Last updated 2/5/18
Principles
Scholarly communication describes the ways that faculty and students produce and share their research and creative works, engaging with a wider community in order to advance knowledge and the broader exchange of ideas.
The introduction of new technologies has made sharing scholarly materials easier. However, due to the rising costs of academic publications, researchers and the public are often unable to access content locked behind paywalls, limiting those who can actively engage in scholarly discourses. Over the long term, these rising costs are also unsustainable for academic libraries.
Temple University Libraries believe that scholarship should be open, transparent, and reproducible and that authors should have control over the works they produce. We support the idea that everyone benefits when knowledge flows freely and that access to information is needed for a fully-functioning democratic society.
We are committed to not only making content more accessible but also empowering researchers at Temple University to better navigate the changing world of scholarship.
Team Purpose
The Scholarly Communication Strategic Steering Team is a cross-functional group of library staff who support Temple University with the production and distribution of research and creative works in both traditional and emerging information landscapes. As a team, we aim to advance open scholarship, facilitate discourse within diverse communities, and establish the Libraries as a leading authority on changes in scholarly communication within Temple University.
The responsibilities of this steering team are as follows:
- Facilitation: We will develop a holistic understanding of scholarly communication activities within the Libraries and the university more broadly in order to make connections for faculty, students, and researchers, improve communication, and reduce duplication of effort.
- Coordination: We will provide support to the Libraries’ working groups, helping them to identify goals, develop policies, measure success, and collaborate with others in the scholarly communication sphere.
- Education: We will foster education and outreach on scholarly communication topics for Temple University.
- Strategic Planning: We will identify areas of need and anticipated future growth within the evolving scholarly communications landscape at Temple.
Goals & Objectives
To enable this, the team will work toward the following objectives in 2018:
Facilitation
- Create an inventory of existing scholarly communication-related services and activities across the Libraries and the university; analyze and share results among vested parties. (Annie)
- Work with the Website Presence Redesign teams and the Communications Strategic Steering Team to increase the visibility of scholarly communication resources and services offered by the Libraries, both on the library website and through social media. (Emily)
Coordination
- Coordinate with the Data Services Strategic Steering Team, Library Technology Development, Digital Library Initiatives, the Research Information Management Library Team, and other relevant groups to launch the institutional repository by defining functional requirements and user needs, including potential workflows and policies. (Rachel)
- Coordinate with Learning and Research Services (LARS) unit heads to systematically incorporate scholarly communication work into liaison librarian activities. (Rebecca)
Education
- Identify learning outcomes to help librarians incorporate scholarly communication skills into instruction and develop a rubric to assess them. (Stephanie)
- Prepare materials for library liaisons and administrators about scholarly communication topics to aid in discussions, reduce gaps in knowledge, ensure consistency across messaging, and reflect our goals. (Kristina)
- Plan and coordinate workshops/outreach focused around relevant local, regional, and/or national scholarly communication events, including, but not limited to, Open Access Week, Open Education Week, and Fair Use Week; assess the impact of these events. (Annie)
Strategic Planning
- Research emerging trends in scholarly communication for academic libraries, documenting our findings and identifying current gaps at Temple University. (Stephanie and Emily)
- Assess current Libraries investments related to open content and open technologies; work with Dean of Libraries and other groups, such as the Collections Strategic Steering Team, to review this data and make a plan for the future. (Annie and Rebecca)
- Assess what we’ve accomplished in our first year and develop appropriate objectives for 2019-2020. (Rachel and Kristina)