Press Roundup: Mellen Press Libel Lawsuits vs. Librarian and McMaster University
There has been a lot of coverage in the past week regarding two lawsuits filed by Edwin Mellen Press that names Dale Askey, Associate University Librarian, Library & Learning Technologies at McMaster University and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario as defendants.
The suit stems from a blog post by Askey on his Bibliobrary.net blog in 2010.
In the past day the story has started to get coverage in non-library or higher education sources. The Hamilton Spectator post (linked below) includes a few comments from Dale Askey.
Here’s a roundup of press coverage, statements of support, and other materials.
We will continue to update this post as more material becomes available.
Court Filing in Ontario
Statements of Support
Association of University Presses
February 22, 2013
ALA President Maureen Sullivan
February 22, 2013
ARL-CARL Joint Statement in Support of Dale Askey and McMaster University
February 14, 2014
CLA supports Dale Askey in libel suit defense (via Canadian Library Association)
February 11, 2013
McMaster’s commitment to academic freedom (via McMaster University)
February 8, 2013
PLG GTA Stands With Dale Askey (via Progressive Librarians Guild Toronto Area Chapter)
February 8, 2013
News and Blog Reports
Press Sues Librarian Over Negative Evaluation (via Library Journal)
Mac librarian shocked by $3.5M blogging lawsuit (via Hamilton Spectator)
Edwin Mellen Press Ltd., an international academic publishing company, filed two lawsuits last June.
The first suit was served against Askey last summer, by the company’s founder, Herbert Richardson.
A second suit for $3.5 million was served in December by the company itself against both Askey and McMaster.
[Clip]
“I was exercising my professional judgment and writing about a professional issue for my professional peers. It’s geared much more toward librarians. I used examples but the point was to talk about how libraries spend their money,” he [Askey] said.
[Clip]
“I think for librarianship and for the academy, it’s a test of what academic freedom is and what … we’re willing to do to defend such freedoms,” Askey said, adding that he has received “a lot of support internally” from McMaster.
Note: This article was also published on MetroNews.ca.
When Sellers and Buyers Disagree — Edwin Mellen Press vs. a Critical Librarian (via The Scholarly Kitchen)
February 11, 2013
Edwin Mellen Press suing McMaster librarian in $4.5 million libel lawsuit (via Quill & Quire)
February 11, 2012
Scholarly Publishing: Still Not Making Sense (via ACRL0g)
February 9, 2013
Edwin Mellen Press Sues University Librarian for Libel (via The Chronicle of Higher Education)
February 8, 2013
Publisher Sues College Librarian for Saying Publisher Sucks (via Gawker)
February 8, 2013
Price of a Bad Review (via Inside HigherEd)
February 8, 2013
Edwin Mellen Press Suing a Librarian? (via Academic Librarian)
February 8, 2013
Unprecedented $3 million dollar lawsuit filed against McMaster librarian for blogpost (via Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians)
February 7, 2013
Shocking attack on academic freedom at McMaster by Edwin Mellen Press? (via Leiter Reports)
February 6, 2013
Filed under: Academic Libraries, Associations and Organizations, Libraries, News, Publishing, Reports, Roundup
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.
ADVERTISEMENT
Archives
ADVERTISEMENT
