The Coming Revolution in Scholarly Communications | Main | Faculty Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Scholarly Communications
December 05, 2007
Get Involved!: New Librarians and Scholarly Communication
Donovan, Georgie, and Karen Estlund. "New Librarians and Scholarly Communication: Get Involved." College and Research Libraries News 68, no. 3 {March 2007}. http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/
backissues2007/march07/newlibrarians.cfm (accessed December 4, 2007).
How can new librarians become advocates for change within the scholarly community to ensure that scholarly information is as accessible as possible?
In this article, two early-career academic librarians, Georgie Donovan and Karen Estlund, discuss this issue and their own experiences with the inequality of access to information both in the United States and in other countries. Donovan and Estlund describe what they have done at their own institutions to bridge the "knowledge divide" and provide examples of other early-career librarians who are active in the movement. In addition, some tips are provided on the steps that new librarians can take to become involved at their own institutions and within the scholarly community.
In 2001, Georgie Donovan taught English language and literature at the University of Atacama in Copiapo, Chile. The students could not afford to purchase many textbooks; therefore, Donovan tried to utilize sources available on the Internet. However, there were very limited scholarly writings available for free at that time on the Internet. Donovan believes that if more open-access journals had been available as they are today, she would have been able to better teach her students utilizing scholarly writings. Since coming back to the United States and receiving her library degree, Donovan has become an advocate for the open-access movement.
Karen Estlund believes that new models of scholarly communication are essential for bringing about change and providing access to information and quality education for as many people as possible. Estlund has responsibility over the University of Utah's institutional repository with the medical and law libraries and is on a scholarly communications committee at the university.
Other examples of early-career librarians who are active in scholarly communication initiatives:
* Cat McDowell (M. Archival Science 2001) has been compiling data on institutional repositories in the United States. She has researched and analyzed data about how they function and their role within various institutions and has presented her findings at several library and information science conferences.
* KT Vaughan (MSLS 2001) and Stefanie Warlick (MSLS 2006) have been conducting surveys with the health science faculty at UNC and Duke University to reveal why certain professors choose to publish in open-access journals. Their project should reveal the factors that influence scholars. This research can be used to promote publication in open-access journals.
Suggestions for new librarians (& experienced librarians) who want to get involved:
* Write letters to legislators or meet with them to request that they pass legislation supporting scholarly communication initiatives.
* Start up a discussion group or brown bag series at your institution to discuss important issues relating to scholarly communication.
* Discuss the issues with your colleagues and form a network of partnership for those interested in more equitable access to scholarly communication.
* Start or assist with an institutional repository.
* Join in the efforts already underway at your institution.
--Posted by Andrea Gales
Posted by colldev at December 5, 2007 04:47 PM