Library News

Why is there poly over the stacks?

In the next few weeks you may notice poly draped over the stacks on the 5th floor. The roof above the stacks is being repaired and the poly is just in case we get a leak. How long will this take? If we get weeks of sunny weather, not long. If it starts to rain, it will take longer!

Live Help - Ask us a question from any page

Starting today the Library's Live Help service is available from a chat window on any page of our website. We've been offering chat help for about four years and in that time we've answered 1000's of questions, anything from "Why can't I see the full-text of this article?" to "My professor says I have to use peer-reviewed articles and all I can find is wikipedia. Help!". Look to the right of any page on our site and let us know what you think of this service!

Nature Online

The University of Winnipeg now has access to Nature Online.

Nature is a weekly international journal publishing the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions. Nature also provides rapid, authoritative, insightful and arresting news and interpretation of topical and coming trends affecting science, scientists and the wider public.


The University of Winnipeg has access to content for the current year and 4 previous years.

Interruption in online access to Wiley InterScience

There will be a half-hour interruption in online access to Wiley InterScience for site maintenance on October 15th, 2007, at 6:00 a.m. Central Time.

Library Closed - Monday, October 8th

We would like to remind you that the Library will be open this Saturday and Sunday, and that we are closed for Thanksgiving Day on Monday, October 8th.

Have a safe and happy holiday from all of us at the Library!

Rising Journal Costs Limit Scholarly Access

A recent article, Rising Journal Costs Limit Scholarly Access on the Emory University Libraries website discusses what faculty can do to help improve scholarly communication.

"USE YOUR INFLUENCE! Scholars and scientists have the power to change the current situation. You are the producers and major consumers of scholarly information and only through your influence will change occur.

1. Carefully examine the pricing, copyright, and subscription licensing agreements of any journal you contribute to as an author, reviewer or editor.
2. Examine copyright agreements before publishing and modify them if possible to ensure your right to use your work or post it on a public archive.
3. Copyright transfer agreements often require you to transfer all of your copyrights exclusively to the publisher, thereby losing control of any subsequent public distribution of your work. Restrictions on use of your own work may prohibit personal distribution for teaching and research, as well as publicly posting your paper on publicly available websites and archives.
4. Where possible, publish in open access journals which employ funding models that do not charge readers or their institutions for access. Serve on editorial boards or review manuscripts for open access journals. (For a list of open access journals, see the Directory of Open Access Journals at www.doaj.org.)
5. Encourage your society to explore alternatives to contacting or selling its publications to a commercial publisher.
6. Start your own open access journal!

At the University of Winnipeg we have both an Institutional Repository (ecommons.uwinnipeg.ca) and support for publishing open access journals.

If you have any comments or suggestions for improving eCommons or open access journals please let me know (Karen Hunt)