February 25, 2016. – The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) has issued a new position paper, Canadian Universities and Sustainable Publishing, authored by Martha Whitehead and Brian Owen. The paper is best described by its introduction:
The scholarly communications landscape in Canada is on the cusp of transformative change. Many factors are converging: the continuing impact of digital technology on teaching and research, the growing expertise of academic libraries in utilizing and supporting technology-based initiatives, the move towards policies of open access, the oligopoly of international academic publishers and the financial constraints of university budgets.
In Canada and worldwide, universities need to decide how best to invest in scholarly communications to support research today. The purpose of this paper is to outline the issues and potential paths forward, for discussion and planning with researchers and administrators of Canadian universities, in the international context. Our common goal is to enable research results to be as widely distributed and accessible as possible, internationally, in high quality publishing venues at the lowest possible costs.
CARL’s strategic priorities include fostering new knowledge creation and sustainable scholarly communication, including open access, and encouraging the role of the library in publishing, as well as facilitating collaborations to create, acquire, share, and preserve Canada’s research resources. The position paper is intended as a framework to stimulate conversations and collaborative action in support of these priorities.
About the Authors
Martha Whitehead is President of CARL, and Vice-Provost and University Librarian at Queen’s University. Brian Owen is an Associate University Librarian at Simon Fraser University (SFU) Library, an Associate with the SFU Canadian Institute for Studies in Publishing and SFU Master of Publishing Program, and Managing Director of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP).
> Full text of English document: Canadian Universities and Sustainable Publishing (PDF)
> Full text of French document: Universités canadiennes et édition pérenne (PDF)
