The September 30, 2009 issue of The Dramatic Growth of Open Access is now available, at:
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2009/09/dramatic-growth-of-open-access.html

Abstract:

This issue of The Dramatic Growth of Open Access features a few key quotable numbers to illustrate

the growth and current extent of open  access: more than 4,000 fully open access, peer reviewed

journals in DOAJ, growing by 2 titles per day; close to 1,500 open access repositories listed in OpenDOAR,

adding a new repository every business day; over 30 million free publications through Scientific Commons,

growing by more than 20 thousands items per day; more than 20% of the world’s medical literature is

freely available 2 years after publication, and close to 10% is freely available immediately on publication;

1 more journal decides to submit all or most content to PMC every business day, and growth of open access

journals in PMC is one new journal every other business day. The number of open access mandate policies is

well over a hundred, and growing rapidly – but also likely understated. If you have a policy, please be sure to

register with ROARMAP. This quarter saw some minor setbacks. Most notable (but still small) is a decrease in

free content through Highwire Press.

UBC has joined SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), the Public Library of Science (PLoS), The Students for Free Culture, OASIS (the Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook); Open Access Directory (OAD); and eIFL.net (Electronic Information for Libraries), and over 120 institutions worldwide to celebrate in the First International Open Access Week.

Various events hosted by UBC Library will take place from Tuesday, October 20th through Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 in the Dodson Room at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.  The three themes for events are: Open Access Around the World, Surfacing UBC Scholarship, and Journal Publishing.  Attend a workshop, participate in a panel discussion, and hear from UBC colleagues about how they participate in the open access movement. Come learn about open access and share your perspective!

For a schedule of events, and to register, go to: http://www.library.ubc.ca/schol_comm/oa/start.html

For more information, contact Joy Kirchner at joy.kirchner@ubc.ca

Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable, with support from the Education Library and the Language and Literacy Education Department of the Faculty of Education, are featuring Gregory Maguire at the Annual Fall Breakfast.  You will recognize Gregory Maguire as the author of more than a dozen novels for children and, to date, five novels for adults, including WICKED, the basis of the Broadway musical of the same name.
Registration information  http://www.library.ubc.ca/edlib/table/

Varsity Readers will be hosted in the Educaton Library September 29.

For information on the program see http://www.learningexchange.ubc.ca/trek_program/athletics/varsityreaders.html

UBC varsity athletes visit an inner city school to read with groups of children in elementary schools using books from the UBC Faculty of Education Library. The varsity athletes are positive role models for children and inspire a greater appreciation of reading and books. Before they start volunteering, varsity athletes get an introduction to reading strategies and resources.

The 32-page report, “Assessment in schools: Fit for purpose? A commentary by the Teaching and Learning Research Programme,” recently published in England, is accessible on-line at http://www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/assessment.pdf.

The report, authored by members of the Assessment Reform Group, is a strong challenge to the over-use and mis-use of large-scale standardized tests. The report outlines three widely-held ‘misunderstandings’ about assessment:

* That test scores can be completely accurate (with claims that 30% of English students were placed on wrong levels in the Year 2000 national curriculum tests)

* That short tests can validly capture multi-faceted areas such as writing

An interesting report from the Carnegie Corporation.  Time to Act is the capstone report of Carnegie Council for Advancing Adolescent Literacy.

The full report, along with five corresponding reports, is available at:

http://www.carnegie.org/literacy/tta/index.html

Plug Into Your Library–September and October Workshops

for Graduate Students and Faculty

Plug into Your Library I : Getting Started
4:30 – 5:15 p.m.   Friday   Sept. 25   Scarfe 1007

Are you new to UBC? Want to find journal articles, books, and dissertations? Explore the UBC Library’s web page and set up VPN so you can access electronic resources from home.  Find out about UBC library services and research resources and be introduced to the library’s online catalogue, subject guides and databases:  Academic Search Complete, Education Research Complete, ERIC (Ebsco) and CBCA Complete.

Plug into Your Library II: New E-Resources at UBC

4:30 –  5:15 p.m.  Friday  Sept. 25   Scarfe 1006
UBC has new electronic book collections — Oxford University Press e-books, Cambridge University Press e-books, Taylor & Francis e-books and Springer-Link. Explore these together with new databases such as Education Research Complete, EdItLib, Communications &Mass Media Complete & Cabell’s Directory of Publishing Opportunities.

Get Organized–Tips for Finding and Managing Your Research
3:30-4:30 p.m.  Monday Sept.  28 Scarfe 1007
Managing your research begins with knowing what to search, how to save, store, and organize; good resources about research, and good references about writing.  Get the information you need when you go to write your papers. Review some APA style basics for citations and consider citation management software tools.

Fine Tune Your Searches with Research Tools in Education

3:30-4:15 p.m.  Mon. and Wed. and Fri.  Oct.  5, 7, 9   Scarfe 155
Fine tune your searches. Explore key tools, terms, blogs, and enhanced research features of databases such as Education Research Complete, ERIC, Education Index Fulltext, EdITLib, & CBCA Education. Consider international sources and sites for educational research.  Bring your laptops (optional) and your questions (mandatory).

RefWorks the Basics

3:30-4:15 Wednesday   Sept. 23    Scarfe 155
Set yourself up to use RefWorks (create an account, import citations from databases, create a bibliography) Also tips about RefGrabit and editing output styles.  Bring your laptops (optional) and your questions (mandatory).

RefWorks Using Write’n Cite
11:00-12:00   Saturday  Sept. 26  Scarfe 1007

3:30-4:15        Thursday   Oct. 15  Scarfe 155
Set yourself up to use RefWorks in writing and formatting a paper.  Download Write’n’Cite and insert in-text citations while writing.  Bring your laptops (optional) & your questions.

Making the Most of Statistics Canada Marion Smith (from Statistics Canada)
3:30-4:15  Wednesday Oct. 6 Scarfe 155
Baffled by StatsCan information resources? Learn how the StatsCan website is organized,what key products are available, & where to find search tools & glean meaning from  catalogue numbers.

The new issue of Avatar is now out and linked on our Branch website.  New databases, a new lab and new reference sources. Check it out at:

http://www.library.ubc.ca/edlib/avatar/avatar.html

Welcome to the Education Library Blog on the  UBC Blogs website.  This post is just a notice that we are “getting going on our blog” for the Branch  and will be posting announcements of events, documents of interest and other information related to our Branch in the near future.  Hopefully it will look a lot more interesting in the very near future.