created and adjusted in a highly politicized process with little voter involvement. A software program known as DistrictBuilder hopes to change that by making the redistricting process more open and collaborative.

The open source software developed by the Public Mapping Project, with software engineering by Azavea, a geospatial analysis company, won the “Data for Social Impact” Award at last week’s 2012 Strata Data Innovation Awards.

“The drawing of electoral districts has been among the most easily manipulated and least transparent systems in democratic governance,” said Dr. Micah Altman, MIT Libraries’ Director of Research and a principal investigator with the project. “DistrictBuilder has demonstrated that the thoughtful application of information technology and open data can promote public commentary and discussion about redistricting; inform legislators, redistricting authorities, and courts as to the range of possible plans; can signal public preferences over redistricting plans; and can educate the public about the electoral process.”

DistrictBuilder has already been used to support redistricting efforts in the states of Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Virginia and others. And in Philadelphia it was used for the first citywide redistricting contest, “Fix Philly Districts.” The public’s participation in these efforts reveals that average citizens are invested in the redistricting process and are willing to spend time drawing high quality plans using the online resource.

The software allows users to create and edit district plans, display demographics and election data, and show additional reference map layers, like school districts and administrative boundaries, among other features.

Altman and co-principal investigator, Dr. Michael McDonald from George Mason University, set out to encourage civic engagement in redistricting efforts, and demonstrate that a non-partisan and open, public process based upon objective criteria can produce fair, legal legislative districts.

“We are optimistic that the continuing effort to make redistricting more transparent and participative will create, over time, a ‘market’ for plans that support political fairness and community representational goals,” Altman said.

Composer forum series: 5 pm, Lewis Music Library Bldg. 14E-109
Reception follows. Free and open to the public.

Peter Whincop

Monday November 5, 2012
Peter Whincop, Lecturer in Music at MIT, teaches Electronic Music Composition. He will provide an exposition of a few of his works involving text, or voice in a more abstract context, based on simple perceptual and algebraic precepts.

Philippe Leroux

Thursday, November 15, 2012
Continuity and Gesture in the Music of Philippe Leroux

Philippe Leroux is an Associate Professor in composition at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University. At the Paris Conservatory he studied with Ivo Malec, Claude Ballif, Pierre Schäeffer and Guy Reibel; he also studied with Olivier Messiaen, Franco Donatoni, Betsy Jolas, Jean-Claude Eloy and Iannis Xénakis. His compositions, about sixty to date, include symphonic, vocal, electronic, acousmatic and chamber music. and have been commissioned and performed internationally. He has received many prizes and awards and has taught at IRCAM, McGill, Universite de Montreal and others.

Sponsored by the Music and Theater Arts Faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

All MIT Libraries will be closed on Monday, October 29, due to the Institute-wide closure for Hurricane Sandy. The Libraries 24/7 study spaces and online resources that are not effected by the weather will be available.

See MIT Emergency Information for more details about the closure.

If you have any questions, Ask Us!

Three years ago this week, in celebration of Global Open Access Week, the Open Access Articles Collection was launched to house papers made available under the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy. In those three years, downloads have been initiated from all parts of the globe.

Only about 1/3 of the use is from the United States, with the rest widely distributed around the world. Some of the heaviest activity comes, unsurprisingly, from well-populated and research-intensive areas such as China (11%), India (6%), the UK (5%), France (3%), and Japan (3%). Canada and Mexico make up another 3.5% of use. But downloads have originated from nearly every country, including, looking just at those with names starting with “T”: Taiwan (2%), Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Tuvalu.

Three years in, this evidence suggests that the faculty’s goal in creating the policy — to “disseminat[e] the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible” — is being met.

This news is being reported in celebration of the third anniversary of the Open Access Articles Collection, which houses papers under the Policy, and Global Open Access Week, which runs from October 22 through 26.


For more information:
MIT Faculty Open Access Policy
Ellen Finnie Duranceau / Program Manager, Scholarly Publishing & Licensing / MIT Libraries / x38483

By the end of September, 2012, the Open Access Articles Collection, containing papers made available under the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy, included over 7,000 papers:

The total reached 7,500 by mid October, and the collection now includes approximately 1/3 of the papers published by faculty since the Policy was adopted. These papers are read and appreciated around the world, as evidenced by the many grateful comments received from readers.

This news is being reported in celebration of the third anniversary of the Open Access Articles Collection, which houses papers under the Policy, and Global Open Access Week, which runs from October 22 through 26.


For more information:
MIT Faculty Open Access Policy
Ellen Finnie Duranceau / Program Manager, Scholarly Publishing & Licensing / MIT Libraries / x38483

The Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has launched the MIT Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing (Wireless@MIT), whose goal is to bring researchers from MIT and industry together to develop next-generation wireless technologies. The center, co-led by electrical engineering and computer science professors Hari Balakrishnan and Dina Katabi, will work on problems like extending the battery life of mobile devices and figuring out how to do more with the limited radio spectrum licensed to wireless carriers.

Explore Professor Balakrishnan’s research and Professor Katabi’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.

The latest in the series of podcasts on scholarly publication and copyright is an interview with George Stiny, Professor of Design and Computation in the Department of Architecture at MIT, and a member of the faculty committee that put forward the Open Access Policy for a faculty vote in March of 2009. He addresses the problem of copyright in relation to the design process from his perspective as an artist, designer, mathematician, philosopher, and programmer.

In the podcast, Professor Stiny speaks about the importance of appropriation in design. His comments hint at the limitations of the perspective copyright law offers on copying, for disciplines that necessarily and inevitably build on the work of others.

Art, Professor Stiny says, “is about using what you see around you in a new and fresh way, and if that means copying, that means copying.” He tells the story of his daughter, a young artist, who copied a van Gogh painting, even down to the artist’s signature. When he asked why she hadn’t signed her own name, his daughter said, with a smile, “Next time I will.” That is perfectly appropriate, Professor Stiny says, because “her copy added things to it that were fresh and new and let her see it in a new way…that is the source of art.”

His advice to students, the makers of tomorrow’s culture, is “don’t be afraid of copying.” Indeed, he says, copying is “the secret formula” in art and design, and is “as original and creative as anything else we do.”

Download the audio file. (8:43 minutes)
Listening to other podcasts in the series

This news is being reported in celebration of the third anniversary of the Open Access Articles Collection, which houses papers under the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy, and global Open Access Week, which runs from October 22 through 26.

More information:
Professor Stiny on the Copy in Copyright
Other podcasts in the series

To subscribe to the MIT Libraries’ Podcasts on Scholarly Publishing, paste this link into iTunes or another podcast reader: http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/6772/

Ellen Finnie Duranceau / Program Manager, Scholarly Publishing & Licensing / MIT Libraries / x38483

The MIT Faculty Open Access Policy was established in March 2009, and the first papers were made openly available under the Policy in October 2009 through the Open Access Articles Collection. This week, as we mark the third anniversary of the collection, papers were being downloaded at a rate of 40,000 times per month. This is double the rate at the same time last year.

The collection has seen over 630,000 downloads since its creation. The download rate is climbing steadily: 380,000 of these downloads occurred in the past year.

This news is being reported in celebration of the third anniversary of the Open Access Articles Collection, which houses papers under the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy, and global Open Access Week, which runs from October 22 through 26.

For more information:

MIT Faculty Open Access Policy

Ellen Finnie Duranceau / Program Manager, Scholarly Publishing & Licensing / MIT Libraries / x38483

With so much discussion in the media about elections, how can you get primary source material on the activities of Congress? Try ProQuest Congressional, which has a new look!

Now integrated into a new interface, ProQuest Congressional’s new features include:

• Basic Search, Advanced Search or Search By Number options
• Faceted search results, which may be arranged by document type, committee, and agency
• Unlimited result set, with the ability to limit search results by date, document type, and more
• Type-ahead in search forms based on subject index, popular names list, and House and Senate committee names
• Enhanced Bill Tracking Composite View and Member Profile Composite

But it still covers the same vital congressional publications as it did formerly as LexisNexis Congressional:

• Full text of reports, bills, public laws, and legislative histories
• Links to selected fulltext documents, committee prints, and congressional hearings testimony
• Also contains information on members of Congress, campaign financial data, congressional voting records, and other information about the legislative process
• 1789-present for indexing, mid-1980s-present for full text.

Access Proquest Congressional at: http://libraries.mit.edu/get/congress-u.

For more details, see the Proquest Congressional Information Site or attend one of the upcoming Proquest Congressional Webinars:

1. Using Legislative History to find legislative intent, Monday, November 5, 2012 3:00 pm, EST
Learn how to use ProQuest Congressional Digital Suite and Legislative Insight to:

• Develop an understanding of the legislative process both:
• Become familiar with the documents available pertinent to your issue;
• Identify where in the process the changes you care about occurred – this provides a mechanism to narrow the scope of your search for explanations for why the language was changed

2. Congressional for Current Events, Tuesday, November 20, 2012 2:00 pm EST
From elections to the economy, the Arab Spring and global warming, sports concussions and fracking, Congress is the news and makes news. Join us to learn how to use the most comprehensive collection of historic and current congressional information available anywhere online. Since Congress is interested in all public policy, social, and economic issues, the database is an effective source for general research in many academic disciplines, in addition to research related to specific legislative proposals and laws.

For more sources on Congress, see the Libraries’ Guide to Congressional Publications or Ask Us!

Composer forum series: Peter Whincop, MIT Lecturer in Music, teaching Electronic Music Composition. Whincop will provide an exposition of a few of his works involving text, or voice in a more abstract context, based on simple perceptual and algebraic precepts.

Date: Monday, October 29
Place: Lewis Music Library, Bldg. 14E-109
Time: 5-6 pm
Reception follows
Free and open to the public

Three years after MIT faculty chose to make their scholarly articles openly accessible through the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy, individuals around the world have benefited from free access to MIT’s research. Comments submitted to the Open Access Articles Collection in DSpace@MIT reveal that faculty articles have helped a wide range of people—students trying to complete professional and undergraduate degrees; professors at universities with limited access to scholarly journals; independent researchers; those in need of medical information; and those working to stay current and advance their careers.

“I am an independent researcher from a third world country not affiliated to any university or a company,” a commenter from Nepal said. “I neither have access to paid journals nor I can afford them. MIT’s Open Access is something I love and rely upon…Thank you again for thinking about the unfortunates and keeping the information free and open.”

Before the open access movement, and even now, much of the content published in academic journals was inaccessible to general readers due to high subscription costs. The MIT faculty’s groundbreaking decision to share their articles with the public has made a significant impact within academia and well beyond. Since the Policy went into effect in March 2009, over 7,000 papers, roughly 33% of MIT faculty articles published in that period, have been made openly available. The papers have been downloaded over 630,000 times, and readers have come from nearly every country in the world (see figure). Their stories have clearly answered the question of whether there were potential readers of MIT-authored papers who would benefit by open access.

One particularly poignant story came from a reader who wrote that his wife was diagnosed with a form of lung cancer.

“As her husband and caregiver, I try to do everything I can to make her journey easier, and everything I can to create a full recovery for her. Part of that is arming myself with EVERY bit of knowledge I can gather about her cancer,” he said. “Access to the Open Access articles allowed a ‘non-medical, non-academic’, like myself access to this invaluable and leading edge data. I cannot THANK YOU enough.”

Downloads from MIT Open Access Articles Collection through September 2012

Another reader wrote that he is “a displaced Electrical Engineer from Eastman Kodak” and that “the MIT Open Access Articles allow me to obtain technical articles to help me prepare for interviews since I am not associated with any institution at this time. I am extremely grateful to the MIT faculty for allowing individuals like me to get access to such valuable resources.”

Inspiring stories have come from all around the globe—In Norway, a retired sub-sea engineer who creates ocean models uses data from MIT articles to update and improve upon his models. In Portugal, a medical dentistry student finds the articles “very useful” to finishing his degree and believes open access is “the right way to follow.” In Denmark, a university researcher thanks MIT faculty for “a significant contribution to making scholarship more efficient, comprehensive, and accurate.” In France, a professor found an article that assisted him with research on a new topic: biorobotics. And in India, an editor in the embedded design community writes that his audience will benefit from reading an article from the collection.

These stories demonstrate how MIT faculty are making a tangible difference by sharing their research with the world, directly supporting MIT’s mission to share knowledge for the “betterment of humankind.”

Explore the Open Access Articles Collection online to find the most accessed articles, and latest submissions. Search articles by author, subject, issue date and more.

This news is being reported in celebration of the third anniversary of the Open Access Articles Collection, which houses papers under the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy, and Global Open Access Week, which runs from October 22 through 26.


For more information:
Deposit an Article (faculty-authored, final peer-reviewed manuscripts)
MIT Faculty Open Access Policy
Ellen Finnie Duranceau / Program Manager, Scholarly Publishing & Licensing / MIT Libraries / x38483