A new meaning for migration
I need to migrate my repository-rat rear to Australia. That’s all there is to it. Monash University, they’ve got the goods. I cannot express how blown away I am with the strikingly intelligent pragmatism they display, and how infuriated I am that the United States cannot seem to get on the damn stick and follow their example.
Why do we need to follow their example? Bless Cat McDowell for telling it like it is. If you’re still under the delusion that Stateside institutional repositories are sailing along just fine and dandy, I hereby sentence you to read this article one hundred times or until you get it, whichever comes first. Money quote: “At a median growth rate of 1 item a day, IRs in America will likely not achieve the critical mass to significantly impact open access or change modes of scholarly communication for some time to come.” I agree. I would only add “if ever.”
I read the Granada University IR intro (PDF). I’m sorry to have to say this, because obviously a considerable amount of work went into that—but it’s more useless ideological happytalk. When do we get past that? When?
When people like McDowell and Monica McCormick (whose work I just discovered yesterday) get cited as often as the happytalkers, I suppose. And when we repository-rats come out of our holes and speak up for ourselves instead of skulking afraid in the darkness taking yet more surveys. I’ll certainly do my part. I’m bloody sick of surveys, I tell you what.