Elsevier reverses direction, becomes nonprofit

The Chairman of Reed-Elsevier, Jan Hommen, sent out a press release today announcing a completely new direction for the corporation. As of Monday, July 20, 2009, Reed-Elsevier will buy back all of the stock from their current shareholders, and they will become a private not-for-profit Open Access publisher.  This change in corporate direction will effect Elsevier, LexisNexis, and Reed Business Information.  Reed Exhibitions will be sold off.

In fact, the corporation will be giving back ALL of the profits they had garnered over the last 23 years.  How was 23 years arrived at?  He explained that the ARL started their in-depth analysis of the rise of journal prices in 1986, so 23 years seemed to be a good number.

Starting January 1, 2010, thousands of libraries and thousands of individuals will be given a large windfall from the Billions of dollars (with 7% compounded interest) Reed-Elsevier had made off the backs of libraries and other subscribers.  One very large midwestern public university plans to give $32,451,488.07 back to citizens of the state.  A medium sized east coast private university plans to reduce tuition by 21.7% starting with the Fall 2010 enrollment.  A small liberal arts college library will complete their expansion in 2011, and they plan to name the new wing after either Elsevier or Mr. Hommen.  The student body will take a vote later this summer.

Jane Michaelson, a librarian from one of the institutions noted above, said “Well thank God, it is about time they came to their senses.  During this hard economic time, this is very welcome news, indeed.  Now, I will look forward to meeting with their reps at the next library conference.”

To explain this complete reversal, the Chairman explained that he recently finished reading two books, the Starfish and the Spider: the Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations and Here Comes Everybody: the Power of Organizing Without Organizations.  He realized that the company was just too big and centralized. He then compared the journal publishing industry to the music industry that currently has just five big companies.  As we all know, the music industry is in disarray, and he did not want Reed-Elsevier to go through the same shakeup and turmoil.

As of August 1, 2009, many of their websites will be changed to .org’s. In fact, some of these may currently work — reed-elsevier.org, elsevier.org, sciencedirect.org.  He also stated, “I Can’t believe how self-centered we had become; we now want to promote scholarship and scientific research instead of focusing on profits, stock prices, mergers, share holders, etc.  F*ck the share holders.”

The Journal of Twitterian Studies

Elsevier recently announced a new journal covering the social networking tool called Twitter.  The Journal of Twitterian Studies will begin quarterly publication in January, 2010.  The Twitter service is becoming central to the communication patterns of many businesses and organizations.  It will also publish articles that cover other microblogging tools and services that limit the size of the updates.   Dr. Fred Mrozek from the University of California Irvine is the editor in chief.  Please contact him at frederick.z.mrozek@uci.edu if you wish to submit an article.  Submissions must be limited to 140 characters or less, and the citations need to be in APA format.

Annoyed Librarian — New Editor of Chaos, Solitons and Fractals

Nature recently announced that after 17 years of successfully editing the Elsevier Journal, Chaos, Solitons and Fractals, M. S. El Naschie will retire at the end of the year. 

The Library Radish learned from an inside source that the “Annoyed Librarian” will be the new Editor of the journal, effective January 1, 2009.  The source noted that “because of his/her great understanding of chaotic events, he/she will be a great asset to the editorial team of the journal.”   While the Annoyed Librarian was initially surprised by the offer, he/she was pleased to accept the new position at Elsevier.  Unfortunately, his/her time blogging for the Library Journal will have to be greatly reduced, but he/she will continue to post new entries on the “Annoyed Librarian” web log from time to time.  He/she claimed to understand chaos to a great extent, but he/she noted that he/she still needed to firm up on the basics of solitons and fractals.  Through the month of December, he/she said that he/she “will be reading about fractal theory and solitons like the dickens!”

Librarian Announces a New Revolutionary Blog that Announces His New Blogs

Jeremy McFarlane, an academic librarian from a major northwest Nebraska educational Institution has announced a new library-based blog.   The amazing thing is, this blog is designed to announce all of his new and amazing revolutionary blogs!

In it he states, “Colleagues/ It is with great pleasure that I Announce this Wonderful New Blog so I will now have a single place where I can announce my new Wonderful Blogs! I would also most appreciate learning of Any and All Other Blogs that are set up to announce ones own personal blogs.“

http://myblogthatannouncesmyothernewblogs.blogspot.com/

Mr. McFarlane also created an associated Facebook group so interested librarians can discuss.

Announcing the new Journal of Microformat Studies

Haworth Press Inc., has announced a brand new journal devoted to library studies in the microformats.  Of course, the journal will only be published in microformat.  Institutional subscribers will have the option to provide access to their patrons in either microfilm, microfiche or even microcard.  Personal subscribers will be able to subscribe to the journal in those three formats or on CD-ROM as well.

Steve Johnson, Vice President of Publishing Services for Haworth Press noted that the journal has established an editorial board with members from many vaunted institutions.  The journal will be published quarterly, but because of difficult technical outsourcing issues, the first issue dated January 2009 will not be available until August of 2011.  He recommends that libraries subscribe now so that all of your microformat researchers will not miss the first important issue.

Institutional subscription Price — $1,379/year

Personal subscription Price — $249/year

Web2.0 Tools and Libraries

Across the country, libraries are using Web2.0 services to enhance communication with patrons and between libraries. What do you think?

Jenny Benstrom, Systems Analyst — “I don’t know about 2.0, but I am waiting for Microsoft to finally release the Web v3.1″

Steven Smith, 2nd Grade Teacher — “Speaking of Web2.0 tools, I was addicted to Scrabulous in FB and now ‘they’ took it away from me –  I blame secret government spies for this move!”

Jack Fuller, CEO of a $3.8 Billion Corporation — “When will the local public library finally load Second Life software?  I want to pretend that I am a pretty little butterfly flying around in space.”

Gaming in Libraries

Many academic and public libraries are using games to attract the younger generation to their libraries.  Many librarians are using the ideas published in the book, Gaming and Libraries: Intersection of Services, by Jenny Levine.  What do you think?

Susan Lavin, Systems Analyst — “What?  Libraries are now using games to drive in traffic?  What crazy thing will they do next – let people check out DVDs?”

Steven Crossette, Fifth Grade Teacher — “Yes, I think games are a great idea.  I’ve often had my students play a rousing game of Tic-Tac-Toe to get their creative juices flowing. “

John Forrester, Corporate Sales — “As a salesperson, I know how important it will be for the younger generation to learn teamwork skills.  I just have absolutely no idea how silly little games will teach them THAT!”

New Journal Announced, Library Lo Tech

Emerald, a major publisher of a wide range of library journals, has announced a new journal entitled Library Lo Tech.  Even though Emerald also publishes journals called Library Hi Tech and Library Hi Tech News, this new journal will have innovative features not available in those other Emerald journals.

Dr. Robert Brumble from Northumbria University will be the managing editor of the journal.  He is looking forward to article submissions and discussions concerning a wide range of topics for many years to come.  Some of the articles that are already in the pipeline are:  “Microfilm or Microfiche: Which is Better for Books”, “The Proper Use and Care of Mechanical Typewriters in Library Settings”,  and “Card Catalogs: Not for Wimps”.

He notes that the journal will only be published in print with small print runs and at a high cost.  This will create great “exclusivity” for the authors since not many libraries (nor their patrons for that matter) will be able to get their hands on the articles.  He notes that “those few subscribers and readers will know they have a rare item in their hands.”  Other features of the journal that help to enhance exclusivity include: no indexing of the journal in any format, the publisher will not allow authors to upload pre- or post-print versions of their articles in any format, copyright clearance costs are substantial so only select few libraries can afford to purchase articles, and there are severe interlibrary loan restrictions.

Dr. Brumble recommends this journal for any reader or librarian who longs for the “good ‘ol days”.