The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://plato.stanford.edu/
SEP Appeals to Diverse Readers Everywhere
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is much more than a philosophical reference tool. Philosophy is intimately related to a significant number of other disciplines (including mathematics, law, medicine, political theory, history and science to name just a few). As such, the SEP is interesting and valuable to a vast number of students, of which philosophy students are only one part.
For example, the SEP editorial board has recently commissioned two dozen new entries in the field of biomedical ethics, to be added to the more than 900 entries to date. Look for these new biomedical ethics entries in the months ahead. So, as you make choices about adding to your library collections, please consider that the SEP is read by students at all levels of study, as well as faculty members, from different disciplines across the university spectrum.
SEP Listens to Librarians
SEP values its strong partnership with the library community. Thus, when we heard feedback from librarians concerning the SEPs banner/branding system designed to encourage library contributions and participation, the SEP editorial staff considered the issues raised by librarians and revised the banners accordingly. We hope that this ameliorates the concerns felt by the library community. Because your feedback is important to us, we would encourage you to bring any other issues to our attention at editors@plato.stanford.edu
Please Help Us Close the Funding Gap
SEP has received $110,000 in new pledges since February 2007. SOLINET has now collected over $1,000,000 of the $1,600,000 in library commitments to the SEP. But SOLINET still needs new commitments and payments over the next few months to reach the July 31, 2007 goal set by the NEH to earn matching funds. We are grateful to our partner libraries who have stepped up to the challenge and contributed the requested amounts. We hope that those of you who have not yet done so will join your peers in joining SEPIA now, to help us thereby preserving an open access resource that is valuable to your students, faculty members, and readers everywhere. SPARC has partnered with SEP and recommends using SPARC commitment dollars to support SEP.
How to Help
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy International Association (SEPIA) is the membership organization that exclusively supports the SEP. Indiana University Libraries sponsors SEPIA, and Southeastern Library Network, Inc. (SOLINET) acts as its fiscal agent. SEPIA membership dues support free and open access to the SEP.
SEPIA continues to collect membership dues from other libraries and library consortia worldwide. Learn more about SEPIA at http://www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=3563. To register your commitment with SOLINET, go to http://www.solinet.net/survey/sep.htm. For a list of libraries already committed to the project, see http://plato.stanford.edu/fundraising/commitments.html.