Open Research: Scholarly communication competencies: An analysis of confidence among Australasian library staff

Abstract:  Through a nationwide survey of universities and research organizations in Australia and New Zealand, this article investigates the level of confidence that librarians working in scholarly communication have in their current competencies. The results show that while respondents were generally confident across seven competency areas (Institutional repository management, Publishing services, Research practice, Copyright services, Open access policies and scholarly communication landscape, Data management services, and Assessment and impact metrics), the majority combined their scholarly communication tasks with other roles. Challenges across the sector in updating skills and knowledge to keep abreast of current trends and developments were identified, with implications for improving professional development opportunities.

 

THE OPEN ACCESS LAW BOOK IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND: RADICALISING THE FUNDING OF FUTURE PUBLISHING

Abstract:  The budgets of university libraries in New Zealand are being squeezed by the costs of subscriptions to works necessary for teaching. This article advocates for a different approach to funding such works. Drawing upon experience of developing an open access textbook on the criminal process it is argued that open access publishing is the best way to make the most of the funding that is available for legal research and scholarship. The funding model for academic publishing may need to be recalibrated, but perhaps not radically.

De Gruyter and CAUL announce new Read & Publish agreement for 2022

The international independent publisher De Gruyter and the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) are  delighted to announce their first Read & Publish agreement, covering subscription access and Open Access publishing during the 2022 calendar year.

Huge engagement for Open Access Week 2021 | Open Access Australasia

“With the COVID 19 pandemic continuing to push a global focus on Open Science, this year’s Open Access week was more important for advocacy than ever before. The international theme of building structural equity could not have been more appropriate and was the most common recurring answer to the question of what needs to be considered in order to sustain & fund  an open ecosystem for the future.

We were thrilled with the line up of fascinating presentations and thoughtful panel discussions we brought together under the able leadership of La Trobe’s Dr Thomas Shafee who steered our Open Access Week organising group. ”

Wiley and CAUL Sign Three Year Transformational Open Access Agreement | John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Global research and education leader Wiley today announced a new three year agreement with CAUL, the leadership organization for university libraries in Australia and New Zealand, to begin in 2022. The largest transformational agreement to date in Australia and New Zealand, it highlights Wiley’s global commitment to the proactive pursuit of open access and will transform the experience of thousands of researchers publishing with Wiley, representing a momentous change in the publishing landscape of the region.

Springer Nature and the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) Announce New Partnership

Following Springer Nature’s successful transformative agreements (TAs) in Europe and North America, the company is pleased to announce its first TA in the Asia-Pacific region. The agreement with the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) will give members of the CAUL consortium the ability to publish their research open access (OA) in over 2000 journals[1], making it CAUL’s largest TA to date.

Cambridge University Press and CAUL Strike Major Uncapped Transformative Open Access Agreement in Australia & New Zealand

Cambridge University Press and the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) have reached a transformative agreement to support Open Access (OA) publishing in Cambridge Journals for 2022.  It is one of the first major uncapped transformative agreements reached with CAUL by a publisher of significant size in Australia and New Zealand.

Partnership Announcement: ADRI and CORE – Research

“We’re delighted to announce a new partnership between CORE and Arabic Digital Reform Institute (ADRI), providing services to researchers to store, share and access Arabic academia online. 

The partnership will provide ADRI with unlimited access to millions of open access articles to provide research platform and repository services to academics all over the world. 

ADRI is a social enterprise from New Zealand and Bahrain that aspires to revolutionise the current practices in creating knowledge in Arabic. In doing so, ADRI aims to address the social issue of limited availability of Arabic scientific content online. Arabic academia is currently dispersed across many locations, ADRI aims to share knowledge and consolidate Arabic academia into one online platform allowing academia to grow. 

 

Using CORE’s API, ADRI will search the largest database of open access content — 210 million metadata records and counting — to bring and translate Arabic content to their users. In gathering this open access data from CORE, ADRI will be accessing the most up-to-date research content to help share and translate knowledge, and grow Arabic academia which is key for global development….”

Controlled Digital Lending – is it ‘Piracy’? | Newsroom

“So I was dismayed to see Steve Braunias use his platform to give oxygen to a moral panic over the National Library’s deaccessioning plans, complete with cries of “piracy!” The public conversation would be better served by taking a moment and giving a complicated situation the care and attention to detail it deserves.

Without a doubt, rights-holders are upset at the Internet Archive and are, in fact, suing the organisation in the United States. On its own, the existence of a lawsuit doesn’t tell us much — litigation is a way of life in America, and copyright owners there have a long history of overestimating their legal rights and losing their biggest cases (just ask Oracle, or the Authors Guild, or Universal Studios). Maybe it’s prudent, then, to take a look at the substance of what the lawsuit is about; see if perhaps there’s something more going on than simple piracy.

With that in mind, here is the controversial thing this library, the Internet Archive, is doing: they’re lending books.

The problem is that the library at issue is online, and the books it lends are digital. The system used is called “controlled digital lending,” the concept behind it is a fairly simple implementation of traditional library lending in online spaces….”

Open access: 54% of Victoria University research articles were open | Mirage News

“An analysis of journal articles published by Victoria University (VU) researchers in 2019 indicates that over half of the journal articles published were freely accessible.

Based on a methodology developed by New Zealand researchers to determine how many published journal articles were free-to-access, an analysis of journal articles published by VU researchers in 2019 indicates that 54% of VU research articles were open.

VU had a higher percentage of open access articles compared to the percentage recorded for all New Zealand universities where 41% of journal articles were open access.

While the VU figure is a pleasing result, the percentage could have been even higher. Nearly all the remaining closed articles published in 2019 had the potential to be open if the author accepted manuscripts were added to the VU Research Repository (VURR)….”

National Library’s plan to digitise and preserve books draws wide support from New Zealand civil society organisations – Tohatoha

“Claims that the National Library’s recently announced plan to send 600,000 books overseas to be digitised is equivalent to ‘internet piracy’ are unfounded, says a group of New Zealand civil society organisations supportive of the initiative.

In a statement from the Department of Internal Affairs last week, Te Puna M?tauranga o Aotearoa National Library announced it had reached an historic agreement where all books left at the end of the Overseas Published Collections (OPC) review process will be donated to the Internet Archive so they can digitise and preserve them.

Several New Zealand associations and organisations, including Internet New Zealand, Museums Aotearoa, the New Zealand Open Source Society and Tohatoha Aotearoa Commons, are backing the National Library’s plan, saying that the initiative will help ensure future access for New Zealanders to a greater range of publications.

Mandy Henk, CEO of Tohatoha and a librarian herself, said that claims that the Internet Archive’s digitisation service is illegal – made this week by several New Zealand publishing organisations – are not true….”

National Library signs ‘historic’ agreement to donate 600,000 books to online archive | Stuff.co.nz

“The National Library will donate 600,000 books that it was planning to cull from its overseas collection to a United States-based internet archive that will make digital copies of the works freely available online.

National Librarian Rachel Esson announced the “historic” agreement on Monday, saying books left at the end of the library’s review process would be donated to the Internet Archive, a digital library with the self-stated mission of universal access to all knowledge….”

Open Access Information | Open Access Australasia

“The group was founded in 2013 as the Australian Open Access Support Group, AOASG. In 2015, with the addition of members from New Zealand and a change of focus, it became the Australasian Open Access Strategy Group.

In 2021, we became Open Access Australasia.

We support all models of open access, and in particular we endorse the principles of the  F.A.I.R. Access Policy Statement  for research outputs to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable, ensuring they can be part of the global research ecosystem. 

We are committed to advocating for and raising awareness of open access in Australia and New Zealand through collaboration regionally and internationally and building capacity and expertise within this region.

This website aims to be an authoritative source of information on all aspects of open access in Australia and New Zealand.

Our major focus is on open access to research publications – preprints, peer reviewed scholarly manuscripts, books, monographs and theses. We also contribute to initiatives in open research practices, data, software, open educational resources, reform of research assessment and copyright and open licenses.

The Patron of Open Access Australasia is Emeritus Professor Tom Cochrane, Faculty of Law at QUT….”