The role of "open" in strategic library planning

Authors

  • Lisa Petrides Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education
  • Letha Goger Fresno Pacific University
  • Cynthia Jimes Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.24.2478

Keywords:

academic libraries, open access, open access research, Open Educational Resources (OER), collection development, curation

Abstract

Academic libraries are undergoing evolutionary change as emerging technologies and new philosophies about how information is created, distributed, and shared have disrupted traditional operations and services. Additionally, the population that the academic library serves is increasingly distributed due to distance learning opportunities and new models of teaching and learning.  This article, the first in this special issue, suggests that in today’s increasingly networked and distributed information environment, the strategic integration of open curation and collection development practices can serve as a useful means for organizing and providing structure to the diverse mass of available digital information, so that individual users of the library have access to coherent contexts for meaningful engagement with that information. Building on insights from extant research and practice, this article proposes that colleges and universities recognize a more inclusive open access environment, including the integration of resources outside of those owned or created by the institution, and a shift toward policies that consider open access research and open educational resources as part of the library’s formal curatorial workflow and collection building. At the conclusion on this article, authors Lisa Petrides and Cynthia Jimes offer a commentary on the six remaining articles that comprise this special issue on Models of Open Education in Higher Education, discussing the significant role that “open” policy and practice play in shaping teaching, learning, and scholarship in the global context of higher education.

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Author Biographies

Lisa Petrides, Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education

Lisa Petrides, Ph.D. is CEO and founder of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME). A former professor in the Department of Organization and Leadership at Columbia University, Teachers College, her research and teaching interests include information science, decision-making, and issues of access and equity in education. Petrides also leads OER Commons (www.oercommons.org), a digital public library of open educational resources and collaboration platform that supports and facilitates the creation, sharing, and modification of open educational resources. Petrides received her Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Letha Goger, Fresno Pacific University

Letha Goger, M.A., M.L.I.S., is an education and library consultant whose work focuses on open education initiatives. Previously a librarian with the University of California, she has also served as digital librarian for OER Commons, ISKME's digital public library of open educational resources. Engaged in K-20 public education for fifteen years, Goger has extensive experience in the school, academic and public library sectors, and is currently adjunct faculty at Fresno Pacific University, School of Education.

Cynthia Jimes, Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education

Cynthia Jimes, Ph.D., is Director of Research at the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), where she has led international projects over the past 10 years focusing on the impact of open educational resources on teaching and learning. While living in Sweden from 1995 to 2004, she worked in both the private and public sectors, holding positions in research consulting, teaching high school and college, and obtaining her Ph.D. in Information Science from Uppsala University in Sweden.

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Published

2016-03-28

How to Cite

Petrides, L., Goger, L., & Jimes, C. (2016). The role of "open" in strategic library planning. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 24, 36. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.24.2478

Issue

Section

Models of Open Education in Higher Education