(Now at home and able to perhaps reply) Speaking on behalf of the NSS Board we agree with everything George Veni has posted below concerning KIP, its purpose, and how they handle their material. I must make one clarification though: the NSS did not sent any Grotto newsletters to KIP.
The collections that are in question were donated by a Grotto and included their exchange newsletters. The did not and will not send our archive of newsletters (every Grotto is required to send copies to the NSS for our own library archive, so we have a lot) to KIP. We do not own the copyright to those publications, and as such will not distribute them for digital archiving. We did send our own publications for archiving, and due to the vast majority of it being performed from a large donation (it is a destructive process, and the donor understood the pages would be separated), we have found that there are a few, at most, that may have locations imbedded in the article. Since it is NSS policy, until we catch up with the rest of the world, to conceal locations we will mark over the relevant words/sentences and submit those for substitution. We too would encourage Grottos to submit their reviewed (and if necessary, redacted) archives to KIP. Archives of NSS Publications that have not been redacted may be found in our Members section: www.caves.org. Cave softly, Wm Shrewsbury President, National Speleological Society -------------------------------------------------------- From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of George Veni via Texascavers Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 4:38 PM To: texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Karst Information Portal Mark and everyone, I've been traveling and haven't had the chance to check the KIP website. I called the KIP team to get the latest details but haven't been able to connect yet, so here is what I know so far. KIP does not post anything unless it is described as open access (available freely to all) or it has explicit permission, as it does from TSA to post the Texas Caver. As I understand, NSS gave permission for KIP to post many of its materials, which included some Pennsylvania newsletters in its library. Some Pennsylvania cavers saw their newsletters and complained. Word quickly spread. KIP immediately withdrew those materials and others provided by NSS. Currently the KIP team is verifying what material provided by NSS the NSS had authority to post and which needs permission of grottos, regions, etc. It is professionally and legally vital for KIP to have proper permission, so removing those publications is necessary until clear permission is in place. I encourage everyone who has legal access to publications to continue posting them to KIP. If there is information in a publication you consider sensitive, just specify it and it can be redacted. Some organizations post their materials immediately to KIP while others ask it not be posted for a specified period. Some want certain information redacted and some don't. The KIP team will work to meet the needs of the publishers. The idea of creating password-protection for the materials isn't practical. First, it is contrary to KIP's open access purpose. Second, KIP hosts publications from over 20 countries and even more organizations. Setting up password protection for their members isn't practical and best left to each organization to set up on its own on its own website if it wants such protection. In the worst case and some of the material does not reappear on KIP, first, don't blame KIP. Complain to the person or organization that published the material for not giving KIP permission to post it. Second, keep in mind that KIP has a private archive with scanned publications that it does not have permission to post. The KIP team is seeking permission for this material. Even where permission has been refused, KIP is designed for the long-term. KIP retains those digital files (which it can legally do as long as it doesn't distribute them) should the situation change some day. This has happened as organizations change priorities and publications go out of print (or the last copy is lost in a fire) and the publisher no longer sees any benefit in not freely posting their materials. If I learn anything more of relevance, I'll be sure to post it to this list. Anyone wishing to distribute this message to others is welcome to do so. George Sent from my mobile phone ******************** George Veni, Ph.D. Executive Director National Cave and Karst Research Institute 400-1 Cascades Avenue Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220-6215 USA Office: 575-887-5517 Mobile: 210-863-5919 Fax: 575-887-5523 gv...@nckri.org www.nckri.org -------- Original message -------- From: Mark Minton via Texascavers <texascavers@texascavers.com> Date: 2014/12/10 08:04 (GMT-07:00) To: texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: [Texascavers] Karst Information Portal George, According to the Karst Information Portal home page, grotto newsletters are soon to be withdrawn from open access. That seems like addressing the potential problem of location information with a sledgehammer. What's the point of having things on KIP if no one can get to them? Maybe they should be put into a special "members only" area where NSS members can log in with their NSS number and some other credentials to see the newsletters. I've been actively promoting editors to make their newsletters available through KIP and many have agreed. Now that all looks like it might have been for naught. :-( Mark _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
