“No  Librarian  is  an  Island”:Making Connections for Open Advocacy

Lauren B. CollisterScholarly Communications Librarian

University Library SystemUniversity of Pittsburgh

lbcollister@pitt.eduTwitter @parnopaeus

This presentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

A Problem

LOCAL AND INTERNAL APPROACH

Have a Party

Do Some Groundwork

• Lunch and Learn sessions for colleagues– Bring snacks!– Have  a  “toolbox  tip”  – a concrete take-away that

colleagues can use. – Entire lineup: http://d-

scholarship.pitt.edu/19581/

• Build a track / interest group– Those who came to the lunch & learns all the time– Tasks related to their work.– Example: liaison librarians & advocacy

Advocacy Party• Ask  liaisons  (subject  specialists)  “What  are  your  

faculty  preoccupied  with?”– Answers: ResearchGate/Academia.edu (should we be

using these?), grant funding, impact• Help connect to Open

– Question about ResearchGate? Let them know that our Institutional Repository is less spammy and connected to Google Scholar

– How to show impact? Make their work Open in IR or OA journal, reach a wider audience, plus use altmetrics to track.

– Grant funding? Many funders have an OA requirement – time to start thinking about that now!

Librarians  “Walk  the  Walk”

If we are going to suggest being Open to the scholars and researchers that we work with, we should be Open ourselves.

Action items: Sign an Open pledge, have your work in the repository, use altmetrics on your CV, start conversations about flipping journals to OA. Keep  up  with  this!  Ask  for  “open  stories”.

Be Present!

Connect with Role Models

http://pi.tt/openinaction

EXTERNAL APPROACH

Building Some Bridges

ECL Call

• Shoutout to the organizing group:– Emma Molls– Chealsye Bowley– Haley Walton– Lisa Kietzer– & Joe McArthur for support & keeping us together

Community of Practice

• Inspired by OpenCon 2014 post-IMLS meeting “dive  bar  gathering”.  

• Disciplinary mailing list not helpful / kind of intimidating for early career librarians

• “Safe  space”  for  Early  Career  Librarians  working in Open

The Community

• Monthly calls (like OpenCon Community Calls)– 1st call: April 2016– 8 successful calls since then! – Average of 27 participants from up to 5 different

countries. • Topics and agendas set out in advance,

sometimes guest speakers • Opportunity to share happy news, ask

questions, and learn from other ECLs• Join us: http://bit.ly/ECLCall

Thank you!

lbcollister@pitt.eduTwitter @parnopaeus