if only i’d seen this email solicitation before i spent all that time on my master’s degree …

University Deg-ree

OBTAIN A PROSPEROUS FUTURE, MONEY-EARNING POWER, AND THE PRESTIGE THAT COMES WITH HAVING THE CAREER POSITION YOUŇVE ALWAYS DREAMED OF. DIPLOMA FROM PRESTIGIOUS NON-ACREDITED UNVERSITIES BASED ON YOUR PRESENT KNOWLEDGE AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE.

If you qualify, no required tests, classes, books or examinations.

Confidentiality Assured

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electronic resource workflows

today i was reading an article about how one library manages their electronic resources, from a technical services perspective. it had a nice workflow chart, which i studied intently. here it is (click to biggify):
eresources workflow

as i scrolled to the bottom of the workflow chart, i noticed that the author forgot a critical element to the step she called “solve problems” (pointed out with a red arrow). here’s what she forgot to add:

close-up

workflow chart taken from: Combining Traditional Journal Check-In and Claiming Activities with Electronic Journal Initiation and Maintenance Activities. Xiaoyin Zhang Library Resources & Technical Services Chicago:Oct 2003. Vol. 47, Iss. 4, p. 208-214

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RefShare my references on electronic resource management systems

One of the dreadful things when beginning a literature review is dumping your citations into your reference manager. If your topic happens to be electronic resource management systems, however, your life just got a lot easier. I’ve compiled the resources I used in a chapter prepared for the Handbook of Research on Library Electronic Resource Management, and I am pleased to share them with you. Choose the link below to share in my RefWorks reference database, via RefShare. You don’t have to be a subscriber to access these references.

http://www.refworks.com/refshare?site=020531065164400000/RWWS1A709865/ERMS%20handbook%20chapter

From RefShare: “Clicking on the link will take you to this database which is displayed in RefShare – the sharing module of RefWorks. The database owner has the option to allow you to print, export or generate a reference list from within RefShare.”

If you find these references helpful, you may send chocolates to the address found on my “Contact” page.

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retaining my rights as an author: amendment to publication agreement

I took some of the language and organization from MIT’s author amendment and UIUC’s draft amendment, stripped out the institution-specific jargon, and created my own Author’s Amendment to Publication AgreementPDF. Feel free to use it for yourself. Leave a comment if you have a suggestion for improvement.

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my new t-shirt

Library Science thanks to my friend cathy, i am the proud owner of this t-shirt!

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the peer review process as collaboration

a few weeks ago i got the reviews on an article i had submitted for publication.  long story short, the decision was to revise and resubmit.  i knuckled down and read through the reviewers’ and editor’s suggestions, to figure out how to incorporate the changes.  the changes weren’t so much about the content, but about how to rearrange the order of the paper’s elements for a different effect.  after revising, using their suggestions, i ended up with a paper that was broader in scope and much more interesting to a general audience.  in the end the paper was  better than the one i initially submitted.

i guess i’ve always thought about the peer review process as a kind of test on my concept and methodology; i hadn’t ever thought of it as a collaborative effort on the craft of writing.  but without the suggestions of the reviewers the article would have only been interesting to a narrow audience; their ideas broadened the possible readership.  i’ll keep this in mind for future articles — the reviewers aren’t there to just judge, but are there to guide the process of academic communication.

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