Students, researchers lose access to documents due to cutbacks

[KingKane]

Ah sure what use is that reading stuff in bukkes anyway.

Seriously that will have a massive knock on effect on research, it is in effect the state tearing up the 3rd sector's library card.

[cyberianpan]

The problem here is the government cut a quango's funding (SFI was originally a sub-board of Forfás)

The board is stashed full of the types that oversee quango's . e.g. Peter MacDonagh a sometimes Fianna Fáil adviser who still returns to help them with every election.

This seems to be a bloated quango 3 staff in HR alone yet only a few dozen total staff.

The real issue here is how SFI decided what to cut- and they smell like any other bloated , inefficient quango... an you can be sure they didn't think to cut the "favored bacon"

cYp

[former wesleyan]

The problem here is the government cut a quango's funding (SFI was originally a sub-board of Forfás)

The board is stashed full of the types that oversee quango's . e.g. Peter MacDonagh a sometimes Fianna Fáil adviser who still returns to help them with every election.

This seems to be a bloated quango 3 staff in HR alone yet only a few dozen total staff.

The real issue here is how SFI decided what to cut- and they smell like any other bloated , inefficient quango... an you can be sure they didn't think to cut the "favored bacon"

cYp

It's a quango...agreed. But even a quango bloated with political appointees should realise that since the introduction of electronic resource libraries researchers are now as likely to be in another country as they are to be within reach of their unis. Surely ??

[the saint]

any link to this story?

[riven]

The problem arises from when a university or IT does not have access in a specific area; they can use this to get the journals via another colleges subscriptions.

Take sciencedirect.com for example. You may have access to say process technology but not to membranescience and so when your research turns towards the specific (in this case membranes) you are stuck and have to rely on this resource ot get the journals or pay the x000 fee per year. Many of Irelands research is somewhat disconnected and there are many small research projects in very specific areas; this could cause a big problem for these people.

[Catalpa]

Not only that the funding we as students with disabilities get for supports such as notetaking so on in 3rd level education were cut by 25% last year and again another 25% this year.

It seems there is lot of CUTS in the Education section.

You might care to ask any Government representatives you meet why your funding has ben cut

- while €670 million next year of Irish People's money is to be given away to other people?

[HighInBandon]

Time people started using arxiv (arXiv.org e-Print archive).
Its a free resource that allows any author to upload their paper. They usually add a comment to the effect that it has been accepted for publication in a journal. At the moment its unrefereed, but hopefully more academics will support it in the future and that will change.

The whole academic publishing business is a complete racket. The authors are unpaid, the editors are unpaid and the referees are unpaid. Publishers then have the gall to charge the universities thousands of euro for access to the articles they provided for free and refereed for free. The universities need to get organised, support arxiv and withdraw their support from these exploitative publishers.

[johnfás]

All well and good in theory Bandon but it doesn't exactly help Irish universities who are not a particularly large player in the academic publishing sector. Something like that will not get off the ground without the support of a raft of very large universities - many of whom are probably in receipt of funding from organisations who would not wish what you say to happen.

As you say though, there are numerous websites online which provide an array of academic material free of charge. SSRN is another decent example.

Either way, UCD (and I assume Trinity as well) have assured students continued access to journals and databases.

[The Caped Cod]

Don't worry lads, it's all part of the Smart economy.

[evercloserunion]

Just got an email from the TCD library outlining reductions in services as a result of the library's inability to fill 11 full-time permanent posts. Counter services (book withdrawal etc) now cease at 6pm on Fridays, the early printed books section will close at 5pm on Fridays. The frequency of deliveries from out-of-campus book depositories will be significantly reduced which means we will be waiting a lot longer to view certain books. Inter-library loans will be similarly affected. And of course we have been warned that staff absences will have a much greater effect on the running of the library now that they do not have full staff employed.