Gazing into her crystal ball, Laura Hazard Owen makes some predictions for the coming year in this post from paidContent.org.

The Huffington Post has an excellent spread on libraries that has links to numerous articles including discussions of things like library budget cuts,  libraries being more than books, the need for library advocacy, and critical library concerns in places like New York, [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/12/caught-my-eye-12211/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/caught-my-eye-for-their-children-many-e-book-fans-insist-on-paper/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/caught-my-eye-for-their-children-many-e-book-fans-insist-on-paper/#comments Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:21:06 +0000 gilsont http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=8779 For Their Children, Many E-Book Fans Insist on Paper

Surprisingly, it seems that the ebook wave is not engulfing kids and toddlers.  In fact, even parents who prefer their books online want their children’s first reading experience to be in print. “They want their children to be surrounded by print books, to experience turning [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/caught-my-eye-for-their-children-many-e-book-fans-insist-on-paper/feed/ 1 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/caught-my-eye-sociology-and-wikipedia/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/caught-my-eye-sociology-and-wikipedia/#comments Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:01:26 +0000 Leah Hinds http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=8672 Sociology and Wikipedia

According to this article from Inside Higher ED, American Sociological Association president, Erik Olin Wright is announcing “the Sociology in Wikipedia Initiative: a formal call to sociologists to help improve and expand Wikipedia entries that might benefit from their expertise and consider assigning their students to do the same.”  Wright is making [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/caught-my-eye-sociology-and-wikipedia/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/caught-my-eye-in-the-21st-century-university-lets-ban-books/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/caught-my-eye-in-the-21st-century-university-lets-ban-books/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:08:13 +0000 Leah Hinds http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=8570 In the 21st-Century University, Let’s Ban Books

Here is an article that is bound to ruffle more than a few feathers.  In this Chronicle for Higher Education commentary piece,  Marc Prensky articulates a book lover’s nightmare, at least a print book lover.  Prensky observes that “just about everything that an undergraduate needs to read is [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/caught-my-eye-in-the-21st-century-university-lets-ban-books/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/an-unusual-library-finds-a-new-home/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/an-unusual-library-finds-a-new-home/#comments Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:30:44 +0000 Leah Hinds http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=8563 An Unusual Library Finds a New Home

This article from the NY Times discusses the Read/Write Library, Chicago’s largest depository of grass-roots printed materials.  “Formerly known as the Chicago Underground Library, Read/Write rejects the selectivity of traditional libraries and collects “anything from university press to handmade artists’ books to zines made by [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/an-unusual-library-finds-a-new-home/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/company-removes-copyrighted-materials-from-web-site/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/company-removes-copyrighted-materials-from-web-site/#comments Sat, 12 Nov 2011 20:27:46 +0000 Katina Strauch http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=8467 QuickWire: Tutoring Company Removes Copyrighted Materials From Web Site

November 9, 2011, 5:37 pm

By Alexandra Rice

The online tutoring site Student of Fortune, recently acquired by textbook vendor Chegg Inc., has reached a settlement over the claims of copyright and trademark infringement made against the site before the acquisition. The claims come from five [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/11/company-removes-copyrighted-materials-from-web-site/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-plos-won/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-plos-won/#comments Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:20:33 +0000 Leah Hinds http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=8291 PLoS Won

In this recent blog post Michael Eisen, a co-founder of the Public Library of Science, lends credence to the notion that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  He wryly observes that he has derived  “considerable pleasure … over the past year or so, as one traditional publisher after another [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-plos-won/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-the-long-wait/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-the-long-wait/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:08:46 +0000 Leah Hinds http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=8224 The Long Wait | LJ‘s Placements & Salaries Survey 2011

Librarians of all types will be interested in the results from Library Journal Placements and Salaries Survey for 2011.  This year’s survey received responses from 1,789 LIS graduates (approximately 37% of all 2010 graduates)  and true to form, a number of interesting findings were reported.  As [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-the-long-wait/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-open-question-what-needs-to-happen-for-tablets-to-replace-laptops/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-open-question-what-needs-to-happen-for-tablets-to-replace-laptops/#comments Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:06:38 +0000 Leah Hinds http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=8187 Open Question: What needs to happen for tablets to replace laptops?

In his blog for O’Reilly Radar, Mac Slocum raises a question that our more tech savvy readers may be wondering about themselves.  Mac admits that he carries “a tablet and a laptop and a smartphone” and wonders how “the dream of one device to rule them all has [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-open-question-what-needs-to-happen-for-tablets-to-replace-laptops/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-will-the-e-book-kill-the-footnote/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-will-the-e-book-kill-the-footnote/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:21:03 +0000 Leah Hinds http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=8169 Will the E-Book Kill the Footnote?

In this recent article in the New York Times Book Review, Alexandra Horowitz worries that her beloved footnotes will be “shunted off to the end of the text, relegated to being mere endnotes” as ebooks continue their impressive growth in popularity.  Of course, the real worry is that [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-will-the-e-book-kill-the-footnote/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-whats-new-and-old-at-amazon/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-whats-new-and-old-at-amazon/#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:10:20 +0000 Leah Hinds http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=8109 What’s New (and Old) at Amazon

Christopher Harris raises some interesting questions about the recent Amazon/Overdrive deal.  Aside from being somewhat cumbersome (ebooks are being lent using the proprietary Amazon .amz file type), Harris notes other concerns.  Bloggers like InfoDocket’s Gary Price are voicing  “some alarming questions about privacy under the [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-whats-new-and-old-at-amazon/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-69-of-hiring-managers-have-rejected-candidates-based-on-social-networking-presence/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-69-of-hiring-managers-have-rejected-candidates-based-on-social-networking-presence/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:59:34 +0000 cgoldsmith http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=8011 According to this post on Reppler, an online reputation company, “69% of Hiring Managers Have Rejected Candidates Based on Social Networking Presence.”  The folks at Reppler surveyed some 300 hiring professionals to test the impact of social networks in screening applicants.  They also learned that 91% of those surveyed checked social networking sites to [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-69-of-hiring-managers-have-rejected-candidates-based-on-social-networking-presence/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-revenue-recession-reliance-revisiting-the-scaithaka-sr-case-studies-in-sustainability/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-revenue-recession-reliance-revisiting-the-scaithaka-sr-case-studies-in-sustainability/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:44:13 +0000 Leah Hinds http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=7999 ATG just learned about this attention-grabbing report from ITHAKA, the not-for-profit organization that assists the academic community take advantage of rapidly advancing technologies.  ITHAKA has updated its 2009 investigation of sustainability strategies for twelve digital content projects. This new study, Revenue, Recession, Reliance: Revisiting the SCA/Ithaka S+R Case Studies in Sustainability, is required reading for [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/10/caught-my-eye-revenue-recession-reliance-revisiting-the-scaithaka-sr-case-studies-in-sustainability/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/09/princeton-u-open-access-policy/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/09/princeton-u-open-access-policy/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:31:04 +0000 Katina Strauch http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=7726 The movement to make research freely available got a high-profile boost this week with the news that Princeton University’s faculty has unanimously adopted an open-access policy. “The principle of open access is consistent with the fundamental purposes of scholarship,” said the faculty advisory committee that proposed the resolution.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/princeton-u-adopts-open-access-policy/33450?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

Institutional and subject repositories have become an important feature of the information landscape and have arguable `come of [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/09/coming-of-age-charleston-observatory-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/09/caught-my-eye-in-an-e-reader-era-students-prefer-paper/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/09/caught-my-eye-in-an-e-reader-era-students-prefer-paper/#comments Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:52:20 +0000 cgoldsmith http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=7679 In an e-reader era, students prefer paper 

Naturally, this article would catch our eye.  It’s so Against the Grain!  Students preferring paper? This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.  However, according to Nicole Allen of the Student Public Interest Research Groups, even though the prices of print textbooks  have surged by 22% in the [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/09/caught-my-eye-in-an-e-reader-era-students-prefer-paper/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/09/lifelong-digital-archive/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/09/lifelong-digital-archive/#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:06:18 +0000 Katina Strauch http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=7617 Can’t resist since UNC-CH SILS is my alma mater. Students at SILS will get free data storage! It’s called LifeTime Library. So far 60 out of 160 students have signed up. This will “help students learn to manage their digital lives,”  said Gary Marchionini, the school’s dean.

http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=7439 Reader’s Choice: E-Textbook Devices Compared | Product Reviews | Wired.com

Despite the increasing popularity of tablets like the iPad, standalone e-book readers still have a following.  This may surprise some but in his Wired.Com review, Michael Calore highlights a number of reasons  e-book readers endure while at the same time commenting on the major players in [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/09/e-textbook-devises-compared/feed/ 0 http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/09/publish-or-perish-peer-review-and-the-corruption-of-science/ http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/09/publish-or-perish-peer-review-and-the-corruption-of-science/#comments Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:39:27 +0000 Leah Hinds http://www.against-the-grain.com/?p=7394 This is an article that caught my eye from The Guardian newspaper in the UK.  He says some interesting and controversial things about academic publishing like:

“Peer review is the process that decides whether your work gets published in an academic journal. It doesn’t work very well any more, mainly as a result of the enormous [...]]]> http://www.against-the-grain.com/2011/09/publish-or-perish-peer-review-and-the-corruption-of-science/feed/ 0