Open Access and the Future of Scholarly Communication


Book Description

This volume, the second of two in the series Creating the 21st-Century Academic Library that deals with the topic of open access in academic libraries, focuses on the implementation of open access in academic libraries. Chapters on the legalities and practicalities of open access in academic libraries address the issues associated with copyright, licensing, and intellectual property and include support for courses that require open access distribution of student work. The topic of library services in support of open access is explored, including the library’s role in providing open educational resources, and as an ally and driver of their adoption, for example, by helping defray author fees that are required for open access articles. A detailed look at open access in the context of undergraduate research is provided and considers how librarians can engage undergraduates in conversations about open access. Chapters consider ways to engage undergraduate students in the use, understanding, evaluation, and creation of open access resources. Issues that are of concern to graduate students are also given some attention and central to these are the development of Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) programs. A chapter examines the library’s role in balancing greater access to graduate student work with the consequences of openness, such as concerns about book contracts and sales, plagiarism, and changes in scholarly research and production. The book concludes with issues surrounding open data and library services in critical data librarianship, including advocacy, preservation, and instruction. It is hoped that this volume, and the series in general, will be a valuable and exciting addition to the discussions and planning surrounding the future directions, services, and careers in the 21st-century academic library.




Reassembling Scholarly Communications


Book Description

A range of perspectives on the complex political, philosophical, and pragmatic implications of opening research and scholarship through digital technologies. The Open Access Movement proposes to remove price and permission barriers for accessing peer-reviewed research work--to use the power of the internet to duplicate material at an infinitesimal cost-per-copy. In this volume, contributors show that open access does not exist in a technological vacuum; there are complex political, philosophical, and pragmatic implications for opening research through digital technologies. The contributors examine open access across spans of colonial legacies, knowledge frameworks, publics and politics, archives and digital preservation, infrastructures and platforms, and global communities.




Open Access and the Future of Scholarly Communication


Book Description

It is impossible to imagine the future of academic libraries without an extensive consideration of open access—the removal of price and permission barriers from scholarly research online. As textbook and journal subscription prices continue to rise, improvements in technology make online dissemination of scholarship less expensive, and faculty recognize the practical and philosophical appeal of making their work available to wider audiences. As a consequences, libraries have begun to consider a wide variety of open access “flavors” and business models. These new possibilities have significant impact on both library services and collection policies, and the call for new skills within library staffing. Volume 9 of the series Creating the 21st-Century Academic Library is the first of two addressing the topic of open access in academic libraries and focuses on policy and infrastructure for libraries that wish to provide leadership on their campus in the transition to more open forms of scholarship. Chapters in the book discuss how to make the case for open access on campus, as well as the political and policy implications of libraries that themselves want to become publishing entities. Infrastructure issues are also addressed including metadata standards and research management services. Also considered here is how interlibrary loan, preservation and the library’s role in providing textbooks, support the concept of open access. It is hoped that this volume, and the series in general, will be a valuable and exciting addition to the discussions and planning surrounding the future directions, services, and careers in the 21st-century academic library.




Scholarly Communication


Book Description

The internet has transformed the ways in which scholars and scientists share their findings with each other and the world, creating a scholarly communication environment that is both more complex and more effective than it was just a few years earlier. "Scholarly communication" itself has become an umbrella term for the increasingly complex ecosystem of publications, platforms, and tools that scholars, scientists, and researchers use to share their work with each other and with other interested readers. Scholarly Communication: What Everyone Needs to Know® offers an accessible overview of the current landscape, examining the state of affairs in the worlds of journal and book publishing, copyright law, emerging access models, digital archiving, university presses, metadata, and much more. Anderson discusses many of the problems that arise due to conflicts between the various values and interests at play within these systems: values that include the public good, academic freedom, the advancement of science, and the efficient use of limited resources. The implications of these issues extend far beyond academia. Organized in an easy-to-use question-and-answer format, this book provides a lively and helpful summary of some of the most important issues and developments in the world of scholarly communication -- a world that affects our everyday lives far more than we may realize.




Open and Equitable Scholarly Communications


Book Description

Open and Equitable Scholarly Communications is an action-oriented research agenda designed to provide practical, actionable information for academic librarians; include the perspectives of historically underrepresented communities in order to expand the profession's understanding of research environments and scholarly communication systems; and point librarians and other scholars toward important research questions to investigate.




The Future of the Academic Journal


Book Description

Examines current issues in journals publishing and reviews how the industry will develop over the next few years. With contributions from leading academics and industry professionals, the book provides an authoritative and balanced view of this fast-changing area. There are a variety of views surrounding the future of journals and these are covered using a range of contributors. Online access is now taken for granted - 90 per cent of journals published are now available online, an increase from 75 per cent in 2003. - Looks at a fast moving and vital area for academics and publishers - Contains contributions from leading international figures from universities and publishers




Beyond the Flow


Book Description

In the wake of the so-called digital revolution numerous attempts have been made to rethink and redesign what scholarly publications can or should be. Beyond the Flow examines the technologies as well as narratives driving this unfolding transformation. However, facing challenges such as the serial crisis, knowledge burying or sudoku research the discourses and practices of scholarly publishing today are mainly shaped by confusion, heterogeneity and uncertainty. By critically interrogating the current state of digital publishing in academia the book asks for how a sustainable post-digital publishing ecology can be imagined.




Library as Publisher


Book Description

Charleston Briefings: Trending Topics for Information Professionals is a thought-provoking series of brief books concerning innovation in the sphere of libraries, publishing, and technology in scholarly communication. The briefings, growing out of the vital conversations characteristic of the Charleston Conference and Against the Grain, will offer valuable insights into the trends shaping our professional lives and the institutions in which we work. The Charleston Briefings are written by authorities who provide an effective, readable overview of their topics--not an academic monograph. The intended audience is busy nonspecialist readers who want to be informed concerning important issues in our industry in an accessible and timely manner. Why are so many libraries going into the publishing business at a time when scholarly publishing is facing so many challenges? Publishing, after all, is a complex business, and the trend in the marketplace is to economies of scale and the consolidation of smaller publishers into the fold of the largest. It does not seem a propitious moment for a library to become a small independent publisher. So why are libraries doing this? How is this similar or different from the services commercial publishers provide? Does it involve offering the same services, or are new models, types of content, and needs resulting in new solutions that suit new players? This book will help the reader understand the context of library publishing. It also explores when a publishing program is a good fit for a library and provides guidance for defining, launching, or growing a publishing initiative.




Assessing the Future Landscape of Scholarly Communication


Book Description

Results of research conducted between 2007 and 2010. In the interest of developing a deeper understanding of how and why scholars do what they do to advance their academic fields, as well as their careers, our approach focused on fine grained analyses of faculty values and behaviors throughout the scholarly communication lifecycle, including career advancement, sharing, collaborating, informal and formal publishing, resource generation, and engaging with the public. The report is based on the responses of 160 interviewees across 45, mostly elite, research institutions in seven selected academic fields: archaeology, astrophysics, biology, economics, history, music, and political science. We concentrated on assessing scholars' attitudes and needs as both producers and users of research results.




Stories of Open:


Book Description

Peer review processes in scholarly publishing are often hidden behind layers of opacity, leaving authors--and even reviewers--with many questions about the process. Open peer review is one way to improve the practice. It can shorten the time between manuscript submission and publication, hold reviewers accountable for their work, make more apparent the hidden labor of reviewing and editing, allow for collaborative discourse between authors and reviewers, and more. Even with these benefits, open peer review is not widely accepted or understood. Few academic librarians have experienced it, and each implementation can be different; anything open is highly nuanced and contextual. Ultimately, when we discuss "open," we must discuss the stories around it. What is the aim? What are the pitfalls? What are the gains? And are we trying to simply replicate a broken system instead of reinventing it? Stories of Open: Opening Peer Review through Narrative Inquiry examines the methods and processes of peer review, as well as the stories of those who have been through it. Eleven chapters are divided into three parts: * Part 1: Orientation. This section offers a conceptual frame for the book, providing details about narrative inquiry as a methodology and the author's worldview and research approach. * Part 2: The Stories (The Story Middle). What is the standard experience of peer review in our field? This section shares stories told from a variety of viewpoints and roles--author, editor, and referee--and explores how these roles interact, the tension between them, and the duality and sometimes multiplicity of roles experienced by any one individual. * Part 3: Coda. These four chapters tie the stories to the idea of open and look in detail at the research method, as well as imagine how we might move forward--reflecting on our past stories to create future ones. When we open ourselves to others' experiences, we reflect on our own. Stories of Open offers questions for reflection at the end of many chapters in order to assist in the continued exploration of your own experiences with peer review, and encourages the use of these reflections in creating new and improved peer review methods. This book is also available as an open access edition at https://bit.ly/ACRLStoriesofOpen