ACRL selects consultants for new research environment and scholarly communication system project

CHICAGO – The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has selected the team of Rebecca R. Kennison (Principal, K|N Consultants Ltd.) and Nancy L. Maron (Founder, BlueSky to BluePrint, LLC) to design, develop, and deliver a new report on effective and promising practices within the research environment and scholarly communication system and identify areas where further research is needed. The researchers will be particularly looking to include the perspectives of historically underrepresented communities to expand the profession’s understanding of these environments and systems.

The team was selected after an open and competitive request for proposals to investigate and write an action-oriented report that provides an update on progress since the publication of ACRL’s 2007 white paper Establishing a Research Agenda for Scholarly Communication: A Call for Community Engagement. This new report will provide an overview of trends, identify effective and promising practices, and delineate important questions where deeper inquiry is needed to accelerate the transition to more open, inclusive, and equitable systems of scholarship. The project will be informed by interviews, a review of the scholarly literature, advances in practice, and focus groups with diverse voices across the profession.  

“We are excited to be working with Rebecca and Nancy on this project, which will both guide academic librarians on actions that can be taken now to promote a more open system of scholarship and identify essential areas that merit further investigation,” remarked ACRL Executive Director Mary Ellen K. Davis.

The team of Kennison and Maron will work closely with ACRL’s Research and Scholarly Environment Committee, as well as targeted participants in the interviews and focus groups and the broader community via open public forums to share progress and solicit feedback.

Their work began in late March 2018 and the first online open forum is being scheduled for this spring, followed by an in-person open forum at the 2018 ALA Annual Conference on Sunday, June 24, from 4:00 to 5:30 pm. A first draft of the report is due this fall. A final document of publishable quality, approximately 30 pages in length, is due in December 2018 for public release in early 2019. Read more about project deliverables and timeline in an excerpt of the successful proposal.

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The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) is the higher education association for librarians. Representing nearly 10,500 academic and research librarians and interested individuals, ACRL (a division of the American Library Association) develops programs, products and services to help academic and research librarians learn, innovate and lead within the academic community. Founded in 1940, ACRL is committed to advancing learning and transforming scholarship. ACRL is on the web at acrl.org, Facebook at facebook.com/ala.acrl and Twitter at @ala_acrl.