The panel “Unlocking the Future: Conversations on the Canadian Research Landscape Post-Transformative Agreements” will take place on September 25 at 1 p.m. ET on Zoom. This is the rescheduled keynote panel from the 2024 CRKN Virtual Conference. Registration is open to all and there is no cost to attend.
Session description:
The open access landscape in Canada is entering a new phase, with the ongoing tri-agency review of their open access policy expected to bring Canada in line with policies in the United States and Europe to mandate immediate, open access to research outputs. Based on member input, CRKN pursues multiple pathways to open access. With the recent signing of the Elsevier agreement, CRKN members now have read-and-publish agreements with three of the five major commercial publishers, and several more with society publishers and university presses. While these agreements have made a significant impact on the amount of Canadian research that has been and will be published in OA (15,000+ articles per year are now eligible), there are nonetheless ongoing and fair questions about the sustainability of this model long-term.
Alternative models, such as Diamond OA, Subscribe to Open, green OA/self-archiving, and others, may offer more equitable solutions, but there remain questions about the sources of funding for these models, as well as how promotion and tenure and researchers’ choices on publication venue affect this transition.
Our panelists will discuss their visions for the future of open access beyond the transformative agreement model and lay a foundation for actions we can collectively take to achieve a more sustainable OA future for Canada.
Speakers and Bios (click here to expand)
Denise LaFitte is an Associate University Librarian, and through to September 30, 2024 is Acting Vice-Provost (Library & Museums) and Chief Librarian, at the University of Alberta. She holds a PhD in Information Studies from Aberystwyth University, an MLIS from the University of Alberta, and an MA (Queen's) and BA (St. Francis Xavier) in English Literature. Denise's professional and research interests include evidence based library and information practice, collection management, and open access. Denise co-founded the open access journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, and via her work with CRKN she endeavours to make more of the world's knowledge accessible to all.
Tanja Niemann holds a Master's degree in Communication and Media Studies from the University of Leipzig. She first joined the Université de Montréal in 2006 as Publishing Coordinator at the Centre d'édition numérique (2006-2009) and then became Director of Digital Publishing at the Centre d'expertise numérique (2010-2011). Since 2012, she has served as the Executive Director of the Érudit Consortium, leading Canada’s preeminent platform for research in the social sciences and humanities, and promoting Open Access for the dissemination and democratization of knowledge.
Sonya Betz is the Head, Open Publishing and Digitization Services, at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, which supports more than 60 diamond Open Access journals through its non-commercial, scholar-led publishing program. Sonya has worked in academic libraries for more than 15 years and is deeply interested in seeking ways to promote and sustain not-for-profit approaches to scholarly publishing and open access. She is the co-chair of CARL's new Library Publishing Community Engagement Team, and a current Board Member for the Library Publishing Coalition. She’s also the Chair of the Public Knowledge Project's Members Committee and sits on the Advisory Board of the Irish Open Access Publishers.
Ian Robson is the Head, Information Resources at Queen’s University Library. His role oversees and supports technical services (acquisitions, cataloguing, and ERM), budget management, resource sharing, collection assessment, and print stewardship for the Queen’s library system.
He is currently serving his second 3-year term on CRKN’s Content Strategy Committee, as one of two OCUL (Ontario Council of University Libraries) representatives.
Ian’s interests include: data and assessment, open access, vendor negotiation, LEAN, and whatever else happens to catch his fancy.