Raising Campus Awareness of the Obstacles and Opportunities for Scholarly Communication Jane Blumenthal, AHIP Marcus Banks, AHIP October 14, 2004

Overview History of medical library efforts Expanding the scope Transition to university initiative Evolution of approach Ongoing conversation with faculty Obstacles and opportunities

Dahlgren Library Efforts Articles on journal costs in GUMC Update (Medical Center electronic newsletter) Journal Costs Quiz online Discussions with –Library Committee –Research Committee –Deans –Executive Vice President

Expanding the Scope Open access brown bag lunch meeting during National Medical Librarians Month 2003 Development of Scholarly Communication Resources web page Institutional memberships in BioMed Central and the Public Library of Science

Transition Joint licensing of electronic journals highlights interdependencies University’s Digital Library Steering Committee (DLSC) begins work Scholarly Communication Task Force formed as subcommittee of DLSC in November 2003 –Multi-campus library effort –Task force includes library directors –Faculty advisory committee recruited –Goal: raise faculty awareness

Evolution Initial plan for a white paper and a large symposium Changed to several small events rather than one large, long one No white paper, but background materials for each event Focus on stimulating conversation with faculty “Faculty-centric” not “library-centric”

Ongoing Conversation First all-campus event November 16, 2004 Continue to discuss issues in medical center forums as well as across campuses Two more events planned for Winter and Spring 2005

Obstacles Tenure system Copyright Money Competition for faculty time and attention Discipline-specific concerns and conflicts Lack of consensus

Opportunities The recent proposal for archiving NIH-funded research in PubMed Central inspires interest, and discussion Development of a digital library provides a vehicle for broader campus collaboration around scholarly communications issues Collaboration on an institutional plan of action for the preservation and dissemination of the academic community's scholarly work provides a context for ongoing discussions

Thank You GU Scholarly Communications Task Force –Artemis Kirk –Bob Oakley –Theodora Bakker –Marcus Banks –Joan Cheverie –Karl Debus-Lopez –Michael Neuman –Gwen Owens

Questions or Comments?

Resources This presentation online at _awareness.pdf _awareness.pdf Visit our Scholarly Communications Web Page at