Bi-Weekly Update
March 1
A Follow-Up to Ed Bonekemper’s Talk
On Wednesday, Feb. 27, Ed Bonekemper, formerly of Muhlenberg College’s History Department, spoke to an engaged audience of 20 people in Trexler Library. He addressed a thorny question for Civil War historians: Why did Grant win the war?
The answer to this question, according to Bonekemper, lies as much in the mistakes Lee made as in the strategies Grant employed. In sum, Lee was too “offensive” in his strategy for the undermanned Confederacy, suffered intolerable casualties (209,000), and allowed his obsession with the Commonwealth of Virginia to obscure the broader interests of the Confederacy.
Bonekemper’s presentation Wednesday treated the above question at length, and was followed by an animated Q&A, offering further illustration that the U.S. Civil War is still very much in our consciousness as a nation.
Thanks to Ed and to all who attended.
Copyright FAQ
Can I exceed 10 percent of the total when digitizing from books and posting them to my Blackboard account?
The 10 percent rule is just a guideline, not written into law. However, the decision in the recent Georgia State University copyright case referred to this rule as if it were law, making it not unlikely that the rule will be referred to in future decisions.
But this need not stand in the way of your students’ access to materials. Contact Jon Macasevich, reserves assistant at the library. He can work with the Copyright Clearance Center or directly with publishers to obtain permission for you to use the amount beyond the fair use guideline of 10 percent. Funds are available, within reason, to cover the cost of these permissions.
Was Aaron Swartz Right?
The Chronicle Review recently assessed the significance of the Aaron Swartz case in terms of scholarly publishing. Was Aaron Swartz right along? Scuttlebutt is intrigued especially by this part of the Chronicle Review analysis:
“Why do scholars still submit their articles to journals that are behind pay walls, and more important why do they serve as editors and referees for these journals (usually gratis)? They submit articles because there is still prestige attached to these journals and because online alternatives do not carry the same weight in tenure and promotion decisions. This is of course due to the general inertia of academic life. Academics need to do some soul searching: Is placing so much weight on tradition worth the cost to members of the profession and the public at large?
“We need to recognize that actions like Aaron Swartz’s civil disobedience are legitimate. They are attempts to liberate knowledge that rightly belongs to all of us but that has been acquired by academic publishers through tens of thousands of contracts of adhesion and then bottled up and released for exorbitant fees in what functionally amounts to an extortion racket.”
Strong words.
Publishing in open access journals certainly holds part of the answer to this problem. Also promising are mandates to release to the public articles based on publicly-funded research, like the mandate announcedjust last week by the Obama administration.
Library to Host NITLE Webinar on MOOCs
Trexler Library is a host site for the following webinar. All Muhlenberg faculty and staff are welcome to attend.
March 8th, 2013
3:00 – 4:00 PM
Location: Trexler Library Rm. B02
Open Education and MOOCs
We encourage campus leaders, strategic thinkers, innovators and others from the NITLE Network interested in open education, MOOCs, and the future of liberal education to attend this seminar. Attendance by institutional teams is encouraged; individuals are also welcome to participate.
Readings to Accompany Center for Ethics Events
Scuttlebutt directs you to a collection of readings, mostly online, but some in print in the library, in support of the excellent programming offered by the Center for Ethics this semester, to aid in class discussions, and just for personal interest and edification:
Sister Nora Nash (March 13)
Resources by and about Sister Nora Nash, and the subject of corporate social responsibility.Lawrence Lessig (April 15)
Resources by and about Lawrence Lessig, and the subject of the Congressional corruption.
Infomaniac
Where can I go for authoritative information about living wills in the State of Pennsylvania? The
Pennsylvania Medical Society provides the information and forms you need to determine in advance the direction of your end-of-life care.
Calendar
Spring Break Hours
Friday, March 1 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 2 – Sunday, March 3 Closed
Monday, March 4 – Friday, March 8 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 9 Closed
Sunday, March 10 6:00 PM – 1:00 AM
