Restructuring and Formalizing: Scholarly Communication as a Sustainable Growth Opportunity in Information Agencies?

Abstract

Emerging technologies are revolutionizing the field of scholarly communication. Because of this, scholars increasingly need specialized support during all stages of the research process. With the academic library as the unit of analysis, two concepts from Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation theory and organizational innovation literature are drawn upon to assess the sustainability of scholarly communication work in libraries. These concepts are organizational restructuring and formalization. Data on Association of Research Libraries (ARL) employees with relevant job titles and three digital curation competencies documents are analysed. Study findings suggest that ARL information agencies have restructured to provide added research support and that skills associated with scholarly communication positions are becoming more uniform. We conclude that scholarly communication information professionals are part of a sustainable area of practice within ARL information agencies, that has matured over the past decade, and this trend is likely to continue in at least the short term.the study of how scholars in any field (e.g., physical, biological, social and behavioural sciences, humanities and technology) use and disseminate information through formal and informal channels. The study of scholarly communication includes the growth of scholarly information, the relationships among research areas and disciplines, the information needs and uses of individual user groups, and the relationships among formal and informal methods of communication (Borgman, 1990, pp. 13-4).Scholarly communication enables the work of researchers at universities and organizations that are dedicated to creating new knowledge. In the United States (U.S.), over half of all federal research dollars are granted to university-affiliated researchers (Regazzi, 2015) making universities a hub for the creation of new knowledge. Supporting ScholarsSupporting scholarly communication on university campuses in an age of emerging technologies has naturally fallen to information professionals based in information agencies, such as academic libraries. Traditionally, academic libraries have divided the expertise they provide into technical services and public services, but given the complexity of technologies combined with the increasingly sophisticated needs of users, a new breed of information professional must emerge (e.g., Kowalski, 2017). In the case of scholarly communication questions, not only must the information professional curate and supply access to scholarship, but he/she must also work with scholars to organize, provide access to, save, and share their work. Providing specialized support to scholars (e.g., Ketchum, 2017) during the research process has quickly become the purview of the academic library.As the needs of researchers and scholars have changed, the work of information professionals has evolved in parallel. Working to support the field of "scholarly communication today reflects a [need to master an ever-growing] constellation of tools, practices...

Some Issues on the Funding of the Scientific Publication in Open Access

“…The possibility of publishing in the digital setting and format (Million & Hudson Vitale, 2019) -with the same print standards such as an ISSN (International Standard Serials Number), and with enriching additions such as the possibility of indicating a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for each article, thus facilitating research -has become the mainstream, and today virtually all scientific journals not only have a digital version (with the same quality as the printed version), but, for economic and environmental reasons, but also the practicability of publication and research, journals' printed versions tend to be abandoned. According to Kortabarria (2020), "a scientific journal was perceived as needed, because the academia increasingly needed the fast turnaround that only an on-line platform could provide" (p. 223).…”