ACRL Scholarly Communications
Roadshow:
From Understanding to Engagement
Joy Kirchner, Kevin Smith, Stephanie
Davis-Kahl
James Madison University
June 14, 2012.
Introductions
Who we are
Who are you?
Eventually, Steve
looked up. His mother
was nowhere in sight
and this was certainly
no longer the toy
department.
Gary Larson
Agenda
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Scholarly Communication System
Economics
Copyright
Openness
Engagement and Next Steps
Learning Objectives
• Understand and describe scholarly communication
as a system and system characteristics
• Enumerate new modes and models of scholarly
communication and ways libraries can support those
models
• Be able to select and cite key principles, facts, and
messages relevant to scholarly communication plans
and programs in their institutions and initiate
appropriate programs or pilot projects from those
Structured interactive overview of the
scholarly communication system including
economics, copyright, and new models
Foundational base in scholarly communication
issues in order to begin
strategic planning and action
Scholarly Communications is …
Scholarly communications covers a broad range of activities, including the discovery,
collection, organization, evaluation, interpretation and preservation of primary and other
sources of information, and the publication and dissemination of scholarly research.“ Mellon
Foundation, 2008 AnnualReport, 30
The Scholarly Communications System incorporates and expands on the more familiar
concept of scholarly publishing and includes both informal and formal networks used by
scholars to develop ideas, exchange information, build and mine data, certify research,
publish findings, disseminate results, and preserve outputs.
This vast and changing system is central to the academic enterprise. – Lee Van Orsdel
Scholarly communication is an umbrella term used to describe the process of academics,
scholars and researchers sharing and publishing their research findings so that they are available
to the wider academic community (such as university academics) and beyond. - Wikipedia
Scholarly communication—the process used by scholars to share the results of their
research—is fast approaching a crossroads. - Cornell
Scholarly communications is the process by which scholarship is produced, supported,
managed, and communicated, and includes all those involved in supporting the life-cycle of
scholarship. Joy Kirchner University of British Columbia
Reflection Exercise
• What other questions have you heard that you would add to
this list?
• Select one of the questions – or consider ones of your own or
that you’ve heard - and brainstorm potential responses to
faculty members or graduate students or administrators.
• Reflect on how you might prepare yourself to answer the
question in the future.
Why should I care about Open Access? I can get access to everything that I need.
Why doesn’t the Library just stop subscribing to large journal packages?
I don't use or publish in costly journals. My field is more about book publication than journal publication so
how do these changes in scholarly publishing & communication affect me?
Is Open Access publishing serious scholarly publishing? Isn’t it for someone who can’t get published in a
serious journal? I have to publish in the key peer-reviewed journals in my field in order to get tenure.
My scholarly society is thinking about moving their journal to a commercial publisher. Are there other
options?
I just found out that my funding agency requires that I make the results of my research freely available
online. I’ve also heard that some funding agencies require data management plans. What does this mean?
Why should I pay attention to author’s rights? I post my article/book chapter on my website anyway.
Can I use the graph I published in Journal X in a future publication?
What’s the point of an institutional repository?
I want my article to be open access but I really don’t think that the author should have to pay for it. Do you
have any suggestions?
As a Collections Librarian, I am getting increasing demands from our faculty to support institutional
memberships for a number of Open Access collections. My Administrators also want me to support other
new model initiatives like SCOAP3, DOAJ, ArXiv and The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. There is no
room in the budget. What can I do to create a sustainable support model for scholarship?
Why does the library continue to cancel journals that I need in my discipline even when budgets aren’t flat?
What questions do you have?