Call Agenda

You can find all the proposed agendas and minutes from our OpenCon librarian community calls here.

Joining details

To join the conference call from your computer, go to https://www.uberconference.com/SPARCconference.

To join the conference by phone within the US, dial 855 277 1599. To join the conference by phone outside of the US, see https://www.uberconference.com/international. This page provides local dial-in numbers for 50 countries. If available, you can dial into the local number for your country then enter our conference line information when prompted (phone number: 855 277 1599). If a local dial-in number isn’t available for your country, we suggest you either login from your computer using the instructions above or dial the US number using Skype.

For more information, visit http://www.opencon2016.org/january_2017_librarian_call.

SPARC is pleased to release a new, integrated resource for tracking, comparing, and understanding U.S. federal agencies’ article and data sharing policies. This free tool combines a new analysis of federal public access plans for sharing peer-reviewed research articles with the federal data sharing policy resource that SPARC launched earlier this year in partnership with Johns Hopkins University Libraries. The resource is available at researchsharing.sparcopen.org

On Wednesday, November 2nd, at 3pm EDT / 12pm PDT, SPARC will host a webcast to demonstrate this new resource and explore how libraries are taking the lead in supporting compliance with federal public access policies, featuring representatives from Florida State University and Emory University. The webcast is open to all SPARC members, and registration is free but required. SPARC members can click here to register for this webcast.

This integrated policy resource can be used by researchers, librarians, policy makers, and other stakeholders to explore and compare agency plans for sharing articles and data. The new article-sharing analysis provides a tool for tracking practical information that can be used by active or prospective grant awardees to understand when, how, and where they need to make their manuscripts accessible, including links to each agency’s submission portal. As with the data-sharing resource, it will be updated as additional federal agency plans are released and analyzed and as current plans are revised.

This resource is openly available at researchsharing.sparcopen.org under a CC0 waiver. Additionally, the entire dataset of the policy analyses can be downloaded without restriction from the site under the same terms.

Over the past year there has been much interest in and conversation around the implications of libraries rethinking the strategic implications of how many of their operations - and in particular, their collections budgets, are positioned within the organization. Of particular note are libraries who are experimenting with moving their collections budgets under - and in service of - their scholarly communications program. The ACRL/SPARC Forum at ALA Midwinter will continue this conversation by showcasing institutions who are currently engaged in these activities. It will also address ways in which your library and you might consider engaging in this work at your home institution.

Confirmed speakers include:

Greg Eow, Associate Director for Collections, MIT Libraries

Sharon E. Farb, Associate University Librarian and Chief Content Strategist, UCLA Library

Allyson Rodriguez, Strategic Collections Librarian, University of North Texas

I visited with Joseph at SPARC’s Washington, D.C., office for a wide-ranging conversation about past progress, the state of open access today, the road ahead, and how open access could change the role of academic librarians. Our discussion has been condensed and edited.

Most faculty members say data-driven assessments and accountability efforts aren’t helping them improve the quality of teaching and learning at their colleges and universities, according to the 2016 Inside Higher Ed Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology.

This afternoon, Vice President Biden presented a comprehensive report on his Cancer Moonshot Initiative during an event at the White House. He noted that while the Moonshot has sparked a new sense of urgency in the cancer research arena, large challenges remain, including a lack of coordination among researchers, an outdated research funding culture, and (no surprise here) the continued slow communication of crucial information about the disease.

The report lists an impressive and growing set of commitments that have been made to date by both government and the private sector to support the initiative, and makes additional recommendations on accelerating progress towards cancer treatments and cures.

The report directly addresses recommendations to accelerate the open sharing of cancer research data as well as clinical trial results. In fact, “Unleashing the Power of Data” is the second of five primary strategic goals of the initiative. The report specifically calls for "enabling a seamless data environment for clinical and research data through shared policies and technologies,” as well as “developing a scientific workforce capable of using an open and connected data environment.”

While the report does give a nod to opening up access to research articles, highlighting the need to “unlock scientific advances through open publication and storage platforms,” it stops short of providing any concrete recommendations on requiring open access to research articles or to their underlying data.

The theme of opening and accelerating the sharing of basic research outputs is consistently woven throughout the report, as is the need to create an incentive structure that is better aligned with the key goals of the Moonshot Initiative. This provides us with clear, continued opportunities to press for and support additional progress in both the open data and open access fronts.

As President Obama has entered his last 100 days in office, this report will serve as an important blueprint for the incoming administration. We’ll continue to work with all relevant players - from the White House, to Federal Agencies to Congress - who are or who will be directly involved in the initiative's implementation on additional strategies to advance our collective “open” agenda.

The University of Kansas Libraries, Open Access Network (a project of K|N Consultants), Allen Press, and SPARC are co-sponsoring an international symposium, “Envisioning a World Beyond APCs/BPCs,” in Lawrence, Kansas, on Thursday and Friday, November 17-18. The symposium will consider current models available for achieving an expansive, inclusive, and balanced worldwide open publishing ecosystem.

The symposium will provide a public, live-streamed session during which internationally respected scholars, publishers, university librarians, and executives from foundations and organizations will address advanced questions and problems in the open access movement. Additional meetings will explore the future of “openness” in scholarly publishing, responding to and furthering discussions from last December’s Berlin 12 Open Access invitational conference, which focused on “flipping” the current subscription model of scholarly publishing to one that provides free access to readers paid for by article-processing charges from authors or their institutions.

Kevin L. Smith, dean of KU Libraries, will moderate the live-streamed conversation on Thursday, November 17, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. CST. By streaming part of the symposium, the organizers hope to engage a broad international audience in a lively discussion. During the broadcast, panelists will describe their vision for an open access future. Panelists, local respondents, and the global viewing audience will be able to engage together in thought-provoking dialog to address one of the most fundamental questions in the open access movement currently: To what extent can a global academic community create an open access publishing system that is without costs to readers or authors. Watch the livestream and participate via Twitter using #KUOASymp16.

The following international group of participants will be joining the symposium at KU: Juan Pablo Alperin, Simon Fraser University; Ivy Anderson, California Digital Library; Raym Crow, SPARC; Mark Edington, Amherst College Press; Martin Eve, University of London / Open Library of the Humanities; Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Modern Language Association of America; Eve Gray, Scholarly Communication in Africa Programme; Jean-Claude Guédon, Université de Montréal; Lorraine Haricombe, University of Texas - Austin Libraries; Neil Jacobs, JISC; Heather Joseph, SPARC; Rebecca Kennison, K|N Consultants / Open Access Network; Mary Rose Muccie, Temple University Press; Williams Nwagwu, Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa; Charlotte Roh, University of San Francisco; Ralf Schimmer, Max Planck Institute; Kathleen Shearer, COAR (Confederation of Open Access Repositories); Dave Shulenburger, Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities; and John Willinsky, Stanford University.

Participants from KU will include faculty members Marc L. Greenberg, Director of the School of Language, Literatures, & Cultures and Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, and Town Peterson, University Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Representing the Libraries will be Kevin L. Smith, Dean of Libraries; Ada Emmett, Librarian and Director of the Office of Scholarly Communication & Copyright; Brian Rosenblum, Scholarly Digital Initiatives Librarian; Josh Bolick, Scholarly Communication Librarian; and Musa Olaka, Associate Librarian for African, Global, and International Studies.

OpenCon is more than a conference. It’s a platform for the next generation to learn about Open Access, Open Education, and Open Data, develop critical skills, and catalyze action toward a more open system for sharing the world’s information—from scholarly and scientific research, to educational materials, to digital research data. OpenCon 2016 will be held in Washington, DC on November 12-14, with satellite events hosted around the world.