Project MUSE announces "MUSE In Focus: Contextualizing Pandemic"
By Project MUSE
As the modern world faces an unprecedented crisis in the COVID-19 pandemic, it is difficult to put into context each day’s events and how they will reverberate for years to come. Over the last few weeks, Project MUSE has been working closely with participating non-profit publishers who have graciously offered to make their scholarly content temporarily available for free on our platform. We are amazed at the depth and breadth of interdisciplinary content that is now free to read for anyone who visits Project MUSE.
"MUSE in Focus: Contextualizing Pandemic" is a small sampling of temporarily free scholarship from Project MUSE publishers on the broad topic of pandemic and its effects throughout history, in culture, and on humanity as a whole. We hope that bringing these pieces together will help to bring historical and cultural context to the current crisis, so that we may look to the knowledge of the past to guide us forward.
We envision this cross section as a place for scholars and generally interested readers alike to begin learning more. We also encourage readers to explore Project MUSE for additional relevant content.
More than 80 of MUSE's participating publishers have temporarily made all or some of their content freely available on the Project MUSE platform, in response to the crucial need for remote access to reliable, vetted teaching and research materials during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Over 25,000 books and 300 journals are now available to any user worldwide, with no restrictions on access or usage. MUSE has also made available tools to help libraries with discovery of the free resources.
"MUSE in Focus: Contextualizing Pandemic" follows on the August 2019 release of "MUSE in Focus: Addressing Gun Violence," a selection of scholarship from Project MUSE publishers on gun violence, its effect throughout the culture, and its possible solutions, developed to inform policymakers and educate researchers and other concerned citizens. When appropriate, we may offer additional MUSE in Focus compilations, where trusted scholarly content from our participating publishers may contribute historical, cultural, and social context to current events and issues on global, national, and local scales.
