IOP Publishing – Librarian Spotlight

Every now and then you are invited by a publisher to share your thoughts on a variety of topics. Recently I was asked by IOP Publishing to be a part of their Librarian Spotlight.

I received a list with all sorts of interview questions in the mail and was asked to answer as many as I liked. It seems such a simple thing to do, but suddenly you have to think about favorite books, titles you’d recommend and what a library means to you. Not only do you have to write those answers in a concise and (hopefully) interesting way, but in my case I also had to battle the little voice in my head that was doubting if anyone wanted to read my perspective. Fortunately my wonderful colleagues, Frederique and Anke, came to the rescue and gave me the encouragement I needed to hand it in. Eleven questions and answers made it in the Spotlight and I am very happy with the result. I can now count myself among the other librarians in the IOP spotlight, that have great answers to these questions as well.

In June I’ll visit London as a member of IOP’s Library Advisory Board to discuss topics like the transition to Open Access Publishing and the current situation with transformative agreements. In the Netherlands we are one of the frontrunners and furthest along with Open Access publishing as part of Open Science. We have quite a few concerns, not least among them that in the big picture the transition seems to have stalled and new ideas might be necessary to change the publication landscape. We need the input of researchers, publishers and professionals in the field to find the way forwards.  COAlition S has created an survey to gather input on their ‘Towards Responsible Publishing’ proposal. 

On a smaller scale we need to discuss the publication culture at our institutions and find a way to co-create an inclusive and sustainable publication policy that ensures high quality publications with visibility for the colleagues that write and review them. This will not be done in  few days, but I am sure that if we agree on the necessity and take the time to share our expertise, we will be able to take steps forward. If you’d like to learn more, keep an eye on this blog where I will update you on our related projects. 

If you have ideas, feedback or other comments I’d very much like to hear them. You can leave a comment or e-mail me directly.