The Libraries Open Publishing Program is pleased to announce the publication of Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO), an open access resource for educators. EMRO, which was previously published by the State University of New York at Buffalo Libraries, has been transferred to the Penn State University Libraries, with Angela Davis, Reference and Instruction Librarian at Penn State Behrend, serving as the new editor. Davis served as the social media editor since 2011, and has now taken on the role of Editor for the full publication.
Former Editor Lori Widzinski commented, “Little did I know when I started EMRO that my Editorship would last 22 years. As I transitioned to a new role as Technology Project Manager for the University Libraries at UB, it was time for EMRO to change as well. Having worked with Angela for several years, I knew the database would be in good hands and I was thrilled to see it move to the Penn State Libraries Open Publishing Program where it would retain its focus on open access.”
“EMRO is a unique resource that is used by libraries and educators of all types,” said Angela Davis, editor of EMRO. “It is one of the only places to find reviews of media produced by all the major distributors and from independent filmmakers, which may not be reviewed anywhere else. I am pleased that Penn State can continue on the important work EMRO does.”
Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO) is an open access database of critical reviews of media from major educational and documentary distributors and independent filmmakers. The reviews are written by librarians and teaching faculty from across the United States and Canada. The EMRO database began in 1997 as the AV Review Database, part of the peer-reviewed publication, MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship, an electronic journal devoted to issues in media librarianship. When the journal ceased publication in January 2002, the AV Review Database continued on as Educational Media Reviews Online. Each review is given one of five ratings, from “Highly Recommended” to “Not Recommended”.
“EMRO is a fantastic resource that serves numerous educators across the country and around the world. We are so happy to be providing support for this publication, and are especially thankful that EMRO has been publishing Open Access since its inception,” said Ally Laird, Open Publishing Program Specialist. “Publishing the content openly, without a subscription, allows for educators from all types of institutions, both public and private schools, to access quality reviews of educational media.”
EMRO is always looking for new reviewers, and encourages those who are interested to contact Angela Davis at emro@psu.edu. EMRO reviews published in 2019 or later are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0), which means that anyone can use these reviews, so long as they comply with the terms of the license. Earlier EMRO reviews are not under the CC BY 4.0 license, but distributors are able to use portions of earlier reviews for promotional purposes, as long as the name of the database and the name of the reviewer are cited.
The Libraries Open Publishing Program, a part of the Research Informatics and Publishing department, currently publishes ten Open Access journals, five bibliographies, EMRO and other topical web portal publications, and two Open Access monographs. For more information on the Open Publishing Program, please visit openpublishing.psu.edu, or contact Ally Laird at alaird@psu.edu.