Panel of experts will discuss “Scholarly Communication in the 21st Century”

Are books becoming obsolete? With so much information becoming available for free via the Internet, will there come a time when traditional libraries are not necessary? These are just a couple of the questions that will be addressed at a special Georgia Southern University Centennial forum sponsored by the Zach S. Henderson Library and the Office of Academic Affairs. ‘Scholarly Communication in the 21st Century: Trends and Issues” will be held on Thursday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. in the Russell Union Ballroom. Free and open to the general public, the forum will feature a panel of national experts who will discuss a number of relevant issues. The panel will include James Neal, the vice president for information services and librarian at Columbia University; Bob Stein, the research director for the Institute for the Future of the Book; Ann M. Bartow, an associate professor of law at the University of South Carolina; and James Pringle, the vice president of product development and government markets for Thomson Scientific. The panel will address these questions:

• What are some of the most promising emerging alternative models to the traditional monograph?
• What are some of the most promising emerging alternative models to the traditional scholarly journal?
• What are some of the biggest challenges being created for the legal systems of the U.S. and other countries by the emerging scholarly communication technologies?
• If these scholarly communication trends continue, what are the most pressing challenges for access to and preservation of content?

‘Scholarly communication is undergoing tremendous change due to rapidly evolving technologies, escalating publishing costs, pressures to publish or perish,’ and increasing confusion over how to balance intellectual property rights and fair use in an international market,” said W. Bede Mitchell, the dean of the Henderson Library. ‘Of course, the same issues also affect mass commercial publishing, such as best-selling novels, but the advancement of science and human understanding depends on effectively and equitably answering these difficult questions.” Held in conjunction with Georgia Southern’s Centennial celebration, the forum is supported by funding from the Campus Life Enrichment Committee and University Advancement. For more information, visit http://library.georgiasouthern.edu/support/centennialforum.html or call (912) 681-5115.