Evaluation Rubric for Open Access Investments and Read & Publish Agreements
As the open access (OA) publishing community seeks ways to understand the full landscape of OA scholarly publishing, the value of this activity has exceeded over US$1.6 billion in 2021(OASPA, 24 January, 2023). For academic libraries, the opportunities to create a portfolio of resources now includes read and publish agreements and other OA investments. An R1 academic library developed a rubric to understand the specific resource needs and opportunities in a rigorous and transparent manner. The resulting evaluation tool includes unique criteria for assessing a publishing initiative’s value, the risks/benefits to institution authors, and factors like acquisition budgets, licensing, author rights and sustainability. The rubric identifies six unique categories (cost, sustainability & risk, significance to the institution’s authors, ethical practices, equity & mission, and logistical feasibility including user privacy), and scores each initiative received from publishers of all types. This presentation illustrates the rubric details and examples of initiatives evaluated. This rubric can be used by any institution and provides evidence that is also useful for reviewing agreements that come up for renewal. This evaluation empowers the university libraries to diversity support of the global network of openness by considering new models/initiatives each year and evaluate time-sensitive offers with agility.
Speaker
-
Laura SpearsDirector of Assessment & User Experience, University of Florida George A. Smathers LibrariesShe/Her
Laura I. Spears, PhD. is the Director of the Assessment & User Experience and University Librarian with the George A. Smathers Libraries. Her job responsibilities include examining library data that demonstrate library impact on the life of all types of library users. Recent publications focus on library spaces facilitating student success, assessment of Smathers Libraries library and digital collection websites, and the use of Appreciative Inquiry in CoLAB Workshops. Her most recent publication is a co-authored digital humanities piece, What’s One Thing People Don’t Know About You? Laura works closely with the UF Academic Assessment Committee and is co-Editor of the open-access, online, peer-reviewed journal, The Journal of Assessment in Higher Education.