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Babini, Dominique & Fraga, Jorge (Comp). (2006). Electronic edition, virtual libraries and portals for social sciences in Latin America and the Caribe (original in Spanish, Edición electrónica, bibliotecas virtuales y portales para las ciencias sociales en América Latina y el Caribe). Buenos Aires, Argentina: CLACSO 272 pp.
ISBN 987-1183-53Reviewed by Lucía I. Terra Figari
University of British ColumbiaFebruary 16, 2007
Esta reseña se encuentra disponible en español.The book Electronic edition, virtual libraries and portals for the social sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean edited by Dominique Babini and Jorge Fraga, is composed of a series of separate articles from authors in the Americas and Britain reporting on the recent evolution, development, and present state of the projects which attempt to bring Latin American social sciences into the international networks of academic exchange.
Although the book was compiled with librarians, editors, researchers and IT administrators in mind, anyone with an interest in the process of creating, processing and disseminating academic knowledge has something to gain from this volume. The language is simple enough to be accessible by a wide readership and the links provided make the book interesting to a diverse audience, as well as making it more dynamic. Those with no previous background in the field can resort to the links for more basic information, and the wide range of information provided is sure to offer new insights even to people with a better grasp of the topic. Especially when dealing with subjects that change so rapidly as online publishing, where a traditional print-and-distribution process would render the book quickly obsolete, the possibility of immediate access makes open access e-books even more compelling.
Whether you are a novice or an expert in this field, the glossary of terms developed for the book should strike you as comprehensive and well defined. The authors offer the reader a quick reference guide, and the terms are written in an easily understood language. However, defining distance education and the review of theories only serve to emphasize the multiplicity of meanings and interpretations. The authors do not attempt to lead the reader to a single definition or to an overriding theory. While a single definition or theory may not have been their goal, they state in their opening sentence of the summary, “many questions remain unanswered.” When readers finish the first portion of the publication (the narrative section prior to the glossary of terms), they are likely to agree that many questions remain unanswered, as Schlosser and Simonson never attempt to give simple answers to the questions posed.
As it can be expected from a volume that brings together chapters from authors that span across disciplines, countries, and languages, the book has an uneven tone, along which some redundancy. For example, some of the information about the advantages of online publishing systems or the quality criteria for scientific journals appeared repeated. Particularly out of sync seems to be the article on how to generate texts in PDF utilizing OpenOffice, which reads more like a chapter in a software manual.
The book was published by the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO), an organization that is heavily involved with the production and dissemination of knowledge in the social sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its objectives are the democratization of access by increasing segments of civil society to the production of the social sciences and the training of researchers to promote linkage and international cooperation (CLACSO, 2006). Within this mission, CLACSO considers of vital importance the implementation and the development of the communication of research carried out in the region. Among its most recent efforts, is the creation of virtual publications and libraries. The quick expansion of the Internet in the region has made it possible to overcome the barriers imposed by the cost of printing and disseminating small editions. As an excellent example of their effort, the book is available free of charge at http://bibliotecavirtual.clacso.org.ar/ar/libros/secret/babini/ babini.html.
The volume covers three areas: electronic editions for academic periodical publications, the possibilities of virtual libraries for the social sciences, and portals for social sciences. A series of four appendixes includes a manifesto on open access from the perspective of developing countries, a license model by the Creative Commons, communication-related activities and projects, and a list of CLACSO members.
The authors take us through the process of implementing technology for publication and dissemination of academically produced knowledge, which has been identified as a key step to sustain the work of Latin American scientists, and has become the focus of attention for many regional organizations during the last decade. This recognition and successive attempts to jump into the technology bandwagon have started to take shape in the last three or four years. A measure of the success that these development have had in Latin America is clearly manifested in the relative amount of online open access journals as proportion of all academic journals in the region (15%), compared to other regions of the world (1 to 4%) (Haider, 2005).
In the introduction by Atilio A. Boron, the then executive director from CLACSO, the topics are laid out and the content of the book briefly sketched. Peter Suber, from the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), opens the discussion with a brief presentation of what open access means to clarify any misunderstandings. He focuses on what open access offers in terms of opportunities for the academia, and provides various links to allow the reader to extend their search of other aspects of the topic.
In chapters 3 and 4, Pippa Smart, from the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) and Sally Morris, from the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) go through the steps one needs to take when considering to publish on-line, listing also the advantages and difficulties of online publishing. Both chapters are peppered with tables, links, and a glossary that help give the newcomer and even seasoned editors a panorama of the whole process. Although these two articles provide invaluable considerations to someone who might be considering the possibility to change an academic journal to electronic format or to start a new one, the perspective offered feels sometimes too generalized for a book that is supposed to focus on a specific region.
A more pertinent example of the regional situation is given during the analysis of the Latindex project, implemented by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) as a response to the perceived need to know about the Latin American scientific production. Having expanded to include Spain and Portugal, the virtual repository has amassed in the last decade a catalogue of serial publications in 18 countries that includes 14,000 journals. Among Latindex’s contributions are the promotion of the use of criteria that guarantee certain quality in journals, and workshops for editors that include information about the presentation of journals and basic conditions for editorial management, and editorial and content policies. Latindex’s plans for the future include the incorporation of “outsider” views of Latin America as a way to complement the local production, and improved access through the development of better search tools, which becomes a vital requirement once the quantity of information increases.
In the second part of the book, Dominique Babini, from CLACSO, goes back to the topic of open access as the form chosen by universities, research institutes in social sciences and non-profits to disseminate their information. She stresses the fact that the new developments in ICT for libraries will allow the inclusion of sounds and images and the possibility of updating data immediately. The idea of virtual libraries or electronic/digital libraries makes sense when one considers the state of libraries in some countries in Latin America, where the deficiencies are such that it is not difficult to imagine that some libraries will have much better chances to exist if they are born directly in the virtual world. Nevertheless, the question of sustainability is posed, for the cost of connections, operation and maintenance and especially access by the public might represent barriers even for virtual libraries. According to Babini, other areas where these developments hold promises are among the opportunities for collaboration and cooperation through topical networks in fields such as health, education, agriculture and social sciences. The possibility of creating personalized libraries and new professions related to these developments are also mentioned.
In the last part of the book, examples of portals such as the Latin American Network of Information and Documentation in Education (REDUC) are mentioned, although the section concentrates on the portals provided by CLACSO, Network of Scientific Journals of Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal (Redalyc), and the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), which together with Latindex, constitute the leading portals to access the scientific production in the region. SciELO originated in Brazil to provide a wider distribution of research done in the field of medicine, but it is presently expanding into many other Latin American countries as well as other disciplines.
Finally, Eduardo Aguado López and Rosario Rogel Salazar, from Redalyc, a portal developed and supported by the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEM) analyze what has been accomplished by the project in the last three years. With an initial focus on the social sciences, it quickly expanded to include other disciplines, as the under-representation of Latin American scientific production was deemed not only an issue for more investment in science and development, but also of better communication of the scientific production. Proving that commitment, Redalyc operates under the banner of “The science that is not seen, does not exist” (Redalyc, 2006). The article describes the services provided by Redalyc and offers a table with the distribution of journals by country and discipline. Among the developments to come is a project called SEGE, which stands for Electronics System for Editorial Management.
On the whole, the book serves as an excellent introduction to the recent developments in the field of scientific publications in Latin America and an evaluation of the efforts carried out during the last decade to help disseminate regional scientific research. The book itself serves an example of what we can expect, not only in terms of open access publications available through virtual libraries but also in terms of international cooperation and even perhaps of models of more interactive books that might become the norm in the near future.
References
CLACSO. (2006). Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales. Recovered http://www.clacso.org.ar
Haider, J. (2005). The geographic distribution of open access journals. [Conference Poster]. London: Department of Information Science, City University. Retrieved May 23, 2006 from http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~ch696/cgi/reprint/20/3/351
Redalyc. (2006). Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y el Caribe, España y Portugal. http://www.redalyc.org
SciELO (2006). Scientific Electronic Library Online. http://www.scielo.org
About the Reviewer
Lucía I. Terra Figari is a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia, Canada, where she studies the dissemination of academic knowledge in Latin America through open source/open access technology (Open Journal Systems) within the framework of the Public Knowledge Project.
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Editors: Gene V Glass, Kate Corby, Gustavo Fischman
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