University at Buffalo Libraries

The 15-year old winner of the 2012 Intel  Science & Engineering Fair, Jack Andraka of Maryland, said he relied on open-access articles to develop a five-minute, $3 test for pancreatic cancer. The project earned him first place and $75,000 in last year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

Quoting Mr. Andraka, a Washington Post article noting the recent White House open access mandate for nearly all federally funded research reported: “I kept running into these paywalls where articles cost $30,” said Andraka. He then searched for similar, but freely available, information. “Open access was absolutely critical. I couldn’t have done my project without it.”

He also is quoted in Why Science Journal Paywalls Have to Go blog entry as saying:

“After a close family friend died from pancreatic cancer, I turned to the Internet to help me understand more about this disease that had killed him so quickly. I was shocked to discover that the current way of detecting pancreatic cancer was older than my dad and wasn’t very sensitive or accurate. I figured there had to be a better way! I soon learned that many of the papers I was interested in reading were hidden behind expensive pay walls.”

Can any better case be made for open access publishing that this story? Open access really does make possible  major scientific advances that can benefit all of humankind by anyone in the world, even a 15 year old high school student.

The UB Health Sciences Libraries Medical Images Guide is the 6th most popular Libraries Guide on the Libraries’ website.

We are considering expanding the guide, and would appreciate your input. The following link will take you to a brief (7-10 minutes) survey. Please complete the survey to help us compile the best image resources tailored to your needs. All data collected is anonymous and for internal use only.

Survey Link:  http://tinyurl.com/cgdgtbu

If you have any questions, contact Diane C. Rein, PhD.,MLS, Bioinformatics Liaison, Health Sciences Library, drein@buffalo.edu.

In addition to the ongoing 48 Good Books project, the University Libraries and the Undergraduate Academies are debuting a sister program – 48 Good Films.  Why 48?  For the incoming Freshmen class, it equates to one film or book a month for the four years of their college careers.  We are resurrecting a program that was popular in the early years of the University; and was discovered a few years ago in the University Archives.

Faculty submitted film titles that are important to them and embody the mission and spirit of the five Undergraduate Academies: Civic Engagement, Entrepreneurship, Global Perspectives, Research Exploration and Sustainability. The response was overwhelming, and faculty were asked to vote for their top 48 films.

Why not consider including a 48 Good Films title in your summer or fall class programming?  Films for classes may be booked online for classroom use and placed on course reserve for student viewing.  Many feature films are available for course reserve in streaming format. Please contact the Libraries’ Multimedia Collections and Services staff for assistance.

Enjoy this list of “unrequired viewing” that have inspired inquiry, pleasure, and a renewed engagement with civic life.

48 Good Films

There are many choices when it comes to software for managing bibliographies and articles. There are web-based tools and software that you install on your computer.

Some are free, others are available through licenses from the Libraries.

We’d appreciate your input.

To honor the memory of the internationally-known historian and human rights activist, Dr. Alison L. Des Forges (1942-2009), two events will take place on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 highlighting the current human rights crises in the Middle East and in Central Africa.

Symposium:  “Human Rights in the Middle East and Central Africa: Comparisons and Contrasts between Rwanda and Israel”

Tues., April 16, 2013, 1-5 pm , 509 O’Brian Hall, UB North Campus. Free.

Speakers:

• Ken Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch: Are There Parallels between Rwanda’s and Israel’s Experience and Conduct?
• Howard French, Associate Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism: Guilt, Oversimplification, and Inattention in Perspecitves and Policies toward the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa
• Uri Zaki, Director of the U.S. branch of B’Tselem, Israel’s preeminent human rights organization: Israel at 65 – Democracy, Occupation and In-Between

Scholarship Fund Dinner and Discussion

Tues., April 16, 2013, 6:30-9 pm, Jacobs Executive Development Center, 672 Delaware Ave., Buffalo

The Fund supports 4-year scholarships at UB for promising Buffalo public school students interested in pursuing a course of study and career in human rights.  Reservations are required for the dinner. A $100 or greater contribution to the Alison Des Forges Memorial Fund is suggested, with the full amount in excess of $35 being tax deductible.

For more information, contact:  Dr. Roger Des Forges, ALD Memorial Committee, rvd@buffalo.edu

The Health Sciences Library is pleased to announce that they have purchased the Springer Protocols database. This is a collection of reproducible laboratory protocols in the Life and Biomedical Sciences. It currently contains over 31,000 protocols and approximately 2,000 new protocols are added each year.

For more information, see the Springer Protocols description page.

The SUNY Board of Trustees has endorsed the implementation of “Open SUNY,” an ambitious plan aimed at encouraging the evolution and growth of online learning opportunities throughout the SUNY system.

According to the press release, SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher estimates that Open SUNY “will add 100,000 degree-seeking students to the enrollment total within three years, and that it will contribute to the feasibility of three-year undergraduate degree programs and five-year graduate degree programs.”

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC’s) are included among the resolutions in the plan — both a push for SUNY to get more involved in the creation of MOOC’s and for SUNY to explore ways students can receive appropriate credit for taking MOOC’s.  As noted in the Chronicle’s coverage of Open SUNY, “nontraditional models for awarding college credit” is a topic that is garnering increasing attention nationally.

The plan also encourages the creation and evaluation of innovative and open approaches to education and scholarship, including:  “Open Education Resources, Open Access Journals, Open E-Textbooks, and Open Courseware.”  The UB Libraries’ Scholarly Communication website provides information for those interested in learning more about open access.

NOW EXTENDED THROUGH MAY 15, 2013!
The Poetry Collection of the University Libraries, University at Buffalo, presents:

The Victor E. Reichert Robert Frost Collection
An exhibition featuring selections from the Reichert Frost Collection

January 31 through May 15, 2013
Monday through Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
The Kaveeshwar Gallery
501 Capen Hall
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14260

Victor E. Reichert (1897-1990) was rabbi of the Rockdale Avenue Temple in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1938 to 1962 and shared a long friendship with the American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963). In 1946 Reichert invited Frost to present a sermon, and in 1960 he was instrumental in awarding Frost an honorary Doctorate at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Victor Reichert was an avid Frost collector, and his collection passed to his son Dr. Jonathan Reichert, Professor Emeritus from the UB Department of Physics, who donated it to the Poetry Collection. The Reichert Frost Collection features many signed and inscribed publications by Frost, a Frost manuscript, letters, photographs, audio recordings, and ephemera, as well as many Frost-related items from other critics.

A digital collection and select images from the Reichert Frost Collection are available through the Poetry Collection and the UB Libraries store: library.buffalo.edu/robertfrost.

On February 22, 2013, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy directed any federal agency spending more than $100 million per year on R&D to create open-access policies within the next six months. The policy will require all research articles funded by these agencies to be made open access (free-to-read) within 12 months of publications. In addition, digital data must be made publicly accessible. Naturally, classified research is exempted.

One option for fulfilling these upcoming requirements is to deposit your publications and data in our UB Institutional Repository. Our new Scholarly Communications web site has sections on publicly archiving your scholarship and on data management. These web pages contain the contact information for library staff that would be glad to discuss this new development with you.

Agencies covered by the new policy include the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Educations, Energy, Homeland Security, Transportation as well as the EPA, FDA, NASA, and, mostly importantly, NSF. The White House announcement contains a link to the actual directive. A 3/7/2013 Chronicle of Higher Education article discusses the impact these new policies might have.