BRASS Notes

Carol L. Schuetz, Editor

 

Message from the BRASS Chair
Hello BRASS members! It’s been an eventful fall for BRASS, as shown by the reports from committee chairs below.

We are excited about the $25,000 IMLS Sparks! Grant received by RUSA to create guidelines and best practices in financial literacy education in libraries. Kit Keller has been selected as project director, with a working team consisting of BRASS members Chris Le Beau, Andy Spackman, and Elizabeth Malafi, and an advisory panel with membership from a variety of organizations involved in financial literacy education. The grant will result in guidelines, a white paper, and webinars, and is an excellent opportunity for BRASS to make a difference in a growing area of library service.

In August the Harvard Business Review removed the ability to print, link, or download for 500 of its most used articles on the EBSCO platform. To regain this level of access libraries must now pay a significant premium. Concerned about this loss of access and its implications for the information ecology, BRASS formed a task force to study the situation and make recommendations. Ann Fiegen, Past Chair, led the group, which also included Annette Buckley, Glen McGuigan, Heidi Senior, Linda Hauck, and Lisa Ancelet. The resulting document passed through additional revisions and was approved by a vote of both the BRASS and RUSA executive committees. The RUSA/BRASS Statement on Harvard Business Review Pricing & Access will be announced through an ALA press release, distributed through multiple listservs, and is available on the BRASS website.

The HBR 500 statement will by no means be our last word on the matter. Rather, it should be the beginning of discussion, both within BRASS and between business librarians, their institutions, and publishers. BRASS has a role to play in advocating for access to information, and the strength of our members’ contributions will help us lead the way.

Andy Spackman
BRASS Chair, 2013-2014
andy_spackman@byu.edu