Author Archives: jayshree

Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity

The Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity was published on 14 September 2018 and The Code of Conduct entered into force on 1 October 2018.

Why is this code of conduct important:

It gives an overview of rights and duties for individual researchers as well as research groups or organizations dealing with research.

This Code has been adopted by many Dutch organizations like e.g. he Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and others.

The code  also respects the scope of international framework documents such as the Singapore Statement on Research Integrity (2010),the OECD’s Best Practices for Ensuring Scientific Integrity and Preventing Misconduct (2007) and ALLEA’s recently revised European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (2017)

Contents of the Code of Conduct for Research Integrity

It covers and describes five ethical principles:

Honesty

Scrupulousness

Transparency

Independence

Responsibility

Many people wonder if research ethics and research integrity are the same things. Well it is clear that it is closely related. In most cases they say that research ethics is a subset of research integrity. We could say Research Integrity covers the full research process and research ethics focuses more on the principle of avoiding harm to research subjects.

Implementation:

 All universities in the Netherlands are now developing their own policy on Research ethics derived from this Netherlands code.

Of course not all universities do this in the same way and I will explain below what happens in my University: the University of Twente (UT)

At UT we look at integrity from an integrated perspective and we see three different areas:

  1. academic/scientific integrity; includes research data management, research ethics and the overall research culture etc.
  2. social integrity; includes aggression protocol, code of conduct regarding relations at work etc.
  3. business integrity; includes security and ICT use, privacy of data of employees/students etc.

For each part the university is developing an action plan.

Some examples are:

  • implementation of ethical committees across UT and revision of integrity complaints procedure
  • assessment of external communication and awareness regarding integrity.
  • execution, development of data management plans and archiving of research data
  • training for postdocs and staff and integrity education in BSc/MSc curricula will be developed
  • researchers are asked to declare and sign the new code of conduct

I hope that with this blog we will start a series of blogs on Research Integrity in different countries.

So if you have suggestions to elaborate on this topic and what happens in your country on this front, please forward your blog posts to the ARL Section blog moderator at jerome.fronty@bnf.fr

Marga Koelen
Research Support Coordinator
University of Twente, Faculty ITC
Netherlands

Danish research libraries on the move: a new strategy

A new strategy for the association of Danish subject specific libraries, academic libraries, research and education libraries was presented, discussed and finally adopted at an annual meeting of the association’s members in Copenhagen this year on September 19. The Danish association, the research library association in short, has existed since 1978 and has about 55 library member institutions. The association has never before formulated a strategy, but with a changing library landscape in Denmark, mergers and closures — and an increased focus on Open Science, Citizen Science and new organizations — the time was now or never to consider the future of Danish research libraries.

The new strategy is, among other things, based on the major analytical work it initiated in the first half of 2019, resulting a the strategic report on “Future Research, Research and Education Libraries: Services and Competencies” prepared by the Danish Think Tank for Future Libraries and supported by the Ministry of Culture. The Think Tank is an NGO supported by both public library associations, municipalities, trade unions and the research library association.

The report of the Think Tank is partly based on 13 interviews and four workshops held with a total of 80 participants, the association board’s initial preparation of the strategy process, as well as a literature study of international trends and structural conditions relevant to the sector.

The report points out that both now and in the future there will be a need to identify and develop the necessary competencies of libraries and library staff: That is, competencies required to achieve visibility and create the relationships that can ensure continued relevant library service at a high professional level. Visibility and relationships are e.g. a prerequisite for libraries to participate in the research cycle, for collaboration with other disciplines etc. In addition, increased awareness of the potential roles of libraries is required by both libraries and library staff, as well as descriptions of necessary competence for performing new core tasks, better understanding of users etc.

By charter (1978), the mission of the Danish Research Library Association is to function as a member-run organization supporting its member libraries and their staff in meeting the demands and expectations of the future:

  • To promote initiatives that benefit research libraries and the overall library system
  • To provide a forum for discussion of library academic and library policy topics
  • To cooperate with other library organizations and related organizations at home and abroad.

The new strategic vision and plan

Based on its mission and the report, the association’s strategic vision is to ensure visibility, relationships and competencies, focusing on the following thematic areas: Research & Knowledge, Education & Learning and Society & Citizens.

The strategic objective of the association in the coming period 2020–2023 is then to contribute to the development of competence of the members and member institutions, as well as to increased cooperation and relations between the members and other actors, with an overall focus on contributing to the visibility and development of the competences of research libraries, broadly defined.

The implementation of the association’s strategy will in the coming years be supported by strategic actions of four types of activity:

  • Skills development
  • Networking
  • Common projects
  • Representation and advocacy.

The general assembly at the meeting of participants in September gave unanimous support for the new strategy and positive reception of the of the open strategy process.

The association will launch several strategic actions before the end of 2020, e.g. an identification of competence needs and strategic working groups to investigate and propose changes to both the association’s organizational and financial structure. All in all, it is going to be an exciting year!

Bertil F. Dorch

Library Director, Ph.D.

President, The Danish Research Library Association

University Library of Southern Denmark

 

References:

*Danish Research Libraries associaton Website (in English)

* Thonk Tank Webpage (in English)

* Final report (in Danish)

Grant Winner Report, Mexico

My experience in attending the 85th IFLA General Conference and Assembly held August 24-30, 2019 in Athens, Greece which had the theme, “Libraries: dialogue for change”, was fabulous as I had never had the opportunity to travel to Europe and much less to an IFLA congress. What I experienced during the days of the congress and in the city of Athens, set the tone to broaden my panorama and my vision of librarianship.

I am very enthusiastic about how much I learned and met people from different parts of the world, about sharing ideas and experiences from the different contexts in which we live within libraries in different regions of the world. Being my first Congress and being unfamiliar with the dynamics of it, I feel that I missed some important opportunities, but in general I bring to my country the enormous satisfaction of having seen and knowing that Latin America has much potential to participate with greater involvement in the tasks of librarianship worldwide in pursuit of the objectives of the United Nations Agenda 2030.

I never imagined being able to participate in an event of such magnitude, but thanks to the Academic and Research Libraries Section (ARL) with generous sponsorship by Ex Libris and SAGE, I was able to achieve it, definitely something changed in me and I feel renewed and with a lot of vitality to continue with my projects, right there I made friends with a Brazilian girl who contacted other Brazilian girls with whom I have given myself the task of collaborating in matters of penitentiary libraries.

As I mentioned in my letter of introduction, I have never liked to keep anything to myself and I have tried to share my experience with my colleagues, arguing that we have a great responsibility with our profession and with people, that it is time to get down to work. We usually think that everything is done and that a Latin American cannot do much, but the reality is that we have a lot to offer.

In short, something that surprised me was the ARL committee since all the members seem to me to be very united and excellent people committed to their work, personally I want to congratulate all of them because this noble action of providing this kind of support to young people has given me a lot of sense, I am an energetic librarian committed to providing my grain of sand to contribute to society and help people. In this sense I want to mention that the master’s thesis that I am about to finish has to do with the involvement of the librarian as an agent of social change seen from the perspective of human development. It has become much stronger and now I can see that indeed, this kind of opportunity can change one life and that life, perhaps, can change other lives.

The majesty of the acropolis made me reflect on knowledge and how it happens in different parts of the world. So in all these parts of the world there will be an urgent need for librarians to help manage and also to help build new knowledge.

I feel encouraged to participate more frequently in IFLA and would like to be part of some committee where I can do my best to continue to contribute to development in the library field where it reflects social change by reducing poverty, hunger and inequality, where there is better health and well-being, better education, and where there is peace and justice for all. I trust that I will do what I can from wherever I am and with whatever I have to raise the profession, evoking principles and values that will allow me to be constant in this fight to reduce social inequality, dignifying people.

Humberto Martínez Camacho, Mexico
IFLA ARL Grant Winner 2019

IFLA ARL Hot Topics 2019

The presentations from the Hot Topics session at IFLA WLIC 2019 in Athens are now available.

The three Hot Topics broadly coalesced around the “Open Agenda” with energetic discussion around 1) Plan S 2) Training for African librarians to advance the use of Open Educational Resources in the 4IR and the 3) Infrastructure, expertise and services to support OA publishing at the German National Library of Medicine.

Plan S: Revolution or Evolution

Dr Marga Koelen, Research Support Coordinator, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation ITC, University of Twente

Fourth Industrial Revolution and future-ready African Librarians

Dr Nkem Osuigwe, Human Capacity Development and Training, AfLIA

Open Access in the German National Library of Medicine

Dr Ursula Arning, ZB MED Information Centre for Life Sciences

The discussion on Plan S garnered much interest and highlighted some of the feedback received from around the world and the extended commencement point for Plan S from 2020 to January 2021. Differing opinions emerged about whether Plan S is a revolution or another step in the evolution towards OA. While it generated much energy around the globe, opinions were mixed as to whether Plan S is a new business model or a condition set by funders for researchers to get money. As well, it is unequal for EU researchers compared with US researchers.

The African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA) is positioning itself to invest in and implement training for African librarians to advance OERs on their campuses. AfLIA considers OERs key drivers for economic development and librarians as key stakeholders to advance the use of OERs. Despite significant challenges to implement a training model for African librarians several ideas emerged about ways to advance OERs. They include professional library associations and information sharing at conferences (onsite or online) to learn from each other. There was strong encouragement for AfLIA to advocate for the role of libraries/librarians as a critical resource in the 4IR in the African Union. Librarians were encouraged to “lean-in.”  They must be willing to see and learn the importance of new skills to help build the 4IR infrastructure. Re-skilling is important.

The infrastructure to support OA publishing at the German National Library of Medicine offered an impressive range of services and expertise available to support researchers in green and gold OA.

See: https://www.ifla.org/node/92537?og=43

 

Lorraine J. Haricombe

Vice Provost and Director,

University of Texas Libraries

University of Texas at Austin, TX USA

Review of Trends in Academic Research Libraries in North America

• Open Access. The release by cOAlition S of Plan S, a European initiative to make full and immediate open access to research publications a reality by 2020, has attracted a lot of critical attention from OA advocates in the United States. Meanwhile the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act was passed into law on January 14, 2019, making permanent the federal government’s commitment to Open Data and an “open by default” policy for all non-sensitive government data
https://www.coalition-s.org/about ; https://sparcopen.org/news/2019/huge-win-open-data-united-states/

• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. DEI issues continue to be a top priority for U.S. academic libraries and their parent institutions. In this context, there is a helpful trend towards establishing codes of conduct for academic library conferences in the United States
https://www.arl.org/news/arl-news/4718-arl-affirms-commitment-to-advancing-diversity-equity-inclusion-#.XGQxm1xKhaQ

• Personally Identifiable Information (PII). The commercial value of PII to U.S.-based internet giants such as Facebook and Google, and the relative ease with which personal data is gathered by library vendors, has significantly increased the level of privacy concerns in all libraries, including academic libraries
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/statementspols/otherpolicies/policyconcerning

• Big Deals. There is a trend in U.S. libraries to consider cancelling their so-called ‘big deal’ subscriptions with major vendors such as Elsevier, Wiley, Blackwell, Springer and Taylor & Francis
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/05/08/more-institutions-consider-ending-their-big-deals-publishers

• Partnerships. Partly inspired by Mellon Foundation Grants, there is a growing trend for university libraries to partner with campus museums and academic presses to meet the expanded landscapes of digital humanities and scholarly communications
https://mellon.org/programs/scholarly-communications/

Gerald R. Beasley
Carl A. Kroch University Librarian
Cornell University

Australia and New Zealand respond to Plan S

The Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) and the Australasian Open Access Strategy Group (AOASG) have this week released a joint response to the European Plan S Implementation Guidelines. They welcome the cOAlition S initiative of working towards immediate full open access to research publications by 2020.

Martin Borchert, Chair of the AOASG and a member of CAUL, said, “The AOASG and CAUL are pleased to support Plan S. International developments in open access will drive greater adoption in Australia and New Zealand, where OA is predominantly facilitated by our network of institutional repositories.”

Whilst they support the intent of Plan S, they would like to see more support for the green route to Open Access as there is a greater reliance on repositories for attaining open access in the region. They recommend that the implementation guidelines pay particular attention to the following issues:

  • More thought needs to be given to repository based Green open access and its place as a viable route to Plan S compliance;
  • More consideration should be given to the infrastructure needs and costs required for OA publishing envisaged by Plan S along with its potential impacts especially on early career researchers and developing countries;
  • Now that Plan S is being adopted, there is a need for continued global consultation on the implementation through a formal mechanism.

CAUL represents 39 university librarians in Australia while AOASG is a coalition supported by 17 universities in Australia and eight in New Zealand.

You can view the full statement here.

 

Jayshree Mamtora

Research Services Coordinator

Charles Darwin University

Darwin, Australia

jayshree.mamtora@cdu.edu.au

Plan S: Open Access Movement

Since a few months, there is one issue that keeps popping up during each gathering of Dutch scientists, and that is the Plan S idea.
I will explain this first of all on the EU level what it means and secondly give some ideas on how this plan has landed in The Netherlands.

Plan S in Europe
Plan S is an initiative of “cOAlition S,” a consortium launched by the Europen Research Council and major national research agencies and funders from twelve European countries are participating. According to this Plan S scientists and researchers, who benefit from state-funded research organizations and institutions, have to publish their work in open repositories or open access journals, and this should be all from 2020 onwards.

Since not much progress was made in the whole open access movement this PLAN S is forcing everybody to move towards Open Access. The Coalition believes to make it possible that this could change the structure of science publishing in two years.
“All EU Member States are committed to making all publicly funded research Open Access by 2020, but we need to accelerate progress towards this objective. I therefore very much welcome this initiative by national research funders and Science Europe to work together with the European Commission to move forward collectively” EU Commissioner Moedas stated during a meeting, held at the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) in Toulouse.

PlanS in The Netherlands
I will emphasize the Dutch discussion.
A hectic debate started: supporters and opponents raised their voice. Also, researchers who support the objectives of open access are concerned about the objectives of Plan S. Public consultation meetings were organized to have discussions with researchers.
On the first of November a discussion meeting was organized by the Royal Academic of Sciences (KNAW) and also the Dutch Research Funder NWO was present. The KNAW and NWO support Plan S. But also, more critical researchers gave presentations. See: https://vimeo.com/album/5533046

Primary concerns of researchers are:
1. What does Plan S mean for international research projects with researchers from countries that do not participate in Plan S?
2. There are differences in open access publishing options in the different fields which are not addressed in Plan S
3. Some researchers see Plan S as a serious violation of academic freedom
4. What does the adaptation of Plan S mean for the business model of learned societies?

Concerning this last issue, CoalitionS is looking for a consultant who will investigate this last issue.

In the Netherlands, there will be a second consultation meeting on 31 January on the implementation of Plan S organized by NWO and ZonMw

All researchers are requested for their feedback. See: https://www.coalition-s.org/feedback/

Drs. M. Th. Koelen (Marga)
Research Support Coordinator Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation ITC University of Twente
Faculty Bureau
Policy Advisor University Library
31 53 489 2137 | m.t.koelen@utwente.nl
Secretary ITC Ethics Committee
Secretary IFLA SC Academic and Research Libraries
Member Unesco Theme Group Permanent Access