nov06b.indd


scholarly communication 
Karla Hahn 

New tools for new times 
Remodeling the scholarly communication system 

This is not the end. It is not even the begin­
ning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of 
the beginning.”—Speech given by Winston 
Churchill at the Lord Mayor’s Luncheon, Man­
sion House, London, November 10, 1942. 

When I think about the scholarly com­munication crisis, this quote from 
Churchill comes to mind. The crisis is far 
from over, although librarians have been 
sounding the alarm for quite a while. It’s 
hard not to wonder, “When will it be over?” 
And yet, looking back, it is remarkable how 
far we have come over the years. As librar­
ians have come to understand that their 
difficulties managing skyrocketing demands 
on their materials budgets refl ect problems 
and new challenges for the system of schol­
arly communication, we have arrived at this 
point through quite visionary leadership 
within the library community. 

Over time, the scholarly communication 
crisis has become a concept that is quite 
familiar to academic librarians. We have 
educated ourselves, created change, and 
tackled a host of issues under the scholarly 
communication umbrella. After instituting 
scholarly communication capabilities, both 
the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) 
and ACRL have recently committed to in­
creasing their support and activity levels 
in the arena. Clearly we believe that much, 
much more needs to be done. I think this 
is why the Churchill quote comes to mind 
so readily, particularly his words, “But it is, 
perhaps, the end of the beginning.” 

Surveying all of the work underway in 
library associations and academic librar­

ies, it seems we’ve passed the beginning. 
Yet at the same time, many institutions are 
starting afresh to organize a new set of ac­
tivities based on a richer understanding of 
how much is involved in change and how 
much change is involved. While our need 
for awareness and ownership continues, we 
are increasingly engaged in activism and 
transformation of scholarly communication 
practices.1 The scholarly communication 
system is now clearly undergoing a major re­
modeling project and no one has a complete 
set of blueprints for the new structure. 

The tools that helped us launch our initial 
conversations about the issues, particularly 
with faculty, are becoming worn, too famil­
iar, and overused. Our language for talking 
about scholarly communication is maturing 
as our understanding of the issues changes. 
We recognize the need to speak about the 
issues with stakeholders who have differ­
ent perspectives to offer. Our tools have 
evolved to reflect the maturation in thought, 
approach and perspective. 

Both ARL and ACRL maintain general 
scholarly communication pages refl ecting 
the associations’ activities, targeted mainly at 
librarians, that regularly offer new resources 
created through association activities. For 
instance, ARL recently published a SPEC 
Survey on institutional repositories survey­
ing their deployment at research libraries. 
It provides a cogent summary of the state 

K arla Hahn is director of the office of scholarly 
communication for the Association of Research 
Libraries, e-mail: karla@arl.org 
© 2006 Karla Hahn 

C&RL News November 2006  608 

mailto:karla@arl.org


of the art, and includes many policy and 
practice documents. The ACRL Scholarly 
Communication Toolkit links together re­
sources for librarians with resources ad­
dressing two additional audiences: faculty 
and campus administrators. It is structured 
to allow each audience to follow a path of 
information tailored to its interests. SPARC, 
the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Re­
sources Coalition, similarly manages a site 
filled with information regarding scholarly 
communication issues. It too offers tools for 
library outreach, most recently to support the 
Federal Research Public Access Act of 20062 

and SPARC’s Author Rights initiative. 

Creating change 
Another important toolset for the library 
community was developed cooperatively as 
part of the Create Change initiative, launched 
in 1999. A partnership between ARL and 
SPARC with support from ACRL, the initia­
tive produced a scholarly communication 
Web site and several brochures to describe 
and explain key issues. The initiative’s tools, 
designed to assist in reaching and educating 
a faculty audience, were distributed through­
out the library community. 

The Create Change Web site and its 
companion brochures proved very popular 
and heavily used. As the language and is­
sues of scholarly communication discussions 

evolved, the site responded with regular 
updates. Reflecting the progress libraries 
have made in engaging in changing scholarly 
communication, a completely redesigned 
Create Change Web site was released in 
June 2006. 

Redesigning the site presented an oppor­
tunity to rethink its purpose. Create Change 
has refocused to addresses the librarian’s 
question, “How can I talk about scholarly 
communication issues in a way that will 
resonate with faculty on my campus?” It sup­
ports libraries by creating products to speak 
directly to faculty. The Create Change site, 
as it is now designed, stimulates discussions 
between librarians and faculty by present­
ing a variety of issues framed by the faculty 
perspective. At many points it uses faculty 
voices to talk about change. 

The site’s tagline reads, “Shouldn’t the 
way we share research be as advanced as the 
Internet?” Examples of productive changes 
in communication and research practices are 
drawn from a wide range of disciplines. The 
site shows that change is well underway and 
that research and scholarship are already ex­
periencing the benefits. The present state of 
scholarly communication provides the point 
of departure for considering the potential 
of future change—provided that faculty 
act to ensure their needs and concerns are 
addressed. 

ACRL scholarly communication toolkit 
The toolkit (www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues 

/scholarlycomm/scholarlycommunicationtoolkit/), 
which debuted in March 2005, supports ad­
vocacy efforts toward changing the scholarly 
communication system. It summarizes key 
issues and content to give quick, basic infor­
mation on scholarly communication topics. 

Tools include: 
•  Coming soon: Glossary of key terms 
•  Selective bibliography. 
• Webliography of online exhibits, sample 

publishing agreements, directories, price data 
and more. 

•  Presentations and brochures created 

by librarians, which you can adapt for local 
use. 

Your contributions needed 
The toolkit is a living site with revised 

content and new tools as issues change.The 
ACRL Scholarly Communications Committee 
encourages you to submit your tools and sug­
gestions to Kara Malenfant,ACRL’s scholarly 
communications and government relations 
specialist, at kmalenfant@ala.org. 

The toolkit serves as a model for collegial 
sharing. Those wishing to submit materials 
are strongly encouraged to include a Creative 
Commons license. 

November 2006  609 C&RL News 

mailto:kmalenfant@ala.org
www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues


Create Change highlights issues research­
ers care about as authors and readers—“Is 
my work finding its best and fullest audience? 
Can I easily obtain all of the information I 
need?” The site avoids presenting change 
in scholarly communication as a solution to 
library budget problems or an opportunity 
to save money. Instead, issues are framed 
in terms of their significance for advancing 
research and scholarship and their direct ef­
fects on faculty members’ daily work. 

Interviews with pioneering faculty and 
researchers present the views of scholars 
deeply engaged in research and teaching. 
Each discusses his or her personal observa­
tions of what is happening in the scholarly 
communication system and offers opinions 
on how the future might look. 

Faculty voices are also clear in a section 
called “Distress Signals.” It provides ex­
amples of thoughts that may have recently 
passed through a faculty member’s mind. 
For instance, “I get access to lots of journals 
through the Internet, but I can’t get access 
to some journals I need. Why doesn’t the 
system work better?” 

Scholarly communication tools 

•  A C R L  S c h o l a r l y  C o m m u n i c a t i o n  
Initiative: www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/ 
scholarlycomm/scholcomminitiative.htm 

•  A C R L  S c h o l a r l y  C o m m u -
nication Tool Kit: www.ala.org/ala 
/ a c r l / a c r l i s s u e s / s c h o l a r l y c o m m  
/scholarlycommunicationtoolkit/ 

•  ARL Office of  Scholarly Commu-
nication: www.arl.org/osc/index.html 

•  ARL Spec Kit, “SP292 Institutional 
Repositories”–Executive Summar y: 
www.arl.org/spec/SPEC292web.pdf 

•  Create Change: www.createchange. 
org 

•  SPARC: www.arl.org/sparc/ 
•  SPARC’s work for public access 

is available from the Alliance for Tax-
payers: www.taxpayeraccess.org 

•  SPARC’s Author Rights initiative: 
www.arl.org/sparc/author/index.html 

The site’s simple design will facilitate 
updates as time passes. Already, new in­
terviews are being developed to represent 
more disciplines and voices, while other ad­
justments are being made as librarians offer 
suggestions. While the new Create Change 
site is designed to enable easy scanning, 
it does not skimp on the details. Its pages 
offer rich and deep exploration of relevant 
issues and essential information to librarians 
as well as its faculty audience. The style of 
the presentation, the many examples, and 
the words of scholars speaking about their 
personal experiences with change provide 
new ideas for initiating dialogue and engage­
ment at any institution. 

Libraries appear in Create Change in 
many contexts. They are presented as 
partners in most of the model programs 
mentioned on the site. Faculty members are 
encouraged to work with their libraries in the 
“Stay Informed” section, and librarians are 
recognized as leaders in staying abreast of 
scholarly communication developments. 

The new direction for the Create Change 
Web site is just one step in the continuing 
evolution of tools to support change in the 
system of scholarly communication. The 
joint ACRL/ARL Institute on Scholarly Com­
munication, launched with an immersive 
learning event in July 2006, will expand in 
the coming months to include new resources 
to assist the development of faculty outreach 
programs around scholarly communication. 
The institute will continue to evolve and 
offer learning events that use a competitive 
application process, but it will also generate 
publicly accessible resources. 

The increasing diversity and sophistication 
of the tools librarians are using to support 
faculty outreach demonstrate how quickly 
we have moved in recent years. The commit­
ment of the academic library community to 
continuing engagement with these issues is 
abundantly clear. The ongoing evolution of 
librarians’ understanding of the possibilities 
and challenges presented by new models of 
scholarly communication will continue to 

(continued on page 614) 

C&RL News November 2006  610 

www.arl.org/sparc/author/index.html
http:www.taxpayeraccess.org
www.arl.org/sparc
www.createchange
www.arl.org/spec/SPEC292web.pdf
www.arl.org/osc/index.html
www.ala.org/ala
www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues


a retreat. A small group developed outcomes, 
agenda, and appropriate activities. Wonderful, 
amusing life­size drawings of the “freshman 
of the future,” fully wired and wireless, of 
course, emerged and helped to inform their 
discussion of service needs. Ten years ago, 
we may very well have hired a consultant to 
assist the group. 

Change over the long term 
The effects of a staff development and train­
ing program on a large organization are 
gradual and will only happen with sustained 
effort and consistent attention. It is tempting 
to deliver short, intense blasts of training 

aimed at an organizational problem or a 
group of employees. Patience, persistence 
and repetition, however, are the keys to en­
gendering change and unlocking the potential 
within library staff members.  

Notes 
1. Jerry B. Harvey, The Abilene Paradox 

and Other Meditations on Management (San 
Francisco: Jossey­Bass, 1988). 

2. Lois B. Hart, Faultless Facilitation, 2nd 
ed. (Amherst, MA: HRD Press, 1996). 

3. George J. Soete, 2000. The Library Meet­
ing Survival Guide (San Diego: Tulane Street 
Publications, 2000). 

(“New tools . . .,” cont. from page 610) 
reshape many of our tools and provide op­
portunities to develop new ones. 

Notes 
1. The evolution of scholarly communica­

tion programs through stages of awareness, 
understanding, ownership, activism, and 
transformation are presented in Joyce L. Og­
burn, “Defining and Achieving Success in the 

Statement of ownership and management 
College & Research Libraries News is pub­

lished 11 times a year (monthly, combining 
July/August) by the American Library Asso­
ciation, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. 
American Library Association, owner; Stepha­
nie Orphan, editor. Second­class postage paid 
at Chicago, Illinois. Printed in the U.S.A.As a 
nonprofit organization authorized to mail at 
special rates (DMM Section 423.12), the pur­
poses, function, and nonprofit status of this 
organization and the exempt status for federal 
income tax purposes, have not changed dur­
ing the preceding 12 months. 

E x t e n t  a n d  n a t u r e  o f  c i r c u l a t i o n .  
(“Average” figures denote the number of cop­
ies printed each issue during the preceding 
twelve months; “Actual” figures denote the 
number of copies of single issues published 
nearest to filing date.) Total number of cop­
ies (net press run): Average, 14,553; Actual, 
14,237.Total paid/requested subscriptions: 

Movement to Change Scholarly Communica­
tion.” LRTS, Library Resources and Technical 
Services, forthcoming. 

2. The Federal Research Public Access Act 
of 2006 was discussed in a previous scholarly 
communication column. Ray English and Pe­
ter Suber, “Public Access to Federally Funded 
Research: The Cornyn­Lieberman and Cures 
Bills,” C&RL News 67, no. 6 (2006). 

Average, 13,574; Actual, 13,250. Sales 
through dealers and carriers, street vendors, 
counter sales, and other non­USPS paid distri­
bution: not applicable. Other classes mailed 
through the USPS: not applicable.Total paid 
and/or requested circulation:Average, 13,574 
Actual, 13,250. Free distribution by mail: 
Average, 71; Actual, 101. Free distribution 
outside the mail: Average, 0; Actual, 0. Total 
free distribution:Average, 71;Actual, 101.Total 
distribution: Average, 13,645; Actual, 13,351. 
Copies not distributed: Office use, leftover, 
spoiled: Average, 908; Actual, 886.Total (sum 
of previous entries): Average, 14,553; Actual, 
14,237. Percent paid and/or requested circula­
tion: Average, 99.48%; Actual, 99.24%. 

S t a t e m e n t  o f  ow n e r s h i p,  m a n a g e -
ment, and circulation (PS For m 3526, 
October 1999) for 2005 filed with the United 
States Postal Service, Postmaster in Chicago, 
Illinois, September 29, 2006. 

C&RL News November 2006  614 

http:U.S.A.As