Against the Grain

Volume 27 | Issue 2 Article 17

2015 ATG Interviews: Heather Joseph, Executive Director, SPARC Bob Schatz BioMed Central, [email protected]

Tom Gilson Against the Grain, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/atg Part of the Library and Information Science Commons

Recommended Citation Schatz, Bob and Gilson, Tom (2015) "ATG Interviews: Heather Joseph, Executive Director, SPARC," Against the Grain: Vol. 27: Iss. 2, Article 17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/2380-176X.7041

This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. ATG Interviews Heather Joseph Executive Director, Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) by Bob Schatz (North American Sales Manager, BioMed Central)

ATG/BS: Reviewing the past is frequently advocacy: promoting (and managing) the a good way to understand the present. How development of new open textbooks. Is that a about if we begin with your explaining what correct characterization? If so, does this put SPARC is, your role in it, and how it fits within SPARC in a more adversarial role in relation the Association of Research Libraries (since to “traditional” publishers? your email ends in arl.org)? HJ: It’s true that our advocacy around HJ: Good place to start! SPARC was Open Educational Resources specifically founded in 1997 as an initiative of the Asso- encourages not only the adoption of Open ciation of Research Libraries to address a textbooks and other OERs, but also their cre- chronic problem facing the library community: ation. This can take on many different forms, the high — and ever-increasing — cost of from providing financial resources to support journal subscriptions. The idea for SPARC the development of new materials, to vetting was born out of the collective frustration of the and evaluating resources as they evolve, to member libraries on ARL’s Board of Directors contributing specific content. While some that no amount of discussion was ever going might feel that this is departure in terms of the to solve this problem, and that concrete action traditional role of libraries, we do not. was needed. I like to think of it as the library Libraries have, of course, always been community’s “Network” moment, where some- well positioned to facilitate the location of one leans out the window and yells “I’m mad high-quality open resources, but over the past as hell, and I’m not going take it anymore...” decade, they’ve also increasingly moved into So channeling that frustration into some- a more active role in facilitating their creation. thing productive, the ARL Directors created Dozens of libraries have established active SPARC, which was given the specific charge “open access funds” to support authors who of being a “catalyst for action” in the scholarly SPARC?” is that it is an open access advocacy choose to publish in OA journals, for example. communications marketplace. It was tasked group. How comfortable are you with the When these funds began to surface, they were with finding ways that libraries could collec- description? certainly a new phenomena — we hadn’t seen tively leverage the power of digital technolo- HJ: I’d say that’s a fair characterization. libraries establishing funds to pay publication gies to more effectively and efficiently distrib- We have definitely become well known for our fees like page charges or color charges for ute research articles and, in doing so, relieve advocacy in promoting open access to research authors to publish in subscription access jour- some of the financial pressures libraries were articles, and we are very proud of that work. nals, for example. But this is now an accepted facing. It sounds like a pretty broad charge, When the Budapest Open Access Initiative practice, and it help set a precedent for libraries but when you drill down, it actually gave us was convened, it was in a sense to ask folks to also move into more active financial support quite specific parameters for our strategies to think about the answer to the question, “If of other educational materials like textbook. and programs. we could rebuild the system of how scholars At the same time, we’re also observing And if you look at SPARC’s earliest pro- and researchers share the results of their work, a growing trend of libraries moving into the grams, you can see that they were tailored to and optimize it to serve their needs first, what publishing space in other ways, with more exactly address this charge by attempting to would it look like?” And we at SPARC cer- and more university presses and libraries introduce new lower-cost, online journals into tainly think that open access — the immediate, collaborating closely as business units on our the market to provide competition to some free availability of online articles coupled with campuses. The emergence of the Library Pub- of the more expensive journals. For the first the rights to use those articles fully in digital lishing Consortium is a good illustration of this. several years of its existence, SPARC tinkered environment — fills that bill. There seems to be a growing momentum with this strategy, working to find ways to That said, while we spent the better part of a behind the idea of higher education institutions make it scale through aggregation projects and decade almost completely focused on scholarly playing a much more active role in the creation, communities practice — BioOne being a prime articles, over the past two years, we’ve made distribution and, ultimately, ownership of the example of this. some pretty aggressive moves to expand our content generated on their campuses. This may However, one of the crucial lessons we program areas to cover other elements in the very well feel like competition to traditional learned along the way was that creating mean- research, teaching and learning process that we publishers, but competition is part of keeping a ingful change using this strategy was going to feel it is vital to expand the open sharing of as marketplace healthy, and our member libraries be an uphill battle, unless some of the funda- well, specifically research data and educational have a key role to play here. mental assumptions about how the scholarly resources. We feel strongly that making sure ATG/BS: I suspect many publishers would communication marketplace operated were that both of these outputs are readily accessible say that there’s much more to managing a challenged, and some of the underlying rules and fully usable under similar open terms and publishing enterprise than meets the eye. of the game were changed. This led SPARC conditions as articles is vital in creating a ro- Do you think libraries appreciate the work into shifting its focus towards reimaging how bust environment for our students, faculty and involved and are prepared to take on the many the system could be optimized for scholars and researchers (not to mention those in the private functions required to maintain that enterprise researchers, and into a strategy that focused sector and members of the general public) to at acceptable standards? more on education and policy advocacy to help advance their work. HJ: This is a critical point. Having spent such a system evolve — and that’s where our ATG/BS: It is clear that the scope of advo- 15 years as a managing editor and publisher primary emphasis is today. cacy at SPARC is expanding, and that’s worth of journals, I do see that people sometimes ATG/BS: When you say “optimized for exploring more deeply. In the presentations underestimate the time commitment and com- scholars and researchers” is that defined as I’ve seen by SPARC personnel about open plexities that managing a robust publishing just open access? I ask because the common educational materials, it seems that SPARC operation entails. I’ve seen this occur with response I get when I ask people, “What is is taking on a more proactive role than mere continued on page 36

Against the Grain / April 2015 35 addressing this issue. The Open Access Schol- educate funders about the further potential of Interview — Heather Joseph arly Publishers Association (OASPA), for digital repositories to not only provide a point from page 35 example, provides a locus for the development for researchers to store and access data, but of standards and best practices in this arena, to also provide a potentially robust working start-up publishers both inside and outside of as does the Confederation of Open Access environment for researchers to actively inter- the library community. However, it is certainly Repositories (COAR). Collaborating with act with data. It’s an incredibly rich area for not always the case, and libraries do have the NISO and similar organizations on this front libraries to explore. unique advantage of being nested in the heart would certainly be a welcome development. of the research enterprise on campuses, which ATG/BS: Speaking of funders, what’s ATG/BS: Your mention of repositories can help position them to be responsive to the your take on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foun- touches on the issue of data: its capture, evolving needs of scholars and researchers. dation decision to go from a public access access and curation. I understand SPARC We are also seeing a growing trend of much mandate, allowing for an embargo period, for is moving more actively into issues related closer relationships with university presses and published research from projects it funds to to data management. Can you discuss what libraries, which provides a terrific opportunity an open access mandate, insisting on “born initiatives are developing? I also understand for traditional publishing expertise to be shared open” upon publication, in 2017? Do you that you’ve recently been appointed to the and deployed in new ways. think this is going to put pressure on other Department of Commerce’s Data Advisory funders and governmental agencies to rethink That said, I would also point out that Council. What is that, and what role do you mandates that allow for embargo periods? when we think about the concept of libraries see playing in that group? HJ: I like the way you’ve characterized as publishers, we should also be thinking the HJ: SPARC’s program areas have indeed publication of non-traditional scholarly outputs the move by the Gates Foundation! To me, been expanding! While we have long been it represents a seismic shift in the policy en- as well as articles. The development of digi- interested in promoting practices and policies tal institutional repositories coupled with the vironment. Policy development is, by nature, that support the open sharing of research data, incremental, and the funder policies we’ve seen growing production of digital data — and the we’ve struggled to find the time and resources demand for sharing this data in new ways — is to date have all contained (to greater and lesser to develop a serious program around it. Happi- degrees) components that Open Access advo- an opportunity for libraries to serve as publish- ly, we recently received funding to specifically ers of an entirely new generation of outputs. cates consider compromises — I’m thinking support the establishment of a full advocacy specifically of the inclusion of embargo periods ATG/BS: Having said that, it is clear program to work with research funders (both and the exclusion of any specific guidance on that an increasing number of commercial public and private) to develop Open Data poli- reuse rights. That was largely to be expected, publishers are initiating and expanding their cies that are harmonized around a common set as it was a very big leap to expect subscription open access offerings. What impact do you of principles, and that promote full accessibility journal publishers to move away from a model think that has on the overall open access en- and reuse of data. that had been functioning for hundreds of vironment? And as OA expands in general, We’re hopeful that the more coordinated years to a completely new model overnight. do you see any discoverability issues affecting funder policies are in this area, the lighter the But more than a decade into the Open Access access to open access articles? There seems compliance burden will ultimately be on the movement, the ground has been much more to be some concern about that among public research community. We’re already working fully prepared for this new model to success- services librarians. on sketching out a set of common policy fully take root. We’ve got thousands of viable HJ: Competition is an indicator of healthy requirements — including breaking out some Open Access journals that authors can publish market, and I consider the addition of any of the common elements in data management in, as well as several thousand well-established high-quality Open Access journal options a plans — to help the SPARC library community open digital repositories, and this provides the positive development, whether the publisher is prepare in advance for new policies that are kind of solid infrastructure that gives all stake- a large commercial player, a small non-profit likely to come down the pike. holders more confidence that providing Open organization, or a completely new kind of en- The focus on Open Data has certainly been Access is not only possible — it’s sustainable. trant. The trick is, of course, to make sure the exploding, not only here in Washington, but So I think it is a very hopeful sign that the market stays healthy and functioning properly, around the world. The new Commerce Data Gates Foundation have chosen to move the to ensure we don’t end up with an APC market Advisory Council (CDAC) that you men- needle forward towards full Open Access. I do that mirrors the pricing dysfunctions that have tioned is just one reflection of how quickly data think that other funders will watch how things plagued the subscription journal market. It’s has moved into a position of priority for policy play out with this new, “born open” policy, important that the academic community as a makers. The Council is tasked with helping and quite possibly choose to take another look whole (including publishers) play an active to guide the Commerce Department’s “data at their own policies. It’s a nice thought that role in facilitating financial transparency so that revolution,” (their words!) which aims to foster we might see additional pressure that can help the true costs of supporting quality open access innovation, help create jobs and drive better bring the new ideas contained in scientific and publishing can be fully understood. Financial decision-making throughout our economy and scholarly journal articles even more quickly, decisions should be informed by evaluating society. I love the positivity and energy that the and to make them even more useful to a wider the true value of the product provided against Department is bringing to the table in rising to audience than they currently are. the price of the product — not driven by lack this challenge, and am humbled to have been of choice. ATG/BS: So one final question. As is asked to serve along with an amazing group of entirely possible, what if you find yourself in As the Open Access journal market contin- people from organizations ranging from Ebay, the middle of a large lake in a rowboat with a ues to expand, it will face all of the challenges Intel and GE to Code for America and the researcher, an ARL librarian and a scholarly that any emerging (and rapidly growing) mar- Center for Data Innovation. The range of publisher. What would you tell each of these ket faces. Many of the new players in the Open perspectives around the table should make for people to expect their scholarly environments Access journal-publishing space have been some lively discussions! to look like in five years? new, small, single-title producers, and we have We’re also quite excited about having li- HJ: Ah, yes, as so many of us do, I often seen some challenges arise in terms of ensuring braries (and the higher education institutions hold important professional discussions whilst effective discoverability of all of the materials they are a part of) work collaboratively with punting about in a rowboat. they are producing. The availability of articles researcher funders on Open Data policy devel- in a growing array of Open Access repositories opment so that we can take advantage of the Once I get past the great visual your ques- adds another layer of complexity to the situa- infrastructure that our community has already tion conjures up and hopefully dispel the notion tion as well. I think the good news here is that invested in developing — for example, digital that any of the boats inhabitants are waving increasing discoverability is in the interest of repositories — by making sure that they are their oars threateningly at me, my answer is all players involved, and the community has part of the compliance solutions for data po- probably disappointingly non-radical. Having organizations that are well-positioned to help in lices. We also are taking this opportunity to continued on page 37 36 Against the Grain / April 2015 063-1C R2 7.125x4.875 B-W ad:063-1A 7/28/14 9:45 AM Page 1

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path forward. The pressure has led to the Interview — Heather Joseph majority of established subscription access Rumors from page 36 journal publishers changing models and from page 24 establishing Open Access options, to be been part of the scholarly communications sure, but it’s also led libraries to rethink because of the push for maximum publications. See community for about 25 years now, I re- their budget allocations, and to provide this issue, p.52. alize that change happens incrementally ways to support these new OA journals. Wish I could have been there — the opening of the and slowly. There won’t be one sweeping The pressure has led research funders to Weston Library which opened 20 March, 2015. It piece of legislation or radical technological establish new expectations for what authors is now “the place to see and be seen.” Read all about development that changes the picture for must do with articles that report on their it this issue, p.66. any of us — librarian, researcher, publisher funded research, but it has also led authors — overnight. to become more aware of what their rights Lots of mergers, consolidations, buyouts have been happening. For example, EBSCO has been However, one interesting and encour- are as authors, and more vocal about what very active. They bought YBP in February and re- aging characteristic of incremental change they value the ability to be able to do with cently have bought Learning Express, LLC which is that it tends to be cumulative — so the their own works. The changes we’ve seen is an educational technology company that provides small steps forward we take in the next five — and that we’ll continue to see — play out eLearning solutions for workplace skill-building, pro- years will be added onto the progress we’ve in an atmosphere where a certain amount fessional development, and academic success. They made to date. When we look back over of balance is necessary, and I just don’t see partner with libraries, institutions, corporations, and our shoulders at the total mileage we’ve that changing. government agencies to provide customized online logged on this road towards a more open That said, SPARC will still be sitting learning resources, employee engagement solutions, system, we’ll be surprised at the distance in the rowboat asking the question, “Are and skills development content. we’ve come. we doing everything we possibly can to https://www.ebsco.com/blog/article/ebsco-ac- create the ideal way for scholarly works to I also think that the unrelenting nature of quires-learningexpress-learn-why the pressure to improve the system of schol- be shared and built upon?” over and over arly communications has had another inter- again, and doing our best to back up our http://www.learningexpresshub.com/corporate/about- esting effect: people under similar pressures words with positive, productive action. us/mission tend to find ways to work together to find ATG/BS: Thanks for taking the time ProQuest (through its affiliate Bowker) has ways to improve their collective situations. to chat, Heather. acquired Palo Alto-based SIPX creator of a digital We’ve certainly seen lots of examples that course materials solution that addresses a variety of HJ: It has been my pleasure. happening as researchers, publishers, librar- copyright and cost,concerns for universities. De- ians and funders have struggled through veloped from Stanford University research, SIPX the past decade to try and carve a sensible continued on page 42

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