12 · Survey Results: Executive Summary
literature reveals a new trend. Two-thirds of the re-
sponding libraries (46, or 65%) reported that their li-
brarians serve as secondary authors in non-library
publishing and 27 (38%) indicated that librarians are
serving as primary authors in non-library publishing.
The low number of responses to the query regarding
more supporting roles confirms the trend: only 17 pro-
vide proofreading services (24%) and 15 provide edit-
ing services (21%). The comments indicate that libraries
more often provide these services through referral.
The top non-library fields in which librarian au-
thors are publishing are history (16 responses), medi-
cine (16), nursing (13), and English (12). Others range
from political science (2) to biology (7). This question
did not specifically exclude library publishing, but
only 7 of the 48 respondents indicated in the “other”
category that they were writing for publication in
library literature. While it is tempting to infer that
librarians are co-authoring with university faculty,
further research is needed to determine if this is the
case or if librarians are publishing individually in
non-library fields.
Library Services that Support Place of Publication
Decisions
In all but two of the 68 responding libraries, librarians
are consulting with faculty on where and how they
should publish. They provide consultation and train-
ing on authors’ rights, including copyright manage-
ment, and they identify open access and commercial
journals for possible publication. Newer services are
being offered by fewer but still significant numbers
of these libraries. Nearly half provide funding for
open access article fees, 27 are helping faculty navi-
gate the manuscript submission process (39%), and 14
are actually representing the faculty author in rights
negotiations (21%). This representation is new and
noteworthy. One in five responding libraries have
embraced this new role, meaning that faculty at 1 in
5 universities represented by the respondents to this
survey are placing their confidence in the library to
provide this crucial service. This has long been an
area where librarians have wanted to guide faculty,
so while these numbers remain relatively low they
represent a significant breakthrough. The comments
identifying the “other staff” providing these services
reflect this trend with consistent references to copy-
right librarians, offices, and advisory services.
When asked to describe how library staff are help-
ing faculty navigate the manuscript submission pro-
cess, there are again consistent references to copyright
transfer, author rights agreement, rights to images, etc.
Other assistance provided, as noted by respondents,
include interpreting submission guidelines, aiding
compliance with funder mandates, and negotiating
publication contracts.
Facilitation of Open Access Publishing
The growth of open access (OA) publishing provides
libraries with momentum in publishing support.
Opportunities have arisen for libraries to advise fac-
ulty on locating OA journals for publication, to host
OA journals locally, and to advocate usage of insti-
tutional repositories for deposit of published works.
Conversations with faculty about OA publishing also
provide opportunities for librarians to discuss the
need for scholarly publishing reform. Unfortunately,
the rise of OA publishing and librarian engagement in
it has not similarly led to a comparable rise in imple-
mentation of OA policies on university campuses.
Thirty-three of 70 respondents (47%) reported that
their institution has no OA policy and that none is
presently under consideration. Of the remaining sur-
vey respondents, 17 are considering a policy (24%),
and 15 have a policy implemented (21%). An additional
five have passed a policy but not implemented it (7%).
Of the 15 implemented OA policies, eight apply to
the entire institution, four apply only to library fac-
ulty, and the remaining three policies only apply to a
select group of the institution’s faculty. While respon-
dents were not asked if the OA policy at their institu-
tion was a mandate or merely an endorsement of OA,
comments reveal that a large portion of the policies
are voluntary in nature with the word “encourage(s)”
being most used to describe faculty relationship with
the OA policy. Also, at 14 of 23 institutions that have
or are considering a policy (61%), the policy does not
grant the institution a prior non-exclusive license to
the faculty/researcher’s publications.
Over half of the institutions represented by the
survey respondents are providing financial support
to their faculty and researchers to publish in OA
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