University Librarian and Vice Provost of Digital Scholarship MacKenzie Smith to Retire in June 2023 – UC Davis Library

“MacKenzie has led our library during a period of transformative change in how scholars create, access and share research,” said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Mary Croughan. “She has made substantial contributions to the campus’s research enterprise at every level, from data science and informatics to the establishment of an undergraduate library research prize. MacKenzie has also elevated our library’s leadership role, within UC and far beyond, in advancing free and open access to research. We will miss her leadership and collaboration, but wish her all the best in her retirement.”

Publisher reinstates blocked ebooks, but librarians unsatisfied

“Wiley, a publisher that scrambled fall courses at many institutions with its late-August withdrawal of approximately 1,380 digital books from a large subscription collection used by many libraries, has reversed course and now says it will restore access to the ebooks “as soon as possible.”

Once the books are reinstated to ProQuest Academic Complete, the multidisciplinary subscription collection, they will remain there through June 2023, according to a statement on the company’s website from Matt Leavy, executive vice president and general manager at Wiley….

Librarians, however, are unconvinced that the publisher is committed to offering students affordable textbook access options….”

Open Access, Publics, and the Plunder of the Commons | ACRL 2023 Conference, March 17 | Pittsburgh, US

Abstract: “Are transformative agreements really transformative? Is open access (OA) more than a PR tool for commercial publishers, an ornament on an otherwise impenetrable firewall, an air freshener in the landfill of corporate profiteering and shrinking library budgets? Is OA actually open, is it accessible? Where is “the public” in this? Where also is the “public” in “public library”? We pose these questions as the occasion for a critical analysis of the political economy of OA, as well as an opening to a more radical practice. Our panel presents the perspectives of librarians involved in scholarly-communication advocacy and library publishing, alongside that of a scholar-led OA publisher….”

Participants: EIleen Joy, punctum books; Dolsy Smith, The George Washington University

The Scholarly Communication Notebook | OER Commons

“The Scholarly Communication Notebook (SCN) is an active, inclusive, empowered community of practice for teaching scholarly communications to emerging librarians….

Welcome to the Scholarly Communication Notebook (SCN), an in-development repository of community-designed and curated open resources for teaching about scholarly communication and for doing scholarly communication work in libraries. We intend the SCN to be the locus of an active, inclusive, empowered community of practice for teaching scholarly communications to emerging librarians, where practitioners, LIS educators, and library students work together to increase knowledge and skills on topics of growing importance in librarianship and beyond; topics such as copyright, open access, open education, and library publishing (see Collections below for more topic areas). We hope these resources will be regularly refreshed by librarians and allies as well as by LIS faculty and by students completing coursework on these topics, and that mutually beneficial relationships and bridges are built between users. The SCN, and the resources collected here, complement an open book that is in production, Introduction to Scholarly Communication Librarianship: Law, Economics, and Culture.

 

The SCN is explicitly intended to support, educate and represent a diversifying workforce of LIS professionals. It intends to extend social justice values to all participants by intentionally and thoughtfully reflecting the broad range of people, institution types, and service models engaged in scholarly communication work. For more background see the OER + Scholarly Communication project site. We’re also reachable via email and on Twitter….”

Embracing the value of research data: introducing the JCHLA/JABSC Data Sharing Policy | Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association / Journal de l’Association des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada

Abstract:  As health sciences researchers have been asked to share their data more frequently due to funder policies, journal requirements, or interest from their peers, health sciences librarians (HSLs) have simultaneously begun to provide support to researchers in this space through training, participating in RDM efforts on research grants, and developing comprehensive data services programs. If supporting researchers’ data sharing efforts is a worthwhile investment for HSLs, it is crucial that we practice data sharing in our own research endeavours. sharing data is a positive step in the right direction, as it can increase the transparency, reliability, and reusability of HSL-related research outputs. Furthermore, having the ability to identify and connect with researchers in relation to the challenges associated with data sharing can help HSLs empathize with their communities and gain new perspectives on improving support in this area. To that end, the Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association / Journal de l’Association des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada (JCHLA / JABSC) has developed a Data Sharing Policy to improve the transparency and reusability of research data underlying the results of its publications. This paper will describe the approach taken to inform and develop this policy. 

 

Call for Proposals: College & Research Libraries Topical Issue on Open and Equitable Scholarship | deadline: October 3, 2022 | Association of College and Research Libraries, US

“ACRL’s Research and Scholarly Environment Committee is planning a topical issue of College & Research Libraries (C&RL) around new research on how the academic and research library workforce has accelerated change in the scholarly communications environment. We are particularly interested in articles on recent research that advances the three priority areas established in ACRL’s 2019 report Open and Equitable Scholarly Communications: Creating a More Inclusive Future (available for download or purchase): people, content, and systems. In that report, the first section on people addresses embracing diversity and inclusion, improving the working lives of people engaged in scholarly communications, and increasing awareness concerning creators’ rights. The second section, content, acknowledges the opportunity for greater inclusion and openness by rethinking what scholarship “counts” and creating more representative and open collections. The third section on systems identifies several avenues to explore: supporting sustainable technological infrastructure, creating systems that permit more access to more people, building mission-aligned organizational and financial systems, and advancing innovation in academic libraries. To learn more about the report, view a recorded webinar from when it was first released. For this C&RL topical issue, the research may use any investigative methods appropriate to addressing the research question(s). These include but are not limited to: standard quantitative and qualitative approaches, as well as critical evaluations, case studies, reflective essays, and (auto)ethnography. Articles resulting from collaborative research involving librarians and other higher education stakeholders, such as institutional researchers, faculty, administration, students, or community partners are particularly welcome. Given the focus of Open and Equitable Scholarly Communications on valuing different ways of knowing, the committee particularly welcomes adventurous scholarship, and we encourage work on issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion as they relate to academic libraries and scholarly communication. Proposals Proposals should be a maximum of 750 words. They should clearly outline the methodology and findings of the research, as well as its relevance to this topical issue, specifically its connection to the ACRL report Open and Equitable Scholarly Communications: Creating a More Inclusive Future, as described above. Prospective authors should submit a proposal by 5 p.m. Central on Monday, October 3, 2022, for open peer review. Submit via C&RL’s submission system (login required) and please note in your cover page that your submission is a proposal for the Open and Equitable Scholarly Communications topical issue….”

August OpenCon Library Community Call on Using the OpenAlex API | August 9th, 2022

“Inspired by the ancient Library of Alexandria, OpenAlex indexes the world of scholarly research, including works, citations, authors, journals, and institutions. OpenAlex data is completely free and open to all via a web interface, API, and database snapshot. Join us to learn how to use the OpenAlex API for your scholcomm research needs. OpenAlex was created by OurResearch, a nonprofit that makes open scholarly infrastructure including Unpaywall (an index of the world’s Open Access research literature) and Unsub (a tool to help librarians eliminate toll-access journal subscriptions). …”

Wikidata for Scholarly Communication Librarianship – Simple Book Publishing

“Wikidata for Scholarly Communication Librarianship was developed for anyone working in an academic library (or interested in working in an academic library) who may have a small or large role in supporting scholarly communication related services. The first two chapters, however, could serve as a basic introduction to Wikidata for anyone in academic librarianship. The remaining three chapters focus on a few topics that may be of more interest to those who work on open metadata, research metrics, and researcher profile projects….”

 

IFLA Guidelines for Professional Library and Information Science (LIS) Education Programmes

“LIS education builds, holistically, the capacity of professionals with ingrained ethics and humanistic values. Equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) are essential to LIS professionalism, service-orientation, social responsibility, sustainability, education, and lifelong learning. Access to information, including open access (OA), as a public good; intellectual freedom; responsible stewardship of data, information and knowledge; and the technologies and intelligence driving them, are central to the profession….

Research proficiency includes problem-oriented research which analyses the basis of issues encountered in LIS and attempts to provide possible solutions and understanding for professional practice in diverse information settings. It also includes the ability to identify, collate, catalogue, retrieve, evaluate, and disseminate research produced by others for scholarship advancement across disciplines as well as for general societal impact and innovative policy development for the betterment of communities. Such scholarly communication includes open access which ensures unrestricted access to research for further knowledge generation….” 

How Can Data Librarians Support Data Communities? – Ithaka S+R

“Data communities provide social and practical incentives for scientists to voluntarily share and reuse data with colleagues. In order for data communities to emerge and grow, they need support. Information professionals, such as data librarians and research computing specialists, can advise data communities on best practices for data sharing and help them create or improve the required infrastructure, such as online repositories and metadata schemas. However, research scientists and information professionals rarely have structured opportunities to meet together, especially across institutional lines, for focused discussions about how they can collaborate to sustain data communities.

To address the need for collaboration among scientists and information professionals to understand, support, and promote the growth of data communities, Ithaka S+R and the Data Curation Network partnered together to host Leveraging Data Communities to Advance Open Science. This NSF-sponsored workshop series provided a forum for scientists from a variety of institutions and fields who are already involved in data communities—or who would like to be part of starting a data community—to collaborate with information professionals who are expert curators in their research area. Over a series of meetings that culminated in a two-day online workshop (Feb 28-March 1, 2022), data communities and information professionals met online to discuss community specific issues as well as broader strategies for moving forward. 

In advance of our final report on the workshop, which will be released later this summer, we’ve invited several participants to reflect on what they’ve learned from the experience. Today’s blog post features an interview with Jordan Wrigley, a data librarian at the University of Colorado at Boulder. …”

Public Knowledge Project- Community Engagement and Outreach Librarian Burnaby , BC | Job Listing 30088 | June 2022

“The Public Knowledge Project invites applications for a Community Engagement and Outreach Librarian. Reporting to the Associate Director of Strategic Relationships, the incumbent will be responsible for supporting PKP’s mission of increasing the quality and reach of scholarly publishing. This is a full-time (1 FTE) continuing position, supported by external funds. This is a critical role at PKP that will be responsible for building and maintaining relationships with PKP’s international community and partners and coordinating PKP’s community outreach and education programs. This role is intended to grow PKP’s capacity by soliciting and enabling contributions, both financial and in-kind, from PKP’s wide-ranging community, including users of its software and services, software developers, partners working on aligned initiatives and projects, organizations with aligned goals, and funders. The successful candidate will be able to serve as a representative of PKP in a wide range of settings, be adept at engaging with PKP’s diverse community themselves, and capable of developing and overseeing strategies for PKP to engage with the community more broadly….”

U.S. Library Outreach Workshop, Open Book Collective | Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs (COPIM)

by Livy Onalee Snyder and Eileen A. Fradenburg Joy

As a community-led organization, the Open Book Collective regularly solicits advice and counsel for its development from the communities it seeks to serve. As university librarians are critical to the financial and other forms of support for open access and open source initiatives (such as publishers and infrastructure providers), they have been involved from the beginning of the OBC, from initial brainstorming to the processes of forming the collective — its values and principles, membership, governance, business model, web platform, and so on. Now that we are nearing the launch of the OBC, we are conducting a new series of workshops with librarians in order to get some further assessments from them regarding what we have built. It should be noted, first, that not only will the OBC always be seeking guidance from libraries as it launches and moves forward, but that librarians will have a major role to play in the governance of the collective as well-meaning, librarians are not just our consultants; they are building the collective with us.

In our most recent workshops, we have been asking librarians for their thoughts and advice on the criteria for membership within the OBC, its governance model, its offerings and business model, its community standards, its technical aspects, its web platform, or any other aspect of the OBC they want to discuss that we haven’t thought of in advance.

[…]

 

Richard Bruce Lamptey: A librarian glittering in the academic rankings – MyJoyOnline.com

“[Richard Bruce Lamptey] is known to support the scientists in their research endeavors, provide advanced training for both lecturers and students and supports raising awareness of library resources in KNUST. I.e (Systematic Literature Search, Avoiding predatory journal publishing, Digital Literacy, Plagiarism, Institutional Repositories, Open Access and Open Science)….

Richard has supported national and institutional open access awareness raising and advocacy workshops that have resulted in a number of open access repositories in the country….

He is on the Management Board of SPARC Africa. SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) works to enable the open sharing of research outputs and educational materials in order to democratize access to knowledge, accelerate discovery, and increase the return on our investment in research and education in Africa….”

 

Institutional Repository Management and Outreach – Library Juice Academy | July 4 – August 14, 2022

“University-based institutional repositories (IRs) provide collections and services to campus communities and the public. Their purpose is to disseminate the digital products of research and scholarship on the web and offer a long-term preservation solution for the academy. This class is an introduction to IRs both practically and conceptually. It covers the role of IRs in higher education and libraries and dives into the nuts and bolts of IR administrative responsibilities, including policy writing, online content management, editorial workflows, permissions and access restrictions, and outreach strategies. Most critically, this course provides a foundational knowledge base or IR managers navigating the complicated world of open access publishing. The main objective of the course is to prepare and equip IR managers with the skills needed in their ongoing digital stewardship work….”