Welcome to the Medical Library Association’s Scholarly Publishing Symposium Website.  In addition to providing more information about the symposium to be held on May 23, 2007, in Philadelphia, this site also provides you with links to important resources on open access, public access, and scholarly communication issues.



Visit the MLA Annual meeting Website to register and plan your trip to Philadelphia.

Overview	Speakers	Format
Cosponsors	Blog	Resources

Overview:
Over the past decade the STM publishing industry has changed dramatically as Open Access challenges traditional approaches to scholarly publishing.  For librarians, the last few years have brought confusion and new complexity to the scholarly publishing arena. As the publishing industry and government respond to this new model, it has an impact on libraries, their patrons, and researchers as well as the publishers.  The symposium will define open access and explain how it compares to public access.  Speakers will explore its influence on small and large libraries, and how publishers are reacting to these changes in scholarly publishing.  Participants will have an opportunity to discuss how librarians, libraries, and MLA can respond to new developments in scholarly publishing and communications, as well as identify additional questions for our speakers.  

Speakers and Panelists:
Heather Joseph, Executive Director, SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, Washington DC   
Robert Harington, Vice President and Executive Publisher for Wiley-Blackwell in the life sciences, Malden, MA  
Karen Albert, Director of Library Services, Talbot Research Library, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA  2006    [see her JMLA article on Open access below]
Ann Shumelda Okerson, Associate University Librarian for Collections and International Programs, Yale University, New Haven, CT 
Mark E. Funk, AHIP [moderator], Head of Collection Development, Weill Cornell Medical Library, New York, NY, President-Elect of the Medical Library Association,  

The symposium will give participants the opportunity to:

•  Identify and describe the major issues and trends in STM publishing resulting from the OA initiatives that have and will continue to have an impact on libraries
•  Describe the key factors in scholarly publishing that libraries must be aware of and how they can cope with these major issues and changes
•  Identify strategies that their libraries can pursue in order to influence the future shape of the STM publishing industry and the scholarly publishing process.
  

Here are some of the topics that speakers have been asked to address in their presentations:

What is Open Access? 
A definition and description of open access. Why Open Access arose and what OA means.  Description of the various permutations it has taken and its impact on the traditional publishing paradigm.  Why it is important to researchers, science, the general public and libraries.  How it differs or relates to the broader issue of public access.  Key issues or challenges it raises for scholarly communication.  Myths or misunderstandings about  what OA is and is not.

What is OA’s impact on Publishers? 
The traditional publishing model and how is OA changing how publishers approach scholarly communication.   The responses from publishers and the issues OA raises for them – finance, peer review, bias from authors pay, impact factors, visibility, etc. How the concerns differ between society and commercial publishers.  What concerns authors might have about OA.  How OA has had an impact on agreements on copyright ownership.  Whether OA is a viable business model and what other models might or are emerging.  Where is STM publishing headed.

What is OA’s impact on Libraries? 
OA’s impact on library resources, subscriptions, contracts, etc.  How the BMC and PLoS approaches impact libraries and their institutions.  Whether OA is just shifting costs from library to author.  The library’s role in supporting publishing through author fees as opposed to subscriptions.  How it has and will have an impact on general library operations – ILL, subscriptions, providing access.   How it has an impact on library patrons – for example, faster access, most confusing array of publications and embargoes.  Why should libraries support OA and what actions can they take to promote it.

Format:
The symposium will offer participants the chance to hear from leaders in the field about the trends of open access and public, the reaction of the publishing industry, and the impact on small and large research libraries.  

• Participants will break into discussion groups to talk about strategies that libraries and MLA could take in reaction to these changes in the scholarly publishing arena.

• Each round-table will generate a question for our panel of speakers to address before the close of the session.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

1:00 p.m. Registration begins

1:30-1:35 p.m.  Welcome and introductions

1:35- 2:05 p.m.  Heather Joseph, What is OA?
2:05-2:35  p.m.  Robert Harington,  OA's impact on publishers
2:35-2:45  p.m.  Question and Answer period

2:45- 3  Break

What does OA mean for libraries?
3-3:20        Ann Okerson, Large research library
3:20-3:40   Karen Albert, Small research/health sciences library
3:40-3:50   Question and answer   

3:50-4:50   Roundtable discussions

4:50-5:20   Panel -  Question and Answer Session with all speakers
           Mark Funk Moderator

5:20-5:30  Wrap up – Mark Funk 

Cosponsors:
The symposium is sponsored by the Scholarly Publishing Task Force, the Governmental Relations Committee , Collection Development Section, Leadership and Management Section, Technical Services Section, and the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries. 

Symposium Blog
Our symposium blog [http://spt.mlanet.org/blog/] will keep you up-to-date on the latest OA issues and resources.

OA Resources

Karen Albert’s article in JMLA on Open access: implications for scholarly publishing and medical libraries  

Open Access Primer,  by Mark Funk

MLA Scholarly Publishing Issues and Resources

• Open Access 

• Public Access to Health Information: Finding a Balance  (MLA position statement) 

NIH Public Access

MLA NIH Public Access Policy FAQs: A Guide for Authors and Libraries

AAHSL Scholarly Communication Toolkit

Federal Research Public Access Act 2006 FAQ

Additional Resources:

Open Access Blog  
OA Librarian (Blog)

SPARC Open Access Newsletter (SOAN)  
Open Access Overview --  by Peter Suber  

ARL Scholarly Communication Publications:

These publications are available in PDF format on the ARL Website and may be used by librarians for educating faculty and others in the issues of scholarly publishing, authors’ rights, and the open access.

• Create Change

• Author Rights  

• Open Access