Professors Head to Queen’s Head Post-Faculty Meeting for Open Access Week

Professors may have poured themselves a drink last night to celebrate their contributions to the online academic world.

During yesterday’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences meeting, Stuart M. Shieber, director of the Office for Scholarly Communication, updated the members of the audience on the Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard, an online repository for articles written by Harvard professors.

According to Shieber, nearly 4,000 articles have been stored in DASH, and over 100 FAS faculty members have written articles that have been downloaded over 1,000 times.

In honor of its contributors, DASH invited professors to drop by an open-bar gathering at Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub after yesterday’s Faculty meeting.

Shieber said that he, Harvard University Library Director Robert Darnton, and Law Professor John G. Palfrey would be bartending at the event. But he added that Smith insisted Faculty members not head over to the bar until the close of the meeting.

“[I] look forward to sharing a drink with all of you at the end of the meeting,” Shieber said.

Initiated by FAS nearly three years ago, DASH allows professors to upload and store content on the scholarly archive. The site grants contributors a wider readership and consolidates academic works into a unified portal.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO...

Nestled within the somber sections of the Dean’s Annual Report, which largely detailed the recovering financial situation of the school, was a more celebratory section about Faculty awards.

At yesterday’s Faculty meeting, Smith announced the web release of his annual report, which covers hot-button issues like the school’s fiscal status, sustainability efforts, and faculty diversity.

A 15-page-long section of the report enumerates the various honors and distinctions awarded professors from all across the disciplines.

“I am honored to continue to serve you,” wrote Smith in the opening letter to the annual report.

The list of recognitions includes History Professor Niall C.D. Ferguson’s International Emmy award for Best Documentary for his PBS series “The Ascent of Money.” In addition, African American Music Professor and Interim Dean of the Humanities Ingrid Monson received a Guggenheim Fellowship, and Economics Professor Kenneth S. Rogoff joined the National Academy of Sciences.

—Staff writer Noah S. Rayman can be reached at nrayman@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Elyssa A.L. Spitzer can be reached at spitzer@fas.harvard.edu.

This article has been revised to reflect the following corrections:

CORRECTIONS: October 20, 2010

An earlier version of the Oct. 20 news article "Professors Head to Queen’s Head Post-Faculty Meeting for Open Access Week" incorrectly stated that Stuart M. Shieber, director of the Office for Scholarly Communication, said the bar at Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub would not open until after the end of the Faculty meeting. In fact, the bar had been open already.

The article also stated that Shieber said that John G. “Sean” Palfrey would be bartending at the event. In fact, Shieber said that Law Professor John G. Palfrey would be bartending.