Author Archives: Frank

About Frank

I am a librarian in a biomedical research institute. I've been around a few years, long enough to know that exciting new things fall into the same familiar patterns. I'm interested in navigating a path for libraries as we slip from print through to electronic information resources.

MDPI – another OA publisher

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Frank

I recently was alerted to the existence of an Open Access (OA) publisher that I had not heard of before:  MDPI. Their name stands for “Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute” and they are based in Switzerland. They publish more than 70 journals … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal publishing | 6 Comments

Last night I dreamt I went to Mendeley again

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Frank

Two weeks ago I was down in Bournemouth at the UKSG conference – a great gathering of library and publishing people.  As usual I took my running kit along and unusually I actually used them instead of just thinking about … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliographic management | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Ferreting (2)

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Frank

Following on from my previous post, my last bit of ferreting around last month was in support of the Strictly Science exhibition, organised by colleagues at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre. This high-profile exhibition is open (free) until 14 April, … Continue reading →

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Ferreting (1)

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Frank

After commenting on my last post that I am only called on three or four times a year to ferret out interesting old documents, here I am again with more tales of history. It seems to be a boom year … Continue reading →

Posted in History | 1 Comment

High altitude boots

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Frank

I received an email today with the subject line “High altitude boots”. For a moment I thought it was going to be an advert for extreme high-heeled shoes, but it turned out to be a request for a copy of … Continue reading →

Posted in History | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Moves to extend NIH open access mandate

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Frank

We all love to be different – it seems to be a feature of much human activity that we cherish little foibles that set us apart. This is certainly true in the scholarly communications arena, though more recently journals have … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Candles and rings

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Frank

Today, 2 February, is Candlemas day, halfway between the shortest day and the spring equinox. It is officially the end of the Christmas season, though I suspect most people would be surprised to learn this. I only know it because … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Ludwig Guttmann

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Frank

This is mainly a plug for my first foray onto Occam’s Corner, plus a place to list some of the sources of information that I used, and to tell the story of the chase for a missing document. I feel quite … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogology, History | 2 Comments

Solo Hackday

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Frank

Once upon a time I might have described myself as a techie. My career was founded on my willingness to install hgopher and Trumpet Winsock and fiddle with autoexec.bat and config.sys. This gave people access to the wonders of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Research tools, Scientific literature | 4 Comments

Customer relations

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Frank

Journal publishers are more interested in librarians than they ever used to be. The move to e-journals and big deals has changed the balance between individual and institutional  subscriptions, making libraries more important to publishers than, say, fifteen years ago. … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal publishing, Libraries and librarians | Leave a comment