MBLWHOI Library

Recently, the MBLWHOI Library staff was well represented in attending the Boston Library Consortium, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation underwritten open access event known as SLOAN SUMMIT II: OPEN ACCESS – MISSION and MANDATE at Tufts University Medical School (1/13/12)

Speakers at the Summit included Mary Lee of Tufts University, Diane Harley of the University of California at Berkeley, James Neal, of Columbia University, and Heather Joseph of SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition).

One of the speakers, Diane Harley of Berkeley spoke to the librarians attending about scientific literature and publishing from the perspective of the scholar-author, which was an unique perspective for librarians. In 2011, the Boston Library Consortium adopted language to be inserted into licenses for scholarly literature which would protect an author’s right to control and encourage scholarly sharing one’s created knowledge. We polled our staff on their take on the Sloan Summit II experience, and came away with the following bullet points:

- AUTHORS SHOULD EDUCATE THEMSELVES, EXERCISE CHOICES, PROTECT THEIR RIGHTS, SHARE THEIR RIGHTS, AND KEEP COPIES OF WHAT THEY SIGN.

- WE HAVE BEGUN THE PROCESS OF EDUCATING THE DECISION MAKERS; WE NEED TO CONTINUE OUR [Open Access] WORK.

- LIBRARIANS NEED TO SPEAK TO THEIR COMMUNITIES IN BLACK AND WHITE, AS THE DAYS OF GRANDIOSE DREAMS ARE TEMPERED BY THE STARK REALITY OF SEVERELY LIMITED FUNDING.

-USING NEW TECHCHNOLOGIES, INVOLVING ALL LEVELS OF INSTITUTIONAL LEADERSHIP, APPLYING THE COLLECTIVE IMAGINATION OF NEW ENGLAND INSTITUTIONS WE CAN CREATE PHENOMENAL, SUSTAINING, FREELY ACCESSIBLE, AND WORLD INFLUENCING LIBRARY AND INFORMATICS PROJECTS, EVEN IN A TIME OF SHORT FUNDS.  

Attending the Sloan Summit II from the MBLWHOI Library were Library Director Holly Miller, Associate Director Lisa Raymond, and Librarians Dave Sherman, Liza Colburn, Ellen Levy, Nancy Stafford, Matt Person and Jen Walton. Additionally, Librarian Ann Devenish of MBLWHOI serves on the BLC Scholarly Communication Priority Committee, which  planned the event. Also attending as a guest of Library Director Miller and Associate Library Director Raymond was James A. Yoder, Vice President for Academic Programs & Dean, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.