Cost of doing business

March 27th, 2008 Stewart

StickerShock2 from Cornell

I used to point to the first StickerShock exhibit in my old E-Journals workshop as an example of how libraries are trying to make their constituencies aware of the appallingly high subscription costs we face collectively. Particularly astonishing to me are titles like Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering or International Journal of Solids and Structures, where the cost per use is so high that interlibrary loans might actually be more cost effective, if less convenient.

Recently my co-editor Chris Hollister and I placed the first volume of Communications in Information Literacy on Lulu.com as a print-on-demand edition. For our open access title, if we were to sell 10 copies of the print edition, we would raise enough money to pay for our web hosting costs for a full year. Granted, the cost of running our small e-journal is considerably less than the cost of producing a journal for, say, Elsevier, but then we’re not trying to make $9 billion in profits each year either.

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Growing Pains, Part II

February 11th, 2008 Stewart

The latest issue of Communications in Information Literacy was published this morning. I couldn’t be happier with the final product — We’ve got some really good articles and I think everyone involved should be really proud of their work.

We have other CIL projects waiting in the wings. One item we hope to wrap up this week or next is the print-on-demand volume (via Lulu.com). Proceeds from sales of the printed volume will help defray our publication costs, so if you are a librarian and you want to support our work, please talk with your collection managers about purchasing a volume for your stacks. Over 180 libraries have already cataloged the journal; if even half of them were to buy a copy for their print collections, that would (most likely) pay for our next six months of web hosting. We may also ask for donations in exchange for coffee mugs and other PBS-style gifts.

Also we’re about to announce the inclusion of our journal in a major library literature database. More to come about that soon.

Hopefully, other IL librarians will find what we’re doing of value. We need a primary journal for information literacy, and I think CIL is well poised to be that journal. If you have any suggestions or ideas that you would like to share, either with myself or co-editor Chris Hollister, just drop us a line at editors@comminfolit.org. Thanks!

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Quick stats on the new journal

May 11th, 2007 Stewart

Issue one of Communications in Information Literacy debuted at 4:00 pm yesterday, and here are a few numbers of which I’m particularly proud:

• Within 24 hours, each article in the first issue has been read by at least 100 people; some have been read substantially more than others.
• Within 24 hours, about 40 new users registered with CIL.
• We currently have over 200 users registered.
• The RSS feed works and people are using it — Okay, I don’t have a number on this one.

Co-founder Chris Hollister and I will be presenting all about CIL at WILU next week, so we’re getting geared up for that. And, oh yeah, the next issue…

Posted in CIL, statistics, writing | 1 Comment »

The Information Literacy Equation

March 9th, 2007 Stewart

I’ll be giving a Millennials talk at SUNY Fredonia in just a few hours and I’m pretty excited about it. My colleague and CIL co-founder Chris Hollister will be joining me, and it promises to be a special event.

What makes it special is that this is a conference on multimodal literacies, and that I’ll be addressing the concern of information literacy for the Millennial generation. My audience will be primarily English professors and librarians, and to have those two groups in the room while talking about information literacy can be a little daunting. But it’s also an exciting opportunity to launch a discussion among the parties best able to address information literacy concerns for their school.

I’m posting my slides here to be shared with the group (no handouts today) and this post can serve as a springboard for continuing our discussion. I’ll post more later today when I’m back from the event.

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Young & Wired vs. Middle-Aged & Tired…

December 7th, 2006 Stewart

Sorry I haven’t posted much lately, but things have been very busy as the semester is winding down. CIL is seeing submissions coming in, PubDrug is gearing up behind the scenes, and in between when I’m not answering reference questions or dealing with e-mail I’m busy writing my book chapter.

Still, this slideshow from Pew Internet’s Mary Madden is just too good not to pass along. She does a really nice job of clarifying how the Millennials have grown up alongside modern technology, to the point where they really don’t see it as “technology,” as such. Thanks to davidrothman.net for the link.

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Updates on various…

November 17th, 2006 Stewart

PubDrug.org is getting underway, and there seems to be some interest in the project, judging from e-mails I’ve received and blog posts I’ve read. I would like to develop an editorial board to begin with, a group of volunteers who would guide PubDrug’s overall mission and coordinate it’s development. This isn’t a small commitment, I know, but if you think you’d be interested in serving in this capacity, please e-mail me. First up on the PubDrug to-do list — design a template for drug monographs. If you have ideas for improving it, feel free to edit the template directly! That’s what a wiki is for, after all.

Communications in Information Literacy has received several query letters describing some remarkable research in information literacy. Chris and I are both very excited about the quality of the queries we’ve received. There’s still room for more, though, so please consider submitting a paper for our Inaugural Issue due out this spring.

Lots of other stuff underway as well, including new workshops, a CE workshop I’m developing, and the book chapter. Onward and upward.

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