Distance Education Mla Ucc, White Paper on Intellectual Property/NII

ECept Education > Distance Education

Q. Over the past year, MLA and AAHSLD have worked closely with the library community to address intellectual property issues in the NII. As part of this effort, MLA has joined with ALA, ARL, SLA, and AALL, to form a Coalition on Shared Copyright Capability. The following executive summary/analysis of the White Paper on Intellectual Property in the NII has been prepared by the legal counsel representing the coalition with input from coalition members.

A. Several people have asked for more information about how Electronic publication might work. A post this morning describing Epublication of physics journals is a positive step but it has serious flaws: 1) The publisher is not eliminating the huge cost of publishing in print (thus subscription costs continue to rise) and, 2) the publisher still has the club of copyright to set prices at the highest level the market will bear. Below is a list of steps we can take if/when we are ready to greatly reduce the costs of disseminating sci/tech information. Step 1. Medical librarians agree that they are willing to substitute electronic publications for print publications in their library. (Epublications can not be a second rate substitution for print. You must show a willingness to cancel the higher cost media.) Step 2. Medical librarians agree to take leadership in the development of that environment. Step 3. The MLA and the AAHSLD persuade the NLM and the AAMC that peer reviewed publishing in the public domain is a public good, as well as an economic good. Step 4. The MLA sets standards and writes specifications for accredited, peer reviewed Epublications. Step 5. Librarians promote local Epublication programs. Example: You are a Head Librarian and you know that your institution has a famous program in phrenology. (You have a client who is president of the Phrenological Society.) The phrenologist agrees to work with you to publish electronically. You persuade the Dean, the University Press, and the Computer Center Director to underwrite an Epublication program. The phrenologist (editor) recruits top scientists around the world to act as peer reviewers. (NLM will include citations in MEDLINE and AAMC will acknowledge Epublications for academic credit.) Step 6. Accepted and peer reviewed papers are served from a networked server. (A printed abstract list with advertisements may be published periodically. Downloads of papers may be accompanied by advertisements. Readers may request hardcopy of papers be mailed for a fee.) Step 7. Medical libraries include Epublications in their catalogs with hot links to servers. Step 8. Medical libraries install high quality printing equipment to serve patrons who prefer to read print. Of course there are perfectly good alternatives at every step described above -- substitute your own favorite acronym or technological jargon term. Also this is an international opportunity. I suspect Canada and Australia will do this before the U.S. because the relative benefit of Electronic transmission and the economic pressure is greater. Probably the quickest path to success would be for the MLA to offer a $10,000 prize for the first Epublisher to satisfy a set of specified criteria.

Ask an Education Question

Other Questions:

I was hoping I hadn't deleted your "advertisement" for cataloging education in West Virginia, etc., but that one seems to be gone. Suddenly in the last week, distance education has become a hot topic at IU. South Bend is closing, nobody was not...

I am currently working on a degree through Regis University in Denver by way of videotape, voice-mail and correspondance. I have a friend who has been very impressed by the quality of information that I am able to receive from this system and ...

I have a Bachelor's degree from Thomas Edison State College (TESC). Did I earn my degree through distance learning? No. I was deemed worthy of a degree by testing and portfolio assessment. This seems an acceptable, if "nontraditional", pra...

I am looking for an accredited math degree program that is available via distance education. If that is not possible then I am looking for a way of validating degree level math knowledge through study followed by subsequent examination. I cur...

The Princeton Review/Random House this week released the book "Best Distance Learning Graduate Schools: Earning Your Degree Without Leaving Home." The book profiles 195 accredited universities offering over 1,000 distance learning degrees or c...

ECept Education Menu

Ask a Question
About Us / Me
Contact Me
Privacy Policy

Sitemap

Quality Education Links

US Department of Education
APA Student Resources
Student Gateway to the US Government
Education.com
Education News

Q&A Subjects