This presentation provides a definition of open access, looks at the Finch Report (http://www.researchinfonet.org/publish/finch/) and explains how it could affect libraries and identifies four areas in which open access could change librarians’ jobs. General themes regarding how open access could change librarians’ jobs are then looked at and conclusions drawn. The presentation as a whole is very brief and general in nature, due to the specification given by the event organizers and the wide variety of prior knowledge that attendees had. I acknowledge that the topics covered are broad and deep and that this presentation intentionally does not cover all aspects of said topics. This presentation was originally delivered at Manchester NLPN's #nlpnautumn event on 19th October 2013 (http://manchesternlpn.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/the-big-event-nlpnautumn/).

1. Role play
How open access could change
librarians’ jobs
David Jenkins

2. Introduction

3. I have been involved with open
access in a number of ways
since late 2012

4. Is anyone here familiar with
open access already?

5. Academic libraries inform my
experience of open access…

6. …but I’ll do my best to include
other sectors too

7. This presentation will…

8. …be 50 minutes long

9. …define open access

10. …look at the major driver for
open access in the UK

11. …examine four areas in which
open access could change our
roles

12. …have time for questions

13. …have a few summary points
at the end

14. “Open-access (OA) literature is
digital, online, free of charge,
and free of most copyright and
licensing restrictions”
Peter Suber

15. Open access presents an
alternative to traditional
publishing models

16. Open access can be
implemented in different ways

17. Gold open access means
making material available via
journals

18. Green open access means
making material available via
repositories

19. The open access movement
has mostly focused on
academic journals to date…

20. …but all sorts of material could
be made available open access

21. Open access has been around
a little while but recent
developments are bringing it to
the fore

22. The Finch Report was produced
by a working group
commissioned by the UK
government…

23. …it believes that open access is
the key to making sure more
people can access research
findings…

24. …the government agreed and
has said that all the findings of
publicly-funded research should
be open access from 2014…

25. …which is great…

26. …isn’t it?

27. The Finch Report means
change is coming and that
librarians have to engage with it

28. Teacher

29. Many librarians are familiar with
teaching already

30. Open access means we will
have to apply this existing role
to a new landscape

31. We can teach new things

32. People want us to teach them
new things

33. Communication will be vital to
ensuring that we are good
teachers

34. The people we will be teaching
are diverse and we must
recognize this

35. Some people we will be
teaching are uncomfortable with
the new environment they find
themselves in

36. Not everybody knows what
librarians can teach or even
whether librarians can teach

37. "Throwing open the doors to the
world's research literature is not
enough. We need to tell people
that the stuff is there, welcome
them in, show them a map […]

38. “[…] and maybe warn them
about some of the trickier
corners where they might get
lost or fall down. Just who does
this, or how, I don't know. But
shouldn't we be talking about
it?"

39. Yes, we should be…

40. …and I know full well who can
do this…

41. …so do you

42. Through teaching, librarians can
help people navigate the
landscape

43. Through teaching, librarians can
help shape the landscape

44. Publisher

45. Some people take a positive
view of academic libraries in
relation to institutional
repositories

46. Others are not so sure

47. Adopting a role as publisher
sees librarians taking on new
skills

48. Institutional repositories may not
have always been a hit up until
now…

49. …but this could change

50. Technology developer

51. Librarians could become
involved in creating and
improving resources such as
repositories, search engines,
gateways or metrics tools

52. These librarians may be few in
number and work outside of
traditional libraries

53. Open access could see some of
librarians’ technical roles
become redundant

55. Fund manager

56. Some people think libraries are
in a good position to manage
budgets for open access

57. Some people do not

58. Open access provides a
number of challenges to the
fund manager

59. General

60. Libraries’ open access
procedures are not set in stone
yet

61. Could most of the processes
that librarians carry out with
regards to subscription-based
material become redundant?

62. In an open access environment,
we will be judged on our service

63. Political and economic factors
are already affecting how
librarians engage with open
access

64. Institutional factors are already
affecting how librarians engage
with open access

65. Change is inevitable…

66. …but we cannot be sure how it
will manifest itself

67. Does anyone have any
questions?

68. To conclude…

69. …open access is a great
opportunity…

70. …and it is in our hands

72. Thank you

73. @d_r_jenkins

74. d.jenkins@mmu.ac.uk

75. References
•
Slide 14 - Suber, P., 2012. Open Access
Overview: Focusing on open access to peer-reviewed
research articles and their preprints [WWW Document].
URL http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm
(accessed 18.10.13).
•
Slides 37-38 - Why open access isn’t enough in itself
[WWW Document], 2013. . the Guardian. URL
http://www.theguardian.com/higher-educationnetwork/blog/2013/aug/14/open-access-media-coverageresearch (accessed 18.10.13).