Ithaka S+R is the strategy and research section of Ithaka, a not-for-profit organization working with the academic community to incorporate new information and networking technologies into teaching and research. Held every three years, its faculty surveys of over 3,000 faculty “examine changes in faculty attitudes toward the academic library, information resources, and the scholarly communications system as a whole.”
Its 2009 survey reports the following findings:
- Basic scholarly information use practices have shifted rapidly in recent years and, as a result, the academic library is increasingly being disintermediated from the discovery process, risking irrelevance in one of its core areas.
- Faculty members’ growing comfort in relying exclusively on digital versions of scholarly materials opens new opportunities for libraries, new business models for publishers, and new challenges for preservation.
- Despite several years of sustained efforts by publishers, scholarly societies, libraries, faculty members, and others to reform various aspects of the scholarly communications system, a fundamentally conservative set of faculty attitudes continues to impede systematic change.
Ithaka is offering a series of three webinars which will be discussions of the report’s findings. The remaining webinars are:
Chapter 2: The Format Transition for Scholarly Works
When: April 29th, 3pm – 4pm EDT
About: Faculty members’ growing comfort in relying exclusively on digital versions of scholarly materials opens new opportunities for libraries, new business models for publishers, and new challenges for preservation.
Who should attend: Librarians, publishers, and scholarly societies interested in the print-to-electronic transition
How to register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/830016017
Chapter 3: Scholarly Communications
When: May 5th, 3pm – 4pm EDT
Publishers, scholarly societies, libraries, faculty members, and others have laid significant groundwork for reforming various aspects of the scholarly communications system, but faculty attitudes are driven by incentives and suggest the need for continued leadership.
Who should attend: Publishers, librarians, scholarly societies, and faculty members interested in the changing landscape for scholarly communications
How to register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/543934248
Hopefully, all three webinars will be recorded and made available after the last one is held.