ATGthePodcast 107 – Using the unbundling power of Unsub responsibly: unveiling its assumptions and unpacking its defaults
Audio from the 2020 Charleston Library Conference, presented by Michael Levine-Clark, Dean of Libraries, University of Denver; Jason Price, Research and Scholarly Communication Director, SCELC, and John McDonald, Director, Product Management, Analytics, EBSCO Information Services.
Faced with unexpected double-digit budget cuts and ever-increasing costs for journal packages, many academic libraries are finding it necessary and/or expedient to unbundle their big deals. Determining the relative value of these packages is not easy, since it requires an understanding of how reduced access will impact users now and into the future. Enter Unsub, a tool designed by researchers to model future library costs based on current patterns of availability and use within each package. Unsub allows librarians to make informed decisions about which titles to keep and which to cancel by identifying alternative access via backfile ownership, open access, and cost-effective use of interlibrary loan (ILL). However, without a sufficient understanding of its inner workings, librarians run the risk of making poor cancellation decisions.
In this presentation, we’ll hear the most important Unsub definitions, assumptions, and parameter defaults, highlighting scenarios designed to test their effects on cancellation recommendations across multiple institutions with varied research profiles. More specifically, we’ll delve into Unsub’s definitions of OA coverage and journal usage/value; (2) assumptions around OA availability and delayed access; and (3) default parameters for backfile coverage, current usage to ILL conversion, and aggregator access. Then we’ll end with Charleston-style provocative prognostication and a call to action. The results we’ll share will provide critical insight into the foundations of Unsub, enabling attendees to harness this powerful tool to make better decisions for the researchers they serve.
Video of the presentation available at: https://youtu.be/nIPn8n83fuk
ATGthePodcast 106 – Artificial Intelligence and Publishing With Feet Firmly on the Ground-with Michael Upshall, UNSILO
In today’s episode we will feature audio from an Interview of Michael Upshall, of UNSILO. The interview was conducted by Matthew Ismail, Director of Collection Development, University of Central Michigan.
Michael Upshall is head of sales and business development at UNSILO, the B2B part of Cactus Communications specialising in AI tools. He started in publishing compiling dictionaries, then moved to editing how-to books for Dorling Kindersley, before co-founding reference publisher Helicon Publishing. He has worked with publishers on digital creation and delivery, including The IET, CABI, and Cambridge University Press, as well as managing projects for JISC, the UK Association for Digital Solutions in UK higher education. He has written articles and books (Content Licensing, Elsevier, 2009), and writes a regular column on digital publishing.
Today Michael gives his take on AI in publishing with a focus on feet on the ground reality.
ATGthePodcast 105 – Keynote Panel-The Long Arm of the Law-Part 2
Audio from Part Two of a keynote of the 2020 Charleston Library Conference, presented by Pam Samuelson, Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law, Berkeley Law School, in Berkeley, CA, and moderated by Ann Okerson, Senior Advisor, Center for Research Libraries.
In Part Two of the Long Arm Panel, Pam talks with us about what Controlled Digital Lending is, institutions and people who have endorsed it, the position statement and white paper that explains what the rationale behind it is, the Author’s Alliance support for CDL as a Fair Use, Internet Archive’s Open Library as an example of CDL and CDL in the context of the Publisher’s lawsuit against Internet Archive, the lawsuit status report, is it fair use or not fair use and risk mitigation strategies.
Also featured in this presentation is a tribute to the late Bill Hannay, Partner at Schiff Hardin, who was such a big part of the Long Arm Panel for many years.
Video of the presentation available at https: https://youtu.be/-cByRJJ9GM0
ATGthePodcast 104 – Keynote Panel-The Long Arm of the Law-Part 1
Audio from Part 1 of a keynote of the 2020 Charleston Library Conference, presented by Nancy Kirkpatrick, Executive Director/CEO, OhioNET, and moderated by Ann Okerson, Senior Advisor, Center for Research Libraries. The Long Arm Panel focuses each year on serious legal topics for the information industry.
This year the Long Arm Panel was titled “Revisionist History,” and Nancy talks with us about some of the legal aspects on the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion, accessibility and anti-racism work in and out of higher ed and their implications for your work, and the cases that she feels are most critical right now.
Video of the presentation available at https: https://youtu.be/-cByRJJ9GM0
ATGthePodcast 103- Interview of Scott Garrison, Executive Director, MCLS
In today’s episode we feature audio from an Interview of Scott Garrison, Executive Director of the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services. The interview was conducted by Matthew Ismail, Director of Collection Development, University of Michigan.
The Midwest Collaborative for Library Services is a consortium that serves over 650 member libraries across the states of Indiana and Michigan. They provide services such as organizing group purchases of e-journal subscriptions, databases, and e-book packages. Scott says one of the main benefits of MCLS is that they serve many different types and sizes of libraries, thus creating a greater membership diversity. Scott will give his take on transformative agreements and how MCLS can help, especially with smaller institutions.
ATGthePodcast 102 – Interview with Stephen Barr
In today’s episode we feature an interview with Stephen Barr, President of SAGE International. This interview is part of the popular “Views from the Penthouse Suite” series and was conducted by Tom Gilson, Associate Editor, Against the Grain, and Matthew Ismail, Director of Collection Development, University of Michigan.
In the interview, Stephen talks about his presentation at the 2020 Charleston Conference titled “What Would It Really Take to Achieve The OA transition: An Open Take from a Publisher, a Librarian and a Funder.” Stephen gives his take on the Open Access Transition and what this could mean for the scholarly communications system as a whole, and whether a massive, systemic change is inevitable. Stephen discusses his view of transformative agreements, the potential benefits and limitations involved and what may happen to those who don’t do transformative agreements in the future, whether by choice or due to funding restrictions.
In a space which can be quite polarized, Stephen says it is important to think of how we got here (the focus on journals) and how do we move forward? How do we change a system where publishers are perceived as restrictive, reluctant and self-seeking? He likens the current state to “changing the engines on a plane as it is flying. None of us wants to sort of stop the system, land, slow down and do a big transformation and then take off again. We’re trying to re-engineer the whole process mid-flight.” Stephen gives his take on the actions that librarians and publishers can take to help the industry moving forward with OA transition and transformative agreements.
Stephen says it is important to not just represent your own interests, and he feels that his position at SAGE, a distinctive player in the scholarly communications space, enables him to do this as their primary goal is dissemination of knowledge. Stephen is also on the Board of Directors at Manchester University Press in the UK. This allows him to view the issues and challenges through the lenses of both a large publisher and a small university press.
Video of the Presentation is available at: https://youtu.be/luC7JVAnpcc
ATGthePodcast 101 – Views From the Penthouse Suite- Interview with Earl Lewis
In today’s episode we will feature an interview with Dr. Earl Lewis, University of Michigan, Director of Center for Social Solutions. This interview is part of the popular “Views from the Penthouse Suite” series and was conducted by Tom Gilson, Associate Editor, Against the Grain, and Jim O’Donnell, University Librarian, Arizona State University.
Two weeks ago we featured Dr. Lewis’ keynote presentation from the 2020 Charleston Conference where he showed us how leading requires more than managing change, it requires a focus on building a community of grace during such turbulent times. What a wonderful kickoff to the Conference and our new podcast season it was! Tom and Jim caught up with Dr. Lewis after his keynote to speak with him. He talked with them about his experience with libraries growing up in Norfolk, Virginia in the 1960’s. He says the library, even in a segregated city at that time, became a more desegregated space for him. He recalls barriers being moved and the “opening up” as laws were changed and the impacts it had on him and his family. He also reflects how his background shapes his view of where we are as a society now and how to handle the tasks ahead of us all.
Video of the Presentation is available at:
ATGthePodcast 100 – Do Librarians Matter and What Might Matter to Librarians?
Audio from a keynote of the 2020 Charleston Library Conference, presented by John Palfrey, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, who will share his thoughts on the importance of librarians and their work. The question of “Where to from here?” will be on everyone’s mind in the immediate aftermath of both a pandemic and a federal election. Regardless of the outcomes, libraries and librarians will matter. In Palfrey’s book, BiblioTech (Basic Books, 2015), he argued that librarians matter more than ever in a digital age. He will share updated thinking on the moment we live in, the possibilities for librarians, the risks information professionals face in unstable times, and why we all rely so heavily on the institution of the library in communities and on campuses.
Video of the presentation available at: https://youtu.be/sxmig1FWfW8
ATGthePodcast 099 – Leading in an Age of Chaos and Change: Building a Community of Grace
Audio from the opening keynote of the 2020 Charleston Library Conference, a presentation by Earl Lewis, Director of the University of Michigan Center for Social Solutions, moderated by Jim O’Donnell, University Librarian at Arizona State University.
Headlines scream, horns blare, neighbors march, bodies mount, and the pace of change never seems to abate. Life can seem out of control. America can appear divided along any number of fault lines. Against this backdrop, Earl Lewis argues that leading requires more than managing change, it requires a focus on building a community of grace.
Video of the presentation available at https://youtu.be/CtVvQvxnZA8.
ATGthePodcast 098 – Subscribe to Open Publishing: Knowledge Unlatched and the International Water Association Publishing Journals
On today’s episode, Matthew Ismail, Editor in Chief of the Charleston Briefings: Trending Topics for Information Professionals, and Director of Collection Development at Central Michigan University talks with Sara Bosshart of IWA Publishing and Philipp Hess of Knowledge Unlatched about why the subscribe-to-open model of open access is a good fit for IWA Publishing Journals.
International Water Association Publishing is a small society publisher that is working with Knowledge Unlatched to convert their remaining 10 subscription journals to open access.
Sara Bosshart is Open Access Publisher for IWA Publishing of the International Water Association.
Philipp Hess is Head of Publisher Relations with Knowledge Unlatched.
