Mary M. Case

Partners in Knowledge Creation : An Expanded Role for Research Libraries in the Digital Future

ABSTRACT Libraries have always been involved in the creation of new knowledge by ensuring that the knowledge of the past is collected, organized, made accessible and preserved for coming generations. The digital world provides the opportunity for librarians to be even more actively engaged in the creation process. These new roles range from the creation of metadata to the development of repositories to the publication of scholarly work. By integrating the skills and values of librarians with the work of scholars and the expertise of technologists can we ensure long-term access to scholarship and the continued relevance of libraries.

Igniting change in scholarly communication: SPARC, its past, present, and future

This paper will explore the success of an initiative—SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition—launched by the library community to begin to address the scholarly communication crisis. Understanding that libraries are but one stakeholder in scholarly communication, SPARC was designed to build partnerships with scholarly publishers and scientists in its efforts to create change. This particular paper, however, will address the issues and the progress of SPARC through the perspective of libraries.

What to expect when you are not expecting to be a publisher

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline the evolution of University of Illinois at Chicago’s (UIC) journal hosting service from the initial phase of setting up a server to host journals through to the point of offering a suite of library publishing services. The UIC has been hosting Internet-based journals since the 1990s. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, challenges and steps taken for inclusion in PubMed, archiving in PubMed Central and developing policies and parameters of support are discussed. Findings – Venturing into the world of Library as Publisher is not the decision that should be taken lightly, but supporting affordable scholarly publishing, when successful, is rewarding. Originality/value – This paper will be of value to libraries considering offering journal hosting services.