1. Scholarly Communication Mugar Memorial Library Steering Committee Environmental Scan 8/9/05

2. Five Questions What is Scholarly Communication (SC)? What is the library’s current role in SC? What is the crisis in SC? What are the major issues & trends? What is an appropriate level of involvement for the Library in facilitating SC at BU?

3. What is Scholarly Communication? Process of continually building on ideas. These ideas are captured in the scholarly record and provide raw material for new ideas, new ways of thinking. Faculty and researchers worldwide tap into new ideas as they emerge, and from the scholarly record. They discuss, challenge, expand on these ideas and conduct further research based on these ideas. Some of the results are published and contribute to the body of scholarly works.

4. Scholarly Communication Formal /archived Informal/unpublished Non-digitized Digitized Accessibility Indexes, print journals, print proceedings, books, etc. Invisible college, conversations, pre-prints, etc. Databases, eJournals, eBooks, Institutional repositiories, Webcasts, etc. Websites, blogs, email, ePreprints

5. What is the library’s current role in SC? Librarians are stewards of the published body of knowledge, ensuring access regardless of time or location by: Selecting Collecting Organizing Instructing Preserving Focus shifting from: Ownership -> Access Collecting -> Subscribing & hosting Print -> Digital Self-sufficiency -> Collaborations

6. What is the crisis in SC? Faculty and students have less and less access to, and control over their use of, the scholarly record as it continues to expand. Price and permission barriers to the scholarly record continue to grow for users worldwide. Commercial publishers are gaining more and more control over the scholarly record. Their primary motive is profit, not scholarly access to the scholarly record, nor the archival integrity of the record. Library budgets can not keep pace with escalating costs of subscriptions.

7. What are the major issues? Cost of ensuring access to the body of published works Archival integrity of the body of published works Equitable access to scholars worldwide

8. Open Access Shifts costs from users to grants/institutions of authors Emerging reality Public good Removes price and permission barriers for users worldwide Proving to be more cost-effective than subscription-based journals Compatible with peer review, copyright, career advancement OA articles have higher impact 1670 peer-reviewed journals listed in DOAJDOAJ Consensus in favor of OA is emerging among policy-making institutions Most compelling reason to support OA-- potential for changing scholarship

9. SPARC Alliance of 300 universities, libraries, organizations ARL initiative, 1997 -> Constructive response to market dysfunctions in SC system Catalyst for action to expand info dissemination and use in networked, digital environment for the academy Supports OA and other alternatives Educates, advocates, incubates

10. Institutional Repositories Suite of services Showcases university’s contributions Local & cross institutional Can feed disciplinary repositories Complements the scholarly record Requires long-term, significant investment and high-level institutional support Archival value depends on policies Opportunity for new scholarly endeavors DSpace –open source software & a system –best model to date

11. Publishing Models vs. Major Issues ModelStatusCosts Archival Integrity Access current scheme Combination of commercial and not-for-profit Include profits for commercial publishers Distributed among subscribers Reasonable for print Questionable for digital Print limited to location Digital limited to subscribers JSTORJSTOR, Project Muse Project Muse Not-for-profit Distributed among subscribers Excellent Limited to subscribers Open Access Mostly not-for- profit Assumed by institution or funding agency of authors, or by authors Questionable at this point Unlimited

12. What is an appropriate role for the Library in facilitating Scholarly Communication at BU? Possible Levels of Involvement LevelCharacteristics Aware consumers Understand issues Subscribe to resources such as JSTOR, Project MuseJSTORProject Muse Include Open Access resources in finding tools Educators Recognize SC as part of Library’s mission Raise issues with key stake holders Participate in professional initiatives (SPARC, Create Change)SPARCCreate Change Advocates Seek partnerships Convene, participate in, forums on campus Create, contribute to, institutional repositories

13. Recommendations Overall Understand the issues Elevate SC to a strategic priority Assign responsibility to a staff member or group Find/create opportunities to discuss with staff, faculty, adminstrators Specifically OA –Incorporate OA resources into finding tools –Consider subscribing to OA aggregators SPARC –Keep abreast of the emerging campaigns, alternatives IR –Get feet wet by creating a library repository –Support a serious effort on campus if initiative has high-level, long-term support

14. Bibliography "The role of libraries will shift from primarily acquiring published scholarship to a broader role of managing scholarship in collaboration with the researchers that develop it and draw upon it." Cliff Lynch, ARL Newsletter, #237. 12/04, pg.1.ARL Newsletter, #237. 12/04, pg.1. Overview Cornell Library's web site on Scholarly Communication Goldenberg-Hart, D. "Libraries and Changing Research Practices". ARL Newsletter, #237, 12/04, p.1.Libraries and Changing Research Practices Open Access Gass, A. & H. Doyle. "The Reality of Open-Access Journal Articles". Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/18/05.The Reality of Open-Access Journal Articles ARL's brochure on Open Access, 2004 SPARC ARL's SPARC Institutional Repositories Lynch, C. "Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age". ARL Newsletter, #226, 2/03, p.1.Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age Tom's NELINET conference report, 1/05 Foster, A. "Papers Wanted: Online archives run by universities struggle to attract material". Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/25/04.Papers Wanted: Online archives run by universities struggle to attract material DSpace web site