role play: how open access could change librarians’ jobs
DESCRIPTION
This presentation provides a definition of open access, looks at the Finch Report (http://www.researchinfonet.org/publish/finch/) and explains how it could affect libraries and identifies four areas in which open access could change librarians’ jobs. General themes regarding how open access could change librarians’ jobs are then looked at and conclusions drawn. The presentation as a whole is very brief and general in nature, due to the specification given by the event organizers and the wide variety of prior knowledge that attendees had. I acknowledge that the topics covered are broad and deep and that this presentation intentionally does not cover all aspects of said topics. This presentation was originally delivered at Manchester NLPN's #nlpnautumn event on 19th October 2013 (http://manchesternlpn.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/the-big-event-nlpnautumn/).TRANSCRIPT
Role play
How open access could change librarians’ jobs
David Jenkins
Introduction
I have been involved with open access in a number of ways
since late 2012
Is anyone here familiar with open access already?
Academic libraries inform my experience of open access…
…but I’ll do my best to include other sectors too
This presentation will…
…be 50 minutes long
…define open access
…look at the major driver for open access in the UK
…examine four areas in which open access could change our
roles
…have time for questions
…have a few summary points at the end
“Open-access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge,
and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions”
Peter Suber
Open access presents an alternative to traditional publishing models
Open access can be implemented in different ways
Gold open access means making material available via
journals
Green open access means making material available via
repositories
The open access movement has mostly focused on academic journals to date…
…but all sorts of material could be made available open access
Open access has been around a little while but recent
developments are bringing it to the fore
The Finch Report was produced by a working group
commissioned by the UK government…
…it believes that open access is the key to making sure more people can access research
findings…
…the government agreed and has said that all the findings of
publicly-funded research should be open access from 2014…
…which is great…
…isn’t it?
The Finch Report means change is coming and that librarians have to engage with it
Teacher
Many librarians are familiar with teaching already
Open access means we will have to apply this existing role
to a new landscape
We can teach new things
People want us to teach them new things
Communication will be vital to ensuring that we are good
teachers
The people we will be teaching are diverse and we must
recognize this
Some people we will be teaching are uncomfortable with the new environment they find
themselves in
Not everybody knows what librarians can teach or even whether librarians can teach
"Throwing open the doors to the world's research literature is not enough. We need to tell people that the stuff is there, welcome them in, show them a map […]
“[…] and maybe warn them about some of the trickier
corners where they might get lost or fall down. Just who does this,
or how, I don't know. But shouldn't we be talking about it?"
Yes, we should be…
…and I know full well who can do this…
…so do you
Through teaching, librarians can help people navigate the
landscape
Through teaching, librarians can help shape the landscape
Publisher
Some people take a positive view of academic libraries in
relation to institutional repositories
Others are not so sure
Adopting a role as publisher sees librarians taking on new
skills
Institutional repositories may not have always been a hit up until now…
…but this could change
Technology developer
Librarians could become involved in creating and
improving resources such as repositories, search engines,
gateways or metrics tools
These librarians may be few in number and work outside of
traditional libraries
Open access could see some of librarians’ technical roles
become redundant
Fund manager
Some people think libraries are in a good position to manage
budgets for open access
Some people do not
Open access provides a number of challenges to the
fund manager
General
Libraries’ open access procedures are not set in stone yet
Could most of the processes that librarians carry out with
regards to subscription-based material become redundant?
In an open access environment, we will be judged on our service
Political and economic factors are already affecting how
librarians engage with open access
Institutional factors are already affecting how librarians engage with open access
Change is inevitable…
…but we cannot be sure how it will manifest itself
Does anyone have any questions?
To conclude…
…open access is a great opportunity…
…and it is in our hands
Thank you
@d_r_jenkins
References
• Slide 14 - Suber, P., 2012. Open Access Overview: Focusing on open access to peer-reviewed research articles and their preprints [WWW Document]. URL http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm (accessed 18.10.13).
• Slides 37-38 - Why open access isn’t enough in itself [WWW Document], 2013. . the Guardian. URL http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/aug/14/open-access-media-coverage-research (accessed 18.10.13).