📢 New publication!
Wrzesinski, M., @pampel, @ztirfhtor & Khamis, C.O. (2026) examine the challenges and opportunities for innovation in the institutional repository landscape in Germany – based on an interview study.
Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 14(1), eP19047
🔗 https://doi.org/10.31274/jlsc.19047
#OpenAccess #InstitutionalRepositories #LibraryScience #ScholarlyPublishing #OpenScience
Introduction: Institutional repositories (IRs) support the Open Access (OA) transformation and are a key cornerstone for publishing and accessing scholarly information. Currently, they undergo changes and are required to transition to a modern information infrastructure. This study surveys the challenges of this transition for IRs in Germany from the perspective of library and information science. Methods: For this study, we conducted 15 expert interviews with repository managers from the German IR community who are employed at academic libraries. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The sample of interviewees was compiled using a standardized list and the method of purposeful sampling. Results: We identified five core challenges: Preprints in IRs as means of rapid scholarly communication, the possibilities of effective information management through IRs and current research information systems (CRIS), self-archiving in IRs and the green OA route, the importance of collaborating text and data repositories for Open Science, and the challenges associated with monitoring publication output and costs through IRs. Discussion: We discussed the five core challenges regarding recent developments within the library and repository community, such as the Barcelona Declaration on Open Research Information, a recent policy-based attempt to harmonize secondary publication rights in Europe, or community projects aimed at providing transparency to publication costs in higher education. Conclusion: IRs’ core mission is to publish, reference, and monitor scholarly output. In doing so, they face challenges that require concerted action by the scholarly and library community in four areas: Providing responsible policies, ensuring demand-based standardization, implementing interoperable IR technology, and establishing resilient workflows.
Being a librarian is a sacred calling, not a paycheck. A librarian is a guardian of information, a champion of freedom, an embedded member of the community aiming to serve those in most need. The homeless people who need the information resources to get educated, to connect with resources for healthcare, housing, employment etc.
I was once married to a woman who was studying to become a librarian, and libraries have always held a special place in my heart.
Until 2023, when I turned whistleblower against the US government, and Accenture Federal Services. The persecution I faced, came from many sides, though the unkindest cut of all, was that some librarians turned out to be on the side of the establishment.
Read my account here. ( The PDF version is probably easier to read. )
https://whistleblower.lovestoblog.com/
#Hawaii #library #librarian #libraries #librarians #LibraryScience #Liberty
#Freedom #Whistleblower
Anfang 2025 sah sich die Scientific Community in den USA einer bisher in diesem Umfang nie dagewesenen politisch motivierten Datensäuberung durch die dort neu gewählte Regierung ausgesetzt. In einem Teil des alternativen sozialen Netzwerks Fediverse organisierte sich zu dieser Zeit eine Gruppe engagierter Freiwilliger, um letztendlich ein Guerillakollektiv zur Datenrettung zu bilden, das heute unter den Namen Safeguarding Research & Culture (SRC) bekannt ist. Aus dem SRC-Kollektiv heraus entstand wenig später auch die Open-Source-Software und Plattform SciOp. Diese ermöglicht mittels einer Integration von Datenkatalog und BitTorrent-Tracker eine dezentral verteilte und koordinierte Datenhaltung, an der jede Person mit der Bereitstellung von eigenem Speicherplatz und Bandbreite teilnehmen kann, um eine bessere Verfügbarkeit und zensurresistente Bereitstellung der geretteten Daten zu gewährleisten. Dieser Beitrag zeichnet die Entstehungsgeschichte des Projekts nach und stellt dessen Besonderheiten im Vergleich zu konventionellen Ansätzen und Softwarelösungen im Bibliotheksbereich heraus. Es kann aufgezeigt werden, dass im begrenzten Umfang bekannte bibliothekarische Praktiken adaptiert wurden. Im Gegensatz zu traditionellen Bibliotheken bestehen jedoch neben dem besonderen technologischen Fundament des Projekts auch deutliche Unterschiede hinsichtlich dem Sammelschwerpunkt, der Organisationspraxis und den Partizipationsmöglichkeiten.
Ahead of Print in BFP: New article: ‘Mehr als Methoden!’ on library pedagogy theory. Dennis Kranz calls for deeper theoretical grounding in library pedagogy, beyond methods and output metrics. #libraryscience #education #pedagogy #openaccess
Library pedagogy is a growing field of practice, but it remains theoretically underdeveloped. This article analyses the causes of this lack of theoretical grounding and discusses missing connections to educational science and media education discourses. It calls for a theory-informed, reflective understanding of library pedagogy that recognizes libraries as autonomous educational spaces and contributes to the professionalization of pedagogical practice.
“Like the baobab sustains life, libraries sustain community knowledge across generations, preserving equitable access to knowledge as scholarly communication systems develop and evolve.
We must continue to support alternative publishing methods, like APOS, and, in the face of skyrocketing subscription prices and APCs, provide infrastructure for knowledge dissemination.”
— Andiswa Mfengu via Katina Magazine
“The field of scientific communication is in some ways tremendously conservative. When you introduce any innovation, you need to immediately show that it has advantages, that you will gain in prestige, visibility and impact.”
In Katina Magazine , SciELO co-founder Abel Packer discusses the past, present and future of the pioneering platform, which holds the world’s largest collection of Latin American scholarly articles.
SciELO—Scientific Electronic Library Online—has been operating for 28 years. In this interview, co-founder Abel Packer discusses the past, present, and future of the pioneering open access publishing platform and aggregator.
IBI HU Berlin
Ashwin Dixit
nb
Reel Tubes
strixus
NLISN
v_i_o_l_a
Jens Mittelbach
Katie Fleeman