The State of Acquisition, Organization and Use of Open Access Information Resources in Cameroon University Libraries

Full Title: The State of Acquisition, Organization and Use of Open Access Information Resources in Cameroon University Libraries: The Case of the University of Buea and University of Yaounde I Libraries Photo: Charles Kivin Wirsiy at PKP Conference

Presenter: Charles Kiven Wirsiy, Library Services, University of Buea, Cameroon
Time: 9:40 AM - 10:40 AM, 13 July 2007
Location: SFU Harbour Centre, Westcoast Energy Executive Meeting Room, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Photo: University of Buea

Background:
In 1992 Cameroon saw higher education reforms that led to the creation of 5 more universities that went to functional in May 1993. At the time the University of Yaoundé was the lone university in Cameroon. The new universities are either English, French or bilingual, including the University of Buea created in the Aglo-Saxon tradition. The University of Yaoundé has a bilingual and bicultural tradition but the French influence is more dominant. All six universities are funded by the government and suffer a perennial problem of inadequate funding. As a consequence, electronic journals can play a vital role in the delivery of information.

Wirsiy, of the University of Beau, examined the state of acquisition, organization, and use of electronic resources at the universities of Buea and Yaoundé I.

University of Buea:
- 14,000 students in 2006/7
- 80,00 volumes of manuals and serials (bulk in English)
- subscriptions to 8 journals
- access to electronic information on-line or on CD-ROM (including ADL, HINARI, AGORA, World Bank, TUFH, AJOL, OpenDOAR, DOAJ)
- connected to the Internet in 2003/4 but not functional due to issues with bandwidth
- automation underway
- directory of open access resources available on CD ROM and printed
- licenses with HINARI, AGORA, and World Bank - passwords provided to users to use from cafes or IT centre
- user education

University of Yaoundé I:
- 25,000 students in 2006/7
- 120,00 volumes of manuals and serials (bulk in French)
- no journal subscriptions
- access to HINARI and AGORA
- connected to Internet but not functional
- media center with 50 computers
- directory of open access resources available on CD ROM but not current
- licenses to HINARI and AGORA – passwords to users “timid”
- user education limited

Wirsiy’s comparison indicated that while open access is gaining ground in Africa, the state of affairs in Cameroon’s two prominent university libraries leaves much to be desired.

Improvement Prospects:
- improvement of ICT and bandwidth
- creation of “Centre Interuniversitaire des Resources Documentaires” (CIRD) and “Centre interuniversitaires des technologies de l’information et de la Communication” (CITI) by Minister of Education to act as clearinghouses
- creation of virtual libraries in state universities (UB given go-ahead but no prospects at UYI yet)
- increasing availability of cheap wireless broadband via mobile telephone companies (using mobile phones to download at UB)
- creation of Consortium of Cameroon University and Research Libraries (COCUREL) though assistance from the Electronic Information for Libraries Network (Helena Asamoa-Hassan from KNUST in Ghana went to Cameroon to help launch a functional consortium)
- creation of institutional information repositories

What’s Still Needed in terms of Open Access?
- improved Internet connectivity
- training
- increased knowledge of resources by those in education community

Blogger's Blurb:
“The publisher of an Africa scholarly journal is faced with the rapid expansion of higher education and an increased number of disciplines. This results in many small niche markers of isolated scholars, who either look to the North for specialized journals or are tempted into creating one of their own.” - Jaygbay, J. 2007 Jun 29. The Politics of and Prospects for African Scholarly Journals in the Information Age. Developments in Scholarly Publishing

Wirsiy’s presentation was preceded by Helena Asamoah–Hassan’s presentation on the KNUST library in Kumasi, Ghana’s experience with electronic scholarly publishing The presentations are closely related to the extent that Helena visited Cameroon to help launch the Consortium of Cameroon University and Research Libraries. Both presenters, and the libraries discussed, suffer from a dearth of information and resources and are constrained by small budgets. While electronic journals and open-access seem an ideal means of enabling small libraries to access a wealth of information, the disparity of the “digital divide” is evident in the African context. Access to computers and reliable Internet connections were noted by both presenters and scholars at the University of Buea now depend on their mobile telephones to download and Internet cafés play a crucial role. Both presenters however expressed optimism and interest in electronic journal publishing and open access. Crucial insight was offered on how to introduce software such as OJS despite fear, skepticism and the challenges of government bureaucracy in Africa. While global access to information is the ultimate vision and hope, both presentations highlighted that global access still requires knowledge of regional and cultural issues.

Thomas Abraham’s presentation on scholarly publishing in India raised many similar concerns and considerations. His discussion of customizing OJS software in Hindi and the potential to extend this to other Indian languages seems particularly relevant in the African context. While the coordination and sharing between the libraries in Ghana and Cameroon is promising, extending such dialogue to other countries outside of Africa, such as India, would not only be valuable for all involved but very much in the spirit of expanding lines of communication with the aim of improving the quality of information that underlies the Public Knowledge Project.

Related conference presentations:

On libraries
"Rethinking Collections: Libraries and Librarians in an Open Age", "Librarians as campus OA leaders: the University of Alberta experience", "The Library as a mediator for e-publishing. A case on how a library can become a significant factor in facilitating digital scholarly communication and open access publishing for less web savvy journals", "The National Library of Australia: open access to Open Publish", "A content management strategy – implementing OJS and OCS at Swinburne University library", "Beyond the Experiment: The Scholarly Publishing Office and the Maturation of Library-Based Publishing", "Survey of Librarian Attitudes about Open Access", "A Critical Theory of Library Technology: Libraries & Electronic Publishing"

On Africa
"Strengthening African Research Culture and Capacities Project", "Scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa in the twenty-first century: challenges and opportunities", "Open Source Software in Education in Africa", "Embracing Electronic Scholarly Publishing In Africa; The Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science And Technology (Knust) Library, Kumasi, Ghana As A Case Study"

OJS goes mobile – An investigation of how to adapt OJS to meet the needs of mobile users

Above: Lawrence Poon (left) and Shubhash Wasti are working on OJS mobile friendliness.

Shubhash Wasti (Athabasca University, Library Services, Alberta, Canada)
Lawrence Poon (Athabasca University, Library Services, Alberta, Canada)

Presented on: July 13, 2007 at 11am in SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room

~Click for abstract~

~Blogger’s Commentary~

Thanks and more thanks to modern technology, the various means of accessing knowledge grow exponentially.

“Mobile OJS” sounds very hi-tech and is certainly in tune with the increasing popularity of mobile technologies. Although Shubhash Wasti points out that the usefulness of a mobile-friendly OJS for authors, editors, etc. is “arguable”, we cannot possibly argue its advantages for users wishing to read journal articles on their mobile device. At this point, there are many technical issues to be resolved, but the idea of a mobile-friendly OJS serves the interests of both public and commercial spheres. There can be economic incentives for companies to improve their mobile devices to allow better support of OJS. Scholars and seekers of knowledge nowadays no longer spend hours crouched over a desk at the library, but are moving towards finding a variety of ways to access that knowledge through modern technologies. In this sense, the commercial sector is also contributing to increasing access to knowledge.

As for the public sphere and the effort to increase openness of knowledge, a mobile-friendly OJS can certainly contribute to wider circulation of academic material for the community and allow more people to participate in the Open Access movement. By combining developing technologies with the aims of Open Access, both areas can see major advancements. As we seek new ways to increase access to knowledge through technology, improvements to modern technologies must also be made. Indeed, while the advancement of knowledge access is contributing to the advancement of technologies, these technologies in turn are opening wonderful possibilities for the public to exercise their right to knowledge.

Perhaps in the future, we will not think only of open access to knowledge, but also of “mobile open knowledge” that is available wherever we go.

~Summary of Presentation~
Motivation
- “Face of the web” annual report by Ipsos Insight found that 28% of mobile phone users worldwide access the web on their handset
- less than 0.1% of the OJS users access via their mobile device
- this study is to see how OJS can be made more mobile-friendly
- there is a trade-off between features and mobility: for example, using Flash on the website
- in terms of practicality: readers would be the ones to benefit greatly by a mobile-friendly OJS, but the usefulness of it to authors, reviewers and editors is arguable

Most important limitations of mobile devices

- screen size, resolution (some web browsers in mobile devices attempt to fit content on the small screens but often these optimizations can distort the pages)

- navigation: often having to use virtual keyboards or difficult to use buttons

- memory limitations may make them unable to handle large files

- lack of support for certain formats (e.g. some devices cannot read Word or PDF)

- limited or no support for certain web features (e.g. Javascript, Java, Flash, Frames, Auto refresh, pop-up windows etc.)

Mobile devices used in the testing:
Palm TX (browser: Blazer)
Dell Axim X30 (browser: Pocket Internet Explorer)
Sony MYLO (browser: Opera)

Potential Problems in view of W3C recommendations


What works and what does not

Intermediary Approaches (Proxies)
- can be used as a “service”
- burden of mobile friendliness is shifted from the software/web developer to a third party
- examples:
Google – http://www.google.com/gwt/n
Skweezer – http://www.skweezer.net
- but these are not perfect and not all problems can be solved this way

A possible approach using plug-in architecture
- “One Web” - different views
- requires a clear separation of presentation and application layers
- having mobile plug-ins for using OJS

Future studies
- study involving real users to find out impract of mobile friendlyiness in the use of mobile devices in accessing articles in OJS
- where is balance between features and mobile friendliness

Conclusions and suggestions
- strong separation of program logic from the presentation
- plug-in developers can develop plug-ins to detect mobile devices and serve pages optimized for mobile devices
- we cannot rely on the end users’ device to handle the page optimization
- provide support team for mobile OJS users
- OJS in its current form is near the unfriendly side on the spectrum of mobile friendliness

~ About the Presenters~
Shubhash Wasti
Lawrence Poon’s CV (personal website)

~Related Links~
W3C Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0: Basic Guidelines
Smartphone - Wikipedia
Personal digital assistants (PDAs) - Wikipedia

OJS – MP3 Article Usage: A pilot study

Main Presenter:

Kathy Killoh

(Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada)

Other memebers of the team:
Paula Smith (Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada) - Absent
Shubhash Wasti (Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada)

Presented on: July 13, 2007 at 11am in SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room

~Click for abstract~

~Blogger’s Commentary~

The pilot study on MP3 articles conducted at Athabasca University demonstrates what the meaning of “innovation” is. The idea behind this study is to allow access to academic articles in a format different from traditional formats (HTML or PDF), while using an audio format widely used in today’s society. MP3 articles provide a brand-new way of using academic material, and allow scholars to temporarily rest their tired eyes and work their ears a bit instead.

Kathy Killoh points out that much research still needs to be done on this topic, but this pilot study is certainly one of its kind and carries great implications in the larger scope of things. MP3 articles present a new possibility for accessing knowledge and thus help widen the circle of people who can take advantage of this possibility. For example, MP3 articles can be helpful for people with reading disabilities. Users of mobile technology can also easily listen to MP3 articles on the run. In short, MP3 articles exploit modern technology and open up new accessibility avenues. After all, and at the risk of sounding redundant, we must remind ourselves that accessibility makes up a major part of the spirit of Open Access.

We have been used to the idea of audio-books for quite some time now, and MP3 articles might also someday become as popular as PDF files when it comes to accessing academic journal articles. These days, almost everyone is listening to MP3s on the bus or subway, but perhaps next time when you ask your friends what they are listening to, instead of “some popular music artist”, the answer might be “I’m listening to John Willinsky’s newest article on open access.”

~Summary of Presentation~
- A team of researchers from Athabasca University conducted a study on the use of MP3 as a format for academic articles available for download
- MP3 articles are available for download on the IRRODL web site

-IRRODL is an open access, peer reviewed e-journal that has been online since 2000
-IRRODL adopted OJS in 2005
-IRRODL’s editorial scope is international, and the vision is to narrow the digital divide by providing rigorously peer reviewed ODL (Open and Distance Learning) literature using a variety of technologies
-since June 2006, IRRODL content has been available also in MP3 format
-this pilot study is to collect some data on how, when, where and why readers are using MP3 articles

Selection of software: NeoSpeech Voice Text software
- issue of cost: for desktop use or for creating files to publish on the internet, this can create a big difference in pricing
- time it takes for conversion to MP3: 2 – 2.5 hours for 16 – 20 pg. articles
- editing for conversion:

Remove: references, citations, end notes, tables, graphs, figures, charts, etc.

Include: Front Matter, Coding for Heading pauses, table, image, chart descriptions

Code in extra pauses to indicate a new paragraph

- conversion challenges:

Symbols (e.g. >, *, etc.) are not always recognized by the software

Word tenses e.g. “red” to substitute past tense “read”

Brackets are ignored, need to code in a pause or a change in pitch

Acronyms: software would sometimes spell it out or read it as one word)

An online survey was also conducted by the MP3 research team, and selected portions of the results are included below:

Top 3 Geographic Origins of MP3 Downloads: 1) United States 2) Canada 3) United Kingdom

50% of respondents said they listened to MP3 articles on the PC/laptop, 41% on MP3 players

As for reasons why they listened to MP3 articles, responses ranged from "professional development", "education/study", "curiosity", "research", and others.

24% of respondents said they listened at home, 22% in the office, and 21% while commuting.

65% of respondents said they downloaded and listened to 1-2 articles.

Conclusions
- MP3 audio files are at the beginning of the “diffusion” curve (based on Everett Rogers’ Theory of Diffusion of Innovations)
- further research needs to be done

~About the Team~
Kathy Killoh
Paula Smith
Shubhash Wasti

~Related Links~
IRRODL – International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning

A Critical Theory of Library Technology: Libraries & Electronic Publishing

Presenter: Ajit Pyati, Assistant Professor, FIMS, University of Western Ontario
Friday, July 13, 2007
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM in SFUHC Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room

Abstract

Ajit Pyati has recently finished his PhD at UCLA’s Department of Information Studies and is now looking forward to teach at the University of Western Ontario. His research interests cover the following areas: international library development; information society and policy; and globalization, migration, and ICTs.



Ajit Pyati examines the changing role of libraries, particularly academic libraries, in the era of electronic journals and institutional repositories. Using "critical theory of library technology" as the framework of study, he explores how democratization of technology affects libraries with regards to scholarly publishing.

He started his presentation with a bit of background by touching on the notion of Information Society. He explained that the proliferation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has created a new society – the information society. The World Summit on Information Society held by the United Nations has tried to connect the ideas of such information society to the development of countries. The issue falls under his research interest - in his Master's thesis, Ajit looked at how technology affects society, which in some cases marginalizes the society.

Ajit views the so-called crisis in scholarly publication in the context of the dominant information society vision. He observes that libraries are responding to the crisis in various ways:

• cutting subscriptions
• advocacy by ALA, CLA, ACRL, IFLA
  
• Open Access movements

Within the Open Access Initiatives, several OA advocates such as Stevan Harnad, Peter Suber, and John Willinsky, have responded to the “crisis”.

Ajit called for the need for the libraries’ response to draw upon social theories to understand library-based reaction to the crisis (OA advocacy). He maintained that democratic access to information is part of libraries’ ethics and values. The questions are how to extend this to the realm of technology in libraries and what does democratization mean to this realm.

After explaining the critical theory underlying his study, he proceeded to apply the framework to the context of library technology. He questioned the levels of impact of various aspects in library technology as follows:

• Are library technology actions progressive and democratic?
• Are library technology actions participatory and community-oriented?
• Are library technology actions open and collaborative?

In the future, Ajit would like to see in depth, “test” cases of library-based OA advocacy. He’d also like to study broader library technology practices such as OA publishing, digital libraries, community archiving, content development, etc. He’s also interested to see how this framework can adapt and incorporate other relevant social theories and approaches.

Commentary

Libraries are responding to the invitation from the Budapest Open Access Initiative to join the open access movement, to become OA advocates. Ajit has asked us to think critically (in his case using the critical theory as the framework) about library-based OA advocacy, specifically in using library technology. His study is providing a solid base for libraries to take an active role in the development of scholarly publishing and to strategically focus their effort in the right direction.

Links to OA advocacy from library organizations:

• ALA - Open Access to Research
• CLA - Open Access Task Force Mandate
• ACRL - Scholarly Communication
• IFLA - Statement on Open Access to Scholarly Literature and Research Documentation

Survey of Librarian Attitudes about Open Access

Presenters:
Emily Dill, Public Services Librarian, Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus
Kristi Palmer, Bibliographic and Metadata Services Librarian, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Friday, July 13, 2007
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM in SFUHC Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room

Abstract



Emily Dill and Kristi Palmer presented the results of a survey sent out to US academic librarians on their attitudes about open access (using the short OA definition from Peter Suber). Of the 1300 questionnaires sent, they received 261 responses. The presentation slides above show the result of the survey.

Their presentation touched on a very interesting topic, as the audience responded with enthusiastic questions at the end of the session. One noteworthy suggestion from the audience was to follow up the survey with a qualitative study to get a better picture of the situation.

Commentary

Library associations are responding to the invitation from the Budapest Open Access Initiative to join the open access movement. An example is the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Scholarly Communication Initiative. At the same time, Emily and Kristi see the need to find out about how librarians, who are supposed to be at the front-line of the open access advocacy, actually feel about this. In this way, they are making a contribution to the library associations in gaining insight that would allow the organizations to tailor their effort for open access advocacy internally.

A Case Study of Online Publishing at CJC-Online: Experiences, Insights, and Considerations for Adoption

Presenters:

Michael Felczak (School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Canada)
Rowland Lorimer (Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing, Simon Fraser University, Canada)
Richard Smith (School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Canada)

Presented on: July 13, 2007 at 9:40am in SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room

~Click for abstract~

~Blogger’s commentary~

The CJC (Canadian Journal of Communications) experience is certainly worthy of note, in terms of its contribution of valuable insights into various issues related to scholarly online publishing.

First of all, in describing the motivation and early stages in moving CJC online, Richard Smith touches on the economics involved in scholarly publishing and sees online publishing as a way to deal with increasingly high prices of periodicals. Although we understand the incentive behind the publishers’ intent to protect their own economic interests, when journal costs become less and less affordable, educational institutions must seek alternatives to protect their own scholarly interests as well as the public’s intellectual rights to access knowledge. The CJC example contributes to increasing that accessibility to knowledge for every one of us, and perhaps also to decreasing just a little bit of that monopoly granted to publishers through copyright law.

Michael Felczak then relates the happy tale of moving all the CJC issues online, as well as the challenge of writing a custom code within the OJS framework. Fortunately, through collaborative efforts, both tasks were accomplished. Currently, everyone with an internet connection can access all of CJC’s issues, and their custom code is in itself a commendable contribution to the Open Access movement, since their code can also be of use to other journals requiring similar functionalities for the system.

Finally, Rowland Lorimer mentions the possibility of cooperation between the commercial sector and the public sphere. These two can attempt to balance the interests of each sphere by working together, so that the tragedy of the commons as well as that of the anti-commons can be avoided. Rowland Lorimer also recognizes the importance of looking at access models and market realities in publishing today. Various access models are out there today, whether it be delayed open access or partial open access, and this diversity only means that the innovation or creativity element is significant in the expansion of Open Access. As we cannot ignore the realities of the publishing industry, the non-profit or academic sector must find innovative solutions to achieve the aim of making knowledge public, while finding workable ways around the legal, economic, moral and epistemological issues.

~Summary of Presentation~

1) Motivation, First Steps, Early Challenges (Richard Smith)
- interested in online publishing because of curiosity, desire to find an alternative (to continually rising serials pricing), extendability (i.e. new options for delivery) and possibility
- DIY online publishing: first steps involved converting SGML to HTML but this was not a sustainable method because it required a lot of manual work, and conversion routes were never reliable
- the team found a community alternative in PKP/OJS

2) Transition to and Participation with OJS (Michael Felczak)
- moved to OJS in February 2004
- at time of import, 12 volumes online (1993-2003), with 3-4 issues in each volume
- OJS import tool requires XML description of volumes/issues/articles: fortunately this info was already in the database, making it so much easier to export data into XML format and begin using OJS
- within a year, back issues vol. 1-15 (1974-1990) were scanned, with help from SFU library (scanning into PDF format)
- today, all back issues are online and open access (currently Vol 31)
- some functionalities were missing at the time, but custom code was later written within the OJS framework. These functionalities included:
a) enter individual or institutional online subscriptions;
b) post announcements to keep in touch with readership;
c) allow graduate students to submit thesis abstracts
- custom code can also benefit community/journals with similar needs

3) From Production to Publishing (Rowland Lorimer)
- production is not the same as publishing; production is the foundation for publishing
- non-profit publishing model: emphasis on the scholarly record, with peer review as essential element

Example: Nature
- has an editorial identity, an existence beyond simply the summation of its articles
- has a publishing vision: how the journal is presented to the world, such as what is presented on the cover, giving it a “planned public face”
- important to look at market realities, which is another word for your “readership”, so it is essential to think about the market and how you present yourself to your readers

Issues to consider in Online Journal Publishing
- human resources: cannot depend only on one person to ensure things run smoothly
- infrastructure: server farms are more reliable than one single server
- enriched production: once the journal is online, it is possible to add other forms of media (such as sound, video, etc.)
- looking at access models & publishing realities

We can also consider strategic cooperatives for online knowledge dissemination through the libraries, editors, and even through commercial sectors where they are people interested in cooperating with the non-profit sector.

Online Public Knowledge Infrastructure
- authors and journal producers and publishers
- journal repositories and provisioners: library systems and library acquisitions
- aggregation and metacontent: tools and marketing e.g. Synergies)
- emergent: a Public Knowledge Infrastructure
- coda: from patents to copyright, as there is much valuble intellectual property that we want to keep in the public domain through public sector cooperatives

~Info on the Presenters~
Profile: Michael Felczak, Rowland Lorimer, Richard Smith
ACT Lab » Michael Felczak
studies in technology & society – Richard Smith

~Related Links~
Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC)
School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing, Simon Fraser University

New publishing models for scholarly communication and the Brazilian open access policy

Presenter: Sely M. Costa
Partner: Helio Kuramoto
PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
Thursday, July 12, 2007
2:55 PM - 3:55 PM in SFUHC
Westcoast Energy Executive Meeting Room
Vancouver, Canada
Abstract



Sely Costa is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Brasilia and can be reached at selmar@unb.br.

The presentation was based on a study of Brazilian online journals using Open Journal Systems (OJS) and of Brazilian open access policies. The idea behind the study was to ask if, using open software, it is possible to implement both the “green road” and the “golden road” in scholarly publishing in Brazil? The “green road” relates to open self-archiving policies, through such resources as Dspace and Eprints. The “golden road” relates to open access publishing, through such resources as Open Journal Systems (OJS) and Open Conference Systems (OCS).

Theoretical Framework
The high prices of journal subscriptions required by prestigious publishers have produced a journal crisis, the result of which has been the bourgeoning new and varied business models for scholarly journals, including open archiving and open access models.

The conventional process of journal publishing is not changing outright because of open access, but a number of patterns in the process are revealed, and questions arise when we talk about open access. Each stage of the conventional process has been called into question by the open access movement, because of new business models. It is unlikely that every journal will become open access, nor is the journal the only communication medium for scholarly communities.

Methodological Procedures and Data
The study performed an analysis of documents, and used both a quantitative and a qualitative approach. It studied 207 scholarly, open access, OJS journals in Brazil, and the Instituto Brasileiro de Informacao em Ciencia e Tecnologia’s (Ibict) Open Access information policies.

OJS journals created per year in Brazil:
In 2004, there were 28 OJS journals created.
In 2005, there were 42.
In 2006, there were 71.
In 2007 (the 1st semester only), there were 66.
The total OJS journals in Brazil as of the end of the study was 207, although Kuramoto (the partner mentioned at the beginning of this blog) told Sely Costa by phone that today, on July 12, 2007, the number has become 230.

The way that OJS journals caught on in Brazil was that, in 2004 John Willinsky presented at a conference. Kuramoto was there and he decided to carry out OJS initiatives in Brazil.

OJS journals in Brazil by discipline:
Science, Technology, Medicine: 62
Social Sciences: 54
Arts and Humanities: 53
Multidisciplinary: 38
Total: 207

OJS journals in Brazil by geographic region:
North: 5
Northeast: 20
South: 82
Southeast: 83
MiddleWest: 17 (Sely Costa’s region)

What is being Done in Brazil in the Open Access Movement
-Carrying out technology prospective studies
-Customizing software (OJS, OCS, Eprints, Dspace, NDLTD)
-Training people (640 people, at 189 institutions)
-Translating/transferring technology (SEET, SOAC (OCS in Portuguese), Institutional Repositories at universities)
-Building portals (data and service providers, such as BDTD; Oasis.br)
-Sensitizing the scholarly community and policy makers to the issues and benefits of Open Access (for example, Sely Costa has run two international conferences in Brazil; also Brazil has been the first country to have a bill presented to parliament proposing a mandatory policy for open access).
-Expanding Brazilian initiatives to the Portuguese speaking (ALemPLus project) and Latin American countries (DRIVER)

Some Problems with OJS in Brazil
There is a rapidly growing number of OJS journals being created in Brazil, contributing to the gradual accomplishment of the “golden road,” full open access approach.

However, the study revealed some problems within the open access journal movement in Brazil: 1. a great number of OJS journal titles do not reflect any area, field, topic, or discipline. An academic journal title should reflect the topic in some respect, especially with the creation of so many new journals; 2. discontinuities of publication, wherein some journals are created without studying whether there is enough knowledge production in the area and there will be enough submissions to publish regularly. Some journals publish only one or two issues, then stop; 3. many journals do not disclose information about the submission process and peer review process of the journal, so it is unclear if these process are even happening at all, or how they are proceeding, a lack of disclosure which is unscholarly; 4. although the majority of OJS journals in Brazil are created and maintained by an individual researcher of a university dept/course/post-grad programme, there is a problem with the journals not complying with academic standards, even though they are created in academic environments. The problem is that publishers are not trained in the standards of academic publishing before actually going ahead and publishing with the easy and straightforward OJS system.

Many problems identified are due to a lack of knowledge about scholarly publishing itself, in whatever medium. Although there are technicians developing competence in OJS, none are concerned with or aware of the process of scholarly publishing as a whole.

In closing, the presenter briefly went over Ibict’s role in the open access movement in Brazil (although Sely Costa is not part of Ibict, Kuamoto is part of the institution): 1. it is involved in promoting disseminating, and implementing OA initiatives and policies; 2. it has sponsored 5 academic conferences to provide workshops to train people in these systems; 3. in 2006 the Brazilian Open Access Movement issued its manifesto; 4. work has been done with Portugal, and Latin American countries; 5. work has been done with the SciELO people (though they do not want to work with OA people because they believe their positions of leadership are being taken); 6. work with the Brazilian parliament, Brazilian Council of University Chancellors (have met with every university chancellor), learned societies, funding agencies, and researchers.

Comments and Questions:
Comment: People don’t want to switch to Open Access because they want to make money. What they (policy makers) do not see is that problems with the OJS system can be fixed by the general populace, and there need not be secrecy and proprietary software use.

Costa’s response: Yes, I agree. There is a problem with paying for things. From the information side in Brazil, they pay companies to hold conference proceedings, to manage that information, but then they can’t access the information! OCS could have done this for them for free.

Comment (same commenter): There are also human resource problems. People now know about the software, but not about standards of scientific publication in general. Everyone needs training in this area. But three day workshops are not enough to fully train people in all these areas-OJS, academic publishing in general, and the greater philosophy of OA. The problem with the Public Knowledge Project development team is that, in Brazil, we need resources to understand what they at the PKP know already about OA and scholarly publishing. We need PKP chapters around the world to do this.


Link to Open Journal Systems (OJS)

Link to Open Conference Systems (OCS)


Commentary (by blogger)
Sely Costa’s presentation centred on the rapid and accelerating creation of OJS journals in Brazil since the OJS fueled Open Access movement first began in Brazil in 2004, after being initiated by Kuramoto. Her presentation raised points about the counter-productivity of proprietary mindsets and the issue of the continuity of academic standards of publishing. While OJS has taken off and appears to be flourishing in Brazil, the case of Brazil demonstrates that wide implementation of OJS is only one step towards successfully achieving the “golden road” of open access in a nation.

The aim of Sely Costa, Kuramoto, and the Open Access Movement appears to be the establishment of a governmental policy mandating open access in the nation of Brazil. A staunch inhibitor to this aim is the propriety mindset of governmental and institutional policy makers, as well as of academics in general. The Brazilian Open Access Movement has been trying to deal with resistance from government, policy makers, and established scientific research repositories such as SciELO, as well as to spread awareness to scholars about the Open Access movement and its benefits for academic publishing. They have made progress on all these fronts, but continue to face resistance to the changeover to a non-proprietary model of publishing. SciELO, for example, is difficult to work with because they believe the Open Access people are trying to steal their position of leadership in the field of scientific research. This protectionism about reputation is mixed with skepticism about the financial viability of the open access model. Government and university policy makers have a similar skepticism about the financial viability of the open access model, and appear unconvinced by the success of numbers of open access journals being created. The argument in favour of a national policy would be that knowledge distribution and quality increase with open access; however, to convince institutions who think in terms of proprietary economics that knowledge distribution and quality are of greater value than proprietary and financial rights may be difficult. The argument may need to turn to such issues as the cost efficiency of open access, and the overall increase in innovation and therefore of possible economic, profit creating technologies for Brazil.

The other main issue raised in the presentation was one of standards of scholarly publishing in OJS journals. The four problems that Sely Costa found with OJS journals—non-topical titles, discontinuities of publication, non-disclosure of reviewing policies, and lack of academic standards in general—have to do with a lack of training in and knowledge about the long tradition of academic journal publishing standards. The issue arises partly because of OJS’s strength as a free, easy to access, and easy to use system. The technology itself is being mastered in Brazil, but this ease means that old, established channels for publication can be circumvented. The new publications are proving, in some cases, to lack traditional academic standards, such as continuous publication, publicly known review policies, and scholarly editorial standards. The break from the old publication model has shown that that model, although inefficient in terms of distribution, held high and useful standards in terms of the scrutinizing and preparing the work published. Sely Costa argues that these old standards need to be learned and applied to OJS journals, to keep the OJS movement in the continuous tradition of academic journal publishing. It appears that especially regarding the issue of editoral and peer-review processes, which are a crucial check that ensures quality of knowledge, standards must be open and high.

However, it is also possible that OJS will not prove a medium amenable to the exact, proprietary publishing traditions of the past, and that new models and standards might emerge. For example, the idea of continuous publication may fall to the wayside, and new models of “publish when it’s ready” may emerge. In this model, articles would appear in certain fields only when they are available, even if there are gaps in time. The idea of journals in volumes and issues would not be needed. Perhaps, with the high aspirations of the Brazilian Open Access Movement to trigger a national change, achieving and upholding established and strict traditions of academic publishing in open access online journals is crucial for the moment, to convince those used to the proprietary model that Open Access matches proprietary publications in scholarship.

A content management strategy – implementing OJS and OCS at Swinburne University library

Teula Morgan, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia

Presented on: July 12, 2007, at 1:45pm in SFUHC Fletcher Challenge Theatre

~Click for Abstract~

~Blogger’s Commentary~

From theory to practice there can often be big gaps, when we suddenly find ourselves face to face with unexpected obstacles and unforeseen delays. It is therefore very comforting when others can share their experience and insights to provide inspiration for the rest of the world. In this case, the experience of Swinburne University in their implementation of OJS and OCS may be one in many, but in terms of the bigger picture, once again, we are presented with the immense potential and endless possibilities of open access. Once again we find ourselves wondering, “If this university is doing it and doing well, why is the rest of the world not doing it too?”

Swinburne’s approach of having a practical, visible, adaptable and usable content management strategy can easily be adopted by any university library wishing to join the Open Access movement. The strategy is practical in the sense that instead of wasting time trying to define things or hoping to solve every single problem, Swinburne simply jumps into action by identifying what is missing in the current system and then deciding how these issues can be resolved given presently available resources. In both examples that Teula Morgan discussed about the implementation of OJS and OCS, the motivation stemmed from the fact that something was wrong with the current picture: researchers had legitimate needs but appropriate publication venues or conference management was unavailable. From Teula Morgan’s presentation, it is apparent that Swinburne realizes the importance of making trade-offs – not only in terms of balancing user needs with feasibility, but also being able to make choices in favour of maximizing benefits for as many people as possible. Swinburne clearly sees the advantages of Open Access, and not solely for the university’s own reputation. By being one of the numerous universities now using OJS, Swinburne is making a great contribution to increasing the openness and quality of knowledge in today’s information-driven society by successfully exploiting new technologies (such as open-source software like the OJS). Moreover, Swinburne’s project strengthens global and academic connectivity – not only are scholars of similar interests more connected, but knowledge is also linked more closely from one place of the world to another.

Swinburne University’s participation in the Open Access movement is undoubtedly a source of inspiration for the rest of us. Certainly, educational institutions have a moral responsibility to assert, on behalf of individuals, the right to knowledge. Swinburne’s project is a declaration against privatization of knowledge, and with all things considered, Swinburne has adopted a very optimistic approach towards seeking a balance between the commons and the anti-commons.

~Summary of Presentation~

Teula Morgan discusses the Why’s and How’s in the implementation of Swinburne Online Journals and Swinburne Online Conferences.

Why? – Supporting open access (OA)
-partners in ARROW project to support digital repositories
-promoting OA publishing & OA research repositories

Why? – Promoting Swinburne research
-increase recognition and prestige of Swinburne
-enhance exposure and discoverability of content
-making content more visible through OA
-RQF (Research Quality Framework) impact factor

Why? – Supporting content management
-library playing a role

How? – Content Management Strategy
-distinguish between data management and content management
-distinguish between storage and publishing
-adopt a ‘use’ perspective rather than management or compliance perspective

Swinburne’s approach – ensuring that the strategy is:
1) practical
-no definition discussions
-acknowledge that resources are limited
-not tackling the impossible
-developing a Swinburne university-wide content management strategy by starting to do it (the library being a leader in managing information content, as it always has been)

2) visible
-to consider: why this content? who will be interested?
-supporting the creation and dissemination of quality Swinburne content, improving the impact and profile of Swinburne outputs

3) adaptable
-not attempting to solve everything at once & not waiting for the ultimate solution
-be prepared to respond to the community & change if necessary

4) usable
-adopting a multi-software approach to managing content
-emphasizing what is practical

Project identification
-go for projects that will give maximum benefits
-examples for implementing OJS & OCS:

Example: Journals
-Research groups interested in dissemination of their work identified gaps in current publication avenues or a gap in audience. OJS was seen as an appropriate and accessible place to publish.
-OJS was beneficial for promoting Swinburne research, contributing to the institutional repository and providing effective research tools.
-The first journal title went live in 2005. The journal is still going, and this sustainability means minimal continuing work. This enables researchers to manage their own content.

Example: Conference papers
-Conference papers were hard to be found. Copyright & peer reviewing status were unclear. Researchers were wasting time and no support was provided to manage conferences.
-OCS provided benefits for promoting & disseminating Swinburne research, supporting real needs of the community, enabling researchers to manage their own information, and dealing with OA material with clear copyright & self-archiving instructions.
-Swinburne is currently doing community consultations to identify needs.
-OCS was selected and implementation is in process.
-Swinburne is also planning the roll out of the 1^st conference with a pilot group.
*sustainability: OCS ties in with OJS work, and minimal additional work is expected once service is established.

Lessons learned
-important to engage with users: why are we doing this?
-be adaptable: priorities and activities change as we find out and understand more
-be flexible: prepared to understand differences and work in different ways
-maximise content visibility

Q&A Period
-There is a need for automatic extraction of metadata.
-Discussions about the Swinburne library’s search interfaces are currently going on. There probably will not be one place to search for everything, as there are different subject areas for different users.

~About the Presenter: ~
Teula Morgan is the Manager of Online Services Projects at Swinburne University library.

~Related Links~
Swinburne University of Technology, library website
Swinburne Online Journals
ARROW at Swinburne
ARROW – Australian Research Repositories Online to the World

Rethinking Collections: Libraries and Librarians in an Open Age

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
12 July 2007
9:40-10:40 SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room

Presenter:
Heather Morrison, BC Electronic Library Network, Simon Fraser University Library.

British Columbia, Canada
Personal blog

Abstract

Powerpoint Presentation via E-LIS

The key theme for Morrison's presentation was the transition and evolution of libraries in response to the Open Access (OA) movement. The current and future trends towards scholarly communication in an electronic format presents a challenge for libraries. With scholars like Peter Suber and Morrison herself using blogs to make their research public, members of the academic and library communities are no longer reliant on peer-reviewed print published journals -- in fact, waiting for publication of these journals slows down the effective circulation of information to a wide audience that is possible with web-based communication.

Moving towards full open access (corresponding to the Budapest Open Access Initiative), the ability to freely read, make copies, store, and print research means that the peer-review article of the near future can exist in multiple places at once: institutional repository, the author's own site, and the on-line journal allowing for, what Morrison termed "a series of overlapping collections, with links".

Libraries are then challenged by how they will collect and preserve these electronic texts. Will one copy, hosted by one institutional server be enough? Can there be a safe repository for all of the world's electronic knowledge?

Presenting in the same session as the University of Alberta's Pam Ryan and Denise Koufogiannkis, Morrison suggested that the U of A could provide a model for using OA resources. Staff transitions to further OA in the library setting means finding local solutions for new technologies. As there will be less need for hard copies of research material with OA systems, personnel responsible for interlibrary loans and reference liaison can move to support the field of scholarly communication that relies on web-based resources.

Morrison predicted the question asked of librarians will no longer be "where can I find information?" but "how do I know I am not missing something essential?". In turn the questions she urges librarians to ask of their academic institutions is not "why are we focusing on OA when we must pay for so many journal subscribtions?" by "why are we not putting OA at the forefront when it is the future of scholarly publishing?".

Commentary

For established members of the academic and scholarly community the options available for disseminating ideas through wikis, blogs, e-portfolios, preprints, and the author’s own homepage mean that the peer-reviewed journal is not the first, last, or only word on the scholarly subject in question.

However, keeping track of all of these options presenting one’s work means that librarians are pressed to imagine what the future might be like and take steps to ensure that current priorities reflect where scholarly communication is headed (OA, on-line journals and other web-based resources) and not rely entirely on where it has come from (peer reviewed print publications).

Morrison’s comments on transition are valid, but if we are to consider scholarly communication the transfer of information and the circulation of knowledge between individuals the transition required by web-based resources is not then a total revolution. The ability to transmit ideas through media so that they might reach a wider audience has been a key aspect of journal publication since the seventeenth-century and the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

The immediacy of web-based resources means that the audience and the author are brought closer together in real-time – commenting on a blog is far faster than waiting for the next quarterly edition. Enhancing, supporting, and facilitating this closer relationship will be important tasks for librarians to consider.

Links to:
BC Electronic Library Network Page

Morrison's publications in the SFU Institutional Repository

Librarians as campus OA leaders: the University of Alberta experience

PKP Scholarly Publishing Conference
12 July 2007
9:40-10:40 SFUHC Sauder Industries Policy Room

Presenters:
Pam Ryan, University of Alberta Libraries.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
CV and Personal Website

Denise Koufogiannakis, University of Alberta Libraries.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
CV

Denise Koufogiannakis

Abstract

Denise Koufogiannkis and Pam Ryan provided an overview of their experience with Open Access (OA) at the University of Alberta (U of A). Making the transition from OA in theory to OA in practice in the university and public settings were key issues discussed in this presentation. Koufogiannkis noted that the U of A library is working to raise awareness of OA not only on campus, but to library users in other settings including the public education and public library system. To this end, Koufogiannkis developed a OA mandate for the U of A library that stresses the importance of including OA products in the library collection and providing support for the U of A community who have an interest in OA formats.

Building on discussions that began in 2006 and working with faculty via liaison librarians to explain the benefits of OA has seen the U of A librarians take a proactive approach. As editors of Evidence Based Library Information Practice Koufogiannkis and Ryan can provide insight into the practice of managing and using an OA journal. With regular meetings between faculty and librarians and promoting high profile events on campus (including the March 2007 lecture by Dr. John Willinsky on OA Principles) keeping OA in the campus and public eye has been an important part of moving OA forward.

Looking to the future, the recent hiring of a digital repository librarian and the commitment to further developing the presentation options of OA resources is further solidifying the importance of OA to the campus community and the academic library at the U of A. To continue to meet the needs of OA users, Ryan noted that librarians can be leaders by working with faculty to determine their needs by developing locally based solutions.

While neither Koufogiannkis or Ryan have "OA facilitator" in their job descriptions, both librarians look at OA as the future of libraries and have committed to serving the U of A community; students, faculty, staff, and members of public who have an interest in OA products, research, and information.

Connecting to and communicating with other librarians as OA becomes more popular has also lead to the creation of the Facebook group: Librarians who support open access.

Question from audience:
Could the presenters comment on the relationship between librarians and faculty?
-Faculty and librarians come from different perspectives, but value each other in research and knowledge. Librarians can inform and assist faculty with the advances of the OA process, but Ryan noted that having a high profile member of the academic community -- like John Willinsky -- talk about OA and its advantages to U of A faculty was of great benefit.

Commentary

Pam Ryan noted that discussing OA products is like being on a “carousel of progress”. Librarians find themselves explaining all aspects of OA to interested parties and informing faculty members of the public benefit – going around the same issues over and again until there is an understanding amongst the campus community. With the U of A’s enthusiasm for OA and OJS, the possibilities appear great. However, Ryan also explained that while librarians are excited to work with journals in the start-up phase and can offer support through the initial set-up, the software support is not available locally.

Will on-line journals develop faster and require more elements than the current software allows? As OJS develops new reading tools and seeks to provide the most effective access to information, improvements in the system are bound to occur. However, in his keynote address at the PKP Conference, John Willinsky reported that of 1000 journals using OJS since 2002, 46% are still using the original system. The software itself is clearly not holding back the transmission of ideas to an ever increasing audience.

Once enough members of an academic community support OA products there can be a movement from a “carousel of progress” where a network of people focuses on the journal service to the transmission of scholarly ideas across that group that includes scientists, doctors, social scientists, and researchers in the humanities.

Links to:

University of Alberta Library Homepage

Open Access Publishing Information for the U of A