Contact: Kara J. Malenfant
ACRL Scholarly Communications & Government Relations Specialist
(312) 280-2510
kmalenfant@ala.org
NEWS
For Immediate Release
January 13, 2009
New look, updated content for ACRL Scholarly Communication Toolkit
CHICAGO – The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has released an updated version of its popular Scholarly Communication Toolkit in a new format and with updated content. The toolkit continues to provide context and background by summarizing key issues to offer quick, basic information on scholarly communication topics. It also links to examples of specific tools, including handouts, presentations and videos for libraries to adapt and use on their own campuses. The ACRL Scholarly Communication Toolkit is freely available at http://www.acrl.ala.org/scholcomm/.
“Library services involve education of the next generation, infrastructure for long term knowledge access and advocacy for rights and practices that lead to a sustainable system of scholarly peer-review, its distribution and preservation," explains Kim Douglas, university librarian at California Institute of Technology and co-chair of ACRL’s Scholarly Communication Committee. “The ACRL Scholarly Communication Toolkit supports library staff seeking to align their programs with an essential byproduct of their parent institutions – the creation, protection, dissemination and archiving of new knowledge.”
“Given the current economic climate, it's natural to ask if scholarly communication activities are a luxury or a distraction,” said Richard Fyffe, librarian of the college for Grinnell College and co-chair of ACRL’s Scholarly Communication Committee. “We define scholarly communications issues as central to the mission of virtually every kind of academic library because they are central to the mission of our institutions. We feel libraries need to maintain a commitment to awareness, understanding, ownership and activism.”
The updated toolkit serves as a resource for scholarly communication discussions inside the library, outreach programs to faculty and administrators and library school students seeking to incorporate these issues into their course work. The ACRL Scholarly Communication Committee, as part of its efforts to keep the toolkit current, encourages librarians to contribute tools and case studies on their local scholarly communication campaigns. Simply post a comment describing your tool and provide a link in the appropriate tab.
The ACRL Scholarly Communication Toolkit is available online at http://www.acrl.ala.org/scholcomm/.
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ACRL is a division of the American Library Association, representing nearly 13,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community to understand the role that academic libraries play in the teaching, learning and research environments.