Open access repositories and advocacy for libraries

Maitrayee Ghosh

Abstract:
In this article the author discusses the ways to promote open access program in various institutions and
points out that the LIS community’s enthusiasm for innovations such as open access may have unintended
negative financial consequences for their services. The purpose is to give a quick and easy approach to
library advocacy, with regard to the ongoing needs of open access repositories and keep in touch with all
stakeholders. The advocacy roles for librarians in promoting OA movement and the challenges they are
facing in open access era are elaborated. A proactive approach in information handling and collaboration
with IT staff and academics are essential for open access to sustain. Librarians serving in universities and
academic institutions can launch a program to help faculty pay for publishing in open access journals,
introduced the concept and secured the funding through various means. Due to poor or reducing
government funding for libraries, librarians are in the situation of having to advocate open access in new
and different ways.

Introduction
Emergence of new scholarly communication models, self archiving services and the concept of
institutional repositories have completely changed the whole life cycle within a library, starting
with acquisition, exploitation, cataloguing, long-term preservation and retrieval, and created many
important new roles to play in this digital era. Today’s information professionals need to wear a
number of hats. They are expected to be a researcher, planner, manager, assessor, team member,
problem-solver, electronic-resources expert, and over all a versatile advocacy leader. The
challenges associated with institutional repositories are:

1. Long term commitment to digital preservation and archiving

2. Retaining ETDs online and available through a publicly accessible server
3. Advocacy, best security and archiving practices for multiple institutions to reciprocate
online archiving.

The advocacy efforts are meant to raise the visibility and highlight the viability of libraries to their
funding bodies. National policies for libraries in various countries clearly indicate the attitude of
the government in power and how far it is willing to promote and fund the library systems.
Meanwhile, the National Knowledge Commission, India has recommended mandating open
access to all publicly funded research and the recommendation is now with the Prime Minister.
The topic was discussed both in the Libraries Working Group and in the Open and Distance
Education Working Group of the Commission.
Librarians can develop plan and devise strategic actions, at the local, national and regional levels,
to explore innovative, creative ways and means of facilitating the emergence of open access
repositories. Perhaps the greatest challenge for librarians today, is to develop and maintain
sustainable model of open access repositories for users. India is one of the late entrants in OA
movement and unfortunately many libraries in India do not have a policy on open access.
Librarians should support and encourage policies requiring open access to research supported by
public funding. Following are the arguments for Librarians to engage with Open access issues and
place them centre stage:

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  Providing access to resources is core to information service objectives and are charged
with the main responsibilities in this area; or
 By fulfilling their core objectives libraries make a sufficient and appropriate contribution
to Open Access movement and appropriately discharge their social responsibilities.

Successful advocacy combines lobbying activities with marketing and public relations skills to tell
the library’s story to the community and engage all stakeholders in the process. The advocacy
theme is predominantly discussed in conferences, workshops and information professionals’
discussion forum. Following are the few examples:
 IFLA Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression
(FAIFE).During 2003 IFLA focused its advocacy efforts on the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS).
 On the 9th of May 2008 an international conference on ‘Advocacy and libraries’ was
organised by the Netherlands Public Library Association, Eblida and FOBID Netherlands
Library Forum. The meeting took place in Theatre Van het Woord in the new Amsterdam
public library.
 Two library advocacy workshop was conducted under aegis of IFLA, during PIALA(The
Pacific Islands Association of Libraries and Archives) ’97conference in Pohnpei. Later in
2005, another advocacy workshop for PIALA in 2006 at Palau.
 International seminar on library advocacy, principally organized by Max Muller Bhavan
(MMB), New Delhi in collaboration with the French Embassy, British Council and
Instituto Cervantes and supported by the National Knowledge Commission of India (NKC)
on 13th March 2008, brought together the stakeholders from Ministry of Culture,
Government of India, National Knowledge Commission and the library professionals.
 “Advocacy for access to knowledge: International seminar on copyright and libraries” was
organized by Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL.net) at National University of
Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kiev,Ukraine, on 29th May 2006.
 Management of Library Associations Section (MLAS), and the Continuing Professional
Development and Workplace Learning Section (CPDWL) call for proposal for World
Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and Council to be held
23-27 August 2009, Milan, Italy based on the theme "Librarians on the Cat Walk:
Communicating for Advocacy to Influence Policy and Practice"

Library advocacy- concept and issues

Advocacy in the current context means communication, as an individual or group, with decision
makers and others in support of or opposition to open access policies and issues. As stated in the
ALA website, advocacy is defined as “the process of turning passive support into educated action
by stakeholders.” Alternative definitions which are similar to the ALA’s have been offered by
Canadian Association of Public Libraries- a division of the Canadian Library Association is
“Advocacy is a planned, deliberate, sustained effort to raise awareness of an issue. It's an ongoing
process in which support and understanding are built incrementally over an extended period of
time and using a wide variety of marketing and public relations tools. Advocacy is about saying to
decision-makers, potential partners, fund raisers, any stakeholder, “Your agenda will be greatly
assisted by what we have to offer." A working definition of advocacy is developed in IFLA 2008
at Quebec city Canada round table as:

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“Raise awareness of library patrons and other key stakeholders about open access, both the
concept and the many open access resources, through means appropriate to each library, such as
education campaigns and promoting open access resources”.
Another definition in a report on the Online Discussions on the advocacy Forum for libraries in
Africa stated “advocacy as pursuit of influencing outcomes – including public policy and resource
allocation decisions within political, economic and social systems and institutions – that directly
affect people’s lives. Advocacy consists of organized efforts and actions based on the reality of
‘what is’. The organized actions seek to highlight critical issues that have been ignored and
submerged, to influence public attitudes, and to enact and implement laws and public policies so
that visions of “what should be” in a just, decent society becomes a reality”
http://www.uneca.org/DISD/library/AVLIN/documents/AVLIN_LibraryAdvocacy_Report.pdf

As mentioned in the literature the Key elements for effective advocacy are:
(1) involve all stakeholders in the process;
(2) develop a plan and unified message;
(3) utilize all means to get the message out to the public and policy or opinion makers; and
(4) build coalitions with like-minded groups to advance the library agenda.

One of the objectives of the seminar organized by Max Muller Bhavan in March 2008 was to
initiate an effective advocacy campaign/plan with clear goals and objectives; to use media
effectively and to lobby with legislators and decision makers at the political/administrative level as
well as stakeholders who shape the public opinion and control support for library services.

Some key issues that are identified for advocacy in various professional discussion forums
identified as:
1. The need for increased government funding for library materials and technology
2. Increase public awareness of the significant roles of libraries
3. Need for certified professional librarians in information management
4. The need for library programs to provide necessary skills for librarians

Commonly confused terms

Public Relations: building mutually beneficial relationships over the long term
Marketing: causing transactions to occur that satisfy human needs/wants in exchange for
something of value.
Advocacy: advancing a cause or proposal using argument

Helieisar (2008) discussed some common issues on advocacy:

1. Advocacy and marketing are closely linked together. Skills required for advocacy and
marketing are similar.
2. Planning and writing advocacy plans is the easy part. The hard part is putting those plans
into action, which requires time, commitment, and cooperation of other librarians and the
community.
3. Advocacy may require more than one person with the same dedication. When combining the
work of more than one individual, the result is viewed more as a united front to promote
libraries.
The 4 P’s are essential to advocacy
Passion- Establishing credibility and commitment to meeting user needs

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Purpose- Setting goals by defining problems, causes and solutions.
People-Identifying and analyzing users
Persuasion-Developing messages and selecting strategies and tools

Open Access repositories and advocacy-a review of literature

The literature on Open Access is current and there is a proliferation of articles on Open Access
movement and initiatives but coverage is comparatively less on advocacy and roles of information
professionals in this context. In spite of the numerous debates regarding the definition of OA
archives/repositories and the plethora of terms that have been used to describe the concept, the
most widely accepted and cited definition of OA archives is provided by the Peter Suber (2003)
“Open-access archives or repositories do not perform peer review, but simply make their contents
freely available to the world. They may contain un refereed preprints, refereed post prints, or both.
Archives may belong to institutions, such as universities and laboratories, or disciplines, such as
physics and economics”.
OA and Library advocacy have always been major discussion point of IFLA meetings and many
authors presented in IFLA conferences. Gordon (2000) discusses the advocacy and stated “At the
American Library Association, our tools are education, legislation and litigation, and advocacy”

Fernandes (2006) discusses OA in India and stated “Both top-down and bottom-up methods are
used to promote repositories and advocate for open access. Respondents organize talks, seminars
and training workshops to promote institutional repositories. E-mails to faculty and addressing
library committees are other methods used to encourage deposit. Enlisting support from top levels
of administration is recognized as the way to go. If there are prolific authors at the top convincing
them of the benefits of self-archiving can help promote the repository. One institution has
prepared a poster highlighting its eprints repository to encourage deposit by showing value to
authors. These include better impact, wider access and visibility, the ability to create publication
lists by author and department and long term preservation. Author benefits and copyright issues
are also detailed on the website.”
Arunachalam (2004) opined Information professionals can act as champions in their respective
institutes and take the lead role in promotion of Open Access movement. Mackie (2004) urges
librarians to take initiatives, encourage the researchers and play a proactive role in garnering
content for their repositories and work towards a sustainable approach. For an Institutional
Repositories to succeed, it is essential that librarians be involved in its planning, implementation,
operation and effective advocacy.
As stated by Morrison and Waller (2008) “Libraries should consider providing economic and
technical support for open access publishing, by supporting open access journals or by
participating in the payment of article processing fees for open access. The latter could occur
through redirection of funds that would otherwise support journal subscriptions or through taking
a leadership position in coordinating payments by other bodies, such as academic or government
departments or funding agencies”.
While talking about professional code of conduct for librarians, Edwards (2001) stated “we work
in various cultures, for public and private employers each with their own values and objectives.
But what we do have in common is our role as intermediaries working on behalf of the consumer”.
Today librarians are involved in complex dealings with content providers and in the manipulation
of increasingly fragmented information. If they are successful, then the librarian brand will be in
worldwide demand. Allard & et al (2005) identify six roles of librarians in the IR environment:

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understanding software, project planning and management, collection definition, metadata
guidance, submission review, and author training.
Bailey Jr. (2005) suggested possible activities for reference librarians in terms of advocacy for
digital repositories:

 Helping to create sensible IR policies and procedures and to provide feedback about
how they work in practice.
 Assisting in designing the IR user interface so that it is clear, easy to use, and effective.
 Helping to identify current self-archiving activity on campus to aid the content
recruitment effort.
 Acting as change agents by promoting the IR to faculty and graduate students in their
subject areas.
 Informing faculty and graduate students about Creative Commons licensing options
and publisher e-print policies.

Following Ten tips are given by Keresztury (2005) for library advocacy campaigns to be
successful:
 Build from your existing successes.
 Couch your successes in economic and personal terms.
 Maintain an intent list of libraries that need .. grant funding in order to build or renovate.
 Forge partnerships wherever possible. Build relationships.
 Survey officials, library directors, and architects about their library projects in search of
testimony.
 Use testimony from public officials and residents in support of funding whenever you can.
 A picture is worth a thousand words. . . and PowerPoint presentations, calendars, and other
marketing and public relations tools are worth even more.
 Keep in touch with the media to keep the story alive.
 Be quick to praise and thank people for any help they give you.
 Always be a cheerleader for your cause

Barbara & et. al. (2005) stated open access era has brought the following challenges for librarians:
 fear of disrupting existing relationships with publishers;
 concerns about the equivalence between IR and journal publishing;
 ignorance of copyright law;
 reluctance for research to be made public without proper vetting;
 reluctance to modify bureaucratic processes;
 reluctance to have a university stamp on their scholarly output;
 technophobia or mistrust of the long-term viability of digital content; and
 lack of time to learn how to do something different.

Fiels (2003) describes advocacy as ‘magic ingredients’ and identified nine steps to create more
effective library advocates:
Step 1: Library advocates need to understand how government works
Step 2: Develop a common agenda – and develop a plan
Step 3: Help library advocates understand – and be able to articulate – legislative goals in terms
of local needs
Step 4: Understand – and use -- the power of the ‘sound byte’
Step 5: Never be afraid to ask!

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Step 6: Get involved – and involve others
Step 7: Recognize – and reward -- library supporters
Step 8: Never get discouraged
Step 9: Enjoy yourself!

Effective advocacy for achieving open access repository success

Today’s Libraries are more interesting, difficult and challenging! Academic librarians have now
new roles to play, never previously contemplated. The most significant challenge facing academic
libraries undertaking these institutional repository projects is not technical but the major challenge
is cultural. The current environment provides an opportunity for librarians to play a key role in
developing open access culture not only in their institute but also globally. Developments of
digital repositories have become very important feature in the academic library scene and
mandatory for the information professionals to set up Institutional repositories in their respective
places. Information professionals working in libraries have to gain experiences not only with
respect to the new modes of delivering contents and the new genre of digital collections but also
how to effectively deal with access rights and models of Open Access. There is need for concerted
efforts in maintaining sustainability of the open access models and address the problems of staff
shortage as well as investments in retraining them so that users of the system have access to much
more content with the same funding.
OA Advocacy is educating patrons about open access resources and sevices. Advocacy is effective
only if:
 it puts the library services in the context of the community’s needs.
 links the library to the things the community already values most.
Advocacy- Initial strategies:
 Presentations at various committees, meetings of research groups, departmental meetings
 ‘Early adopters’
 Institution wide events
 Subject Librarians as Open Access evangelists
Multi levels advocacy
 Contacting staff already making papers available on personal web sites
 Journal approach, e.g. BMJ, Nature

International/national organizations and professional bodies promoting open access and

advocacy
A professional body has to define a strategy that will suit what its members want and that, in the
long run, will bring benefits to its members. A professional body also needs to serve the best
interests of the community. The New York Library Association has made advocacy and
government relations one of its highest priorities.

Electronic Information For Libraries (eIFL)

Supports libraries in developing countries to negotiate and advocate for the wide availability of
electronic information to education, research and professional communities as well as
governmental organizations and civil society. eIFL Programs include
• Open Access awareness raising and advocacy
• Advocacy for and implementation of Open Source Software in libraries

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SPARC has been active in engaging in open access advocacy on the local institutional, federal and
international policy levels. SPARC’s strategy is focused on reducing barriers to access, sharing
and use of scholarly information, and its highest priority is advancing the understanding and
implementation of open access to research results.

Public Library of Science (PLoS)

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit advocacy organization and open-access
publisher located at San Francisco, California. PLoS is helping to shape the global open access
movement — which includes scientists, publishers, librarians, patient advocacy groups,
lawmakers, and many others.

“IFLA strongly supports the Open Access movement and welcomes the launch of many OA
compliant publications. IFLA also acknowledges the need to address the challenge on a number of
fronts and in partnership with many stakeholders." (http://www.ifla.org/V/press/oa240204.html)

Actions for Information Professionals to achieve Open Access

Today, libraries have been facing tremendous challenges in open access repository development in
their institutions and witnessed adequate funding is essential for a library’s services and programs
Advocacy gives information and evidence of demonstrable impact of library services to all the
stakeholders. Librarians could provide inputs and influence decisions for the good of libraries and
information services to the community, policy makers and influence the decisions. Librarians have
always used their knowledge of information delivery to facilitate information discovery. Now
there is an expectation that they will also work closely with academics to develop effective
learning environments, both face-to-face and online. This requires a strong grounding in pedagogy
and in digital environment, an expertise with information and communications technologies (ICT).
Information Professionals serving in various libraries can develop an advertising campaign on
behalf of libraries, aimed at library budget decision-makers. Through the advocacy campaign,
librarians can raise awareness of critical library issues, enable more informed dialogue, and
ultimately help libraries demonstrate their value. The goal is to raise the visibility of libraries.

 Formulation of policies, taking initiatives and define the criteria for long-term
preservation, archiving and open access collection building
Mostly, the repositories are managed by librarians. They need to work out a policy that defines the
basis of the technological and long-term approach on how to treat these documents. The acquisition policy
of the respective institution should be decided on the basis of what type of document will be included into
the server, and the criteria for software selection. Librarians need to develop strategic policy framework for
long term preservation, and understand that how policies need to address the key stages. Define the
accepted document formats and their conversion tools, oriented towards long-term established
standards like SGML, XML.

 Advocacy and awareness raising for OA issues among academic authorities and
administrators, students, library staff, and other stakeholders
Librarians can help open access journals launched at various institution become known to other
libraries, indexing services, potential fund giving authorities and potential readers. Make sure that
scholars at the institution know how to find open access journals and archives in their fields, and

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make sure tools are set up to allow them to efficiently access these publications. As open access
journals proliferate, and as their usage and impact grow there is a need to cancel over-priced
journals that do not measure up.

 Establishing advocacy forum and Identifying the right Arena for Advocacy

Recommendations and Conclusions:

The push for Open Access is to encourage new avenues of disseminating information quickly and broadly
to advance knowledge. Critical library functions require professionals of a high educational
background/intellect and must be able to analyze, conceptualize, make judgments, develop and
implement policy responses.
In response to the emerging Open Access environment the information professionals have to:
 Understand and apply client-centred concepts and principles in the management of
traditional and digital information resources and services;
 Analyze policies, practices, and standards related to collection development and
management in traditional and digital environments;
 Identify and apply principles of service design for virtual information environments;
 Critically evaluate contemporary issues in information provision and their implications
for collection development and management;
 Understand key aspects and trends of the information technology infrastructure and
their implications for collection building and management;
 Carry out needs assessment and evaluation of virtual information collections, resources
and services.

In order to achieve a sustainable Open Access model, the following recommendations may be
considered:
Continuing professional development, technologies and training for librarians
Development of the skill occurs through library education and general training programs within
the workplace as well as outside the organization. Training and development is very important to
any organization to improve the quality and services..

Skill development
Missingham (2006) opined “Conferences and on-the-job training have been the major
opportunities for developing skills. Delivering skills development for the future could be through a
mix of on-the-job activities and training focused on developing collaborative thinking, negotiation
and communication skills”.

References:

Arunachalam(2004) India's march towards open access

http://www.scidev.net/content/opinions/eng/indias-march-towards-open-access.cfm (15/10/08)

Bailey C. W. Jr (2005) The role of reference librarians in institutional repositories, Reference

Services Review 33(3), 259 – 267.

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Barbara, J & et. al. (2005) Content in, content out: the dual roles of the reference librarian in
institutional repositories. Reference Services Review 33 (3), 312-324

Bill, H (2004) Institutional repositories and practical advocacy available at:

http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00001007/ (1/10/2008)

Borges, M (2005) Library advocacy starts at home, The Bottom Line: Managing Library
Finances, Vol. 18 (3), pp. 110-111.

Chang, S.H. (2003) Institutional repositories: the library's new role, OCLC Systems & Services,
19(3), 77-79.

Choh, N.L (2008) Leadership Skills and Advocacy for Libraries: Best Practices in Library
Association Management, the Singapore Experience, World library and Information Congress:
74th IFLA general conference and council, 10-14 August 2008, Québec, Canada. Available at:
http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla74/index.htm (10/10/08).

Fernandes, L (2006) Open Access Initiatives in India - an Evaluation, Partnership: the Canadian
journal of Library and Information Practice, 1(1).
Available at: http://gir.uoguelph.ca/index.php/perj/article/view/110/171

Fiels K. M (2003) Building New Libraries in Massachusetts: an advocacy case study

Available at: http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla69/papers/197e-Fiels.pdf (9/10/08)

Goldsmith B & et. al. (2006) Repository Librarian and the Next Crusade, D-Lib Magazine
September, 12(9) http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september06/goldsmith/09goldsmith.html

Gordon ,W.R (2000) Advocacy for democracy: the role of library associations
Available at: http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla66/papers/119-122e.htm

Heather M and Waller, A (2008) Open access and evolving scholarly communication, C&RL
News, September, pp 486-490

Helieisar, A (2008) Library Advocacy in Micronesia World Library and information Congress:
74TH IFLA general Conference and Council, 10-14 August 2008, Québec, Canada
http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla74/papers/093-Helieisar-en.pdf

Johnson, R.K. (2002), Institutional repositories: partnering with faculty to enhance scholarly
communication, D-Lib Magazine, 8 (11). (online)

Joint, N (2008) It is all not all free on the web: advocacy for library funding in the digital age,
Library Review,57(4), pp. 269-275.

Keresztury, T(2005)Ten tips for advocacy: a look at cash for buildings, The Bottom Line:
Managing Library Finances, 18(3), pp. 119-125.

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Lynne H & et. al. (2004). OAI compliant institutional repositories and the role of library staff,
Library Management, 25 (4/5), 170-176.

Mackie, M. (2004). Filling institutional repositories: practical strategies from the DAEDALUS
Project", Ariadne, 39, 28. www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue39/mackie/ (accessed January 28, 2007)

Missingham, R (2006) Library and information science Skills for twenty-first century
professionals Library Management, 27 (4/5)257-268

Morrison, Heather and Waller, Andrew (2008) Open access and evolving scholarly
communication: An overview of library advocacy and commitment, institutional repositories, and
publishing in Canada, College & Research Libraries News 69(8):pp. 486-490.

Suber, P (2003) Removing the Barriers to Research: An Introduction to Open Access for
Librarians. Available at: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/acrl.htm (9/9/08)

Suber, P (2007) What you can do to promote open access

http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/do.htm

The final summary recommendations, an outcome of the workshop on “Libraries on the Agenda”
available at the National Knowledge Commission site:
http://knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/documents/IntSeminar_Libraries.pdf (1/10/08)

OA and Advocacy- related sites:

SLA Statement regarding Open Access advocacy

http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/advocacy/OpenAccess.cfm

Friends of Libraries- Canadian libraries save our services (SOS) program

http://www.ottawapubliclibraryfriends.ca/en_sos.html

Friends of Libraries- USA (FOLUSA) is now a national leader in library support and advocacy.
http://www.folusa.org/

Public Library of Science http://www.plos.org/

Canadian Library Association. (CLA) Library advocacy NOW!

Website: www.cla.ca/divisions/capl/advocacy/

CLA position statement can be found at

www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Position_Statements&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cf
m&ContentID=5306.

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