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Collaborative Librarianship

Volume 3 Issue 4 Article 3

2011

Incorporating Existing Library Partnerships into Week Events

Andrea A. Wirth Oregon State University Libraries, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Wirth, Andrea A. (2011) "Incorporating Existing Library Partnerships into Events," Collaborative Librarianship: Vol. 3 : Iss. 4 , Article 3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29087/2011.3.4.05 Available at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/collaborativelibrarianship/vol3/iss4/3

This Scholarly Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Collaborative Librarianship by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. Wirth: Incorporating Existing Library Partnerships

Incorporating Existing Library Partnerships into Open Access Week Events

Andrea A. Wirth ([email protected]) Oregon State University Libraries

Abstract

Oregon State University (OSU) Libraries participated in Open Access (OA) Week in 2009 and 2010. In order to expand the range of events offered, the committee members assigned to program planning looked for opportunities to work with partners beyond the library. The collaborative activities developed through these partnerships created settings for in-depth conversations among librarians, faculty, and students about issues. Subject librarians’ relationships with their departments provided opportunities to host events in venues other than the library, which helped, facilitate access to a diverse audience. An established cooperative relationship with the University of Oregon made it possi- ble to provide additional presentations to the OSU community. An evaluation of the quantity and quality of contacts made during OA Week suggests the collaborative activities enriched these outreach activities and that participation in OA Week is worthwhile for OSU Libraries to continue.

Keywords: Open Access Week; Subject Librarians; Outreach

Introduction Scholarly communication programs on different campuses reflect the varying needs of the insti- Open access (OA) refers to scholarly literature tution and the capacity of the university libra- that is made freely available online “without ries.4 Oregon State University (OSU) librarians financial, legal, or technical barriers other than have been developing and refining a scholarly those inseparable from gaining access to the in- communication program since 2004. Though ternet itself.”1 Ways in which authors provide largely inspired by first-hand knowledge of open access to their scholarship include posting journal price inflation and a budget that could a version of their work in an institutional or sub- not keep up, the program grew over time. One ject repository after publication in a subscrip- aspect of this broader approach is participation tion-based journal or publishing in a journal in OA Week, which provides an opportunity to without any access restrictions. Open access highlight ways in which the library is proactive- publishing is not limited to journal articles, but ly helping to create change in scholarly publish- frequently these are the focus of OA efforts giv- ing. en the intense scrutiny journals receive in re- spect to their increasing prices in contrast to OSU participated in Open Access Week in both stagnant library budgets.2 2009 and 2010. The primary goal that influenced OSU planning was to reach non-library mem- Open Access Day became Open Access Week in bers of the community including faculty, gradu- 2009. The week is “an opportunity for the aca- ate students, and undergraduates for the pur- demic and community to continue to pose of informing them about open access, local learn about the potential benefits of Open OA initiatives, and resources available to them. Access, to share what they’ve learned with col- Since OA Week events focus on such a broad leagues, and to help inspire wider participation audience, it is an important part of the scholarly in helping to make Open Access a new norm in communication program that otherwise primari- scholarship and research.”3 Participation in this ly addresses issues of interest to faculty and international event provides a framework for administrators and to an extent, graduate stu- libraries to promote open access at the local lev- dents. For these latter audiences, dissemination el. of OSU research and authors’ rights are key conversation topics, whereas graduates and un-

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dergraduates may wish to discuss barriers to Library consortia or other existing partnerships accessing scholarly content that hinder their between libraries can help to pool resources and immediate information needs as students. generate ideas for scholarly communication in- itiatives. In one example, the Boston Library Programming and events were influenced by Consortium (BLC) developed a system-wide the strong connections the subject librarians program around the topic of authors’ rights. have with their departments, the encouragement The consortium developed training materials, for and growing expectation of subject librarian brochures, and a website of resources for the involvement with scholarly communication in- consortium’s libraries. Although a robust con- itiatives, and an expanding range of collabora- sortially-managed program did not evolve from tive activities between Oregon State University these efforts, the BLC work helped local initia- and the University of Oregon (UO). An assess- tives by “emphasiz[ing] the high priority that ment structure to quantify the success of OA the BLC has placed on addressing the crisis in Week events was put in place in 2009 and con- scholarly communication”8 and starting the tinued in 2010. This article reports on these conversations and training within the individual events and their preliminary evaluation. libraries.

Literature Review Unlike the ongoing attention to open access and scholarly communication systems in library and Two areas recently described in the library lite- other disciplinary journals, assessment of out- rature that parallel OSU Libraries’ planning for reach methods used to connect with researchers OA Week are the roles of subject librarians in about open access has not been formally re- scholarly communication initiatives and means ported on with regularity.9 How does a library of utilizing the energy of existing collaborative know when the investment of time and money relationships between and within institutions. spent in an outreach effort such as OA Week is worthwhile? In 2007, an Association of Re- Subject librarians often share news of library search Libraries survey found that only nine per activities with their departmental connections cent of survey respondents with scholarly com- over and above their traditional roles for sup- munication programs in their libraries had eva- porting disciplinary research and teaching. In a luated their program initiatives. However, 42 growing number of institutions, this includes per cent of libraries reported “demonstrable sharing information about scholarly communi- outcomes” from their activities10 suggesting a cation initiatives. For example, position descrip- link between outreach efforts and community tions of subject librarians the University of action on the issues. Only a few articles have Minnesota include phrases such as “educate and been written that specifically address the au- inform faculty, graduate students, and campus thors’ insights into planning and assessment of administrators about scholarly communication OA Week activities.11 The next step perhaps is issues” and “help faculty and graduate students to share goals of outreach efforts regularly, the understand their rights as authors.”5 Other evi- associated planning to achieve those goals and dence supporting the use of an established sub- outcomes as they pertain to OA Week and other ject librarian model to foster scholarly commu- scholarly communication program efforts that nication understanding is from the University of could be adapted for OA Week. British Columbia, where the program Steering Committee recognized that “liaison librarians’ Open Access Week at OSU disciplinary networks could be crucial to formu- lating a picture of [scholarly communication] A committee of librarians drawn from the Scho- changes at the system level.”6 In other cases, larly Communication Working Group (SCWG) liaison models may be utilized in a variety of and subject librarians planned the OA Week ways to promote aspects of the programs, such events. The SCWG consists of librarians in- as outreach.7 volved in the scholarly communication program at OSU Libraries. The pool of subject librarians

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at OSU is small, yet in both 2009 and 2010, at OA Week 2009, several subject librarians had least one subject librarian (beyond those already been working closely with their departments on on the SCWG) volunteered to help. Once topics such as the institutional repository (Scho- formed, the committee planned the week’s larsArchive@OSU) and authors’ rights. The events with the support of the library adminis- committee decided to draw upon this existing tration, including approval of a modest budget, momentum. event scheduling, and the formation of over- arching goals. Both years, the goals focused on Subject librarians and OA Week committee engaging campus community members (faculty, members worked with non-librarian faculty and staff, and students) in conversations about open staff at several OSU academic departments on access for the purpose of expanding OSU’s col- “traveling tables” events. Traveling tables are lective knowledge on the subject. simple by design – displays informing attendees about a variety of scholarly communication in- Availability of resources from the Open Access itiatives with a something-for-everyone ap- Week website and the Scholarly Publishing and proach, yet broadly discipline based. The tables Academic Research Coalition (SPARC) helped were staffed by librarians (typically the subject with developing marketing materials.12 How- librarian for the department and an OA Week ever, the committee’s time and budget were li- committee member). mited so utilizing the talent, knowledge, and connections of other librarians beyond the In both years, authors’ rights and the institu- committee became essential for developing a tional repository (IR) were areas of focus. Based robust event lineup. The committee also looked on feedback from the 2009 traveling tables, the to the broader OSU community for ideas and 2010 tables included more information relevant venues. to undergraduates, such as the “Right to Re- search” brochure,13 textbook costs, and forth- For both years, the committee tracked contacts coming opportunities to publish in local and made by capturing the number of participants at regional open access undergraduate journals. each event and their patron category (e.g. library staff, graduate student) to the extent possible. The tables were located in high traffic areas Additionally, the committee gauged impact of around campus. Five of the seven tables were in the events by how well they provided a forum common areas of academic colleges and de- for engaging with faculty and students. The partments. The other tables were located in committee used the data to address the question Marketplace West (a popular dining facility on of whether OSU Libraries’ commitment to OA campus) and in the library after an open access Week was worthwhile and to help inform future presentation. The five tables located in depart- efforts. mental or college settings were focused on psy- chology and English (combined), mathematics The events for each year were held in the library and statistics (combined), geosciences, oceanic and other locations across campus. Almost all and atmospheric sciences, and forestry. of the events reflected some type of collabora- tive effort with colleagues outside the library. The tables in the College of Forestry and the Two of those initiatives are highlighted in this College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences article: those with other OSU departments and (COAS) in particular were possible because of colleges and those with another university li- the relationships already established by the sub- brary. The other OA Week program activities ject librarians with the faculty and the commu- are described briefly as well. nications and publications coordinators for the colleges. At the College of Forestry, the table Collaboration with Academic Departments was marketed thoroughly with significant assis- tance from the Forestry Communications Group As many libraries do, the OSU Libraries have a (FCG). In addition to library advertising on strong liaison program. Prior to participation in campus, a member of the FCG advertised direct- ly to the College of Forestry email lists, made

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spectacular signage for the hallways leading to tions and departments was featured at both uni- the display, and provided treats for visitors to versities. Two speakers from UO and one from the tables. OSU participated in two similar panel sessions – one hosted at UO and one at OSU. In addition, COAS was an early ScholarsArchive@OSU sup- there was an attempt to stream the OSU panel to porter and more recently became a disciplinary the UO Libraries for those that missed the UO advocate for authors’ rights and open access by version; however, problems with the selected adopting an open access mandate.14 This came technology precluded this from working in part through the teamwork of the liaison to smoothly. the college and the Digital Production Librarian who have both worked closely with the Publica- In both 2009 and 2010, the OSU Libraries pro- tions and Outreach manager of the college. Be- gram benefitted from events streamed from the cause of the already-strong understanding of UO Libraries – events that otherwise would not OA issues in the college, the 2010 traveling table have been available to OSU. Because of this for COAS primarily addressed advanced ques- sharing of resources in 2009, OSU closed OA tions about the repository. Week with a streamed presentation from UO by Carl Malamud (Public.Resource.Org) on Open These colleges are ideal units to work with at Government. In 2010, OSU began OA Week a OSU given their existing infrastructure for hig- day early with another presentation streamed hlighting the work of the faculty and students in from UO “Why Open Access Works and Copy- their programs and recognition that the library right Doesn’t” by guest speaker Kevin Smith can further that same goal. Other departments (Duke University). that hosted traveling tables offered support (space, tables, set up, posting of flyers, etc.) but Elevator Speeches and More primarily the librarians accomplished the work. Nevertheless, drawing upon existing connec- Creativity and collaboration come in many tions with the departments – whether with indi- forms. In 2009, the entire library staff was in- vidual faculty or students, office managers, or vited to participate in an elevator speech contest. those with specific roles (publications) – is a The committee developed a short list of “sound worthwhile strategy for libraries to use in build- bites” on scholarly publishing that all library ing a successful series of events outside the li- staff members were invited to share with pa- brary. trons as opportunities arose. Interested staff members were given a small two-sided card Collaboration with the University of Oregon with a short definition of open access on one side, and three talking points on the other: OSU Libraries work closely with the University of Oregon (UO) Libraries on collaborative initia- • “OSU students/researchers need access to tives including digital collections and collection information for scholarship and research” development. Working together on events for • “Few research libraries can afford to main- OA Week was a natural path to take and helped tain current access levels” both libraries offer more programming. The • And a comparison of OSU annual tuition primary achievement for the two libraries in this costs with one of OSU’s more expensive regard was the sharing of speakers and panel- journal subscriptions ists. Staff self-reported their contacts with patrons to Several events over the course of the 2009 and the committee and by doing so were eligible to 2010 OA Weeks enhanced the programming win a prize. lineup. All of the events were marketed to the OSU community, in keeping with the goal of In 2010, one of the authors of an OSU workshop reaching people outside the library. In 2009, a developed for talking with librarians and faculty panel of faculty speaking about open access about their rights as authors15 presented the mandates from the perspective of their institu-

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workshop at the OSU Cascades Campus. This programs, particularly institutional reposito- was a good opportunity to collaborate with ries,16 little has been done to assess the impact of branch librarians in the week’s events. Several OA Week that could inform future outreach ef- faculty and staff from the local community col- forts. lege library participated as well (the two libra- ries share a building). The OSU planning group defined success simp- ly: increase the awareness on campus through Assessment quality conversations about open access. The planning group tracked the number of contacts Though work has been done on measures of made in order to count people reached in any of success for aspects of scholarly communication the OA Week events (Table 1).

2009 2010 Traveling Tables Other Traveling Tables Other

2009- Event 2010 Total speech Library Library Elevator Elevator (college) (college) English & English & Oceanic & Workshop Workshop (streamed) (streamed) (streamed) Psychology Psychology Geosciences Geosciences Mandate panel panel Mandate Authors' Rights Rights Authors' Math & Statistics Statistics & Math Forestry (college) Forestry (college) Marketplace West Marketplace Smith presentation Smith presentation Atmospheric Sciences Malamud presentation Undergraduates 37 3 3 unk unk unk 3 45 10 0 0 0 101 Graduate students 7 8 0 unk unk unk 4 9 8 10 0 0 46

Faculty & staff 9 9 3 unk unk unk 9 0 7 10 6 4 57 (non-library) Faculty & staff 0 0 0 unk 25 12 0 0 0 0 12 4 53 (library) Other/ 6 5 1 250 6 2 2 2 5 0 2 0 281 Unknown Total 59 25 7 250 31 14 18 56 30 20 20 8 538 Table 1: Contacts made during OSU OA Week events 2009-2010

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True assessment of these activities may be going conversations that start during OA around the corner since it is difficult to gauge Week) the impact of these single events on behavior. • Working with units that actively showcase For example, will contact with undergraduates their publications (especially those that influence their selection of appropriate freely maintain lists of citations to current publica- available resources in the future? Is an upswing tions or tout departmental publications in in either use of or deposits to an IR truly the re- their newsletter) sult of contact made during OA Week or some other factor? In the future, OSU and other in- Given the number of conversations with faculty stitutions involved in OA Week outreach should and students across campus, the events suc- develop plans for assessing whether behavior ceeded in connecting with people beyond the changes towards open access because of any library. Some examples of this engagement are program outreach activities, including OA discussions that started during OA Week and Week, and adjust the program’s focus accor- continued well after on topics such as: consulta- dingly. tions on authors’ rights; requests for help with depositing content in the institutional reposito- In two years of participation in OA Week, 40 per ry; requests to be added to a list of volunteer OA cent of the contacts made (215 total) were from advocates; and requests for further information the traveling tables’ events and anecdotal evi- on the place of open access amid traditional dence suggests several of those initial conversa- scholarly publishing. tions have continued. The shared presentations with UO had 65 attendees (12 per cent of total Solid programming is time-consuming to plan contacts), and one quarter of those attendees and requires help and interest from beyond the was not from the library. The elevator speech committee members. In particular, the events reached more people than any other single were enhanced by the subject librarians’ liaison event, although no data about the patron status relationships with the campus colleges and de- was collected, as this would have been imprac- partments and the established foundation of tical. Each of these efforts demonstrates the collaboration with the University of Oregon Li- benefits of collaborative initiatives and their im- braries. Setting a manageable goal such as en- pact by meeting the goal of Open Access Week – gaging users can be as useful as a more complex informing the OSU community. one such as changing behaviors.

Conclusion Although materials available to support libraries developing OA Week events are plentiful, ar- Existing library partnerships can be taken ad- ticles describing successful OA outreach efforts vantage of in order to develop Open Access are sparse. This is understandable since judging Week events that reach a broad audience. Sev- the success of the events is difficult when they eral aspects of OSU Libraries’ planning that are likely to be part of a much larger program at helped accomplish this objective included: an institution – one that works throughout the year and includes varied types of outreach. • Setting realistic goals (such as seeking to in- However, planning committees can collect basic form rather than change behavior) data to capture information about participation • Utilizing strengths of existing library pro- and level of engagement. Reporting on success- grams (such as liaison relationships with ful endeavors can be a source of good advice for units and collaborative efforts with other li- other libraries participating in OA Week and it braries) may help keep the momentum going at both the • Documenting what is done (counting con- local and international levels. tacts and noting their affiliations, and cap- turing anecdotal information about any on-

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Endnotes Ammerman, “Open-Access to Nutrition Re- search Information: A Public Policy Debate,” 1 “Budapest Open Access Initiative,” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 111, http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read. no. 5 (2011); Matthias Hanauskea, Steffen Berni- usa, and Berndt Dugallb, “Quantum game 2 For more background on open access, consult: theory and open access publishing,” Physica A , “A Very Brief Introduction to Open 382 (2007); and Harry E Pence and Barbara Lo- Access,” soff, “Going beyond the textbook: The need to http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/brief.ht integrate open access primary literature into the m, and Scholarly Publishing and Academic Chemistry curriculum,” Chemistry Central Jour- Resources Coalition (SPARC), “Open Access,” nal 5 (2011). http://www.arl.org/sparc/openaccess/. 10 Kathleen A. Newman, Deborah D. Blecic, and 3 Jennifer McLennan, "Welcome to Open Access Kimberly L. Armstrong, "Scholarly Week 2010," http://www.openaccessweek.org. Communication Education Initiatives: SPEC Kit 299," SPEC Kit 299 (2007): 16. 4 Hillary Corbett, "The Crisis in Scholarly Communication, Part I: Understanding the 11 Jamaica Jones, Andrew Waller, and Jennifer Issues and Engaging Your Faculty," Technical McLennan, "Open Access Week: Library Services Quarterly 26, no. 2 (2009): 130. Corbett Strategies for Advancing Change," Research aptly describes scholarly communication pro- Library Issues: A Bimonthly Report from ARL, CNI, grams as having “personalities”. and SPARC 2010; Anne Gilliland, "Evaluating Open Access Day 2009 at Ohio State University," 5 Kara J. Malenfant, "Leading Change in the Evidenced Based Library and Information Practice 5, System of Scholarly Communication: A Case no. 4 (2010). Study of Engaging Liaison Librarians for Outreach to Faculty," College & Research Libraries 12 Several websites and organizations point to 71(2010): 69. resources that can be used freely such as those made available through SPARC 6 Joy Kirchner, "Scholarly Communications: (http://www.arl.org/sparc/resources/index.sh Planning for the Integration of Liaison Librarian tml), the Open Access Week website Roles," in Research Library Issues: A Bimonthly (http://www.openaccessweek.org/), and the Report for ARL, CNI, and SPARC (2009): 22. OA Directory “Educational Materials about OA” section 7 Carole L. Palmer, Lauren C. Teffeau, and Mark (http://oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/Educationa P. Newton, “Strategies for Institutional l_materials_about_OA). Repository Development: A Case Study of Three Evolving Initiatives,” Library Trends 57, no. 2 13 Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources (2008):159-160. Coalition, "Right to Research: The Student Guide to Opening Access to Scholarship," (2008). 8 Corbett, "The Crisis in Scholarly Communication, Part I”: 133. 14 Oregon State University College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, "COAS Open Access 9 See Charles W. Bailey, Jr. Transforming Scholarly Policy," Publishing through Open Access: A Bibliography http://www.coas.oregonstate.edu/media/Ope (Houston: Digital Scholarship, 2010), n_Access_Policy.pdf. http://digital- scholarship.org/tsp/transforming.htm. For ex- 15 Andrea A. Wirth and Faye A. Chadwell, amples of commentary on open access in discip- “Rights Well: An Authors’ Rights Workshop for lines other than librarianship, see: Jackie W. Librarians,” portal: Libraries and the Academy 10, no. 3, (2010).

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16 Examples of articles addressing aspects of in- stitutional repository assessment include: Ronald C. Jantz and Myoung C. Wilson, “Institutional Repositories: Faculty Deposits, Marketing, and the Reform of Scholarly Communication,” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 34, no. 3, (2008); Palmer, Teffeau, and Newton, “Strategies for Institutional Repository Development”; and Mary Westell, "Institutional repositories: proposed indicators of success," Library Hi Tech 24, no. 2 (2006).

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