Dissertation-to-Book Publication Patterns Among a Sample of R1 Institutions

INTRODUCTION: A common concern about openly available electronic theses and dissertations is that their “openness” will prevent graduate student authors from publishing their work commercially in the future. A handful of studies have explored aspects of this topic; this study reviewed dissertation-to-book publication patterns at Carnegie Classification R1 academic institutions. METHODS: This study analyzed over 23,000 dissertations from twelve U.S. universities to determine how frequently dissertations were subsequently published as books matching the original dissertation in pagination, chapters, and subject matter. WorldCat and several other resources were used to make publication determinations. RESULTS: Across the sample set, a very small percentage of dissertations were published as books that matched the original dissertation on pagination, chapters, and subject matter. The average number of years for dissertations in the study to be published as books was determined for broad subject categories and for select academic disciplines. Results were compared across public and private institutions, and books that were self-published or published by questionable organizations were identified. DISCUSSION: Dissertation-to-book trends occur primarily in the social sciences, humanities, and arts. With dissertations for which the author is actively working to publish as a book, the commonly offered 6- to 24-month embargo periods appear sufficient, provided that extensions or renewals continue to be available. CONCLUSION: This study has implications for librarians providing services to graduate students, faculty advisors, and graduate colleges/schools in regard to dissertation embargo lengths, self-publishing, and what we have termed questionable publishers, as these areas continue to provide opportunities for librarians to educate these stakeholders.YesJLSC uses a double anonymous review process for peer-reviewed submissions, meaning the authors' and reviewers' identities are not revealed to each other during review. For articles where it would be difficult to fully anonymize the author, we allow authors to opt into a semi-anonymous review, where the author's affiliation is not anonymized in the manuscript. In no case is the author's name shared with the reviewers. Published articles will indicate which type of review the article underwent (semi- or fully anonymous). The editor(s) will perform an initial review of all submitted manuscripts and may reject papers that are clearly outside of the scope of the journal. Manuscripts within the scope will be sent to at least two reviewers. Reviewers will not receive or be able to view any documentation or metadata that includes individually identifiable author information. Authors will be provided with similarly anonymized reviewer comments to aid in the revision of their manuscripts. The review and revision process takes, on average, twelve weeks, with an initial decision within 5 weeks. Authors may not submit the manuscript to other publications while a review is in progress

A comparative analysis of evidence-based selection, professional selection, and selection by approval plan

This study compares three different models for selecting e-books for a research library’s collection. From 2013 to 2018, the University of Oklahoma Libraries contracted with Elsevier for an evidence-based selection (EBS) agreement. The titles in that EBS package were compared to the approval plan parameters to determine which books would have been purchased on approval during those years if Elsevier had been included among the publishers profiled. Subject librarians also made hypothetical selections as though they were placing firm orders from this collection. The approval plan selections and librarians’ selections were compared to usage data to determine how closely each selection model matched patrons’ choices.Ye

Whither Goest Government Documents? A Story and a Study

federal publications, government documents, Google, HathiTrust, discovery services, Catalog of Government Publications, library catalogsA study was conducted to determine the findability of known print U.S. government documents using five different resources: the Catalog of Government Publications (CGP), in-house library catalog, library discovery service, HathiTrust, and Google. Overall, Google was the most effective finding tool, followed by the library discovery service, the in-house library catalog, Catalog of Government Publications, and HathiTrust. Three-quarters of documents were available full-text via Google. Implications of the online availability of government publications on the need for large print document collections and the continuing reconsideration of library spaces are discussed as are future studies.Ye

How Unique Are Our Users? Part 2: Comparing Responses Regarding the Information-Seeking Habits of Education Faculty

This follow-up study examines whether or not findings of single institution studies are applicable to other institutions by performing an institution-to-institution comparison of the results obtained from an information-seeking behavior survey sent to education faculty at twenty research institutions. The results from this study corroborated what was found in the previous study conducted on the information-seeking behavior of engineering faculty in 2009. It indicates that general information about information-seeking behavior of faculty holds true across institutions, while information related to specific library services or facilities should be validated locally.Ye

Information-Seeking Habits of Education Faculty

This study explores the information-seeking behavior of academic education faculty from twenty large public research universities. The investigation includes an examination of how frequently education faculty seek or access information, how they stay up-to-date on current developments in the field and identify less recent journal literature, how valuable library resources and services are to their information needs, and the importance of library research to the field of education. The responses from the survey participants emphasize the importance of electronic access to scholarly journals and library databases and the continuing value of books, both print and electronic, for meeting the information and research needs of education faculty.Ye

Canceling the Big Deal: Three R1 Libraries Compare Data, Communication, and Strategies

Canceling the Big Deal is becoming more common, but there are still many unanswered questions about the impact of this change and the fundamental shift in the library collections model that it represents. Institutions like Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the University of Oregon were some of the first institutions to have written about their own experience with canceling the Big Deal several years ago, but are those experiences the norm in terms of changes in budgets, collection development, and interlibrary loan activity? Within the context of the University of California system’s move to cancel a system-wide contract with Elsevier, how are libraries managing the communication about Big Deals both internally with library personnel as well as externally with campus stakeholders? Three R1 libraries (University of Maryland, University of Oklahoma, and Kansas State University) will compare their data, discuss both internal and external communication strategies, and examine the impact these decisions have had on their collections in terms of interlibrary loan and collection development strategies. The results of a brief survey measuring the status of the audience members with respect to Big Deals, communication efforts with campus stakeholders, and impacts on collections will also be discussed

Finding the Balance: Creating an open, sustainable future for OU

Today’s scholars have more publishing options available to them than ever before. In addition to traditional publishing venues, open publishing has become a viable and practicable option for communicating research to ever broadening audiences. This breadth of publishing options focuses new attention on the way business models, accessibility, copyright and intellectual property, and research dissemination are envisioned. Moreover, these considerations have important and pressing implications for OU faculty members and graduate students who are authors, readers, reviewers, editors, society associates, and advisory board members dependent upon effective scholarly communication for professional development and advancement. Scholars are on the cusp of a transformative shift toward a more sustainable system of scholarly communication. In 2019 the University Libraries Committee convened a Scholarly Communication Taskforce to examine these issues. The Taskforce met during the 2019-2020 and will continue their work through the spring of 2022. The Taskforce has met monthly to discuss selected readings and how these scholarly communication topics will effect their colleagues and students in their colleges and departments.The Taskforce's work culminated in this report "Finding the Balance: Creating an Open Sustainable Future for OU," to be presented to the OU community. For more information, visit the Taskforce website at https://bit.ly/SCTFReport.N

Avoiding freezer burn: Before, during, and after of a hiring freeze

Hiring freezes are a common strategy that organizations pursue during times of fiscal austerity to conserve funds. While a freeze does impact an organization, the impact is certainly less than a layoff would be. Hiring freezes, after all, are designed to be temporary, but layoffs are a permanent workforce reduction. Interim leaders may believe they have less ability to successfully address hiring freezes than those holding permanent appointments, but in reality they likely have resources at their disposal to be just as successful as other organizational leaders during such times. In this chapter, librarians will learn strategies they can employ before, during, and after a hiring freeze to speed the filling of positions when a freeze is anticipated; to make the best use of time and other resources during the freeze; and to position their organization to move creatively and effectively in filling positions when the freeze is lifted.Ye