SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION

Kay Vyhnanek

WSU Libraries Learning Break

December 14, 2006

Issues and Actions and Alphabet

Soup

Agenda for today

◈Definition of Scholarly Communication◈The Library’s Role◈Issues for Libraries◈What’s happening in response to the

issues◈Who else is working on these issues◈What needs to happen now

Definition

Scholarly communication is the system through which research and other scholarly writings are created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the scholarly community, and preserved for future use. One of the fundamental characteristics of scholarly research is that it is created to facilitate inquiry and knowledge. The majority of scholars develop and disseminate their research with little or no expectation of direct financial reward.

From: ACRL Toolkit for Librarianshttp://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/scholarlycomm/scholarlycommunicationtoolkit/librarians/librarians.htm

The Library’s Role

Scholarly communication is the system through which research and other scholarly writings are created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the scholarly community, and preserved for future use. One of the fundamental characteristics of scholarly research is that it is created to facilitate inquiry and knowledge. The majority of scholars develop and disseminate their research with little or no expectation of direct financial reward.

From: ACRL Toolkit for Librarianshttp://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/scholarlycomm/scholarlycommunicationtoolkit/librarians/librarians.htm

Issues for Librarians

◈Journal prices◆Decades of double-digit inflation◆Continuous cancellation of titles

◈Licenses not subscriptions◆Remember the introduction of shrink-wrap licenses?◆The advent of ejournals with contracts not subscriptions◆The “Big Deal” – but for whom?

◈Mergers and buyouts of commercial publishers◆Elsevier and so many others (2000+ titles)◆Now Wiley’s purchase of Blackwell (1200+ titles, many smaller

association journals)

More Issues. . .

◈Fair Use under fire◆DMCA◆Bono Copyright Term Extension Act

◈Author publishing contract constraints◆Publish or perish pressures◆All copyright signed over to publisher◆Limited use of own works

◈Alternative venues for “publishing”◆ Self-publishing on the Web◆The advent of Open Access journals

And more. . .

◈Preservation of the scholarly record◆When the license ends access to content is gone◆Purchasing backfiles in order to not lose access◆Some publishers opening backfiles on the Web

What’s Happening in Response. . .

◈SPARC: Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition

◆June 1998 +◆Program of the Association of Research Libraries◆WSU Library is a member

◈ACRL Scholarly Communication Committee◆ALA’s official committee on the subject

◈The Open Access (OA) Movement (the noun)◆Support from libraries and much of the scientific research

community◆Many non-librarian proponents

◆Peter Suber ◆Steven Harnad

Additional actions. . .

◈Open Access (the adjective)◆The development of “green” and “gold” journals◆Author self-archiving in subject or institutional repositories

◈Institutional Repositories◆Response to the need for preservation of the scholarly record◆PubMed Central, Public Library of Science (PLoS), National

Institutes of Health and many others◆WSU Research Exchange being built to store and preserve

WSU’s scholarly output

And more. . .

◈Assertion of Author Rights◆Creative Commons copyright◆SPARC’s Author Addendum

◈Legislative actions◆CURES Act introduced 2005◆Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) introduced 2006

We are not alone. . .

International Activities:December 2001:

Budapest Open Access InitiativeApril 2003:

Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing(Bethesda Principles)

October 2003:Berlin Declaration on Open Access to

Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities

Great Britain and other European countries are at the forefront of scholarly communication and open access issues

What We Need to Do. . .

◈Promote changes in scholarly communications at WSU◆Ask to attend meetings of your liaison faculty to talk about issues in

scholarly communication (I’d be happy to help in the process!)◆Talk to individuals in your liaison departments about these issues

◈Promote the assertion of author rights by WSU researchers◆Distribute copies of SPARC brochure to your faculty◆Talk about copyright as a bundle of rights that can be divided up,

assigning only those necessary to publish an article.◆Offer to

◈Promote participation in the WSU Research Exchange◆Add our own publications and presentations

◆It’s easy and I’d be happy to show you how!◆Talk to faculty about the value of archiving their works in the Research

Exchange

And now for the alphabet soup

BOAI

JISC

OA FRPAACURESNIH

LOCKSSCLOCKSS

DLF

DOAJ

DOAR

METS

MODS

ROMEO

SHERPA

JULIET

SPARC

OAI-PMH

OAIster

CURL

OpenDOAR

. . .

Thanks for listening

Any Questions?