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New to the SCN: Bibliodiversity and OER, A Student Perspective

We’re excited to be developing the  Scholarly Communication Notebook (SCN), a hub of open teaching and learning content on scholcomm topics that is both a complement to an open book-level introduction to scholarly communication librarianship (coming along) and a disciplinary and course community for inclusively sharing models and practices. We’re currently working with ISKME to establish the SCN as an OER Commons Hub, coming soon. With generous support from IMLS, we’re pleased to be able to financially support the development of model resources for the SCN. Last fall we issued a CFP (the first of three) for projects to support the initial population of the SCN, and we’re starting to see those projects come to fruition. Here, we’re excited to share the first of a series of posts about those projects. This one, by MLIS student Allison Kittinger, is about a great bibliodiversity project that she and Jennifer Solomon (UNC Chapel Hill) created in Pressbooks: Introduction to Bibliodiversity in Scholarly Communications (also available in the SCN). It’s fantastic to see a collaborative project like this between a student with an interest in SC and an instructor/practitioner like Jennifer; it’s a great example of the sort of thing we’re hoping to see more of in the future! Kudos to both of them! Look for additional posts over the coming months, along with the second of three calls for proposals soon. Here’s Allison introducing their project:

Although I worked in academic publishing for two years, I first learned about the concept of bibliodiversity in Jennifer Solomon’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Open Access class as a library science master’s student at UNC-Chapel Hill. One of our assigned readings was Shearer et al.’s “Fostering Bibliodiversity in Scholarly Communications: A Call for Action!” (2020), which describes bibliodiversity as “Diversity in services and platforms, funding mechanisms, and evaluation measures” allowing “the  scholarly communication system to accommodate the  different workflows, languages, publication outputs, and research topics that support the needs and epistemic pluralism of different research communities.” The course opened my eyes to the importance of critical perspectives on open access, and I started seeing the concept of bibliodiversity crop up more and more, both explicitly and implicitly, in conversations around open access and scholarly communications. I decided I wanted to be a part of that conversation, to lend a student voice and advance bibliodiversity in my own work.

I began this work at North Carolina State University’s Copyright and Digital Scholarship Center, where I have worked as a graduate student assistant. I co-researched and -wrote a sort of white paper entitled “A Response to the Call for Bibliodiversity: Language, Translation, and Communicated Scholarship” (2020) with my supervisor, Micah Vandegrift. After finishing the paper, I knew I wanted to continue down this path. I feel as though not enough library science students – even students interested in scholarly communications – know the foundations of this important concept. As an early-career scholarly communications professional myself, I want to effect positive change towards more inclusive scholarly publishing systems, and I think bibliodiversity is a crucial part of that work.

I was looking for the next opportunity when I came across the Scholarly Communication Notebook call for proposals for open educational resources. Creating an open educational resource about bibliodiversity for library students like me and early-career librarians appealed to me because I feel strongly that bibliodiversity should be a topic in all scholarly communications classes, and I want to facilitate that. In addition, I had some experience creating an OER already, so I felt prepared to take on this level of work and commitment.

Of course, I immediately thought of Jennifer as a potential collaborator when I read the Scholarly Communication Notebook application. She agreed to work with me, and we drafted the application and the resource together. Having her perspective and experience to inform the resource was invaluable.

Going through this OER development process taught me quite a bit. In incorporating material into the OER, I learned about various bibliodiversity strategies that I hadn’t before considered. I also thought a lot about OER development and the types of conversations I wanted the OER to spark, as well as the perspective of people learning about this concept for the first time. I thought about my own learning journey and wove that perspective into the OER alongside Jennifer’s pedagogical and professional expertise.

Overall, Jennifer and I had a blast creating this OER. Working together on something we are both passionate about was enjoyable and even felt hopeful. My own hope is that this resource can provide an accessible entry point into conversations around bibliodiversity and multilingualism in scholarly communications for students and early-career scholarly communications professionals like me.

About the Author

Allison Kittinger is a Master of Science in Library Science student at UNC-Chapel Hill. She co-developed the OER Introduction to Bibliodiversity in Scholarly Communications with Jennifer Solomon for the Scholarly Communication Notebook.

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Open Peer Review: Part 2.4 Open Science and Infrastructure

In September, we announced that we would be releasing portions of our forthcoming book, Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Culture: Law, Economics, and Publishing, for open review as they were ready. The first of those portions was the Open Data section, led by section editor Brianna Marshall. Contributors and editors are presently refining based on the feedback received, with gratitude to everyone who participated. Perhaps a little later than we planned (we’re still learning how to live and work through a pandemic, social, political, and institutional crises, etc.), we’re now happy to release the next portion and invite your input. Reviewers will benefit from taking a look at information about Part 1 and other sections of Part 2 to understand how this section relates to the others, and the whole.

The Open Science and Infrastructure section is edited by Micah Vandegrift, Open Knowledge Librarian at North Carolina State University. Micah’s perspectives are shaped by long experience in scholarly communication, including a Fulbright Fellowship in the EU that happened to coincide with the release of Plan S. He’s also brought on some great contributors that we’re excited to have. We hope you’ll consider reading their drafts and providing your feedback to help us get the most accurate snapshot possible of this volatile area of scholcomm work. Micah introduces the section and guiding questions below, along with links to the drafts and info for reviewers. The big guidance we want to reinforce is to be the reviewer you wish you had by providing thoughtful critical feedback without berating or belittling. NOTE: the first of three essays that comprise the section is was available for review until March 8; remaining essays will be linked here as they are ready. Each will be available for review for a period of four weeks. – Josh, Maria, and Will

Here’s Micah:

Open science is gaining steam, as evidenced by the recent multinational statement from UNESCO and lots more usage of the phrase in and around library corners. I am excited to have the opportunity to take a pass at beginning to put some shape on it for our field by writing this chapter and editing this section. I am obviously standing on the shoulders of giants, who have already done lots of important work to problematize open science, for whom, by whom, for what purpose, etc. I am deeply in debt to my Dutch colleagues, especially Henk van den Hoogen, Bianca Kramer, and Jeroen Bosman, who continue to analyze and promote open science as a bright future for libraries to engage and collaborate in.

As you read, I’d especially invite comments on the following:

  • Is this written clearly to appeal to and welcome a library school student perspective?
  • What voices, resources, ideas, threads are overlooked in this piece so far?
  • Is the scope too big, too small, or just right?

I keep thinking that I can capture all that is open science in this document. In speaking with a new colleague the other day, I was reminded that, like many things in life, open science and our collective work to shape/share it is a nuanced tension between what has been, what is, and what might be. I invite you to join that tension in this chapter, point out where I miss the mark, encourage where I am close to something correct, and add your own voice. By far my biggest challenge was attempting to synthesize others’ great work and write my big ideas clearly into words that make sense strung together. This chapter and this book will capture a moment in time — my hope is that open science and its principles will outlast these humble efforts.

  1. Defining Open Science by Micah Vandegrift (comment period closed March 8)
    1. A pre-print of this chapter is also available in Zenodo
  2. Generation Open (working title) by Sam Teplitzsky (forthcoming, to be shared when ready)
  3. How Open Became Infrastructure by Kaitlin Thaney (forthcoming, to be shared when ready)

*links deactivated after review period closed

Instructions for Reviewers

We’re using Google Docs, set to allow comments via the link above. When you open the documents, you may see comments in the drafts that indicate areas where the authors would like particular feedback, or noting that they will be making future additions. Some formatting and citation adjustments still need to be made, along with the addition of discussion questions and other supporting materials; however, these drafts represent a close-to-final version of the content as we envision it being published. The book will receive professional copyediting from ACRL, so your time may be better spent focusing on content and substantive feedback rather than grammar and punctuation (but if that’s your thing, knock yourself out).

Anonymous review is permitted (log yourself out of Google!). Reviewers who wish to have their review acknowledged should sign their review with their preferred spelling. Critical feedback is welcome and appreciated; abusive or combative comments will be deleted and/or ignored. Be the reviewer you wish you had; help make this work the best it can be. For more information, please see this process overview and conduct expectations doc.

Thank you in advance to everyone who will take the time to share constructive ideas with us. We appreciate it!

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Open Peer Review: Part 2.2 Open Data

The lead editorial team for Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Culture: Law, Economics, and Publishing (ACRL, forthcoming 2021) is happy to launch the open peer review process for Parts 1 and 2 of the book with the Open Data section, edited by Brianna Marshall. We’re rolling these sections out as they’re ready rather than sequentially, so reviewers will benefit from taking a look at information about Part 1 and other sections of Part 2 to understand how this section relates to the others, and the whole. As with all the Part 2 section editors, Brianna has assembled a stellar group of contributors, and we’re deeply grateful to all of them for sharing their knowledge and time to help the book be the best resource it can be. Now you have the opportunity to contribute to that goal by providing feedback on their draft. Brianna introduces the section and guiding questions below, along with links to the drafts and info for reviewers. The big guidance we want to reinforce is to be the reviewer you wish you had by providing thoughtful critical feedback without berating or belittling. -Josh, Maria, and Will

Here’s Brianna:

I am thrilled to be opening up the Open Data section for peer review by the LIS community. This content will be available for comment from October 5 – 25, 2020, and represents the first section of the LISOER textbook to undergo open peer review. In preparation, I was re-reading the April 2019 blog post where Josh, Maria, and Will first invited me to introduce myself and my ideas for the section. I was struck by how the apt the questions I had asked still are, this time as a framework for anyone willing to share comments and suggestions:

  • If you are a current student, what are you most interested in learning about in relation to open data (or open research more broadly)?
  • If you are an instructor, what do you want to make sure your students learn about as they head into the field?
  • And if you are a practitioner, what do you wish you had learned about when you were in graduate school? What do you want to pass along to new librarians and information professionals?

I invite you to keep these same questions in mind as you review the Open Data section. I commend the authors, listed below alongside the chapters they wrote, for finishing this work while juggling competing responsibilities and the myriad stresses of a global pandemic. We hope our section will be a helpful resource for LIS learners new to open data topics.

  1. Introduction to Open Data by Cameron Cook
  2. Managing, Sharing, and Publishing Data by Susan Ivey, Sophia Lafferty-Hess, Peace Ossom-Williamson, & Katie Wilson
  3. Supporting Reproducible Research by Gabriele Hayden, Tisha Mentnech, Franklin Sayre, & Vicky Steeves
  4. Ethics of Open Data by Brandon Locke & Nic Weber

*links deactivated after review period closed

Instructions for Reviewers

We’re using Google Docs, set to allow comments via the link above. When you open the documents, you may see comments in the drafts that indicate areas where the authors would like particular feedback, or noting that they will be making future additions. Some formatting and citation adjustments still need to be made, along with the addition of discussion questions and other supporting materials; however, these drafts represent a close-to-final version of the content as we envision it being published.

Anonymous review is permitted (log yourself out of Google!). Reviewers who wish to have their review acknowledged should sign their review with their preferred spelling. Critical feedback is welcome and appreciated; abusive or combative comments will be deleted and/or ignored. Be the reviewer you wish you had; help make this work the best it can be. For more information, please see this process overview and conduct expectations doc.

Thank you in advance to everyone who will take the time to share constructive ideas with us. We appreciate it!

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Announcement: Open Review for Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Culture (book)

The editors and authors of Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Culture: Law, Economics, and Publishing are seeking critical feedback on portions of the book to ensure accuracy, clarity, and in order to reflect a multiplicity of perspectives and practices regarding scholarly communication work in academic libraries. To that end we are making portions of the book available for open review. Specifically, Parts 1 and 2 (of three parts that comprise the book) will be shared as they’re available, each for a period of 3-4 weeks, for comments, questions, suggestions, and feedback. We expect to start with the Open Data section, edited by Brianna Marshall, in the coming weeks (Oct. 5 – 25), with other portions to follow as they’re ready. More information about the book and our plan for the process is below.

Overview of Book

This project was conceived as an open textbook of scholarly communication librarianship, which we hope may be a vehicle to increase instruction on scholarly communication topics in LIS programs, as well as serve as a resource for continuing education. We anticipate publication in 2021, and are very happy to have ACRL as publisher. The book, licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC-BY-NC) license, will consist of three Parts.

Part 1: “What is Scholarly Communication?” by lead editors Maria Bonn, Will Cross, and Josh Bolick, introduces scholarly communication and scholarly communication library work, and outlines the issues that most directly shape and drive scholarly communication work in academic libraries. Part 1 consists of five chapters:

1.1 Basics and Definitions

1.2 Economic Issues

1.3 Social Issues

1.4 Legal and Political Issues

1.5 Technological Issues

Part 2: “Scholarly Communication and Open Culture” builds on the foundation laid in Part 1 by introducing openness and presenting sections on the four major opens most relevant to the academy and scholarly communication library work. Each of these four sections is guest edited by a widely known expert in that space, working with authors of their choosing.

2.1 What is “Open”? The 5 Rs and Open Culture (by Maria, Will, and Josh)

2.2 Open Access Section (edited by Amy Buckland)

2.3 Open Data Section (edited by Brianna Marshall)

2.4 Open Education Section (edited by Lillian Hogendoorn)

2.5 Open Science and Infrastructure (edited by Micah Vandegrift)

Part 3: “Voices from the Field: Perspectives, Intersections, and Case Studies” is out of scope for open review. This part consists of 26 short pieces that reflect the ideas and practices of a wide range of practitioners. An overview of each of these subsections, with authors, institutions, and contribution title, is available on the News (blog) section of our project site:

3.1 Perspectives

3.2 Intersections

3.3 Case Studies

How will open review work?

Each unit of Parts 1 and 2 will be shared via Google Docs (set to allow comments) as they’re ready for feedback, which is to say they will not be presented in the order outlined above. Comments will be accepted for a period of 3 to 4 weeks, at which point comments will be closed and considered by authors and editors as we move towards publication. As units are made available for open review, we will share them via News posts on our website, promote on Twitter with #LISOER and other relevant hashtags, and posted to relevant discussion lists as appropriate. Anonymous review will be permitted. Reviewers who wish to have their review acknowledged should sign their review with their preferred spelling. Critical feedback is welcome and appreciated; abusive or combative comments will be deleted and/or ignored. Be the reviewer you wish you had; help make this work the best it can be. Some sections may be available for review concurrently.

Each section post inviting review will feature a brief overview by lead editors of where that piece fits in the larger work and what that means for context, an intro to the section by the lead editors and/or authors of that section, links to the relevant documents, and end date of comment period.

We are deeply grateful to the many supporters of this work, which we hope represents the ideas and practices of a community (and communities within that community) to the extent possible. Feedback and suggestions on this process and how we might improve it to better support reviewer generosity are welcome at any point. Look for the first section, Open Data, edited by Brianna Marshall, on October 5th through the 25th.

Take care – Josh, Maria, Will

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CFP: Contributions to the Scholarly Communication Notebook

We are pleased to announce a call for proposals for materials to be included in the Scholarly Communication Notebook. Successful proposals will contribute openly-licensed educational materials (OER) about scholarly communication that reflect the broad range of people, institution types, and service models in scholarly communication and specifically fill gaps of representation in the current body of materials. With generous support from IMLS, we are able to offer $2,500 financial awards in recognition of the expertise and labor required to develop these resources. You can see the full application as a Google doc, read more below, and submit here (form deactivated).

Call for Proposals

The Scholarly Communication Notebook (SCN) team is excited to invite proposals for the development of open educational resources (OER) that reflect and encourage diversity in scholarly communication. The SCN is an online community/repository that is explicitly intended to support and educate a diversifying workforce of LIS professionals and to extend social justice values to all participants by intentionally and thoughtfully reflecting the broad range of people, institution types, and service models in scholarly communication.

With generous support from IMLS, we are able to offer $2,500 financial awards in recognition of the expertise and labor required to develop these resources.

We are particularly interested in proposals from authors from a broad range of institutions and intersectional identities, particularly emphasizing marginalized and underrepresented perspectives.

The Materials

The OER should be a learning object or collection of objects that is ready to be used in both a formal classroom setting and as a resource for self-guided learning. For the first of three rounds, we are leaving space for a variety of approaches to the design of the core resource and pedagogical apparatus. We are also committed to working with contributors to develop proposals before they are submitted and continuing to support development and refinement throughout creation.

Example Projects

Because this is a new project we invite proposals that reflect a variety of approaches to building open resources and supporting open practices. These examples reflect a small set of gaps in the literature that a proposal might help fill:

  • A lesson introducing a model open education program being run at an HBCU
  • An exercise exploring strategies for supporting open and public access at a community college
  • Narratives and discussion questions that highlight unique work being done on archiving and supporting engagement with local materials at a regional college or university
  • A podcast or videos describing a tribal college’s work developing tools that support digital scholarship that engages the college’s history and the communities it serves

Selection Criteria

Proposals are open-ended but should address the following areas:

  • An overview of the topic being presented (copyright, OER, digital scholarship, etc.)
  • The need for this resource and the gaps that it fills. Why is it important? Are you building on existing openly licensed content or creating something new?
  • Your approach to presenting this material. What methods are you using? How are you addressing the need you identified above?
  • The format of the learning object? Is it a selection of readings? A video? A podcast?
  • What sort of pedagogical apparatus will be included? Will you include discussion questions? A structured assignment? What will you add to make this an educational resource, not just a document? If you have concerns about this area we are happy to work with you to refine these through discussion.
  • What are the learning outcomes/objectives for these materials?
  • Suggested (foundational/canonical) further reading? What are the most important readings, either necessary or optional for a learner to engage with these materials?

Submission Process

Review of proposals will begin on October 20, 2020 and continue throughout the fall until awarded proposals are selected. Work on selected proposals will be conducted in the late fall and early winter, with specific deliverable due dates determined among SCN leads and awarded proposal authors according to needs of project.

Please direct questions to Josh Bolick (jbolick@ku.edu), Maria Bonn (mbonn@illinois.edu), and/or Will Cross (wmcross@ncsu.edu).

Note: this CFP is also available as a Google Doc with comments enabled. Feedback on the CFP itself (including suggestions for improving it) is welcome and appreciated.