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Articles on Academic libraries

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Despite an increasinly online-only world, libraries can still reveal the lives of the people who once owned the books within them. (Shutterstock)

As libraries go digital, paper books still have a lot to offer us

What stories will we tell about library collections in the future? As digitization takes over libraries, margin notes and scribbles are still part of the research process.
For now, it’s going to be trickier for the University of California community to access some academic journals. Michelle/Flickr

University of California’s showdown with the biggest academic publisher aims to change scholarly publishing for good

The UC libraries let their Elsevier journal subscriptions lapse and now the publisher has cut their online access. It’s a painful milestone in the fight UC hopes may transform how journals get paid.
China’s five-storey Tianjin Binhai Library occupies an area of 33,700 square metres with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves which can contain up to 1.2 million books. Roman Pilipey

Friday essay: the library – humanist ideal, social glue and now, tourism hotspot

In our world of pervasive consumerism, libraries continue to be founded on humanism. Their core purpose as accessible places is vital – yet they are also now popular tourist destinations.
Libraries subscribe digitally to academic journals – and are left with nothing in the stacks when the contract expires. Eric Chan/Flickr

University of California’s break with the biggest academic publisher could shake up scholarly publishing for good

Digital publishing hasn’t resulted in the free and open access to information many envisioned. Universities are increasingly fed up with a system they see as charging them for their own scholars’ labor.
The much heralded ‘death of the book’ has nothing to do with the death of reading or writing. It is about a radical transformation in reading practices. Marcella Cheng/NY-CC-BD

Essays On Air: Why libraries can and must change

Essays On Air: Why libraries can and must change The Conversation, CC BY23.3 MB (download)
The much heralded 'death of the book' has nothing to do with the death of reading or writing. It's about a radical transformation in reading practices, as explained in this episode of Essays On Air.
Locking articles away behind a paywall stifles access. Elizabeth

Academic journal publishing is headed for a day of reckoning

In our institutions of higher education and our research labs, scholars first produce, then buy back, their own content. With the costs rising and access restricted, something’s got to give.
How can students think critically about information in today’s age? UBC Library Communications/flickr

The challenge facing libraries in an era of fake news

Since the 19th century academic librarians have helped students navigate the complex world of information. In today’s unpredictable information environment, how might they rethink their role?

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