Column Editor:  Ramune K. Kubilius  (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center) 

Against the Grain V35#3

Column Editor’s Note:  Thanks to the Charleston Conference attendees, both those who attended on-site and virtually, who agreed to write brief reports highlighting and spotlighting their 2022 Charleston Conference experience.  In 2022, the conference moved to an asynchronous format:  the in-person conference (November 1-4) was followed two weeks later by a virtual week (November 14-18) that included online-only sessions and presentations as well.  Conference registrants had the opportunity to view recordings and see slides (if available), to re-visit sessions they saw “live,” or to visit sessions they missed.  Without a doubt, there were more Charleston Conference sessions than there were volunteer reporters for Against the Grain, so the coverage is just a snapshot.  In 2022, reporters were invited to either provide general impressions on what caught their attention, or to select individual sessions on which they would report. 

There are many ways to learn more about the 2022 conference.  Please visit the Charleston Conference YouTube site, https://www.youtube.com/user/CharlestonConference/videos?app=desktop, for selected interviews and videos, and the conference site, http://www.charleston-hub.com/the-charleston-conference/ for links to conference information and blog reports written by Charleston Conference blogger, Donald Hawkins, http://www.charleston-hub.com/category/blogs/chsconfnotes/.  The 2022 Charleston Conference Proceedings will be published in 2023, in partnership with University of Michigan Press.

The first series of reports (published in our February 2023 issue v.35#1) featured reporters’ general impressions and memorable moments.  The next series of reports on individual sessions appeared in our April 2023 issue v.35#2.  In this issue we have included the final series of individual session reports that we received. — RKK

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3 AND NOVEMBER 17, 2022

NEAPOLITANS

The Psychology of Metrics  (report #1)

Reported by LeAnne Rumler  (Hilldale College) 

Presented by Daniel Hook (Digital Science) and Violeta Ilik (moderator, Adelphi University) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/9b66be50-cae2-4947-9a2f-c777a9706bcb

The presenters used a question-and-answer format to discuss the psychology of metrics and why we, as humans, are drawn to and rely so heavily on metrics.  In response to questions posed by Ilik, Hook described humans as competitive, order-makers.  The act of ordering and grouping helps humans contextualize their world.  Metrics are orderable, understandable, and relatable to humans.  Rankings are attention-based metrics and an extension of making order in academia.  Rankings put a number on concepts, which makes them look scientific, however, this attention-based structure is cyclical and self-perpetuating;  the higher the ranking the more attention it is given.  The ranking (reward) system in academia has led to a metric/impact-driven structure where impact = popularity, not necessarily quality.  Academic metrics, including rankings and citations, drive what to read, where to publish, whom to hire and fund, and where to study, work, and collaborate.  The rankings in all of these areas are the lens through which academics are focused (and narrowed).  Hook recommends a second system be developed in academia, using responsible evaluation, i.e., non-attention-based metrics.

The Psychology of Metrics  (report #2)

Reported by Jennifer Sterling  (University of North Texas)   

Presented by Daniel Hook (Digital Science) and Violeta Ilik (moderator, Adelphi University) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/9b66be50-cae2-4947-9a2f-c777a9706bcb

As academics, we enjoy putting things in order and we are primed to respond to metrics.  As a librarian, I feel very driven to make decisions based on metrics and it’s easy to conflate use with quality so I was very interested in this session.  Daniel Hook explained how metrics appeal to us and how they are failing us and our institutions.  Our brains desire metrics that are understandable, look scientific, and are verbable (Zoom, Google).  University rankings and the impact factor were two examples of these metrics Daniel referenced.  AI has the potential to create a feedback loop that convinces us that popular research is good research. 

Whole eBook ILL Redux

Reported by Leigh Ann DePope  (University of Maryland College Park) 

Presented by Allen Jones (the New School), Whitney Murphy (ProQuest), George Machovec (Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries) , Sylvia Bonadio (Brill), and Lisa Nachtigall (Oxford University Press) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/7f7a18c3-396a-4929-9cca-7fcda3e052c6

This Neopolitan session was a follow-up to a session from the 2021 Charleston Conference.  The presenters participated in a pilot project for whole eBook lending using the ProQuest Ebook Central platform.  The pilot allowed the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL) and the New School to lend whole eBooks from their owned content.  The borrower received a tokenized URL to access the content using the ProQuest platform interface.  The publisher representatives on the panel expressed optimism about the pilot and how it exposed their content to a broader audience.  The library representatives also expressed optimism but pointed out the increased workload it created for their staff.  There were a few data packed slides analyzing the impacts of the pilot but it was too much information to digest in this setting.  Audience members asked about the security of the tokenized URL and panelists admitted that it could be shared with others but that the publisher and library would see the use if that happened.  Another audience member voiced concerns that this type of service could erode the gains made in licensing terms for whole eBook lending and removing digital rights management (DRM) restrictions.  Overall, it was interesting to see publishers exploring whole eBook lending avenues with libraries. 

Data Mining & Delivery via API:  Challenges & Strategies for Future Collection Development

Reported by Jen Ferguson  (Northeastern University) 

Presented by Kelly LaVoice (Vanderbilt University), Dan Hickey (New York University), and Erin Wachowicz (Yale University) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/a5a22e8b-3f01-422e-8c9e-6f4a0c4bbf97

This dynamic session was presented by three academic librarians, all subject specialists in business areas, to a standing room-only audience.  Their remarks framed the topic through three lenses:  1. foundational challenges, including issues with slow APIs and months-long lead times to gain access to content;  2. conceptional challenges, such as that data mining sources are not so much static datasets as continually updating streams;  and 3. strategies and solutions to address these challenges.  Strategies included acknowledging the need to advocate for and adopt new workflows to mitigate sustainability issues, recognition of the role of liaison librarians as linchpins for understanding the perspectives of the various stakeholders involved, and a readiness to explain to patrons how and when to move beyond library collections for their data mining needs (including a shout-out to MIT’s guide of freely available resources and tools).

Historians and Librarians Unite!:  25 Years of Collaborations

Reported by Shannon Tennant  (Elon University) 

Presented by Cindy Ingold  (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Kelly Blessinger  (Louisiana State University) and Tammie Busch  (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/f96a1636-9ff4-41ce-a198-d97ece02e66a?returnautoscroll=%23itemf96a1636-9ff4-41ce-a198-d97ece02e66a 

The presentation began by commemorating the Women and Social Reform Movements website, now part of Alexander Street, which was begun in 1997 by Kathryn Kish Sklar and Thomas Dublin.  Dublin presented video remarks about the work.  Ingold described her research on librarians as social activists.  She has studied women’s groups in ALA and their activism around women’s issues in the 1970s.  She is now looking at the WGSS section of ACRL in 1980s and conducting interviews with the participants.  Blessinger and Busch talked about their contributions to the Online Biographical Dictionary of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the United States.  Hundreds of volunteers all over the country researched women who had been lost to history and wrote entries for the website.  Busch served as a state coordinator, overseeing dozens of volunteers.  Blessinger also mentioned other crowdsourced history projects. 

Making Preservation Inevitable

Reported by Jennifer Kemp  (formerly at Crossrref) 

Presented by Alicia Wise (CLOCKSS), Gaelle Béquet (ISSN International Centre), Jason Colman (Michigan Publishing), Mikael Laakso (Hanken School of Economics) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/8f1663a2-5629-47d9-8d19-4095ebca74db?returnautoscroll=%23item8f1663a2-5629-47d9-8d19-4095ebca74db

Wise began with the stated aim of persuading attendees not already convinced of the need for digital preservation.

Outputs from a recent working group highlighted collaboration as a key theme:

1. Template language to address problems with commonly used language in electronic licenses that leave responsibilities and parameters around preservation unclear

2. A companion negotiation guide

Colman focused on audio/visual and other non-traditional materials, including interactive books.

He questioned whether or to what extent the reading experience should factor into preservation planning (another central theme).  It might be a trade off for preserving the core of the content, i.e., planned obsolescence.

Béquet continued these themes, noting the pace of journal publishing at an annual increase of about 3.5%.  She discussed the Keepers Registry, a free monitor of journal archiving and Project Jasper, a shared journals preservation effort.

Laakso concluded with an analysis of preservation of ~400,000 unique OA book items.  A range of 9-45% of represented titles are preserved.  He noted that it’s early days for settled practice and that there are opportunities for improvement, for example, defining the terms OA and academic.

Stopwatch Session 6

Reported by Ramune K. Kubilius  (Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine) 

Presentations:

Putting the You Back in Universal Access:  How the Alabama Virtual Library Partnered with Springer-Nature to Facilitate “Affordable Learning” for All Persons in Alabama — Presented by Ron Leonard (Alabama Commission on Higher Education) and Joseph Herrmann (Springer-Nature)

Starting to Happen:  NISO’s Audio & Video Metadata Recommendations — Presented by Nettie Lagace (NISO – National Information Standards Organization)

Never stop innovating:  an integrated model for the digital library — Presented by Scott Warrenn (Syracuse Univ. Libraries)

Whose Responsibility is it Anyway?  An introduction to the Vetting Research Project — Presented by Willa Tavernier (IU Bloomington), Amy Minix (IU Bloomington) and Caroline Allen (University of Iowa)

Establishing the OA Monograph Publishing Infrastructure:  Metadata, Promotion, and Consumption — Presented by Rachel Fox Von Swearingen (Syracuse University) and Dylan Mohr (Syracuse University)

https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/f9e186c4-6984-4cc1-b26c-6e06c098583b

NOTE:  A re-ordering of presentations was announced by moderator Kubilius at the beginning of the session.  All presenters were live on-site except co-author Mohr who was remote and joined the session virtually for the discussion portion (the virtual week featured the pre-recordings).

Stopwatch sessions are fun and this one did not disappoint.  All presenters (except one co-author) were on-site and each presentation offered varied insights:  into the sincere efforts of librarians to inform their users about questionable journal practices (Tavernier, Minix, Allen), NISO’s forthcoming metadata recommendations for audio and video (Lagace), the Alabama state consortium’s initiative to expand scientific information content and access (Leonard, Hermann), a partnership with a digital content platform provider, Adam Matthew, to improve the work of digital library management (Hermann), efforts to make more OA books discoverable (Fox Von Swearington, Mohr).  A comment by Lagace resonated.  As NISO takes “bite sized pieces” of a hugely scoped vision, conference stop watch sessions likewise are “bite size” views into various parts of our information landscape.  Since a number of the initiatives described in this session are still underway, future presentations may be warranted to present updates…

One post-conference addendum is that NISO announced publication of the practice described by Lagace, as posted in ATG News & Announcements for 2/14/23.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4 AND NOVEMBER 18, 2022

Open Book Collective:  A Community Led Project for Funding OA books

Reported by Shannon Tennant  (Elon University) 

Presented by Livy Onalee Snyder (punctum books) and Eileen A. Fradenburg Joy (punctum books) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/cd60addf-198c-45d1-9e5f-47002af4a7dd?returnautoscroll=%23itemcd60addf-198c-45d1-9e5f-47002af4a7dd

The Open Book Collective is seeking to create a new model of open access monograph publishing and distribution for small publishers.  This model will not be reliant on BPCs (Book Processing Charges) and will create a community of publishers, librarians, service providers, and OA experts.  They value open infrastructure, a not-for-profit model, and being community-led.  They have an inclusive international governing board.  The funding model will include financial support from libraries, who can choose which publishers to support.  Publishers will also give back some profits, and there will be relationships with organizations such as Lyrasis and Jisc.  Their digital platform will allow institutions to learn about and compare OA book initiatives.  They will be utilizing Thoth, an open source metadata management and distribution platform.  More information can be found on their website https://copim.pubpub.org/open-book-collective.  

Research Data:  IT MATTERS!  How Generalist Repositories enable discovery and reproducibility in Biomedical Research

Reported by Ramune K. Kubilius  (Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine) 

Presented by Lisa Federer (National Institutes of Health), Eric Olson (Center for Open Science), Frank Semancik (Figshare), Holly Falk-Krzesinski (Elsevier) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/c2f8fe37-938b-4312-a851-7381bc6bc966

NOTE:  Lisa Federer did not present;  John Chodacki (California Digital Library) provided the introductory overview in the on-site presentation.

Chodacki reviewed the NIH’s goals that began with a 2019-2020 pilot (with figshare), the ODSS (Office of Data Science Strategy) assessment that led to presentations such as the one in Charleston.  Generalist repositories have a role, in co-opetition, since authors (from their publications) link to them, based on the different needs … In describing the repository each represents, speakers also made observations that resonated, e.g., data shared without metadata is not open (Olson);  federal agencies will continue mandating and researchers will continue wanting to show impact;  also that a co-opetition network encourages innovation (Falk-Krzyenski).  The mix of repositories represented in GREI, and its working groups, address various aspects of the landscape (and resonate with those from the library and information world), from metadata, search, training and outreach, and open metrics. 

NEAPOLITANS

The Places We’ve Been:  NISOs Interoperable System of Controlled Digital Lending Update

Reported by Victoria Peters  (DePauw University) 

Presented by Allen Jones (moderator, New School), Nettie Lagace (NISO), Robert Cartolano (Columbia University), Sebastian Hammer (IndexData) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/002d3d87-92cb-4106-9116-26f3c1b9d1d1?returnautoscroll=%23item002d3d87-92cb-4106-9116-26f3c1b9d1d1

NISO’s working group (sponsored by the Mellon Foundation) presented an update on their creation of standards for an Interoperable System of Controlled Digital Lending (CDL).  The working group represents a diverse group of librarians, publishers, and vendors.  The session included a brief history of CDL and how the working group came to be.  They are seeking to answer the question “How can we achieve something like Interlibrary Loan (ILL) where two CDL applications would be able to talk to each other?” so that libraries are not creating silos for CDL systems in a single institution or group.  The working group reported that they hope to publish a guide for various models of CDL that would represent their standards in July of 2023.  The presentation ended with an activity used by the working group to clarify their own definitions of CDL.  The conference attendees used red, yellow, and green construction paper to vote if the example on the slides was CDL, Not CDL, or CDL adjacent (for example, from the same delivery channel but represented a different function from CDL).  I believe this activity strongly resonated with the attendees and sparked a lively discussion about the reasoning behind the leaders’ categorizations of the examples.

VIRTUAL WEEK (ONLINE ONLY SESSIONS)

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022

Collaborating on Open Access Books Analytics – An Interactive Session

Reported by Eva Murphy  (West Virginia University Libraries)   [virtual conference reporter] 

Presented by Niels Stern (OAPEN), Leah Dunn (Columbia University Libraries), Esther Jackson (Columbia University Libraries), Katherine Brooks (Columbia University Libraries)— https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/fd21f816-e30a-4633-a360-57e6ae11b207

During the first part of this session, OAPEN Foundation director Niels Stern brought awareness to the organization’s services.  In 2022, OAPEN created a usage statistics visualization dashboard.  This dashboard is utilized in OAPEN’s newest initiative, Book Analytics Dashboard (BAD) Demonstration Project.  This project, which will run through 2025,  is focused on creating a sustainable OA book-focused analytics service that works to support diversity.  BAD incorporates many types of metrics, but Stern stated that OAPEN is interested in receiving feedback from libraries regarding what type of data is needed to make informed OA acquisition decisions. 

The latter half of this session featured representatives from Columbia University Libraries sharing the work undertaken by their OA Taskforce to develop a rubric for evaluating OA offers.  Six criteria are evaluated on the final version of the rubric, including author’s rights, financial sustainability, and use of open licenses.  Katherine Brooks, Collection Analysis Librarian, noted that educational institutions have the opportunity to influence the type of metrics provided by communicating needs to OAPEN.  However, work is still needed to discover methods for converting the qualitative data captured by Columbia’s rubric into quantitative data that publishers can provide as metadata.

How the make-up of a Collection differs by job description:  Updating and future proofing a fund structure from the perspectives of a Librarian and Accounts Payable

Reported by Kalvin Van Gaasbeck  (Santa Clara University)   [virtual conference reporter]

Presented by Cara Calabrese (Miami University) and Elissa Martin (Miami University) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/c68b2254-a043-4f3b-845a-654799c262e2?returnautoscroll=%23itemc68b2254-a043-4f3b-845a-654799c262e2

This presentation was during the first time slot for virtual-only Conference sessions beginning at 6:00 AM PST and, like all sessions for the virtual conference experience, was prerecorded and followed by a live Zoom Q&A session with the presenters.  The presentation covered how the presenters collaborated to address problems arising from outdated fund codes.  The presenters emphasized the importance of collaboration within the organization and overcoming jargon to develop a new fund structure compatible with the university’s budgetary reporting and the library’s needs.  The Q&A session addressed questions about the uptake of new fund codes by the library staff, updating old orders, how to code EBA within the new structure, and whether a more granular subject-specific approach was ever considered.

A Science Librarian in Africa

Reported by Ramune K. Kubilius  (Northwestern University Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center) 

Presented by Mary Ellen Sloane (Middle Tennessee State University), Joy Nieman (San Jose State University), and Hilary Meehan (San Jose State University) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/4490fbb2-de26-4680-86b8-7b165958dea8?returnautoscroll=%23item4490fbb2-de26-4680-86b8-7b165958dea8

Virtual only sessions such as this one provide an opportunity for attendees to learn about new things, particularly in the global arena.  Sloane, connecting from Rwanda, provided insights into her search for a Fulbright Scholar project that matched her interests and skills, and the resulting project, working with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Kinigi, Rwanda has been a good match.  MLIS students Nieman and Meehan talked about the enrichment that involvement in this “real world” experience provided for them.  Discussion was lively with questions about Fulbright opportunities for librarians, and about the nature of working globally with a research center that doesn’t (yet) have a library or librarian project partner, but rather, a motivated researcher partner.  This was a true example of an e-only library in the making, as Sloan and the students set up a series of sites to store project management and research (publication output) evaluation.  They used technology and tools such as Slack, Google Drive, Monday, and Zoom, and practiced project management, including documentation, and collection development skills.

Journal Perpetual Access Tracking – An Open Source New System

Reported by Erika Boardman  (UNC Charlotte)    [virtual conference reporter]

Presented by Melissa Belvadi (University of Prince Edward Island) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/43401276-a3d8-42fa-ba51-c873349bb997

Keeping track of perpetual access entitlements can be a cumbersome task and quickly turn into a disorganized mess.  Documents about institutional subscriptions and purchases can be easily misplaced or lost, causing confusion amongst librarians and possible heated disputes with related parties.  Belvadi presented on the creation of an open-sourced journal entitlements tracking software used to record perpetual access rights for serials that are covered by CRKN (Canadian Research Knowledge Network) consortium licenses.  The presentation included a general project overview, an explanation of the files and templates, a demonstration of the client, and ideas for the future.  While the presentation had an overall focus on the software’s use for “Big Deals” at the consortium level, it was emphasized that the software can be used for other serial subscriptions outside of your “Big Deals” and consortium.  You can also choose to just use the spreadsheet template for local tracking within a shared drive.  As someone who appreciates an organized record-keeping system and is constantly sifting through shared folders, the presentation was exactly what I expected it to be and the forward-thinking approach behind this project will get your gears turning on how you can finetune your department’s document control workflows.

NOTE:  This is the link on GitHub to the open-source software that Belvadi mentioned:  https://github.com/mbelvadi/library-journal-entitlements-project

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2022

OA in Practice:  Implementing a Successful Transitional Agreement

Reported by Jennifer Walker  (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)   [virtual conference reporter]

Presented by Teri Gallaway (SCELC), Matthew Goddard (Iowa State University), and David Fisher (moderator, Wiley) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/c8f3df69-3e42-409a-b179-2bd35b81515c

NOTE:  This presentation was pre-recorded with the speakers joining a live Zoom discussion afterwards.

More than eighty conference attendees gathered on the morning of November 15, 2022 to discuss the lessons learned by the speakers regarding implementing successful Transitional Agreements (TAs) in a library or consortium setting.  The main takeaway I gathered from this lively discussion was that TAs are still in their infancy — a work in progress for both libraries and publishers alike.  We, as librarians, have an opportunity here to help shape the future of this paradigm shift in collection development.  When beginning to develop TAs, our primary goals should be:  (1) Cost containment.  Focus on moving budgets away from subscription-based to open access (OA) in a sustainable way;  (2) Pursue those agreements that demonstrate a transition to full OA over time.  This will help guide the change we want to see;  (3) Tweak workflows over time.  Work with publishers to create successful author experiences and improve staff workflows.  Overall, this session was an informative overview of the existing landscape of TAs and a view into their potential future.  I would encourage anyone starting down this path to view this presentation and reach out to the speakers with any questions.

Asking the Right Questions:  An Analysis of Ask-A-Librarian Transcripts

Reported by Dana Laird  (SUNY Brockport)   [virtual conference reporter]

Presented by Pauline Bickford Cline (University of Florida), Doug Kiker (University of Florida), Christy Shorey (University of Florida) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/9605343d-b5d5-4822-9454-41b9af84ecc9

How well are patrons’ inquiries resolved with Ask-A-Librarian service?  That is the question tackled by the presenters at this session.  A subcommittee of the library’s Assessment Committee analyzed a year’s worth of Ask-A-Librarian transcripts to determine whether patrons’ questions were satisfactorily answered.  Ratings were assessed by the subcommittee of which few to no members were part of the Ask-A-Librarian team.  Ratings were not intended to be judgmental but to look for areas to provide additional training.  An outcome of this assessment included making updates to the library’s FAQs and room reservations webpages.  Recommendations included offering yearly focused Ask-A-Librarian training sessions, avoiding jargon and using inclusive, positive language in chat, and providing Permalinks rather than using a browser URL to share articles and other resources.  A future subcommittee may look into utilizing artificial intelligence in chat or evaluating the effectiveness of changes made by this subcommittee on characteristics of patron interactions.

Co-pilots or Backseat Drivers?:  Perspectives of Vendors & Library Workers on Vendor Services

Reported Kalvin Van Gaasbeck  (Santa Clara University)    [virtual conference reporter]

Presented by Erin Gallagher (University of Florida), Jonathan Harwell (Georgia College), Amy Pham (SCELC), and Shannon Spurlock (Kanopy, an OverDrive company) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/dc7ee7d3-f6ae-4862-b90b-6e229400ff4f?returnautoscroll=%23itemdc7ee7d3-f6ae-4862-b90b-6e229400ff4f

This panel brought together speakers from libraries, a consortium (SCELC), and a vendor (Kanopy) to discuss the findings of a global survey on the perspectives of vendors and library workers.  One of the main goals of the project was to test the long-established assumption that library workers’ and vendors’ values and goals are not aligned, but survey results revealed similar themes were priorities to all groups.  The post-session Zoom Q&A included discussions of reworking the survey for vendor and consortia responses, how libraries can best respond to vendor offer communications when money is an issue, how libraries work together on new products and features, and what consortia can do for libraries beyond making deals and pricing negotiation.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022

Class of 2021:  Recent Library School graduates discuss the impact of Covid-19 on their collection development outlook

Reported by Vanessa Garcia  (University of Connecticut)   [virtual conference reporter]

Presented by Georgette Nicolosi (Penn State University) and Margaret Mahoney (Penn State University) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/61fcda66-52c3-4f80-a3da-6bdcbd0e7590?returnautoscroll=%23item61fcda66-52c3-4f80-a3da-6bdcbd0e7590

NOTE:  The virtual session consisted of a recording of the on-site presentation followed by a live Q&A on Zoom with both speakers.

Presenters spoke about their challenges transitioning from being MLIS students to full-time professionals and how these difficulties were exacerbated by the pandemic.  Striving to be business liaison librarians, they embarked in virtual schooling — which neither presenter was keen on — and found collection development courses oriented towards public librarianship and a lack of subject specific coursework.  Opportunities to complement their schooling with field experience were inadequate in the face of insufficient internships, many virtual and open to non-MLIS students and few dedicated to collection development.  Despite obtaining their “golden ticket,” finding a position was not easy and once there they relied on adaptability and colleague support to fully grasp new trends — renewed focus on DEIA and sustainability practices — and intricacies their program did not suitably prepare them for — managing increasing subscription costs and shrinking budgets when their course models used single time funds, the divide in collection outlook between library staff and faculty and how to manage different preferences, and more — all at once.  They concluded their talk by discussing ways for improved support for entry-level librarians via learning opportunities and community building, such as increased internship and mentoring opportunities and the inclusion of new librarians in important collection development conversations.

Values and Issues that Unite Us:  The imperative for publishers, libraries and research institutions to join forces

Reported by Ramune K. Kubilius  (Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine) 

Presented by Caroline Sutton (STM) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/8ee49aa0-97fc-4000-b6ce-0d52ea6d132a?returnautoscroll=%23item8ee49aa0-97fc-4000-b6ce-0d52ea6d132a

Due to unforeseen circumstances, keynote speaker Sutton was not able to come to Charleston, and her pre-recorded presentation (without a live online Q&A with attendees due to the time difference) became available only during virtual week.  She began by introducing herself as an American who has lived in Norway for 30 years and remarked that she was departing from the expectations some might have that she would primarily speak about open science (all things open).  Instead, her comments (and hopes) that she summarized as “trust in science” (things we don’t want to neglect) were compressed into a “top 5” list that spotlighted what she felt are important priorities.  This included:  formalizing communication training for PhD trainees;  stamping out predatory publishers and conferences;  supporting researchers in open research priorities;  the importance of standards and persistent identifiers;  research integrity.  She acknowledged that also important are data, intelligence, technology, and she mentioned initiatives such as the STM Integrity Hub stm-assoc.org/stm-integrity-hub and a collaborative project with COPE (along with Maverick Publishing Services) researching paper mills https://doi.org/10.24318/jtbG8IHL.  Plans are underway to address peer review next.  (The speaker also expressed hopes that she will be able to attend the Charleston Conference in person sometime soon.)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Into the Streaming Verse: Where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going

Reported by Marianne Foley  (California State University, Fresno)   [virtual conference reporter]

Presented by Winifred Metz (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Danette Pastner (Duke University Libraries), and Brian Edwards (Swank Motion Pictures) — https://chsconf.cadmore.media/Category/745ac0db-c749-4e78-a75e-ab1100c43388 

The speakers posed unrehearsed questions to each other, which made for a dynamic presentation.  They began by summarizing past developments before moving on to the current streaming environment.  While libraries have been transitioning to online content for some time, the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown dramatically escalated this trend.  The majority of libraries mediate streaming video requests to control spending as library budgets continue to decline.  Swank Motion Pictures entered the higher education market around 2008, after a long history of licensing theatrical films for public viewing.  SWANK’s academic selections consist of requests from universities and new releases that have significant relevance to higher education.  Costs are determined by many factors including infrastructure and bandwidth expenses, royalties, and market pricing. Recently, SWANK has seen more demand for short-form and obscure content.  Libraries believe current pricing models are unsustainable, particularly those based on campus FTE because films are rarely viewed by entire campuses.  This year SWANK introduced a “Top 1000” database of its most-requested titles.  This appeals to libraries because it offers reliable content, saves staff processing time, provides titles that will be used, and moves away from the unsustainable model of paying per-film fees.  In the next three years, the speakers foresee moves to ownership of digital sight licenses, more OA streaming resources, demand for diverse voices, and multipronged approaches with subscriptions, short-term access, and individual use of direct-to consumer platforms.  The audience expressed concerns over costs to license TV series and user expectations based on direct-to-consumer platforms. 

Well, this wraps up the reports from the 2022 Charleston Conference.  We’d like to send a big thank you to all of the attendees who agreed to report on the conference, both general reports (published in February) and those who wrote short reports that highlighted individual sessions they attended (published in April and June).  Be sure to visit the Charleston Conference YouTube site for selected interviews and videos, and the Charleston Conference site for links to conference information and blog reports written by Charleston Conference blogger Donald Hawkins.  

See you at the 2023 Charleston Conference!