November 3, 2018

Looking at libraries strategy with open eyes

In recent months, many new strategic initiatives have sprouted across the university to share the fruits of UW-conducted research. They all grow under the philosophy of open—the movement to make information publicly available online at no cost to readers. Here’s a review:

• The Tri-Campus Digital Scholarship Group was charged to formulate a broad and unified vision to support new, creative forms of scholarship that leverage digital media—from technical infrastructure to classroom pedagogy.
• The UW Press administratively joined the UW Libraries in March and is already collaborating with the Libraries and other academic institutions to produce open monographs.
• The Open Educational Resources Steering Committee was charged to raise awareness about open educational resources, and to support their use and creation. To date, four UW faculty have received grants to create open textbooks, and the Libraries is piloting the Pressbooks open book platform.
  
• The Scholarly Communication Outreach and Education Team (SCOUT) will identify and prioritize key training and education needs in the area of scholarly communication. A subgroup has begun assessing information needs among librarians and will eventually plan outreach to the broader UW community.
• The Faculty Senate approved an open access policy to further UW’s goal to make its research and scholarship freely and widely available. The policy intends to promote the visibility, accessibility, and preservation of faculty work.
  
• The new Libraries Open Access Policy Implementation Team will determine how best to enable the faculty policy, starting with foundational aspects that the public will never see: technology, infrastructure, expertise, and researcher workflow. The team will later plan and promote services to faculty.

These endeavors are in direct alignment with the the Libraries Strategic Plan, which references several open initiatives explicitly and generally promotes open values. Advocating for open scholarship, increasing opportunities for student learning, increasing access to interdisciplinary and multi-format resources, and leading efforts on open educational resources are all called out in our Strategic Directions.

Equally important is how we progress toward our goals. We will place users at the center and value creativity and—as a learning organization—learn from our efforts and make adjustments to improve as we progress. We will be curious, communicative, and collaborative.

It takes all of us to do this work, as many skills are needed and the UW is vast territory. It’s also worth noting that we have two teams, one group, and a committee but no task forces among the charges above. It’s our ongoing work to leverage changes in scholarly communication to “accelerate inquiry, creativity, and learning for global impact and the public good.”