Keele, Benjamin J.

Pearse, Michelle

William &amp; Mary Law School Scholarship Repository

College of William & Mary Law SchoolWilliam & Mary Law School Scholarship RepositoryLibrary Staff Publications The Wolf Law Library2011Librarians Can Improve Law Journal PublishingBenjamin J. Keelebenjamin.j.keele@gmail.comMichelle PearseCopyright c 2011 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository.http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/libpubsRepository CitationKeele, Benjamin J. and Pearse, Michelle, "Librarians Can Improve Law Journal Publishing" (2011). Library Staff Publications. Paper 25.http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/libpubs/25LIBRARIANS CAN IMPROVE LAW JOURNAL PUBLISHING Benjamin Keele   William & Mary Law Library Michelle Pearse   Harvard Law Library Copyright Agreements • Both journals and authors want flexibility while keeping journal in business. • Non-exclusive or temporary exclusive licenses are usually good for everyone. Checklist for Agreements What kind of license is needed? Any period of exclusivity needed? Can author post article online? Who should be contacted for copyright permissions? Does author warrant article is original and non-infringing? Is attribution for both author and journal promised? Version Marking • Many different versions of article can be online: • Multiple drafts on SSRN • Published version on journal website and databases • Corrections or updates on SSRN or journal website. • How do researchers know what version they are reading? Version Examples Authors and editors should include more information on what version an article is in (draft, published, corrected, etc.) Persistent Identifiers Standard URLs often break.  www.source.com/cite => 404 not found =>   Persistent identifiers (digital object identifiers, handles, persistent URLs, archival resource keys) add an intermediate resolver that is updated by publishers so identifiers stay accurate.  www.dx.doi.org/10.cite# => resolver => www.correct_URL.com =>  Publishers assign persistent IDs… …and so do some libraries. We already know it is a problem, but how could libraries actually help with link rot in footnotes? Proper web archiving if fits within collection development scope?     Individual projects?      Services like Webcite  Plagiarism Checking • Many journals already do preemption-checking in databases, which can help catch some illegitimate copying, but additional tools are available. • Most institutions subscribe to some plagiarism-checking software. Librarians can offer it to journals. Options include: Empirical Support • Increasing number of law reviews are publishing data-driven articles. Increasing number of libraries being asked to provide empirical support services. • Not a lot of law students understand research methodology or statistical work. • Librarians are already grappling with research support on the “front” end. They are well-positioned to coordinate review by those more knowledgeable about this kind of research. Librarians or other library staff education in empirical work might be positioned to review methodology, basic statistics work, etc. • Help improve quality and credibility of empirical work in law reviews from the publishing end (not just the research end). Data Curation • Librarians are also in the position to provide repositories for data (preservation, curation, metadata, etc.) and help journal rethink presentation. • Why important?  • replication • citation (akin to “on file”) • credibility • accessibility  • Help with journal workflow. • Complications with rights, file formats, etc. • Most commonly used tool for social sciences: Dataverse • Raw data sets and visualization.    Example of Law Review’s Use of Dataverse  •   Visualization Potential • Making data accessible/understandable • Librarians know how people understand information and how to help develop systems • Libraries are used to helping patrons find and use information---can advise on ways to present data, rethink creative ways to display and mash up with other content • Tools:  ManyEyes, Visual.ly, functionality built into repositories/software (e.g. Dataverse) • Computational legal studies  Metadata • Librarians well-positioned to move journals to the semantic web (take advantage of linked data) so more discoverable and interactive with other sources. • Not just technical structure for properly “formatted” data, but substantive contribution to ontologies/subjects? Time for ontology for law (e.g. Neurocommons) as being developed in other legal informatics communities? Librarians reviewing articles for subciting are well-positioned to assign subjects/ontologies. • Potential for mapping to other systems (e.g. in open law). • Consult on usage of citation parsers/extraction tools (e.g. ParsCit, FreeCite, CiteSeer, etc.) to develop self-referencing. • Suggest solutions for link rot (proper web archiving, WebCite, etc.). • Develop common standards and some of these additional functionalities as part of the Durham Statement project, larger collaborative project for publishing, and aggregating data. Incorporating into Larger Research Systems • Provide journals with “checklists” and facilitate (and lobby for) inclusion in major research systems.  • Encourage vendors to think more broadly about inclusion of content. • Indexes • Aggregators (HeinOnline, Westlaw, Lexis, etc.) • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) • ISSN • Cataloging    New Ways of Publishing • Librarians know how readers use information and are struggling with the same issues of making content relevant, usable and reaching out to patrons in new ways (e.g. social media). They are also well-positioned to identify related content for mixing and referencing.   Help journals rethink and reinvent beyond traditional text! • Video (including metadata enhancement) • Mashups • Mobile • Short-form writing (blogs, online companions) • Social media • Development of ancillary or related content • Help integrate what we learn from the other disciplines like the sciences and humanities. • Beyond traditional repositories---rethink mixing and presenting content---help journal evolve into new forms beyond volumes/issues/articles and help facilitate access to that content. Going Mobile Getting social   Blogs, ancillary content For More Information • This poster is based on a forthcoming paper, Benjamin Keele and Michelle Pearse, “How Librarians Can Improve Law Journal Publishing.” • LibGuide for the paper with additional references and examples is available at: http://libguides.law.harvard.edu/lawjournalpublishing   • Or scan:  

Librarians Can Improve Law Journal Publishing

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Librarians Can Improve Law Journal Publishing

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William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository

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Librarians Can Improve Law Journal Publishing

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William &amp; Mary Law School Scholarship Repository

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William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository