University Librarianship in the

Open Access World and the Changing Roles

Dr. Burcu Keten, ODTÜ

Gültekin Gürdal, İYTE

İlkay Holt, ÖzÜ

BOBCATSSS Conference 23-25 January 2013 , Hacettepe University

Scope

• Scholarly Communication & Open Access (OA) • OA in Academic Environment • University Libraries • University Librarians • Changing Roles • Required Skills • Changing Roles: Cooperation with Management • Changing Roles: Cooperation with Academics • Changing Roles: Cooperation with IT Units • Changing Roles: Cooperation with LIS Departments • Changing Roles: Changing Information Services • Conclusion

Scholarly Communication & OA

“Scholarly communication is the process of academics, scholars and researchers sharing and publishing their research findings so that they are available to the wider academic community and beyond.”

Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholarly_communication, 15th January 2013

“Open-access (OA) literature is digital, online, free

of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.”

Retrieved from http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm 15th January 2013

OA in Academic Environment

• Increases visibility, usage and impact

• No cultural, geographical, financial restrictions

• Ensures publicly funded research available to anyone

• Frees most copyright & licensing barriers

• Brings alternative business models

• Encourages self archiving

• Involves policy makers, funders, executives, researchers, publishers, librarians, readers...

University Libraries

• 3rd generation universities: a cycle between research-industry-public. “...Institutions where interdisciplinary researches would be prominent, joint projects would be developed, and products would be designed and produced to make them cradle of economic activities...” Wissema, J. G. (2009). Üçüncü Kuşak Üniversitelere Doğru: Geçiş Döneminde

Üniversiteleri Yönetmek (N. Devrim & T. Belge, Trans.). İstanbul : Özyeğin Üniversitesi Yayınları.

• Its libraries: advanced technology, attached to research & teaching, hi-tech services, learning commons, liaison services

University Librarians

• Creates an information ecosystem and offers information services based on expectations of their users within the framework of the university’s vision

• Establishes and maintains a realible information environment

• Enables the accessibility of scholarly information

• Ensures that scholarly communication takes place

• Adapts to their changing roles

• Develops new skills and expertise

Changing Roles

The support given to open access initiatives leads to new service fields in the libraries and impose new roles on librarians. Librarians’ awareness imposes new responsibilities on librarians for scholarly communication, scholarly circles, national and international platforms, and institutions and libraries they work for.

Required Skills

• Understanding of scholarly communication and its dynamics at policy making level

• Effective communication skills

• Understanding of copyright and licensing issues

• Expertise in collection development

• Project management, team work

• Data management

• System implementation and maintenance

Changing Roles:

Cooperation with Management

• Gain executives and relevant committees’ support for OA related activities both institutionally and publicly

• Participate in the development of university policy on scholarly communication

• Communicate the value of depositing scholarly and creative output into OA sites

• Monitore scholarly communication trends and issues both nationally and internationally

Changing Roles:

Cooperation with Academics

• Inform them about how OA can increase visibility, usage and impact of their research

• Consult them in copyrigh and licensing issues

• Encourage them to self-archive

• Feed them with regular usage statistics

• Provide them OA resources for teaching & research purposes

• Offer them info-lit sessions for their classes

Changing Roles:

Cooperation with IT Units

• Develop policy for institutional repository (IR)

• Create and maintaine IR

• Show leadership in metadata and OAI standars

• Encourage use and creation of open educational materials

• Measure the impact of OA output

• Preserve institution’s cultural heritage

• Set up OA journal publishing

Changing Roles:

Cooperation with LIS Departments

• Need for continues education programs on scholarly communication and its related topics

• Need for post graduate programs specializing in subjects such as scholarly communication, OA, IR, data management, copyright & IP

• Need for in-house training for university librarians

• Need to play an active role in the change process which the scholarly publication system undergoes

Changing Roles:

Changing Information Services

• Proactive approach to the research community • Developing value added discovery tools • Cooperating and working closely with researchers internally • Creating reliable information environments • Managing metadata and the repository content • Educating and supporting authors in copyright related issues

and author addendums to the publishing contracts. • Playing a more active role in compiling and distributing

collection contents • Taking role in promoting intellectual output of the the

institution • Enhancing current information literacy programs

Conclusion

• Librarians’ high awareness triggered number of good practices in OA world and they continue to be a key player, make a great impact in this area.

• It is an opportunity to bring the university library world much closer to the research community.

• New area of expertise and skills are now required.

• Change can be frightening but it is challenging.

Thanks!

Q & A