01/08/2017 – 05/08/2017_AUGUST_WEEK_1

 

On 1st August 2017, I attended a meeting at JISC (UK higher, further education and skills sectors’ not-for-profit organization for digital services and solutions) Office with other fellows. The meeting was centered on JISC Research Data Management processes and current strategies. An interactive presentation was delivered by the JISC Director of Collection, Mr. Liam Earney. His presentation highlighted on the following issues relating to JISC collections:

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• Purpose (Enable affordable access to content for teaching & research)

• Types of agreement

• JISC Collections in 2015/16

• Priorities for 2017

  • Saving institutions money in financially austere environment

  • Improving service level agreements around subscriptions and Open Access

  • Options permitting institutions to migrate away from the big deal

  • International partners and transnational education

• Open Access Priorities in 2017

  • The transition to Open Access is not happening as envisaged

  • JISC Collections is reviewing existing hybrid agreements

  • Further support for pure gold Open Access initiatives

  • Support provisions for green Open Access in journal agreements

• Challenges in current negotiations

  • Academic reward/incentives favour status quo

  • Subscription output continues to grow globally

  • Popularity of hybrid Gold Open Access with authors

• Negotiation Strategy and Tactics

  • Evidence Based Approach

  • Sector support

• A transition to Open Access

  • Positives

  • Negatives

• Consultation and Collaboration

  • Consultation with institutions is central to negotiation process

  • Institutions are updated on progress and consulted throughout negotiations

• Annual cycle for journal negotiations

 

On the same day at JISC Office, we had another presentation from Helen Blanchet, a Scholarly Communication Subject Specialist, on the theme: “Scholarly Communication, Open Access and Libraries” with emphasize on Open Access.

 

This presentation was very educative, interactive with practical evidence demonstration. She elaborated on the following issues relevant for enhancing the research knowledge of academicians and Library Directors on Open Access:

• Issues around open practices

  • Different cultures of openness

  • Legal and contractual issues

  • Technical and data management issues

  • Cultural inertia / cultural change

  • Roles, responsibilities and rewards

  • Usage and discovery

• Open practices and digital capability

• Open practices and benefits of Open Access

• Some initial concepts and Funders’ viewpoints

• Routes to Open Access and where to publish?

• Creative Commons and Features of copyright

• Supporting open access and good practice

 

On 2nd August 2017, we travelled to University of Bristol to observe their Institutional Research Data Management Services. We had a couple of presentations from the Library staff of the University on issues pertaining to research data management.

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The first presentation was delivered by the Assistant Director of Library of the University. She walked fellows through the background information of RDM in the University and added the following: Governance, staff strength, Cross-Service performance, business case, drivers and factors for business (Internal and external).

 

The second presentation was done by Kellie Snow, a Research Data Librarian. She discussed issues on research data management training services which included:

• Face-to-Face Training (Introduction to OR and tailored events to individual Department)

• Online Training materials (Bootcamp &Video tutorials and video interviews)

• Publicity/Promotion (Event webpage and Staff Development bulletins)

 

We had a brief meeting on 3rd August 2017 with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, responsible for knowledge exchange programmes at University of East London. She interacted with all fellows and received their feedback on the ongoing fellowship programme. She briefed fellows on the research focus of the University which includes:

• Human and Health Development

• Development and sustainability of Infrastructure in Communities

• Empowering Technology for Digital Development

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Conclusively, it was a fruitful discussion with a lot of research collaborations and partnership engagement thoughts.

 

On the same day 3rd August, 2017, we had a session with the programme leader Gurdish Sandhu on IT Project Management. She presented an overview of IT project management life Cycle and a business case she developed to implement a Library Management System at University of East London. She demonstrated a clear responsibilities of the System Analyst and Project Manager during any IT project implementation with much emphasize on project deliverables and milestones.