Author: Alastair Dunning - page 3

What is TU Delft Library doing to change publication culture? 

Posted on by Alastair Dunning - Updated

  • Alastair Dunning – Head, Research Services TU Delft Library 
  • Just de Leeuwe – Publishing Advisor 
  • Louise Otting – Collections Manager 
  • Nienke van Schaverbeke – Head, Scholarly Communications and Publishing 

More links with further details to the plans below will be added over time.  

 Opinion pieces, conferences, policy statements, blog posts, petitions and articles are singing the same song: the academic publishing industry needs serious reform. Maybe not a complete revolution, but a discarding of many ingrained instincts and processes. 

In the Netherlands, this chorus is even louder. Cuts to the university sector, and, more specifically, a promised increase in the rate of the BTW (belasting over de toegevoegde waarde, the Dutch valued added tax). Publications will now be charged the full 21%, instead of 9%. This adds an estimated 5 to 10% to all library collection costs. 

“Libraries therefore need to champion not only open access but cost-restraining forms of open access. This means both gold and immediate green open access options need to be an essential part of our strategy as we seek to constrain costs while achieving 100% immediate open access for articles published by TU Delft authors.”

(A Vision for 21st-Century Scholarly Collections: a report for the Delft University of Technology Library)

Change requires multiple actors. Universities, and their libraries, are obviously key players here. They provide access to collections, negotiate with publishers, and connect with the researcher communities 

Therefore, at TU Delft Library, we are undertaking the ‘Changing Publication Culture’ project, adopting numerous strategic and tactical decisions to promote change. 

This includes  

1)  From 2025, we will largely scrap our existing open access funds. These funds were established to support TU Delft authors who had no means to pay for GoldAPC publications.

2) From 2025, we will introduce a Scholarly Communications innovation fund to support new processes and models within academic publishing

3) We are organising events to engage and build synergy with the research community. This includes events such as the Peer Review Showdon, Changing Publication Culture  

Cone aat TU Delft Library
Cone at TU Delft Library

4) We also engage each of the eight faculties individually. Firstly, with Publication Task Forces, where members of the library meet with a small number of researchers within each faculty to discuss publication and collection issues. And secondly with presentation and discussion groups to each of TU Delft’s 46 academic departments   

5) Definition of principles to guide us through TU Delft’s negotiations with publishers. We are still working on these. But they will reflect our shared approach to publishing and licensing, drawn on the meetings mentioned above

6) Enacting a new collections strategy based on these principles. We have already started work here and a fuller list of prinicples will be shared soon.

Building national consensus is also critical. Particularly as bigger licencing deals in the Netherlands are done as part of the shared SURF consortium with strong input from the library directors that lead (UKB, Universiteitsbibliotheken & Nationale Bibliotheek) A white paper is currently being discussed that will help shape a national direction to change publication culture.

Strategy

Creating an Ecosystem of Data for the Management of Scholarly Collections

Posted on by Alastair Dunning

TU Delft Library manages scholarly collections of a value of around 8m Euros a year. This goes from large-scale read and publish deals that are managed nationally in collaboration with Surf (62 deals); deals that organised via intermediaries such as EBSCO (170 publishers comprising 383 titles); and customised bilateral deals (between 35 and 40) that TU Delft organises with smaller publishers around the world.  

Behind each of these deals sits a wealth of data – financial information; usage information; content information. However, within the library itself the data is fragmented, incomplete sitting in many different tools, and accessed by staff in many different ways.   

Therefore, when it comes budget reviews, licence negotiations or strategic planning, TU Delft does not have easy access to the data needed to reflect upon, analyse, evaluate and strengthen its positions 

TU Delft therefore seeks a consultant to help address these challenges. 

The consultancy will help create a trusted ecosystem of data that TU Delft Library staff can consult to meet various use cases related to the underlying data. A resulting ecosystem will allow TU Delft Library staff to have quick, trusted access to information and data related to collections, their cost and their use, both university wide and within specific faculties. This in turn will allow the Library to better manage its collections budget, inform strategic choices about the acquisition and cancellation of collections, and strengthen our negotiating position.  

The consultant will work with staff in the Library, particularly members of the Scholarly Communications and Publishing team, and the Metadata and Collections Services team. The Collections Manager, Louise Otting, will be the main point of contact during the project. A small steering group will also be established, including one or two members of the Library Management Team. 

The consultancy work will be a single report that addresses the specific requests below: 

  • Identifying the locations of the different sources of data both inside and outside the library, and their usability and relevance 
  • Identifying the core use cases needed by the TU Delft Library 
  • Proposing and documenting tools, processes and workflows (with roles and responsibilities) are needed in the future to ensure the data remains trusted, up to date and easily accessible.
  • This data does not need to be collected in one specific tool. Rather, library staff need to be able to quickly access the necessary data and to be able to trust that data. Determining the precise nature of the that ecosystem is part of the consultancy 
  • Neither does the consultancy need to produce a dashboard or visualisation of the data. Rather the goal is to ensure that the underlying data remains accessible and trusted.
  • Identifying what specific skills and roles might be needed by TU Delft Library staff to execute these processes and analyse the resulting data
  • Identifying new forms of data (and related data aggregation) that may play a role in future collections management  

 It is expected that the work should take two to three months to complete. Up to 12,000 Euros (excluding BTW / VAT) is available for the work. 

If you are interested, please get in touch with Alastair Dunning (a.c.dunning AT tudelft . nl) for an initial discussion. Proposals should be submitted by October 27 at the latest. The proposal should clarify the methodology, corresponding timeframe and a break-down of hours and costs.  Single proposals drawing on the combined skills of two consultancies are welcomed.  

Library