- Reminder: SciFree demo opportunities
In the very near future, we’ll be adding SciFree to our library website. SciFree is a search tool that makes it simpler to figure out whether a journal is covered by one of our publisher agreements providing APC-free publishing or discounting. About twenty Canadian academic libraries are currently using SciFree — you can see an example in Guelph’s: https://search.scifree.se/uoguelph.
Our SciFree page, at least initially, will be prominently linked from our APC Support page.
There are three opportunities next week to see a demo of SciFree and discuss questions before it launches. Please email Sarah Polkinghorne if you’d like to attend a session but haven’t received an invitation yet. Recordings will be available for those who can’t attend at these times.
- Tuesday, 11 February, 2:00-2:30 pm – demo for ISSs
- Wednesday, 12 February, 2:00-3:30 pm – demo for ISSs (same session, offered twice)
- Thursday, 13 February, 2:00-2:50 pm – demo for librarians
- New Taylor & Francis eBooks Reader
Taylor & Francis has launched a new eReader with the following enhancements:
- Ability to download in ePub
- Facility to change font sizes and styles
- Read aloud functionality, available in multiple languages
- Additional tools for students and researchers, such as integration with reference management software
The new eReader is now live; the older versions of the eReader will be retired on February 16, 2025.
Registered users will receive an email in the coming weeks with instructions on any action they need to take. They will need to set up any personalized settings, such as bookshelf, bookmarks, notes, and highlights, in the new eReader, as they will not be carried over. Patrons can explore the new eReader by selecting the “download” option on any ebook or chapter. The “read online” button will continue to direct users to the older eReader version until February 16, 2025.
Further information can be found on the Taylor & Francis FAQ page.
- MIT Press to release all 2025 scholarly books openly through Direct to Open program
Our Library has supported MIT Press’s Direct to Open (D2O) initiative through the collections budget since 2021, via CRKN. D2O is MIT’s initiative to release all its scholarly books freely and openly online each year. Today the Press has announced that it’s reached its 2025 funding goal, meaning that 80 new books will be published OA this year.
To learn more about this year’s D2O, and discover some new books coming in Spring 2025, read MIT Press’s announcement here.
To browse MIT Press ebooks, which includes their older books back to 1943, visit MIT Press Direct.
Although MIT Press Direct contains lots of STEM books, there’s also a separate collection of MIT Press Computing and Engineering ebooks, which we buy and which is available on IEEE.
- APC issues with Wiley should be resolved (16 Jan)
In January, some U of A authors have reported not being offered the APC-free Open Access option within Wiley’s author workflow. In other words, when an author reaches the point of choosing Open Access in Wiley’s production system, the no-cost option they’re entitled to has not been offered.
As of today (16 Jan), these issues should be resolved because Wiley has finally “implemented” our agreement across their systems. (Our agreement with Wiley is in force until 31 December 2026.)
Authors finalizing the publication of papers in eligible Wiley journals should now see the no-cost OA option in the author workflow. Thanks for supporting any authors who’ve been affected by this confusing situation. You can refer them to csu@ualberta.ca if necessary.
- Heads-up – Digest post re: Elsevier retroactive OA conversion
The deadline for Elsevier retroactive conversion requests is approaching — it’s 31 January.
Please take a moment to read this Library News blog post from October last year, in case you missed it. This post explains the idea of retroactive conversion and what authors should do if they realise that they could have published their paper with APC-free OA in 2024, but missed the opportunity at the point of publication.
If you receive any questions about this issue, there are two main steps to responding.
First, verify that the journal is covered by our current agreement with Elsevier. You do this by visiting the Article Process Charge Support page and clicking on the Elsevier journals list. If the journal is not covered, then no APC-free Open Access is available for the paper.
Second, if the journal is covered, then advise the author to write a short email to the Elsevier OA support team. Please share the above blog post with the author because it includes the exact steps for how to write this email and what to say.
If, after that, there are additional challenges, then you’re welcome to refer the question to csu@ualberta.ca.
Upcoming, CSU will post a message in the Academics’ Digest email about this issue. A relatively small number of authors (approx. 100) have papers eligible for retroactive conversion. A fraction of those authors will act on the Digest post, and a smaller fraction yet will reach out to the Library for assistance. Still, we wanted to give everybody a heads-up in advance.
Thanks for your attention to this!