c/o Katina Strauch Post Office Box 799 Sullivan’s Island, SC 29482
ANNUAL REPORT, ACRL issue volume 31, number 1
ISSN: 1043-2094
TM
FEBRUARY 2019
“Linking Publishers, Vendors and Librarians”
How Libraries Can Lead: An Introduction to Affordable Learning for Libraries and Publishers by Gwen Evans (Executive Director, OhioLINK) <gwen@ohiolink.edu>
L
ibraries have always been at the crux of affordable learning. A collection of content shared by many, over many generations, means more people have access to more and better content than they could ever afford on their own. All libraries that serve more than a single private individual share this characteristic — public, academic, and special. In institutions of higher education, libraries actively support learning and discovery for students, instructors, and researchers by acquiring materials on their behalf which may be used for curricular purposes. In the contemporary institutional context, however, affordable learning usually means addressing the staggering jump in the cost of attending college, specifically the cost of commercial textbooks. Major student costs include
tuition and fees (often influenced by levels of state support for higher education), room and board, personal expenses, transportation, and books and supplies. As Dave Ernst, Executive Director of the Open Textbook Network, often points out, when we ask ourselves what we can do, the only category where libraries in particular can have a direct impact is the last one.1 Affordable learning is an integral part of an academic library’s service model — so integral that it is often invisible or unremarkable to administrators and faculty. However, it is extremely and viscerally appreciated by students when they can use the library to reduce their textbook costs. Many librarians and consortial library leaders can tell you how often students credit the library or consortium with
If Rumors Were Horses
continued on page 12
What To Look For In This Issue:
N
ow hear this! The theme for the 2019 Charleston Conference is — The Time has Come to Talk of Many Things... (Lewis Carroll). Many thanks to Heather Staines for the suggestion! Speaking of the Charleston Conference, after nearly twenty years, the Hotel Bennett (next to the Embassy Suites Historic District, overlooking Marion Square and across from the Francis Marion Hotel) has just opened! We tried to get sleeping and meeting rooms but, guess what, they are already booked. The vivaciously wonderful Shirley Davidson, our liaison with the hotels, has been working hard to make this happen in 2020. Did I tell you that Shirley was the first person who helped me with the conference back in 1980?! Congratulations to Kaetrena Davis Kendrick who was named 2019 ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year. Kaetrena is associate librarian at the University of South Carolina-Lancaster Medford Library. The award, sponsored by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO, recognizes an outstanding member of the library profession who has made a Archaeologists, Mayanists, and Hersignificant national or international contribution to acshey’s collaborated to reveal this ancient vessel’s secrets. See page 32 ademic/research librarianship and library development. to read more about this bowl and what Kendrick will receive a $5,000 award during the Middle it contained.
getting their assigned materials or textbooks for free, whether because the assigned material was already part of the library’s print or digital collection, the library put class materials on reserve, or consortial lending arrangements mean that multiple students can borrow multiple copies from across the lending network. Delivering affordable learning is a core mission of libraries and explains why many academic libraries are widening their scope of endeavor to include OER curation, promotion, and publishing; acquiring textbooks in packages in partnership with departments or divisions; and negotiating with textbook publishers directly to lower prices for students. Libraries and library consortia, both in their re-
continued on page 6
Combating Copyrights for Artists...... 41 Appropriation Art............................... 42 Random Podcasts: An Earful for Library Patrons.................................. 54 Digitization Workflows....................... 61 Reports of Meetings WikiCite 2018..................................... 45 2018 Charleston Conference............. 47 2018 Fiesole Retreat........................... 58 Interviews Steve Potash........................................ 38 Anne Osterman.................................. 39 Profiles Encouraged People and Library Profiles............... 68 Plus more............................... See inside
1043-2094(201902)31:1;1-Q
Against the Grain (ISSN: 1043-2094) (USPS: 012-618), Copyright 2017 by the name Against the Grain, LLC is published six times a year in February, April, June, September, November, and December/January by Against the Grain, LLC. Business and Editorial Offices: PO Box 799, 1712 Thompson Ave., Sullivan’s Island, SC 29482. Accounting and Circulation Offices: same. Call (843-509-2848) to subscribe. Periodicals postage is paid at Charleston, SC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Against the Grain, LLC, PO Box 799, Sullivan’s Island, SC 29482.
TABLE OF CONTENTS v.31 #1 February 2019 © Katina Strauch
ISSUES, NEWS, & GOINGS ON Rumors.................................................. 1 From Your Editor................................. 6
Letters to the Editor............................. 6 Deadlines............................................... 6
Editor:
FEATURES
Associate Editors:
How Libraries Can Lead: An Introduction to Affordable Learning for Libraries and Publishers — Guest Editor, Gwen Evans
Katina Strauch (College of Charleston) Cris Ferguson (Murray State) Tom Gilson (College of Charleston) John Riley (Consultant)
Research Editors:
Judy Luther (Informed Strategies)
Assistants to the Editor:
Ileana Strauch Toni Nix (Just Right Group, LLC)
Editor At Large:
Dennis Brunning (Retired, Arizona State Univ.)
Contributing Editors:
Glenda Alvin (Tennessee State University) Rick Anderson (University of Utah) Sever Bordeianu (U. of New Mexico) Todd Carpenter (NISO) Eleanor Cook (East Carolina University) Anne Doherty (Choice) Ruth Fischer (SCS / OCLC) Michelle Flinchbaugh (U. of MD Baltimore County) Joyce Dixon-Fyle (DePauw University) Laura Gasaway (Retired, UNC, Chapel Hill) Regina Gong (Lansing Community College) Michael Gruenberg (Gruenberg Consulting, LLC) Chuck Hamaker (Retired, UNC, Charlotte) William M. Hannay (Schiff, Hardin & Waite) Mark Herring (Winthrop University) Bob Holley (Retired, Wayne State University) Donna Jacobs (MUSC) Ramune Kubilius (Northwestern University) Myer Kutz (Myer Kutz Associates, Inc.) Tom Leonhardt Rick Lugg (SCS / OCLC) Jack Montgomery (Western Kentucky University) Bob Nardini (ProQuest) Jim O’Donnell (Arizona State University) Ann Okerson (Center for Research Libraries) Rita Ricketts (Blackwell’s) Jared Seay (College of Charleston) Lindsay Wertman (IGI Global)
ATG Proofreader:
Rebecca Saunders (College of Charleston)
Graphics:
Bowles & Carver, Old English Cuts & Illustrations. Grafton, More Silhouettes. Ehmcke, Graphic Trade Symbols By German Designers. Grafton, Ready-to-Use Old-Fashioned Illustrations. The Chap Book Style.
Production & Ad Sales:
Toni Nix, Just Right Group, LLC., P.O. Box 412, Cottageville, SC 29435, phone: 843-835-8604 fax: 843-835-5892 <justwrite@lowcountry.com>
Advertising information:
Toni Nix, phone: 843-835-8604, fax: 843-835-5892 <justwrite@lowcountry.com>
Publisher:
A. Bruce Strauch
Send correspondence, press releases, etc., to: Katina Strauch, Editor, Against the Grain, LLC Post Office Box 799 Sullivan’s Island, SC 29482 cell: 843-509-2848 <kstrauch@comcast.net>
Against the Grain is indexed in Library Literature, LISA, Ingenta, and The Informed Librarian. Authors’ opinions are to be regarded as their own. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This issue was produced on an iMac using Microsoft Word, and Adobe CS6 Premium software under Mac OS X Mountain Lion. Against the Grain is copyright ©2019 by Katina Strauch
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Against The Grain
Against the Grain / February 2019
How Libraries Can Lead: An Introduction to Affordable Learning for Libraries and Publishers............... 1
by Gwen Evans — This issue presents a variety of perspectives on textbooks and affordable learning.
Passion for Academic Freedom......... 14
by Dan E. Krane — Despite assertions to the contrary, it has been possible to dramatically reduce textbook costs in a relatively short time frame.
Answering the Question of Affordability....................................... 16
by Bob Butterfield — The bottom line for affordability is that everything is on the table. We are dedicated to continually searching for new ways to keep the cost of curricular content at the lowest possible point.
Ohio: The State of Affordable Learning.............................................. 17
How State Academic Library Consortium OhioLINK Took the Lead, Securing Inclusive Access Price Agreements Directly with Commercial Textbook Publishers by Gwen Evans — OhioLINK recently negotiated statewide pricing agreements with six major textbook publishers and embarked upon an ambitious information campaign centering on the inclusive access, or first day, model of digital textbooks.
Librarians Provide a New Gateway to Savings for Students.......................... 20
by Jennifer Becker — We conducted a large study that showed that students who had their course materials on the first day of class maintained class averages some 20 points higher than those who bought them two weeks later.
No Limitations on the Use of eBooks: A Bold Move by Springer Nature..... 21
by Wouter van der Velde — Students should be able to download a textbook to their device or print it out to use it for their study, wherever, whenever.
An Idea of Openness.......................... 22
by Dean John Smith — We believe that what has been called “the low-use monograph” was simply undiscoverable and inaccessible. Open or not, our digital monographs are being used around the world.
A System-wide OER Initiative: The SUNY OER Initiative......................... 24
by Mark McBride — The 5Rs (Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, Redistribute) are what make OER a powerful innovation.
Beyond Affordability......................... 25
by Mark Cummings — If the goal is to promote OER as part of a larger educational program, and not merely as an affordable alternative to commercial products, we must do a better job demonstrating the possibilities such resources provide.
Op Ed — Random Ramblings.......... 26
Confessions of an Open Access Heretic by Bob Holley — Based on Bob’s Library Trends upcoming article, he concludes that academic libraries had not benefitted from open access and that they should worry about the unintended consequences of its success.
Back Talk............................................ 70
Lessons Learned at the Cupcake Store by Ann Okerson — Ann talks about an annual sacred pilgrimage while she was in Charleston for the conference.
ATG INTERVIEWS & PROFILES Steve Potash........................................ 38 Founder, OverDrive
Anne Osterman.................................. 39
Director, Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA)
Profiles Encouraged........................... 68
In this issue we have a people profile from Anne Osterman and a library profile for VIVA (Virtual Library of Virginia).
REVIEWS Book Reviews...................................... 29
Monographic Musings by Corey Seeman — Corey has provided another interesting mix of titles that cover a variety of librarian topics.
Collecting to the Core........................ 33
The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929-1968 by Mark Emmons — Monographic works that are essential to the academic library.
Wryly Noted....................................... 35
Books About Books by John Riley — John read The Library Book by Susan Orlean which is about the largest library fire in American history.
Booklover............................................ 36
Life by Donna Jacobs — Donna writes about Knut Pedersen Hamsun’s short story The Call of Life.
<http://www.against-the-grain.com>
Edited by Bruce Strauch and Jack Montgomery
Legally Speaking................................ 41 Combating Copyrights for Artists by Anthony Paganelli — Anthony continues as our newest column editor.
Cases of Note — Copyright............... 42 Appropriation Art by Bruce Strauch — Patrick Cariou v. Richard Prince.
Questions and Answers...................... 43
Copyright Column by Laura N. Gasaway — As always, Lolly features many relevant questions and answers. And in this issue, there is one relevant question included that’s about Research Gate.
PUBLISHING Bet You Missed It............................... 10
The Scholarly Publishing Scene........ 50
And They Were There........................ 45
Don’s Conference Notes..................... 58
by Bruce Strauch — What do Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Shaye Elliott have in common? Read about it here!
Reports of Meetings — In this issue Sever shares a report from WikiCite 2018 and Ramune shares the first installment of reports from the 2018 Charleston Conference.
Eric Proskauer and His Cohorts by Myer Kutz — I love Myer’s forays into the history of scientific publishing. 2018 Fiesole Collection Development Retreat by Guest Columnist Leah Hinds.
BOOKSELLING AND VENDING Little Red Herrings.............................. 8
Patience and Fortitude by Mark Y. Herring — Mark reminds us of the philanthropists that built the New York Public Library.
Both Sides Now: Vendors and Librarians........................................... 52
The First Rule of Negotiation Requires Both Sides to Bargain in Good Faith by Michael Gruenberg — Mike says the reality is that there are only four outcomes to every negotiation. Do you know what they are? Mike tells us.
Biz of Digital....................................... 61
Digitization Workflows: Streamlining the Digitization Process and Distinguishing the Peculiarities in Capturing Various Archival Materials by Marina Georgieva — A case study based on one librarian’s experience that shares some of the practices, issues, challenges and tips related to making the digitization process more robust.
Squirreling Away: Managing Information Resources & Libraries.....65
Not If, But When: Inevitability and Change Management by Corey Seeman — In exploring change management, the role of the director is to help the staff through these difficult modulations so they can serve the library and the community.
TECHNOLOGY AND STANDARDS Considering Games in Libraries and Such..................................................... 51
Space Guardians: New Year’s Musings of How Libraries of Old (Including but Not Necessarily Old Librarians) Have Returned Just in Time to Save Us from Digital Anxiety by Jared Alexander Seay — Just you watch out, robots! Here come real print on paper books!
Wandering the Web........................... 54
Random Podcasts: An Earful for Library Patrons by Roxanne Spencer and Rebecca L. Nimmo — This column looks at a variety of random podcasts on topics of interest to library patrons and staff. From comedy to pets, education to sports, and more, sit back, relax, adjust your earbuds, and enjoy these popular podcasts!
Against the Grain / February 2019
Library Analytics: Shaping the Future.................................................. 56
What’s Next? by John McDonald and Kathleen McEvoy — Kathleen and John take a tour of past columns and ask for your input on thoughts for future columns!
Let’s Get Technical............................. 67
Cataloging an Artists’ Book Collection by Cindi Sandridge and Julia Merkel — In 2008, the James Madison University Libraries’ Special Collections began acquiring artists’ books with a modest purchase of fifteen titles. The collection grew incrementally after inception with purchase funds contributed from liaison librarian budgets and transfers from stacks. Artists’ books are contemporary phenomena that are often playful in both their context and format.
“Linking Publishers, Vendors and Librarians”
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From Your (crashed) Editor:
H
ope that 2019 is beginning smashingly for everyone! Unfortunately I had a huge smash (crash) of all my emails and lost everything! It was my fault, no one else’s. I didn’t delete enough emails and exceeded my storage limit. But Matt Branton, the wizard techie who we all know recovered everything! Whew! This issue is guest edited by the talk about smashing Gwen Evans of OhioLINK on the theme How Libraries Can Lead: An Introduction to Affordable Learning for Libraries and Publishers. There are articles by Dan E. Crane (A Passion for Excellence), Bob Butterfield (Answering questions of Affordability), Gwen Evans (Ohio: The State of Affordable Learning: How State Academic Library Consortium OhioLINK Took the Lead, Securing Inclusive Access Price Agreements
directly with Commercial Textbook Publishers), Jennifer Becker (Librarians Provide a New Gateway to Savings for Students), Wouter van der Velde (No Limitations on the Use of eBooks: A Bold Move by Springer Nature), Dean John Smith (An Idea of Openness), Mark McBride (A System-wide OER initiative: The SUNY OER Initiative), and Mark Cummings (Beyond Affordability). Our Op Ed this time is by Bob Holley (Confessions of an Open Access Heretic) and Ann Okerson’s Back Talk tells us about Lessons Learned at the Cupcake Store. (I’m hungry). Our interviews are with Steve Potash (OverDrive) and Anne Osterman (VIVA). Corey Seeman has been collecting many book reviews. I like his new ratings, what do y’all think? Rick Anderson’s new book (Scholarly Communication and several other
Letters to the Editor Send letters to <kstrauch@comcast.net>, phone 843-509-2848, or snail mail: Against the Grain, Post Office Box 799, Sullivan’s Island, SC 29482. You can also send a letter to the editor from the ATG Homepage at http://www.against-the-grain.com. Good Morning Katina: I hope you are happy and healthy as the fall brings an end to one year and a new one begins. I have decided not to attend the conference. It has been five years since I retired. It is time to say: Bon Voyage. I am feeling more and more distant from the profession that I’ve loved and from the folks with whom I’ve interacted over the years. The Charleston Conference has been a highlight of my life and my profession. It and you have given me opportunities and respect that I never expected when I first heard about the conference. I always think about your particular kindness to me (and to my daughter, Sarah) over the years. My impression of Charleston will always be colored by your friendship. No doubt I will be visiting my Brother in the future. I look forward to seeing you when that comes around. All my sincerest best to the folks at the conference, especially the friendly, hardworking staff. Some of my best memories are connected with your staff, whether in the conference details or just enjoying their company...dancing at the aquarium. With Friendship, not diluted by distance, Albert Joy (Retired, University of Vermont) <albert.joy@uvm.edu>.
AGAINST THE GRAIN DEADLINES VOLUME 31 — 2019-2020 2019 Events MLA, SLA, Book Expo ALA Annual Reference Publishing Charleston Conference ALA Midwinter
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great books are on the list), Donna Jacobs continues her search of Nobel Prize authors and this time picks a short story. Anne Doherty elects Mark Emmons to give us a timely look at American Cinema Directors and Directions (did you see the Academy Awards?), John Riley talks about Susan Orlean’s The Library Book (sadly we were unable to afford to bring her to Charleston!). In the Legal section, Anthony Paganelli talks about copyrights for artists and Bruce Strauch gives us a case about Appropriation Art Subheadings. Lolly Gasaway has her usual relevant questions viz one about ResearchGate. Myer Kutz (who has a place in these parts) gives us a small sliver history of scientific publishing, Corey Seeman (who also has a Charleston connection) and his squirrels (who never change or do they) are into change management, Mark Herring is fascinated by Patience and Fortitude at the NYPL. We have several meeting reports from the WikiCite, the 38th Charleston Conference, and the Fiesole Retreat. Wandering the Web is about Podcasts. Have you tried one? Meanwhile, Michelle Flinchbaugh wants to streamline digitization workflows, Cindi Sandridge and Julie Merkel are cataloging artists’ book collections, Library Analytics takes us on a tour of what we talked about last year and how it will change this year, and Jared Seay is whimsical for the old analog. Gotta go and delete some emails. No more crashes for me! And was the groundhog right? Are we going to have an early spring? Happy happy! Love, Yr. Ed.
Rumors from page 1 Keynote session on Thursday, April 11, at the ACRL 2019 Conference in Cleveland. “Kaetrena Davis Kendrick is a fully engaged and dedicated professional with her finger on the pulse of some of the most relevant and significant issues in academic librarianship today,” said Jennifer L. Fabbi, chair of the ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award Committee and dean of the California State University-San Marcos University Library. “Her work in the areas of underserved and rural user populations, professional ethics, and morale in the profession are discussed widely and used in graduate library programs. Kaetrena is framing discussions influencing the future of our profession and the next generation of librarians.” The ACRL Academic/ Research Librarian of the Year Award dates continued on page 8
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Against the Grain / February 2019
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Rumors from page 6 back to 1978, and recent award winners include David W. Lewis (2018); Loretta Parham (2017); Susan K. Nutter (2016); Robert A. Seal (2015); Tim Bucknall (2014); Patricia Iannuzzi (2013); Paula T. Kaufman (2012); Janice Welburn (2011); Maureen Sullivan (2010); Gloriana St. Clair (2009); Peter Hernon (2008); Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson (2007); Ray English (2006); Ravindra Nath (R. N.) Sharma (2005); Tom Kirk (2004); Ross Atkinson, (2003); and Shelley Phipps (2002). Watch for ATG’s interview with Kaetrena coming soon! www.acrl.org gobi.ebsco.com David Parker has a great interview with Steven Bell in the upcoming (v.31#2, April 2019) issue of ATG. It’s about – Open Educational Resources: The Rise of the Library and Navigating the “Spectrum of Affordability.” Very relevant to the subject of this (v.31#1, February 2019) guest edited issue by Gwen Evans of OhioLink. Was poking around Linked in and saw that John Dove has a new advisory role. Turns out that the role is at Mapping Scholarly Communications Infrastructure which is an effort continued on page 15
Little Red Herrings — Patience and Fortitude by Mark Y. Herring (Dean of Library Services, Dacus Library, Winthrop University) <herringm@winthrop.edu>
I
s there anything more glorious than the Beaux-Arts New York Public Library? I don’t mean just for librarians, but for anyone. Stop and think for a moment what this grand edifice has done in such a short time. Begun in 1897, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, or more typically, the Main Branch of the NYPL, is of course an iconic fixture in Midtown Manhattan with, as seen below, Patience and Fortitude guarding the tree of
knowledge since 1911. (I felt an even greater sense of connection when I realized the lions’ marble is pink marble from Tennessee, home to my family for more than thirty years). From the NYPL’s Renaissance style to Edward Laning’s Prometheus Bringing the Gift of Fire in the Rotunda, to the magnificent main reading room (also seen below), the NYPL with its myriad programs is really more than a mere library when you think about it. For decades it was home to just about every culture and ethnicity seeking to advance their knowledge at a time when formal education may not have been possible. Legal immigrants found a way to learn their new language and understand their new culture. Aspiring writers found an intellectual respite for their writing and research. Would-be professors found a way to equip themselves for any task at hand. The
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Against the Grain / February 2019
NYPL may be responsible for more writers, critics, pundits, professors, and playwrights than any other facility in the country (though there are sure to be disputants about that claim). One display I saw while there recently was a small one of more than two dozen books under a glass cloche, as it were. These were the written contributions to which the NYPL provided their intellectual birth in the last twelve months alone. Not many large universities can claim as much, a point only rivaled by our national library. Moreover, writers such as Robert Caro, Stacy Schiff, Betty Friedan and E. L Doctorow have nurtured their works though the intellectual incubation of the New York Public Library and ultimately to the light of day. As I walked into the building again, I was struck by the dozens of names that grace the archways up to the Rose Reading Room. Obviously many are well known, not the least of which are the founders, Samuel Tilden, John Astor, and James Lennox, the last two, incidentally, who originally named the lions after themselves (fortunately Mayor LaGuardia renamed them Patience and Fortitude). Now some will certainly complain that these names evoke the robber baron era of the early 1900s (especially since Astor is considered one of continued on page 12
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Bet You Missed It Press Clippings — In the News — Carefully Selected by Your Crack Staff of News Sleuths Column Editor: Bruce Strauch (The Citadel, Emeritus) <bruce.strauch@gmail.com> Editor’s Note: Hey, are y’all reading this? If you know of an article that should be called to Against the Grain’s attention ... send an email to <kstrauch@comcast.net>. We’re listening! — KS
Homestead Social Media Influencer
Shaye Elliott is the “Gwyneth Paltrow of pioneer living.” Outside Wenatchee, Wash., Faye and her husband and homeschooled children live with a pigpen, rabbit hutch, chicken coop, three gardens and a pasture. A rebel against modern tech, she churns butter and does all the pioneer living things. But she does blog with 100,000 monthly followers. The “retro-agrarian” lifestyle is growing, and Shaye has one of the larger audiences. She’s had a Food Network pilot and four lushly illustrated books sold in Target and Costco. But it’s not all primitive domesticity. She sells essential oils for doTerra, a multilevel marketing company, which nets her a $500,000 annual income. Her blog is filled with oil use advice. Geranium oil can heal a duck’s infected foot. See — Bianca Bosker, “The Homesteader,” The Atlantic, Nov. 2018, p.22.
Lit Burritos
Dating to 1718, the Old Corner Bookstore is Boston’s oldest commercial building. It originally housed publisher Ticknor and Fields and the Atlantic Monthly. In the 19th century, it published classics like Walden, The Scarlet Letter and Paul Revere’s Ride. It was a time of books becoming associated with a national identity, and the Corner Bookstore did its part. Now it’s a Chipotle. Where Dickens, Emerson and Thoreau once hung out feeds the multitudes. The building owner, nonprofit Historic Boston, is under pressure from the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society and other literary purists to turn it into a museum. But of course, museums don’t make money. And Historic Boston is bent on preserving buildings. How about a taco? See — Jennifer Levitz, “Boston Offers Tacos With Its History,” The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 1-2, 2018, pA1.
From Buncombe to Bunk
Bunkum, later shortened to bunk, actually comes from Buncombe County, NC. In 1820, a Congressman from there made a long, irrelevant speech. He said he was not talking to the House, but to Buncombe. From pointless oratory, it came to mean claptrap. Humorist Finley Peter Dunne shortened it to bunk in 1893. And a 1923 novel Bunk by William Woodward gave us the word “de-bunker.” “De-bunking is simply an intellectual deflation,” says the protagonist. Woodward did some debunking himself in his 1926 George Washington: The Image and the Man when he dispelled the myth of George chopping down the cherry tree. See — Ben Zimmer, “A 1923 Novel Gave Rise to a Modern Buzzword,” Wall Street Journal, Jan. 5-6, 2019, p.C2.
10 Against the Grain / February 2019
OBITS OF NOTE
William Goldman (1931-2018) is known for pulling screenwriters out of the chained-to-a-typewriter underclass when he received a record $400,000 for the wildly successful Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He wrote 21 screenplays including The Stepford Wives, A Bridge Too Far, Misery. His favorite was from his own novel The Princess Bride. And “Deep Throat” never said “Follow the money.” Goldman wrote that for All the President’s Men. See — “The Screenwriter Who Had All the Best Lines,” The Week, Nov. 30, 2018, p.35. Jane Maas (1932-2018). Amidst the 1960s Mad Men of Madison Ave., Jane was a stand-out woman. At 5-foot-zero, she was tough and relentlessly cheerful. She smoked two packs of cigs a day, knocked back drinks with the men and fended off sexual harassment before it had a name. She moved from Ogilvy & Mather, to Senior VP at Wells Rich Green, to President of Muller Jordan Weiss. Her “husband-pleasing strategy” held the best way to sell to women was to persuade them their husbands would like it. Feminists hated her Maxim Coffee ads, but they worked. Her worst client was the “Queen of Mean” Leona Helmsley, NY hotel owner who went to prison for tax fraud. Leona lambasted Jane’s ad strategies, clothing choice and hair style. Jane dropped the account. “Don’t believe everything you’ve read about Leona,” she said. “She was worse than that.” See — James R. Hagerty, “Plucky Woman in Advertising Thrived in ‘Mad Men’ Era,” The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 1-3, 2018, p.A9. Penny Marshall (1943-2018). The Bronx whine accent turned into an asset when Penny Marshall became a star in sitcom Laverne & Shirley. It ran from 1976-83. Then she directed Big (1998) and A League of Their Own (1992) — the first woman director to make movies that earned more than $100 million. Mind you, she came from a showbiz family. Her older brother Garry created Happy Days and directed Pretty Woman. She professed to liking corny. “I like what moves me.” See — “The sitcom star who became a big-name director,” The Week, Jan. 11, 2019, p.35. Mary Oliver (1935-2019). What could be more rare than a best-selling modern American poet? Mary Oliver had an abused childhood and did not graduate from Vassar. She took refuge in nature and dead poets. In 1963, she made her debut with No Voyage and Other Poems, won the Pulitzer in 1983 for American Primitive. She composed during shoreline walks near her home in Provinceton, Mass. “When it’s over, I want to say all my life / I was a bride married to amazement.” See — “The popular poet who found refuge in nature,” The Week, Feb. 1, 2019, p.35.
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How Libraries Can Lead: An Introduction ... from page 1
What is OER?
lationships with publishers and their relationships on campus, are ideally placed to spearhead efforts to relieve financial pressure on students. A recent survey of university and community college students found 36% to 46% percent suffered basic needs insecurity (food or housing).2 In another widespread survey, 66% of student respondents said they didn’t buy required texts at least once due to cost, and just under 50% said the cost of textbooks caused them to take fewer courses or not register for a specific course. Adverse effects on grades or completion were also tied to prohibitive cost.3 This is a critical issue for our students, and one in which libraries are actively addressing in leadership roles on campus. What goes into the cost of a textbook? What’s driving the cost of textbooks? How do publishers approach textbooks (or potential “course adopted” monographs) when they are pricing eBook packages? What’s the role for open access monographs from established presses? What’s the business model for open textbook publishing houses or library publishing initiatives? How can commercial textbook costs be mitigated on campus in a sustainable manner? How do libraries help faculty find and assess options, either library materials or initiatives designed to promote OER? What’s the faculty opinion on these initiatives? It’s important we all begin to ask these questions, and look closely at how academic libraries can assist in discovering, and in many cases, providing, the
• • • •
What is Inclusive Access?
Digital-only course materials from commercial publishers Access of the first day of class All enrolled students (with an opt out process) Integrated in Course Management System and billed automatically to students through the bursar
Little Red Herrings from page 8 the original big four robber barons). While the evilfare of robber barons on the whole cannot be gainsaid, we can recognize at least some of the good some of them did. As my eyes lingered over the names of the original donors, I marveled at the foresight and generosity of so many of them. Samuel Tilden deserves, of course, singular notice, bequeathing his estate and, through the brilliance of one of his trustees, John Bigelow, the rescue of the Astor and Lennox libraries and their absorption into the NYPL. While Tilden’s estate (almost $70 million in today’s dollars) assured the success of NYPL, future donors made certain its perpetuation. According to the library’s website, the building cost $9 million to complete, or nearly $260 million in today’s dollars. Even with our billionaires — Gates, Zuckerberg, Buffet, Ellison, Page, Koch, Waltons, and Bezos, to name only a few — is there any confidence we could count on them — any of them — to undertake such a structure today? I think it highly doubtful.
12 Against the Grain / February 2019
While definitions vary, at their core, Open Educational Resources are freely accessible, openly licensed text, media, and other digital assets that are useful for teaching, learning, and assessing as well as for research purposes. — Creative Commons Open Education “...is the simple and powerful idea that the world’s knowledge is a public good and that technology in general and the Web in particular provide an extraordinary opportunity for everyone to share, use, and reuse knowledge.” — The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation solutions. At OhioLINK, we often say “Students first.” We take our role in affordable learning seriously and we are appreciative of the opportunity to bring more information to the readers of Against The Grain. This special issue purposefully presents a variety of perspectives on textbooks and affordable learning; we sincerely hope you find it helpful to your own strategies and efforts.
Endnotes 1. David Ernst, “Open Education: A Commitment to Mission,” Presentation at the OER Implementation and Policy Summit for MHEC States, Chicago IL November 28, 2018. https://www.mhec.org/sites/default/ files/resources/201811OERSummit_presentations_1.pdf 2. Goldrick-Rab, S., Richardson, J., Schneider, J., Hernandez, A., & Cady, C. (2018) Still Hungry and Homeless in College. Wisconsin HOPE Lab. Madison, WI. https://hope4college.com/wp-content/ uploads/2018/09/Wisconsin-HOPE-Lab-Still-Hungry-and-Homeless.pdf 3. Florida Virtual Campus. (2012). 2012 Florida Student Textbook Survey. Tallahassee, FL. http://www.openaccesstextbooks.org/ pdf/2012_Florida_Student_Textbook_Survey.pdf
The philanthropists who built the NYPL have left it to a generation that no longer understands why we need libraries when you can carry (an ersatz) one in the palm of your hand. What’s more, they have no stomach for their continued, and admittedly expensive, upkeep. This leaves me with a melancholy sense of loss. In some ways, just as medieval scribes poured their souls into illustrated manuscripts, giving their lives, literally, to preserve and prescribe knowledge, so also those philanthropists at the turn of the last century did the same in their own way: poured their fortunes into magnificent libraries which now, more than 100 years later, are still serving millions — more than 30 million at NYPL alone — every year. Patience and Fortitude are perfect symbols for what has become one of the most glorious libraries in the world. And as I think about it, maybe the NYPL really is “only” that, a library, because it does what any library must
do: open to all its patrons worlds they never dreamed of, until they dreamed them there.
Sources
https://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/ history https://www.6sqft.com/reading-betweenthe-lions-a-history-of-the-new-york-publiclibrary/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/wondrous-complexity-new-york-public-library-one-americas-largest-180965131/
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Passion for Academic Freedom by Dan E. Krane (Professor of Biological Sciences and Faculty Vice President, Wright State University; Chair, Ohio Faculty Council) <dan.krane@wright.edu>
A
cademic freedom means many things to many people but few are as passionate about it as faculty in higher education. To them it is a broad concept that entails a conviction that they should have the freedom to conduct research into areas even if they are unpopular or controversial. It also includes a firm belief that the mission of the academy itself depends upon scholars alone determining how to teach in a way that is most appropriate for their students. The choice of course materials (e.g., textbooks) is something about which faculty have very strong feelings. Faculty have recognized for many years that the rising cost of textbooks (at more than four times the rate of inflation since 2006) was a problem. They appreciated that those costs, averaging 26% of the cost of tuition at state universities, have a significant impact on the cost of higher education.1 They know that the price of textbooks has undesirable effects on the behavior (such as delaying or avoiding the purchase of course materials) of as much as 85% of their students.2 When policy makers began to explore means of addressing the problem they became very concerned that their ability to choose materials for their courses would be diminished. In February 2017, Ohio’s Governor, John Kasich, proposed that public two- and fouryear institutions be required to provide each of their students all course materials for an academic year in exchange for an annual fee of $300 to recover their costs. The budgetary and the selection implications of that proposal prompted the Ohio Faculty Council (which speaks on behalf of all 14 of Ohio’s public four-year universities) to support lobbying efforts aimed at delaying the implementation of such a policy. Legislators were persuaded to give faculty a chance over the course of that calendar year to address the problem directly before constraints were imposed on them legislatively. By May 2017 Faculty Senates like that at Wright State University charged committees with the task of identifying strategies to significantly reduce student textbook costs. The Student Success committee of Wright State’s Faculty Senate established a “textbook affordability working group” that used a Lean Six Sigma approach over the course of the summer. While many cost saving approaches were identified, four (inclusive access, a textbook auto-adopt policy, expansion of the use of open education resources, and supporting efforts to make textbook sales exempt from state sales tax) were determined to meet three criteria the best: 1) reduce costs, 2) preserve the right of individual faculty to determine the materials that would be most appropriate for their students, and 3) maintain or enhance quality of instruction. Those four initiatives were proposed and later endorsed unanimously by Wright State’s full Faculty Senate at its first
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meetings in the fall 2017 semester.3 A very similar proposal4 was unanimously approved by the Ohio Faculty Council at its October 2017 meeting. When fully implemented across the entire system of public higher education in Ohio the four initiatives together promise to save students on the order of $300 million every year — savings on a par with the total operating budgets of many of the State’s four-year universities. But, of those four initiatives, the one that moves the needle the most in terms of reducing the cost of textbooks is the development and widespread utilization of inclusive access programs. As the Wright State and Ohio Faculty Council initiatives were being debated many faculty expressed concerns about the possibility of policy makers or administrators using the discussions as an opportunity to impose policies that would limit if not outright eliminate the right of instructors to select course materials for their students. Talk of such policies by legislators and the development of system-wide learning objectives for core classes certainly contributed to that fear. It became clear that as a necessary first step faculty needed to forcefully assert the fundamental premise that “No law, policy or administrative action should in any way impinge upon an individual instructor’s ability to choose whatever textbooks and other teaching materials (e.g., software, course notes, etc.) they have determined to be most appropriate for the classes that they are assigned to teach.” Faculty were happy to explore means of making higher education more affordable to their students but support for the adoption of inclusive access and the other initiatives became noticeably more enthusiastic in the context of that declaration. It is worth noting that the principle seems to have been tacitly accepted without question by legislators and administrators in hearings and discussions where it has been stated. It is hard to overstate the importance of faculty engagement in the development of inclusive access programs in Ohio. Participation in the development of the program from its very inception helped with the crafting of a clear articulation of an important aspect of academic freedom. It also went a long way toward minimizing significant concerns on the part of administrators who were otherwise reluctant to invest the resources that were needed to address administrative challenges (like
billing and establishing mechanisms by which students could opt-out of inclusive access fees) and negotiating lower prices with publishers. It was also tangible proof to policymakers that faculty could be considered serious partners (contrary to less flattering stereotypes) in the identification of solutions to pressing problems in higher education. That realization, in turn, has led to faculty in Ohio being engaged in discussions on other matters that faculty are passionate about such as the value and role of tenure. Wright State and other institutions in Ohio have been quick to act on the implementation of inclusive access programs. Pilot programs have born impressive fruit in a very short time. In just nine courses with a total of 1,029 students at Wright State in the spring 2018 semester more than $102,400 in savings were realized — an average reduction in cost of 48% because of inclusive access alone. A fall 2018 expansion of Wright State’s pilot to 39 courses touched almost 6,000 students and resulted in savings of approximately $600,000. Students in more than 100 courses in the spring 2019 semester are anticipated to save a total of more than $1 million and annual savings going forward are likely to be on the order of $2 million because of inclusive access alone. Faculty engagement in the roll out of these pilots in terms of identifying high enrollment classes with particularly expensive course materials has continued to be instrumental to their success. Advantages beyond cost savings are also being realized in Wright State’s inclusive access pilots. Students know (and studies have shown) that they do better if they have the materials that instructors had chosen for them. They also enjoy the convenience of being able to pay for their tuition and course materials at the same time. Freedom from dealing with access codes and trial periods are other features of inclusive access that students appreciate. From a faculty perspective, including one of their classes in an inclusive access program has required relatively little additional effort. At Wright State the bookstore invites interested faculty to consider a set of materials that publishers are willing to provide for their classes at prices that are lower than what students could obtain in any other way. If the instructor feels that one of the options would be suitable for their students they select it and can expect all continued on page 15
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Passion for Academic Freedom from page 14 students in the class to have course materials in hand at the first meeting of the class. If they do not think any of the inclusive access options are suitable they are under no obligation to use any of them and can continue requiring their students to purchase materials as they had been doing in the past. There have been pleasant surprises along the way. It was easier than expected to modify Wright State’s learning management system (Banner) to allow students to opt-out of paying inclusive access fees (as is required by federal regulation5). Less than 1% of students taking classes that are participating in the inclusive access program have chosen to opt-out so far. Many instructors report that they had not realized how much time they would be saving at the start of the classes that they teach when all students have course materials in hand the very first time that they meet. Perhaps the best surprise of all though is that, despite assertions that it could not be done, it has been possible to dramatically reduce textbook costs in a relatively short time frame without sacrificing quality of instruction. In addition to being passionate about academic freedom, faculty also proudly consider themselves to be “guardians of the curriculum.” Entailed in that guardianship is a
Against the Grain / February 2019
fiercely protective attitude about the quality of courses and of certificate/degree programs. All four of the initiatives endorsed by the Wright State University Faculty Senate and, subsequently by the Ohio Faculty Council, make a college education more affordable without compromising quality — not by intangible “improved efficiencies” but by actual savings to students.
Endnotes 1. https://uspirg.org/news/usp/student-group-releases-new-report-textbook-prices 2. https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/09/20/study-high-textbook-prices-lead- poor-grades 3. https://www.wright.edu/sites/www. wright.edu/files/uploads/2017/Dec/meeting/ TextbookAffordabilityResolution-Approved. pdf. 4. https://www.ohiofacultycouncil.org/sites/ ohiofacultycouncil.wright.edu/files/page/ attachments/TextbookAffordabilityResolutionOFC.pdf 5. https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=f26563f69fbe76d894166903c246601c&mc=true&node=se34.3.668_11 64&rgn=div8
Rumors from page 8 to study the current state of digital scholarship infrastructure in the U.S. and to help envision a more modernized and sustainable system that would enhance scholarly communication at colleges, universities, and research libraries across the country. With a recent grant from The Andrew Mellon Foundation over the next 18 months, this project will focus its efforts on mapping out the range of infrastructure that comprises the system of scholarly communication, and surveying colleges and universities to understand their current investment practices in this infrastructure. Principal Investigators: Mike Roy (Middlebury), David Lewis (x-IUPUI) with help from Educopia, and The Andrew Mellon Foundation. https://educopia.org/category/blog/ https://educopia.org/mapping-scholarly-communications-infrastructure/ John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has announced a countrywide partnership agreement with Projekt DEAL, a representative of nearly 700 academic institutions in Germany. Under an annual fee, this three-year agreement provides all Projekt DEAL institutions with access to read Wiley’s academic journals back to the year 1997, and researchers at Projekt DEAL institutions can publish articles open access in continued on page 22
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Answering the Question of Affordability by Bob Butterfield (Assistant Library Director, University of Wisconsin-Stout) <butterfieldr@uwstout.edu>
A
lot of debate has occurred about how best to provide affordable curricular content for students in higher education. The argument has raged over how, or even whether, institutions should involve themselves in providing textbooks at the lowest possible cost. The questions are many. What is a textbook? Whose responsibility is it to provide curricular content? Is it the student, the library and/or the bookstore? Are open educational resources the answer? Who will manage them? The list of questions continues. One question has a solid black and white answer: Whether institutions should have a part in curricular content affordability efforts is an unequivocal yes. We can look at the “big picture” as proof. Most everywhere, state funding for higher education is in decline while cost continues to rise. Almost every student is leaving higher education with significant debt. And if any argument remains as to the importance of saving students a few hundred or few thousand dollars per year, remind doubters of the food pantries and other aid services provided on most of our campuses to help sustain our students through their academic careers and the importance a few hundred dollars can have. The other questions can be answered with one word: commitment. It doesn’t matter who “owns” affordability, as long as someone does and has the authority to act on it. Affordability isn’t about providing a bargain, it’s about promoting student recruitment, academic success, and retention. This is in the best interest of the university and why we have dedicated ourselves at the University of Wisconsin-Stout to “find affordability wherever it lives.” UW-Stout has a long tradition of providing affordable curricular content. It began over 120 years ago with the creation of the first iteration of our textbook rental program. The university library has been responsible for providing textbooks for our students for decades. Textbooks were originally purchased with collection development funds. Library records long bemoan the impact textbook purchases had on collection development efforts. In more recent times, a library unit called the Instructional Resources Service (IRS) was created to oversee the procurement and distribution of curricular content. Today, Instructional Resources is a library unit funded by student fees that provides most of the required curricular content and is definitely not the print-only version of its earlier self. Commitment has certainly been the key to our success. Our program continues to grow and change to meet the needs of both our faculty and students. It is equally important that we stay cost-effective and relevant. The first test to this theory came in 2012 when we began to provide digital resources in addition to print. The digital resources program came in response to increasing requests from faculty to increase the number of tools available to support their courses. eBooks, access codes for homework
16 Against the Grain / February 2019
platforms, and a variety of other digital content was added to the Stout affordability program. Using many of the hard-learned lessons from a century of providing affordable content has led to increasing access to these resources without significantly increasing the cost to students. One of the ways we limit cost is by promoting a vibrant open educational resource (OER) program. We have no delusions that OER will soon be the only way we provide content. It is, however, one method we have embraced to mitigate the cost of our program. The Stout Open for Learning and Value in Education (SOLVE) Program was born in 2015 through a grant received from the University of Wisconsin System. The grant allowed us to establish an OER program through joining the Open Textbook Network, incentivizing the review and adoption of open material and providing training through staff training. Our medium-range goal for this program is to convert between five and ten percent of all content we utilize at Stout to open. This will allow us to realize tens of thousands of dollars in savings for our students. Our emphasis is in supporting faculty and students in the adoption and use of open content in a comprehensive, sustainable manner. As with all content in our program, it is about assisting the faculty member in matching the best tools for their courses with their needs. We strongly support the faculty member’s academic freedom to choose what they feel is the best resource. We support those choices along the way by assisting with providing the best quality, accessibility and cost-effectiveness possible. The way we provide content has continued to evolve over the decades. The pace and scope have accelerated over the last ten years. Advent of digital materials, OERs, homework platforms, all-inclusive programs and many others continually cause us to consider how and what we provide. It is daunting in that we are always forced to reevaluate our offerings and services, but this also allows us the opportunity to grow and stay relevant for our students and faculty. One of our newest attempts to reduce cost while improving service comes in combining new content with an old library tenant: collection development. While conducting workflow analysis, we determined that there were many areas of overlap between what the curricular content staff and collection development staff were doing. Both were purchasing, circulating, invoicing and supporting content in many ways that mirrored each other. Revenue sources and methods may be different, but, the overall general mission of both groups is similar. It was determined that efficiencies could be found by a closer working relationship between the two groups. A merger was implemented and the new Library Access, Materials Management and Procurement (LAMMP) unit was born. LAMMP is composed of the Instructional Resources and Collection Development de-
partments of the University Library. Its mission is to acquire and support content throughout the curriculum, whether as library material or direct course material. A student or faculty member can now visit one location to receive assistance for content needs. Reviews have been very positive about our ability to improve service to our stakeholders. It is our attempt to use efficiency and collaboration as one more tool to support affordability. The bottom line for affordability at the University of Wisconsin-Stout is that everything is on the table. We are dedicated to continually searching for new ways to keep the cost of curricular content at the lowest possible point. In that vein, we will close with a few of many lessons we have learned over the years. First, you may have noticed that I have tried very hard not to use the word “textbook.” It feels that concentrating on that word when discussing affordability tends to cloud the picture. The word “textbook” comes with several preconceived notions about what it may or may not mean. Concentrating on textbook only, in my view, sets us up for the same problem as we continue to move away from the more traditional examples of textbooks. Using curricular content, course resources or some other term allows more latitude and an open mind toward the future. In more than 100 years of supporting affordability at UW-Stout, we have not found one single way to provide affordable content for our students. We are always interested in what is working elsewhere and applying what makes sense for us. At one institution, all-inclusive access may be “the way,” while at another it is OER all the way. Generally, we believe that some combination of methods will be most effective. Our program has always been adapting, evolving and finding affordability wherever it lives. There is no rush to find the solution. Our success comes as much from our commitment to affordability as it does to any method we have implemented. Content, services and needs all change, but our determination to support our students through affordability has never wavered. Whether you are a librarian, publisher, faculty member, student, administrator or have some other role in higher education, you have a role to play in curricular content affordability. This is not a trivial issue. Providing quality, cost-effective curricular content is a necessary endeavor to support student success, in and out of the classroom. Affordability is not solely and economic issue. It is a social justice issue. An accessibility issue. An equality issue. We have seen many methods to achieve affordability not pan out. Some methods are certainly more effective than others—but the surest way to fail our students would be to do nothing at all.
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Ohio: The State of Affordable Learning How State Academic Library Consortium OhioLINK Took the Lead, Securing Inclusive Access Price Agreements Directly with Commercial Textbook Publishers by Gwen Evans (Executive Director, OhioLINK) <gwen@ohiolink.edu>
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eeking to lower textbook costs for the college and university students of Ohio, OhioLINK recently negotiated statewide pricing agreements with six major textbook publishers and embarked upon an ambitious information campaign centering on the inclusive access, or first day, model of digital textbooks. The publishers involved stated the scale and statewide coverage of this initiative is unmatched in the U.S.
How and Why Did We Take This On, and Where Do We Go From Here?
OhioLINK, one of the nation’s largest academic library consortium, is a state agency under the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE). We manage the shared print and electronic library resources of all public higher education institutions in Ohio, from universities to the many two-year and technical colleges, as well as almost all independent colleges and universities of any size — 89 institutions of higher education in all. In practical terms, this covers all non-profit higher education of any size in the state of Ohio. Ohio’s state government, like many states, was increasingly concerned with college affordability including textbook costs. In early 2017, legislation was proposed for a $300 cap on textbook costs to students, requiring Ohio public institutions to cover the rest of the cost. It was ultimately shelved, but it had the positive effect of focusing the attention of the Ohio higher education community on the issue of textbook affordability. As a trusted unit of the Ohio Department of Higher Education, with some knowledge in this space, we were increasingly called upon to provide advice and ultimately, leadership and action. Many different experiences, assets, and background knowledge led to OhioLINK’s approach. We had been engaged in discussions with the sales team at Wiley, with which we have both a journal and an ebook package, about possible eTextbook acquisitions on the traditional library package model, but we just couldn’t make it work for either of us at consortial scale. I had been involved in discussions with Unizin, the non-profit higher education technology consortium, about possible
Gwen Evans, Executive Director, OhioLINK
Evans is the Executive Director of OhioLINK, Ohio’s academic library consortium and one of the top academic library consortia in the nation. She has served as Executive Director since October of 2012. Previously, Evans was the Director of Special Projects at the Ohio Technology Consortium (OHTECH). She came to OH-TECH from her position as Associate Professor and Coordinator of Library Information and Emerging Technology at Bowling Green State University. Evans’s 18 years of experience working in libraries includes the John Crerar Science Library at the University of Chicago, Mt. Holyoke College Library, and Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor. She has presented nationally on a variety of topics, including library consortia, affordable learning, and library technology. Presentations and authorships include: Charleston Conference, ALA, LITA, Educause, the Journal of Library Administration, Library Resources and Technical Services, The Charleston Advisor, Public Services Quarterly, and Music Reference Services Quarterly. Evans received a Master of Science in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a master’s degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago, during which she conducted ethnographic research on the island of Flores, Indonesia for two years.
consortial membership and had been interested in their Engage product, which is their inclusive access textbook delivery platform. I had attended the annual Regional Scholarly Publishing Forums organized by Gillian Berchowitz of the Ohio University Press, where I was fortunate to be able to talk with university press and library publishers like Tony Sanfilippo, Leila Salisbury, Elizabeth Scarpelli, and Charles Watkinson about the costs and challenges of non-profit publishing, including open access monographs and textbooks. Somewhat ironically, it was OhioLINK’s direct support of our parent agency’s $1.3 million grant for an OER initiative now known as the Ohio Open Ed Collaborative that convinced us that commercial textbooks should be part of a comprehensive statewide textbook affordability strategy. We began our work with the Collaborative in June of 2017, and I was asked by the Department of Higher Education to attend an event co-sponsored by the Association of American Publishers and the Ohio InterUniversity Council about Digital Course Materials in August. Many stakeholders at that meeting — provosts, faculty, legislators, state administrators, the major textbook publishers — held a very active discussion about commercial textbooks and inclusive access, and we were further convinced that libraries and OhioLINK had relevant experience and knowledge to contribute. We considered that OhioLINK might be able to provide a statewide inclusive access eTextbook platform that all our members could use, very similar to our statewide Electronic Theses and Dissertation Center (etd.ohiolink.edu). However, after demonstrations from the major commercial textbook publishers (Pearson, John Wiley & Sons, McGraw Hill Education, Macmillan, and Sage), inclusive access platform providers (Unizin, RedShelf, and VitalSource), and Barnes and Noble, it became apparent that model wasn’t viable, at least at this time. Campus bookstores — chain and independent — have legal contracts and/or revenue sharing arrangements that would have prohibited or discouraged widespread institutional participation. In addition, it was clear that OhioLINK would have to commit more staff and resources to such an entirely new service endeavor, also not possible at the time. We eventually settled on the model of negotiating for price agreements for digital course materials (etextbooks and courseware) in the inclusive access model with the “Big Five” commercial publishers, along with publishers where we already had agreements (Sage fits in this category). In return for lowered pricing in the inclusive access model statewide, OhioLINK would use our formidable organizing and communication advantages to present information about inclusive access at scale across the state, but let institutions decide on their desire, willingness, and readiness to implement inclusive access on their campuses. Some key messages in our approach have been “no mandate, but an opportunity” and the protection of academic freedom for faculty. In addition, OhioLINK has taken a hybrid approach to textbook affordability, and we strategically use our inclusive access initiative, our OER initiatives, and our libraries’ provision of traditional library materials (like ebook packages), in parallel and combined communication venues to present options to our institutions.1 There were, and are, two major challenges for us in stepping into commercial textbook negotiations:
Getting the Data
One was data gathering from disparate and unfamiliar sources, held by communities with which we had no existing relationships, to enable us to assess potential strategies in the same way that library consortia traditionally assess potential multi-institutional deals. We needed to know what was actually being assigned on our campuses, and from which publishers. Getting that information directly from institutions and their bookstores turned out to be too much staff time and data norcontinued on page 18
Against the Grain / February 2019
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Ohio: The State of Affordable Learning from page 17 malization for a pilot project. Ultimately, publishers turned out to be the best source of title adoption data across the entire state. They know what titles are adopted at which institutions, and in which format, as well as a wealth of other data (sometimes in overwhelming detail). One of the surprising pieces of information we learned was how often faculty are customizing publisher-supplied textbooks, auxiliary materials, and course bundles for a particular course or section. These operate as multiple special editions with separate ISBNs that illustrate the challenges of acquiring a “standard” textbook title across an entire state in a package acquisition, for example. Checking inclusive access against market pricing (something our parent agency was very, very interested in) was another difficulty. To solve this problem, we contracted with VerbaConnect from VitalSource. VerbaConnect includes a market pricing analysis tool. While OhioLINK is not a bookstore, we’re simulating one to get business intelligence about whether our prices are competitive against what students might actually pay at Amazon or Chegg for a digital copy, a rental, or a used textbook. This also creates the need for a data scheduling protocol for assessment, as the pricing in the market fluctuates depending on the time of the year. The major online retailers engage in surge pricing after detecting increased demand, so checking whether our negotiated prices are competitive or not depends on semester start dates across the state.
Many Faces of Sharing Information at Scale The second, larger challenge was (and is) communication back and forth to stakeholders at every stage of the implementation process. In our initial RFI, we involved representatives of major stakeholders to have them assess what a proposed initiative might look like “on the ground” in the implementation chain. These included a Chief Academic Officer of a community college, a CIO of a public university, and the head of library publishing at an R1 institution who used to work for Pearson. We also advertised the demos via our libraries, used WebEx to broadcast them, and allowed any staff member from our institutions to attend. These included faculty, provosts, librarians, bookstore managers, IT staff, instructional designers, and directors of auxiliary services. We solicited feedback from attendees to ensure we had captured multiple points of view and considerations. Consulting stakeholders at various points in the initiative has been critical, both in terms of effective promotion and explanation, and in terms of developing strategies for assessment and negotiation. We use our library deans and directors as the major targeted communication vectors. They have relationships on campus and know who is responsible for which piece of the implementation chain, which varies across campuses. Do faculty and student government need or want to weigh in? The bursar and financial aid divisions have to be involved — who can start those discussions? The bookstore, IT staff, registration and records, and instructional designers need to understand the workflow from decision to delivery via the course management system. Using library leaders as the information conduits for major announcements, the pricing agreements, and the contracts allows them to be as central to affordable textbook discussions on campus as they want to be. Some library deans and directors simply pass the information forward; some have emerged as the major drivers of inclusive access pilots on their campuses. This approach also allows them to present their OER and library affordability efforts to their campus colleagues as options to consider in a holistic sense, instead of being siloed apart from the normalized workflow of textbook decisions and assignments which happen far from the library. Since so many campus groups are involved in implementation of inclusive access, we devised a kick-off event loosely modeled on some of our consortial information-sharing practices. The OhioLINK Inclusive Access Immersion Event brought together publishers, aggregators, librarians, instructional designers, bookstore managers, bursars, provosts, etc. — anyone from any of our 89 institutions who had an interest. We encouraged institutions to come in teams comprised of those with large stakes in the workflow chain. A panel of librarians, faculty, bookstore managers, and IT staff spoke about their various experiences at different points in campus implementation. Wright
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State University has been a leader in piloting inclusive access, and their panel “Inclusive Access from Every Angle: A Success Story from Wright State University,” described how it worked from various perspectives from policy to delivery. Their recommendations for successful launch give a sense of the stakeholder universe: Bookstore, Bookstore Client, Bursar, Enrollment Management, Faculty Senate, Financial Aid, IT & LMS Administrator, Office of Marketing, Provost, Registrar, and Student Government. The afternoon was devoted to breakout sessions where specific groups could discuss their particular challenges and solutions, whether those be in the bursar’s office or in CMS integration, or a crash-course in how libraries can lead and how to consider communication of information across campuses. More than 200 attendees from 40 of our institutions walked away with both inspirational and practical examples and a network of colleagues to call upon for advice and assistance.2 We also use our Affordable Learning site to deliver information about inclusive access and OER initiatives; we have an Affordable Learning listserv that anyone from our member institutions, not just librarians, can join. Our next steps are to survey the attendees at the Inclusive Access event to see what the experience with implementation has been, and what were particular challenges and lessons learned. We’ll disseminate that information when we hold the second Inclusive Access Immersion Event in Fall 2019; assess the data on prices and savings from VerbaConnect, and renegotiate the second year of price agreements if appropriate. We’re also working on other marketing and information strategies for inclusive access — as well as our OER initiatives.
Where to Begin and How to Keep Moving We’ve been contacted by both library consortia and institutions of higher education around the country as they seek to step into the realm of affordable learning, curious about which strategies might work best and how they might take a page of OhioLINK’s book to build out their own strategies. Our first response: Just get started. Don’t wait for perfection. Our second response: Expect bookstores may be a barrier to getting where you want to go. This is the biggest obstacle to scale and ultimate cost to students: Every campus has its own contract with bookstores, whether independent or chain bookstores — and institutions derive profit from those relationships. And our third: Get good at marketing and communications, or find an expert to assist you. Do not underestimate the power of communicating to individual audiences, individually, through a lens that resonates with each of them. Change rarely comes easily, and most certainly not in academia — but affordable learning strategies are ripe with opportunity and positive returns. Your stakeholders will only know this if you communicate benefits clearly and consistently. At OhioLINK, we consider the pursuit of affordable learning and discovery core to what we do. And as librarians, we believe in the power and importance of free-flowing information. Because of the nature of our organization, we are used to — and known for — getting things done quickly, efficiently, and frankly, with a skeleton crew. Librarians will understand this — we know how to move from conception to implementation. Our OhioLINK basket now includes commercial textbook deals, OER materials, and traditional library content such as eBook collections and databases. We used our experience with our traditional publishers, our growing support for OER creation and adoption, and faculty and student input to create an affordable learning strategy that puts libraries at the center of a very important issue for both students and institutions. In Ohio, our textbook affordability journey came full circle — from proposed but ultimately shelved legislation, to OhioLINK and our libraries stepping into a leadership role, to being invited to participate in the Governor’s State of the State activities as the result of our successes. As a state agency, we came to the attention of the administration, the legislature, and upper administration on campuses in very positive ways, which of course helps protect our funding and current services. But our strategy also delivered a variety of opportunities for libraries and their staff to lead on their individual campuses, and involved them in campus discussions where they have not always been invited. A major publisher recently informed us that during inclusive access meetings with a major research university, the Library Dean was at continued on page 20
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Librarians Provide a New Gateway to Savings for Students by Jennifer Becker (Executive Director, Enterprise Partnerships, Higher Education Group, McGraw-Hill Education) <jennifer.becker@mheducation.com>
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ast year, OhioLINK became the first state-wide entity, as well as library consortium, to work with McGraw-Hill and other publishers to negotiate the reduction of the cost of course materials throughout an entire state’s higher education system through inclusive access. McGraw-Hill’s inclusive access ensures that each student in a class automatically has an electronic version of their course materials on day one, at a price that is up to 75 to 80 percent less than a traditional print textbook. Most often in inclusive access a fee is automatically assessed upon enrollment in the class, which is paid alongside tuition through the bursar’s office or bookstore. Students who decide to drop the course on or before the institution’s designated add/drop date are not charged or refunded. Also, there’s an “opt-out” institutions can make available to students who wish not to purchase. McGraw-Hill also makes available a very low-cost print upgrade option for those who aren’t ready to go all digital. “We conducted a large study that showed that students who had their course materials on the first day of class maintained class averages some 20 points higher than those who bought them two weeks later,” says Jennifer Becker, executive director of partnerships at McGraw-Hill Education. “As a company we recognized there was a need to go back to basics. Ensuring
the education community has comprehensive, reliable instructional resources is of upmost importance to us. But, it must be done at a price that students can afford.” “I truly never thought about a library system championing this,” continues Becker, who typically works with academic departments and campus bookstores. “I knew they were the owners of institutional content, but I never knew they had influence on individual course materials for students. The sense I get from some librarians I’ve spoken to is that they are excited to be part of the state, system or institution’s affordability initiative in this way. They’ve really embraced it.” OhioLINK and McGraw-Hill first joined forces on lowering the cost of course materials through inclusive access following the library consortium’s request for information (RFI) to publishers, eBook platforms providers, wholesalers and distributors in November of 2017. OhioLINK looked at capabilities to implement, distribute and manage course materials via an inclusive access model as well as pricing for content, platforms and services. Following presentations and negotiations, OhioLINK chose four large publishers, including McGraw-Hill, to offer the significantly-reduced pricing to all 91 of its member colleges and universities, Becker says. Prior to OhioLINK negotiating the deal announced
Ohio: The State of Affordable Learning from page 18 the table for the discussion. The library was invited from the outset because word of what OhioLINK had accomplished had reached the stakeholders involved. That’s the type of success we hope to see spread nationwide — where the power of libraries and their ability to lead in affordable learning is recognized and employed to its full potential.
About OhioLINK Connecting libraries, learning and discovery. Established in 1992, the Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) is Ohio’s statewide academic library consortium serving 118 libraries, 89 institutions of higher education, the State Library of Ohio and more than 570,000 end users. Delivering both IT infrastructure and content negotiation, OhioLINK provides students, researchers, faculty and staff with access to digital research collections rivaling top university libraries in the United States and internationally — at a fraction of the cost. OhioLINK also connects library services, print and digital collections among its member institutions and manages collaborative
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in March 2018, a limited number of Ohio colleges and universities had implemented inclusive access. “When meeting with institutions to discuss inclusive access, we would hear ‘I don’t know if we can do this’ or ‘I don’t know if we can include course materials as a fee along with the tuition,’” says Becker. “There was a lot of uncertainty.” OhioLINK, she says, removed barriers. “They really are getting out there and promoting, saying ‘This is ok, the Ohio Board of Higher Education wants institutions to take advantage of this this model,’” Becker says. “We’ve since seen a pick-up in not only the number of institutions who have implemented it but the number of professors who have opted in to do inclusive access with their course.” In 2018 alone through inclusive access, McGraw-Hill was able to save Ohio students $2.7 million on course materials over what was spent the previous year for the same materials. Business programs have led the way, Becker says, followed by science, engineering and math courses. Humanities have been a bit slower to adopt. “We now know that libraries are playing a critical role,” says Becker. “An academic library consortium has a stake in the ground when it comes to the affordability of course materials, as much as your procurement, auxiliary services or academic departments do. We’re excited that OhioLINK has opened their door to us.” McGraw-Hill has also partnered with OhioLINK in educating the academic continued on page 21
services, including eTutoring, statewide Affordable Learning textbook initiatives, and Open Educational Resources. A member of the Ohio Technology Consortium of the Ohio Department of Higher Education, OhioLINK creates a competitive advantage for its members and supports student and researcher success in the state of Ohio. Learn more at www.ohiolink.edu.
Endnotes 1. For more information on OhioLINK’s rationale for a hybrid strategy, see my guest post on the Scholarly Kitchen “Affordable Learning Requires a Diverse Approach, Part 1: Playing the Short Game (and the Long One) to Secure Savings for Students” https://scholarlykitchen. sspnet.org/2018/10/30/affordable-learning-requires-a-diverse-approach-part-1-playing-the-short-game-and-the-long-one-to-securesavings-for-students/. 2. Materials and recordings from the event are available here: https:// affordablelearning.ohiolink.edu/blog/textbook-affordability-and-inclusive-access-immersion-post-conference-materials-now-available.
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No Limitations on the Use of eBooks: A Bold Move by Springer Nature by Wouter van der Velde (Senior eProduct Manager eBooks, Springer Nature) <wouter.vandervelde@springernature.com> In 2006, it launched an eBook program with the end users’ best interests in mind — a program that stands apart in publishing, even today.
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hen Springer, now part of the Springer Nature company, launched its eBook program back in 2006, a lot of research and consultation had gone into the big question: How do we protect intellectual property and at the same time make research content easily accessible for librarians, researchers and students? Our library advisory board members strongly advised us to not wrap the books in Digital Rights Management (DRM), which was perceived as one of the biggest annoyances by their patrons. The second largest inconvenience with eBook offerings was that not every book would be available as an eBook, leaving still a lot of administrative work and additional cost to the library, students and researchers. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s the music industry invested billions in protecting the most popular music carrier so that Compact Discs could not be copied. However, after each release of new security algorithms, it was a matter of days before the “code was broken,” and music was distributed illegally anyway. Apple actually understood the user’s problems: Many people don’t necessarily want to buy a full album of music, CD-singles were too expensive and the convenience of just downloading the MP3 anywhere is evident. At the time of the launch of iTunes in 2001, one could finally purchase a single song at a reasonable price, it would work, the quality was guaranteed and it saved the consumer time by
Librarians Provide a New Gateway ... from page 20 community about the benefits of inclusive access. “McGraw-Hill Education is proud to be working with OhioLINK and appreciates their partnership throughout this learning experience,” says Becker. She adds that OhioLINK’s Gwen Evans, Amy Pawlowski and Holly Davis “have been amazing to work with.” “They’ve really come at this with an open-minded approach and been truly interested to learn what we’ve done in the past with other institutions to make this program successful,” she says, “and making sure I’m aware of any challenges and needs they have so I can address them up front.” The partnership has led McGraw-Hill Education to reach out to other library consor-
Against the Grain / February 2019
not having to download and try five different versions of the same song, where four out of five were recorded in bad quality. So, taking a cue from Apple, Springer made a bold decision in publishing: It made all its books available as an eBook and bundled them into subject collections. Basically, not a single book was excluded from the collections, so all textbooks, monographs, and major reference works would have to be included as eBooks in the subject collections, and without any DRM protection or limitation on the usage of the content. This strategy of “no limitations to the use of eBooks” indeed imposes a risk of piracy, illegal downloading and distribution of illegal copies. But, bearing in mind the music industry’s failure, the decision was made to include all book types, and not protect them with DRM and invest a lot of money in such a mechanism that would only irritate users. Also, such protection would be counter-productive and would even encourage piracy — and that would not take the rights of our authors seriously. Regardless of the existence or lack of DRM, there are always risks of illegally distributed copies of copyrighted content. When this happens, it’s not only an embarrassment towards our authors, who are
remunerated for their work by legally sold copies, but also for our (library) customers, who invest in the content to serve their patrons. Therefore, Springer Nature has a global anti-piracy team, dedicated to fight piracy actively by scanning the Internet for illegally distributed copies. As soon as piracy is detected, (legal) action is taken ensuring the continued success of our authors and Springer Nature eBooks’ DRM-free policy.
tiums across the country to open a dialogue and begin to include institutions’ librarians into the conversations happening amongst the individual campuses. “Now we know they also have an interest in making course materials more affordable to students,” says Becker. “We want to make sure we are not overlooking them but instead starting to collaborate on various ways to meet the students’ needs. We would be thrilled for the opportunity to work more closely with the library community.” McGraw-Hill has inclusive access agreements with over 400 college campuses nationwide, and with its significantly-reduced pricing has saved students more than $40 million in 2018 over the same products purchased by these institutions in 2017. For example, the retail cost of a new chemistry book is roughly $195. “And maybe you would wait to buy the book three weeks into the course because you
didn’t think it was absolutely imperative to your course grade,” says Becker. With inclusive access, all students enrolled in the class have immediate access to the book through an institution’s learning management system — at a price of approximately $45. “Not only are the students saving money,” says Becker, “they are getting access on day one, which helps to improve retention and outcomes.” According to NACS the estimated annual student spend on course materials has fallen from $701 per student in 2007-2008 to $484 per student. (2017-2018 edition of Student Watch: Attitudes and Behaviors toward Course Materials from the National Association of College Stores.)
Our philosophy has always been to think from a user perspective: If a teacher wants to use a textbook in their curriculum, all students in that particular class should be able to access the textbook at the same time. Students should be able to download it to their device or print it out to use it for their study, wherever, whenever. A researcher should be able to print out the exact pages he needs in the laboratory or on her/his tablet while on the road to a conference, and/or easily share it with his colleague. Also, the librarian should be able to count on the fact that the Springer-eBook (or other of the imprints belonging to the Springer Nature publishing group) is available for their patrons. When we prioritize the needs and experiences of those that are interacting with — and depending upon — our eBook content, the end result outlasts whatever trends might be present in publishing.
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An Idea of Openness by Dean John Smith (Director of Cornell University Press) <djs486@cornell.edu> “The diffusion of culture — knowledge, an appreciation of the beautiful, perhaps wisdom — to the common man…is declared to be a new factor in history which should be viewed optimistically.” — Patrick Brantlinger, Bread & Circuses: Theories of Mass Culture as Social Decay (1983)
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ornell University Press began with an idea of openness in 1869. President Andrew Dickson White believed in the diffusion of learning and in the vision of a university press as an “intellectual organ” that would provide a publication outlet for scholarly achievements. Cornell University had been founded four years before as an institution where “any person can find instruction in any course of study.” Ezra Cornell and A.D. White designed a place where students without means could pay their tuition through labor, where practical pursuits were ranked equally with studying the classics, where women and African Americans could also earn a degree, and where a university press would be established — the first university press in the United States.1 As we celebrate our 150th year, our experiments with open access have generated exciting results. I arrived at Cornell with an idea of openness in the Spring of 2015. I’d worked on OA initiatives in prior professional lives and discovered a Sage House staff with a willingness to experiment on a deep and rich backlist of 6,000 titles. There were new grants available from the National Endowment for the Humanities Open Book Program to digitize classic texts and we had published several groundbreaking works in our history. Cornell Library quickly became a valuable partner as we used circulation statistics, subject area selectors and faculty to determine the books we wanted to bring back. We’ve republished more than 100 open access books in Anthropology, Classics, German Studies, Literary Theory, Medieval Studies, Political Science, and Slavic Studies. We’ve recorded more than 200,000 article downloads in 150 countries on Cornell Open, Project MUSE and JSTOR. We’ve seen more than 30,000 full book downloads from Kindle and we’ve reopened lines of communication at home and abroad — re-engaging authors, scholars, librarians, faculty, presidents, provosts and the next generation of students around the world.
Rumors from page 15 Wiley’s journals. Projekt DEAL was set up by the Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany representing the vast majority of the most important science and research organisations there. The consortium includes nearly 700 mostly publicly funded academic
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We stressed that an idea of openness for classic texts extends to the classroom. For our second NEH grant, entitled a “Celebration of the Humanities,” we emphasized the use of our literary theory titles in courses and engaged Caroline Levine, Chair of English Department at Cornell and Cornell President Hunter R. Rawlings. We also contacted global consortia including Lyrasis and ICOLC members to drive course use. We applied an idea of openness to our frontlist titles as well and we currently participate in TOME and Knowledge Unlatched. We’ve opened access to the Press’s vast repository of knowledge on the way to digitizing our entire backlist through partnerships with NEH and The Internet Archive. We believe that what has been called “the lowuse monograph” was simply undiscoverable and inaccessible. Open or not, our digital monographs are being used around the world. We discovered that an idea of openness is a critical core value for university presses in the age of fake news. Openness leads to the discovery and access of peer-reviewed scholarship published by university presses. Some of the most heavily downloaded classic titles — Proletarian Peasants, Revolution of the Mind and Revolutionary Acts — from our NEH experience focus on life in Russia during the time of the Bolshevik Revolution. We noticed a surge in Kindle full book downloads after the 2016 Presidential election. Our recent frontlist open access book, Communicating Climate Change is the number one downloaded title from the Cornell Open site. Brantlinger’s Bread & Circuses is the most heavily accessed OA title across all platforms. The book discusses how the media can best be used to help achieve freedom and
institutions in Germany such as universities, universities of applied sciences, research institutions and state and regional libraries. As part of the project, national licensing agreements are to be implemented for the entire portfolio of electronic journals of large academic publishers. To support the overall advancement of scholarly research, Wiley and Projekt DEAL are together launching three important new initiatives as part of the part-
enlightenment on a democratic basis. A reader’s comment on Amazon states, “[The book] shows the clear path to how we are inclined to embrace toxic media.” These OA texts compliment general interest books that are helping to effect positive change in the world such as Wounds of War about why all of us should be concerned about the privatization of veteran’s healthcare and Deadly River revealing the UN’s role in the cover up of the cholera epidemic in Haiti. University Presses represent a wealth of reliable, peer-reviewed knowledge in an age where truth is being challenged every day. Cornell University librarian Gerald Beasley and I regularly discuss ideas for openness. We talk about having an access option for our titles and about giving back to the world. All publishers have claimed that the dissemination and discovery of knowledge is a major objective. This goal is now achievable on a global scale and the revolution will not be televised — but accessed. Our marketing department published our first OA catalog last month for the Modern Language Association Meeting featuring 40 titles in literary theory. On social media, information about this catalog and a link to the titles reached 80,000 individuals, recorded 12,000 engagements and was shared 800 times. The books were downloaded in 6,000 times in PDF form and 1,500 in EPUB in five days. Readers in the Philippines topped all countries. Fostering ideas of openness and access to knowledge are, we believe, why universities and their presses exist.
Dean Smith is the director of Cornell University Press and has recently made his book of poems American Boy open to all on The Internet Archive. Endnotes 1. Laun, Karen, Cornell University Press, Est. 1869, (Ithaca, Cornell, 2019), 1.
nership. First is a new flagship open access journal. This interdisciplinary journal will publish top-tier scholarship from the global research community and will serve as a unique forum for the development of new open access publishing models. In another key aspect of the agreement, Wiley and Projekt DEAL will establish an open science and author services development group focused on innovating and continued on page 28
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A System-wide OER Initiative: The SUNY OER Initiative by Mark McBride (Library Senior Strategist, SUNY Office of Library and Information Services) <Mark.McBride@suny.edu>
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imilar to other colleges and universities, for students at the State University of New York (SUNY), cost of textbooks can be expensive. SUNY is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States. With 64 institutions, including research universities, academic medical centers, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, colleges of technology, and an online learning network, SUNY serves a diverse student demographic of over 430,000 undergraduates and graduates: 57% White, 13% Hispanic, 11% Black/ African American, 6% Asian/Pacific Islander, 5% non-resident alien, 3% multi-race, 5% unknown, and less than 1% other. To help reduce the costs of education, several SUNY community colleges began to explore the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) as a replacement to traditional course materials. OER are typically licensed using a license model from the Creative Commons. These licenses legally allow anyone to customize and change the content for their own teaching and learning situation. An education resource is considered OER if the content has an appropriate license that permits reuse, alteration, redistribution and is freely accessible. This is distinctive to content that is just free. Content that is free and that has not been openly licensed is considered copyrighted. Copyrighted materials can not be customized or changed. OER usage in SUNY became mostly apparent through SUNY’s Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (IITG), a competitive grant program designed to encourage the development of innovative projects in the college classroom. In addition to incubating promising, innovative projects, IITG required all projects coming out of the grant program to be openly licensed, with the hope that the openness would foster sharing and collaboration among SUNY faculty and staff. In 2012, SUNY IITG funded the creation of Open SUNY Textbook Project. This open publishing initiative, established by SUNY Geneseo’s Milne Library and involving several SUNY libraries, provided faculty with the vehicle to create open textbooks. The initial response from SUNY faculty was encouraging because the number of requests that came in to create open textbooks surpassed the capacity of the project team. What was truly inspirational, were the number of college instructors that reached out to the project team, seeking existing OER. At the time, SUNY had no real response but to direct faculty to the myriad of OER repositories available on the web. But a seed had been planted and some began to believe OER could be an innovation that could be scaled across the system.
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In June 2016, five SUNY community colleges were awarded a grant through Achieving the Dream to develop OER degree programs on their campus. Building off the momentum and effort of many of our community colleges, and the work of the Open SUNY Textbook Project at Geneseo, the Provost Office at SUNY System Administration established a shared service, the SUNY OER Services (SOS). Through a partnership with the Lumen Learning, SUNY launched SOS as a vehicle to support the growing demand for OER in SUNY. SOS was built to support OER adoption, adaptation and creation. SUNY OER Services provides mentoring, technical support, and access to a broad catalog of OE at oer.suny.edu. The early adopters of OER in SUNY, particularly our faculty, instructional designers, and librarians, advocated for OER adoption at their campuses, and while the initial message was mainly focused on saving students money, several faculty commented on witnessing an overall improvement in students’ academic performance in their classes. Particularly, they spoke of modest improvement in grades and in the overall retention in their classes where they implemented OER. Not surprisingly, this caught the attention of many SUNY campuses. Further, it became apparent in SUNY that the libraries were going to stand up and provide leadership on many of our campuses and across the system. Similar to students, libraries felt they have been priced out of the marketplace by many of the commercial vendors. Libraries have also for years tried to supplement student textbook needs by standing up reserve programs where the materials could be borrowed for a specific amount of time (2-4 hours) for use within our libraries. Textbook reserve programs are incredibly popular with students, but the question remains how effective of a service are textbook reserves if we can only provide access to a small number of people at one time. OER was a welcome solution most SUNY libraries embraced. In 2017, New York State announced a $4 million investment in OER which helped to expand SUNY’s OER efforts. In response, SUNY issued a call to institutions to commit to the adoption of OER. With the goal of saving students money, and the hope of improving the overall academic performance of SUNY students, many of our campuses agreed to adopt OER in their high enrollment, general education courses. The funding for OER was restored again for 2018, and to date, SUNY institutions have saved more than 153,000 students in NYS, more than $15.8 million in two years. Some research suggests that OER could have a positive impact when used as a replacement for traditional course materials.
For example, there are studies on the impact OER has had on student grades and class completion (Hilton III, J. L., Gaudet, D., Clark, P., Robinson, J., & Wiley, D. 2013; Allen, G., Guzman-Alvarez, A., Smith, A., Gamage, A., Molinaro, M., & Larsen, D. S. 2015; Fischer, Hilton, Robinson, & Wiley, 2015). This was mentioned as an experience some of our SUNY faculty found in their own classes. Many conclude that the reason for these improvements is due to the fact that all students now have access to their course materials. That may be true, but it seems unlikely that the only reason for these improvement is due to access to course materials. In fact, many of our SUNY faculty have commented that the real benefit of OER is that it allows the faculty member to easily make changes to the materials, allowing them to individualize the learning experience for the students in their classes. This level of faculty engagement with the materials must translate to deeper engagement with their students. Much of the educational materials used in teaching and learning have been copyrighted and publishers traditionally hold the rights to the materials. OER have been licensed which gives them distinctive attributes that are referred to as the 5Rs (Wiley, 2015; Duse, Duse, & Bonnano, 2017). • Retain Creators retain the rights to the OER and with these rights they make it acceptable for people to take and control copies of the OER, provided they give proper attribution to the creator. • Reuse Anyone has the right to use the OER, and how the OER is used is not determined by the creator but determined by the users of the OER because the license grants permissions for anyone to use. • Revise Anyone has the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the OER to suit their needs. • Remix Anyone has the right to combine existing OER content with other existing OER content leading to the creation of a new OER. • Redistribute Creators license their work to share, allowing the users’ to make revisions and remix with other OER. An OER that has been created is redistributed to the community with the understanding that the OER they created could be revised and remixed by other users. The 5Rs are what make OER powerfully innovative. There is research on the impact that OER adoption has had on student retention. A 2015 study on the impact of OER indicated that students who used OER instead of traditional continued on page 25
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Beyond Affordability by Mark Cummings (Editor and Publisher, Choice) <markc@ala-choice.org>
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standard argument for the use of OER in undergraduate classrooms goes something like this: spiraling commercial textbook costs are forcing students to forego their purchase altogether, use second-hand, outof-date editions, borrow from classmates, or rely on scant library copies (where available), with predictable effects on student outcomes and retention. In extreme cases, these costs have priced a college education beyond the means of many. The use of free or low-cost open educational resources can remove these pernicious barriers, improve outcomes, and put a college education within the reach of more students. Thus phrased, affordability is the most frequently used and until now most effective strategy for OER advocacy. The notion of free or low-cost course materials is so appealing on the face of it, and so morally attractive from the standpoint of social justice, that it is tempting to regard affordability in-and-of-itself as sufficient reason for OER adoption. The problem with this approach is that it is looking at only one side of the issue. At the end of the day, adopting OER, or any new textbook for that matter, means redesigning one’s entire course. The selection processes for the new texts alone are time-consuming, particularly given that open resources are not readily discoverable. Then come the associated problems of finding new and congruent ancillary resources, reworking homework and research assignments, finding or creating new problem sets, and, ultimately, recasting the entire array of assessment tools. Adjuncts (assuming there are any) need to be retrained, libraries put on notice as to new reserve readings, and new materials loaded into the LMS. So while adoption of open educational resources is something of a cause for many academic librarians, it is important to keep in
A System-wide OER Initiative ... from page 24 materials tended to have higher grades, and fewer students withdrew from the class compared to students in courses that did not have access to OER. Similar results were found in another research study conducted that compared students in two biology classes (Fisher et al, 2015). The students who were assigned OER earned better grades and were more likely to persist through the entirety of the class than students who were given the traditional course materials. One could conclude that grades increasing and student persistence are indicators that OER may have a direct impact on student academic achievement, but this should be tracked over several semesters. None the less, very promising.
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mind that it comes with high switching costs for instructors, many of whom also worry that the quality of these new resources, and thus of their teaching, may decline if they adopt noncommercial resources. By and large, commercial textbooks are accurate, well written, meticulously edited, and handsomely produced. When the publisher of a known and respected textbook lowers its prices in response to challenges to its affordability, it offers instructors an immediate, powerful incentive to adopt it. Under such conditions, appeals to affordability by themselves cannot win the day for OER. Only the quality of these materials can do that. Quality and an understanding of how to use them to their maximum advantage. In other words, for OER to achieve their promise, the decision to adopt them must be based not on cost but on their pedagogical superiority. But how do we demonstrate that? Historically, one method of demonstrating a work’s fitness, or otherwise, has been peer review, the focus of which has been assessment of such content-centered elements as provenance, accuracy, lack of hidden bias, cultural relevance, internal consistency, comprehensiveness, acknowledgement of sources, and so forth. These elements are no less important to a review of OER, yet the requirements that define an open educational resource require that its review consider additional issues. Ultimately, what makes an OER “open” is not its cost but the rights profile pertaining to ownership and use of the work and, following on that, the ability of the instructor, and even the student, to modify its content, combine it with other works, and reuse it in other contexts. In the absence of these elements of open education, an OER is just an inexpensive textbook, and while there is nothing wrong with this, OER used in this way are unlikely to precipitate the educational transformation its adherents
Further, if the ability to customize OER is the real benefit of OER in the eyes of many faculty, and these faculty take full advantage of their ability to customize these resources, the result will be deeper engagement with their students. I believe this could lead to an increase in retention. The more engaged a faculty member, the more engaged the students. Many traditional commercial publishers have made a pivot to offer OER, but most have dramatically decreased their costs and have started to offer a package they call inclusive access. They are banking on lowering prices to compete with OER, but the materials are still copyrighted and therefore, can not be customized by instructors. They lower the price and that’s a wonderful thing, but a skeptic may say, “what took you so long?” OER is more than a cost savings solution. OER empowers faculty
envision. If the goal is to promote OER as part of a larger educational program, and not merely as an affordable alternative to commercial products, we must do a better job demonstrating the possibilities such resources provide. Thoughtful reviews of OER, written to a standardized format designed to expose these elements, can be an important factor in this process. Critical reviews are not always easy to come by, and I hope it is not going too far to suggest that one area for librarians to contribute to this effort is to enlist reviewers for works either contemplated or already in use on their campuses or to provide interested faculty with a template against which to evaluate them on their own. Choice has created such a template, available at https://www.choice360.org/content/1-openchoice/choice-oer-review-template. pdf. The template elicits evaluation in twelve areas: format and source, provenance, subject, target audience, licensing, accessibility, adaptability, content quality, pedagogy, interface design, ancillary materials, and competing works. Another good source, written by SUNY’s Mark McBride, can be found at https://www. rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?code=L9WC6X&sp=true&. Both of these explicitly call out those elements that make for a serviceable open educational resource. The real promise of open educational resources lies not in their affordability but in their potential to change teaching and learning. Ensuring that the works we use conform to this goal in all respects, and are of a quality equal to or better than their commercial counterparts, is vital to the success of the enterprise.
to make the necessary changes to course materials they want their students to engage with. For years faculty have done this, but OER simplifies the process and provides a license that makes the ability to alter resources legally acceptable. Many faculty are using OER as a vehicle to change the way their students interact with the content, even by creating OER for the course. More research is needed to truly understand the advantages to using OER, but many faculty are beginning to believe the real advantage to using OER may not just be the student savings. The benefits may be the ability to customize these resources (i.e., engage with the 5Rs), resulting in deeper engagement for our faculty with their students and improving the overall learning experience for our learners.
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Op Ed — Opinions and Editorials
Random Ramblings — Confessions of an Open Access Heretic Column Editor: Bob Holley (Professor Emeritus, Wayne State University, 13303 Borgman Avenue, Huntington Woods, MI 48070-1005; Phone: 248-547-0306) <aa3805@wayne.edu>
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’m an open access heretic. I attended one of the many meetings on open access at the Charleston Conference in early November 2018. The academic library speaker predicted that 80% of all articles would be open access within the next few years. A publisher said that all articles in his journals would be available on the company Website. I raised my hand as soon as the question session began and revealed my heretical stance. I reported that I had written an article on developments in open access from 2015 to early 2018, soon to be published in Library Trends, where I concluded that academic libraries had not benefitted from open access and that they should worry about the unintended consequences of its success. I reported that the main reason why I use my academic library is to get “free” access to paywalled publications and occasionally to find articles in library science databases. I commented that the need for faculty to use the library would be greatly diminished if 80% of all articles were available for “free” and if alternate search strategies such as Google Scholar and open access search engines met their needs. Online access has already reduced the requirement to visit the physical library, and the success of open access and efficient discovery beyond the library catalog and paid databases would do that same for digital access. As I expected, other members of the audience contested my conclusion. The first person asked whether I used my institution’s digital repository. I responded yes but qualified my answer by saying that the process was more complicated and took longer than I would have preferred and that the main reason for doing so, increasing my citation count, didn’t make much difference now that I was retired. The second rebuttal brought up the issue of author processing charges (APCs). I responded that, as a library science writer with a Humanities background, I never considered paying what I considered to be these outrageous fees since they would have come out of my pocket, a step that I considered ridiculous when I was employed and totally out of the question in retirement. A third piece of evidence from the conference was talking to two librarians after another session who affirmed that their faculty was moving away from using the expensive library databases. In one of the institutions, a member of the psychology department went so far as to suggest
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canceling PsychINFO since he and his faculty colleagues didn’t use it enough to justify the cost. Before I comment on these and other points in greater detail, I want to make it clear that I strongly support academic libraries and don’t want a future where they disappear or lose their importance within the academic community. Past history indicates that libraries, just like other organizations, have often embraced changes that led to unexpected consequences. In the corporate world, many physical stores didn’t anticipate the threat from online retailers like Amazon. Grocery supermarkets initially pooh-poohed the competitive challenges from discount grocers like Aldi and Sav-A-Lot. Similarly, when I helped Yale implement OCLC in the 1970s, I had no inkling how doing so would radically affect cataloging in subsequent decades with significant reductions in the number and level of staff. In preparation for this column, I read several articles from the 2000s about how libraries would be able to compete with Google for ready reference questions because of the superiority of the library answers. Finally, I’ve already commented on the fact that the digital library has reduced the importance of physical holdings for faculty. In the end, even if my predictions turn out to be accurate, I believe that academic libraries will most likely survive; but I also contend that thinking about and planning for the future is more effective if done early rather than late. Being prepared is better than being blindsided. I also wish to caution readers that my comments are based upon articles, news releases, discussion lists, and talking with a few friends. Not having read everything, I may have missed important pieces of information that I should have incorporated in my arguments. As a retired faculty member who was a higher-level administrator for many years, I also recognize that I don’t have access to the informal communications networks where tomorrow’s developments are being argued and hashed out, long before the official announcements appear. I’m going to divide the research process into three steps and examine where
the academic library has a part to play for the average faculty member. In order, they are discovery and access; publication; and dissemination of research. In the past, the library had an important role in discovery and access. The library provided its catalog and subscribed to databases so that faculty could find relevant research. This help worked best when a database covered the subject comprehensively as is the case for Online Library Literature. Starting long before many of the current changes, I regularly invited a Wayne State University professor with a non-traditional research agenda to talk to my academic library classes. He used Google Scholar to find needed resources and didn’t rely on the broad range of databases that the library purchased because his interdisciplinary subject crossed too many fields. His main connection with the library was accessing paywalled publications and relying on interlibrary loan to retrieve the rest. Today, one development that has made it easier for faculty is that, in many cases, discovery and access have merged. The library resources often provide full text, links to full texts, or access to interlibrary loan to find the items. Several search engines specialize in finding open access publications where the faculty member can then get the text from the faculty’s website, an institutional depository, or one of the support services like Academia.edu that provides access to “over 20 million uploaded texts” according to Wikipedia. The library’s greatest worth in this process may be providing access to paywalled publications, but faculty dependence will decrease if over 80% of articles become open access. Even now, the black open access site, Sci-Hub, is providing illegal access to a significant number of these publications. Libraries in the past didn’t normally help all that much with the second step — getting the research published — beyond providing suggestions about the most appropriate journals for its subject matter. The new role that some libraries have taken on is paying APCs. Some experts don’t consider doing so to be an appropriate use of library funds because it does not conform to the mission of the continued on page 28
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Op Ed — Random Ramblings from page 26 library to make resources accessible to its wider community and uses these resources instead to favor the research of select individuals. One speaker at the Charleston Conference commented on how many more resources could have been made available to everyone if these fees for the select few were eliminated. A more serious issue is the fact that the top research-intensive institutions produce so much research that paying the APCs would approach or surpass the cost of purchasing current serials subscriptions. These subsidies also raise issues of equity between disciplines where grants pay the APCs and those that don’t. The biggest beneficiaries of this increase in open access materials are smaller institutions and those in the Third World who don’t have the resources to purchase large collections of paywalled articles. For the third area, the library-sponsored institutional repository has a role in disseminating faculty research. Repositories are often able to include “unofficial” versions of paywalled papers as well as any papers whose access isn’t restricted by copyright agreements. The stated advantages of making these open access publications available is an increase in readership and citations. The research cited in my Library Trends article was inconclusive about whether open access increased citations with various studies coming to differing conclusions. Perhaps the research habits of the subject discipline make a difference. On a more fundamental level, I encountered those who questioned the value of citation counts for achieving tenure, promotion, and salary
Rumors from page 22 accelerating new publishing approaches. The partners will also create and host a new annual symposium for early-career German researchers focused on surfacing cutting-edge ideas on the future of research communications. In order to enable the signing of the Projekt DEAL contract with Wiley, the Max Planck Society is involved, as a member of the Alliance of Science Organisations behind the Projekt DEAL Consortium, founded MPDL Services GmbH. www.projekt-deal.de https://www.projekt-deal.de/wiley-contract/ This agreement was announced during the APE (Academic Publishing in Europe) Conference in Berlin in February 2019. The focused and learned Arnoud de Kemp has been the APE Initiator & Organizer since 2006. www.ape2019.eu Watch for Anthony Watkinson’s report from APE in our next issue v.31#2, April 2019!
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increases. As with paying APCs for select faculty, some librarians have questioned the amount of resources required to create an effective repository. One obstacle is the variations in publisher agreements on the rules for making any version of a paywalled paper open access. If the library requires the faculty member to discover the rules, the worry is that they won’t consider it worth their time to add the paper to the repository. If the library takes on the task, faculty are more likely to submit their papers but the library faces increased staffing requirements to discover the rules. In fact, if the deposit process doesn’t function well and has significant delays in adding faculty materials, faculty members may feel less kindly toward the academic library than if it had done nothing at all. In any case, as with funding APCs, the institutional repository will not benefit all faculty. To conclude this section, most if not all faculty are involved in research for their teaching and research. Only some will find it beneficial for the library to fund APCs and to make their papers available in an institutional repository. Even for those faculty, their contact with the library will also be sporadic, based upon a specific need, rather than the consistent library use formerly required to complete most research. I will now turn to the practicalities and economics of open access as it affects my hypothesis. All the research for my article including asking for comments by postings to the main university and college libraries discussion lists did not uncover any firm evidence that libraries were saving money from open access. Perhaps part of the answer to this question depends upon what 80% of articles being open access means. First, if a high percentage of journals include an embargo period for eventual open
access, libraries might still be forced to continue buying journals as they are published because of the importance of immediate access to key content. Second, if a journal is 90% immediate open access, the remaining 10% paywalled content might nonetheless require a subscription. In other words, 80% of articles does not necessarily mean 80% of journals. Another explanation is how many of the 100% open access journals are additional titles that did not make it possible to cancel paywalled subscriptions. Even with the vast increase in open access articles, very little seems to have occurred to modify the current model except that publishers have the additional revenue stream of APCs. I confess that this result saddens me if all the efforts and high hopes for a revolution in scholarly communication have only reaffirmed the status quo with only slight differences around the edges. I’ve decided not to speculate at length on other possible changes from 80% availability of articles from open access. Subject databases could still provide the links to articles though the faculty comments about their lessened use of PsychINFO contradict this assertion. Perhaps the library catalog or a special serials finding tool could provide the links to the open access content. With this heretical position, perhaps I’ll be called before an Open Access Inquisition at the 2019 Charleston Conference. I’d welcome any questioning, as long as it doesn’t include torture, about how open access has benefitted academic libraries. I’d also be quite willing to convert if the judges can convince me that my worries are unfounded that open access will lessen faculty loyalty to and support of academic libraries.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries invites higher education institutions to share their artificial intelligence (AI) projects in a new online registry. Projects in Artificial Intelligence Registry (PAIR), is an online database to support collaboration and grant funding across higher education insitutions exploring AI research. “PAIR is designed to be an international registry of AI projects being developed in higher education that will help foster collaboration, cooperation and partnerships, as well as helping to find grant funding,” interim dean of OU Libraries Carl Grant said. “Registering a project is easy, requiring only a project name, keywords, and area of specialization. Additional options can indicate if they are seeking collaborators and if they’re seeking grant funding. All those fields can also be searched to find information and then provide the capability to contact the project owner.” OU Libraries announced the registry during the December 2018 meeting of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI). According to its website, CNI is an organization comprising nearly 250 institutions supporting “the transformative promise of digital infor-
mation technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity.” Following the presentation, three universities have joined the OU Libraries registry to share their AI research. Some examples of AI research include: At the University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriott Library, researchers are applying machine learning techniques to extract information from digital images to assist in metadata creation. Researchers at both the OU Libraries and the library at the University of California, Irvine are creating chatbots, computer applications that imitate human personality to interface with online library patrons. Supported in part by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Indiana University Libraries are working to build and test an open-source Audiovisual Metadata Platform (AMP). According to IU Libraries’ press release, AMP will “generate searchable, time-stamped descripitions for audiovisual content,” with the end goal of making available hundred of millions of hours of audiovisual content. The AI registry can be viewed at pair.libraries.ou.edu. continued on page 32
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Book Reviews — Monographic Musings Column Editor: Corey Seeman (Director, Kresge Library Services, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; Phone: 734-764-9969) <cseeman@umich.edu> Twitter @cseeman Column Editor’s Note: Third time is the charm right? Very excited to have my third Monographic Musings column in Against the Grain. This is once again an interesting mix of titles that cover a variety of librarian topics. You will find works here on scholarly communication, instruction, electronic resource management, and service design. But if there is a common thread throughout these works (and a nice tie in with my other column), it is the role and importance of change. This can be challenging as we work with different communities, generations and resources that are both modern and antiquated. Thanks to my great reviewers for getting items for my third column. Thanks to Michelle Polchow, Katharine Swart, and my two colleagues from Michigan State University, Jane Meland and Steven W. Sowards. As a reminder, I have introduced a standard rating reference. Being a big fan of Ebert and Siskel (may they both rest in peace), I loved the way that they presented a clear way to show if something was worth watching. Roger Ebert used four stars (for his newspaper reviews in the Chicago Sun Times) to let you know quickly if this is something worth the time and money. So to that end, I have created the ATG Reviewer Rating that would be used from book to book. I came up with this rating to reflect our collaborative collections and resource sharing means. I think it helps classify the importance of these books. • I need this book on my nightstand. (This book is so good, that I want a copy close at hand when I am in bed.) • I need this on my desk. (This book is so valuable, that I want my own copy at my desk that I will share with no one.) • I need this in my library. (I want to be able to get up from my desk and grab this book off the shelf, if it’s not checked out.) • I need this available somewhere in my shared network. (I probably do not need this book, but it would be nice to get it with three to five days via my network catalog.) • I’ll use my money elsewhere. (Just not sure this is a useful book for my library or my network.) If you would like to be a reviewer for Against the Grain, please write me at <cseeman@umich.edu>. If you have a book you would like to see reviewed in a future column, please also write me directly. Happy reading and be nutty! — CS
Anderson, Rick. Scholarly Communication: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. 9780190639457, 280 pages. $16.95 paperback Reviewed by Steven W. Sowards (Associate Director for Collections, Michigan State University Libraries, East Lansing MI) <sowards@msu.edu> Author Rick Anderson is a highly respected figure in academic librarianship: Associate Dean for Collections & Scholarly Communication at the University of Utah Libraries, a regular contributor to the Scholarly Kitchen blog,1 and former president of both NASIG and the Society for Scholarly Publishing. If anyone can create a useful one volume overview of what might be the single most pressing issue facing academic libraries, it is very likely that Rick Anderson might be the only one up to the task. As he admits in the introduction, it is a tall order for one person to address such a wide-ranging theme, but there is value in seeing a consistent perspective applied to a complicated
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situation. Anderson’s connections in both publishing and libraries lend credibility to his views. Anderson has presented a useful overview of facts and factors driving scholarly communication today and adopts a question-and-answer format (“What is demand-driven acquisition?”) to break down large topics such as copyright, metrics, and the work of university presses. The result is a credible handbook to which any intelligent reader can turn to address specific situations. The format and writing also invite browsing and discovery. His perspective here is intentionally descriptive, not polemical: summarizing where we are (and how we got here), sparing in speculation about what comes next, and not trying to pick any fights. As he states in his introduction, “there is one thing the author has tried very hard not to include in this book, and that is issue advocacy” despite the obvious temptation to land a punch while looking at publisher pricing, copyright law, open access costs, and more. Of course, Anderson is well able to offer an opinion when he chooses. One might usefully complement this book with regular attention to Scholarly Kitchen, to find some sharper responses to recent developments (read for example his post of November 26, 2018, “Do You Have Concerns about Plan S? Then You Must be an Irresponsible, Privileged, Conspiratorial Hypocrite”).2 Anderson is broadly informed and articulate, and casts a wide net: the origin of scholarly communication in the 1600s; the purpose and elaboration of copyright law (especially in the United States); the interplay between scholars, publishers and libraries; global estimates of the number of scholarly journals and spending for scholarly content; publishing as an element in faculty tenure and promotion; and the “serials crisis” and the “Big Deal” as factors in library decision-making. He speaks often about scholars as authors; peer review; the varieties of publishing, and the new problem of predatory publishers; copyright and open access; and digital realities from eBooks to impact factors. If this is a book for “everyone,” who might benefit from reading? These pages could orient librarians learning to work inside the collection building, acquisitions and publishing ecosystem; faculty researchers and their administrators; funding bodies and grant makers; and advisors to trustees, legislators and billionaire thinkers. For publishers and professors, Anderson’s summary will clarify how the 21st century looks to librarians. Of course, scholarly communication is not the sum total of publishing and information delivery. Anderson devotes less space to tangential challenges such as self-publishing; Amazon as a disruptive force in both production and sales; the explosion of competing online media; or issues of privacy, piracy and censorship in the global market. Related matters also outside his scope are the costs of digital infrastructure, or the impact of adjunct hiring on faculty research and publishing. Librarians in search of a literature review must look elsewhere as well: Anderson backs up his statements with over a hundred URL-linked citations, but there is no bibliography, and no organized plan that suggests further reading. Comparable recent works include John Regazzi’s Scholarly Communications (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015) and Ken Hyland’s Academic Publishing (Oxford University Press, 2015), but Anderson’s book is newer and has different goals.3 His approach is less analytical, more designed for quick orientation, and more accessible to a large audience of educated, motivated readers. This is a high quality Oxford University Press product at an attractive price — available either in hard copy or as an eBook — that can orient a long list of potential readers. ATG Reviewer Rating: I need this in my library. (I want to be able to get up from my desk and grab this book off the shelf, if it’s not checked out.) continued on page 30
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Book Reviews from page 29 Benjes-Small, Candice and Miller, Rebecca K. The New Instruction Librarian: A Workbook for Trainers and Learners. Chicago: American Library Association, 2017. 9780838914564, 256 pages. $68.00 (ALA Members $61.20) Reviewed by Jane Meland (Assistant Director for Public Services, Michigan State College of Law, Schaefer Law Library, East Lansing) <jane.meland@law.msu.edu> With all the changes that are taking place in librarianship, one of the major disruptions has been in the realm of library instruction, especially in the light of an ever-increasing interest in teaching lifelong skills through information literacy. How librarians address these changes mirrors some of the transitions we face throughout our careers. We transition from library school into a professional position, we transition into the culture of our library and possibly a bigger institution, and we may transition into different roles, such as supervisors, mentors, and trainers. Preparation for these transitions comes from many sources. Library school provides us with the conceptual and practical background to transition into a professional librarian position. Training and mentorship provide us with the background to learn our jobs, while work experience provides us with the depth of knowledge needed to transition into leadership roles. Yet, one transition that librarians are being asked to make more and more often is into that of the instruction librarian. As more librarians are called upon to take on teaching roles, many of us find ourselves unprepared to step into the classroom. Library science school does an excellent job of introducing us to the conceptual aspects of our work, and on the job training allows us to hone our skills. Yet, neither learning experience prepares us to teach. This dilemma is magnified when trainers find few resources to help facilitate this transition, leaving new librarians and their trainers asking themselves: how exactly does one become an instruction librarian? To answer that question Candice Benjes-Small and Rebecca K. Miller have authored The New Instruction Librarian: A Workbook for Trainers and Learners, a practical guide designed to empower librarians with the tools and strategies they need to transition into the role of instruction librarian. The authors come at this topic with experience both as new teaching librarians and as trainers and draw upon the dissatisfaction they felt navigating the resources on information literacy instruction. While information literacy sources are plentiful, the authors discovered a dearth of materials intended to train and orient new librarians to their roles as instructors. This book fills that niche. The book is organized into four parts. Part one defines the “instruction librarian” and offers suggestions for hiring and training new instruction librarians. Part two, which makes up the bulk of the book, discusses the “many hats” that instruction librarians wear. Part three focuses on feedback and performance evaluation. And part four includes the tools and templates that are referenced throughout the book. As a workbook, each chapter includes activities and reading lists designed to provide the reader with practical experience applying and exploring the book’s concepts. Additionally, some chapters include an “Ask the Experts” section where seasoned librarians are asked to provide expert advice on how to handle a hypothetical problem. The scenarios are realistic and the advice is insightful, providing new instruction librarians with guidance on how to handle a sticky situation. The book has much to offer, but its emphasis on management theory overshadows the core aspects of developing, executing, and assessing a library instruction session. Organizational culture and personnel management play an important role in the orientation of any librarian. However, I think most novice instruction librarians will pick this book up expecting greater emphasis on course design, lesson planning, and teaching activities, and may find themselves disappointed with, what I consider, the modest attention given these topics.
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That said, the book does a good job with its overall goal of preparing librarians as they transition into teaching roles and providing them with the foundation needed to succeed as an instruction librarian. ATG Reviewer Rating: I need this available somewhere in my shared network. (I probably do not need this book, but it would be nice to get it with three to five days via my network catalog.)
Marquez, Joe J. and Annie Downey. Getting Started in Service Design: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians. Chicago: ALA Neal-Schuman, 2017. 9780838915646, 120 pages. $60.00 ($54.00 for ALA Members). Reviewed by Katherine Swart (Collection Development Librarian, Hekman Library, Calvin College) <kswart20@calvin.edu> Assessment, evaluation of services, process improvement, user-centered experience: All are familiar buzzwords that have been floating around the library world for years. Indeed, librarians are not unfamiliar with scrutinizing their services as a way both to prove and to improve their worth. Many improvement methods like Lean and Service Design have made their way from business over to libraries, but it can be tricky for libraries to fit the mold. In Getting Started in Service Design Joe J. Marquez and Annie Downey make the user-centered Service Design process easy to implement in libraries and walk readers through all the steps necessary to have a successful project. Marquez is the Social Sciences and User Experience Librarian at Reed College Library in Portland, Oregon. Downey is the Associate College Librarian and Director of Research Services at Reed College Library. Both have a keen interest in Service Design and were awarded fellowships from the ALA Center for the Future of Libraries. Getting Started in Service Design (the book being reviewed here) is actually a workbook that supplements the author’s 2016 book Library Service Design: A LITA Guide to Holistic Assessment, Insight, and Improvement.4 Without having read the original book, readers unfamiliar with Service Design will not find much meaning in the workbook. The authors provide a basic introduction to Service Design in the workbook, but librarians new to Service Design will develop a better understanding of the process by reading the original book first. (Editor’s note: Kudos to the reviewer for getting and reading the original book for this piece.) Marquez and Downey describe Service Design as a process and a mindset. Essentially, it is a framework for assessing and improving library services by focusing on how users interact with the library. The authors begin by describing library Service Design heuristics or strategic questions readers can ask of their library services. The heuristics worksheets are especially helpful in summarizing each design principle and laying out what questions to ask. Perhaps, the most useful chapter is the one on Service Design tools. Once a library has a project plan and team, the next step is to use a variety of tools in order to evaluate the service they want to assess. Marquez and Downey describe eighteen different tools, often including charts and worksheets readers can fill in. For example, the authors provide a diagram of an ecology map as a way to evaluate “the context in which a service operates.” Other examples include tips on how to write an effective user survey, skills to remember when holding a user discussion group, and methods for creating customer journey maps (a visual representation of a user’s or customer’s path to get what they need at your organization or your library). Having a background in Lean process improvement, I was curious to see if Getting Started in Library Service Design offered any additional insights. Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything new or revolutionary in this workbook. In fact I think reading the authors’ 2016 book will serve readers just as well. Most of the Service Design tools are explained in detail in the original book, and the authors do a more thorough job explaining the methodology. The only benefit of the workbook is the fill-in-the-blanks worksheets that readers can employ during their projects. If you already have a background in Service Design and just continued on page 32
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DE WHO? DE GRUYTER! De Gruyter isn’t a megapublisher, but we do know what we’re doing – you’d think so after 270 years of publishing. But just because we’ve been around for a long time doesn’t mean we’re stuffy – how could we be when we publish Humor, the international journal of humor research? In fact, our fresh and modern attitude to open access, transformative agreements and “read and publish” arrangements have gotten us modest headlines. Everything we do is based on our values: partnership, courage, openness and competence and our mission includes connecting researchers to scientific knowledge, nurturing interdisciplinary exchange and thus contributing to wider conversations and progress in society. Interested in a conversation? Come talk to us at ER&L, ACRL, NASIG and ALA.
dewho@degruyter.com Americas: +1 (857) 284-7073 Europe, Middle East, Africa: +49 (30) 2600 50 Asia: +86 (10) 855 12304
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Book Reviews from page 30 need a manual for reference while you’re conducting projects, then the workbook is an asset. If you’re new to Service Design, I recommend Marquez’s and Downey’s 2016 book and then deciding whether you need their 2017 book, which reiterates pretty much the same advice. ATG Reviewer Rating: I need this available somewhere in my shared network. (I probably do not need this book, but it would be nice to get it with three to five days via my network catalog.)
Stachokas, George. Reengineering the Library: Issues in Electronic Resources Management. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2018. 978-0-8389-1621-6, 320 pages. $79.00 (ALA Members $71.10) Reviewed by Michelle Polchow (Electronic Resources Librarian, University of California, Davis) <mpolchow@ucdavis.edu> A title in the ALCTS (American Library Association’s Association for Library Collections and Technical Services) monograph series, this book pulls together an edited collection of chapters authored primarily by librarians with electronic resources (e-resources) responsibilities and perspectives. The authors have pulled together case studies that reveal the state of e-resources management over the last five to ten years, some two to three decades after the initial widespread incorporation of electronic resources in library collections. Stachokas acknowledges needed change in our profession and offers both solutions to future problems and recounting (especially in chapters six and ten) of where libraries currently find themselves on this journey to manage e-resources. In discussion of the marketplace, a citation attributed to Marshall Breeding, a recognized expert on library technology, predicts that by 2026 libraries should reduce dependencies on commercial producers of both metadata and content, and improve user experience by establishing open high-quality linked metadata and progress towards the semantic web. Another chapter on professional competencies for e-resources librarians, Christine Korytnyk Dulaney and Kari Schmidt notes a slow change in management approaches. Even as budgets and quantity of e-resources universally reaches 80% of current library activity, there remains a lopsided distribution of staff dedicated to physical resources. The degree of lopsidedness frequently translates to a single e-resources librarian and rarely are job competencies to manage e-resources distributed across 80% of the library. As I write this review, Breeding’s prediction is only eight years out for libraries to produce open, standardized and linked metadata. To this end, one chapter has passing mention of a struggling open metadata knowledgebase project. Another chapter concerning freely available e-resources mentions librarians are resistant to contribute to metadata projects without direct benefit to their institution. If these are the futuristic challenges and shared vision of academic libraries, an envisioned path to this end is not central to this book and leaves a rather bleak “state of the union.”
Rumors from page 28 Who doesn’t like chocolate? Not me and not Ann Okerson or IGI Global based in Hershey, PA. This is from Atlas Obscura (February 21, 2019). The vessel is now in the collection of the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología in Guatemala. Courtesy James A. Doyle — During the classical period of the Maya, from approximately 250 to 900 A.D., chocolate was a cornerstone of
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As a reader, I considered these case studies using the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis. Many threats and weaknesses are touched upon, but the book offers little to rectify looming issues such as: libraries’ collective struggle to convey their value to their institution and stakeholders; a research environment where users no longer use the library catalog as a primary access point for e-resources; and slow adoption to data mine the technology systems to monitor user satisfaction and gain market strength by adaptation, as is the modern business practice in virtual environments. Using the SWOT analysis, it seems a missed opportunity that few case studies optimize libraries’ unique privileges granted through copyright law. From a different angle, the book is an excellent retrospective review of cooperation achieved by libraries, publishers, and technology providers over the last 10 years, deploying information standards such as COUNTER, DOI, OpenURL, SERU, and SUSHI. It’s well-deserved acknowledgement for the work that has propelled libraries’ evolution from the linear processing of print and physical resources to complex and dynamic management of e-resources, often under staff reduction constraints. A few authors mention metadata standardization as contrary to local campus need, but ultimately this book makes the case that retrospectively, standards have achieved the greatest successes for managing e-resources. Overall, this book may be of less value to professionals in the trenches of e-resources management, but perhaps mandatory reading for library administrators to more fully understand the severity and urgency of the reengineering needs. This might be especially true for library administrators who do not see the complexity of the management of electronic resources as a real concern or problem. Returning to the SWOT analysis, if libraries fail to satisfy users’ information needs in this dynamic environment, the likely outcome will be an undervalued institution overcome by its current threats and weaknesses. The longterm management of e-resources can no longer be sustained by just a few library employees. If the details of management outlined by the book are fully understood by administrators, actionable change at the highest levels seems a critical next step in order that performance catch up to the 80% focus on spending and collection holdings. ATG Reviewer Rating: I need this in my library. (I want to be able to get up from my desk and grab this book off the shelf, if it’s not checked out.)
Endnotes 1. See https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/author/planxty/ for Rick Anderson’s articles from the Scholarly Kitchen. 2. Please see https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2018/11/26/do-youhave-concerns-about-plan-s-then-you-must-be-an-irresponsible-privileged-conspiratorial-hypocrite/. 3. See Regazzi, J. J. (2015). Scholarly communications: A history from content as king to content as kingmaker & Hyland, K. (2015). Academic publishing: Issues and challenges in the construction of knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 4. Marquez, J. J., & Downey, A. (2016). Library service design: A LITA guide to holistic assessment, insight, and improvement.
daily life. It was currency, a ritual ingredient, and a pleasurable drink. But until recently, the details of Maya life were fairly opaque, largely due to the destruction wrought by the conquering Spanish. In the 1980s, after intense effort by Mayanist scholars, there was breakthrough after breakthrough in deciphering Maya glyphs, the written symbols that survived in codices, stone carvings, and pottery. One milestone was the examination of a remarkable ancient vessel, which was found, by an unlikely party, to contain chocolate. See — “Archaeologists, Mayanists and
Hershey’s collaborated to reveal this ancient vessels secrets,” by Anne Ewbank. UVA Library, UVA Press Partner To Make Original Scholarship Freely Available (February 11, 2019) by Anne E. Bromley, <anneb@virginia.edu> — A new partnership at the University of Virginia aims to solve high costs and to make new knowledge more readily available — and free. Called “Aperio,” the new digital publishing partnership between the University Library and University of Virginia Press employs continued on page 34
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Collecting to the Core — The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929-1968 by Mark Emmons (Associate Dean of Public Services, College of University Libraries & Learning Sciences, University of New Mexico; Film Studies Editor, Resources for College Libraries) <emmons@unm.edu> Column Editor: Anne Doherty (Resources for College Libraries Project Editor, CHOICE/ACRL) <adoherty@ala-choice.org> Column Editor’s Note: The “Collecting to the Core” column highlights monographic works that are essential to the academic library within a particular discipline, inspired by the Resources for College Libraries bibliography (online at http://www.rclweb.net). In each essay, subject specialists introduce and explain the classic titles and topics that continue to remain relevant to the undergraduate curriculum and library collection. Disciplinary trends may shift, but some classics never go out of style. — AD
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ifty years ago, Andrew Sarris published The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929-1968.1 The book was an expansion of an article he had written for the journal Film Culture entitled “Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962.”2 Sarris claimed that directors are authors of the films they make, that they should be evaluated on the entire body of their work, and that judgment should rest on their technical competence, distinguishable personality, and the personal style that emerges from the tension between their personality and material. Sarris did not originate the idea of the auteur. He spent some formative years in Paris in the early 1960s and was inspired by the ideas of a loose alliance of French film critics and filmmakers writing in Cahiers du Cinéma that included André Bazin and Jean Luc Godard. He was particularly influenced by the French director François Truffaut who introduced the idea of politique des auteur with his “polemical stance” behind the term auteur.3-4 The polemic behind the politique des auteur was to favor some directors and to disapprove of others based on the style of their films. As a film critic in New York City for Film Culture and a movie reviewer for the Village Voice, Sarris used his platform to popularize the idea of the director as auteur in the United States. At the root of the auteur theory is the idea that the personality of the best directors shine through in their films. The result is that the audience will recognize directors’ styles by the recurring plots, themes, motifs, and images in their films. While Sarris also focused on technical competence in his original article, he centered his arguments almost exclusively on personality in The American Cinema: “The strong director imposes his own personality on a film; the weak director allows the personality of others to run rampant.”5 The strength of a
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director is important because making a film is a collaborative effort often restricted by the commercial nature of the movie industry. “The auteur theory values the personality of a director precisely because of the barriers to its expression.”6 Pauline Kael, a movie reviewer for The New Yorker based in San Francisco, was highly critical of Sarris and auteur theory. In a 1963 article originally published in Film Quarterly (reprinted in her collection I Lost It at the Movies), “Circles and Squares: Sarris and Joy,” she addressed each of the three premises of the auteur theory expounded by Sarris in his original article.7 She argued that expression and style are more important than technical competence, that the fact that a viewer can distinguish the personality of the director is secondary to the value of an individual film, and that cinema is not at all about interior meaning and the tension between the director’s personality and material. As a result of these premises, Kael maintained that auteur critics often glorified trash. She then explained her own views as a film critic. She believed that “art is an expression of the human experience.”8 Disparaging of formulaic critics who applied a single approach such as auteur theory, she considered herself a “pluralist” drawing eclectically and judiciously from “the best standards and principles from various systems of ideas.”9 In contrast to Sarris, Kael wanted critics to judge the individual movie rather than consider the director’s entire corpus. Her riposte was the beginning of a series of ongoing debates in print and in person that attracted followers who identified as Paulettes or Sarristes. Sarris doubled down when he published The American Cinema in 1968. In his introduction, he briefly explained that he compiled the book to guide film students and then expounded at length on “the absence of the most elementary academic tradition in cinema.”10 To help fill this void, he delved more deeply into the idea of the auteur in his introductory chapter “Toward a Theory of Film History.” In his afterword, “The Auteur Theory Revisited,” first added to the 1977 edition, Sarris addressed the criticism: “Still, if I had to do it all over again, I would reformulate the auteur theory with a greater emphasis on the tantalizing mystery of style than on the romantic agony of the artists.”11 He concluded his afterword by conceding that “auteurism is and always has been more
a tendency than a theory, more a mystique than a methodology, more an editorial policy than an aesthetic procedure.”12 The bulk of his book consists of a hierarchical ranking of (mostly) American directors and their works, a chronological list of films, and a directorial index. His flamboyantly named categories included directors in and just outside of the pantheon, directors whose works were too esoteric or ephemeral for them to be considered great, directors who were too serious or merely likable, comedic directors, and directors who were too early in their careers to be thoroughly evaluated (see Figure 1). Each category described what makes the directors auteurs and lists their films, highlighting the most worthy. The auteur theory was widely embraced by many. For many a movie lover and film student, The American Cinema served as a canon and a viewing guide. Cinephiles sought opportunities to watch listed movies. Art houses screened films. Critics analyzed filmmakers and films with an auteur lens. Film schools taught classes on auteur theory and on directors. University and popular presses published academic books about directors. Conversations abounded. Criticism of Sarris within these circles accepted the basic premise of directors as authors and instead focused on niceties, nitpicking who belonged in the pantheon and complaining that he included too many commercial directors and virtually no women. The auteur theory was also rejected by many. One major criticism was that auteur theory unfairly privileged the director over other creative artists. Detractors argued that movie making is a collaborative art, with meaningful contributions from studios, producers, writers, cinematographers, sound designers, set designers, editors, actors, and more. C. Paul Sellors, in his book Film Authorship: Auteurs and Other Myths, made a typical argument, proposing that his book’s purpose was to “provide further reasons to question the automatic assignment of authorship to a film’s director.”13 He traced the idea of the director as author back to romantic French notions of authorship and explored theoretical concepts of authorship around narrator and narrative to derive his definition of “film authorship as collective intentional action.”14 Modern auteur theory has evolved to assign creative responsibility to filmmakers other than the director, but still focuses on individuals most responsible for the style and expression in a film rather than upon a collective author. The auteur theory was also seen as irrelevant by many. Instead of focusing on the author and the value of the work, film theorists continued on page 34
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Collecting to the Core from page 33 became more devoted to poststructuralist and ideological perspectives. Poststructuralists read cinema with semiotic, psychoanalytic, literary, and Marxist lenses from the perspective of the viewer, disconnecting and dismantling the meaning of the film from authorial intent. Ideological theorists with Marxist, feminist, postcolonial, or queer approaches interpreted and critiqued film with the aim of challenging dominant power structures and narratives. Neither epistemology found any relevance in auteur theory. Nonetheless, despite the passage of time and the arrival of competing perspectives, auteur theory has persisted. Whether this is due to romantic notions about authors, popular beliefs about how movies are made, or a genuine conviction that directors shape films more than any other creative talent, conversations about cinema often revolve around the director. This fact is reflected in Resources for College Libraries, where nearly nine in ten works listed in the “Filmmakers” section are about directors. This is not due to editorial viewpoint, but is a reflection of the published academic scholarship (though it is worth noting that the popular press publishes numerous books about actors in addition to directors). Andrew Sarris and his book, The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929-1968, played a significant role in the development of the idea that the director is the author of a film. This influential work remains a relevant and consequential part of every academic library film studies collection.
Endnotes 1. Sarris, Andrew. The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929-1968. 1st Da Capo Press edition. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996.* 2. Sarris, Andrew. “Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962.” Film Culture 27 (Winter 1962/63): 1-8. 3. Truffaut, François. “A Certain Tendency of the French Cinema.” [1954] In Movies and Methods. Edited by Bill Nichols. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976. 4. Sarris, The American Cinema, 27. 5. Sarris, The American Cinema, 31. 6. Sarris, The American Cinema, 31. 7. Kael, Pauline. “Circles and Squares: Sarris and Joy.” In I Lost It at the Movies. Boston: Little Brown, 1965.* 8. Kael, “Circles and Squares,” 308. 9. Kael, “Circles and Squares,” 308. 10. Sarris, The American Cinema, 27. 11. Sarris, The American Cinema, 272. 12. Sarris, The American Cinema, 278. 13. Sellors, C. Paul. Film Authorship: Auteurs and Other Myths. London: Wallflower Press, 2010, 16.* 14. Sellors, Film Authorship, 130. *Editor’s note: An asterisk (*) denotes a title selected for Resources for College Libraries.
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Rumors from page 32 the latest technology to produce what’s called “open access” to research, scholarship and other educational materials — eventually including textbooks. (“Aperio” is a Latin word meaning “to uncover, to open, to make public.”) The library is offering a platform for academic journals, both new ones and possibly those transferred from costly private publishers, and the University Press is publishing eBooks. “This is a historical turning point for libraries,” UVA Open Publishing Librarian Dave Ghamandi said, “from ac-
quiring and collecting content and making it available locally to partnering with scholars to produce and widely disseminate their work.” https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-libraryuva-press-partner-make-original-scholarship-freely-available This is exiting! (Taken from Elsevier Connect, February 15, 2019 by Tom Reller and Ian Evans). Kumsal Bayazit takes over today as Elsevier’s Chief Executive Officer, replacing Ron Mobed, who joined Elsevier in 2011. Kumsal becomes the first female CEO in the company’s close-to-140-year history. Born and raised in Turkey, Kumsal continued on page 53
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Wryly Noted — Books About Books Column Editor: John D. Riley (Against the Grain Contributor and Owner, Gabriel Books) <jdriley@comcast.net> https://www.facebook.com/Gabriel-Books-121098841238921/ The Library Book by Susan Orlean. (ISBN: 978-1-4767-40188, Simon & Schuster Publishers, 2018. HB $28.00.)
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usan Orlean is well known as a journalist and has been on the staff of the New Yorker since 1992. She is the author of seven books including Rin Tin Tin and the Orchid Thief. In The Library Book Orlean tells the story of the 1986 fire that nearly destroyed the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL from now on) but in her attempt to be thorough she tries to cover too much material and the book comes up short, lacking in any real focus or depth of coverage. Orlean’s style has been called “immersive journalism,” which must mean that she tries to be personally involved in all parts of her story. She did spend many hours at the LAPL documenting the immense fire of April 29, 1986 that is the largest library fire in U.S. history. The blaze destroyed over four hundred thousand items, twenty percent of the collection, with most of the remaining books suffering from smoke and water damage. To the detriment of her story and narrative trajectory, she tries to tell the entire history of the library’s public services, technical services and reference services at the same time that she is recounting a detective story, hence the title: The Library Book. These “behind the scenes” vignettes are too short and perfunctory and seem to serve as filler for a mystery story that never arrives at a solution. Orleans spends nearly half the book tracking down relatives, friends, and acquaintances of Harry Peak, the central figure in her story. He was suspected of being a disgruntled patron who, when turned away from the library before opening time, went on to ignite the fire in retaliation. But in the end, the only evidence detectives could track down was circumstantial at best and Peaks avoided prosecution. Harry Peak was a totally lackluster character, a hanger-on around Hollywood and a gofer for several LA lawyers. Trying to drape the whole story of the fire around him was not compelling in the least. In the end the book is a meandering and failed detective story that simply promised too much. The reader is dragged on by myriad details hoping that in the end there would be some resolution to the mystery of the fire, but that hope fizzles out as the story goes up in smoke with no solution to the crime. As with many other books, the digressions in The Library Book end up being the most interesting part of the narrative. The LAPL has a fascinating history going back to 1872, a more rugged time when the Wild West was just dying out. In her retelling, Orlean recounts how women were initially leaders in the library administration, but then were pushed aside as the jobs were professionalized and men began to make up a larger percentage of the staff. One of the earliest library directors was Mary Foy, an eighteen-year old who was known for
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her encyclopedic knowledge of the collection. However, when her father began to prosper in the business world, the library board felt her father could then support her. In their thinking, since she didn’t need the job, she was replaced by an older librarian, Lydia Prescott. Library paternalism turned to outright misogyny however when Mary Jones, a popular and accomplished librarian, was replaced by a man, Charles Lummis, simply because the library board felt that a man should be the administrator of library affairs. However colorful and eccentric the story of Charles Loomis is, it will always be tarnished by his insider rise to power. Orleans continues to dwell on the vagaries of library personnel and administration, but even her personal relationships with the librarians couldn’t sustain the same drama or interest that the early days held. Some other digressions are particularly interesting, for example, the story of the construction of the building that houses the library. The LAPL Central Library was designed by the noted architect Bertram Goodhue who incorporated Moorish, Spanish, and Modernistic details into all parts of the library. He sought to create a gesamtwerk or total art piece which incorporated beautiful murals, sculptures and bas reliefs, woodwork, immense chandeliers, and expansive gardens. Goodhue had been a lead architect of the 1915 World’s Fair in San Diego that celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal. There he created an exuberant celebration of early California history which gave rise to the fashion for Spanish revival architecture that took California by storm. Much of the Fair’s architecture can still be seen in Balboa Park in San Diego. What were initially forward-looking design features in the library turned out to be dangerous fire hazards. The construction of four “silos” of seven stories each allowed the library to compact more shelving into the structure and allowed air to circulate around the books, but in the end the stacks acted as wind tunnels and smoke stacks for a fire that had gotten started slowly. The Fire Marshals never did figure what started the fire, but the library had notoriously bad electrical wiring, a faulty alarm system, and it contained twice as many books as it had been designed for. It also lacked fire doors between floors. Another interesting digression that Orlean takes us on is the debunking of many so-called scientific theories of arson. Most of the evidence presented in court up to that time turned
out to be based on mere conjecture, such as thinking that a fire burns most intensely where it originated. It turns out that there are many other variables that influence the intensity of a fire. In the case of the LAPL fire, Marshals knew where the fire started because fire fighters arrived early enough to observe it. But, as mentioned before, the structure of the library accelerated the small fire that was burning when first responders showed up. Another fire that was raging at the same time was the Chernobyl reactor meltdown. That disaster claimed all the headlines for weeks and many people outside of Los Angeles were unaware of how serious the library fire had been. One particular detail of Orlean’s explanation of the fire rung particularly untrue to me. To prove her point that books were a type of incendiary device just waiting to burst into flames she took a paperback copy of Fahrenheit 451 into her back yard and when she touched it with a match the book lit up like a torch that burned in “…a nearly instantaneous combustion-and the entire book was gone in seconds.” I have never had that experience of a book burning so easily. As Ray Bradbury himself observed, it is only at a sustained temperature of 451 degrees that books begin to burn. The books in his novel were hit with flame throwers, rather than just a match. In fact, the temperatures in the LAPL fire reached over 2,500 degrees! The fire burned out of control for over seven hours in what is known as a “flashover.” Among the items lost in the conflagration were a quarter million photographs of Los Angeles dating back to the 1850s, five and a half million American patent listings dating from 1799 with drawings and descriptions, three quarters of the library’s microfilm holdings, a book by Andrea Palladio from 1500, every single art book printed on glossy paper (which turned to goo when exposed to water), and the largest collection of books on food and cooking in the country, not to mention a large collection of books on citrus cultivation. Interestingly, Orlean takes us on a detour to explore many other library fires, especially the phenomenon known as “libricide,” or the intentional burning of book collections. The Nazis were the most infamous practitioners of this cultural destruction. They knew how precious books were to the Jewish people, their heritage and their very identity. Books were targeted for destruction by bands known as “Brenn-Kommandos” who were tasked with torching synagogues and libraries. Goebbels made use of “Feuerspuche” or “Fire Incantations” where books were “sentenced continued on page 36
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Wryly Noted from page 35 to death.” As the poet Heine remarked presciently “There where one burns books, one in the end burns men.” In the aftermath of the LAPL fire the community pulled together to rebuild an even larger and better facility. As one librarian put it “...the fire was a saving grace. People rallied around the library and they realized how much they loved it and wanted to save it.” The LAPL had fallen on hard times by 1986 when the fire took it down. Downtown Los Angeles, where the library was located, had been hollowed out by residents moving to the suburbs and companies relocating to the malls. What had been left was a neglected structure and a library searching for its mission. The homeless population had boomed in the downtown area and the library struggled to work with the city and human service agencies to help them survive the harsh environment. Much of Orlean’s book tells the story of how the library responded to this complete change in its clientele. Immediately after the fire, librarians and city agencies and corporations worked together to salvage as many books from the fire as they could. Los Angeles is home to many fish processing plants and their warehouses became vital temporary storage where books could be kept at below freezing temperatures until they could be rehabilitated. After several months, strategies were put in place for mass dehydration by vacuum drying and dehumidifying. In the end nearly 700,000 books went through this process. It was the largest book drying project in history. Los Angeles was the home to many aerospace companies who pitched in their vacuum chambers for the project. The LAPL finally reopened in 1993 and celebrated their success with a float in the Rose Parade that featured a book worm reading a newspaper with the headline “Central Library Reopens October 3, 1993.” The library is now a central cultural institution in the reborn downtown of Los Angeles. Architects were able to restore the central core designed by Goodhue and expand the building and its gardens. The new library now has state of the art fire doors, fire alarms, and fire suppressant technology. I think most readers and especially librarians will find the details in this book to be fascinating and possibly newsworthy, but in the end the author tried to tell too much and in so doing lost the thread of her story. Susan Orlean is to be commended for bringing to light many details surrounding the fire that engulfed the LAPL, details that may have been ignored up until now. She also provides an important admonition to libraries on how to safeguard their collections in our country where there are more than 200 library fires a year.
Booklover — Life Column Editor: Donna Jacobs (Retired, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425) <donna.jacobs55@gmail.com>
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hat is in store for life in 2019? Always an interesting question to ponder. In the short story The Call of Life Knut Pedersen Hamsun’s lead character ponders many questions about the life of a woman he meets while taking an evening stroll along Vestervold Street in Copenhagen. Each musing leads to an interesting twist. We learn the woman’s name is Ellen; we learn that she is young; we learn personal details about Ellen; and we learn that her husband, who is many years her senior, has just passed away. We learn this fact after the main character spends an intimate night with Ellen in her home and the next morning observes a corpse lain out in the adjoining room to the one where he is making use of a wash stand. “I sat for a long time and pondered.” Knut Pedersen Hamsun was awarded the 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1920/summary/ Each Nobelist is featured on this website, some with more information than others. Knud Pedersen — he wrote under several pen names — was born in Lom, Norway in 1859. His early life was full of struggles and he worked at a wide variety of jobs. From sheriff’s assistant to elementary school teacher to store clerk to odd jobs throughout America, Hamsun would try anything for a dollar. It was while apprenticing with a ropemaker at the age of 17 that he began to write. He successfully published his first book in 1890 using his experiences and struggles with all of his odd jobs to guide the narrative. Although Hamsun was awarded the Nobel for Growth of the Soil, the 1890 semiautobiographical work Hunger is considered by many to be Hamsun’s real claim to literary fame.
The writing of Hamsun influenced Isaac Bashevis Singer, who also won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978. This influence developed into Singer not only translating many of Hamsun’s works but also calling Hamsun “the father of the modern school of literature in his every aspect — his subjectiveness, his fragmentariness, his use of flashbacks, his lyricism. The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun.” (A quote attributed to Singer’s introduction in a 1967 translated version of Hunger.) Like many authors, Hamsun had strong political leanings. He was a strong advocate for Germany, the German culture, Nazi ideology and eulogized Hitler after his death. In Otto Dietrich’s memoir The Hitler I Knew: Memoirs of the Third Reich’s Press Chief, Dietrich relates an anecdote about a meeting between Hamsun and Hitler. Hamsun was old and hard of hearing. He interrupted Hitler many times in their conversation where Hamsun was critiquing the behavior of the German government toward the Norwegians. Dietrich states that the Führer was in a fury for several days after the exchange. When the wars shifted the political wind, these political positions created difficulties for him. His books were burned. He was subjected to a psychiatric exam to determine if his mental state was stable to stand a trail for treason. He was found to be impaired and the treason charges were dropped. Then in 1949 Hamsun wrote his final book — maybe as a testament to an improved mental facility. Now life is calling me back to The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox, the story of the three people involved with the discovery and subsequent decoding of Linear B.
Future Charleston Conference Dates 2019 Conference — Monday-Friday, November 4-8, 2019 2020 Conference — Monday-Friday, November 2-6, 2020 2021 Conference — Monday-Friday, November 1-5, 2021
www.charlestonlibraryconference.com 36 Against the Grain / February 2019
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ATG Interviews Steve Potash Founder, OverDrive by Nancy Herther (Sociology Librarian, University of Minnesota) <herther@umn.edu> Steve Potash founded OverDrive in 1986 to serve the needs of mostly public libraries for distribution and service. This was at a time when few foresaw the revolution in technology that was to up-end the publishing industry. For OverDrive, the rise of the internet and digital books in the 1990s caused the company to refocus their service mission, and launch their content distribution service in 2000. Today, “along with the industry’s leading digital reading platform, OverDrive now offers the largest digital content catalog in the world to more than 40,000 libraries and schools in 70 countries and the highest-rated apps that are built to create reading happiness.” With the purchase of OverDrive by Rakuten in 2015, the company changed its brand name to Rakuten OverDrive and the infusion of resources only furthers OverDrive’s dominance, especially for public libraries across North America. Steve shares some of his experience, vision and perspectives with ATG. ATG: In the past two months we have had announcements on new eBook terms from both PRH and Macmillan/TOR, as well the new Panorama Project. Are publishers still so unsure of the role of libraries, or is this one of the few channels they feel they can still control? Do you see the Panorama Project as making a difference? I know that OverDrive is one of the sponsors. SP: OverDrive introduced public libraries and institutional lending for popular trade eBooks and audiobooks 16 years ago. Since then we have seen an ongoing evolution of access models offered and adopted by publishers to balance their commercial interests to promote retail sales for print and digital, while still providing libraries broad public access to popular titles. Changes over the years have included HarperCollins’ 26 circulation limit policy per unit and term limitations from Simon & Schuster and others. I am delighted to report that the majority of changes to library lending models have actually increased options for libraries and schools. Today more trade publishers offer their titles for libraries to promote and lend as simultaneous access models. We also have had a surge of publishers and authors promoting their titles for simultaneous access as part of digital book clubs and city read programs. There is another recent option for libraries to add popular titles with no wait list under a “cost per checkout” model. We are now offering schools short-term lease terms for classroom sets of eBooks for students. All of these access models complement the principle “one-copy, one-user” model.
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Recent announcements from Penguin Random House and TOR (Macmillan) are another step forward in fine-tuning the available models. I expect these terms to continue to evolve as more data is uncovered on how readers discover and embrace new authors and series, and purchase books. The Panorama Project has several research efforts underway to determine how libraries, both in their 16,000 locations in the U.S. and online through their OPACs, apps, and discovery services, promote books for readers to discover, and, in many cases, buy. The Panorama Project will be the first wide-scale data project seeking to understand the impact libraries have on book discovery and retail sales outside of the library. ATG: Pricing in the academic environment has been particularly difficult. Some eBook pricing is far higher than print (one university press charges $28 for a print and $750 for unlimited eBook access). Some textbooks are reportedly going for nearly $1,000 as eBooks. The PRH plan would require a subscription system, which would ultimately cost libraries thousands of dollars over time for ongoing access. Will academic/ research libraries be able to work with these models? SP: We expect academic libraries to curate and offer PRH titles that their readers want under the new pricing and access model. It may result in collections becoming more selective from authors and genres that align with the readership of the institution. OverDrive has consistently advised all authors, agents, and publishers that their economic interests are lifted by offering flexible and reasonable terms to enable every library to acquire rights to not only frontlist titles but backlist and complete series of titles as well. As the new model rolls out to the market, we will learn how it impacts institutional buying patterns which may ultimately impact the publisher’s model going forward. The terms for library lending of digital books will continue to evolve so we
should not assume any terms will be the only option in the future. ATG: Public library needs are different from those of academics/research libraries. How do you see eBook publishing and acquisition shaking out in the coming years? SP: With a flood of content available from so many sources, publishers and authors need to compete for attention and mindshare from users looking for quality content. Books and long-form reading need champions to keep the long-term interests of book publishers healthy and growing. There are no better advocates for reading and discovery of books than librarians and the institutions committed to promoting reading and access to information from books. I expect that outcomes from the Panorama Project will help provide data that impacts publisher and author appreciation for the values that libraries offer for their brand and titles. All commercial publishers are facing an increasing challenge to have their books discovered and appreciated from an increasing universe of free digital books and a myriad of digital content in other media formats. I expect to see premium eBook content continue to evolve and grow in value to readers and the institutions that supply access to them. We are moving quite quickly where mobile and digital formats for books are becoming the norm for many categories of books. ATG: You clearly have good contacts with other book jobbers. How are they faring in this environment? They have little power or control and in an increasingly eBook-only environment (if this were to dominate), how could they survive? Are jobbers trusted by publishers any more than libraries? SP: OverDrive promotes reading in all formats and encourages the discovery and appreciation for print. Physical books will never go away and are a preferable format for millions of readers. This will provide book jobbers an ongoing role for all institutions and libraries. The momentum and more significant growth opportunities for book sales are in the digital realm. Authors and publishers have enjoyed a print sale, royalty reporting partnership with retail bookstore and book jobbers for 200 years. This is a trusted channel that provides consistent reporting and royalties to agents and authors. The newer digital book channels are evolving and will gain more support from authors going forward. OverDrive is working with authors and publishers to provide transparency on library buying patterns for their titles to share information on where, how many, and use for their eBook and audiobook titles. We expect this new transparency for library and institution investment into digital books continued on page 40
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ATG Interviews Anne Osterman Director, Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) by Tom Gilson (Associate Editor, Against the Grain) <gilsont@cofc.edu> and Katina Strauch (Editor, Against the Grain) <kstrauch@comcast.net> ATG: Anne, you have been the Director of the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) since May 2015. What drew you to this position? What unique experiences and skills did you bring to the job? AO: I started with VIVA as the Associate Director in 2012, and the original appeal of a consortial job was the work I had done with the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) while I was at American University. Library consortia seemed like a great way to do more together. I had worked at many of the institution types found within VIVA — a two year community college, large public doctoral university, and mid-sized private university — so VIVA in particular seemed like a good fit. I had also worked in a variety of librarian roles on the public and technical services sides of those libraries, and I thought that breadth of experience would be helpful in understanding the needs of a consortium. ATG: For those unfamiliar with VIVA, can you tell us about its mission, services, and collections? Is there anything else we should know about VIVA? AO: VIVA is the consortium of nonprofit academic libraries within the Commonwealth of Virginia. Our 72 members include the 39 public colleges and universities, 32 of the independent institutions, and the Library of Virginia. VIVA builds a shared collection of electronic materials, has a robust resource sharing program, and is implementing a new open and affordable course content program. We work to level the academic playing field for Virginia students and faculty by ensuring that the same core educational resources are available, whether you attend a small community college or large research institution. This is the goal we keep at the forefront of all of our initiatives. Through shared projects, collections, and programs that streamline services, VIVA has saved the state incredible amounts of money and staff time over the years. ATG: If you were to rank them, which VIVA services would be at the top of your list? What would you say are VIVA’s collection strengths? AO: The heart of VIVA is certainly its shared collection of databases, eBooks, ejournals, and streaming media. We focus on STEM-H resources to support Virginia’s interest in higher education in these areas, but we hope to provide a broad enough collection to support all disciplines at a foundational level. Our robust resource sharing program, powered by a tight-knit, passionate community of ILL practitioners, is also deeply important to VIVA and has allowed our institutions to embark on shared print analysis and the development of a distributed print and eBook collection
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ATG: As part of the program, VIVA has negotiated the right for VIVA institutions to lend whole eBooks via Interlibrary Loan without the use of restrictive software. How does that work? Can you elaborate? How were you able to convince your four publishing partners to agree?
throughout the state. We also have a new but increasingly important open and affordable course content program created through funding that began in 2018. This program works to make open and affordable course content available in order to lower overall costs, promote student success, and empower Virginia faculty to redesign their curricula. ATG: VIVA’s whole ebook lending program, in particular, has created some buzz in library circles. What is it and what is so unique about it? AO: Beginning in 2016, VIVA gained whole eBook lending rights with four publishers: Brill, Oxford University Press (and by extension, the presses in its University Press Scholarship Online collection), Taylor & Francis, and Wiley. These are DRM-free, PDF eBooks, so the user experience via a loan is the same as if they had access to it at their own library. These rights are foundational to our long-term vision of a distributed, shared collection of books within the state. Within our Taylor & Francis evidence-based plan, for example, the titles we purchase are held by individual libraries, but the statewide benefit remains because of the whole eBook lending rights. There are also benefits for the publishers, from the goodwill of their customers to the added exposure of the materials requested by users that libraries may decide to translate into additional purchases. I would love if these rights were not so unique — we were hoping that it would be a tipping point in the industry — but I am not aware of any other programs as broad as ours.
AO: Yes, our libraries can lend the DRMfree, whole eBooks as a single file, either one available from the platform or one created by the lending library from the chapter pdfs that comprise a given title. They can send the file in the same, secure way they would usually send an individual chapter or journal article. This does not mean that it is an easy or intuitive process; we have a task force focused on making these titles more discoverable and on best practices for borrowing and lending whole eBooks. I think the two key factors in convincing our publishing partners to agree were our determination to have these rights (our RFP was written in such a way that respondents would have to respond negatively to the whole eBook lending rather than describe their interlibrary loan rights) and our ability to acquire new eBook collections with new funds. We had recently completed a monographic analysis that informed our collection development strategy with eBooks, and based on this analysis the General Assembly provided VIVA with funds to select eBooks in a data-driven, statewide way. This new funding was critical to encouraging publishers to come to the table. ATG: Can you tell us more about the monographic analysis that you conducted? How did it work? What were the results? What strategies did you use to convince the General Assembly to provide new funding based on your findings? AO: We partnered with Sustainable Collection Services from 2013-2015 to conduct a Monographic Collection Analysis that included around six million records from the main libraries at twelve institutions across VIVA. The project goals included using the data and analysis to inform future, collaborative collection development (our starting point, which seems fairly unique among these kinds of projects), identifying scarcely-held titles in need of protection, and beginning a discussion about the possibility of reducing unnecessary duplication and saving local space through strategic weeding. Ultimately, this analysis was used as the foundation for a memorandum of understanding for the rare and unique materials found in the main stacks of the participating libraries, a memorandum of understanding for 3.5 million widely held materials at eight research institutions, and a recommended threshold of four print copies continued on page 40
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Interview — Anne Osterman from page 39 within VIVA. Further, and in keeping with the original aims of the project, numerous shared eBook collections were negotiated and acquired using the resulting data from the collection analysis. More information about the project is available here: http://vivalib. org/monographic_analysis. With the General Assembly, we focused on how this data would enable VIVA to buy materials we knew to be broadly relevant across the consortium. We knew we could be more strategic in our approach to publishers and save the state money through a central investment, and this turned out to be a convincing approach. ATG: Are there any words of wisdom or additional advice that you can share with other library consortia interested in developing a similar program? AO: You have to be willing to speak with your funding for these rights. If we stop buying resources that don’t have the rights we want and support publishers moving in a positive direction, the environment can change. An RFP process can also create a good, competitive environment for rights negotiation, and I think that it is important to emphasize the marketing power of ILL, as many libraries use ILL data to inform their collection development. ATG: VIVA’s Open Textbook Network is another innovative program. Can you tell us about it? How does it work? AO: This program began as an Open Textbook Network (OTN) System Membership pilot in 2016, when we held training to create Campus Leaders (those who would hold OTN workshops on their own campuses) and funded the training of three System Leaders at the OTN Summer Institute. This program was so successful — it created $2.5 million in student savings in its first two years — that we were able to pitch a much larger program to the General Assembly that included a course redesign grant program, expansion of the OTN program, affordable course content initiative, and two new central staff personnel. This funding request was successful, and $600,000 was added to our annual base by the state. We are so grateful to the consortia and groups that have been innovators before us in this area, such as LOUIS, Open Oregon, and GALILEO; we were able to learn from them and customize a program that would fit within Virginia. ATG: How do you maintain quality in a program that relies on open educational resources? AO: Faculty reviews are foundational to the success of the Open Textbook Library, both as a means to introduce faculty to OER and to provide information about quality and relevance. We are just in the beginning stages of creating our own discovery portal for resources through our program, but curation and discussions with faculty will be a big part of it. ATG: Faculty buy-in is essential for a program like this. What has been the faculty’s
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response? Has it been more successful for some VIVA members than others? AO: I want to recognize first that there were already a number of OER initiatives within the state. Our community college system, particularly Tidewater Community College, is nationally recognized for its Z-degree program, where all textbooks for a given degree program are free to the student, and Virginia Tech is another standout institution, with the creation of important open textbooks. Our program was an attempt to build on these successes, and others throughout the state, to create a more statewide approach. Through our OTN pilot, we have had adoptions of open textbooks at all of our institution types — two year, four year, doctoral, and private — which was an important factor in our considering it a success. The faculty response has been most direct and enthusiastic in response to our new course redesign grant program. The grant program recognizes that faculty, regardless of enthusiasm for the idea of open and affordable, also need to be given the time, space, and resources to make these types of dramatic changes to their curricula. We released our first RFP in December, and faculty across the state at a wide variety of institutions have expressed interest in participating. This really feels like a game changer for what our faculty will be able to do. ATG: From your experience what are the most effective strategies in encouraging faculty involvement in a project like this? Which strategies haven’t worked quite as well? AO: Faculty are busy and pulled in many directions; incentives such as funding or time are critical to enabling the work that goes into the adoption, adaptation, and creation of OER. A local presence is also important. Having the information about OER come from a librarian they already know and trust is much more powerful than information from a new, unfamiliar source. ATG: Anne, what do you see in VIVA’s future? Are there any new projects in the offing? Do you have a “scoop” that you can share? AO: We are really excited about our new Sustainable Journal Pricing project. We are trying to create a new model for negotiation that is reflective of VIVA’s consortial values, sustainable for member library budgets, and flexible enough to adapt to a more Open Access future. This work builds on the past assessment work of VIVA, including the Value Metric Project, which incorporated factors such as Open Access, faculty publishing, and usage rights into our renewal and cancellation decisions. There is a crisis point for journal subscriptions happening, particularly with regard to Big Deals, and we want to help our members negotiate the agreements they need for long-term success. ATG: This new sustainable journal pricing project sounds like a real challenge. How far along are you in developing the model? Do you have a target date for implementation? Is there a website that interested readers can go to in order to learn more?
AO: It is definitely a challenge. Untangling the different funding streams for journals, Open Access, and the larger higher education business of those publishers is no small feat. We also know that we need broad consensus to achieve the leverage we need to shift the model, so communicating about this project consistently across our institutions is an important part of the task force’s work. We are beginning to run numbers, focusing on content relevance to Virginia and its authors, and hope to have an approach ready for an initial discussion with publishers soon. A number of our task force members discussed this project at the 2018 Charleston Conference in a presentation called “Flipping the Model,” and more information is available here: http://vivalib. org/sustainablepricing. ATG: It strikes us that being the Director of VIVA is both rewarding and challenging. However, everyone needs some down time. So, we were wondering what you do for fun and relaxation? Are there any activities that you particularly enjoy? AO: The best part of my day is playing with my daughter, and I also enjoy reading, doing yoga, and playing board games with my husband. A special treat is listening to great stand-up comedy. ATG: Anne, Thanks so much for taking time out of what we know is a very busy schedule to talk to us. AO: Thank you for the opportunity!
Interview — Steve Potash from page 38 will result in a greater appreciation for the digital book channels through libraries. One area of significant growth for publishers and authors is the global market and instant access OverDrive provides for eBooks and audiobooks. Today, over 40,000 institutions in 72 countries are purchasing eBooks and audiobooks under a variety of access models to serve students, readers, employees, and others worldwide.
“A Conversation with Steve Potash” by Nancy Herther was first posted on the ATG NewsChannel website as part of Nancy’s article “Publishers Still Unsettled Over The Future Of Ebooks: Part 3 — Distribution Trends From Overdrive’s Steve Potash.” It along with links to the other two parts of the entire article are available at: https://www. against-the-grain.com/2018/11/atg-originalpublishers-still-unsettled-over-the-futureof-ebooks-part-3-distribution-trends-fromoverdrives-steve-potash/.
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LEGAL ISSUES Section Editors: Bruce Strauch (The Citadel) <strauchb@citadel.edu> Jack Montgomery (Western Kentucky University) <jack.montgomery@wku.edu>
Legally Speaking — Combating Copyrights for Artists by Anthony Paganelli (Western Kentucky University) <Anthony.Paganelli@wku.edu>
I
n the United States, copyright laws were established in 1790 by the constitution. Since the U.S. Constitution has allowed Congress to enact copyright laws, music publishers and industry leaders have been strong public advocates for musicians, songwriters, and performers, which is noted by the efforts of the performing rights organizations American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), and Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC). Further contribution towards assisting musicians was the recently passed Music Modernization Act that provides better financial support for artists, an open accessible database of copyrighted works, and updates to the copyright laws for streaming digital works. Yet, visual artists; especially those that that have images online, have very little assistance available for them to hinder copyright infringement and recoup lost income. Visual artists such as photographers, painters, sculptors, etc. struggle with obtaining legal support and assistance with protecting their works and securing finances. While this reason for a lack of outside support could be mainly stated in terms that art work sales can be commissioned or through direct sales. Also, art can also be licensed, which has recently become a major trend for manufacturers to license images for their products to increase revenue. In order to license their work, artists have the option to license their own work themselves or obtain an agent or publisher to assist with licensing agreements with manufacturers, which U.S. artists have the Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association to provide a directory of resources. In addition, artists can secure financial support and the protection of their works is through copyright protection. In regards to art and copyright, the U.S. Copyright Office states loosely that “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works are considered art that can be copyrighted.” According to the U.S. Copyright Office, an original work is copyrighted “the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that is perceptible
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either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.” Therefore, artists have control over how the work is reproduced, adapted, distributed, displayed, licensed, or sold. Overall, the artist has ownership of the work as the work is being created and once the work is completed. The only exceptions to ownership is whether the work was a “work for hire” by an artist that works within an organization or as an independent artist working for a commission. Even though the artist’s work is basically copyrighted from the process of creation to the completion, artists have the option to register their copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office in order to obtain the full protection of the copyright law. Of course, this can be costly with fees and time, but it does give the artist full protection should an issue of copyright infringement occur and enter the legal system. Artists may also struggle to understand the concept of copyright laws regarding their works that includes several issues that constitute copyright and copyright infringement. Further struggles for artists can include locating an attorney to represent their works and interests, not to mention expensive legal fees. Not only obtaining an attorney to represent an artist can be difficult, but securing an attorney that is knowledgeable of art. While law schools have recently begun to offer art law within their curriculum, artists will have limitations and access to an attorney that would be able to understand the complexities of art business. As images continue to be reproduced and distributed electronically, artists have to contend with their works being altered or changed to misrepresent the original creation of the work. This is an issue that has become very common since the 1980s as technology has given the ability to easily copy and alter artworks, which mainly includes images. In regards to this misuse of copyrighted images in terms of fair use, works can be copied for four reasons that includes “purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; nature of the copyrighted work; amount and substantiality used in relation to
the copyrighted work as a whole; and “effect of the use on the potential for the market for or value of the copyrighted work.” Two examples for fair use in art include parodies and appropriations. Parody is a work that can make use of some original artwork “for comic effect or ridicule.” This fair use is difficult because it does contain a portion of the original, yet it is not a derivative of the work. A common example of an original artwork used for parody is Grant Wood’s 1930 painting America Gothic, which pop culture icons have replaced the faces of the iconic farmer and his daughter to represent a parody. Appropriations have become common due to the technology available to take an original image and use it to create other works of art. A recent account of appropriations and copyright infringement is the case Cariou v. Prince 714 F.3d 694 (2d Cir. 2013). Author and photographer, Patrick Cariou published the book Yes Rasta in 2000, that included photographs of people and landscape in Jamaica. In 2008, artist Richard Prince utilized several of Cariou’s photographs to create a series of paintings and collages for a gallery exhibit at the Gagosian Gallery in New York City titled Canal Zone. Cariou sued Prince for copyright infringement in 2009 against, as well as Gagosian Gallery, Inc., Lawerence Gagosian, and the Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. In 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York determined that Prince infringed on Cariou’s work. The court first decided that Cariou’s work qualified for copyright protection, Prince’s works were not transformative nor parody, the gallery acted on bad faith by knowing that the works utilized Cariou’s photographs, and Prince used a large portion of Cariou’s work. The fourth aspect of fair use that the court examined was the potential for market value. Cariou was denied an opportunity to place an exhibit at the Gagosian Gallery because Prince’s exhibit had preceded it, thus the court decided that the Cariou’s potential market was damaged. The court also ordered Prince to discontinue any use of Cariou’s works. Prince and the Gallery also had ten days of the order to destroy any works that had Cariou’s photographs, which included the gallery’s exhibition catalog books. Cariou opposed the destruction and the term was reserved for litigation. In continued on page 42
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Legally Speaking from page 41 addition, Prince had to notify in writing of current and future owners of his works relating to Cariou were infringed. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second District in 2013 overruled the decision based on the determination that Prince’s works were transformative and meet the requirements of fair use. Although, the appeals court noted that of the thirty works determined to be infringed, the appeals court decided that five of the thirty works would be reexamined in the lower courts. Despite the final appeals decision, both parties announced a settlement in 2014. While the Cariou v. Prince case is an example of the appropriations art and the courts’ decision based on the four elements of copyright and fair use, more recent court cases regarding the illegal use of digital images have become prevalent towards the fair use practice. For example, photojournalist Daniel Morel filed a copyright infringement case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2013 against Agence France-Presse and Getty Images. Morel claimed the two companies used photographs of the aftermath following the 2010 Haiti earthquake that he had posted to his Twitter account. Of course, the Morel case is more complicated than a company using images found on a Twitter account. In fact, Morel posted the images following the earthquake to TwitPic. Later, Lisandro Suero reposted the pics and claimed the photos as his. An editor for Agence France-Presse located the photographs on a Twitter account and sent them to Getty Images, which were released to several television networks and the Washington Post. Despite the defendant’s claim that they did not violate the copyright laws, Federal District Judge Alison Nathan ruled in favor of Morel, who was awarded $1.2 million. The Morel case is significant for artists whose images are frequently used for other purposes, mostly because the case has been
spoken publicly about the seriousness of using other persons’ images from the Internet. Furthermore, the case advocates a need for artists to have a stronger representation for copyright infringement cases that have previously been noted with previous copyright cases. General counsel to the National Press Photographers Association, Mickey Oosterreicher reiterated the need for advocacy towards artists’ rights, “This ruling is important because far too often we find that photographers don’t have the power to stand up to those that infringe with impunity. I hope that this sends a message, but in reality we need a cultural change so that once again photographs are valued.” A current advocate for artists and copyright infringement issues is COPYTRACK’s CEO, Marcus Schmitt. He founded the company COPYTRACK in 2015 to assist artists who post images online that may have encountered issues with copyright infringement. The company’s website states, “Millions of images are stolen and illegally used on the Internet every day. Especially for photographers, publishers, and picture agencies, this causes significant financial damage. So far, authors have been largely helpless in the fight against copyright infringement, as it is still considered a trivial offense.” In order to combat copyright infringement online, the company utilizes an image search engine and an image matching search engine to locate possible accounts of infringement. The company also provides their services for free, with stipulations regarding legal fees. The stipulation is noted on the company’s website, “Our service is free of charge and we bear all legal costs. Only if we succeed, do we retain a commission.” The company is creating opportunities for artists to better secure their work and reclaim loss revenue. Schmitt noted, “Irrespective of whether it is a photographer, a publisher or a library that owns the rights to photographs, COPYTRACK can check how they are used online. In case of illegal use, COPYTRACK will take care of fair post-licensing or legal enforcement.” In addition, libraries will be able to monitor companies, such as COPYSTOCK
that tackle copyright legal cases for artists. Especially, cases relevant to academic libraries and online copyright issues. For numerous years, artists have contended with copyright infringement issues, hopefully the same technology that has created these major problems for artists will eventually assist with protecting their works and rights.
Bibliography
Ax, Joseph. “Photographer Wins $1.2 Million from Companies that Took Pictures off Twitter.” Reuters. https://www.reuters. com/article/us-media-copyright-twitter/photographer-wins-1-2-million-from-companies-that-took-pictures-off-twitter-idUSBRE9AL16F20131122 Barbour, Adrienne. “Yes, Rasta 2.0: Cariou V. Prince and the Fair Use Test of Transformative Use in Appropriation Art Cases.” Tulane Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property, Fall 2011. “Circular 1A.” United States Copyright Office. (January 8, 2019): https://www.copyright. gov/circs/circ1a.html. Copy Track. “About Us.” COPYTRACK. https://www.copytrack.com/about-us/ Estrin, James. “Haitian Photographer Wins Major U.S. Copyright Victory.” New York Times. https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/23/haitian-photographer-wins-major-u-s-copyright-victory/ Grant, Daniel. The Fine Artist’s Career Guide, 2nd ed. New York: Allworth Press, 2004. Larzzari, Margaret. The Practical Handbook for the Emerging Artist, 2nd ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cenage Learning, 2010. U.S. Copyright Office. Cariou v Prince. https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/summaries/cariou-prince-2dcir.2013.pdf Wojak, Angie and Stacy Miller. Starting Your Career as an Artist. New York: Allworth Press, 2011.
Cases of Note — Copyright Appropriation Art Column Editor: Bruce Strauch (The Citadel, Emeritus) <bruce.strauch@gmail.com> PATRICK CARIOU v. RICHARD PRINCE 714 F.3d 694 (2d Cir. 2013) Our superb new legal intellect Anthony Paganelli cites this case in his current article, so let’s go deeper. Patrick Cariou spent six years among the Rastafarians of Jamaica and in 2000 published Yes Rasta, a book of portraits and landscape photographs. He considered it “extreme classical photography and portraiture” and did not want it turned into pop culture.
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Enter Richard Prince who did precisely that. Prince is an “appropriation artist,” which just kind of cries out copyright piracy but isn’t necessarily. These “artists” use existing images and objects with little to no alteration. London’s Tate Gallery defines it as “the more or less direct taking over into a work of art a real object or even an existing work of art.” One might say it began with Marcel Duchamp’s 1915 Fountain — a men’s urinal he had signed. Salvador Dali did a lobster
telephone. Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg made use of objets trouvés which is to say rubbish found while dumpster diving. But it became much more like copying in the 1980s particularly with Jeff Koons and his reproduction of banal objects. Koons has paid some fairly hefty damages in three French lawsuits. To me, the most recent, Fait d’Hiver, seems awfully transformational which is key to our Cariou case. continued on page 43
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Cases of Note from page 42 I can just throw that out knowing you can Google it with ease and arrive at your own conclusion. At any rate, there are a slew of appropriators out there. Richard Petibone makes miniatures of works from Brancusi to Warhol. Deborah Kass is said to “walk the line between respectful homage and brazen copying.” Shepard Fairey modifies Chinese communist propaganda. He was famous for the Obama “Hope” poster for which Fairey was sued by the AP photog who snapped the original. And Richard Prince is a major player in the field. There is big money in it, and his work is in famous museums — Guggenheim, Whitney, Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, and Basel’s Museum fur Gegenwartskunst. And like all reasonable people scuffling for a living, you’re asking yourself why don’t I have the necessary gall to do this? Anyhoo, Prince put together a series of paintings and collages called Canal Zone and exhibited them at the Eden Rock Hotel in Saint Barthémy and the Gagosian Gallery in NYC. He had ripped pages out of Yes Rasta, enlarged them, pinned them to a piece of plywood and altered them mainly by painting green “lozenges” over facial features. Prince’s works are ten times larger than Cariou’s book photos and use inkjet printing and acrylic paint along with the torn out photo pieces. In the least altered one, he painted lozenges on the eyes of a rasta and pasted a picture of a guitar in his hands. And no, of course Prince did not ask Cariou’s permission. And meanwhile Yes Rasta
has gone out of print and Cariou only made $8,000. Several of the Canal Zone works have sold for $2 million. A total of eight went for $10 million. And then there’s the glitteratti lifestyle of an appropriation artist. The Gagosian opening dinner hosted Jay-Z and Beyoncé Knowles, Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen, editors Graydon Carter and Anna Wintour, author Jonathan Franzen, actor Robert DeNiro. Cariou sued for copyright infringement and won summary judgment and a permanent injunction at the district court in NY.
The Appeal
Prince asserted a fair use defense and argued that his works are transformative and therefore not a copyright violation. See, e.g., Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569, 578-79 (1994). The district court had imposed a requirement that the new work “comment on, relate to the historical contest of, or critically refer back to the original works” to qualify for fair use. Cariou v. Prince, 784 F.Supp. 2d 337, 348-49 (S.D.N.Y. 2011). And it found this was not met. If I painted a big ‘X’ through a picture, would that be a comment? The Second Circuit asked if the original work is used as “raw material, transformed in the creation of new information, new aesthetics, new insights and understandings.” Campbell, 510 U.S. at 579. Green lozenge eyes as new aesthetic.
Satire and parody comment on the original work and/or popular culture. Andy Warhol incorporated appropriated images of Marilyn Monroe or Campbell’s soup cans for comment on consumer culture. But there is no requirement that the second work comment on the original, only that the second employ the first for a different purpose or in a different manner. It must alter it with “new expression, meaning, or message.” Id. The 2d Cir. held the two works had entirely different aesthetics. Cariou did “serene and deliberately composed portraits” while Prince’s work was “crude and jarring.” Cariou did black-andwhite photos while Prince used color and much bigger scale. The district court got hung up on Prince’s deposition where he flatly stated he didn’t have a message and he wasn’t “trying to create anything with a new meaning or a new message.” Cariou, 784 F. Supp. 2d at 349. On appeal, Cariou quite reasonably argued that Prince should be taken at his word. But Google Prince’s work, and you see he’s transformed Cariou despite his wacky explanation for his existence. And the 2d Cir. said we should examine how Prince’s work may “reasonably be perceived.” Campbell, 510 U.S. at 582. Well, it’s certainly different, as people like to say when confronting distasteful art.
Questions & Answers — Copyright Column Column Editor: Laura N. Gasaway (Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Law, Chapel Hill, NC 27599; Phone: 919-962-2295; Fax: 919-962-1193) <laura_gasaway@unc.edu> www.unc.edu/~unclng/gasaway.htm QUESTION: A public librarian asks why libraries are allowing publishers to determine the reproduction parameters for eBooks. Why cannot a user print a copy for purposes of reading it in a more comfortable environment than at a computer station? ANSWER: Publishers own the rights to the eBooks that they make available to libraries through license agreements. A license agreement is a contract that the library signs to acquire access to eBooks for its users, and libraries are bound by the contracts they sign. (See 17 U.S.C. § 108(f)(4) (2012). It is critical to publishers that eBooks not be copied and shared since publishers’ income depends on selling licenses. Some licenses may permit printing of a single copy for a single use, but it depends on
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the license agreement. If the right to print a reading copy for a single use is important to a library’s users, librarians should negotiate with publishers to have the right included in the next license agreement. Most libraries lend eBooks to read and enjoy at the users’ home or office. QUESTION: A university librarian asks why there have been so many articles concerning copyrighted works entering the public domain on January 1, 2019, and why it is important. ANSWER: When the Copyright Act of 1976 was enacted, one change was to make all works for which the copyright term expired in a particular year to enter the public domain on January 1 of that year. In 1998, the Sonny Bono Term Extension Act, an amendment to the Copyright Act, extended the copyright term
for works published between 1923 and 1964 from 75 to 95 years. These works received an initial term of 28 years and could be renewed for an additional 47 years. If not renewed for copyright, these works entered the public domain. The Term Extension Act added another 19 years to the renewal term, giving them a total of 67 years renewal plus the initial 28 years for a total of 95 years. The works from 1923 for which the copyright was not renewed expired at the end of 2018 and entered the public domain on January 1, 2019. Because the Disney Company lobbied so hard for the Term Extension Act, it is often referred to as the Mickey Mouse act. Why copyright protection in the Disney characters is so important is somewhat of a mystery since these continued on page 44
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Questions & Answers from page 43 characters also enjoy trademark protection. Further, trademark can be perpetual as long as a company continues using the character as a mark and renews the trademark every ten years. True, the Act did extend the copyright to 2024 on “Steamboat Willie,” the first cartoon in which Mickey Mouse appeared. Nonetheless, in 1998 a 19-year hiatus was placed on works entering the public domain. This resulted in works from the mid-20th century that are still under copyright not being available on the Internet. Many feared as 2019 drew near that the copyright industry would again lobby for term extension. Fortunately, this did not happen. Congress and others have recognized that for these works created before 1964, 95 years of protection is enough. Many of the articles and blogs discussing works entering the public domain in 2019 list many of these important works. Google Books will begin to offer full text of the books from 1923. The HathiTrust has made over 50,000 titles from 1923 available in its database. Unfortunately, many of these works may have been lost over the years, for example, many silent films. The importance of copyright expiration for works published in 1923 means that anyone might reproduce them, make them available on the Internet, perform them, adapt them, etc., without extensive research to locate the copyright owner and seek permission. It is a boon for scholars everywhere as well as for individuals. QUESTION: A school library has a film on VHS that has never been published on DVD. Teachers in the school are actually using it in class. Another library has requested the tape via interlibrary loan. The librarian asks if she can copy the tape and send it to the other library. ANSWER: Unfortunately no. The library may lend the original but not reproduce it. It would be similar to copying an entire book for interlibrary loan. Most librarians would recognize that copying an entire exceeds fair use and the Interlibrary Loan Guidelines. QUESTION: A publisher asks about an author who wants to use a figure from a white paper published by an Indian company in 2002. The adapted figure is crucial to the author’s manuscript. Despite attempting multiple means to reach the company to seek permission, the author has been unsuccess-
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ful. The publisher asks if the figure must be removed from her manuscript even though it rather destroys her work to omit it. Is there any “reasonable person” dimension to such efforts? ANSWER: While there is no formal “reasonable person” standard, a court would likely pay attention to the efforts of the author to obtain permission and be sympathetic. Retaining copies of emails, records of phone calls, etc., is advisable. Further, the author should fully cite the original article and include a note to the effect that she tried repeatedly without success to obtain permission to use the figure. While there is some risk in publishing the adapted figure, it likely is slight. The white paper is several years old. Using the figure as defined is a type of critique of the figure, which tends to make it a fair use. There is little way to do a critique without reproducing the figure itself. One figure from the white paper is definitely a small amount. Further, the author has done all she can to get permission. The publisher now has to evaluate the importance of publishing the work versus the potential risk of using the figure without permission. QUESTION: A university librarian asks about the recent suit filed by Elsevier and the American Chemical Society against ResearchGate (RG) over some 3,000 articles. He is concerned because faculty at his institution depend on RG and many of the articles on RG are authored by his faculty members. ANSWER: The complaint filed in the federal district court in Maryland claims that RG provides anyone connected to the Internet with free access to infringing digital copies of peer-reviewed articles published in scholarly journals. Further, the complaint states that RG is not a passive host of a forum where infringement just happens to occur but instead it directly engages by reproducing, displaying and distributing unauthorized copies of these journal articles as well as facilitates, supports and lures users into uploading and downloading unauthorized materials. A similar lawsuit was filed in Germany in 2017.
Many librarians may be surprised to learn that RG is a for-profit firm located in Germany. It was founded in 2008 as a large social networking site that focuses on the academic community. According to RG’s website, it has over 15 million members who can upload their papers and meeting presentations. It has been funded by science funders and investors. It has raised more than $87 million from the Welcome Trust charity, Goldman Sachs and Bill Gates personally. Prior to filing the suit, publishers worked through the International Association of Scientific Technical and Medical Publishers and asked RG to agree to a voluntary scheme to regulate article sharing, but the company refused. According to the complaint, the suit “is not about researchers and scientists collaborating, asking and answering questions; promoting themselves, their projects, or their findings; or sharing research findings, raw data, or pre-prints of articles.” Instead, it focuses on RG’s “intentional misconduct vis-à-vis online file-sharing / download service, where the dissemination of unauthorized copies … constitutes an enormous infringement of the copyrights owned by ACS, Elsevier and other journal publishers.” The complaint asks the court to order RG to cease reproducing or distributing material under copyright by ACS or Elsevier and to delete all unauthorized infringing copies from its servers. Additionally, publishers seek damages of $150,000 per work infringed. Critiques of the complaint are many. For example, the complaint makes little mention of the authors of these articles and what rights these authors might have. For example, are any of the author’s government employees producing the works within the scope of their employment who had no right to transfer the copyright to a publisher? Were any of the authors subject to university open access policies? Were any authors the subject of an open access mandate from a funder? Or had authors paid for open access for any of these articles?
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And They Were There Reports of Meetings — WikiCite 2018 and 38th Annual Charleston Conference Column Editors: Ramune K. Kubilius (Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine) <r-kubilius@northwestern.edu> and Sever Bordeianu (Head, Print Resources Section, University Libraries, MSC05 3020, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001; Phone: 505-277-2645; Fax: 505-277-9813) <sbordeia@unm.edu> WikiCite 2018 — Theme: possibility/posibilidad/possibilité — November 27-29, 2018 — Berkeley, CA Reported by Laura Soito (University of New Mexico) WikiCite 2018 was held in Berkeley, California November 27-29, 2018. Sponsored by the Wikimedia Foundation and the Sloan Foundation, this third meeting of the WikiCite initiative brought together 115 participants to work towards the vision of a community-built, open citation database to serve free knowledge projects both within and beyond the Wikimedia community. The three-day event featured a conference highlighting work with existing data collections, tools, and content gaps; a summit to work through three possible scenarios for the future of WikiCite; and a Do-a-thon for individuals and teams to engage and actively participate in making citation data more open. While this effort intersects many different stakeholder groups and information needs, from my perspective, this meeting presented opportunities to imagine library collections beyond the boundaries of traditional cataloging and authority control. The goal of free, open, and linked bibliographic data is important to libraries as they seek to improve access, discoverability, and interoperability of collections and works.
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These data collections also provide opportunities to ask new questions and new mechanisms to support knowledge production. Dario Taraborelli, Director of Research for the Wikimedia Foundation, set the stage for WikiCite 2018 with the opening keynote. He shared examples of the important role citations play in verifying information, contrasted with the challenges current citation systems face in providing the context and reliable access needed to perform verification. In providing a brief history of the project, he explained that a vision for this project was originally proposed in 2005, but only recently has technical and social capacity made it feasible to begin tangible development. While the bibliographic data content added to Wikidata has been impressive, Dario concluded by identifying gaps, including missing data models for sources like TV programs or oral sources, missing tools for large-scale curation and disambiguation, research needed to understand source quality and bias, and solutions for using these data to annotate other projects like Wikipedia. Moving into the conference, the first session focused on corpora and databases. Alicia Fagerving of Wikimedia Sverige presented an example of how the National Library of Sweden, the first national library to implement BIBFRAME 2.0, is working to create Wikidata for continued on page 46
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And They Were There from page 45 the most frequently referenced books in Swedish Wikipedia. Similarly, Jason Evans, a Wikimedian-in-Residence for the National Library of Wales described an effort to include metadata for all books published in Wales. Both of these projects show promise for improving the number of books represented in Wikidata. Considering workflows, Honor Moody, Harvard Library, and Bruce Washburn, OCLC Research, discussed a 16 library pilot project to examine workflows for connecting legacy bibliographic data to linked data entities via a Wikibase. Similarly, from the multi-library, Linked Data for Production (LD4P) project, Michelle Futornick, Stanford University, and Christine Fernsebner Eslao, Harvard Library, shared ways that Wikidata can be a part of the effort for libraries to adopt linked data in their workflows. These projects demonstrated opportunities for using authorities not represented in traditional library cataloging. Considering how these data sets can be used to provide new benefits to library users, Gloria Gonzalez of the Library.Link Network shared how libraries are already including linked data networks into their catalogs. For example, she demoed how the DC Public Library’s catalog contains author cards based on Wikidata. In the final talk of this session, Daniel Mietchen of the University of Virginia, shared examples of other corpora that have or could be created such as all works related to a particular topic, created by a specific author, connected to a specific intuition, or written in a specific language. These corpora may allow people to combine bibliographic data in new ways and ask questions that go beyond what current tools allow. The second conference session highlighted tools and workflows for creating, querying, and analyzing citation data. Finn Årup Nielsen, Technical University of Denmark, and Daniel Mietchen presented Scholia, a tool that allows users to query, aggregate, and visualize scientometric data typically used in academic profiles. Mairelys Lemus-Rojas, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, presented a specific case study for using Scholia to create profiles for faculty members at her institution. Considering how WikiCite interfaces with other collections, citizen scientists Siobhan Leachman and librarian Katie Mika, now of the University of Colorado Boulder, demonstrated workflows for connecting Biodiversity Heritage Library content on New Zealand moths to Wikimedia projects. Freelance developer Thomas Arrow demonstrated Open Knowledge Maps, a tool for building 2D visualizations of a topic that can then be used to query literature databases. Maxime Lathuilière, the creator of the book inventory tool inventaire.io, demonstrated how this tool’s interface aids the addition of crowdsourced content in Wikibase. Ivan Heibi, University of Bologna, presented on OSCAR and LUCINDA, two tools developed by the OpenCitations for searching and browsing triplestore data including those from Wikidata. The final conference session helped us to be mindful of gaps in the existing content and challenged us to find ways of overcoming bias. Simon Cobb, University of Leeds, discussed connecting authors to their works. Miriam Redi, Wikimedia Foundation and King’s College London, discussed user experience work to understand how readers of Wikipedia currently use citations. Wikimedian Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight, shared her work with the Gender Diversity Visibility Community User Group and efforts to make sources that support this work more available, such as the creation of a lending library. Finally, Kenneth Seals-Nutt, shared his work on ScienceStories.io, a tool for visual storytelling based on linked data. The day concluded with a keynote by Katherine Maher, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. She highlighted the importance of our efforts in supporting a free knowledge ecosystem. Wikipedia is one of the most commonly used entry points to the scholarly litera-
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ture, a critical source for medical information, and a source of Linked Open Data. While Wikipedia has become a highly trusted source for establishing truth on the internet, she also highlighted its many gaps, particularly bias towards the global north, lack of gender representation, and barriers to accessing content cited in Wikipedia. Wikidata and the underlying infrastructure Wikibases, hold new promise for achieving the vision of Wikimedia Foundation — “a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.” Throughout the meeting, many participants provided lightning talks highlighting other efforts: John Mark Ockerbloom, University of Pennsylvania, presented an inventory of first copyright renewals for journals that can be used to identify when content enters the public domain; Mark Graham of Internet Archive shared a project to provide controlled digital lending and make source material more readily available; Martin Klein of Los Alamos National Lab shared Memento, a tool for browsing linked content, as it existed when the link was created; Telugu Wikipedian Pavan Santhosh Surampudi, described efforts to use Wikidata to serve as a catalog for physical books from libraries in South India; Benjamin Bober, ABES (the French higher education bibliographical agency), described developing a national production tool for Linked Data creation; Paula Domínguez-Font of Wikimedia Uruguay highlighted opportunities for global collaboration in the development of Autores.uy, an open source collection of Uruguayan authors and their work; and Pierre Godefroy of the ISSN International Centre described efforts to connect ISSNs to journal data in Wikidata. The summit, on day two, explored future visions of WikiCite. Phoebe Ayers, MIT Libraries, opened the day by sharing the importance of citations in helping us document what we claim to know. She emphasized the necessity of recognizing gaps in our metadata collections, in that knowing these helps to inform the questions we can answer with these data. Her presentation closed with an exercise to explore three potential futures for WikiCite. First, WikiCite as an effort to manage citation data specific to Wikimedia projects. Alternatively, WikiCite as a federated collection of bibliographic corpora. Finally, the moonshot, creating the commons to capture all bibliographic data. Throughout the remainder of the day, teams dug into the three scenarios or attended tutorials to learn more about Wikidata, including how to ingest and query data. In facilitated breakouts, teams worked through questions of purpose, scope, hopes and fears, partnerships, and timelines to accomplish this work. From these discussions, many ideas for projects were developed for the final day of the meeting and beyond. During the final day, a Do-a-thon, participants broke out to work on over 30 project ideas. Among these: using the Mix’N’Match tool to disambiguate Wikidata; developing Library Carpentry and other training to teach librarians how to use Wikidata; improving Wikipedia coverage of local newspapers; exploring synergies between Wikidata, Scholia, and VIVO; developing outreach approaches to obtain access to new data sources; and identifying new Wikidata properties to describe bibliographic sources. All conference presentations, the tutorials, lightening talks, and share-out sessions were live-streamed and recordings are now available on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN4mEhpy3b8Sayl_QsSjpa8H1wqo82hxr). In addition, slides and discussion notes are linked from the conference program: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/WikiCite_2018/Program. Beyond the meeting, WikiCite is a community with on-going participation. Additional information about how to participate is available from the project webpage at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiCite. It is possible to follow community conversation via Twitter (https:// twitter.com/WikiCite). In addition, there are opportunities to learn more through other upcoming library and information science conference presentations. continued on page 47
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Issues in Book and Serial Acquisition, “Oh, Wind, if Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” Charleston Gaillard Center, Francis Marion Hotel, Embassy Suites Historic Downtown, and Courtyard Marriott Historic District — Charleston, SC, November 5-9, 2018 Charleston Conference Reports compiled by: Ramune K. Kubilius (Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine) <r-kubilius@northwestern.edu> Column Editor’s Note: Thanks to all of the Charleston Conference attendees who agreed to write short reports highlighting sessions they attended at the 2018 Charleston Conference. Attempts were made to provide a broad coverage of sessions, but there are always more sessions than there are reporters. Some presenters posted their slides and handouts in the online conference schedule. Please visit the conference site, http://www.charlestonlibraryconference.com/, and link to selected videos, interviews, as well as to blog reports written by Charleston Conference blogger, Donald Hawkins. The 2018 Charleston Conference Proceedings will be published in 2019, in partnership with Purdue University Press: http://www.thepress. purdue.edu/series/charleston. In this issue of ATG you will find the first installment of 2018 conference reports. We will continue to publish all of the reports received in upcoming print issues throughout the year. — RKK
2018 Trendspotting Initiative Reported by Audrey Powers (University of South Florida) <apowers@usf.edu> The 2018 Trendspotting Initiative included a Trend Storm, Trend Lab, Trend Talk and Trend Texts. Trend Storm Beginning with a Trend Storm took place prior to the 2018 Charleston Conference. On June 19, a Trend Storm webinar led by Lisa Janicke Hinchliff (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), explained the 2018 ATG Trendspotting Initiative and asked participants to engage in the process by proposing a disruptive trend in our industry. The submitted trends were collated into nine categories and discussed at the 2018 Charleston Conference Trend Lab. The objective of the Trend Lab was to facilitate a brainstorming session in which trends impacting our industry were identified and discussed. Additionally, the intent was to establish an ongoing process for forecasting industry trends. The culmination of the Trend Lab identified and earmarked trends in society that would impact organizations in our industry and prepare us for change. The trends identified in the 2018 Trend Lab included: • All About Analytics and Algorithms • Who Really Knows Anyway? • Everything is Computational • You Call That Content? • The Carbon Imprint • Securing the Record • The Common Good Dissolves • Just For You and Just for Me • The Researcher’s Way At the Trend Lab, participants were clustered by trend and were asked to think about, discuss and report on how the trend presents itself in scholarly communication, publishing and academic libraries. What are the impacts of this trend on scholarship, content creation, quality control, publishing, purchasing/licensing, discovery and access, and information use? An additional session, Trend Talk, was held on Thursday of the 2018 Charleston Conference (https://sched.co/GB36) in which the results of the Trend Lab discussion were reported, with comments provided by a panel of three librarians. The ATG Trendspotting Lab, along with its inception and a link to the trendspotting website is described in a blog report by Donald Hawkins (https://www.against-the-grain.com/2018/11/atg-trendspotting-lab/).
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018 MORNING PLENARY SESSIONS Opening Keynote – The Future of Research Information: Open, Connected, Seamless — Presented by Annette Thomas (Clarivate Analytics) and Anthony Watkinson (CIBER Research, moderator) — https://sched.co/G65r Reported by Ramune K. Kubilius (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center) <r-kubilius@northwestern.edu> Thomas noted that it had been six years since she last spoke in Charleston. Now in a new position as a chief information officer (and a university trustee), she reviewed her former and current roles, as researcher, editor, publisher, and chief executive officer, noting that research enriches us all. Current challenges (crises plus associated questions) include: the university identity crisis (who are universities for, who should pay, what are universities for); the researcher credibility crisis (political hostility, should research serve the economy or political culture); a publishers’ contribution crisis (why publish so much by so few, why publish only positive results, how can we be part of the solution rather than the problem). The core principles that continue to be relevant for the Web into the 21st century: connectedness, openness, seamlessness. Thomas argued for opportunities of scale, but for its talent and diversity, not size and conformity. Moderator Watkinson raised a question on behalf of the audience regarding the announcement earlier this year about the “reconstituted” ISI (Institute for Scientific Information), founded decades ago by Dr. Eugene Garfield. What is its place in Clarivate, a commercial entity? Thomas responded that she sees ISI as an academic think tank, editorial in nature, with an independent approach, supporting the use of metrics “in the right way,” standing for integrity, collaboration, and innovation. The Charleston Conference blog report about this session by Donald Hawkins can be found at: https://www.against-the-grain.com/2018/11/opening-keynote-the-future-of-research-information-open-connected-seamless/.
Open Scholarship Initiative Update — Presented by T. Scott Plutchak (UAB, retired) and Anthony Watkinson (CIBER Research) — https://sched.co/G65t Reported by Nicole Eva (University of Lethbridge) <nicole.eva@uleth.ca> Watkinson introduced Plutchak who provided a brief summary of the origins and direction of the Open Scholarship Initiative. To date, there are 400 participants from about 250 institutions and 24 countries. Open solutions of all kinds are contemplated, including Open Educational Resources. There have been three conferences (by invitation) and a call for the next one will be in December 2018. The group has four basic principles: to mitigate the consequences and share costs between all parties; to include everyone (libraries, publishers, researchers); that everything is connected (tenure & promotion practices, intellectual property — all figure into the equation); and that open is a spectrum. He encouraged interested persons to sign up for the email discussion list at oisglobal.org, where there are links to blogs, and issue briefs. The Charleston Conference blog report about this session by Donald Hawkins can be found at: https://www.against-the-grain. com/2018/11/open-scholarship-initiative-osi-update/. continued on page 48
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And They Were There from page 47 Data Expeditions – Mining Data for Effective Decision-Making — Presented by Ann Michael (Delta Think), Ivy Anderson (California Digital Library) and Gwen Evans (OhioLink) — https://sched.co/G65u Reported by Ramune K. Kubilius (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center) <r-kubilius@northwestern.edu> The focus of presentations by Anderson, Evans, and Michael was briefly introduced by conference director, Ann Okerson. Michael, the session moderator, noted that data is a tool to use with skill and finesse, to help work the best with what we have, as an asset. Anderson reminded the audience of the scope of CDL (as the 11th university library) with 10 campuses and 100 libraries. She highlighted two uses of data — a journal value analysis, and an open access modeling study. The first is an algorithm, a holistic approach, to help grapple with the variety of usage data: utility, quality, cost effectiveness. Within packages, titles value is assigned a score, and it helps with title swapping exercises and regression analysis. The OA transformation studies included UC publication output, what authors are spending on APCs (author publication charges), the UC Pay It Forward Study, and what is an appropriate APC cost. It was determined that 80% of output is with 25 publishers. The modeling tool helps with scenario modeling. Evans described different views of data at OhioLink libraries, a consortium encompassing 118 libraries, 90 institutions, and a state library, as well as Cleveland Clinic. It was determined that there was much duplication in the five “at capacity” (full) storage facilities. The flipping of perspective was done to view uniqueness, not duplication, to increase the risk level. A grant will help compress the focus to one facility (at Ohio University). Monographs have been looked at, but now the challenge is to identify serials. The second project involved textbook pricing, identifying a “target” (desired) collection. The OhioLink Bookstore was established (use of Verbaconnect for three weeks), to identify retail, inclusive access. Consortia only exist in the aggregate. Data analysis is becoming a core competency for jobs, she contended. Evans agreed that librarians want to see all the data, but the needs of legislators and taxpayers may be a snapshot and visualization (and 3rd grade level, simple text). Some data is institution-specific. Manage storage before it is managed for you, Evans argued. It is a struggle for consortia not to give away competitive intelligence, but during Q&A, one attendee made a plea not for the data itself, but for sharing of methodology on studies like these, so smaller institutions could also consider it.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018 NEAPOLITAN SESSIONS Spring is Here! Cultivating Agency Through Emerging Community-Owned Solutions: Usage Analytics, Institutional Repositories, and Resource Sharing — Presented by Jason Price (SCELC, Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium), Sebastian Hammer (Index Data LLC), Kirsten Leonard (PALNI-Private Academic Library Network of Indiana), and Jill Morris (PALCI-The Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc) — https://sched.co/G8SD Reported by Angel Clemons (University of Louisville) <angel.clemons@louisville.edu> Price moderated the session in which Hammer, Leonard, and Morris discussed three community owned technology solutions aimed at addressing the needs of libraries and consortia. PALCI, along with nine other consortia, are developing CC-Plus (Consortia Collaborating on a Platform for Library Usage Statistics), a platform for collecting,
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displaying, and analyzing usage data for consortia members. The project is being funded by an IMLS grant which extends through 2020. Leonard discussed two low cost collaborative IR solutions that PALNI is currently partnering on — hyku and Islandora. Hyku, a partnership with PALCI, is in development and will be designed to focus initially on ETDs and OER. Islandora, a partnership with WRLC, is production ready and designed to collaboratively manage digital assets. Project ReShare, still in its infancy, is a collaboration of consortia, libraries, vendors, developers, and others whose goal is the development of a community owned resource sharing platform. It is due to be implemented in 2020.
Metadata2020: A holistic approach to metadata improvements for scholarly communications — Presented by Anthony Watkinson (CIBER Research, moderator), Chris Erdmann (Data Carpentries), T. Scott Plutchak (UAB, retired), and Howard Ratner (CHORUS) — https://sched.co/G66B Reported by Ramune K. Kubilius (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center) <r-kubilius@northwestern.edu> The session highlighted the Metadata 2020 collaboration (http://www. metadata2020.org/) and focused on reports from a few of its working groups. Sparked by CrossRef, its purpose is to enrich the research process. In 2018, phase 1 is concluding after workshops, workflow diagrams, and a metadata game (metadata as fun). Community groups encompass researchers; publishers; librarians; data publishers & repositories; services, platforms & tools; funders. Each group had about four meetings, came up with problem statements, and conceived cross-committee projects that, to date, included research communication, metadata recommendations and element mappings, defining of terms, incentives, best practices, and metadata evaluation. Plutchak highlighted “Defining Terms,” common languages, and Phase I key: a survey, and a review of varying terminology in different schema, with an eventual metadata glossary. Rattner highlighted the work of “Best Practices and Principles,” with its goal of building a set of high level practices for using metadata and deliverables in 2018 of collecting annotations of best practices, listing frequently required elements, and ultimately (in 2019) producing a best practices and principles guide. Meadows began the update on “Researcher Communication” with a 2017 Cameron Neylon blog quote: “As a researcher…I’m a bit bloody fed up with Data Management” (https://cameronneylon.net/blog/ as-a-researcher-im-a-bit-bloody-fed-up-with-data-management/). The purpose of the working group is to align efforts between communities. Phase 1 projects included a literature review done by a student member that describes what is present and absent in the literature (the second includes informal sharing). Discussion: Participation in Metadata 2020 fluctuates — some are watching, some are working. Vendor decisions do not always consider the downstream (metadata) effect of their decisions. Bibliographic and semantic metadata are “apples and oranges.” Do we want to become metadata police? Though we want gains, no, was the answer.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018 MORNING CONCURRENT SESSIONS Accessibility & Publishing: Practices for equitable access and maximum impact — Presented by Susan Doerr (University of Minnesota Press), Stephanie Rosen (University of Michigan Library), Peter Alan Smith (College of Charleston School of Business), and Emma Waecker (EBSCO Information Services) — https://sched.co/GB3U Reported by Mallory Kasinec (Boston University, Fineman & Pappas Law Libraries) <mbbreon@bu.edu> continued on page 49
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And They Were There from page 48 This session, organized by Rosen, began with each panelist describing why accessibility is important to them and how it impacts their current work. The discussion moved to each panelist providing an ideal vision of how they would approach accessibility projects in the future; Doerr and Rosen discussed the library and university press side, while Waecker mentioned the publisher’s role, and Smith provided a user’s point of view. It was noted that the process of creating accessible eBook resources is twofold; eBook content and eBook platforms both need to be accessible. This can be done by choosing the best format for accessibility and preservation (EPUB), focusing on eBook file metadata (creating alt-text, describing images/graphs, labeling buttons, providing transcripts and closed captioning), and providing a variety of user experience accommodations (audio, large print, dyslexic font and color contrast toggling). A discussion of who is responsible for the accessibility tools and metadata ensued; is it the library, author, or publisher? It seems to be agreed that this is going to require cooperation, effort, and training on all sides.
Adapting Library Workflows to Accommodate Transferred Journals — Presented by Christine Davidian (Rowan University) and Jennifer Matthews (Rowan University) — https://sched.co/GB3R Reported by Angel Clemons (University of Louisville) <angel.clemons@louisville.edu> Four years ago, transferred titles (i.e., titles that are discontinued by one publisher then picked up by another publisher) were not part of any workflow at Rowan University’s Campbell Library. Holdings were not accurate, there were lots of support issues, and publisher changes were dealt with on a case by case basis. After identifying the impact this had on user experience, Rowan librarians initially started tracking changes in a spreadsheet by recording the title, ISSN, old and new publishers, effective date of transfer, action taken, initials, date entered, notes, etc. This has evolved into an extensive workflow that now involves multiple individuals or departments. Changes are tracked using the Transfer Alerting System (a product of ISSN.org), Ebsconet Transfer Notifications, and transfer notifications by content providers. Davidian and Matthews discussed the multiple challenges encountered in this process (e.g., loss of coverage, contract constraints, etc.) as well as lessons learned (e.g., consider the big picture, be proactive, have a regularly scheduled decision process). Next steps in the process include conducting follow up testing on a regular basis and documenting decisions more fully.
Advancing Discovery Throughout the Scholarly Communications Workflow — Presented by Amira Aaron (Northeastern University Libraries), Daniel Hook (Digital Science), and Jaco Zijlstra (Springer Nature) — https://sched.co/GB3T Note: Daniel Hook joined the session remotely from Germany. Reported by Ramune K. Kubilius (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center) <r-kubilius@northwestern.edu> Zijlstra quoted Elsevier’s Karen Hunter “you are not your customer” as he discussed a customer-centric focus on making research findings accessible (think-make-check). Springer Nature has done its part with “Shared It,” “Bookmetrix,” and “Librarian Portal.” Mobile interface options have increased. Hook shared his credentials as a researcher, indicating that he still publishes at least one paper a year, and has a book forthcoming. At DigitalScience, the challenge is how to support research at large in three areas: conceptualization, implementation & analysis, and dissemination. The research life cycle is not simple and imposing order is hard, publication as touchtone is evolving. Increasingly, the data set or software
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becomes more important than the publication. There is a complex world of objects. He described Dimensions (new in Jan. 2018, free, with a more complicated version for a fee) which joins other projects and tools such as figshare, Altmetric, UberResearch, and GRID. The purpose is to de-silo; provide a context page, analytical views, and multiple facets. Aaron talked about the increasing number of tools and shared uses of PRIMO that include related reading recommendations and resource recommender. It is difficult to lead students to specialized (topic level) information, to direct linking, and research guides. The challenges are about granularity, which needs to be exposed. Metadata needs to be richer and more granular, publishers and vendors are not sharing metadata, and there is no content neutrality. Her plea was for sharing, with a future in open linked data.
Flipping the Model: A Values-Based, Consortial Approach to Journal Negotiations — Presented by Beth Blanton-Kent (University of Virginia Library), Cheri Duncan (James Madison University), Edward Lener (Virginia Tech), and Genya O’Gara (Virtual Library of Virginia) — https://sched.co/GB3O Note: Co-author Georgie Donovan (William and Mary Libraries) was unable to attend the conference. Reported by Janice Adlington (McMaster University) <adling@mcmaster.ca> The panelists, drawn from VIVA’s Sustainable Journal Pricing Task Force (https://vivalib.org), outlined the impetus behind this committee, and described the expected next steps in the consortium’s negotiations. As an illustration of the sustainability issue, the first speaker projected a librarian salary over ten years at the vendor’s 7% increase rate, showing the gulf between librarian and vendor realities. Rather than accept business as usual, the task force recommends flipping the normal process to start with the consortium’s proposal, based on member values, including pricing adjustments commensurate with open access authorship; price increases capped at standard inflation measures; no price increases for unsolicited content; strong author rights; and transparency. Spends will be reduced with publishers that do not accept these provisions. Next steps involve financial modeling and building consensus among the 72 VIVA institutions. While the goal is to reframe relationships as partnerships in scholarly communication, to transition to a more open and equitable ecosystem, this is an incremental approach to the ongoing sustainability crisis.
Know when to Hold ‘Em, Know when to Fold ‘Em: Using Data to Streamline Weeding — Presented by Dawn Mick (Iowa State University), Kimberley Robles Smith (California State University – Fresno), and David Tyckoson (California State University, Fresno) — https://sched.co/GB3L Reported by Danielle Aloia (New York Medical College) <daloia@nymc.edu> The take-aways from this session were: if you have the money, Greenglass is a great product from OCLC that can analyze your collection and compare holdings between institutions. Also, it enables you to set criteria for autoweed and autokeep: not to include Faculty Pubs, dissertations, etc. If you have limited funds, collect your own data: circulation stats, inhouse usage, etc. There are different collections to weed: Main, journals, reference, and specialized. Make it fun: create a team, make a weeding kit with a narrative, that includes who uses the collection, average age of the books, and how much was spent overtime on the collection. Don’t ask faculty about books but definitely ask them about serials!
That’s all the reports we have room for in this issue. Watch for more reports from the 2018 Charleston Conference in upcoming issues of Against the Grain. Presentation material (PowerPoint slides, handouts) and taped session links from many of the 2018 sessions are available online. Visit the Conference Website at www. charlestonlibraryconference.com. — KS
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The Scholarly Publishing Scene — Eric Proskauer and His Cohorts Column Editor: Myer Kutz (President, Myer Kutz Associates, Inc.) <myerkutz@aol.com>
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ric Proskauer was a prime example of Hitler’s gifts to American scientific publishing, in sociologist and publisher Irving Horowitz’s mordant formulation. Together with Maurits Dekker, Eric founded Interscience Publishing in 1940. (Grune and Stratton was founded in 1941, Academic Press in 1942.) The two men, then in their thirties, were both a complementary and an unlikely pair. Their relationship is well described in Hendrick Edelman’s chapter, Maurits Dekker and Eric Proskauer: A Synergy of Talent in Exile, in the book, Immigrant Publishers, The Impact of Expatriate Publishers in Britain and America in the 20th Century, edited by Richard Abel and Gordon Graham, and first published by Irving Horowitz’s firm, Transaction Publishers, in 2009. “Mau” Dekker had his Dutch connections, while Eric Proskauer retained his pre-war contacts with members of both the German and American scientific communities, so he, according to Immigrant Publishers, was considered the reserved scholar and his partner the enterprising extrovert. Years later, Andy Neilly, put the relationship this way: Mau was the money man, while Eric was the editorial guy, an ideal combination in a publishing company. One of their first star authors was polymer chemist Herman Mark, who was also an expert in x-ray diffraction. Born to a Jewish father in Vienna in 1895, Mark, a professor of physical chemistry at the University of Vienna, was in trouble after Hitler’s annexation of Austria. In 1938, he and his family made a daring escape across the Swiss border; eventually, he would land at Brooklyn Poly, where he developed the Polymer Research Institute in 1946. The Interscience/Mark relationship started with books. But in 1945 a periodical called the Polymer Bulletin was founded. The following year, it evolved into the Journal of Polymer Science, which remains a powerhouse to this day. In 1947 two other Brooklyn Poly professors, chemist Raymond Kirk and chemical engineer Donald Othmer, worked with Interscience on the first volumes of the Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. Kirk-Othmer, as it became known, is another powerhouse. (Othmer is credited with more than 150 U.S. patents, but much of the $750 million fortune he accumulated during his long life was due to the $25,000 he and his second wife invested in a Warren Buffet partnership in the early sixties. Thanks to Wikipedia for this tidbit.) Eric Proskauer and Mau Dekker remained close for some time. They even
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had adjoining homes at a lake in Peekskill, a town north of New York City. But as the men reached their late fifties and early sixties, their relationship had become frayed, due, as Edelman explains, to personality, stylistic, and cultural differences. When Interscience merged with Wiley in early 1962, there was a permanent rupture between the two men. Proskauer joined Wiley, becoming senior vice-president, while Dekker joined his son’s eponymous company, Marcel Dekker (now part of Taylor & Francis), as chairman and editor-in-chief. They both thrived, it would seem. At his seventieth birthday party in 1973, Eric Proskauer joked that he had started his career by bringing German chemistry to the U.S. and finished it by bringing American chemistry to German universities. I didn’t know about Eric or about pre-1962 Interscience when I published an engineering monograph with Wiley-Interscience in 1968 nor when I became an acquisitions editor for professional-level mechanical and industrial engineering books in 1976. But over time, the power of the chemistry books and journals that Interscience had brought to the merger with Wiley became evident to me, although I didn’t realize until much later that it was the Interscience people’s knowledge of international marketing and sales that made Wiley so much stronger than it had been pre-merger. I did get to know Eric when he was in his eighties and I was then running Wiley’s scientific and technical publishing. Every so often we would get together for lunch at the Chemists’ Club, which was then in a gray fortress-like building, designed in the early 1900s by architects York and Sawyer, at 52 East 41st Street in Manhattan, a short walk from Wiley’s offices, which were then on Third Avenue and 40th Street. Eric always ordered what he called the chopped steak. His judgments were always delivered with a grin. His explanation of the difference between a pile of books and a pile of journals was memorable. Here’s the gist of it: a pile of books sits quietly, not demanding that you get to them right away. Take your time with us, they say. Journals are a different story. When you get a new issue, you immediately think, Have I read the issue that’s been sitting in a pile for one month or three months, etc? And if the issues begin to accumulate without having been read, I’ll feel more and more guilty. All of these men led full and long lives. Eric Proskauer and Herman Mark both died in 1992, aged 89 and 97. Mau Dekker and Don Othmer both died in 1995 at the ages of 96 and 91. At the time of their deaths, you
could put the full text of journals online, but online access to journals was nothing like it is now. And while there were many complaints in those days from many quarters about journal prices and journal publishers’ profits, publishers’ adversaries didn’t have today’s wherewithal to attempt to disrupt journal publishers’ business models and other aspects of their operations. The publishing environment these men operated in — as publishers, editors, and authors — was of course very different from the one that exists today. In pre-online days, major universities and other organizations with sprawling campuses and facilities would have had to buy more than one copy of a major work, like Kirk-Othmer. It’s just not the way things are anymore. Pre-online, of course, there was no Wikipedia or other information sources that readers consider adequate substitutes for reference works that carry publishers’ imprimaturs, once universally considered guarantees of credibility and accuracy. And then there are journals. After World War II, publishers, like Interscience, Robert Maxwell, and Elsevier, started core journals in major fields, like polymer science. Then came the research explosion that led to the journal paper explosion and to the expansion of numbers of pages in core and other journals, which were accompanied by rising prices per title and strains on library budgets, eventually considered by university administrators cost centers, whose budgets had to be restrained. For a time, the only way you could steal a journal paper was by photocopying it, which was attacked successfully by publishers. The Internet changed everything, of course, including the perception among so many researchers and others of how much value publishers really add to journal publishing. While Eric Proskauer and his cohorts were alive, there was moralizing about journal publishers’ profits, but there was no moralistic Alexandra Elbakyan, who managed to develop and popularize SCI-HUB. Back in the quaint pre-Internet days, when publishers considered themselves gatekeepers, did anyone even dream of an author pays, open access business model for journal publishing, even a successful one like PLOS (although PLOS is taking some financial hits, according to reports I’ve seen). And then there is European research funding agencies’ Plan S, which has more than a whiff of authoritarianism. How would Eric Proskauer and his cohorts have reacted to these threats to the independence of researchers and to the business model under which they thrived and provided valuable knowledge and information to readers? Would they have fought these threats or would they have found ways to accommodate their work to them? I wonder how these men would have reacted to this environment. I wish we still had their guidance.
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Considering Games in Libraries and Such — Space Guardians: New Year’s Musings of How Libraries of Old (Including but Not Necessarily Old Librarians) Have Returned Just in Time to Save Us from Digital Anxiety Column Editor: Jared Alexander Seay (Media & Services Coordinator, Addlestone Library, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424; Phone: 843-953-1428) <seayj@cofc.edu> blogs.cofc.edu/seayj Column Editor’s Note: Due to the sentimentality inducing effect of the holidays upon my usual stoic brain functions, the following narrative mostly waxes philosophical and contains little of the hard hitting technical information historically associated with my written accounts. Regular readers are encouraged to interpret this article in this light and to imagine that past columns actually contained hard hitting technical information. — JAS
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really love it when I actually get to be a real librarian. My first week back to work in the new year involved real librarian work. It involved touching real books. Really. You remember books — those things with sensual spines and paper with words printed on them? I actually got to immerse myself in touching and interacting with them like a librarian of old — if only for an hour or two. It was a bitter sweet experience though, because my librarian colleagues and I had assembled to rummage through our print reference collection to weed out 90% of it. Alas, it was to be banished to the regular circulating collection. It seems that students and faculty of the 21st century rarely use this rich source of reference material anymore. I could be cynical here and lament about how no one uses print reference sources anymore and Googles everything. But, while true, the fact is that there exist many good online sources that cover much of the material previously covered by our paper reference collection. While not as tactilely satisfying as thumbing through a multi-volume set of subject encyclopedias to be sure, these online sources of course allow quicker and more searchable access. Also, these great sources are only available via our library databases. So, take THAT, Google! But, while we have gained efficient access, we have given up the soothing book aroma generated by gentle browsing… along with the whole concept of browsing itself it would seem. I was at least comforted by the fact that our giant atlases have no peer in the digital realm. Still, those rows of noble books destined for even greater obscurity brought a tear to my eye. I don’t think it was just the kicked up book dust either. So, I ran my hands along the spines of those titles and occasionally picked up a bulky volume that creaked in my hand as I teased open the pages. I had never contemplated how satisfying was the act of slowly turning pages as I scanned the printed words. Great Gutenberg’s ghost, I really am old school! To be fair this hyper nostalgia and longing had started
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two weeks before during the holiday break. Hope sprang eternal not long after. The holidays usually fill me with a combination of gloom and thoughtful pensiveness. Some might interpret this as depression, and it certainly suggests sadness. But, I would describe this particular feeling this year as melancholy… a good melancholy. It was a time of reflection and memory and more reflection. This is a good thing to be sure I think, for I often find during these times of mental reflection that I can be quite physically productive in mundane activities such as sorting my sock drawer and going through my closet to throw out clothes I have not worn in more than two presidential administrations. My house gets cleaned up at least… mostly. While it is a good idea to stay away from digital media in such productive times of deep reflection, the melancholy is eased — or even positively enhanced — by listening to mind soothing music or banter. Thus it was that while contemplating differential sock colors, I found myself listening to a thoughtful and stimulating podcast. Since we are now over three paragraphs into this article and I have yet to mention the word games, it may now come as little surprise to you that this was a podcast about games. To be precise it was a podcast that reviewed board games. It is called “Shut Up and Sit Down” and is hosted by three British lads from London. Because, where else would they be? In my opinion it is the best podcast about board games out there today bar none. Anyway, this is not really an advert for that podcast (though I do highly recommend it). Binge listening to these guys humorously and methodically reviewing and dissecting board games hour after hour over several days calmed me somehow. It was downright soothing. Ok, call me retro, but the vision of cross-table, face-to-face interaction and manipulation of wooden blocks and rolling dice was actually soothing. I think that in my break from digital drowning, it satisfied a yearning for tactile stimulation. But, even more it satisfied a longing for the tactile interaction of fellow humans. Ok, chalk this up to holiday nostalgia and my overworked sense of sentimentality... and my analog obsession. After all, I still write paper checks. But, my epiphany merely
confirms the trends I have talked about ad nauseam before. It feels good to be trendy (it helps with the nausea). In his book Present Shock Douglas Rushkoff observes that Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock is now here full blown and describes the condition he calls digiphrenia — digitally provoked mental chaos. “We live in a continuous ‘now’ enabled by Twitter, email, and a so-called real-time technological shift. Yet this ‘now’ is an elusive goal that we can never quite reach. And the dissonance between our digital selves and our analog bodies has thrown us into a new state of anxiety: present shock.” (from the cover) The resurgence of board games, indeed the whole movement back to analog (think turntables, vinyl records, and mixed cassette tapes) is a direct response to the whole information overload and immersion (drowning) in information and digital social media: digiphrenia. It is clear that the whole thing with libraries as new centers for community and new gathering places for human interaction is part of this trend as well. Golly, are librarians actually becoming relevant and trendy? In the final paragraph of his book Rushkoff suggests that one significant thing we can do as a society as a solution to our condition of digiphrenia is to “stop the demands on our attention” and “create a safe space for uninterrupted contemplation” (p, 265). Rushkoff was speaking metaphorically, but we certainly know such a real physical place that is fast becoming just such a “safe space.” Coffee and board game cafés have sprung up to satisfy the social longing for analog contemplations and activities. But, we librarians have a three thousand year head start on these upstarts on providing the public a safe and comforting gathering place for analog ruminations. As we stock our libraries with board games and makerspaces to satisfy the social longing for such things, I think it possible that our historical role as the guardians of books will serve us well into the future. Indeed, we shall become the guardians of analog. To be sure, if analog games are enjoying such a resurging trend, can the resurgence of analog books be far behind? Combine these two trends and — Great Gutenberg’s ghost — we have the making of a mega trend! (Apologies to John Naisbitt.) Now I think I will go curl up with a good book, put on a mixed tape, and light my candles for the night. Maybe I shall even seek out the company of real fellow human beings. How positively retro.
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Both Sides Now: Vendors and Librarians — The First Rule of Negotiation Requires Both Sides to Bargain in Good Faith Column Editor: Michael Gruenberg (Managing Partner, Gruenberg Consulting, LLC) <michael.gruenberg@verizon.net> www.gruenbergconsulting.com
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nless you’re living under a rock and are not aware of U.S. current events, may I be the first to tell you that we are in the midst of a government shutdown. This is due to a stalemate occurring because neither political party seemingly wants to collaborate with one another to achieve a compromise solution to an issue affecting our country. My column here at ATG is not a political one, so I will not take a stance with either side on their opinions, goals or strategies. I will however, take exception to both sides for not quickly finding a solution to the current dilemma that has 800,000 government employees unable to meet their day-to-day expenses due to a shutdown of the government. In addition to the federal employees who are wondering when and if they can put food on the table, pay their rent/mortgage or heat their house, scores of contractors and shopkeepers that depend on the government workers to spend their money at their establishments are now suddenly short of cash, unable to meet their business expenses. Before any serious negotiation can begin, both sides need to subscribe to the concept of bargaining in good faith. Both sides obviously have goals that may be comprised of a monetary amount needed to undertake a project or a date of completion of that project or any number of additional objectives. Both sides also need to realize that they probably will not get all the items they want to accomplish. With that in mind, each one needs to come to the table completely prepared for good faith bargaining with the realization that each side will have to give in a little. Preparation includes assembling a team of experts to provide facts and figures to plead their case to the other party. Preparation also includes knowing and understanding what the best possible goals could be. Realistically, in a serious negotiation, a secondary and perhaps tertiary fallback position must be planned for and that eventual outcome that will be amenable is required. To go into any negotiation with no fallback positions is foolhardy and most assuredly will diminish the odds of coming to a mutually acceptable agreement or any agreement at all. Sometimes, however, the negotiations involve a contract of obligations. Usually, there are many parts to the document under review. In virtually every negotiation of this type, the document in question has been reviewed by
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each party before either side arrives at the table. I remember that when I had to review contracts in my capacity as VP of Sales, I tried to work out the details with the customer prior to sending it to legal counsel for final approval. For example, every order form that the company wanted the client to authorize had on the back of the form a full page of small print legal items that the customer was inherently agreeing to when they authorized the order form. The one item that was an easy one for me to rectify in case of a customer question was the one that spoke about the state in the U.S. where any future lawsuits would be heard. The company wanted it to be in the state of our headquarters whereas the clients inevitably wanted any such legal matters to be decided in the courts of their state’s headquarters. The possibility of a lawsuit by a library over data presentation was a long shot at best which is why when pressed, I usually gave in to the customers’ desire to change the state of possible litigation to theirs. By doing so, I gave them a minor victory on the road to a final deal. If I had to, later on in the process I could point to that victory as a “win” for them proving my willingness to compromise as we negotiated for another part of the agreement that I needed to win. After all, negotiations mean a “win-win” for both sides. The reality is that there are only four outcomes to every negotiation. 1. Win-Win which means that both sides will come away with what they perceive of as a victory for their side. In other words, both sides win H. No matter the organization, we all have someone to answer to. There will be someone or a group of people who will either approve or disapprove of our work. Both sides need to go to their respective organizations with the negotiated deal and present the outcome as a win for their side. 2. Win-Lose which means that the vendor has won because they sold a product for far more money than they had anticipated. The buyer loses by eventually realizing that they are committing to spend more money than they actually had to. This situation will be rectified when the oversold product comes up for renewal in the following year, but for the moment the vendor has gained a
victory and the buyer has not. This situation will cause bad feelings and mistrust which is an outcome with unpleasant overtones for both sides and will be a pervasive presence for the near future. Not a good outcome. 3. Lose-Win which means that the vendor has sold a product for much less money than they should have or accepted terms of the agreement that will promise features of the product that are impossible to deliver. This occurs when the salesperson is far too liberal in granting discounts and/ or overselling the features/benefits of the product in question. 4. Lose-Lose which means that neither side wins. A product was sold that was ultimately not needed for a price that didn’t make sense for both parties. For everyone to walk away dissatisfied is a terrible outcome. When both sides lose, nobody wins and that is not an outcome that neither side should be willing to accept. So it really comes down to understanding the other person who is seated across from you at the negotiating table. In my opinion, humanizing the process is a key element in the process. The questions that must be posed to oneself prior to the meeting are: • Who this person (or persons) I am about to meet with and how did their professional path get them here? • What are their business and personal goals? If you don’t know those goals, simply ask them. • What backgrounds do they come here with? Because after all, we all are products of our environment, which means who our parents were, where we grew up and how we pursued our education make us the person we are today. All of us are unique individuals with our own, personal DNA. We may think the other person seated across from us is not worthy of our efforts to hammer out an agreement, but the reality is that the organization has chosen the person we must work with, so get over it. As one of my favorite sales guys on my team used to say “get over yourself!” It’s not about you. It’s about coming to an agreement. • What do I think I can do that will ingratiate myself to this person? Everyone has interests that they continued on page 53
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Both Sides Now ... from page 52 like to speak about. Part of the process is not speaking about oneself, but listening to the other person speaking about themselves and their goals. It’s better to listen than to monopolize the conversation when trying to find common ground to build upon. • How can I keep myself from being negative? To me, the most important part of any negotiation is not buying into a negative tone. Rhetoric aside, no one wins if you have to defend yourself from negative comments made by your counterpart. It’s easy to fall into dredging up the past or blaming others or being uncooperative due to the pressures of the moment, but these attitudes never work. Always be positive and know who you are dealing with. When I managed sales teams, I often asked the reps to communicate with their peers working for our competitors. Rather than tear down the competition, try to find out how their products and services differ from ours and always take the high road when speaking about similar products to customers. I instituted the “take a competitor to lunch” program which instructed my salespeople to interact with other salespeople at our competitors. The knowledge gained at those lunches was immeasurable as well as built a degree of camaraderie. I did the same, often dining with VPs of other information companies which were our competition. My opening line was always, “can you give me some advice….?” Eliciting someone’s advice helps to lower barriers and creates a cooperative tone. At the negotiating table, asking the other person’s advice indicates a strong desire to come to a mutually acceptable agreement. The bottom line is that both parties need to be well prepared, have their facts straight and realize that they must be willing to take less than expected as an outcome. As usual, I will end this column with a song quote. This one comes from the hit musical “Hamilton” written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The title is “The Election of 1800.” The lyrics are most appropriate for the subject matter at hand. “Well I’ll be damned; you won in a landslide. Congrats on a race well run. I did give you a fight uh huh; I look forward to our partnership.”
Mike is currently the Managing Partner of Gruenberg Consulting, LLC, a firm he founded in January 2012 after a successful career as a senior sales executive in the information industry. His firm is devoted to provide clients with sales staff analysis, market research, executive coaching, trade show preparedness, product placement and best practices advice for
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improving negotiation skills for librarians and salespeople. His book, “Buying and Selling Information: A Guide for Information Professionals and Salespeople to Build Mutual Success” has become the definitive book on negotiation skills and is
Rumors from page 34 joined RELX Group, Elsevier’s parent company, in 2004 as part of Legal and Risk & Business Analytics, where she held several senior strategy and operational roles. In 2012, she was appointed Chief Strategy Officer of RELX Group, with Elsevier as the group’s largest business. Following her childhood in Turkey, Kumsal attended university in the United States. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. France is her adopted country as she is married to a Frenchman. Currently, she lives in the UK with her husband and two children and is a dual citizen of Turkey and France. https://www.elsevier.com/connect/elsevier-welcomes-a-new-ceo
available on Amazon, Information Today in print and eBook, Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, Kobo, Apple iBooks, OverDrive, 3M Cloud Library, Gale (GVRL), MyiLibrary, ebrary, EBSCO, Blio, and Chegg. www. gruenbergconsulting.com
More new stuff! The ATG team of Leah Hinds and Tom Gilson attended ALA Midwinter in Seattle. Were you there? If you missed it, see the report at https://www. against-the-grain.com/2019/01/atg-newsannouncements-from-ala-midwinter-1-29-19/.
CORRECTION: The Rumor about Prenax that was published in the Dec. 2018Jan. 2019 issue of ATG (v.30#6, p.65) was inaccurate. We retract it and apologize.
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Wandering the Web — Random Podcasts: An Earful for Library Patrons by Roxanne Spencer (Associate Professor and Coordinator, Western Kentucky University Libraries) <roxanne.spencer@wku.edu> and Rebecca L. Nimmo (Part-time Library Assistant, Beulah Winchel Education Library, Western Kentucky University Libraries) <rebeccalnimmo@gmail.com> Column Editor: Jack G. Montgomery (Professor, Coordinator, Collection Services, Western Kentucky University Libraries)
<jack.montgomery@wku.edu>
Column Editor’s Note: Podcasts are to the early 21st century what radio and early TV was to our mid-20th-century grandparents. We can access them anywhere, anytime, and on virtually any subject. We can subscribe to podcasts on iTunes and Google Play through our mobile phones, or we can listen online via our laptops, tablets, or smart speakers. Most podcasts are audio only, although some have video versions or are video only. Traditional media — radio and TV — has adapted to mobile access by developing podcasts from popular programs. Popular podcast apps include Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Google Play, Podbean, iHeartRadio, Player FM, Stitcher, and more. Podcasts continue to grow in popularity along with smart speakers, according to a 2018 Infinite Dial study from Edison Research and Triton Digital — https://www. edisonresearch.com/infinite-dial-2018/. Data shows that 44% of Americans aged 12 and over have listened to a podcast, a gain of 4% over 2017. This Wandering the Web column looks at a variety of random podcasts on topics of interest to library patrons and staff. From comedy to pets, education to sports, and more, sit back, relax, adjust your earbuds, and enjoy these popular podcasts! There are lots of top podcast of the year lists on various topics, too, so start making up your own lists with these as a possible starting point. — JM
Crafts Craft-ish with Vickie Howell — https:// vickiehowell.com/craftish/. Author, designer, and television personality Vickie Howell is best known for her knitting television programs on DIY Network and PBS. On her independent podcast Craft-ish, Howell speaks to crafters and designers in many fields about their motivations and histories in crafting, as well as how they balance crafting with other parts of life. Making — https://makingzine.com/. Formerly the Woolful Podcast, host Ashley Yousling meets with creative professionals and “makers” to discuss their personal journeys with creation. The podcast was formerly limited to fiber arts so the back catalog is full of knitters, spinners, quilters, and even sheep farmers, but the change from “Woolful” to
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“Making” in 2018 opened up the podcast to creative professionals of all types. The Stranded Podcast — https://www. youtube.com/user/amyflorence14. Amy Florence is a 28-year-old self-employed yarn dyer living on the south coast of England. On her weekly video podcast, she discusses knitting, crocheting, spinning, and running her own business out of her garage.
Education
The Cult of Pedagogy — https://www. cultofpedagogy.com/pod/. Jennifer Gonzalez, educator, blogger, and creator of the web resource Cult of Pedagogy, speaks to students, teachers, parents, and administrators “about psychological and social dynamics of school, trade secrets, and other juicy things you’ll never learn in a textbook.” This savvy podcast is well worth listening to for a variety of views and discussions on the ever-evolving world of education. The Allusionist — https://www.theallusionist.org/. Helen Zaltzman, an award-winning podcaster located in London, UK, discusses the growth and development of the English language. Selected as iTunes’ best new podcast in the year 2015, Zaltzman reveals how England’s colonialist history, combined with “tiny idiosyncratic decisions” from the language’s speakers have shaped English into the messy amalgam of grammar and syntax that it is today. The House of #EdTech — https://chrisnesi.com/ — Chris Nesi explores how technology impacts education. Topics include discussion of good teaching, early childhood and technology, pre-service teachers’ need for more exposure to ed tech tools, creativity and critical thinking, and tips for growing ed tech skills over long summer breaks.
Entertainment
You Must Remember This — http://www. youmustrememberthispodcast.com/ — You Must Remember This, as the tagline states at the beginning and end of every episode, is a podcast about “the secret and/or forgotten history of Hollywood’s first century.” Host Karina Longworth focuses on accuracy when approaching topics on the behind-the-scenes world that shaped cinema in the 20th Century. The podcast is released in seasons that focus on a single topic or era of Hollywood’s history, making it easy for new listeners to find a starting point.
Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness — https://www.earwolf.com/show/ getting-curious-with-jonathan-van-ness/ — Jonathan Van Ness, the flamboyant grooming guru from the Netflix reality show Queer Eye, has always been curious about how the world works. In this entertaining and diverse series, Van Ness brings in experts to discuss a wide variety of topics, with titles such as “Who Was the Beyoncé of Renaissance Art?” and “What’s The Cutest Way to Fight Climate Change?” Nerdificent — https://www.nerdificent. com/ — Comedians Dani Fernandez and Ify Nwadiwe take deep dives into all things “nerdy” in the podcast Nerdificent. With topics ranging from Comic Con to bitcoin to queer representation in geek culture, Fernandez and Nwadiwe present information in a manner that is entertaining and informative for nerds and non-nerds alike.
Family One Bad Mother — https://www.maximumfun.org/shows/one-bad-mother — Biz Ellis and Theresa Thorn are mothers who aren’t afraid to dig down to the nitty-gritty. They focus on frankness in discussing parenting trials and tribulations, striving to shift the conversation about motherhood from a place of judgment to one of camaraderie. Zen Parenting Radio — https://zenparentingradio.com/ — Separately, Cathy Adams is a licensed clinical social worker, therapist, and sociology instructor at Dominican University and Elmhurst College and Todd Adams is a certified life coach focused on supporting work/life balance for men. Together, they are a married couple with three daughters, and co-hosts of the Zen Parenting Radio podcast. The two use their personal and professional experience to build a community through this podcast focused on ideals of peaceful parenting. Mom and Dad Are Fighting — https:// slate.com/human-interest/mom-and-dad-arefighting — Rebecca LaVoie, Gabriel Roth, and Carvell Wallace of Slate present this podcast where they discuss parenting triumphs and fails, as well as pertinent interviews and news items. Topics hit across the parenting spectrum, including topics such as board games, the teenage boy obsession with the “friend zone,” and daycare. continued on page 55
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Wandering the Web from page 54 Food
The Sporkful — http://www.sporkful.com/ — or on iTunes or Stitcher — hosted by Dan Pashman, author and Cooking Channel host, and produced by Stitcher, is an exploration of people via food. It “isn’t for foodies; it’s for eaters.” Feast your ears on A Short History of Cereal and Milk, The Food Guilt Remediation Project, Inside the Mind of a Culinary Mad Scientist — and more — to learn more about who we are by what we eat, how we eat, and why. Gastropod — https://gastropod.com/ — Viewing “food through the lens of science and history,” co-hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley bring fascinating facts and tales to the table with a new episode every two weeks. Through 100 episodes to date, Gastropod explores topics ranging from Native American cuisine to exploring international flavors to fake food and so much more to tease your palate. Cook the Perfect... from BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour — https://www.bbc.co.uk/ programmes/p02nrwmn — also available on iTunes. Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey interview leading food writers and top chefs for tips on preparing delicious home-cooked meals including classics like quiche Lorraine or coq au vin, as well as more exotic fare, such as kimchi fried rice or fattoush. American audiences may need to do a little homework to convert measurements and temperatures, but why argue with the quality from Auntie Beeb?
across Canada, presenting top five lists about anything they are passionate about related to libraries, from management tips to “Top Five Literary Men I’d Leave My Husband For” and everything in between. Dewey Decibel — https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/tag/dewey-decibel/ — is a monthly podcast from the American Library Association. Host Phil Morehart, associate editor of American Libraries, interviews authors, librarians, scholars, and other library-adjacent professionals about hot topics in libraries such as disaster response, cybersecurity, and library advocacy. The Librarian Is In — https://www.nypl. org/voices/blogs/blog-channels/librarian-is-in — The New York Public Library is the largest public library system in the United States and releases this weekly podcast about books and culture. Hosted by Gwen Glazer and Frank Collerius, the podcast provides a librarian’s view on literature, pop culture, and library life.
Miscellaneous
How Stuff Works Stuff Media — https:// www.stuffmedia.com/ — presents varied podcasts from topics ranging from the bizarre Aaron Mahnke’s Cabinet of Curiosities to Culture Kings to relationships (Committed) to personal and societal health (Commune) to questions about the universe (Daniel & Jorge Explain the Universe). Listeners will also find a comedic take on almost any subject, such as Alchemy This, Creature Feature. What are you waiting for? Dive in to the constantly changing, sometimes scary, often funny world of How Stuff Works podcasts.
Health
20-Minute Fitness Podcast by Shape — https://shapescale.com/blog/category/20-minute-fitness-podcast/ — offers tips on nutrition, exercise, weight-loss, and digital resources for a healthier lifestyle. Topics such as improving sleep, smart clothing, helpful apps, and supplements are delivered in 15-25-minute podcast episodes. Bulletproof Radio with Mike Asprey — https://blog.bulletproof.com/category/podcasts/ — is a long-running podcast covering the length and breadth of ways business, culture, and health influence one another. In the pursuit of “the art and science of becoming superhuman,” Asprey seeks viewpoints from practices as diverse as neuroscience, cardiology, fitness empires, and holistic practitioners. Directory of episodes — https://blog.bulletproof.com/ bulletproof-radio-episodes-directory/. Hay House Podcasts — https://www. hayhouse.com/podcasts — feature several motivational, inspirational podcasts from such well-known figures as Louise Hay, Caroline Myss, Wayne Dyer, and Christine Northrup. Topics for personal growth are gleaned from teachings in psychology, personal development, meditation, and spirituality.
Libraries
Library Land Loves — https://librarylandloves.libsyn.com/ — is a presentation of the Ontario Library Association. Weekly episodes feature library professionals from
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A Way with Words — https://www.waywordradio.org/ — is available on many public radio stations and as a podcast iTunes, player. fm, gpodder, and Android apps. Co-hosts Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett research and answer listener’s questions about language — unfamiliar, regional, or family expressions’ origins; word histories; misunderstandings, slang, dialects, wordplay — you name it — Barnette and Barrett will tackle your questions and welcome your contributions. A History of the World in 100 Objects on BBC Radio 4 — https://www.bbc.co.uk/ programmes/b00nrtd2/episodes/downloads — and through iTunes. Although this series was recorded in 2010, it is worth listening to for its exploration of human history through ancient artifacts. From coins to vessels to stone tablets, statues, and more, learn about the development of various peoples through the craftsmanship, vision, and impetus of ancient artists and artisans.
Literature Speedway and Swan — https://www. worldliteraturetoday.org/2018/march/lit-lists5-binge-worthy-literary-podcasts — a poetry podcast from the University of Arizona Poetry Center, is among 5 binge-worthy podcasts showcased in early 2018 on World Literature Today. Among other recommendations are San Francisco legendary bookstore Live! From City Lights, The Moth, Between the Covers, and The New Yorker Literary Fiction podcasts. B o o k s t r — h t t p s : / / w w w. b o o k s t r. com/11-best-literary-related-podcasts from mid-2018 — published a “12 Best Literary-Related Podcasts” list in July 2018, with favorites such as the eerie Welcome to NightVale; “truelife scary stories” from Lore; new writing from The Catapult; cultural conversations with authors on Lit Up; and Book Fight: Tough Love for Literature. Electric Lit’s post “14 Literary Podcasts that Are Not Hosted by Three White Guys” — https://electricliterature.com/diverse-literary-podcasts-books-writing-ffdd55bdf2e7 — features literary podcasts with an eye to diversity, from poetry to Black Chick Lit to minorities in publishing to Asian authors and more, these 14 podcasts open up the world of diverse literature for your morning commute or podcast binge.
News & Politics SLATE Podcasts — https://slate.com/tag/ slate-podcast/1 — has something for everyone, but not all podcasts are completely free. Slate Plus, their subscription model, includes adfree, full-length podcasts from such popular shows as What’s Next, The Good Fight, Political Gabfest, and more. Today, Explained — https://www.vox.com/ today-explained — from Vox, hosted by Sean Rameswaram, provides an evening wrap-up of the day’s events, perfect for the commute home. For other timely Vox podcasts, see The Weeds, Future Perfect, The Impact, and more at https://www.vox.com/pages/podcasts. Left, Right & Center — https://www.kcrw. com/news-culture/shows/left-right-center — from KCRW. One of several timely podcasts on modern life, Left, Right & Center bills itself as a “weekly civilized yet provocative” discussion of pop culture, politics, and policy. Josh Barro hosts as the centrist, with newsworthy guests from the left and right. Other popular news podcast sources: Popular news podcasts can be found through traditional providers on your favorite podcast source, such as Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, Player FM, iHeartRadio, etc. • NPR — https://www.npr.org/podcasts/, • BBC — https://www.bbc.co.uk/ podcasts, and • PBS Search — https://www.pbs.org/ search/?q=podcasts. • Many TED topics are available as podcasts — https://www.ted.com/ read/ted-podcasts. continued on page 56
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Wandering the Web from page 55 Pets
Canine Nation Podcasts — https://caninenation.ca/podcasts — are based on articles by Eric Brad, which appear in Life as a Human online magazine — https://lifeasahuman.com/ category/pets/canine-nation/. Brad digs deeper into the history of the evolution of dogs as working animals and companions, dispelling myths and sharing advice for effective training. The podcasts are meant to be an open forum and the producers welcome comments at both sites. Horse Radio Network — http://www. horseradionetwork.com/ — for equine lovers everywhere, HRN offers a variety of podcasts on care and tack, horse “eventing,” well-known and unusual personalities, legends, training, nutrition, and good horsemanship. Radio Public — https://about.radiopublic. com — lists a selection of best animal podcasts as of October 30, 2018, “Our Pets, Ourselves: Best Podcasts for Animal Lovers” — https:// about.radiopublic.com/2018/10/30/our-petsourselves-best-podcasts-for-animal-lovers/. Topics include training tips and shared stories about cats and dogs, animal agriculture, aquariums, and caring for unusual pets in the home.
Sports
30 for 30 Podcasts — https://30for30podcasts.com/ — the award-winning series 30 for 30 Podcasts follows the same general format as the popular ESPN 30 for 30 film series — they are individual audio documentaries about various sports and sports-adjacent topics. Topics are widely varied across sports fields, including topics such as the birth of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, professional poker cheating, and the John Madden video game legacy. Outkick the Coverage — https://www. outkickthecoverage.com/outkick-the-show/ — available on numerous outlets, including iHeartRadio, PodBean, and FoxSports — brings unusual long-format discussions hosted by Clay Travis on sports, entertainment, and politics. Burn It All Down: The Feminist Sports Podcast You Need — http://burnitalldownpod. com/ — offers a fresh perspective to sports, gender equity, and popular culture through its diverse female hosts. Expect intelligent, engaging, and lively discussions on the intersections — and intersectionality — of women, sports, and social and political questions of today.
STEAM StarTalk Radio — https://www.startalkradio.net/ — an award-winning radio show and podcast hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson,
Director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and host of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. Along with a rotating cast of comic co-hosts, including comedians Chuck Nice and Eugene Mirman, Tyson discusses physics, astronomy, and life in the universe with celebrities and scientists across various fields. 99% Invisible — https://99percentinvisible. org/ —host Roman Mars, a founding member of the podcast collective Radiotopia, created the podcast 99% Invisible to explore the hidden architecture and design that has shaped the modern world. The podcast website includes a list of the staff’s favorite episodes for new listeners wondering where to begin. Stuff to Blow Your Mind — https://www. stufftoblowyourmind.com/ — hosts Robert Lamb and Joe McCormick explore science and technology in their weekly podcast. No field of science is untouched, with topics relating to biology, engineering, chemistry, physics, psychology, and more on regular rotation. A word of caution as listeners track down the many options available in the burgeoning world of podcasting. Many podcasts are free, but some sources have limited access to recent or full episodes, as upselling listeners to subscriptions is a fact of internet business life. Listeners may have to search various podcast providers for full episodes, newer or archived editions. Happy listening!
Library Analytics: Shaping the Future — What’s Next Column Editors: John McDonald (EBSCO Information Services) <johnmcdonald@ebsco.com> and Kathleen McEvoy (EBSCO Information Services) <kmcevoy@ebsco.com>
W
hen we began this column just over a year ago, we were interested in looking at analytics and how they were impacting, or would impact, the future of libraries. We looked at the information we had about user behavior and how people searched, the results of our user research studies and the information we gleaned from our search systems. We endeavored to be mindful of the issues inherent in analytics, including privacy. In the past year we have showcased colleges and universities doing research related to their own users as they introduce new technology, publishers providing information to help libraries make decisions, how libraries and service providers balance the need for information with the need for privacy, consortial considerations around usage data for shared collections, how libraries use data and analytics to influence institutional decision makers and how libraries can build an analytics culture. In the future, we plan to address the ways additional librarians and providers approach analytics and the issues surrounding them with the goal of continuing to answer the questions, and highlight the issues surrounding the future of libraries and analytics. We initially interviewed Rob O’Connell from Smith College Libraries. Smith College uses EBSCO Discovery Service and did extensive user testing to determine how to best
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present the now-un-siloed information the library provides to students and researchers through its discovery service. Common issues surrounding privacy prevailed, but librarians spun up a cross-departmental research team to bring together librarians and programmers to address assumptions and the status quo. Using a Bento Box approach, the research team experimented with guerilla testing to reach students outside the library space and played with the language and terminology being displayed. Researchers found some surprises that challenged their assumptions about the information that should be presented, but with analytics to back up those findings, decisions were easier to make. Iteration was a common theme as the Smith College Library research team determined that whether addressing the language used, the databases being recognized (or not being recognized), or the optimal amount of content to be presented on the homepage, an iterative approach was determined to be better than continuing to force redesigns en masse. Another common theme was understanding the user. By introducing new ideas (e.g., searching by subject area rather than by database name) and by observing what did and didn’t work (e.g., drop down menus that users ignored), the research team was able to challenge its own
assumptions, better understand user behavior and make decisions that were easy to test because they never represented a wholescale change but rather an iteration of the Bento Box presentation. In April, Kristen Tepfer, Senior Marketing Manager from SAGE Publishing, wrote about the Customer Value Reports that SAGE creates for customers. These CVRs present multiple metrics to customers so they can make decisions based on data including usage, turnaways and faculty reactions. The goal is to help libraries show the value of their investments with the publisher. One of the benefits to libraries is that these reports can be prepared for them and do not draw from library staff resources while providing a useful tool that librarians can use to indicate how users are engaging with their content and by showcasing areas of high usage and areas where usage may need encouragement. The reports also provide librarians with insight into their faculty members by showing faculty contributions to journals in library collections. While the CVRs are an important offering to librarians looking to make collection decisions, SAGE also leverages the information for its own product management decision making as it prioritizes the enhancements the company makes to its platform and offerings. continued on page 57
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Library Analytics ... from page 56 In June, Neil Scully, the IT Director at Open Athens, wrote about Data, Privacy and the User Experience. This important topic hits a variety of concerns around privacy. Open Athens addressed these needs by introducing the “digital identity” — an “opaque ID tied to the user data in the institutional user directory.” The digital identity serves both the library and publishers. Libraries benefit by being able to authenticate users and show the number of students that are accessing course materials. The goal is to allow faculty members to make decisions about their teaching materials to increase usage of specialized content. Scully also says this information can help faculty to gain more insight into the use of library resources and incorporate them into course plans with the goal of improving student grades by providing more access to information aligned with course work — content from the library which does not require additional expenses. The usage information could also inform collection development decisions so libraries are investing in areas of greatest impact to faculty and students. The information gleaned from the digital identity could also help publishers better understand where users are and how they are using content. Since Open Athens is geared around authentication and single sign on, they are at a crossroads in terms of helping libraries make access to information more seamless to faculty and students, while also being able to provide anonymized information to librarians, faculty and publishers so they can leverage the data that usage creates to make decisions about collections, courses and content. The September issue addressed Consortial Usage Statistics Analytics and the CC-Plus Project. Anne Osterman from VIVA, Jill Morris from PALCI and Jason Price from SCELC weighed in on the challenges consortia face when assessing the metrics and analytics for shared collections. Consortia members face the unique challenge of needing data relative to their shared collections as well as how to leverage that information to build their individual collections. The variety of consortial arrangements complicates these needs but Osterman, Morris and Price break it down into two areas: “the collection, storage and retrieval of usage statistics and resource evaluation and negotiation support.” These needs were addressed through the CC-Plus Project (Consortia Collaborating on a Platform for Library Usage Statistics). They also highlighted a data visualization project being developed alongside CC-Plus by the Virtual Library of Virginia or VIVA which aims to create an open source front end to the data from CC-Plus. A survey that came out of a 2014 meeting of ICOLC (International Coalition of Library Consortia) surfaced areas that needed to be addressed including how to manage and use e-resources usage data with most respondents admitting to using manual processes and with only 20 percent of respondents making use of automated services such as SUSHI. Survey results also highlighted functionalities that
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were needed, including “streamline processing capabilities, the ability to combine key data points for improved contextual analysis, streamlined vendor password management, and visualization tools that would facilitate analysis.” CC-Plus was born out of these results to address the needs of consortia such as, “enabling high level, broad product comparison, while also being able to isolate and contextualize varied consortial collections.” With CCPlus focusing on how data is harvested, processed and stored, the ability to analyze the data and visualize it was left to the open source front end from VIVA. The project addresses the needs of consortia while also allowing for the “individual institution data and the on-demand benchmarking” required of consortia members. The authors pared consortial usage data needs down to two goals: simplifying and automating the collection, storage and retrieval of usage statistics and evaluating ongoing subscriptions and supporting renewal negotiating. In November, the column featured an article by the former Library Director at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, Daniel Forsman. Daniel discussed using data analytics for “strategic library transformation.” As the library moved toward digital resources, including the implementation of a discovery service, librarians began to realize that there were consequences inherent in the move to digital including changing user behaviors. “The value of library services eroded with our stakeholders and the library being marginalized by the decisionmakers at the University. The library had lost its place at the table.” A new mission was born, and data was at the center of this new electronic environment. The data drawn from the library catalog, the institutional repository and the resources the library licenses, were leveraged to create new services and develop new competencies. Librarians joined with developers, designers and users to use the data as a tool to reinvent the library. By 2010, “the demand for scholarly metrics and analytics at the campus level became our first method of refining these data tools. The rise of bibliometrics as a measure of academic success and viability in the surrounding society was a result of non-academics or academic management attempting to simplify a complex system.” Chalmers librarians “embraced bibliometrics” in order to “safeguard academia from unfair methodologies and to make sure that bibliometrics were not used in an inappropriate way.” Regaining that seat at the table meant extracting “high-quality, timely, actionable insights for researchers, scholarly communicators, research funders” while leveraging publication patterns and usage patterns. Librarians pitched themselves as experts “on how to increase the visibility and the impact of research. By working with the data, understanding the data, and having the confidence to analyze and present conclusions of the data, the library becomes a strategic partner for stakeholders to make better, informed decisions.” The final 2018 column focused on how to build a culture where analytics can thrive.
Tabatha Farney, the Director of Web Services and Emerging Technology at the Kraemer Family Library at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs wrote about the culture of analytics as “an organizational commitment to collect and analyze data to make decisions.” Breaking down the silos where data lives is an essential part of creating a system that can leverage data easily. Communications between teams is also essential to break down existing silos that can prevent the conclusions that can be drawn when there is a level playing field and insight into all the data that can impact an institution. “An analytics culture breaks down those data silos or, at least, enables the data to flow out of those silos to the individuals that need to analyze the data.” Farney says library administrators are essential to a successful analytics culture but the entire organization needs to support this new culture as well. One important part is not to overlook how data can be used by different parts of the organization. “Desk transactions can be used to measure the activity of the reference desk, but that same information can be used by administration to determine staffing based on the amount of interactions at specific time periods. That data can also be used to identify problems or gaps in services.” Creating an analytics culture can start small. By connecting people with the data and by understanding who needs access to the data for analysis and who would benefit from the reports that analysis can generate, that culture grows. As Tabetha says, “You will know you are in an analytics environment when it feels uncomfortable making decisions without data.” Common themes throughout the 2018 columns included privacy, understanding the user experiences and using an iterative approach; but, the most prevalent theme that emerged is that analytics have become essential and can change the perception of librarians within the library and the library within the institution. Some issues that remain important to libraries include collection usage, space utilization, information literacy, research indicators and ROI. Librarians remain interested in the information being collected and analyzed so libraries can quantify the value of libraries and to showcase the value they bring and the contributions they make to the institution’s mission. Issues that remain top of mind include student retention and learning outcomes, faculty research productivity and the connection between data, usage, analysis and assessment. Looking forward to 2019, our goal is to focus on analytics related to existing areas that continue to dominate discussions as well as new and emerging needs. Some of these topics fall into the categories of collection development and how analytics can help with decision making as institutions expand into new program areas, the analytics that surround ILS migration and implementation, open access and the findability of content and standards development and privacy. Please let us know if you have ideas surrounding data analytics and want to contribute to the discussion.
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Don’s Conference Notes Column Editor: Donald T. Hawkins (Freelance Conference Blogger and Editor) <dthawkins@verizon.net>
2018 Fiesole Collection Development Retreat Guest Columnist: Leah Hinds (Executive Director, Charleston Conference) <leah@charlestonlibraryconference.com> Column Editor’s Note: Because of space limitations, this is an abridged version of the report on this conference. You can read the full article at https://www.against-the-grain.com/2018/05/2018-fiesole-collection-development-retreat/. — DTH
B
eautiful Barcelona was the site for the 2018 Fiesole Collection Development Retreat, sponsored by The Charleston Company and Against the Grain, and hosted by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and Casalini Libri. 2018 marked the 20th anniversary of the retreat series. Its aim is to host talks about the future of libraries, publishing, collections, and scholarship. The small group size, around 80 attendees, paired with a schedule that is structured to allow time for thoughtful discussion and rumination on the topics, gives Fiesole an environment unlike any other industry event. The Retreat began with a preconference session on Digital Humanities and Digital Scholarship convened by Dr. Andreas Degwitz from the Library of Humboldt University, Berlin. Preconference presentations: • Marian Lefferts, Consortium of European Research Libraries: Europe’s cultural heritage in print and manuscript supporting Digital Humanities. • Peter Foster, GALE: “How GALE is supporting Digital Humanities, some case studies.” • Laurent Romary, INRIA – DARIAH: “Fine tuning the interface between research and libraries: the data re-use charter.” • Núria Bel, University Pompeu Fabra – Barcelona: “Natural language processing for Digital Humanities.” • Susanne Dalsgaard Krag, University of Aarhus: “Open Science and Digital Scholarship – Libraries’ role and staff skills required.” • Lluís Anglada, Consortium of University Services of Catalonia, and Ángel Borrego, University of Barcelona: “Developing Digital Scholarship in Spanish libraries.” • Julien Roche, University of Science and Technology – Lille: “Towards a copyright exception of text and data mining for public research in Europe.” A common theme throughout the presentations was the number of challenges faced across the different countries and institution types. Some of the challenges were internal, such as budget cutbacks, staff resistance to change, bringing in new staff, management issues, etc. More often the challenges were external, such as government directives and funding issues.
Keynote Address
The keynote presentation was an update by Glòria Pérez-Salmerón, Diputació de Barcelona, IFLA President, and Presidenta de FESABID on the IFLA Global Vision Report Summary. IFLA conducted a survey and received 21,772 votes from 190 UN member states across all generations and library types. The key findings of the survey were, “We are united globally in our goals and values,” and, “We must connect global and local actions effectively.” The top 10 highlights and challenges are available as a PDF download.1
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Glòria Pérez-Salmerón, President of IFLA (L), being introduced by Ann Okerson, Senior Advisor to the Center for Research Libraries (R). Session One: Special and Cultural Collections.
Ramon Abad Hiraldo, Universidad de Zaragoza — Thinking about Library Collections in Spain in the 21st century • His library has moved in just a few years from a print library to an electronic library, spending 80% of the budget on e-resources and only 20% on print. • Challenges and Directions: disruption caused by changes in acquisition models and licensing vs. purchasing. Librarians are not comfortable with the new “big deal.” The eBook market in Spain is uncertain; there is a distrust of publishers despite eBook production increase by 26% of published titles. • A dichotomy between patron-driven models vs. a curatorial approach results in the unavailability of eBooks for student use (recommended readings are often not offered electronically). Angela Carreno, New York University — Evolving Strategies for Area Studies and Foreign Language Collecting in the 21st Century • The Manhattan Research Library Initiative (MaRLI) is a joint borrowing program between the New York Public Library, NYU and Columbia University.2 • “Our shared collection will be a research resource greater than the sum of its parts.” (quote from Carol Mandel, NYU Dean of Libraries) • Joint licensing agreements that help expand the breadth of our collecting efforts = 3 electronic + 1 print copy (3 e + 1 p) Michael Levine-Clark, University of Denver — Reflections on Primary Sources and Special Collections in the 21st century • “Special Collections are more important than they ever have been, and we need to think about them differently than we have before.” • 4 trends: increased investment in special collections, redefining special collections, growth of digital primary source collections, and interplay between traditional and digital. • “Digital collections are homogeneous collections.” Most libraries in North America have the same databases, and everyone has access to Google and Wikipedia. Special collections add diversity, make collections stand out, and give students a special experience. • Does the widespread availability of digital primary source collections make special collections less special? Or not special at all? Or does it change the emphasis of special collections? continued on page 59
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Don’s Conference Notes from page 58 Session Two: “Libraries as Laboratories: Creation, Collaboration, Learning, Openness”
Manel Jiménez-Morales and Anna Magre, UPF — “Democratization of knowledge for people who may not be able to afford university: what is the library’s role?” • Citizen Science: in the last year this term has been in vogue. Open Science: citizens have contributed to knowledge and research. Usually the focus is on lateral movement: the university provides knowledge to students, but we don’t think about how students provide knowledge to the university. • “Prosumers” — producers and consumers: In some MOOCs, students help classify and organize information from the course. • The role of the libraries in the MOOC process: traditional roles of documentation, preservation, dissemination, and legal control are also necessary for MOOCs. • Coordination with other agents: academics, team of pedagogues (CLIK – Center for Learning Information and Knowledge)
Sobering statistic from the UPF presentation. Niall Sclater, Sclater Digital — Using Data to Enhance the Student Experience • “Digital exhaust” produced a huge amount of data. • Big Data: Facebook, Cambridge Analytica. “Digital Gold” means business intelligence, analytics. • Traditionally, data was locked up in databases and filing cabinets. Now, it is more open and available for valuable and useful things. • The drivers are: 1. Data-informed decision making (not based on guess work or predictions) decisions on how to use resources. 2. Understanding and quantification of educational processes — increasingly expected to justify expenditures based on quantification. 3. Meeting government requirements for funding, etc. 4. Pressure from students: expectations for data to be used to help them. Students are used to constant gathering of information from social media. • Applications: 1. early alert and student success, 2. course recommendations and course success predictions using student aptitudes, previous performance, recommendation of courses to take next. 3. Adaptive learning — personalized model. 4. Curriculum design provides huge possibilities for better understanding of how our curricula are being received by students.
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• There are many ethical and legal issues, addressed by the JISC Code of Practice for Learning Analytics.3 Katy Woolfenden, University of Manchester Library — Innovation, Openness, and Co-Creation in an active learning environment • Context – largest single-site university in the UK and the largest student community (over 40,000) in the UK • Digilab4: a virtual, augmented and mixed reality learning lab with no dedicated space. External demos – by companies who want to try out their products on a live student audience, as well as from University personnel: researchers, student projects, etc. Workshops – code club, hardware workshops 3D printing. One-off events – education student sessions, museology project in collaboration with Manchester museum. Event feedback – 96% attendees said they learned something new. • My Learning Essentials5 – the library’s award winning skills program. Includes both an open and embedded program – both online or in-person workshops. • Openness – no login needed, online resources all CC-BY-NC, source files on JISC app store Coverage – 277 institutions, 177 countries, 6 continents
Session Three: “Collaboration Enabling Scholarship” Toby Green, OECD — Let’s hear it for readers: taking a user-centric approach to scholarly communication • The Scholarly Kitchen recently had an article, “Ask the Chefs: What will you be writing about 5 years from now?”6 Readers weren’t mentioned at all. • Compare publishing to the music industry: a huge number of choices for platforms, etc, for researchers exist. SciHub has turned things around: it is a one-stop easy to use shop, and is “reader-facing.” • Policymakers want research results accessible beyond the academy and need context and background to help understand the content. Pierre Mounier, Open Edition — Scholarly communication in the context of Open Science: the need for infrastructures • OA in Humanities and Social Sciences is like a milky way; there are lots of different stars in the same system. • The OPERAS-D project in Europe is studying OA in the humanities and social sciences by surveying publishers. There is a lack of understanding about the difference in platforms, technical mapping among partners for storage/database size, etc. • Cited a recent study on the visibility of OA monographs by Knowledge Unlatched that focused on eBooks made available through the OPERAS network.7 Roger Schonfeld, Ithaka S+R — The Turn to Researcher Workflow and Key Implications for Publishers and Libraries • Content is giving way to workflow. Should the research university outsource more core scholarly infrastructure? The largest publishers are becoming workflow providers. What strategies are available for the smaller publishers being left behind? • Research involves a large, lengthy workflow. A small number of heavyweight players are building an end-to-end workflow to support research: Elsevier - Scopus, Plum Analytics, Mendeley, SSRN, bepress, SciVal, Pure, Analytical Services... Holtzbrink - Springer Nature, Digital Science, Nature Publishing Group - FigShare, Readcube, Altmetric... Alice Meadows, ORCID — An Example of Cross-Community Collaboration • She used a tweet from panelist Roger Schonfeld as an example to open her talk: continued on page 60
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Don’s Conference Notes from page 59 • ORCID and Metadata 2020 are both examples of collaboration across the industry, in addition to many more. • ORCID launch partners included not-for-profits and commercial companies of various sizes, as well as several colleges and universities. Board members are similarly spread across the spectrum. • Metadata 2020 is “a collaboration that advocates richer, connected, and reusable, open metadata for all research outputs, which will advance scholarly pursuits for the benefit of society.” Bob Boissy, Springer Nature — Cooperative Marketing: Case Studies in Collaboration to Drive Usage of Scholarly Content • Differences between cooperative and traditional marketing:
Excerpt of closing session slides from Stephen Rhind-Tutt. The 2018 program, speaker biographies, and slides are all available on the Fiesole Retreats repository.9 The 21st Fiesole Retreat will be held in Fiesole, Italy from April 3-5, 2019. Its theme is “Our Shared Open Future: Building from Tradition.” The preliminary program and more information is available now on the Fiesole Retreats website.10
Donald T. Hawkins is an information industry freelance writer based in Pennsylvania. In addition to blogging and writing about conferences for Against the Grain, he blogs the Computers in Libraries and Internet Librarian conferences for Information Today, Inc. (ITI) and maintains the Conference Calendar on the ITI Website (http://www.infotoday.com/calendar.asp). He is the Editor of Personal Archiving: Preserving Our Digital Heritage, (Information Today, 2013) and Co-Editor of Public Knowledge: Access and Benefits (Information Today, 2016). He holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley and has worked in the online information industry for over 45 years. • Examples of cooperative marketing: ° Library branding, including notations embedded in resources that indicate “...access to this content is enabled by Northwestern University Libraries.” ° Sustainable Marketing tackles known issues, follows up by email and in person at conferences (i.e., the Charlotte Initiative) ° Helping to get people into the library with special events, etc.
Leah H. Hinds was appointed Executive Director of the Charleston Conference in 2017, and has served in various roles with the Charleston Information Group, LLC since 2004. Prior to working for the conference, she was Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions for the College of Charleston for four years. She lives in a small town near Columbia, SC with her husband and two kids where they raise a menagerie of farm animals.
Endnotes 1. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/GVMultimedia/publications/gv-report-summary.pdf 2. https://www.nypl.org/help/research-services/MaRLI 3. https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/code-of-practice-for-learning-analytics 4. https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/using-the-library/students/ library-it-services/digilab/ 5. https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/using-the-library/students/ training-and-skills-support/my-learning-essentials/ 6. https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2018/04/19/ask-chefs-what-writing-5-years-from-now/ 7. http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6156F 8. http://atgthepodcast.libsyn.com/atgthepodcast-060-interview-withstephen-rhind-tutt-and-2018-fiesole-retreat-recap 9. http://www.casalini.it/retreat/retreat_2018.asp 10. https://www.casalini.it/retreat/retreat_2019.asp
Closing Session presented by Stephen Rhind-Tutt, founder of Alexander Street Press, a ProQuest company, and President of Fairfax House, a consultancy in electronic information product development. Stephen graciously agreed to recap his presentation for ATG: The Podcast,8 so listen to episode 60 for details on this as well as Virtual Reality, ProQuest and Alexander Street, and more.
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Biz of Digital — Digitization Workflows: Streamlining the Digitization Process and Distinguishing the Peculiarities in Capturing Various Archival Materials by Marina Georgieva (Visiting Digital Collections Librarian, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, UNLV Libraries: Digital Collections, 4505 S Maryland Parkway, Box 457041, Las Vegas, NV 89154; Phone: 702-895-2310) <marinik@abv.bg> ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2134-6719 Column Editor: Michelle Flinchbaugh (Acquisitions and Digital Scholarship Services Librarian, Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250; Phone: 410-455-6754; Fax: 410-455-1598) <flinchba@umbc.edu> Overview
With thousands of archival collections prioritized for digitization and numerous grant opportunities for external funding, large-scale digitization is on the rise. That’s an exciting trend — from users’ perspective, it makes rare, fragile, historical, local and research-significant materials readily available online. Users nowadays want to find all their research materials on the web, and digital librarians are working hard to meet the demand for digitization and to provide access to archival collections. Large-scale digitization is a great initiative; however, it brings challenges to the digital librarians. The main question that emerges is: “How do we streamline the process to make it efficient and optimal?” It also brings a subset of other questions that cause some anxiety: “What technology should be used? What’s the best workflow? How do we troubleshoot issues and address challenges?” and so on. This article is far from being comprehensive on the topic; it’s rather a case study based on one librarian’s experience that shares some of the practices, issues, challenges and tips related to making the digitization process more robust. They are universal and equally helpful for largescale and smaller scale projects.
Appendix 1 (see p.64) provides sample statistics and attempts to quantify some of the past large-scale digitization initiatives completed on the Phase One Rapid Capture system.
The Technology
The UNLV Digital Collections staff utilizes the innovative technology Phase One Rapid Capture system (https://dtculturalheritage.com/ flat-art-loose-material) for the majority of digitization projects. The system is comprised of an 80 megapixel digital back, a reprographic copy stand with lights, a film kit with a lightbox and holders, and integrated software specially designed for cultural heritage institutions (see Figures 1-4). It is a powerful tool in large-scale capturing of various archival materials. This set-up digitizes materials in sizes as large as 30” x 40” down to 35 mm sized images and captures both reflective and transmissive materials. The camera is equipped with two Schneider lenses: a 72 mm lens used for the digitization of reflective materials, with a scanning resolution ranging from 300 to 600 ppi, and a 120 mm lens used for the digitization of transparencies, with a scanning resolution from 600 to 3,000 ppi.
UNLV Digital Collections and Digitization Stats UNLV Digital Collections (http://digital.library.unlv.edu) is a department in UNLV Libraries Special Collections & Archives division (https://www.library.unlv.edu/speccol). The internationally renowned UNLV Libraries Special Collections & Archives houses over 11,000 linear feet of unique archival collections, over 32,000 rare books and periodicals, and over 1,800 maps. It is located in the main campus library — Lied Library (https://www.library.unlv.edu/about/quick-factsabout-unlv-libraries). The Digital Collections department has 5 full-time permanent staff (faculty and professional), 6 part-time student assistants, 1 full-time visiting faculty and 3 full-time temporary professional staff. Each digitization project is unique and requires different team configurations. Sometimes, there is a project manager and 1 to 3 student assistants; other projects are entirely run by students and managed by a student supervisor; still others are digitized by faculty or professional staff as proof-of-concept and workflow improvement projects. Digital Collections is a very collaborative department and staff not directly involved in digitization still contribute with their expertise — the metadata librarian and the visual materials curator are always available to share their knowledge, consult on project workflows and provide help if needed. UNLV Digital Collections is frequently awarded various digitization grants and external funding. The grant-funded digitization projects are usually comprised of professional level project managers and specially hired project technician or student assistants. It is hard to quantify the digitization turnover per year — it depends on the number of active digitization projects and available funding, as well as the digitization speed, which directly relates to the condition of the materials and the level of processing of the archival collections.
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Figure 1: Phase One Capture Station, Set Up for Loose Manuscript Digitization at 300 Dpi The capture station is powered by the mighty Phase One Capture One Cultural Heritage edition software (https://dtculturalheritage.com/ capture-one-ch). With unique features like auto crop, auto rotation, and LAB color readouts, the software allows for instant capture of materials placed under the camera, quick global editing, and final output, producing digital surrogates of finest quality. Images are saved on an external SSD drive and seamlessly backed up on a separate large hard drive. continued on page 62
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Biz of Digital from page 61
Figure 3: Phase One Set Up for Film Capturing Figure 2: Phase One Camera Set Up with 72Mm Schneider Lens Furthermore, UNLV Digital Collections has two separate editing stations allowing for continuous capturing, even while other staff are preparing and outputting their final archival tiffs.
Types of Archival Materials and Major Peculiarities in Their Digitization
The Phase One Cultural Heritage capture station has vast possibilities for digitizing a variety of materials. The ease of use and the speed of capturing have turned it into the preferred digitization technology in our department. The Phase One is so universal and suitable for multiple formats that we have made it our top choice for most projects, and we keep an availability calendar, because it is in such high demand! UNLV Special Collections and Archives has unique archival collections that are a blend of multiple formats and sizes. The Phase One allows us to rapidly digitize most collections regardless of the format and the size of the materials. Rarely, for oversized items that go beyond the table surface and cannot be captured at 300 ppi, we use a special large-format scanner. Some archival material types and their peculiarities are outlined below. During capturing flat reflective materials, bound reflective materials and transmissive materials patterns emerge and twist the general digitization workflow.
â&#x20AC;˘ Reflective materials
Reflective materials fall in two main categories: flat and bound. Flat materials are photographs and loose manuscripts such as correspondences, scripts, drafts, sketches. They vary in color, from black and white to full color prints. They also range in size from thumbnails to large posters.
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Figure 4: Magnetic Holders for Digitalization of Transparencies Bound materials are typed or handwritten books, manuscripts, photo albums, and scrapbooks with various content (anything from photos to newspaper clippings and 3D objects). Usually the smoothest digitization process is capturing flat reflective materials. When all materials are properly arranged and named, capturing happens rapidly. Unexpected issues are generally easy to troubleshoot. Some challenges include flattening out folded or curled manuscripts, taking photographs out of protective sleeves, capturing faded ink, or handling items with torn edges, etc. continued on page 63
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• Large-scale vs small-scale approach
Biz of Digital from page 62 Bound manuscripts (books and scrapbooks) vary in size and thickness. They follow the general reflective materials digitization workflow, and yet they need special attention due to the thickness: the camera focus needs frequent adjustment for optimal quality of the image. Half-torn pages or papers sticking together are common problems that require careful handling due to their fragile nature. Another frequent peculiarity of bound handwritten manuscripts is bleed-through of text below from thin paper materials. Although it is an easy fix, it slows down the capturing process as the operator needs to separate the pages with white paper to enhance the text readability. Occasional missing pages from bound volumes can significantly clog the pipeline depending on their number. To enhance the user experience and improve the metadata, the operator keeps a log of all missing pages and adds this information in the description fields of the parent object. Faded ink of manuscript pages can be fixed by contrast adjustment during the image processing step. Although it is a quick adjustment, multi-page materials bring a challenge if some pages are faded and the rest are normal. This calls for manual contrast correction of selected pages and slows down the process.
• Transparencies
Transparencies can be film positives or film negatives. Their main peculiarity is being transmissive. Types of transparencies include: Film (loose) are loose positives or negatives of various sizes (medium or large format, or 35 mm) that originate from film strips. They can be black and white or full color. Filmstrips feature several film frames at a time. They have the same features as loose film and can be digitized as strips or each frame individually. Mounted slides are loose film shots mounted in special frames so they can be projected. Digitizing transparencies has one major peculiarity: distinguishing the glossy side from the emulsion side before digitizing. Occasionally this is very difficult and the operator needs to examine the image closely. It’s helpful if the shot has text — it determines what side goes up for digitization. Frequently, loose film stored in plastic sleeves brings the challenge of removing it without breaking it or leaving fingerprints on the surface. Some experts recommend handling film with gloves; however, our experience proves this poses more danger due to clumsiness and decreased finger sensitivity. The best solution for handling film is bare clean fingers touching the corners only and gently placing the shot in the digitization holder. An air puff effectively removes any dust.
The Workflow • Preparation
Preparation is a process that includes careful review of the materials in the entire collection — from examining the finding aid (if available) to inventorying the physical materials’ formats, sizes and condition. The appropriate grouping of physical materials aims to enhance the digitization efficiency as it sets the groundworks for a more streamlined process. While preparing the physical items for efficient and rapid capturing, we should bear in mind that all archival materials should be organized in their original order, so proper notations are recommended. Usually the preparation of large collections (containing mixed materials in multiple boxes) happens on a collection level. This method features digitization of items similar in format and size that need the same scanning settings, while skipping and notating all items that get other settings on the capture station. The notation process is on a digital and physical level: notating and color-coding the digitization documentation with item-level information and recommended scanning settings and sticky notes attached to the outside of archival boxes and folders.
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Selecting the most appropriate digitization approach for each collection is a critical decision point that greatly affects digitization efficiency. Large-scale digitization differs greatly from the small-scale approach and follows a separate workflow. Usually, the large-scale approach mirrors the archival collection: archival materials are scanned on a folder level resulting in multiple complex digital objects. The finding aid metadata is reused and the digital objects get parent level descriptions. This approach is less labor-intensive and allows capturing and describing materials at a fast pace leading to a streamlined production line. The small-scale approach features individual attention to objects; each archival item is digitized separately and receives a rich description. This approach is more suitable for smaller collections, collections with greater research value, or curated digital exhibits. Streamlining digitization and selecting the appropriate approach requires considering different factors, such as user needs, expected user interaction with the online collection, project specifics (timeline, scope, funding), and collection research value. Pausing for collection analysis and decision-making on the digitization approach is critical for the success and efficiency of each project. Both approaches differ significantly, so switching from one to another is never seamless as they follow different workflows. Proper analysis, selection, and planning around the appropriate digitization approach saves time and streamlines the project as it follows established workflows.
• Digitization — The process On the surface, digitization looks straightforward (ready, set, go!), and yet it is an intricate system of workflow segments and procedures that involve many factors for consideration. Various archival materials require different digitization settings and workflows. For the sake of efficiency, knowing all workflow peculiarities and preparing for random unexpected issues is key, so it is a good idea to test workflows ahead of time. Digitization of flat reflective materials requires a specific lens and particular scanning settings. Potential random issues include curling paper, fragile (tissue-thin) manuscript pages, faded ink, framed photographs, etc. Besides the specific settings and lens, digitization of bound reflective materials requires more attention as the scanning progresses: as book pages get flipped, the thickness changes. This requires frequent camera focus adjustment to keep the pristine quality of the digital surrogate. Frequent pop-up issues that require troubleshooting are deteriorating books, fragile (ultra-thin) pages, sticky or half-torn pages, faded text and missing pages. Digitization of transparencies has its own peculiarities: it needs different equipment, i.e., a film kit (lens, lightbox, table and film holders, air puff) and a specific scanning session depending on the type of transmissive material (black and white or color). The film placement plays an important role for the digital image quality: films get digitized with glossy side up. Films bring another array of unexpected issues: film stuck in plastic protective sleeves, deteriorating shots, and torn film, just to name a few. To keep the pipeline going and to achieve streamlined digitization, maintaining a troubleshooting log of potential problems and guidelines for quick resolution improves the performance. Staff involved in digitization should be able to quickly address and resolve problems, so occasional pop-ups should not clog the pipeline. — The workflow The general digitization workflow is simple and it applies to all collections regardless the technology and the type of the archival materials.
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Biz of Digital from page 63 Well-processed archival collections (arranged by Technical Services and described by a finding aid) are generally smooth for digitization. They are less prone to pop-up issues. Established workflows and upto-date documentation guarantee a streamlined and efficient process easy enough to be followed by newly trained staff, student workers, and experienced professionals. — Image processing Image processing follows the process of capturing raw images. It enhances the digital object quality, which makes it an important workflow segment. Some actions include cropping, straightening, file name corrections, and contrast/brightness corrections. To achieve efficiency on the Phase One, digitization staff rapidly capture dozens of images per minute and leave the image correction for a separate workflow step because it significantly affects the capturing speed. For streamlined image processing, Capture One software allows automated actions that batch-process hundreds of images at a time. We have included this automated image processing in our reflective materials traditional workflow as it boosts productivity and is convenient for time-sensitive large-scale digitization projects. The workflow of image processing color transparencies is less automated. Color corrections and enhancements are performed frame by frame. Our practice has proven to deliver color closer to real life, so this method is preferred for color film rather than the traditional automated batch processing after capturing. All remaining image processing steps are the same as for reflective materials. — OCR processing Textual materials (books, scrapbooks, postcards, photo inscriptions, etc.) undergo an additional step before batching. Optical character recognition (OCR) is an electronic conversion of digital images with typed or handwritten text into machine-encoded text. OCR’ed digital objects have a special metadata field “transcript” that contains the machine-encoded text. The “transcript” field enables users to perform full text searches within the documents and adds value to the digital resources by making them easily discoverable. At UNLV Digital Collections, we employ one traditional OCR method: utilizing Abby Fine Reader software (as a separate process after export). Large-scale digitization projects aim for speed, so our practice is to run OCR on all digital objects, regardless of their type (textual or visual). Although this automated process may take longer processing time, it is still more efficient than selecting textual files only. Additionally, OCR accuracy correction requires human labor and is manually performed. It is not suitable for large-scale workflow, although the manually corrected OCR is expected for signature projects. All large-scale efforts are streamlined through the automated OCR pipeline.
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• Documentation
At UNLV Digital Collections, we love documentation for a reason — it keeps us organized, progress is trackable and measurable, workflow trends and patterns emerge, and it promotes continuity. We cannot stress enough how important it is to keep documentation current. This effort pays off with increased productivity and boosted efficiency. Documentation varies by type and purpose; some projects may have more and/or modified templates due to their specifics. The ultimate goal is to promote an uninterrupted digitization process with an optimal timeline. Some documentation we keep and find helpful include: • Collection level master-file (tracks progress of all workflow segments and material formats/types) • Cross-collection spreadsheet (tracks progress, types and priorities of all collections for digitization) • Troubleshooting log and guide • Digitization procedures and manuals • Digitization schedule • Training manual for new hires • Technology procedures and manuals • Cheat sheet for frequently occurring topics
The Role of the Digital Librarian in Streamlining the Process Digital librarians play a significant role in streamlining the digitization process including testing new iterations of workflow, documenting best practices, and tweaking existing workflows to achieve more efficiency for mixed materials collections. Unfortunately, there is no universal approach, no matter how hard we attempt to standardize the process. A huge part of the digital librarian’s job is the intellectual labor of making decisions to streamline each module of the digitization process; this requires familiarity with best practices and documentation as well as modifying workflows by combining solutions from other projects. Digital librarians need to also recognize the various archival materials types and be prepared to find unique combinations of them in each collection. This knowledge empowers them to analyze and select the best approach for digitization that brings efficiency and high quality. Lastly, the digital librarian should look at the collection from the user perspective to make it valuable for patrons. It is important to assess user needs and consider how users expect to see the archival items represented as digital objects.
Conclusion Streamlining the digitization process takes practice and iteration. Good knowledge of established digitization techniques, scanning technologies and troubleshooting strategies is critical. Additionally, continued on page 66
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Squirreling Away: Managing Information Resources & Libraries — Not If, But When: Inevitability and Change Management Column Editor: Corey Seeman (Director, Kresge Library Services, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; Phone: 734-764-9969) <cseeman@umich.edu> Twitter @cseeman
I
have long thought about change management in libraries, especially after I navigated my own operation from a traditional library a few years ago to one that is virtually virtual (I think I like that phrase). We have 20 books — reference books that we need. We used to have 150,000 volumes. You proably do not want to hear me talk about it again. But what I do feel that I want to talk about is how we got there. If there is one primary job that an academic library director has, it is managing and navigating change as our libraries evolve. I have broken down change management into six key terms that I will be exploring: inevitability, rapidity, flexibility, hospitality, accountability, and empathy — especially in the context of institutional culture and identity. Through these six terms, we can explore how to best manage your operation in even less than optimal conditions. For this column, I am going to write about inevitability of change and what it all means. But first, two diversions.
Our Most Famous Sciuridae Last weekend, we celebrated one of our most time honored traditions involving a member of the squirrel family and the weather. That’s right, you guessed it. Groundhog’s Day. A very strange annual occurrence when the attention of everyone in the States seems to look towards Western Pennsylvania for a prediction on the rest of the winter. Are we in store for an early Spring, or will Winter linger on and on and on? This seems to be a popular tradition celebrated by the two countries of North America who feel that a wall between them would just be stupid: United States and Canada. The tradition comes from the Pennsylvania Dutch community who surmise that if a groundhog “...sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den and winter will persist for six more weeks, and if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early.”1 To be honest, I am not sure if the groundhog in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (the most famous of all the groundhogs) saw his shadow or not. For that matter, I am not even sure that Punxsutawney Phil is a male or female groundhog, but I am sure of a few things related to this event. First, groundhogs are part of the squirrel family (or Sciuridae if we are being technical). So in that regard, I am going to give its abilities to
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forecast the weather a bit more credence given my admiration of all members of the Sciuridae family. Second, on the other hand, the work that the groundhog does can be done by just about any other animal — or a stick. I think squirrels would do a fine job, as evidenced by the picture with this column. All you have to do is cast a shadow. Actually, you can just look up and see if the sun is out. Done. And third, we are not using Groundhog Day as a way to see IF change is coming, but WHEN. This is the part that actually ties to the theme of this column, dealing with change. Or more directly, managing change when it arrives. The groundhog is not telling you the direction or the likelihood of change, but really just talking about the speed with which it is coming. I do not believe that indicating that Spring is not coming is part of the superstition. The only question might be how long do I need to keep my sweaters out.
A Visit to Bay City In thinking about change, I am also drawn to two memories that I have from my visit to Bay City, Michigan. Back in 2015, I attended the Michigan Library Association’s Academic Libraries Conference in Bay City, Michigan. Bay City is considered part of Michigan’s Tri-cities area with Saginaw and Midland and is located around two hours northwest of Detroit near the Thumb. (Have someone from Michigan explain that to you someday). I had never been to Bay City before and relished the opportunity to visit. I had some time to walk around and what struck me was how many older buildings are still standing there. Center Avenue is adorned with beautiful older buildings that take you back to when the city had a booming economy back in the 19th Century. Walking in downtown near the river gave the impression of a city that looks more similar the way it did 100 years ago than many other cities. For a history geek, this seemed like a perfect place to talk and take pictures. I even had a opportunity while I was there to see someone sculling on the
Saginaw River. The lone rower on that still morning — May 28th, 2015 — provided the perfect setting for a great picture. You could see the amazing reflection of the boat, oars and the sculler in the perfectly still water. That picture remains one of my favorites and it does a good job in illustrating change management as we would like to see. The sculler is moving over open water with the only ripples coming from her own actions. The still water does nothing but reflect her effort and there are no obstacles in her way. There seemed to be very few external factors at play in that photo. While the conference was excellent, two things stick with me. First, the city itself seems to be stuck in the 19th Century. While that can be quaint and wonderful to look at, it also struct me that it was not right. There are few other vibrant cities in Michigan that look like they did 100 years ago. It was almost as if progress and change was avoided by all costs. I started thinking about how many cities have lost many of their older buildings to newer ones. A reason for this might be the desire to have newer or larger buildings in the downtown area. This could be driven by many things, but typically it seems that it is driven by the result of a community growing. And that might be the case in Bay City, where the population has been steadily falling since the 1960s. You can see that with empty storefronts and buildings that are not utilized to their fullest. While you might be love the fact that it looks like you are walking back in history, it could reflect stagnation and an economy that is not poised for growth. So in this regard, while we have not been asked to change might be seen as a plus, the reality is that with a shrinking population and vacant real estate, your proposects might not be all that great. Second, we like to think of change like a sculler operating on the waters on a beautiful still morning. This is not realistic. We do not function in a vacuum and are often responding to the other stimuli and factors. Especially in libraries, we are forced to manage through change that is being thrust upon us. There might be a variety of factors here, but we are rarely in control of our own destiny. There are practically no academic libraries I know of where the administration has not moved into their space a new office or group. We do not continued on page 66
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Squirreling Away from page 65 always create the need for change in libraries, but we are burdened with the need to own the results that we are forced to produce. As I have been told repeatedly, we only own our reactions, not our situations.
Changes in Libraries When we think about change in libraries, we think of it as a 21st Century problem. We ponder about the current parameters and how every year, libraries are being asked to do more with less space and less resources. But this is most certainly not a recent occurrence, but something that has been fairly steady for libraries over the past 50 years. If we think about change in libraries, it spans all the way to the 1960s and the early days of OCLC. Think about how the profession responded to changes such as copy cataloging; local online catalogs & shared systems; expanded access (TOC, more subject headings); shared catalogs (MeLCat, etc.); discovery layers; digital repositories; coffee and food in the library just to name a few. Think about how many people in your library are checking in print serials vs. where they were years ago. There has been a very steady change in libraries, but in many regards, we have been controlling the pace of the change (I will talk about this more next issue). That is a great luxury when it comes to managing change. When you can slow down the amount of change that you need to digest at one time, it can generally go smoothly. But regardless of where the change is coming from, it is coming and it is likely closer than it might appear. The inevitability of change is something that all librarians and library administrators can see. What we cannot figure out is the timing or the scope. If a library administrator sees his or her shadow on February 2nd, does the library have six more years of a print collection? Or twelve years? Or two years? No one really knows. But change is coming to libraries everywhere. I am not suggesting that your library will go virtually virtual within the next few years, but there will come a time when your administrators will question why we are using space to manage a print collection that is used
sparingly. And when that happens, you might see a bold change or an incremental one. We have all seen incremental changes — moving collections for an office to relocate to the library space. We have all had to make adjustments for administrators who have big plans that do not involve a browseable collection of print titles. This is the change that is coming — but for most of us, it will be 15-20 years in the future. So we can be sure it is happening, but are just not sure if it will take place during our tenure as a librarian.
Difficult Modulations of Life
Recently, I saw the great documentary about Fred Rogers by Morgan Neville, Won’t You Be My Neighbor (2018). Like many people my age, Mr. Rogers was a very important part of my childhood. The opening of the movie featured a conversation with Fred Rogers that was captured by Barry Paris of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: In the intimate opening of this riveting documentary, Fred Rogers (circa 1967) is ruminating about musical modulation: Moving from the key of C to F is easy, but going from F to F sharp is more complicated, he says. That strikes a chord, in his mind as well as his piano: “We’d like to help children through some of the difficult modulations of life.”2 This phrase struck me so profoundly — “the difficult modulations of life.” Fred Rogers treated children respectfully and never shied away from controversy and horrible things that children might have questions about. While a pie in the face on another children’s program might generate a chuckle, it does not help any child understand growing up and the changes that are happening within and around them. The “difficult modulations of life” do not stop when you graduate school, but they continue throughout your days in every aspect you care about. In so many ways, dealing with the difficult modulations of life is something that is at the core of change management, especially in the context of libraries. And while I am no means saying that librarians need to be treated like children, instead I am drawn to this phrase because it addresses the inevitability and difficulty of change. We are all challenged by change in our life. Many small changes
Biz of Digital from page 64 familiarity with archival materials types promotes better planning and collection assessment to customize general workflows as needed. Iteration plays a key role in constantly improving digitization workflows and achieving products of the highest quality. It also reduces the time for completion and optimizes the team size to conclude the project. It includes testing new methods, trying new strategies on various types of materials, learning from past mistakes, and documenting best practices. No process will ever be perfectly streamlined as we all know there is no “one size fits all.” As digital librarians, we strive for efficiency and boosted productivity, yet there are so many variables that bring
66 Against the Grain / February 2019
represent a ripple of a wave that is soon past. But some changes are very disruptive and can cause real problems for people. What if you lose a family member, have a relationship go sour, or lose a job? What if your job in a library becomes something that is no longer needed, like checking in serials or processing print volumes? In exploring change management, the role of the director is to help the staff through these difficult modulations so they can serve the library and the community. The inevitability of change in organizations, especially libraries, should be the central thought of the director or dean. You cannot be surprised by the timeline, nor can you ignore the needs of your community or take care of your staff. But whether you saw your shadow or not, change is coming and you need to be ready. In thinking through these six terms, I hope to be able to showcase the aspects associated with change and how to create an environment that deals with change when it comes to the library or the organization. It is coming, that is for sure. If if is not coming, you might have bigger problems at your institution.
Corey Seeman is the Director, Kresge Library Services at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is also the new editor for this column that intends to provide an eclectic exploration of business and management topics relative to the intersection of publishing, librarianship and the information industry. No business degree required! He may be reached at <cseeman@umich.edu> or via twitter at @ cseeman. Endnotes 1. For more than you ever wanted to know about Groundhog Day, visit the Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Groundhog_Day. 2. “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” offers an intimate portrait of Mister Rogers, the legendary advocate for kids and kindness, https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/movies/2018/06/05/Won-t-You-Be-My-Neighbor-movie-review-Fred-Rogers-Mister-Rogers-Neighborhood/stories/201806050193, visited February 10, 2019.
challenges and clog the pipeline. Collection materials differ in size and format, technologies bring challenges, and some archival materials have more issues and require more attention than others. The team factor plays an important role as well — staff training, staff turnover, and equipment scheduling to maximize efficiency. Although for some projects we have achieved a high rate of productivity and speed, we need to remain flexible and remember that the same approach may not perform so well on another project even after careful tailoring. We aim to be efficient and productive but we should always remain open to the unexpected and embrace every challenge as a learning opportunity; it will enhance our future performance and will equip us with more troubleshooting tools and problem-resolution techniques. continued on page 69
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Let’s Get Technical — Cataloging an Artists’ Book Collection by Cindi Sandridge (Metadata and Adaptive Cataloger in Metadata Strategies, James Madison University Libraries) <sandricp@jmu.edu> and Julia Merkel (Preservation Officer, Special Collections, James Madison University Libraries) <merkeljm@jmu.edu> Column Editors: Stacey Marien (Acquisitions Librarian, American University Library) <smarien@american.edu> and Alayne Mundt (Resource Description Librarian, American University Library) <mundt@american.edu> Introduction
James Madison University Libraries’ Special Collections acquired a large and important collection of artists’ books in the Fall of 2015. The influx of unprocessed and unique items created an immediate backlog with multiple challenges: gaining intellectual control with a customized inventory while still making the items available to researchers, prepping the books for cataloging with student assistants unfamiliar with metadata standards, fabricating custom housings for books with non-traditional shapes and sizes, and creating searchable catalog records.
Background
James Madison University Libraries’ Special Collections began acquiring artists’ books in 2008 with a modest purchase of fifteen titles from the Women’s Studio Workshop featured in an exhibit in the campus Art Gallery. The collection grew incrementally after inception with purchase funds contributed from liaison librarian budgets and transfers from stacks. In the Fall of 2015, Carol Barton’s personal collection of artists’ books was acquired which increased our holdings from roughly 100 titles to over 400. The timing was fortuitous because Spring 2015 marked the official launch of the cross-disciplinary Book Arts Minor AND the opening of the Book Arts Lab in the School of Art, Design & Art History’s Studio Center. Artists’ books are contemporary phenomena that are often playful in both their context and format. They are incredible teaching tools for tackling complex social issues such as race, environmental studies, and feminism in innovative ways. Humor and double entendre are used effectively to jar us from complacency and the status quo. Artists’ books can be many things: one of a kind objects, small hand letterpress editions, larger commercially-printed works, and sculptural objects that push the boundaries of what a book is. The acquisition of Barton’s collection was particularly meaningful to JMU. Barton was the university’s first visiting Wampler Professor of Fine Art in 1992 and has been a guest artist and lecturer on multiple occasions since then. She is a book artist and educator who has taught at prestigious art schools such as the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the Corcoran in Washington, DC. She exhibits her work internationally and is included in major collections, such as the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art and
Against the Grain / February 2019
the Victoria & Albert Museum. She also has curated exhibitions such as Science and the Artists’ Book for the Smithsonian Institution.
The Process
After two separate trips to Barton’s Maryland farmhouse, gaining intellectual control over the collection was paramount. The many boxes of books were unpacked, cleaned, sorted alphabetically by artist/author, and placed in a folder with a control number assigned to each item. A year later, the books were prepped for cataloging with a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet identified: • Control number (i.e., CB-AB-0001) • Title • Artist/author • Dimensions • Publisher • Description • Format • Subject areas Specifically, format was described according to Allison Jai’s Artists’ Book Thesaurus created for the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA). To be most efficient, a tag team approach was used with one person handling the book and another typing directly into the spreadsheet. In addition to the Thesaurus, an illustrated glossary of 183 terms was developed in-house to assist with local descriptions. Collaboration between staff from Metadata Strategies, Special Collections, and Preservation began with a series of emails and meetings regarding bibliographic record fields with sample records created for review. The workflow began to take shape: a box of artists’ books was brought to Sandridge’s office; those that had copy records were cataloged first, and the box was then secured in Preservation at the end of each day. A list of the cataloged records was sent to Merkel (curator of artists’ books) and the Special Collections Librarian, Kate Morris, for review, and modifications to the records were made by Sandridge based on their feedback. Artists’ books that required original record creation were tackled after the known entities. Some cataloging was enhanced by outside sources; for example, Richard McClintock’s
In & Out: A Marble Book required further study. Additional information turned up in a traveling exhibition catalog, Books & Bookends: Sculptural Approaches, 1989-1991, by Barton and Henry Barrow. The patent McClintock took as inspiration was Raymond Crawford’s “Marble raceway design no. 256,811,” and this information was included as a note in the record. Another exciting find in the collection was Yum cone: One Offset Book by Marisha Simons. The packaging for this little gem led us to believe that it was designed for consumption via vending machine, possibly “Art-o-mat” (artomat.org) sponsored by Artists in Cellophane (AIC).
In & Out: A Marble Book by Richard McClintock Lessons Learned
Originally, we thought that the automatic entry of records versus singular record creation would be possible based on the level of detail in the spreadsheet. However, there were too many variables within the metadata entries. For example: subjects were not always consistent with Library of Congress standards (student created vs. cataloger supplied using OCLC database); LC call numbers were used rather than inventory control numbers; 264 fields contained multiple entries for publisher, printing, etc., and occasionally metadata was found that was not listed on the spreadsheet (such as a copy number or signature tucked in an obscure spot). Bibliographic fields were created with input from both Special Collections and Prescontinued on page 69
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ATG PROFILES ENCOURAGED
Anne C. Osterman Director VIVA George Mason University 4400 University Drive, MSN 2FL Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone: (703) 993-4652 <aelguind@gmu.edu>
Born and lived: I was born in Texas but soon moved to Pennsylvania. At age 9, my family moved to the mountains of North Carolina, and I stayed there through high school. Then it was college in Florida and North Carolina, a few jumps around North Carolina, and Virginia since 2005. Early life: Surrounded by a family of readers and given the great gift of lessons in piano and clarinet. Professional career and activities: I have worked as a librarian in a variety of academic libraries (small two year, mid-size private, large public doctoral) and in a variety of roles (public services, research data/ GIS, acquisitions, technical/access services administration).
Family: Husband (also a librarian!) and one lovable, trickster, 3-year-old daughter. In my spare time: Reading, yoga, crosswords, movies.
Favorite books: I mostly read literary fiction with some biographies sprinkled in, but for fun I’ll give favorite books that I am reading to my daughter now: Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert (thanks to John Tombarge at W&L for recommending this gem), Good Night Owl by Greg Pizzoli, and It’s Only Stanley by Jon Agee. Philosophy: Be kind!
How/where do I see the industry in five years: Further along on the trend lines we see today, with more Open Access and Open Educational Resources, but likely with the same challenges of sustainability and fragmented infrastructure. It is an evolution, not a switch that can be flipped, but with collaboration and trust we can make positive changes that build over time.
LIBRARY PROFILES ENCOURAGED VIVA (The Virtual Library of Virginia)
Types of materials you buy: Databases, eBooks, eJournals, and streaming media.
George Mason University 4400 University Drive, MSN 2FL, Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone: (703) 993-4652 Fax: (703) 993-4662 https://vivalib.org/
What technologies does your Consortium use to serve mobile users? This is not a central service for VIVA.
Background/history: VIVA, Virginia’s academic library consortium, was established in 1994 to create a stronger resource sharing infrastructure in Virginia. Soon after its formation, VIVA began to license and acquire electronic resources and build a shared collection throughout the state. Key Products and Services: VIVA acquires electronic resources and maintains a foundational collection that is shared by all 39 of our public institutions. We also have a strong resource sharing program and a new open and affordable course content program. VIVA provides project management support for statewide initiatives across Virginia that are focused on the electronic collection development needs of the state and educational and training opportunities for member libraries. Core Markets/Clientele: The 72 nonprofit academic libraries of Virginia, public and private. Number of staff and responsibilities: For many years, we have had a Director, Associate/Deputy Director, Budget/Operations Manager, and part time person who does usage statistics and technical support at our central office at George Mason University, as well as a Procurement Officer and Contract Administrator at James Madison University’s Procurement Office. In 2018, we added a part time person to focus on the development of usage statistics visualizations, and in 2019 we are adding a new Open and Sustainable Learning Coordinator and an Assessment and E-Resources Program Analyst. Overall Consortium budget: $19 million, including member cost shares.
68 Against the Grain / February 2019
Does your Consortium have an ILS or are you part of a collaborative ILS? We do not maintain a shared ILS.
Do you have a discovery system? We maintain a central instance of WorldCat Discovery and have access to a central instance of EBSCO Discovery Service, but those are primarily for internal use.
Does your Consortium have a collection development or similar department? We have a Collections Committee made up of representatives from our institutions that recommends new products, renewals, and cancellations to our Steering Committee. If so, what is your budget and what types of materials are you purchasing? Print or electronic or both? We only purchase electronic resources, and it is the majority of our operating budget. What proportion of your materials are leased and not owned? We support a number of acquisition models, including subscription, evidence-based, and perpetual access. What do you think your Consortium will be like in five years? Affordability in higher education is important to our state and member institutions, so I anticipate significant growth in support of the adoption, adaptation, and creation of Open Educational Resources. Collaborative collection development and resource sharing will continue to be important to our members, and they may even lean on the consortial resources more as local resources diminish. Sustainability in licensing and acquisition models for libraries, both fiscally and philosophically, will continue to evolve, as will shared initiatives across the state, from rethinking resource sharing and discovery services, to the opportunities of linked data and surfacing specialized, local collections. continued on page 69
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ATG Profiles Encouraged from page 68
Back Talk from page 70
What excites or frightens you about the next five years? I see the need for recalibration that causes Big Deal breaks, but it feels like a giant step backwards, as users lose tremendous amounts of access for what are usually small financial gains. I hope we can develop the truly sustainable and flexible solutions that maintain broad access to content for our users, and that will take creative thinking and bold, collaborative actions. Is there anything else you think our readers should know? I am grateful every day to work with such engaged and thoughtful people at every level of our member libraries. Virginia has phenomenal libraries – come visit us!
Let’s Get Technical from page 67 ervation. A series (490) field “Carol Barton Collection” was inserted. The local description (500) field would be taken directly from the spreadsheet when applicable. For Duz: Magazine #2, the local description reads: “Shoe box printed inside and outside in black ink; inside a gold shoe wrapped in tissue paper (original tissue paper replaced); Color printed map of Brazil with a narrative text printed on the back; Small wire-bound book with illustrations on how to dance the cha-cha printed over with narrative text by the artist, white clay-coated pages printed in black, red, blue, and grey ink; Halftone and offset printing; Narrative text is about a mother writing a letter to Lawrence Welk asking him if her daughter could play piano on his show and the daughter not wanting to; DUZ Magazine information printed on the bottom of the shoe box: — from local description.” The Local Note (590) field was inserted as: “Forms part of the Carol Barton Collection (CB-AB-0001).” The Subject Heading (650): “Artists’ books” was always used with additional topical headings. The Genre/Form Subject Heading (655) contained “Artists’ books (delimiter 2) rbgenr.” In addition, the Allison Jai thesaurus was consulted, and more specific form/genre headings were included when applicable. Agreement on use of the thesaurus was made prior to cataloging
the records so student assistants could easily list the entries in the master spreadsheet, but this still required double-checking for usage (singular versus plural, being one example). Other collaborative decisions were made after cataloging started. Two examples were 1) the identification of miniature books and 2) modifications of metadata in the records based on curatorial expertise. Miniature books are 3” x 3” or less and were separated from “regular” sized works into smaller housings to save space and to keep them from shifting in larger folders. For these, an “S” was added to the control number ex. “CB-AB-S-0108.” A modification to the description based on curatorial expertise included the change from “coldpressed” to “cold-press” paper for the book Small Oddities. (Cold and hot-press refers to the finish on a paper. Cold has more texture or “tooth” and hot has a smooth finish.) On another work, Short + Story, the students doing the initial inventory labeled the process as “intaglio” when closer inspection under magnification could only determine that the work was a line drawing — perhaps a reproduction of an intaglio print but not an actual print.
The Results
Today, the Artists’ Books Collection is the most heavily requested resource in Special
Biz of Digital from page 66 Acknowledgements
Special thanks to my wonderful colleagues for taking time to peer review and proofread an earlier version of the manuscript. Aaron Mayes, Visual Materials Curator, University of Nevada – Las Vegas
Against the Grain / February 2019
guard who’s also encouraged to be helpful probably has a better and more interesting job than the one who stands around glowering. So, what have I learned from my retail adventures? Well, for one thing, libraries do many things right. But the experience emphasized for me that we should be thinking of our libraries as, first of all, places where people are encouraged to come for their needs, not just to serve our idea of what we’re there for. Second, we should work hard on those discovery systems and the metadata that users require. Third, if a Target security guard can be that helpful, we should be supporting every last library employee to be potentially the answer to a patron’s question about where to find a book about Whatchamacallits — and with a smile. OK, this day I need to go to Liuzzi’s, Connecticut’s best little Italian grocery. Hmm, I wonder if a library should be putting out those great samples of sliced breads and imported cheeses for everybody who comes in. That could do wonders for our gate counts...
Collections. Class visits happen multiple times a semester from Photography, Graphic Design, Art Education, and Book Arts classes seeking to jumpstart ideas for projects based on structures and printing processes, etc. We have hosted classes as varied as high school students at the Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School in Fishersville, Virginia to K-12 Art Educators attending JMU’s Content Teaching Academy for “Art & Media Literacy on Growing Inclusivity” to a geometry professor teaching “Research Experience for Undergraduates” through the Institute for Visual Studies here on campus. JMU Libraries continues to collect artists’ books in support of the curriculum, and the Carol Barton Collection is still being processed with over 700 pop-up or “movable” books in the queue for cataloging, and several boxes and portfolios of Carol Barton’s papers awaiting manuscript processing. The occasional artists’ book continues to turn up in her papers, but we expect a final tally in 2019.
Resources
http://allisonjai.com/abt/vocab/index.php https://omeka.lib.jmu.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/show/carol-barton https://omeka.lib.jmu.edu/specialcollections/collections/show/4
Carrie Gaxiola, Nevada Digital Newspaper Project Coordinator, University of Nevada – Las Vegas Cory Lampert, Professor and Head, Digital Collections, University of Nevada – Las Vegas Emily Lapworth, Digital Special Collections and Archives Librarian, University of Nevada – Las Vegas Kelsey Lupo, Library Technician II, Digitization Lab Manager & Student Supervisor, University of Nevada – Las Vegas
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Back Talk — Lessons Learned at the Cupcake Store Column Editor: Ann Okerson (Advisor on Electronic Resources Strategy, Center for Research Libraries) <aokerson@gmail.com>
D
uring this past Charleston Conference, I made my annual sacred pilgrimage to Cupcake DownSouth on King Street, a little way north of the Francis Marion Hotel. While I was making my choices and photographing my beanies, I heard another conference-goer remark, “Well, this isn’t a library, is it?” As I walked back to the conference, cupcakes and beanies securely tucked away, I began to wonder what they could have meant. Were they sure? There’s that famous Harvard Business Review article from 50-some years ago, “Marketing Myopia” by Ted Levitt, who wrote that if the passenger railroads of the 1950s had known they were in the transportation business, they might have stayed in business longer. Are we sure we know what business we’re in? Take the cupcake store, for example. They have a small, carefully curated collection, expert advisors, patron-friendly seating for examining the collection, and even a user-friendly catalog of the necessary metadata on the wall to tell you which flavors will be available on which days of the week. There’s enough similarity that perhaps we could learn a few things. Their metadata, for example, are clear, comprehensive, and easy to use in the discovery process and the interface (sign on the wall) is very easy to use. Since then I’ve been ambling about in my usual way, thinking about what business libraries are in by looking at other businesses for guidance. Coffee isn’t my passion, but I did stick my head into a Starbucks for an inspection, and what struck me there was that their “reading room” was much more like a library than the one at the cupcake shop. To spend time in a cupcake shop, you
pretty much have to be eating cupcakes. At Starbucks (or the Panera near my home), you can be starting a business, planning a wedding, seeking the meaning of life, or catching a cup of coffee or a bite to eat. They certainly want to “push product” as we say nowadays, but they’ve learned that letting the prospective users define their needs for the space is better than requiring a tight connection between finishing your coffee and rushing out. Then I thought about my cell phone. I’m a sad person these days, because my wonderful palm-sized Blackberry is getting old and tired. I’ve also got an iPhone, which I detest (as near as I can tell, nobody can type on one), and I’m experimenting with a new Blackberry about the size of the first-grade reading book we used in school a long time ago. So, I’ve had to go to the phone store — and the phone store, I think, is really missing a beat from not understanding libraries. Getting your phone right is a fundamental need today, but the phone store is all stand-up transactional, with long waits for an available representative, nothing else you can do there, and always an edge of anxiety about whether you’re going to get what you really need. The people there might or might not be knowledgeable, but they will surely be pushing hard for what their bosses want the customer to do, not for what you think you’re there for. Hmm. Then, of course, I had to think about Amazon. I had a chance to do
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that this weekend when I realized that in order to go to “the grocery store” in my neighborhood now, I actually have to go to three or four different places, and of course one of them is the Amazon store — yes, I mean “Whole Paycheck.” Mobbed, absolutely mobbed. I don’t know if Amazon buying the chain had something to do with that, but what’s clear is that even the company that defined Internet-only retailing is now working very hard to have these physical points of presence in neighborhoods where people who are willing to pay more than they do at Safeway or ShopRite can easily be found. But Amazon, of course, has its flaws. Grocery stores have lousy customer metadata and cataloging. All customers have to go by are rough “subject” categories, like “cereal” and “cheese,” sometimes found in more than one place in the store. Even in those categories one may have to rummage around a while. And what if you need something that doesn’t fit those categories so easily? Next grocery store you go into, ask yourself where you’d find a jar of taramosalata, the Greek fish-egg spread, halfway between caviar and hummus. I happen to know you can often find it at a Whole Foods store, but there’s no telling where — and in my experience, even if you find a store employee, it can lead to a long circuitous wander. Metadata, metadata, metadata, Mr. Bezos: study up on the subject — it could take your mind off your personal troubles. Last stop on the weekend’s shopping was Target — I needed a slightly specialized kind of household cleaner for stainless steel cookware: something called Barkeeper’s Friend. I have a lot of confidence in Target, even though their metadata leave a lot to be desired as well. I became a Target fan for life the time I went looking for something for the kitchen and was having trouble finding it. Just then, a man in a security guard outfit came up to me and said, “Can I help you?” Now it’s a truth universally known nowadays that when a fellow in a uniform asks if he can help you, what he may mean is, “What are you riffraff doing and I’m about an inch away from rousting you out of here!” Oh, I said defensively, I’m looking for the Whatchamacallit. At this point, the guard speaks into the mike of his radio — not a good sign — and says, “Priscilla, where do we keep the Whatchamacallits?” And “Priscilla” says something back to him into his earpiece, and next thing you know the security guard — the security guard! — is leading me right to the shelf. It struck me afterwards that a security continued on page 69
70 Against the Grain / February 2019
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eBooks 101: A Collection of 101 Books for Education
CONNECT.ACSPUBS.ORG/EBOOKS101