MLA Scholarly Communications Caucus Hosts Successful Shop Talk Series

Thanks to the creativity and curiosity of its members, the recently formed Scholarly Communications Caucus successfully hosted a monthly “Shop Talk Series” from October 2021 through March 2022. Caucus members designed and hosted each session, digging into their expertise and experiences to share ideas and resources with each other. See the caucus’s [Link removed (Shop Talk Series Report)] to connect with the planning teams and speakers.

Shop Talk Series Stats

• Number of events: 5
• Total attendees: 335
• Topic leaders: 7
• Helpers: 22
• Speakers: 11

(Note: duplicates exist in these because many members pulled double duty!)

Equity in scholarly communications

The group leading this discussion focused on issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the field of scholarly communications. They highlighted online resources, recent webinars, and important thought leaders in this area. They also discussed processes for identifying, understanding, resisting, and replacing oppressive structures in scholarly communications.

[Link removed (Resources)] 

All Things Preprints

The last year has seen a global spike in health and life science preprints. In June of 2020, the NIH even launched a pilot project to include COVID-19 related preprints in PubMed search results. This librarian shoptalk on preprints will cover definitions, how to locate them, and their impact as part of the biomedical research corpus. Two brief interactive breakouts will encourage participants to review the scope of preprints at their own institutions and address common elements of concern. The event will conclude with myth-busting and discussion so librarians can talk knowledgeably with their users about all things preprints.

[Link removed (Slides)] 

Providing broader support for open science 

Open science is an often-discussed but perhaps not fully understood topic among the medical and health sciences community. With changing data and open access mandates, it is more important than ever for librarians to educate and support their communities on open principles. Join us to learn how colleagues are supporting open science, and come away with some ideas and tips for future programs at your library.

[Link removed (Slides)] 

Developing and organizing scholarly communication services

The group leading this discussion chose to focus on how different libraries have defined their scholarly communications services, and how these services overlap with supporting data science and open science. They also discussed practical aspects such as organizing information on library websites.

[Link removed (Slides)] 

Sharing is caring: a repository of teaching and learning materials

The group leading this discussion chose to focus on asking attendees to share helpful and creative teaching and learning materials on various scholarly communications topics. Attendees came away from the session with new ideas and a host of helpful resources they can use or adapt for their own needs.

[Link removed (Survey results)] 

[Link removed (Discussion notes)]