Abstracts fra Bibliotek for Læger 4/2011

 

Originalartikel: Videnstempel og bogtårn. Universitetsbibliotekets bygning på Nørre Fælled
Nan Dahlkild 

Temple of knowledge and tower of books. The University Library’s building on Nørre Fælled

Bibl Læger 2011;203:277-304.

In 1938, a new building for science and medicine was erected for The University Library of Copenhagen in the northern area of the capital. Already in 1918, library director Svend Dahl (1887-1963) had suggested the establishment of a campus of science and medicine in this area, with a library as an integrated part. Previously, the University Library had been situated in the old center of Copenhagen on top of the Trinity Church and from 1861 in its own building with a cast iron construction. The new building from 1938 was designed by Kristoffer Varming (1865-1936) and combined a classical style with functional solutions. The front building contained the public areas such as reading rooms, lending and catalogue rooms, and staff offices. The facade was covered with light limestone. The booktower in ten stories was constructed of concrete and contained the stacks. Despite its modest size, this construction was in fact the first modern highrise building in Denmark. Hence, in contemporary newspapers the book-tower was described as an American style “skyscraper”. In 1989, an extension in two stories was built with open access to books and periodicals.

Causeri: Om biblioteket på Nørre Allé før og nu  – og om »vidensbydelen«, bogfund på nettet og Riget i midten
Troels Kardel 

Notes on the University Library on Nørre Allé

Bibl Læger 2011;203:305-21.

The author reflects on changes over half a century in the medical library in Copenhagen, now a part of The Royal Library, as seen from an old user’s perspective. Further, it is described how searching the Internet can unexpectedly lead to the finding of less known versions of books and journals by Danish medical dignitaries such as Thomas Bartholin (1616-1680) and Niels Stensen (1638-1686).

Debatartikel: Universitetsbiblioteker i fremtiden – tendenser og scenarier
Michael v. Cotta-Schønberg 

University libraries in the future – trends and scenarios

Bibl Læger 2011;203:322-43.

The author presents an analysis of trends affecting the development of current university libraries. The most important of these trends is the remarkable breakthrough of the e-book. A description of the future tasks of university libraries is given with a main focus on providing knowledge resources to the university’s students and researchers. Five future scenarios for the development of university libraries are presented: The author’s preferred scenario is the completely digital library (with no printed resources) providing a complete set of services to researchers (including the management of research data) and students.

Et billede fra min hverdag
Johan A. Wallin 

Debatartikel: Open Access – en naturlig udvikling af videnskabelig videndeling
Inge Mærkedahl 

Open Access – a natural evolution of scientific dissemination

Bibl Læger 2011;203:346-53.

Advances within communication and information technologies have created a clear path-way for improved dissemination of scientific information. Open Access (OA) to public funded research will benefit researchers, research institutions and private enterprises alike in terms of improving the sharing of scientific knowledge and, as a result, the level of innovation and economic growth in society. While scientific publishers will have to evalu-ate their existing business models, OA is not a matter of either compromising existing quality control through peer review or limiting the freedom of choice for researchers in terms of where to publish their research results. As shown by the international focus on OA and the implementation of policies at international and Danish universities, the development is well underway. In order to fully take advantage of this development all stakeholders – researchers, universities, publishers, private enterprises etc. – will have to co-operate for the benefit of all.

Debatartikel: Open Access – en trussel mod videnskaben
Jørgen Burchardt 

Open Access – a threat against science

Bibl Læger 2011;203:354-71.

For almost a decade, the Danish library sector has lobbied amongst government agencies in order to obtain a mandatory Open Access (OA) policy. The Ministry of Science has recently published a proposal for such a policy, and soon the minister of science will make a binding decision. In this debate article, the chairman of The Organization of Danish Science Editors argues that OA is not beneficial for the researchers, but rather for the survival of the university libraries. Hence, the current policy is the result of consequent manipulation, and library executives have systematically prevented that editors and publishers obtain any influence. Several MPs are worried about the weakening of academic journals, but the former minister of science has given them misleading information to calm them down. In a future scenario, the author predicts that the Ministry of Science will decide upon a mandatory OA system. Consequently, research activity will lessen, and the quality of the articles will decline in many scientific journals. Further, the libraries will soon be out of business due to increasing digital publishing.

Kvartalets genstand
Morten A. Skydsgaard 

Originalartikel: Bibliometri – pro et contra
Henrik L. Jørgensen 

Bibliometrics – pros and cons

Bibl Læger 2011;203:374-84.

Bibliometric investigations are increasingly used for selecting employees, for allocation of resources etc., and decisions based on such investigations can have serious conse-quences. It is, thus, important that decision makers are familiar with the basic principles involved and particularly with their limitations and potential pitfalls. Bibliometric analyses require well-defined goals and stringent inclusion/exclusion criteria. Only relevant items should be included – e.g. searching for “Smith C” yields results from dozens of researchers. The main methods are publication and citation analysis. In publication analysis, the number of scientific papers of an individual or an organization is analyzed. The addition of journal impact factors (JIF) or other ranking systems does not provide useful extra information, as the distribution of citations is skewed and poorly correlated with JIF based factors. Citation analysis measures how other researchers make use of the scientific production of a person by referencing it. Since this type of analysis is retrospective, a researcher or an organization must have been active for some time before it can be performed. Bibliometric analyses can be useful if properly performed and interpreted. However, they should never be used alone, rather in conjunction with other methods such as peer review.

Forside: Universitetsbiblioteket på Nørre Allé i København bag maj måneds blomstrende magnolietræer. I forgrunden ses Gottfred Eickhoffs kompakte skulptur af Niels Stensen under dissektion (foto: Karsten Bundgaard, Det Kgl. Bibliotek).