ACRL selects Scholarly Communication 101 Road Show hosts
Contact: Kara Malenfant
ACRL Scholarly Communications and
Government Relations Specialist
(312) 280-2510
kmalenfant@ala.org
NEWS
For Immediate Release
April 28, 2009
CHICAGO – The Scholarly Communications Committee of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has selected five sites from 46 applications to host the “Scholarly Communication 101: Starting with the Basics” workshop this summer. Recognizing that scholarly communication issues are central to the work of all academic librarians and all types of institutions, ACRL is underwriting the costs of delivering this proven content by sending expert presenters on the road.
The institutions selected are:
- ACRL Louisiana Chapter, Baton Rouge, La.
- Auraria Library, Denver
- State University of New York at Buffalo Libraries, Buffalo, N.Y.
- University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
- Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis
“At a time of cuts in travel budgets for libraries and librarians, ACRL is providing this valuable educational experience at locations all across the country. It is vital to the work of all academic librarians to understand the basics of the evolving scholarly communication system,” said Richard Fyffe, ACRL Scholarly Communications Committee co-chair and Rosenthal librarian of the college at Grinnell College. “We want to be sure that during this time of constrained budgets, the momentum for encouraging positive change in scholarly publishing not be lost.”
The 46 applications represented nearly 150 colleges, universities, consortia and library networks from more than 30 states, Canada and Puerto Rico. “The amount of interest in this program really underscores its importance,” noted Kimberly Douglas, ACRL Scholarly Communications Committee co-chair and university librarian at the California Institute of Technology. “All of the applications were well-crafted and presented great arguments for their sites; this certainly provided for a very competitive selection process. Given the strong demand, we are considering how best to extend this to a broader community, perhaps through Webcasts and other virtual offerings.”
Led by two expert presenters, this structured interactive overview of the scholarly communication system supports individual or institutional strategic planning and action. The workshop focuses on new methods of scholarly publishing and communication, open access and openness as a principle, copyright and intellectual property and economics, providing a foundational understanding for attendees.
Host sites are partnering with other institutions in their area to extend the reach to as diverse an audience as possible. Library staff, including liaison librarians, catalogers, access services and senior management from two-year, liberal arts, master’s, comprehensive and doctoral institutions will attend the workshops.
Learn more about ACRL’s scholarly communication initiatives at
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/scholcomm/scholarlycommunication.cfm.
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ACRL is a division of the American Library Association, representing more than 13,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community to understand the role that academic libraries play in the teaching, learning and research environments.
