ALA Annual 2005: SPARC-ACRL Forum

Three Big Ideas Transforming Scholarly Communication
Saturday, June 25, Chicago, Ill.

Over 100 attendees missed U.S. Senator Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) keynote address to find out about three forces of change working to transform scholarly communication. A corresponding number of speakers presented an idea they've personally adopted to help move scholarly communication to a new, networked reality. A short discussion followed, moderated by Ray English, director of libraries, Oberlin College and chair, ACRL Scholarly Communications Committee.

The ideas, and their presenters:<

1. The Commons
   John Wilbanks, executive director of Science Commons
   Wilbanks discussed the development and promulgation of legal mechanisms that encourage sharing of intellectual property. [PDF]

2. A Brief History of the Big Idea of Taxpayer Access
   Debra Lappin, public policy advisor to SPARC
   and the Alliance for Taxpayer Access
   Lappin presented the campaign for federal policies that expand access to publicly funded research. [PDF]

3. Googlization
   John Price Wilkin
   Associate university librarian, University of Michigan
   Based on his experience managing the University Library's relationship with Google, Wilkin presented a paper about how the developments in online search tools and the mass digitization of collections suggest a new course of action by libraries.