Working from the Grass Roots (Panel Session)

Working from the Grass Roots: Best Practices in Campus Scholarly Communications Programs
John Ober, Director, Policy, Planning, and Outreach, Office of Scholarly Communication; Teresa Fishel, Library Director, Macalester College; Carolyn Mills, Reference Librarian and Biology Liaison, University of Connecticut; John Saylor, Director of the Engineering and Computer Science Library, Cornell University

· Scholarly communications programs must be seen as strategic

· Faculty are part of the problem, therefore they have a role as part of the solution

· Engage faculty in planning SC programs, particularly when crafting the missions statement

· Faculty spokesperson are necessary key players

· Might have greater success by focusing on younger faculty (newly tenured or tenure track), as they are generally more collaborative when sharing work, more comfortable with technology, more open to change (less tradition bound), and will be around longer than senior faculty (longevity is key point, as it will likely take 10 years for SC programs to see full fruition of mission)

· Hold one-on-one conversations to increase awareness and understanding of issues; smaller groups or one-on-one work well because it’s hard to get faculty, grad students to big programs

· Develop an “elevator speech” or sound-bite; possibly tailor messages for different ranks, departments

· Discern faculty knowledge of SC issues, feelings on FRPAA (Federal Research Public Access Act), author rights, student access to research

· Realize that even if you don’t have converts, you’ve at least had conversation

· Create a university-wide council of provosts, faculty, librarians, technologists, administrators, and students

· Complete system-wide environmental scan based on ACRL/Scholarly Communications Institute “Faculty Activism Assessment Instrument”

· Build base of institutional repository users (takes time!) to recruit others; individual users turn into champions

· Use liaisons to reach departments; remember, though, that liaisons may be uncomfortable taking on much SC promotion/education responsibility, as these are big issues with which they may not have enough personal familiarity to be able to speak knowledgeably in conversations with faculty

· Author rights campaigns great way to spread word around campus; brochures enable more rapid, far-reaching dissemination of key information; grad students especially receptive audience on copyright