Workshop Summary

Recent progress in understanding the physics of B mesons and of CP violation, as presented to this Workshop, is put in historical perspective and summarized.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, invited talk presented at BCP4, Ise-Shima, Japan, February 19-23, 200

Big deal - good deal? Or is there a better deal?

The purchase by library consortia of all journals published by one publisher - the so-called Big Deal - is bad for small publishers and for large libraries even if - in the short-term - good for large publishers and for small libraries. The publishing and library communities need to find alternative purchasing models which provide better deals for those disadvantaged by the prevalence of the Big Deal, while retaining the benefit of scale in negotiation and supply

THE BARBAROUS MASSACRE RECONSIDERED: THE POWHATAN UPRISING OF 1622 AND THE HISTORIANS

The Powhatan Uprising of March 22, 1621/22, was the single most significant event of Anglo-Indian relations in Virginia. An early example of a native culture’s rebellion against intruding European civilization, the uprising climaxed a mere decade and a half of intercultural contact. Its impact upon trans-Atlantic ideology and policy was impressive: it brought to an end the first (forty year) phase of British imperialis [imperialist] accelerated Virginia\u27s unique course of development, and hastened the doom of an American Indian empire with vast potential

UK access to UK research

Technological changes are providing opportunities for easier access to publicly-funded research. While these opportunities for easier access have been growing, concerns have been expressed that current business models are preventing their realisation. Even well-funded university libraries are unable to purchase all the books and journals required by researchers and learners. A survey conducted by the JISC, CURL and SCONUL looked at six situations of access in one UK university to the research papers and books written by researchers in another comparable UK university. The survey indicates that UK researchers and learners may not have access to around one-third of publications by researchers in other UK universities. The shortfall in access varies from university to university and relates to all types of content but particularly to books and journals from smaller publishers. Targeted additional funding and support for new access models are suggested to improve access for UK researchers to UK research

Improving access: is there any hope?

World-wide calls for improvements in access to journal literature are being answered by a plethora of projects and services. Consortial purchasing, national licences and "big deals" dominate changes in collection development. Moves to set up affordable easy-to-use electronic document delivery services offer an alternative model based on single-article purchase. More radical barrier-free access models are moving the economic emphasis away from purchasing to input-payments. Are all these projects and services making a difference or will access to journal literature be no better in years to come than it is now? It is arguable that only those initiatives which are developing new models through collaboration between the stakeholders will succeed in making a major break-through in access

Co-ordination to improve access in the UK : the response of the JISC to the parliamentary report 'Scientific publications: free for all?'

JISC is the Joint Information Systems Committee of the four Higher Education Funding Councils in the UK and also has a responsibility for networked services to the Further Education Colleges. JISC Strategy includes “improving the effectiveness of scholarly communication”. This involves implementing cost-effective improvements in access to academic content for learners and researchers in colleges and universities. One route to cost-effective improvements in access through negotiation of “big deals” – Pilot Site Licence Initiative 1996-99, NESLI 1999-2002, NESLi2 2002-. This route partially effective but many difficulties – e.g. long negotiations, small publishers not included, many universities and colleges unable to buy in. Push for Open Access coming from both JISC Journals Working Group and JISC Scholarly Communication Group

Keeping your head in a revolution

Explores new developments in information services

[Note from the editor]

The MCV Quarterly ceases publication with this issue. No journal of this type can be self-supporting and we bow to the inevitable reality of inflation. The idea of the Quarterly came from Sami Said. Almost single handed he cajoled and coerced the Dean of the School of Medicine into finding the money for publication. Throughout its existence MCV/Q has remained true to its stated purpose of disseminating “scientific information from all sources”, resisting several attempts to convert it into a “house journal” or popular newssheet. In essence, it has been the printed pivot of continuing education in the medical school

Samuel Holland: From Gunner and Sapper to Surveyor-General 1755-1764

The British Army engaged, in 1755, the young Dutch officer, Samuel Holland (whose patron was already the Third Duke of Richmond), to serve in North America as an artillery and engineering subaltern. Following many months’ service directly under the field commander, Holland became deeply involved in the siege of Louisbourg (1758) as the engineering assistant to James Wolfe. The latter warmly commended Holland to Richmond for his superior efficiency and his bravery under constantly heavy enemy fire. After the siege, Holland drew an accurate plan of the fortified port, illustrating the steps of the siege-attack and defence. He became busy in 1758 and 1759 in the preparation of the British attack on Quebec, during which he met the famous British navigator, James Cook, with whom he exchanged expertise. At the siege of Quebec he continued to serve Wolfe until the latter’s death in the battle of September 1759. From then until 1762 Holland served James Murray, first as part of a team of engineers participating in the defence of Quebec against a French siege, during which he was named acting chief engineer in place of a wounded officer and eventually confined in the city with the rest of the garrison until the siege was raised by the Royal Navy. Thereafter, under Murray’s command, Holland’s main achievement was his part in the surveying and mapping of the St. Lawrence valley, leading to the production of the “Murray Map”, an immense contribution to eighteenth-century cartography. Murray vehemently held, in the face of claims by officers of the Royal Engineers, that Samuel Holland deserved the most credit for the success and high quality of the product. During the Seven Years War, Holland had been promoted Captain. Excluded from the Royal Engineers, he was therefor quite independent of the bureaucracy of that corps when in 1763 he sought-in new American colonies ceded by France-an appointment in surveying and cartography. As a guest in the London house of the Duke of Richmond he had the opportunity of meeting influential politicians, where the recognition by Wolfe and Murray of the high quality of his professional competence finally led the British government to appoint him Surveyor General in North America

How can there be open access to journal articles?

The possibility of open access to journal literature has generated considerable discussion in the academic, publishing and library communities. The discussion has largely centred not on the desirability of open access in principle but upon its practicability and its effect upon the traditional journal publication system. This article will examine points made in the public discussion of the two major routes to open access outlined in the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), author self-archiving in academic repositories and the publication of journals using new toll-free economic models. Issues both for and against open access have been raised by authors, by publishers and by librarians, and a realistic approach to the feasibility of open access is important. The conclusion reached will be that open access to journal literature is feasible through either BOAI strategy but that more investigation is needed of both the positive and the negative messages received from stakeholders with as much experimentation of different models as possible