From: Heather Morrison <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:12:00 -0800 Fellow librarians For years librarians have worked to encourage faculty to change their publishing practices to support affordable alternatives. Today, over 2,000 faculty have heeded the call and joined in the Elsevier boycott initiated by mathematician Timothy Gowers. We librarians are very aware of the very high cost of Elsevier journals, the harm that bundling does to scholarly communication overall by taking flexibility away from libraries so that scholarly monographs and journals of publishers outside the big deals are always the ones being cancelled. In addition, Elsevier has recently very actively lobbied for laws that are not in the interests of scholars or libraries - SOPA, PIPA, and the Research Works Act which would make it impossible for the U.S. to mandate public access to the results of research that it funds. It is timely for us to practice what we preach, which includes addressing our own journals, including the Journal of Academic Librarianship and Serials Review, which are owned by Elsevier. Please join the growing Elsevier boycott - details and a link to sign up can be found at: http://thecostofknowledge.com/ Gavia Libraria, the Library Loon, has some tips on alternatives for those with interest and energy for editing, writing or reviewing: http://gavialib.com/2012/01/elsevier-editorial-boards-serials-review/ All the best, Heather Morrison, MLIS Doctoral Candidate, Simon Fraser University School of Communication http://pages.cmns.sfu.ca/heather-morrison/ The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com