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RLI 262 1 The University’s Role in the Dissemination of Research and Scholarship—A Call to Action Association of American Universities Association of Research Libraries Coalition for Networked Information National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges On August 4, 2008, four leading associations serving research universities, listed above, convened a roundtable discussion engaging provosts, chief research officers, chief information officers, senior faculty, and library and university press directors to identify actions that should be taken to expand the dissemination of the full range of products of the university community’s research and scholarship. Informed by that discussion, the four sponsoring organizations jointly prepared a “Call to Action” statement intended to provide guidance to each organization and its members. The statement strongly urges campus leaders to take action in developing new policies and strategies that promote dissemination of the full range of products of the research enterprise. Selections from that document are included here. To view the full Call to Action, please visit http://www.arl.org/disseminating_research_2009. T without effective and ongoing dissemination of knowledge, thehe production of new knowledge through the practices of researchand scholarship lies at the heart of the university’s mission. Yet Introduction efforts of researchers and scholars are wasted. Dissemination is thus a core responsibility of the university. Traditionally universities have relied largely on formal publication systems to ensure dissemination in addition to their critical function in vetting new scholarship, but digital technologies have opened the door to an additional and much broader range of dissemination possibilities and have generated entirely new forms of content that must be shared. This shift demands that universities take on a much more active role in ensuring dissemination of the knowledge produced by their institutions—both now and in the future. The shift also FEBRUARY 2009 RESEARCH LIBRARY ISSUES: A BIMONTHLY REPORT FROM ARL, CNI, AND SPARC