Report: “OER Resources to Help Equip Growing Field of ScholComm Librarianship”

From SPARC

With support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Josh Bolick, Maria Bonn, and Will Cross began to build OER + ScholComm in 2017. The strong response from others to join the collaborative project reinforced the need for a bridge between the experiences of practitioners and students.

More than 70 authors have contributed to an open textbook for teaching scholarly communication, Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Culture, now scheduled for publication by ACRL in 2023. The team is also developing an online community/repository —(Scholarly Communication Notebook) — designed as a hub to exchange information and empower others interested in the growing profession. Through a competitive awards process, over 30 individuals were selected to develop resources for the notebook.

“So many library people are being tasked with issues related to scholarly communication – copyright, fair use, open licensing, connecting researchers with resources and supporting publishing,” said Bolick, head of the University of Kansas Libraries’ Shulenburger Office of Scholarly Communication & Copyright. Yet, these topics are not always covered in-depth in library school, leaving professionals to learn on the job, as was the case for Bolick himself.

Cross, a copyright expert and director of the Open Knowledge Center in the North Carolina State University Libraries, said the initiative is a way to help those working in the scholcomm space from all different kinds of institutions understand and add their voice to  the latest resources. “We want to build a community across all sorts of learners and doers—to cross-pollinate perspectives,” he said.  “We need to be inclusive to make space for more and different voices.

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\“So many library people are being tasked with issues related to scholarly communication – copyright, fair use, open licensing, connecting researchers with resources and supporting publishing,” said Bolick, head of the University of Kansas Libraries’ Shulenburger Office of Scholarly Communication & Copyright. Yet, these topics are not always covered in-depth in library school, leaving professionals to learn on the job, as was the case for Bolick himself.

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