Open Access and the role of the national librar
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Information School
Abstract
The proposed project will address the overarching research question:
What roles can national libraries play in open-access publishing and dissemination of research outputs, and how might those roles be developed in future?
This research question, currently draft, will be finalised in the early stages of the research process and, like the planning and implementation of the project as a whole, will be co-designed and co-produced with the British Library, ensuring its scope is coherent, relevant and manageable. The project will focus on open access (OA) of published research outputs, but will also take into account other facets of 'Open Science', particularly open data. Robust academic research on the relationship between national libraries and OA is to date sparse, and so this proposed project will make a novel contribution to the literature. It is proposed to frame the research using the theory of evidence-based policy (EBP) in particular, involving a critical perspective on the policy cycle: taking account of the complexities of evidence-gathering and decision-making processes, policy formation and negotiation, and activities around project implementation and service development.
The research will engage with a wide range of issues, including the relationship between OA and legal deposit, business process design to support OA, open systemic interoperability, and balancing priorities of immediate access and long-term preservation. The research will also consider how OA may relate to or develop the mission of the national library within its own societal context. It will, therefore, investigate the relationship between the national library and other stakeholders, including publishers, funders and policymakers, higher education institutions (HEIs), learned societies, and charities, in relation to OA. The study will be international in its coverage, tracing these relationships at a global level and also considering collaborations between different national libraries. It will cover the relationship in the UK between the BL and the national libraries of Wales and Scotland in relation to OA.
The project will be designed to enable practice-based application, but will have a robust theoretical underpinning. Research phases will deploy well-established methodologies and will be informed by appropriate theory associated with qualitative and quantitative methods.
For further details, see the attached proposal.
What roles can national libraries play in open-access publishing and dissemination of research outputs, and how might those roles be developed in future?
This research question, currently draft, will be finalised in the early stages of the research process and, like the planning and implementation of the project as a whole, will be co-designed and co-produced with the British Library, ensuring its scope is coherent, relevant and manageable. The project will focus on open access (OA) of published research outputs, but will also take into account other facets of 'Open Science', particularly open data. Robust academic research on the relationship between national libraries and OA is to date sparse, and so this proposed project will make a novel contribution to the literature. It is proposed to frame the research using the theory of evidence-based policy (EBP) in particular, involving a critical perspective on the policy cycle: taking account of the complexities of evidence-gathering and decision-making processes, policy formation and negotiation, and activities around project implementation and service development.
The research will engage with a wide range of issues, including the relationship between OA and legal deposit, business process design to support OA, open systemic interoperability, and balancing priorities of immediate access and long-term preservation. The research will also consider how OA may relate to or develop the mission of the national library within its own societal context. It will, therefore, investigate the relationship between the national library and other stakeholders, including publishers, funders and policymakers, higher education institutions (HEIs), learned societies, and charities, in relation to OA. The study will be international in its coverage, tracing these relationships at a global level and also considering collaborations between different national libraries. It will cover the relationship in the UK between the BL and the national libraries of Wales and Scotland in relation to OA.
The project will be designed to enable practice-based application, but will have a robust theoretical underpinning. Research phases will deploy well-established methodologies and will be informed by appropriate theory associated with qualitative and quantitative methods.
For further details, see the attached proposal.
| Title | Open access and the role of the National Library - initial survey |
| Description | This dataset is the first data collected as part of the wider project 'Open access and the role of the National Library'. Open Access, the sharing of research publications online free of charge, has grown substantially over the last 20 years. There has been substantial research into Open Access but it has largely focused on publishers and universities and not considered wider stakeholders in the scholarly communication ecosystem, such as national libraries.National libraries vary hugely between countries, characterised as much by their differences as their similarities, but a purpose common to most is that of preserving the publications of the nation. This is a task which will undoubtedly be affected by the move to Open Access.This research aims to uncover how national libraries are responding to the growth of Open Access, how and why this varies across countries, and what models national libraries could adopt in the future. In a joint project with the British Library a mixed methods approach is being used to ensure the full depth and breadth of activities and approaches is being captured.This dataset contains the results of an initial survey which was conducted online between July 2019 and January 2020. There were 34 valid responses (32 for questions about Open Access), representing 18.89% of national libraries (based on the Conference of Directors of National Libraries 2017 list). 32 respondents consented to their data being shared and those results are included in this dataset. The survey was distributed via Conference of European National Librarians and Conference of Directors of National Libraries.This dataset includes a readme file with further details of the methodology, the survey questions (in PDF and odt formats), the full de-identified results of those who consented to sharing their data (csv), the free-text answers organised by theme (xlsx and zipped csvs). Ethics application number: 026596Thanks to Laura Sbaffi, Torsten Reimer and Stephen Pinfield for their help in developing this survey. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This dataset provides a baseline for my project and will provide a point of comparison for a second survey in the future. |
| URL | https://figshare.shef.ac.uk/articles/Open_access_and_the_role_of_the_National_Library_-_initial_surv... |
| Description | Presentation for study group at Swedish National Library |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation for ~20 members of staff at the National Library of Sweden (Kungliga Biblioteket) as part of their Open Access study group on the results of a survey conducted as part of this research project and the planned activities which will take place under this award. This sparked questions about the approach being taken at other national libraries and requests for a more detailed report. The presentation was a precursor to conducting a case study at this institution and made it easier to approach individuals to take part in this next stage of data collection. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |