Category Archives: oa.carl

Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) Releases the National Advocacy Framework for Open Educational Resources (OER) – Canadian Association of Research Libraries

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“The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) is proud to announce the release of a comprehensive document, A National Advocacy Framework for Open Educational Resources in Canada, aimed at advancing the adoption and support of open educational resources (OER) across the country. 

This framework is the result of collaborative efforts involving diverse stakeholders, including national student groups, provincial open education organizations, scholars, advocates in open education, and representatives from higher education institutions.  Its purpose is to help advance and inform advocacy efforts directed at the Federal government. The ultimate goal is to provide guidance to stakeholders in advocating for federal involvement in OER. 

An outcome of the work of the Open Educational Resources (OER) National Strategy – Stratégie nationale en matière de ressources éducatives libres (REL) group, a dedicated consortium of stakeholders facilitated by CARL, the Framework was written and reviewed by practitioners and experts from various backgrounds within Canada’s post-secondary system. Divided into six sections and accompanied by five appendices, the document provides a detailed examination of OER in Canadian higher education and its connection with already existing federal programs. It proposes principles to underpin federal involvement and priorities for a national approach to open education….”

Library to host Francophone OER Summit | Library

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“On April 27, the University of Ottawa Library, in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Research Librariesnorth_east

external link (CARL), will host the Francophone OER Summit. Held both onsite and online, this event dedicated to open educational resources (OER) will bring together some 30 practitioners, experts and students from Francophone communities across Canada and Québec.

OER are free and openly accessible learning and teaching resources. They can be custom created, adapted or translated, and are widely available. They are also more equitable for users.

The lack of French-language educational resources and textbooks is an issue that has been highlighted by many at the University of Ottawa , as well as by stakeholders at other Francophone and bilingual post-secondary institutions in Canada . In this context, the creation and adaptation of OER in French can help mitigate this problem….”

Canada demonstrates once again its solid commitment to open infrastructure  – SCOSS – The Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services

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“We would like to warmly thank the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) for Canada’s donation to the infrastructures  Dryad, LA Referencia, and ROR of the 4th SCOSS funding round! The donation brings the total of pledges to SCOSS infrastructures over the years to over 5 million euros….”

Call for Expressions of Interest – CARL Visiting Program Officer, Metadata & CARL Collaboration with OpenAIRE – Canadian Association of Research Libraries

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“CARL invites applications for a Visiting Program Officer (VPO), Metadata & CARL Collaboration with OpenAIRE. The incumbent will work with the Canadian OpenAIRE Task Force to lead CARL’s ongoing collaboration with OpenAIRE, an international network that promotes and shares common practices, standards, protocols, and content towards a sustainable open global research ecosystem, and liaise with the Tri-Agency and the Canadian repository community on behalf of the Task Force.

The successful candidate will have expertise in metadata and repositories, the ability to work collaboratively as part of a team, and strong organizational and communication skills. The ability to work in both English and French would be an asset. The position will entail working for CARL for the equivalent of one day per week, for a period of at least one year. The deadline to apply is February 15, 11:59 p.m. Eastern….”

New CARL VPO for Open Education – Canadian Association of Research Libraries

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“The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) is pleased to welcome Ann Ludbrook as Visiting Program Officer (VPO) for Open Education.

Ann is the Scholarly Engagement and Copyright Librarian at Ryerson University. She provides copyright education and support for the Ryerson community and is an active member of the CFLA Copyright Committee and the CARL Copyright Specialist group. In terms of open education, Ann is an originating and current member of the CARL Open Education Working Group and chairs their Community of Practice team. She has worked for over 8 years in the field of open education at Ryerson University and regularly supports Open Education projects. She was one of the librarians that worked on the CARL Copyright Open Educational Resource for University Instructors….”

ARL/CARL Joint Task Force on Research Data Services: Final Report

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“The task force formed three working groups of data practitioners, representing a wealth of expertise, to research the institutional landscape and policy environment in both the US and Canada, setting three core objectives for the work: 1. Develop a shared understanding among ARL and CARL members of the roles of research libraries in the research data ecosystem 2. Develop a roadmap with recommendations for the roles of research libraries with regard to research data principles, policies, and approaches to managing research data in the context of the Open Science by Design framework and recommendations 3. Develop guidance for research libraries and for representing research libraries’ work with policy makers, including strategies for discipline-specific research data approaches, priorities for automation of processes, economic models to scale and sustain shared resources, prioritization of research data to steward, and decision-making rubrics….”

ARL/CARL Joint Task Force on Research Data Services Releases Final Report – Association of Research Libraries

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“The Association of Research Libraries (ARL)/Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) Joint Task Force on Research Data Services has released its final report. The task force formed in 2020 with a two-fold purpose: (1) to demonstrate and commit to the roles research libraries have in stewarding research data and as part of institution-wide research support services and (2) to guide the development of resources for the ARL and CARL memberships in advancing their organizations as collaborative partners with respect to research data services in the context of FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) data principles and the US National Academies’ Open Science by Design framework. Research libraries will be successful in meeting these objectives if they act collectively and are deeply engaged with disciplinary communities. The task force formed three working groups of data practitioners, representing a wealth of expertise, to research the institutional landscape and policy environment in both the US and Canada.

The final report presents the task force’s recommendations for the roles of research libraries with regard to research data principles, policies, and approaches to managing research data. The report also offers strategies for discipline-specific research data approaches, priorities for automation of processes, economic models to scale and sustain shared resources, prioritization of research data to steward, and decision-making rubrics.”

CARL-CRKN-SPARC Webinar: Institutional Perspectives on Investments in Open Infrastructure – Canadian Association of Research Libraries

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“The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN), and SPARC are pleased to bring you this panel on institutional approaches and perspectives regarding their investments in open infrastructure.

This session brings together librarians from institutions in Canada and the United States to discuss the values, rubrics, and supporting data used locally to strategize and guide investments in open infrastructure. How are priorities determined? How does the institution weigh local vs. global impacts? How important is collective/consortial investment in this context? Are there divergent perspectives between collections and scholarly communications specialists? Is it possible to transfer any savings from negotiated license agreements toward open infrastructure investment? What internal discussions are necessary to build support for shifting library funds from subscriptions to infrastructure support?…”

CARL and Portage Response to “Data Repository Selection: Criteria That Matter” – Canadian Association of Research Libraries

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“The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and the Portage Network (Portage) would like to express concerns about the Data Repository Selection: Criteria That Matter, recently proposed through the FAIR Sharing initiative. The proposed approach, developed primarily by a group of publishers, will have a negative effect on the development of Canada’s national infrastructure, on research equity, and on the rights of marginalized and under-served communities to fully participate in the scientific process.

Canada, like many other countries, is developing national infrastructure and services for research data management – including national, institutional and domain data repositories – that will support comprehensive research data management in this country. This is demonstrated, for instance, through the launch of Dataverse Canada1, and the  development of the Federated Research Data Repository2.

We have several concerns about the data repository selection criteria:…”

Walk-In Users and Their Access to Online Resources in Canadian Academic Libraries | Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research

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Abstract:  In the past, a member of the public could access an academic library’s collection simply by visiting the library in person and browsing the shelves. However, now that online resources are prevalent and represent the majority of collections budgets and current collections, public access has become more complicated. In Canadian academic libraries, licences negotiated for online resources generally allow on-site access for walk-in users; however access is not granted uniformly across libraries. The goal of this study was to understand whether members of the public are indeed able to access online resources in major Canadian university libraries, whether access to supporting tools was offered, how access is provided, and whether access is monitored or promoted. The study used an online survey that targeted librarians responsible for user services at Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) member libraries. The survey results indicated that some level of free access to digital resources was provided to walk-in users at 90% of libraries for which a survey response was received. However, limitations in methods and modes of access and availability of supporting resources, such as software and printing, varied between the institutions. The study also found that most libraries did not actively promote or monitor non-affiliated user access.  

 

Open Access – Canadian Association of Research Libraries

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“Open access is a model of scholarly communication that promises to greatly improve the accessibility of results of research. In general terms, scholarly research that is published in open access is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions (although it does require that proper attribution of works be given to authors).

CARL is committed to open access as a means of broadening access to scholarly materials. The Association has signed two important international declarations on open access….”

Creating More Visibility for Canadian Journals’ Self-Archiving Policies: An Open Access Week 2020 Crowdsourcing Project – Canadian Association of Research Libraries

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“Researchers frequently need to know where and when they can share a copy of their submitted, accepted and/or published journal articles in order to: meet the requirements of a funder policy, share their research more widely through their institutional repository or a subject repository, or, decide where to publish. Most frequently, they look up the journal in question using the Sherpa RoMEO tool. However, many Canadian journals are not yet reflected in this leading international database, and for those that are, the information contained there can be old or incomplete.

CARL is therefore asking Canadian librarians, researchers, and journals to help us collect key information about these missing and incomplete journal entries to make it easier for researchers in Canada and beyond to find Canadian scholarly publication venues using this tool….”

Canadians Need Unfettered Access To Government Publications In Face Of COVID-19 – Canadian Association of Research Libraries

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“The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) are calling on federal and provincial governments to make official publications more accessible to Canadians by assigning a Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY) to publicly available government information. We see this as a necessary and immediate response to COVID-19 and the appropriate default model for accessing government information….” 

 

Investments in Open: Canadian Research Libraries’ Expenditures on Services, Staff, and Infrastructures in Support of Open Scholarship

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“Widespread sharing of research and scholarship is fundamental for addressing many of today’s most important problems. Research libraries have been at the forefront of promoting open scholarship for many years. They play a pivotal role in the creation, management, discovery, and use of scholarship and have been expanding their financial contributions towards open scholarship over time. However, to date, their investments in “open” have not been well-documented, nor have they always been widely recognized by the broader community. In 2019, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) undertook a comprehensive survey of CARL member libraries’ investments in open scholarship in order to have a better understanding of what is being spent by Canadian academic libraries on open services, platforms, content, and infrastructures. The survey found that the total, aggregate spending on open for all 28 responding libraries was $23 million CAD, with an average spend per institution of $827,086 CAD. This represents an average of 3.09% of the total library budget spent on open, ranging from 0.88% to 7.23% across respondent libraries. By far, the largest category of investment is in local staff, with an average of 74% of the libraries’ open investments going toward salaries. On average, respondent libraries have about 7 FTEs working in open activities, scattered across a number of areas: digitized content, scholarly communications, open repositories, and research data management (including staff contributing to the national Portage project). The second largest category of spending on open were funds directed to publishers through several means: consortial licences via the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) or, in Ontario, the regional association Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) via Scholars Portal, institutional membership with open access publishers, and payment of article processing charges (APCs). This amounted to an average of 14% of total open spending, or approximately $3.2 million CAD in total, 80% of which was directed toward licences with open access publishers or platforms. The rest of the open investments, approximately 12%, were spent on a wide variety of other types of open services, platforms and infrastructures….”