{"id":1212,"date":"2020-10-06T16:13:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T16:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/?p=1212"},"modified":"2020-10-06T16:17:00","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T16:17:00","slug":"attending-liber-and-redux-2020-conferences-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/2020\/10\/06\/attending-liber-and-redux-2020-conferences-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Attending LIBER and REDUX 2020 Conferences Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our continuous shift towards\u00a0<\/span>digital\u00a0<\/span>culture<\/span>, and of course during the pandemic, conferences have been <\/span>adapting\u00a0<\/span>their programmes\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0<\/span>online\u00a0<\/span>formats<\/span>. This is no mean feat<\/span>, particularly as even the best laid plans can have technical issues. But at least online you can fix yourself a cup of tea\u00a0<\/span>or stretch your legs\u00a0<\/span>while the hosts sort i<\/span>ssues\u00a0<\/span>out, rather than sitting awkwardly in the audience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I attended two big conferences online that I usually would have attended in person:\u00a0<\/span>LIBER<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(Europe\u2019s largest association of research libraries) 2020<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>2020 University Press Redux Conference<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>The former took place over one week while the latter had five webinars spread out over four months.<\/span>\u00a0Both conferences had plenty of sessions that revolved around<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>open access<\/span>\u00a0and, as\u00a0<\/span>open access is very much my area (I run the\u00a0<\/span>open access journals hosting service<\/span><\/a>)<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0I was excited to dive in<\/span>\u00a0and attend as many as I could.<\/span>\u00a0I\u2019ve popped a few of my highlights below and hope you\u00a0<\/span>find them useful<\/span>!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

LIBER<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

With an excellent keynote on marketing (by Christine Koontz) two panels, ten sessions<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>six workshops,<\/span>\u00a0and paper presentations,<\/span> LIBER 2020 was a packed <\/span>week<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Open Access Insights<\/span><\/h3>\n

Denis Bourguet (UMR CBGP, INRAE, Montpellier) made the case for preprints and <\/span>argued they are important as a tool of\u00a0<\/span>accessibility<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>as they are free for authors and readers and offer immediate access for researchers. However,\u00a0<\/span>as\u00a0<\/span>there is no peer review all types of research will be hosted, including the\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>not so good stuff<\/span>\u201d<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Denis works on the Peer Community In (PCI) project (Winner of the LIBER Award for Library Innovation!)\u00a0<\/span>which aims to add peer review into the mix. Meanwhile, in Finland, Malin Sofia Fredriksson (The Donner Institute for Research in Religion and Culture)<\/span>\u00a0reported that\u00a0<\/span>one of the major funders in Finland requires open access publishing now and that humanities have the smallest proportion of peer-reviewed journals but has the largest share of monographs and edited works. Their biggest hurdle is challenging the idea that open access means lower quality and less visibility. Leo\u00a0<\/span>Waaijers<\/span>\u00a0(QOAM, The Netherlands) introduced Quality Open Access Market (QUAM) which\u00a0<\/span>is an online instrument that helps authors share their publishing experience with colleagues by completing a four-question scorecard about the peer review, editorial board, the value and\u00a0<\/span>\u2018<\/span>recommendability<\/span>\u2019<\/span>\u00a0of the journal they were publishing in.\u00a0<\/span>The journal is then given a Quality of Service indicator, alongside\u00a0<\/span>information about publication fees.<\/span>\u00a0Sounds handy!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Libraries as Open Innovators and Leaders<\/span><\/h3>\n

The next session, and one I was really looking forward to\u00a0<\/span>given<\/span> my role. <\/span>Dr.<\/span>\u00a0Markku\u00a0<\/span>Roinila<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0Kimmo Koskinen<\/span>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0Kati\u00a0<\/span>Syv\u00e4lahti<\/span>\u00a0(Helsinki University Library, Finland) spoke about their use of the\u00a0<\/span>Open Journals System (OJS) to host academic<\/span>–<\/span>led journals, at no cost to the editors\u00a0<\/span>and with<\/span>\u00a0maintenance and technical support\u00a0<\/span>provided<\/span>\u00a0by the library<\/span>\u00a0(exactly like us at Edinburgh!)<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Helsinki University Library empowered the journal managers to become \u201cteachers\u201d, so they could teach the use of OJS and of academic workflows to students. They gathered great feedback about the\u00a0<\/span>pilot<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>realised the importance of technical support from the library<\/span>\u00a0and are now looking into launching some student-led journals.<\/span>\u00a0Next, Shane Collins and Siobh\u00e1n Dunne (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland) spoke of open scholarship (instead of open science, so that they are inclusive of\u00a0<\/span>A<\/span>HSS) and how they created a taskforce\u00a0<\/span>of staff who look at Plan S and Trinity\u2019s strategic open access targets. They ran events and podcasts with inclusiv<\/span>ity at the forefront and found high levels of collaboration between\u00a0<\/span>departments<\/span>. They also said that \u201cbringing the melting pot of p<\/span>eople together for cultur<\/span>e<\/span>\u00a0change requires this\u00a0<\/span>type<\/span>\u00a0of grass-roots approach\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0Finally,\u00a0<\/span>Dr.<\/span>\u00a0Coen Wilders and Martine Pronk (Utrecht University Library, The Netherlands) see the library as experts on making scientific information\u00a0<\/span>fair\u00a0<\/span>in a world that is increasingly more open and digital.<\/span>\u00a0They spoke of how libraries support the entire research process and said they cho<\/span>o<\/span>se to focus on metadata and repositories (instead of catalogues) as this is in line with their\u00a0<\/span>internal<\/span>\u00a0target audience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tools for Transparency and Open Access<\/span><\/h3>\n

First up, Sarah Ames (National Library of Scotland, Scotland) spoke about NLS\u2019s <\/span>Digital Scholarship Service, which encourages, enables and supports use of computational research methods with their collections, among other aspects.\u00a0<\/span>They focused on internal and external engagement and worked hard t<\/span>o communicate transparency, including utilising social media, which was highly engaged with.<\/span>\u00a0Next, Maurits van der Graaf (<\/span>Pleiade<\/span>\u00a0Management & Consultancy, The Netherlands) looked a<\/span>t a<\/span>\u00a0library toolkit for open access\u00a0<\/span>and<\/span>\u00a0pointed out that institutional repositories are a vital form of green open access. There are currently 5,<\/span>3<\/span>67 repositories and 82% of publishers allow self-archiving.\u00a0<\/span>Maurits concluded by stating the importance of green and gold routes in the move to open access and\u00a0<\/span>highlighted\u00a0<\/span>the need for<\/span>\u00a0more Read and Publish deals as well as more library support for APC-free publishing. Finally, Nicole Kr\u00fcger<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>Dr.<\/span>\u00a0Tamara Pianos<\/span>\u00a0(<\/span>ZBW \u2013 Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, Germany<\/span>) spoke of the importance of considering open educational resources (OER) before designing learning materials. They\u00a0<\/span>used<\/span>\u00a0H5P\u00a0<\/span>as it was mobile-friendly and allowed for interactive content<\/span>. Although content hosted via this route isn\u2019t indexed by search engines,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>it can be downloaded and adapted for other sites, such as WordPress. Overall,<\/span>\u00a0they found H5P very user-friendly.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

REDUX<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

Monographs, open access and public policy: UKRI OA consultation 2020<\/span><\/h3>\n

Helen Snaith (the Senior Policy Adviser at Research England) said that <\/span>monographs<\/span>\u00a0should not try to replicate journal open access models<\/span>\u00a0and that they need to ensure that policy doesn\u2019t create accessibility issues<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Richard Fisher (<\/span>Vice Chair of Yale University Press) said that removing the financial\u00a0<\/span>barrier<\/span>\u00a0is only one aspect of open access, and that money needs to be spent on marketing in order to make the book\u00a0<\/span>successful<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Overall<\/span>, it was agreed that publishing open access shouldn\u2019t affect the quality of the content.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Open Access: Sales – Open Access business models for books and\u00a0<\/span>journals<\/span><\/h3>\n

Martin Paul Eve (Professor of Literature, Technology and Publishing, Birkbeck, University of London) pointed out that books are much more expensive to produce than journals, and this can be an issue for the humanities and social sciences in particular as there is generally less funding. <\/span>He\u00a0<\/span>said<\/span>\u00a0that it isn\u2019t as simple as a library switching the book purchasing budget to the book processing charge\u00a0<\/span>(BPC)\u00a0<\/span>budget, as the former wouldn\u2019t sufficiently cover the latter, and that COVID19 has shown the\u00a0<\/span>inaccessibility<\/span>\u00a0of books online compare<\/span>d to journals.\u00a0<\/span>Similarly<\/span>\u00a0to Richard Fisher, Martin said that gold open access may not be the way to go for books.<\/span>\u00a0Emily Farrell (Library Sales Executive, The MIT Press) said they rely on a hybrid approach to funding their open access activities, including article processing charges (APCs) and\u00a0<\/span>crowdfunding approaches for books, such as Knowledge Unlatched<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>She acknowledged that they see a lot more usage when books are open and they aim to roll\u00a0<\/span>out<\/span>\u00a0a library<\/span>–<\/span>centred collective model by 2021.<\/span>\u00a0Lastly, Vivian\u00a0<\/span>Berghahn<\/span>\u00a0(Manging Director,\u00a0<\/span>Berghahn<\/span>\u00a0Books) spoke about the subscribe-to-open (S2O) model, where\u00a0<\/span>subscribers get discounted access to the content and, if enough subscribers participate, the content is made open access.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Vivian said they have 305 participants to date and the model is working\u00a0<\/span>particularly\u00a0<\/span>well for their anthropology journal.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

Having the conferences online, in my opinion, worked well. More people could attend due to the lack of a financial barrier (no travel, no accommodation, no delegate fee)<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>And\u00a0<\/span>the less air\u00a0<\/span>travel<\/span>\u00a0the better<\/span>, of course<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Without these barriers<\/span>, knowledge can be shared more widely<\/span>\u00a0too<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0The main downside is the\u00a0<\/span>lack of organised\u00a0<\/span>networking and ability to have in-depth\u00a0<\/span>discussions<\/span>\u00a0with your colleagues and peers. Perhaps a solution is on the horizon for conference organisers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was brilliant to see so much conversation about open access, including accessibility, be given through<\/span>\u00a0open and<\/span>\u00a0accessible platforms with no financial restrictions. Open access policy is still developing, and it\u2019s important that conferences continue to highlight and discuss the impact of this.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A<\/span>\u00a0final\u00a0<\/span>positive<\/span>\u00a0of hosting an online conference<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>is the ability to record and share online<\/span>\u00a0for those who can\u2019t make it or to have the information to hand<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Speaking of which, you\u00a0<\/span>can access all the\u00a0<\/span>LIBER sessions here<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<\/span>REDUX ones here<\/span><\/a>. I thoroughly recommend checking out both. Happy watching!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our continuous shift towards\u00a0digital\u00a0culture, and of course during the pandemic, conferences have been adapting\u00a0their programmes\u00a0to\u00a0online\u00a0formats. This is no mean feat, particularly as even the best laid plans can have technical issues. But at least online you can fix yourself … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":162,"featured_media":1219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[34,13],"tags":[89,88,12,59,87,90],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/files\/2020\/10\/LIBER_REDUX-Blog-Banner-1.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcqGb1-jy","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/162"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1212"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1223,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1212\/revisions\/1223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/openscholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}