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Author: Martin Courtois

Copyright questions? Two K-State resources with answers

Posted on by Martin Courtois

Can I use an image from the Web in my term paper?  Do I have to get permission to make an entire video available in my K-State Online course?  Copyright is complicated, but here are some resources that help answer tough copyright questions:

  1. “The Beauty of Some Rights Reserved: An Introduction to Copyright, Publishing and Creative Commons.” Watch this presentation by Molly Kleinman, former copyright specialist and special assistant to the Dean of Libraries at the University of Michigan. Molly visited K-State during Open Access Week, and her presentation and slides help to clarify the complexities of copyright law and highlight the benefits of using works licensed under Creative Commons.
  2. Visit K-State’s Copyright website for an overview of using copyrighted works, how to manage your copyrights, and other copyright issues. Have a specific question? This site features an interactive form to pose your question and get help.

Copyright and Creative Commons presentation Oct. 21

Posted on by Martin Courtois

Copyright law is a mess, but Creative Commons offers a workable alternative to finding material you can use in your work without having to seek permission from the author.

If you only have a minute to learn about Creative Commons, watch this great “Why I Love Creative Commons” video by Molly Kleinman, copyright specialist at University of Michigan.

Even better, come to Molly’s presentation, “The Beauty of Some Rights Reserved: An Introduction to Copyright, Publishing and Creative Commons” 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, in the Hemisphere Room, Hale Library. The session is open to all, no registration required.

Events planned for Open Access Week, Oct. 18-22

Posted on by Martin Courtois

At universities, research centers, and libraries around the world, a revolution is brewing, and next week, we’re going to shout about it. Open Access Week (Oct. 18-22) is a time to call attention to the need for public access to scientific and technical research.

At K-State, these events are planned for all students, faculty, and staff:

  • Open Access Week Open Forum
    2-3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19, second floor of Hale Library
    Presentations by Michael Wesch (associate professor in Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work), Christopher Sorensen (distinguished professor of Physics), Dale Askey (associate professor in Hale Library), and Danny Unruh (K-State student body president)
  • The Beauty of Some Rights Reserved: An Introduction to Copyright, Publishing and Creative Commons
    2-3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, Hemisphere Room, Hale Library
    Presentation by Molly Kleinman,  special assistant to the Dean of Libraries and former copyright specialist, University of Michigan

Continue reading “Events planned for Open Access Week, Oct. 18-22” →

Faculty: Use K-REx to increase impact of publications

Posted on by Martin Courtois

krex.k-state.eduK-State faculty will publish somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,100 articles this academic year, but how many of those articles will reach readers who want to see them? If you’re relying only on the publisher’s distribution channels through subscriptions, you’re missing much of your audience.

The K-State Research Exchange (K-REx) is operated by the K-State Libraries and is an archive of the scholarly research and publications of K-State faculty and students. K-REx is an “open access repository” with all work deposited in K-REx freely available on the Web. In addition, K-REx uses protocols that optimize discovery by Google and other search engines.

Continue reading “Faculty: Use K-REx to increase impact of publications” →

Major professors: Encourage grad students to start writing in the ETDR template

Posted on by Martin Courtois

More than 40 percent of graduate students come to iTAC for individual help in formatting their electronic theses, dissertations, and reports (ETDRs). Many of these students visit us when they’ve completed their writing, and say their major professor told them they most now put their completed paper into the ETDR template. If you want to help your students focus on their research and the content of their paper, steer them toward using the ETDR template from the very beginning.

Continue reading “Major professors: Encourage grad students to start writing in the ETDR template” →

Grad students: Start writing your thesis in the ETDR template

Posted on by Martin Courtois

If you’re starting to work on your thesis or dissertation this semester, you’ll save a lot of time and avoid frustration by using the ETDR Word template. Graduate students are required to submit their theses and dissertations electronically, and the template contains all the formatting required by the Graduate School.

In addition, the template contains several time-saving features, such as automatically creating the table of contents and caption numbers. The template makes use of the “styles” feature in Word. If “styles” is new to you, read about it on the ETDR website or make an appointment with an ETDR consultant at the IT Help Desk to review “styles” and use of the ETDR template.

An overview session may also be scheduled for groups of students in individual departments. Contact Marty Courtois (courtois@k-state.edu, 785-532-4428) for details.

Continue reading “Grad students: Start writing your thesis in the ETDR template” →

Open Access Week Oct. 19-23 (why it matters)

Posted on by Martin Courtois

At universities, research centers, and libraries around the world, a revolution is brewing, and this is the week we shout about it. Open Access Week (Oct. 19-23) is a time to call attention to the need for public access to scientific and technical research.

For decades, research results have been communicated almost exclusively through commercial publishers, commonly in the form of peer-reviewed journal articles. A single journal subscription can cost libraries thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars per year (a subscription to Journal of Comparative Neurology is more than $25,000 per year).  Such high costs have severely limited the number of journals that libraries can afford to receive, which, in turn, limits access to important research, a large portion of which is funded by taxpayer dollars.

Continue reading “Open Access Week Oct. 19-23 (why it matters)” →

Why K-REx is better than a webpage for storing faculty publications

Posted on by Martin Courtois

About 50 K-State faculty have deposited their published journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers in the K-State Research Exchange, but many more faculty have lists of their publications (and sometimes links to their articles) on a personal or departmental website. Isn’t that the same thing? Not even close!

K-REx is built on the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), a set of standards for facilitating sharing of information (metadata) about articles, book chapters, dissertations, and other publications. OAI-PMH makes metadata available to search engines such as Google in a very structured way, which helps to produce higher rankings in search results.  Continue reading “Why K-REx is better than a webpage for storing faculty publications” →

Faculty: Let K-State Research Exchange increase the impact of your research

Posted on by Martin Courtois

Want to increase the number of citations to your articles, book chapters, and other scholarly work? After it’s published, deposit your work in K-REx, K-State’s Research Exchange repository!

More than 50 K-State faculty already know the benefits of making their work available in K-REx. For example, Jana Hawley’s (Department of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design) book chapters on textile recycling have been viewed in K-REx more than 600 times.

Continue reading “Faculty: Let K-State Research Exchange increase the impact of your research” →

K-State student wins innovation award for electronic thesis

Posted on by Martin Courtois
Designed format used by K-State student Lara Fackrell in her 2008 thesis
Designed format used by K-State student Lara Fackrell in her 2008 thesis

An electronic thesis submitted by K-State student Lara Fackrell has won an Innovative ETD (Electronic Theses and Dissertations) award from the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD). The NDLTD is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations.

Fackrell, a graduate student in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional and Community Planning, completed her Master of Landscape Architecture degree in May 2008. Her thesis, Equestrian communities: Design Features and Development Process (PDF), was submitted electronically and can be viewed in the K-State Research Exchange, a service that provides permanent access to scholarly materials created by K-State faculty and students.

In her thesis, Fackrell employed color, multi-column layouts, visual motifs, maps, photographs, and illustrations to create a dramatic and engaging research paper. Continue reading “K-State student wins innovation award for electronic thesis” →