62 · Survey Results: Survey Questions and Responses
support, and managing the web site — also devote substantial resources to this purpose. The embedded nature of this
embrace of change is perhaps best illustrated by the recent decision by the Libraries’ faculty to impose a public access
mandate upon their own scholarship and research communication. This commitment to walking the walk ourselves
perhaps reflects a different philosophy than that of SC led by one or a few.
Following the adoption of a faculty open access policy in 2009, the Libraries’ SC role expanded from a single position
dedicated to providing education and raising awareness, to a much broader effort involving an array of existing staff
whose priorities were adjusted to allow for implementing and supporting the open access policy. During and following
an overall Libraries’ reorganization in 2010, the organization of scholarly communication services was adapted to
accommodate this expanded involvement and the increasingly high profile of the effort.
Library faculty have passed a resolution in support of open access publishing within their discipline.
Our institution is very disinclined towards resolutions/mandates/policies so it is unlikely to ever pass any kind of open
access policy. Faculty are allowed to determine their own positions. Some faculty are very interested in open access but
many are not and consequently our support of SC is more focused on what faculty express as their needs rather than
trying to push a particular agenda.
Our local efforts center on the work of the Endowed Chair for Scholarly Communication who maintains a large portfolio
of scholarly communication issues within and beyond the local institution. The endowed chair is actively involved in
national associations and legal conversations about the scope of copyright in the modern age, and its relationship
and influence on the scholarly communication system. The chair funding exists in recognition of the central roles that
libraries must serve in the information age. The data gathering and curation initiatives have made the conversation
much more complex to the extent that the range of stakeholders enlarged exponentially and to the extent that data
holds a multiplicity of meaning across the university culture and beyond among data driven technology systems and
cultures. The key among these increasingly diverse activities under the scholarly communication umbrella is education
and consensus understanding of the nature of problems and how to best address them in resource poor environments
and at a fundamentally local level.
Responsibilities diffused through several library units. Services, however, are concentrated in Scholarly Communication
Center, especially as they relate to the institutional repository (RUCore), ETDs &data management (RUResearch). Foster
Center at the Douglass Library provides means of developing scholarly media. Committee on Scholarly Communication
is developing policy and processes in all areas of SC.
The SC initiatives of the institution have mainly been undertaken and accomplished by the Libraries, in some cases
working with specific units or departments on campus (adding materials to the IR). This year we hope to engage
faculties so that Senate will sign the COPE compact. Also working with research services to look at the implementation
of ORCID.
The Libraries lack sufficient human resources to mount the types of extensive SC initiatives seen elsewhere that would
encompass many or most of the activities noted elsewhere. Our faculty appear relatively cool to the idea of open access,
in part due to increasing emphasis over the past decade on publishing in high impact journals for P&T and faculty merit.
P&T policies and practices here are relatively conservative and not amenable with the broad goals of SC although some
senior faculty are sympathetic. We have therefore done little in the SC area compared with others. We have found it
more beneficial and rewarding to focus our energy on an alternate textbook project that helps to promote within the
university and to external audiences the idea of openly shared learning content.
There is also a scholarly communications committee at our institution. Although primary responsibility rests with the
center director, the SCC also plays an important role in educating library staff on SC issues, and advising the library
administration on key SC issues.
support, and managing the web site — also devote substantial resources to this purpose. The embedded nature of this
embrace of change is perhaps best illustrated by the recent decision by the Libraries’ faculty to impose a public access
mandate upon their own scholarship and research communication. This commitment to walking the walk ourselves
perhaps reflects a different philosophy than that of SC led by one or a few.
Following the adoption of a faculty open access policy in 2009, the Libraries’ SC role expanded from a single position
dedicated to providing education and raising awareness, to a much broader effort involving an array of existing staff
whose priorities were adjusted to allow for implementing and supporting the open access policy. During and following
an overall Libraries’ reorganization in 2010, the organization of scholarly communication services was adapted to
accommodate this expanded involvement and the increasingly high profile of the effort.
Library faculty have passed a resolution in support of open access publishing within their discipline.
Our institution is very disinclined towards resolutions/mandates/policies so it is unlikely to ever pass any kind of open
access policy. Faculty are allowed to determine their own positions. Some faculty are very interested in open access but
many are not and consequently our support of SC is more focused on what faculty express as their needs rather than
trying to push a particular agenda.
Our local efforts center on the work of the Endowed Chair for Scholarly Communication who maintains a large portfolio
of scholarly communication issues within and beyond the local institution. The endowed chair is actively involved in
national associations and legal conversations about the scope of copyright in the modern age, and its relationship
and influence on the scholarly communication system. The chair funding exists in recognition of the central roles that
libraries must serve in the information age. The data gathering and curation initiatives have made the conversation
much more complex to the extent that the range of stakeholders enlarged exponentially and to the extent that data
holds a multiplicity of meaning across the university culture and beyond among data driven technology systems and
cultures. The key among these increasingly diverse activities under the scholarly communication umbrella is education
and consensus understanding of the nature of problems and how to best address them in resource poor environments
and at a fundamentally local level.
Responsibilities diffused through several library units. Services, however, are concentrated in Scholarly Communication
Center, especially as they relate to the institutional repository (RUCore), ETDs &data management (RUResearch). Foster
Center at the Douglass Library provides means of developing scholarly media. Committee on Scholarly Communication
is developing policy and processes in all areas of SC.
The SC initiatives of the institution have mainly been undertaken and accomplished by the Libraries, in some cases
working with specific units or departments on campus (adding materials to the IR). This year we hope to engage
faculties so that Senate will sign the COPE compact. Also working with research services to look at the implementation
of ORCID.
The Libraries lack sufficient human resources to mount the types of extensive SC initiatives seen elsewhere that would
encompass many or most of the activities noted elsewhere. Our faculty appear relatively cool to the idea of open access,
in part due to increasing emphasis over the past decade on publishing in high impact journals for P&T and faculty merit.
P&T policies and practices here are relatively conservative and not amenable with the broad goals of SC although some
senior faculty are sympathetic. We have therefore done little in the SC area compared with others. We have found it
more beneficial and rewarding to focus our energy on an alternate textbook project that helps to promote within the
university and to external audiences the idea of openly shared learning content.
There is also a scholarly communications committee at our institution. Although primary responsibility rests with the
center director, the SCC also plays an important role in educating library staff on SC issues, and advising the library
administration on key SC issues.
